EverNightX: It's not a fad. It's here to stay because it's fun to have goals and see them visually checked off as you accomplish them. Maybe that's not fun to you, but it is fun for some of us.
It's not something I use in every game. But for games I really like where I'm happy to have excuses to play them more it gives me ready made additional goals to shoot for instead of just "beat the game".
I have no problem with that at all. As long as GOG supplies the game in an .exe variant without achievements overlays or popups, I am wholly content. I do see achievements as a fad, I won't lie, because it's the extrinsic reward scheme par excellence, and I'd rather be immersed in a game and play it because it's fun in itself, not because some virtual medals and checked boxes are looming. It's also kind of giving single player games a competitive element, something that lets you compare yourself to other gamers, and I find that intrusive and off-putting.
However, I was only speaking up because a user tried to brand a developer 'generally unwanted' because the dev was, from my point of view, infantilizing GOG users
less than Steam users. JRPGs especially have plenty of intrinsic and extrinsic reward schemes already, so the question whether they need additional tacked on reward schemes (that are very standardized and repetitive to boot) is even more debatable.
If Sea of Stars lands here sooner, but without achievements, I can say with absolute certainty that I'll buy.