Yes, I can understand what they mean, but what they it is is utter nonsense.
There is no “The game is shit, but the concept is so good!” Because the concept doesn’t matter in the making of a video game, what does is its design and plan.
What you’re referring to as a ‘concept’ is merely the ‘general idea of a game’, not what matters; the design.
For comparison, if this were about writing, this ‘concept’ would only amount to the worthless, replaceable, core idea. It doesn’t matter if the theme is about a demi-god’s ruin or a human’s rise to power, if you don’t know how to write, tell a story, pace it well, detail it just right, use the best words are the best place and make the reader feel anything, the ‘concept’ will be utterly worthless.
In the game industry, you do not pitch a broad and vague ‘concept’ like so, you pitch a design, a plan, mechanics so to speak. If necessary, you talk of their appeal, the psychology behind it, how you have the schematics of a good game, not the idea of one—because everyone can have an idea of a ‘good game’, not everyone can design a good one.
So please, do explain how this is arguing semantics, how what they mean is correct, how a ‘concept’ would differ from what I’ve established and how Arcane Odyssey’s in particular is any good when it only amounts to “Amnesiac boy saves the world from evil organisation by sailing across the sea and killing people”.
For you see, unlike a certain, would-be existence, I am open to proven truths—for my heart is not my preferred tool of reason.