Ok, I have been considering posting my thoughts on E3 2018 on this thread ever since it ended. I wanted to collect and assess my thoughts first, and here are some of what I have concluded.
Overall, I was not highly impressed by this year's E3, but it has been some time since any particular E3 truly stood out to me (this is my opinion, just like pretty much all of this post). Even though this is how I felt, there were still several parts of the event that I found interesting. Just to clarify, I watched most of the presentations live. I think the only ones I missed were the PC show and the Devolver Digital show (<-- is that the name of that company? If not, feel free to correct me). I was not only unaware of the times for those presentations, but I did not necessarily even know about them at the time. I did read over some material about them, but nothing from them really interested me.
I am generally a highly open-minded person, and that includes what I think about the video game world. If I am not interested personally in any (or interested in only very few) games for a console, I will most likely not buy it. I buy consoles for playing video games, and not necessarily for other things such as television / streaming / etc. (I do watch Netflix on a video game console, but I have other methods of watching Netflix if needed).
So for this year's E3, I gave more considerations toward games for consoles I currently own. I did watch all the presentations except the ones I listed above, and even though I did not plan on becoming convinced to buying consoles I do not have, I did not keep my mind closed to the possibility of becoming interested in games for said consoles. (Another clarification -- for the current video game generation, I own an original 500MB Xbox One and a Nintendo Switch -- I also have multiple Nintendo 3DS's, but if I remember correctly, nothing was really shown for the 3DS.)
For the games that were shown this year, I came up with many sorts of mental organizations for my opinions. One of the main sorts was categories of the type of material shown of a particular game. This categorization was based on concepts including length of shown material, information provided, and other such things. Here are my conclusions on this organization (these are my personal favorites of this E3 for each):
1. Teaser trailer (or similar material): Halo Infinite. I have been playing Halo since the series began, and even though I feel the series has its highs and lows (I try to be as objective as I can, even though I know I cannot be completely objective), I have enjoyed all the series I have played (the ones games I have not played are the two-stick top-down whatever-they-are pair of games -- they do not look that interesting to me).
2. More regular amount of material shown for a game (somewhat ambiguous grouping -- more than a teaser, but not an extended look): The Last of Us II. As I said, I do not own a PS4 (I also never had a PS3), but even though I have not played the first game, I have researched it a lot, especially since E3. I went into detail on this game on the thread created for it on SPPF earlier, but here are some of the main points: Not my genre of game (notable violence / survival / post-apocalyptic / similar things), but still really good presentation for me -- Positive emotional connection with characters, storytelling, etc. (as I writer myself, I found such connections here done well) -- Comparisons between feelings (hopeful socializing with dark world-reality of survival, etc.) -- Connections with personal feelings -- others I may remember later.
3. Extended look: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I have been waiting for a Smash game for the Switch, and this one looks fascinating to me. I am not sure what I could say currently that has not been discussed in the Smash thread, but I am looking forward to the game.
I did not plan for each of these categories to end up with one per main console, but that is how it happened. I plan on following all three here, but there are others I plan to as well.
For all the games that really interested me this year, here are the ones that are on consoles I own (again, I am not against getting a PS4, but I have not seen enough to interest me). I ranked them in how much they interest me / how likely I am to get them / etc. I am not including games not shown at E3, but there are some games not shown that I plan on researching / getting. (They include Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Switch, Yoshi Switch, and Pokémon generation VIII.)
5. Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee: From what is currently known on these, I am leaning toward skipping them. I am more of a deep / complex / "hardcore" / whatever Pokémon player. I do not really battle other real-life people much, but I do go into the more complicated parts of games. I am still researching LGPE, but I am not sure about them for me personally.
4. Super Mario Party: I have not played much Mario Party games, but I have researched them some. I have heard that the past few have not been as good, but it appears that this one is trying to be more traditional and less like the latest ones. I am open to getting this, depending on more information about it.
3. Anthem: Two things: 1. EA -- I never played SWBF2, but I have read about its issues. I was not that familiar with any public opinions of EA (positive or negative) last year when I bought Titanfall 2. I researched that game for itself, not the overall company. I looked into Respawn also then, but nothing stood out to me. I personally enjoy Titanfall 2 a lot. I am still following the lootbox issues going around, but I have played games with some forms of them and never bought any with real money. ---- 2. Destiny comparisons -- I have not played any Destiny game (they do not look interesting to me personally), but I have researched them some. I am not sure there is enough to make a fair comparison here, but that's just me. ---- Now to me, Anthem looks somewhat interesting. There are some things that sound good, and some bad. I often enjoy PVP in such games, but that is not a dealbreaker for me. I like the sort of customization that this game seems to include, and the game appears (currently from what we know) to not have any lootbox-ish things that are not cosmetic. I plan to continue researching this game, but I am remaining as objective as I can, for both the good and bad things.
2. Halo Infinite: I can go more into my thoughts here, but for now, see above opinions.
1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: See above opinions. The amount of material shown was great for me, even though some of it felt unnecessary currently, along with the possibility of more from other games being shown instead. Anyways, I would say that form all the games I saw at E3 2018, this is most likely my game of the show. (There was not really that much competition, especially considering the amount shown for the games that interested me.)
EDIT: Corrected a typo I noticed … five days later. Oh well.