Well that's why I mentioned Dark Souls.

I think the goal for NMS is the journey. A lot of the "game" of games like this come from things like the Wiki and channels like Vaatividya. There is self expression - it's just not the same kind that Minecraft has. NMS is more personal, the way DS has. But it also is meant to have a lore that is peiced together, and Hello Games expressly said that this lore is designed to be pieced together by the community, the same way DS is. But is also has the procedural generation and endlessness of minecraft, where the goal on that side is kind of up to the player. Calling self expression the "end goal" of minecraft is sort of a miscatagorization. There is no end goal. You don't express yourself and then finish minecraft.

This, exactly. Like Elite Dangerous and even Subnautica. Very cool games, but very limited niche appeal.

I downloaded and played Subnautica and I imagine NMS will be a lot like that.

Im sorry for the words that Im going to use here, but the industry isnt a dick measuring contest.

Just because one game manages to become the largest game in the history, it dosent mean(I actually cant believe I need to say this) that the games to come needs to be bigger to be considered better.Thats a stupid idea to say the least.There are many games that are small and contained that are infinitely better than open worlds games, and vice versa.Thats the actual beauty of this industry:There are flavors and sizes for everyone, and they all come with its own quality.

So short answer to your question:No.Nowhere near actually.There will be plenty of people like me that actually dont like this gigantic size and total lack of story.

Uh, look at CoD vs Battlefield. Just because Battlefield has large maps with vehicles, character classes, and map deformation doesn't mean every game in the genre needs it. CoD routinely mops the floor with it in sales and it's a small scale infantry based shooter.

Or look at Red Faction. You could destroy almost everything. Other shooters were not forced to copy that or die out.

I mean, NMS isn't exactly a mainstream title. Furthermore we don't know anything about its quality yet. If it turns out to be a bad game, no one will give a shit about what gameplay elements it has.

The gameplay is more important than the massive setting. I honestly don't think it will be able to maintain a large player base for long. The gameplay looks rather generic...

This, for all it's touted and worth, NMS won't be settings huge Minecraft style trends. Besides we have games that aren't getting the same level of press and hype that do what NMS is doing, just not in 3D so I don't really expect NMS to set the world on fire nor be bad for the industry. 

Considering it's also going to be on PC near the same launch day, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not even that hyped for the game ebcause I simply don't know zip about how the PC port is even going to look or run, that alone gives me enough red flags for the game already.

You seem to be drinking the marketing kool aid.

Sounds like an intersting exploration game, but does that style of gameplay appeal to everyone? Nope.

Frankly, you're focusing on content and not the actual gameplay.

Did Daggerfall hurt the industry? That was about twice the size of the UK.