All valid points. Although, as for the story, the way that gods are born left a lot of room for other gods to come into existence later in the series. I think the whole idea with Nemesis was that, if he was the only god AND had three creeds, things like Khazar saving you before Nemesis was able to kill you when you were still a child as far as gods go couldn't happen, so he would be able to kill other gods as they appeared. I honestly don't think that there was anything wrong with the plot. And the reason the games were left unfinished is that the team ran out of budget and hit the deadline, so the games, which were both ahead of their time and underfunded, kind of fell flat.
I agree that Spore was honestly better in the demos than in the final product, which is commonly attributed to EA, though I think it MIGHT ACTUALLY BE A *GREED* thing. I mean, so far, as early speculation predicted, they've been slowly releasing expensive expansions that add old features back in and make the game look slightly less cartoony. But I don't think they've removed plot or interest, but rather added too much of it; Though it is still very much open-ended, it has enough structure that it gets in the way of enjoyment slightly.
And, indeed, Anglo, though perhaps you are a bit cynical in your generalization. The richer a country becomes the worse its arts, and that is perhaps the only good thing that, in practice, comes out of Communism: Better art.
And not all need is also greed.