Gaming Franchises that were ruined

The_Valeyard

Couple of posts in a previous topic got me thinking. What gaming Franchises have be ruined, or what gaming sequels have darkened the name of the genre. With the news that Mass Effect Andromeda has effectively been abandoned for single players, has that ruined the franchise or poisoned it?

Other examples where I think sequels have badly messed up are:


Dawn of War 3
Empire Earth 3
The Force Unleaded 2
Duke Nukem Forever

Doctor Nick

Silent Hill. 1-3 were fine works of survival horror. I'd love for them to resurrect the series and do it right but won't hold my breath.

Inviere

Sonic. For the longest time the series churned out absolute tripe. Mania is one hell of a return to form.

dreamers75

Gaming series that were not ruined at some point would be a better thread.

callaway92

Looks like the Metal Gear name is gonna be dragged through broken glass and dog shít

SeantheMan

callaway92 wrote: »

Looks like the Metal Gear name is gonna be dragged through broken glass and dog shít

Yeah, 4 and 5...jaysis...

As Dreamer said, it's nearly easy to think of long running series that weren't crap at 1 point.

Personally MGS, Sonic, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider etc etc

But the thing is....many of them have come good again, Battlefield 1 was great, the new Deus Ex games were very good , as was the new Tomb Raider games.
Call of Duty going back to WW2 looks like it might be a step back in the right direction...so there's always hope.

Someone else mentioned Sonic, he hadn't had a decent game in 15 years nearly...but still pumped out a game every year...even if it was awful...but has finally come good.

Penn

Devil May Cry 2 very nearly killed the franchise on its second outing, but Devil May Cry 3 managed to save it. 4 is a bit in the middle, but was still good enough to keep the ball rolling.

DmC punctured the ball, spray-painted a pair of boobies on it and put its cigarette out on it because that's what the cool kids all do, then threw the ball in the river while giving a black nail-polished finger to "the man". It was awful. Completely awful. Gameplay, story, characters, tone, enemies, weapons... it failed on almost every level. I'd be more surprised if they released a sequel to it rather than if they went back to the originals and just went with Devil May Cry 5 and pretend DmC never existed. It's not worth saving.

But, it's likely the franchise is now just dead altogether. It survived DMC2. It couldn't survive DmC.

gimli2112

COD


From my favourite to something I don't even contemplate. Even now with WWII getting good reviews I have next to no interest.

SolvableKnave

Sim City 2013. That was a major fcukup. Limiting the city sizes to a max 1/4 of what previous titles allowed. The debacle over the requirement to be always online for SP, with EA continuously saying that it was not possible to remove the requirement, which was quickly proven to be false.

It was another EA push to release something that wasn't ready, deliberately limited compared to previous titles. It's a shame really as the Sim City franchise was always a guaranteed buy for me (yes, including this farce of a release).

I don't expect to see another Sim City for quite a long while, and by all accounts, Cities: Skyline have taken the City Building crown.

Inviere

SolvableKnave wrote: »

Sim City 2013. That was a major fcukup. Limiting the city sizes to a max 1/4 of what previous titles allowed. The debacle over the requirement to be always online for SP, with EA continuously saying that it was not possible to remove the requirement, which was quickly proven to be false.

It was another EA push to release something that wasn't ready, deliberately limited compared to previous titles. It's a shame really as the Sim City franchise was always a guaranteed buy for me (yes, including this farce of a release).

I don't expect to see another Sim City for quite a long while, and by all accounts, Cities: Skyline have taken the City Building crown.

Jesus yeah, that was some shit show.

Generic Dreadhead

The Sims

Stone Deaf 4evr

The_Valeyard wrote: »

C

Other examples where I think sequels have badly messed up are:


Dawn of War 3
Empire Earth 3
The Force Unleaded 2
Duke Nukem Forever

Indeed, the switch from Diesel ruined the franchise.

Someone mentioned DmC, I'll have to respectfully disagree on that one. I'd played the original Devil May Cry back on ps2, and while DmC isn't the same type of game, judged on its own, a very entertaining way to spend 12 or so hours. The combat and combo system is deep enough that it rewards practice, but button mashers will still be able to fallback on a few set moves to get them through the game. The story is completely over the top nonsense, but it definitely has its own self aware sense of style. The nightclub mission was a particular highlight.

In games that ruined a franchise, if Asassins Creed 3 and Unity pretty much squandered what goodwill that series had generated.

COD Ghosts, was a disappointment on every level coming off the back of the exceptional Black Ops 2, and they're still trying to right the ship by going back to the WW2 setting.

Kiith

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight. Took a pretty good formula with C&C3, and completely changed it. Required always online even for single player, no base building, and a terrible (even by C&C's standard) plot.

Inviere

Fifa it went down hill from '96

Digital Solitude

Dead Space went downhill from 1 to 2, could be accepted as a change of pace. I personally liked 2, but Jesus Dead Space 3 was some crock of ****e, let's turn a creepy sci-fi horror set in confined dark places, to fighting people in the snow. Meh.

pixelburp

Kiith wrote: »

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight. Took a pretty good formula with C&C3, and completely changed it. Required always online even for single player, no base building, and a terrible (even by C&C's standard) plot.

Came here to post this; C&C3 was solid, ditto Red Alert 3 (even if it ramped up the zaniness to Eleventystupid) but Tiberian Twilight and that awful Tiberian Alliances webgame... thing, really ploughed the franchise into the ground. The failed Generals 2 that had a brief multiplayer beta looked OK, but I never liked that universe myself. If ever there was a need for a 'back to basics' style reboot, it's the RTS genre & C&C particularly.

Here's one for the group though; it's not a franchise ruined by a terrible sequel, but in the sense that the franchise is currently sitting in legal purgatory: No One Lives Forever. Two fantastic games back in the early 2000s, then disappeared into limbo. Here's an article outlining how 3 potential rights holders are in a locked state of letting nobody own the franchise properly:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/07/05/no-one-will-sell-no-one-lives-forever-so-lets-download-it/

The_Valeyard

Forgot about No One Lives Forever, a great fun game. I must dig out my copy if it.


How about the Halo series? They still going strong or have 4 and 5 drained it?

troyzer

Rome II Total War has ruined Total War for me. I'm not even interested in Warhammer.

Crash Bandicoot jumped the shark when it moved to PS2, same with Spyro.

I think in ten years time we might see ESO as the moment Elder Scrolls died.

MGS V was a brilliant game but I think it was the end of Metal Gear, Kojima or not. Kojima was smart to leave, MGS V wasn't a proper Metal Gear game and he had run out things to say. Which is a shame, should have left it at 4.

troyzer

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Forgot about No One Lives Forever, a great fun game. I must dig out my copy if it.


How about the Halo series? They still going strong or have 4 and 5 drained it?

I haven't played 5 but 4 did it for me. The relationship between Cortana and Chief was the heart of the series. When she died there was nothing really left. It was just another generic first person shooter, one which felt very tired in Halo 4. The multiplayer was awful.

Patser

I'm going to say Football Manager. I had religiously played those games for a decade, pretty much only game I'd have at times, right from the Championship Manager era.

But last 1 I bought was 2014, because by then it had become an annual release with little innovation and just new team squads and a little bit of new paint. The game play had become over weighted by detail, without any sense of reward.

K.O.Kiki

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Forgot about No One Lives Forever, a great fun game. I must dig out my copy if it.


How about the Halo series? They still going strong or have 4 and 5 drained it?

Lucas Raycevick did a great series of revisits to Halo

Redhighking

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Dawn of War 3
Empire Earth 3
The Force Unleaded 2
Duke Nukem Forever

Dawn of War 2 killed in for me!

aaronjumper

The_Valeyard wrote: »

How about the Halo series? They still going strong or have 4 and 5 drained it?

Four was still an enjoyable addition to the series.
They lost it with 5 though, the campaign is only fun to play with friends and the multiplayer is very meh and forgettable.

Sephiroth_dude

Sim City
Command And conquer

TerrorFirmer

I was hardcore addicted to Halo up to Reach but I think they kinda messed it up from 4 onwards, that said I don't think they're 'ruined', they've just changed so much that I don't love them anymore - no different to the direction COD went, but literally millions upon millions of people still play it so I wouldn't say ruined either.

Game franchises I think were genuinely totally ruined by terrible entries:

Command and Conquer post RA3
Dawn of War 3
Perfect Dark Zero

Force Unleashed 2 might have been disappointing but I still thought it was a pretty cool, fun game. Feel the same about stuff like Halo 5, Duke Nukem Forever, etc. Disappointing but not franchise killers.

ERG89

Burnout Paradise. Loved the series before that but it just wasn't the series to turn into an open world game.
PES 2008 from PES 6 took about 6 or 7 years to recover from too. At least I think it recovered

Sephiroth_dude

Fifa

shygal

The older need for speeds were great fun, simple formula. Newer ones just didnt work, for me at least.

Used to love rally games like wrc, v rally and colin mcrae stuff. The new ones are poor with not much cars to choose from

Gran turismo. Used to love the grind, the licences, the prize cars for winning competitions, the choice of tracks. The new ones, though good, took all that away from me.

WinnyThePoo

I thought age of empires 3 was balls.

Still play two every so often.

cml387

Assassin's Creed not mentioned yet.

Personally it went downhill after II.

Penn

cml387 wrote: »

Assassin's Creed not mentioned yet.

Personally it went downhill after II.

I mostly agree but Black Flag was just so great overall that it almost saved the franchise for me again.

CiDeRmAn

I have Black Flag for the WiiU and yet to play it.
Just don't have time!

Potential-Monke

Bomberman. Simple games done right. And while i haven't played anywhere near all of them, when i played Act Zero, it ruined Bomberman for me! Don't think i've played any of them since!

Ten of Swords

Bioshock 3 is a serious decline in quality compared to the first 2

Don't know what the hell EA were thinking with C&C and Red Alert but it sure wasn't Westwood's original vision. The RTS games got progressively worse and they abandoned the FPS spin-offs. C&C Renegade was meh (but still fun). Renegade 2 was cancelled and finally in 2008 they cancelled Tiberium (which looked really good).

Total War for me is a mixed bag, I don't really like the new recruitment mechanics but I do like the tech tree and the multiple settlements per province.

Max Payne 3, Rockstar failed and failed badly on that in my opinion

CiDeRmAn

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Bomberman. Simple games done right. And while i haven't played anywhere near all of them, when i played Act Zero, it ruined Bomberman for me! Don't think i've played any of them since!

The SNES and Megadrive games are great, the Saturn version probably the best.
After that it all wobbled downhill, though the Switch port is pretty good, getting better with the updates and support multiple players via an array of controllers.

Stone Deaf 4evr

shygal wrote: »

The older need for speeds were great fun, simple formula. Newer ones just didnt work, for me at least.

Used to love rally games like wrc, v rally and colin mcrae stuff. The new ones are poor with not much cars to choose from

Gran turismo. Used to love the grind, the licences, the prize cars for winning competitions, the choice of tracks. The new ones, though good, took all that away from me.

Try dirt rally, it's outstanding. The dark souls of driving games if you will. Very difficult but very rewarding.

Skylinehead

Ten of Swords wrote: »

Max Payne 3, Rockstar failed and failed badly on that in my opinion

Max Payne 3 is brilliant!

Turtyturd

aaronjumper wrote: »

Four was still an enjoyable addition to the series.
They lost it with 5 though, the campaign is only fun to play with friends and the multiplayer is very meh and forgettable.

I hated 4 initially but did a play through of 1-4 prior to the release of 5 and enjoyed it a lot more. It's a good story about humanising Chief. It's just a shame that they completely abandoned it in 5 and focused on Locke.

Multiplayer on 4 will always be a ball of sh!te though and 5 was a major return to form although a long way off the peaks of 3 and Reach.

Mickeroo

The multiplayer in 5 was great I thought, if it wasn't for the fact Overwatch and R6:Siege came out I'd probably still be playing it.

I'm yet to play FF15 but the FF series has been ruined a bit in my opinion. I loved the 7/8/9 style games. Tactics is imo one of the best games ever, while 13 is one of the least enjoyable games I've ever played.

Sephiroth_dude

cml387 wrote: »

Assassin's Creed not mentioned yet.

I disagree personally, I think Unity, syndicate and black flag are all fine games in there own right.

degrassinoel

troyzer wrote: »

Rome II Total War has ruined Total War for me. I'm not even interested in Warhammer.

That's a shame, Rome II was cack alright but Warhammer is a masterstroke, easily the best TW game since the original Rome. Worth at least reading the reviews for it.

Turtyturd

Mickeroo wrote: »

The multiplayer in 5 was great I thought, if it wasn't for the fact Overwatch and R6:Siege came out I'd probably still be playing it.

Would still be one of the main games I play online. The additions to it like the thrusters, ledge climb, and slam attack actually add something to the game and work within it much better than the COD inspired power ups. Although it does suffer from peopl spamming the run and punch attack, and the sh!tty radar.

I really hope they don't deviate too much from 5 with 6.

IR1SH RANG3R

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

I disagree personally, I think Unity, syndicate and black flag are all fine games in there own right.

I think the AC2 trilogy was great except for the last one which was good but a dip in quality. Out of the rest, Black Flag was amazing, Unity was piss poor (I mean they removed all the good mechanics for stealth kills WHY CAN'T I WHISTLE!!!!:mad:) and then Syndicate was decent again. Very up and down series!

Jamiekelly

The Fight Night franchise was ruined by their non existant developers

Retr0gamer

Nelson Bitter Self-sufficient wrote: »

I'm yet to play FF15 but the FF series has been ruined a bit in my opinion. I loved the 7/8/9 style games. Tactics is imo one of the best games ever, while 13 is one of the least enjoyable games I've ever played.

FF13 was the only bad one though (well FF2 on the Famicom is a bit **** as well). Not sure why everyone writes off the FF series just because of FF13. Even the FF13 sequels were excellent, FF13-2 was a lot of fun and FF13-3 is a contender for secret best Final Fantasy game.

Final Fantasy also changes totally with each iteration so it's hardly a game series stuck in a rut, if anything due to how it changes so radically it's perfectly poised to reinvent itself with each release.

gimli2112

Think I'm in the minority for liking FF X. Played the hell out of it. Probably spent more time playing blitzball than any other game that year but FF X2 was god awful, imo.
Couldn't get into FFXIII at all. Think I quit the first time I died and never went back.
Really want to pick up 12 at the moment but there's too much happening.

Retr0gamer

A lot of people like FFX. I'd say myself it's one of the weakest entries in the series. It was the first decent RPG on PS2 and it looked gorgeous but after replaying it it's very limited. The battle system is boring for random encounters but works well for boss fights and the post game content is rushed and quite frankly awful.

I hated FFX-2 at the time as well but going back to it now it's a far better game than FFX was. The story is silly but then FFX is no masterpiece there but mechanically it's far better than FFX ever was and the job system works far better than anything FFX did. My only real issue is a lot of the content is missable so you need a faq and the requirements to 100% the game are absolute bull****, although that's entirely optional thankfully.

I'm playing FF12 now. Hated it originally but loving it now. It's still a poor mans Xenoblade but the additions to the Zodiac Age edition make the game so much better.

gimli2112

Getting the ultimate weapons in X is horrible. Anytime I play it I dread getting the main character's sword (Cloud or whatever he's called in this one). Racing the chocobbo is a painful experience.

keane2097

Would be interested in hearing more about your FFXII playthrough as I played a good bit of it when it came out but never ended up finishing it.

There was something where you set up sort of scripts for the combat IIRC?

ShadowHearth

I am gamer for a while and we all know good old titles that got ruined or lost their way.

Resident evil franchise was ruined, but at least last installment kind of brought it back.
Sonic games... just let it die already.
Silent hill were such amazing games, that dod not diserved it.


From very recent franchises that got completely ruined by corporation and stock holders was Dead space.

I really really loved first one, even second one was fantastic with one of the most amazing enemies in horror video game history and a increadible addition of dead space 1 story and setting added, that I did not expected at all.

Tried 3... I honestly did. Even played with buddy co op, but it was just not the same. It was so bastardised by EA and stock holders templated of what games should do to make profit, that they forgot they making a game in the first place. To make it even worse they killed franchise and I doubt we will see more of it.