at around 23 minutes:
I think there's room to say that this is the problem in the FPS development community as a whole right now; there's remake after remake with different names, maybe new or different graphics, but gameplay being somewhat the same asides from an extra few weapon/equipment quirks and UI mechanisms.
Of course there's the odd outlier which tries something pretty new, and sometimes these games become rather niche, but on the whole the AAA devs just seem to bolt different things onto existing games.
Maybe if we compare a FPS game from 5 years ago with one released 5 years from now we might see the evolution producing comparatively "new" games, but the process just seems so damn slow. Most of the 'innovation' seems to be in some minor gameplay area, while all other mechanics remain the same just re-skinned to be that bit more streamlined (and towards their desired style). For these AAA studios making generic FPS games, their marketing teams hail their new releases as being so innovative, while really I think they are ripping the meaning of that word to shreds.
Back on topic, or specifically the quote, I think it's important to consider intuitiveness rather than familiarity. Instead of looking at exact mechanics used in specific weapons (someone's ability to use an already existing, familiar, weapon for example), intuitiveness is much deeper topic that allows for a much more varied and interesting canvas to design upon. Familiarity through existing mechanics will obviously play a part in it, but being intuitive might mean that a mechanic combines multiple features from many pieces of equipment from many games.
Take Heroes of The Storm for example. I play League of Legends, never really tried the other MOBAs - a friend invited me to try HoTS, so I accepted to see how it differed. In their version of champion select, I choose Stitches. While playing, I see he has the Q that Thresh has in LoL, his W is a bit like Malphite's E and his E is a bite like Trundle's Q. These abilities when used on Stitches and combined with their levelling/upgrading system, makes for some fresh and interesting gameplay. Although I felt the game lacked in some other areas, I left feeling like it was something new and although in the same genre, felt a completely different game to that of LoL and Dota.
I think of Arms of Telos as looking to base things on intuition rather than familiarity - the idea that yes, some weapons may have aspects that are like other games, but on the whole they are designed so that with little practise, you can understand their usages, sometimes see glipses of parallel to other games' weapons and fill in the missing pieces with relative ease.. it's one of the reasons I am looking forward to its release so much.
RE: Projectile inheritance
This topic I don't have too much to say about, as I have never used it - the games I've played, the projectile goes to where I aimed it when I shot it.. and that's all I want - for my shots to go where I tell them to go and nowhere else!
Regarding the automatic changing of settings based on context that was mentioned in the podcast, I think this would be confusing.. I would imagine that those that campaign for full inheritance would be used to inheritance across the board, and as also mentioned, making it clear how it's affecting you would be difficult also.
[Might add more in later]
