Game series that you've lost faith in?

Mr. K

I'm sure many of us have lost faith (or interest) in series that, when we first played them, cemented out love for games. But poor sequels or lack of innovation have changed many people's feelings for these games.

The biggest danger lies in plot-driven games. Lots of people went "Wha...?" at the end of MGS2, or felt a bit insulted by the Charlie's Angels-esque plot of FFX-2. I found my loyalty to these series wavering because of their incomprehensible/stupid plots.

While MGS3 has restored my faith in that series, FF has yet to do so. Of course, the recent plundering of FF7 has made me interested, but it kinda screams cash-in. Even if fans have demanded for years, it's no excuse to realise sub-standard products (Dirge of Cerberus).

The plot isn't always the problem, of course. Resident Evil's problem was that it used the same tired old engine for years! Clever Capcom finally rectified the problem with RE4. Although I must confess, in my rampant RE fanboyism, I think I would've still bought and played every RE game even if they'd never changed the engine.

Has anyone else lost interest in series because of these or other problems? And does anyone realise that they'd buy anything with a certain label on it?

Crucifix

Final Fantasy for me too. Can't really think of anything else.

4Xcut

GTA, it just better pull it together for gta 4. london/2/3/vice were all brilliant but the last 2 releases have screamed cash in louder than an ea board meeting

Creamy Goodness

GTA
Doom
fifa (they were good <96)

Gonzo

final fantasy, doom, mario, sonic and quake for me

trout

Tekken ... peaked at Tekken 3 ... Tekken Tag was pointless drivel, Tekken 4 was slow drivel and Tekken 5 was glitzy,slow and pointless drivel

I have yet to see Tekken on the PSP ... lost faith & interest:(

Goodshape

Gonzo wrote:

mario

The new games for the DS are actually very good (New-SMB and Partners In Time). Mario Galaxy (Wii) is also supposed to be shaping up nicely, although I never cared much for the previous Mario 3D games (Sunshine and, yes, Mario64 - didn't see the attraction).

DonkeyStyle \o/

Definitely lost faith in anything Id will ever do again.
"Wow these graphics are nice... pitty I'm bored shítless"
I'll just download 3Dmark next time I think of buying the next doom or quake... as a gameplay reminder.

UT is walking a fine line... after seeing the 2007 preview avi, I'm getting tired of the same theme being rehashed over and over.

Actually, I've almost completely lost faith in fps as a genre... I thought Deus-Ex was going to usher in a whole new era of "thinking mans fps/rpg", but it's like it never happened.
HL2 (+expansions) seems to be the only game that's really trying to push new ideas IMO.

Haven't lost faith in the GTA series though... for some reason I can't get enough of that game.

Sgt. Politeness

I agree with GTA going downhill. GTA3 broke the mould and the subsequent sequels are just GTA3 with bells and whistles. And alot of them are pointless bells and some of the whistles are just boring or stupid.
MGS aswell, both 2 & 3 failed to grab me like MGS1 did. 4 is gonn have to be special.
And above all else, the battlefield series is having its good name dragged through the crapper by EA's shameless money grabbing, with poor game support, crap expansions and 'booster packs', and the iminent release of the shameless BF2 with lazers bastard offspring that is BF2142

Jim

Battlefield.

stevenmu

Rainbow 6, they really *really* screwed that one up. With the first 3 games they had a pretty unique concept, and carved out a little niche for themselves in the marketplace with a pretty big, and very loyal, fanbase. Then some idiot marketing guy decided that generic run-and-gun shooters make more money then their specialised little one so that's what they should turn it in to (R6: Lockdown, or Letdown as it quickly became known). Big mistake, R6 players didn't want a generic run-and-gun shooter, that's why they played R6 in the first place, and generic shooter fans didn't like all the squad-based baggage the R6 series brings.

R6: Vegas looks like it might be fun in a summer-blockbuster-action-movie kind of way, and they seem to have some interesting tactical gameplay concepts in it, but I'm very doubtfull it'll be a return to what made the series great in the first place (and I won't be at all surprised when the PC version gets binned).

Gone West

bf
quake

Retr0gamer

Final Fantasy. FFX-2 was just a pointless cash in that played awfully and changed everything I loved about the characters from FFX. FFXII might be great but I've a feeling that it just won't feel like a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was a boring and needlessly complicated game and was nowhere near as good as the amazing Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1. I've actually lost a lot of faith in Square-Enix as a whole since they haven't made a decent game since they fired Hironobu Sakaguchi and lost most of their talent to his new studio. Anything that has been good has been developed by 3rd parties such as Factor 5 and Tri-Ace. Actually there really haven't been many decent RPGs this generation.

I lost a lot of faith in Suikoden after the awful Suikoden 4. Thankfully I'm hearing that Suikoden is something really special and rivals the fantastic Suikoden 2 in story terms.

R-type. No other game series has such a high pedigree other than zelda. Every R-type game has been an instant classic in the shmup genre. All except R-type Final. You would expect for the final chapter of it's much loved franchise Irem would pull out all the stops and make the best game they could. R-type Final is really boring with shoddy level design and a framerate so bad that many levels are played in 'bullet time'.

Vegeta

Excellent post idea Mr.K

I am a big fan of everything game related. Infact i enjoy watching someone playing computer games just as much as i enjoy playing them myself. A bit of a voyeur

MGS2 put me off playing MGS3, I heard it was very good but i just wouldn't give it the chance

While i don't like playing FF games i will happily watch my housemates playing them for hours on end and i agree completely that FF-X-2 was the biggest load of crap ever

In an RPG you have to love/respect the characters you play as, you have to want to improve them. They have to be badass enough for you to want to be like them or wish they were your best friend. Taking it a bit far i know but you get what i mean.

FF are losing that. Even in x, i wanted Tidus to die at every single opportunity, he was such a c.u.n.t

Any EA sports title = cha ching.

Loved battlefield also but its constant list of bugs that were unfixed patch after patch turned me off it

koneko

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Battlefield.

Seconded. I'm not going to get suckered into buying yet another BF game that'll be bug-riddled forever, and they'll never fix, and then just release a new one. Up yours, EA.

RE*AC*TOR

Pro Evolution Soccer.

Why may you ask? Sure its still probably the best soccer game out there.

But, has it changed in any significant way since PES3? It peaked with PES3, sure the lure of Xbox Live PES3 in enticing, and I probably will buy it.

Cianos

Gonzo wrote:

mario

Dont know how you can say Mario. It is the one series that seeks to innovate at any opportunity.

Ri_Nollaig

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Definitely lost faith in anything Id will ever do again.
"Wow these graphics are nice... pitty I'm bored shítless"
I'll just download 3Dmark next time I think of buying the next doom or quake... as a gameplay reminder.

UT is walking a fine line... after seeing the 2007 preview avi, I'm getting tired of the same theme being rehashed over and over.

Actually, I've almost completely lost faith in fps as a genre... I thought Deus-Ex was going to usher in a whole new era of "thinking mans fps/rpg", but it's like it never happened.
HL2 (+expansions) seems to be the only game that's really trying to push new ideas IMO.

Haven't lost faith in the GTA series though... for some reason I can't get enough of that game.

couldnt agree with this more, deus ex1 was one of my favourite games of all time.
HL2 and its "episodes" just sounds like a cashcow to me, worse then EA and the sims.
GTA4 will be the first game after GTA3 that has a completely new engine so hopefully that will restore everyones faith in the GTA series
BF is still a great game and has more potential its just EA and their rush to get a another version out and more money is destroying it

magick

Battlefield

bf2 looked so promising then it was destroyed by half arsed patches over powerful weapons as well as a hostile community (bf2 community).
I think i threw it in after the booster packs crap,

I have no faith in 2142.

Kristok

Burnout, revenge did nothing worthwile.

Command and qonquer, after tib sun everything just got rubbish.

Revelation Joe

I was never going to buy another Driver game after 3 but got Parallel Lines cheap and it has (partly) restored my faith. Still don't see the need for guns though
Someone said FIFA and I agree after 2003. The subsequent ones try to cram in too much IMO

Del

Zombrex

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Definitely lost faith in anything Id will ever do again.

Second that.

id don't do single player. That was fine in the days of Doom when we were just so impressed that we were actually "in the game" (tm)

Since Half-Life showed everyone how a story can be used in a FPS id seem to be the only ones who were not paying attention. Doom 3 and Quake 4 single player was boring and repeative.

Star Lord

Revelation Joe wrote:

Still don't see the need for guns though

But...
but... but...

But GTA has guns!!!

:rolleyes:

Pugsley

Command and Conquer series really lost it after EA took over, every game after BF1942 was also dire. Heroes of Might and Magic series has lost it aswell, HOMM3 was an incredably good game, then 4 came along and tried to change everything, but blew, then HOMM5 came around and tried to be HOMM3 again with pretty graphics, but it blew aswell. Age of Empires also took a pretty steep dive with AoE3, AoE3 was a better skirmish game, but multiplayer was just no fun at all (cuirassairs, win), Age of Mythology was also dribble, still play Age of Empires2: Conquerer's when I can.

I actually enjoyed the Quake4 singleplayer, the mapping was incredible, and all the guns felt pretty good to use, so havent lost all faith in ID just yet.

Dont be at yourself

Rainbow 6, they really *really* screwed that one up. With the first 3 games they had a pretty unique concept, and carved out a little niche for themselves in the marketplace with a pretty big, and very loyal, fanbase. Then some idiot marketing guy decided that generic run-and-gun shooters make more money then their specialised little one so that's what they should turn it in to (R6: Lockdown, or Letdown as it quickly became known). Big mistake, R6 players didn't want a generic run-and-gun shooter, that's why they played R6 in the first place, and generic shooter fans didn't like all the squad-based baggage the R6 series brings.

Yes! For me, the series peaked at Rogue Spear, and the subsequent move to the mainstream really diluted the quality of the series. I wonder how the series would have progressed had it followed the thread that the original started and Rogue Spear continued.

GTA peaked at III. Vice City was good, San Andreas was a spectacular step in the wrong direction.

Sgt. Politeness

Wicknight wrote:

Second that.

id don't do single player. That was fine in the days of Doom when we were just so impressed that we were actually "in the game" (tm)

Since Half-Life showed everyone how a story can be used in a FPS id seem to be the only ones who were not paying attention. Doom 3 and Quake 4 single player was boring and repeative.

But HL2s story is almost non exsistant, at least int he sense that absolutely nothing is explained at all. Youre as clueless at the end as you are at the beginning. Its a great game but not exactly story driven.
Quake 4 was a really enjoyable single player. The story was nice, some great setpieces, very enjoyable. Doom 3 will always have a place in my heart due to giving me nightmares about the fat zombies after playing it for hours on end on release day.

CombatCow

C&C after Tiberian sun and Battlefield after..errr 1942


CC

Revelation Joe

DamoElDiablo wrote:

But...
but... but...

But GTA has guns!!!

:rolleyes:

Yebbut to me, one of the main attractions of Driver was that it *wasn't* GTA

Del

Zombrex

Sgt. Politeness wrote:

But HL2s story is almost non exsistant, at least int he sense that absolutely nothing is explained at all.

HL2 has a long and complicated story

It has detailed characters, plot lines, character development, and backstory.

Just because nothing is explained at the end doesn't change that. Sure nothing was explained at the end of XFile TV series that that was over flowing with story.

Sgt. Politeness wrote:

Its a great game but not exactly story driven.

It was completely story driven. Even level and character had a purpose in the over all story.

I think you just didnt notice because it was done so well, and so seemlessly.

When it is done well you don't know that Valve have just explained the history of a town through your interaction with Eli. You don't notice that Valve have explained the purpose of the invasion throught the different monitors of Breen. You don't notice that Valve have detailed the history of the resistence from you talking to Barney a few times.

Sgt. Politeness wrote:

Quake 4 was a really enjoyable single player. The story was nice, some great setpieces, very enjoyable. Doom 3 will always have a place in my heart due to giving me nightmares about the fat zombies after playing it for hours on end on release day.

The stories in Quake and Doom were simply tacked on at the start and the ends. They were little more than set up for the next level. Basic in the extreme.

CiDeRmAn

Star Wars licences, aside from the Lego and Knights of the old republic series.
Couldn't believe how broken Rebel Strike on the GC was, Bounty Hunter, Episode 3 and CloneWars all sucked, even Battlefront 2 didn't do an awful lot.
Given how much enjoyment I got out of Rogue Squadron, Rogue Leader, Starfighter, TieFighter/X-wing/Alliance, its remarkable how low a series can go, and what slop a IP owner can permit to be released in its name.

I really liked single player Quake/2, Doom/2, Final Doom, Doom3 all good fun.
Love to see a return to the lovecraft stylee of the first quake, get away from the Aliens clone the series has become, along with the other copies, yes Prey, I'm looking at you.

evad_lhorg

I notice a few saying C&C after tiberian sun.... tbh I thought tiberian sun was the boring one and red alert 2 was the last great one.