Franchises that NEED to DIE, and those that will last forever

[HoWithABow]

I wanna know how Anyone can say STARCRAFT has been Going on to Long, i mean its had 2... 3 games max?

Also how in the hell did Blizzard keep Quiet about SC 2 for so long!

It had one game and an expansion. Starcraft ghost was canceled and starcraft 2 is very early in the making.

As for games that need to die. Anything that is an mmorpg. Sure they are interesting when leveling up, but after that it just becomes a bloody job instead of a game. Honestly who works a job only to at the end of the week not receive a pay check, but in turn shell out money to their boss. Not to mention they always manage to destroy the game's lore.

Any type of mario rpg needs to stop. Unless they want to make a perfect remake of super mario rpg legend of the seven stars from the snes, they just need to stop. After playing super paper mario for the wii, I have nothing but disgust for the formula. Seriously we came this far in technology and they decide we need to hire a bunch of hobo's off the street to draw diamonds and squares to represent the characters of the game.

Sonic is another one that needs to chill. Anything after adventures for the dc was total garbage. If they keep planning the make sonic titles they seriously need to review what they did in the past that was what made sonic so successful.

OMG Mortal Kombat needs to just /slit itself. It's a mature game that only appeals to children, why? Maybe because all it does is show corny kill scenes that are used to mask it's horrible game play. Nothing has ever changed since the first game. Every single one was made up of entirely horrible fighting and cheap and retarded fatalities.

GTA needs to just die already. It is the same stupid formula that made Mortal Kombat successful. It's a series with nothing but stupid adult themes that only a child would find interesting.

Finally, zelda. The game has been around since the 80's and yet there is still no freken blood in the game, excluding the kill blow at the end of the fight with ganon in oot. I think after 20 years we can handle some blood in the game. It's like watching the chronicles of narnia movie all over again. Sure the story was pretty sweet, but it was ruined by the fact that the main kid fought a freken war with a sword and shield and after he was done killing like a hundred monsters his sword looked like it was just polished.

p.s. Jval the story of warcraft 3 was not wrapped up at the end of frozen throne. Arthas became a lich king and it ended. It never showed the repercussions of that move. For example you never even get to see what happens to illidan after he loses to arthas at the summit of the frozen throne. Illidan was only there because he was being threated with his life by a demon lord to stop arthas from reaching the lich king. Yet you never see how Illidan deals with that issue after he loses to arthas. Then you have the blood elves/humans, nightelfs, and orcs out there to dry, with no real resolution to their stories.

 

[Jagdedge]

You think blood makes a good game?

Tsk.

 

[HoWithABow]

no I don't, but honestly after 20 years of slashing through opponents I would feel a bit satisfied if the sword I use is a bit discolored or tainted with some sort of blood.

 

[Jagdedge]

There aren't any brains gushing out once you've stomped in a Goomba's head, is there? Any suggestions for that?

 

[broadband]

bow, i dont think a game that is suposed to have some kind of child charm would look better with some tainted blood, but anyway thats what you think.

and about WoW, one of the things that called my attention t that game was the warcraft storyline, but man they dumbed the characters to simple npcs and dugeons bosses, that was one of the main reasons i hate WoW, it kiled the storyline at its climax, but now with wrath ofthe lich king, it almost look that could catch the storyline, but knowing blizzard, it wont

 

[HoWithABow]

well in response to that, the last major zelda release: twilight princess was rated T for teen. I guess that was a step in a good direction, but I honestly didn't notice anything in Twilight Princess that was different from the other games that warranted it the esrb rating.

Another thing trouble some with zelda is how they put in random sounds for characters when they talk now. I'm fine with the text only system, but don't make characters make random retarded sounds(aka sounds that could be no way interpreted as words) when you are supposed to imagine them talking.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

I know I'm coming in late and I've only lightly browsed the first page but here are my nominations for series that need to die:

Tomb Raider (agreed with OP on all points) - I've never enjoyed a single one and I vividly remember spending more time looking for a no-clothes hack in my youthful and pimply days than playing a single one of the uninspiring and ultimately finicky and stupid puzzles

Command & Conquer - C&C Generals was great, I loved it, I played it obsessively then I got bored because I became tired of games being determined by super weapons. One of my very first games was the original C&C, I played Red Alert until my fingers bled then I quit until Generals because I hated all of the games between Red Alert and Generals. C&C 3 was, in my humble opinion, an absolute piece of junk with shiny graphics, two generations ago gameplay, and missions that were so easy I could probably beat them just typing with my nose and moving the mouse with my chin.

Heroes of Might and Magic - I played and loved the old ones and seeing as how the game has barely changed from the originals I think it's time for it to be put out to pasture. For a game to succeed it needs to bring something new to the table and I can't figure out what is new about the newer Might and Magic games.

Half-Life - I love Freeman the Destroyer as much as the next guy. I have beaten Half-Life a couple times, beat Half-Life 2 once (partially on a six hour train ride teaching the eight year old behind me what real cursing sounded like, much to the chagrin of his mother) and I would be dumb enough to buy Half-Life 3 if it came out. But seriously, they need something new because I'm tired of shooting white-shirted zombies with aliens attached to their faces.

Call of Duty - Once again, I love Call of Duty 4, however, the game has barely changed since Call of Duty 1. We still have houses of infinite respawning in place of a moderately intelligent AI, boring corridor-shooter maps in the campaign, however, at least they finally abandoned World War 2. Unless they pull a BF2142 and try to skip ahead 100 years (and I don't think the CoD developers have the creativity to pull something like this off) I think it's time for CoD to die.

Warcraft - I'm still on the fence about this one because I think Warcraft III was quite a leap above Warcraft II, however, I think the next in the line (if they ever make one) determines the viability of the series. I think it's entirely possible Warcraft IV will never be made as the franchise gets fully pushed into the MMO realm, however, I wouldn't put it past Blizzard to pull a Starcraft and make a sequel many years later.

Elder Scrolls - I'll give them one more chance to get their act together but after Oblivion I'll only buy it after it's been out for a few months and I can find adequate player reviews. As much as I spent lots of time playing Oblivion I ended up regretting it because my favorite character turned into an impotent piece of junk near the end and I couldn't ender an Oblivion gate without feeling like it was time to consider suicide.

Civilization - I loved Civ 3, I kind of liked Civ 4 and I really doubt that they can actually pull off another Civ without some major changes. Civ 3 was fantastic and Civ 4 was mediocre, at best, and judging by the amount of time I played it the game was just bad. They dumbed it down to appeal to a larger audience but in the process they gutted the soul of Civilization which was having absolute control over your creation.

Sim Anything - It's just enough. About the only Sim game I'd consider buying would be Sim Kama Sutra and that's just because I'm a dirty bastard.

Doom - Doom 3 wasn't good enough to warrant Doom 4. Unless they are willing to take the plunge into making Doom a true horror FPS they should just let it die.

Quake - I've had enough of Quake. It's a corridor shooter, we get it, stop updating the grahpics and releasing it as if it's something new and different. The only Quake game I liked was Rocket Arena for Quake III and I think that was a player mod (though I could be wrong).

Unreal Tournament - Read above. I haven't played the latest one but I think the only thing that could re-interest me would be stealing quite a bit from Tribes to the point where the game no longer resembles an Unreal Tournament game and at that point it would basically have killed itself so it wouldn't matter what they called it, it just wouldn't be UT.

Internet Poker - It should die.

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

i actually still really enjoy my dynasty warriors games and until i actually see no difference between the games i'll keep buying them, not at full price but i rarley buy any games at full pricce these days.

how about the football,basketball,baseball,soccer, or any sports game franchise, the only fun sports games are ones that ignore reality, i will play a football game so long as i get to powerbomb and german suplex people all to hell and back, nhl hits was the last sports game i played because checking people into the stands made me giggle like an evil dictator. but as far as i can tell nfl 06,07,08,09,10,11,... can all be abborted. if you want to play football go outside.

 

[DuoM]

As a gamer, I loathe most if all sports games. The Madden Franchise NEEDS to go. Let some other developers do something with football instead of horde it. I like football as a sport but I'm against buying anything that has EA Sports on it.

Still, franchises that need to die... hmm.

Splinter Cell seems to be a winner. I like Sam but when they kicked him off the C.I.A. team I basically said they can't make another and yet here we are with conviction. My friends died when they heard the next Splinter Cell and I do admit, Chaos Theory was awesome with some co-op play on a rainy night but this series has started to fall into the 'Jack Bauer Syndrome" I saw coined earlier in this topic.

Command and Conquer doesn't necessarily have to DIE but EA needs to drop Westwood and let them do their thing without a bunch of pencil pushing pricks screwing up the game that could bring them more money than anything in their arsenal.

Taking out the Need For Speed series would've been a brilliant move. Pro Street wasn't great, nothing really made it fun or exciting against games like Project Gotham or for that matter Forza or the soon to be released Grant Tourism 5 (Or is that released, I dunno i don't own a PS3)

I know this list has a lot of reoccurring games but I'm going to defend a few titles.

Mario started the platforming franchise and since no platformer out there HAS been very good, Mario has had to step up and make it good and remind the developers that if you're going to make a platforming game you need to shoot for Mario good.

Looking at Final Fantasy, you can say its a series but that'd be a seriously large error. FF should be looked at like Sin City. Every story is a story in and of itself with little to no relation to the one previous or the sequel afterwards. There ARE some FF's I hate and that's that and there ARE some FF's I love (The much unliked FF9 being one of my favorites).

Zelda, I can't say because I never played them for more than an hour at a friends. I seems to be inept at them because I could beat the second dungeon so I just avoided them as much as possible and watched others play because I sucked.

 

[smorgasbord_of_pie]

World of Warcraft

Kill it, kill it with fire.

The Warcraft games themselves are good, but because of that GODDAMN World of Warcrack, we're never going to get another Warcraft RTS because Blizzard is contend to sit on their fucking hands and take the money than to actually make another quality game.

I swear, Starcraft 2 better be FUCKING good or Blizzard has lost all my faith. That game better be like the gaming equivalent of ambrosia.

Oh My God I cannot describe how much I agree with you there. Blizzard has messed up their chances for another GOOD Warcraft game, they have proceeded to use WoW to violate all their lore and characters. Their only chance at Warcraft redemption is to declare that all the shit they pulled in world of warcrap as non-canon and abandon their MMO to the wolves.
Right now I'm maintaining a kind of dual mentality about Blizzard: loving them for finally bringing us Starcraft 2 and cursing them to the sixth circle of hell for WoW. Doublethink, so to speak.

EDIT: Not to mention my burning hatred of EA. Westwood, you will be missed.

 

[jaisimar_chelsea]

Half-Life - I love Freeman the Destroyer as much as the next guy. I have beaten Half-Life a couple times, beat Half-Life 2 once (partially on a six hour train ride teaching the eight year old behind me what real cursing sounded like, much to the chagrin of his mother) and I would be dumb enough to buy Half-Life 3 if it came out. But seriously, they need something new because I'm tired of shooting white-shirted zombies with aliens attached to their faces.

u dont know what half life is u scum
ur just one of those fanboys who dont like hal life
half life 3 is already out in the form of episodes
ep1 + ep2 + ep3 = half life 3

 

[Count_de_Monet]

I have to agree with that sentiment, however, I fear that Starcraft 2 isn't going to be all that great. Maybe, just maybe, it equals it's predecessor but I truly doubt it. What made Starcraft so great wasn't that it was a perfect game it was that people were willing to play around the errors and develop unique strategies to deal with everything instead of just bitching to Blizzard about fixing it. I view Team Fortress 2 in much the same way; yes, TF2 is a much more polished game, however, it was the wonky things about TFC which made it great most notably conc and rocket jumping. I just can't reconcile my universally loving memories of TFC with it's bastard son TF2 and I fear I will have much the same reaction to Starcraft 2.

If SC2 is simply a graphics update of the original then I'll buy it, enjoy it for a little while then abandon it for greener pastures.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

u dont know what half life is u scum
ur just one of those fanboys who dont like hal life
half life 3 is already out in the form of episodes
ep1 + ep2 + ep3 = half life 3

Except it's Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 3 and it all falls under the heading of Half-Life 2 because it follows the same story arc. Half-Life 1 may have had Gordon Freeman but it's story is completely different from Half-Life 2. Presumably Half-Life 3 will be released eventually and it's story will take place farther in the future (unless they kill off good Sir Freeman).

And I have played and enjoyed Half-Life and everything it has spawned. I own Half-Life, Opposing Fronts, Blue Shift, Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike, CS: Condition Zero, CS: Source, Half-Life 2, TF2, HL2: Ep. 1 and Ep. 2 (though I haven't started 2 yet) and I've actually beaten HL, OF, HL2, 95% of Ep.1 (finals season reared it's head and then I had to reformat so I lost my saves), and I believe I beat Blue Shift though I may not have, I just can't remember.

They need something new, there is really no denying it. At the very least Valve needs to go back to Half-Life's roots and dredge up that alien dimension instead of throwing endless combine and zombies at me and expecting me to enjoy it. Oh yeah, I forgot the antlions; they were great in HL2 but after I plopped a car on the sixth hole in Ep. 1 I was officially fed up with the stupid things.

 

[Rilak Thunderheart]

I was always a big fan of Halo 1-3, but I hope Bungie stops the franchise before it overstays it's welcome. I also think developers should try making new genres. Katamari Damacy was a prime example of that, it's not for everyonr but it was a new genre of games and it was totally original.

 

[RentCavalier]

Rob Inglis]We need to kill:


And for the love of god, kill Pokemon off this instant. It is no longer a thriving company, but a Frankenstein monster all in its own.

Of all the franchises you mentioned, Pokemon is one of the more successful. I think they have an actually fairly good thing with Pokemon--each new iteration (generation, if you will) shifts the overall, metagame formula, making it so that Pokemon that originally sucked suddenly become surprisingly useful, and so on.

 

[Zc456]

The Sims franchise. I looove the first one to tears. After Sims 2 though EA has been milking since the Stuff Packs. I mean come on!

 

[Mairsil the Pretender]

Half-Life 1 = Awesome
Half-Life 2 = Mediocre
Episode 1 = See above
Episode 2 = See Episode 1

I do hope that either Ep 3 is the last in the series or that they actually decide to make it good.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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You, sir, have just angered a fanboy. HL2 was a game that was made of pure win. HL2E1 was less good, but gave you lots of stressfull zombie-fights, more of the lovely Alyx, and...well, okay, not much else. HL2E2 was, in some ways, better than HL2. it had a tighter, more involved story than E1, which was just "get out of the city" gave you awesom new monsters, and a heart-rending ending that, while it didnt make me cry, put me in a crying mood. Portal...I am not worthy to discuss it. all further games in this series are awaited by me with gibbering glee. /fanwank

but yes, the series does need to return to it's roots or tread new ground. It cannot forever go on like this, killing combine soldiers and zombies. E3, or HL3 need to mix it up by, ironicaly, going back to the beginning. Im serious, valve needs to get off their cloud and remember that any franchise, no matter how good, can become stagnant.

Halo: halo deserves neither the praise nor the hate it receives. I actually think that a further halo game could be made. provided, of course that they do a complete 180 from Halo 3. the franchise has potential. But, if they're going to try more of the same...kill it.

Either Kill mario, or make a game with a real story. I've always maintained that a more advanced mario game might actually give the series a breath of fresh air. Make the characters more physicaly and emotionaly realistic, make Yoshi a cute-but-still-badass dinosaur, make the Goombas horrible fungus monsters, and create a real first-person sense of dread when you see a giant block crashing down in front of you. I know remakes are unholy things, but a 3-d remake of SMW might be worth considering.

Kill Zelda. Please, it's begging you to. Twilight Princess was one last hurrah. it was a good, really big game worth playing. now, let Zelda die with dignity.

 

[CyberAkuma]

Seems odd to me that nobody has mentioned these games.

Megaman
This was the number one NES main franchaise that made the NES and Nintendo it's name.
It was one of the most sold and appreciated games of all time for the console, and today it lays in ruins thanks to Capcoms marketing technique of rehashing an old game that has not changed since 1993 when Megaman X was released.

A lot of people in here are giving Sonic a bad time - and they should, but Megaman was born long before that and the ammount of mediocre games that has been made just to milk out some more cash is staggering.

If there's one favourite idol that has been literally raped byond reason it's our former favourite boy in blue.
All the 3D renditions of him in the past have been ediocre at best, all the really awkward RPGs he's been in really needs to be put to bed, sure Battle Network for the GBA was OK but with a 6th sequel now and 629385763829 different versions of the very same game (PokEmon, anyone?) they have really wrecked Megaman to utter dismay.