Game series that need a new chapter

[morTvicR]

A FreeSpace 3 would be nice. As would another Homeworld.

Oh a slick new Homeworld we be a Dream-

My Next Chapter would be

Grim Fandango 2 - I love Graphic adventures and non came finer than this -

Freelancer 2- Starlancer was OK, But Freelance was really fun, easy to get into with a cool story- I really Hoped Eve online was going to be like Freelance, How I cried..

 

[Andaxay]

Dungeon keeper, always always dungeon keeper

Hear, hear! I've been playing DK to death lately, I can't get enough of it. Deeper Dungeons is an insane difficulty, but it's also awesome.

Golden Sun, too. GS3 hasn't been out a very long time, but holy cliffhanger, Batman!

 

[Arsen]

Final Fantasy Tactics.
Vagrant Story.
Medievil.
Panzer Dragoon.

First had one of gaming's best stories. I want a continuation in that exact same world around maybe fifteen years after the first game. Maybe involving the heirs of King Delita Hyral.
Second, was another Square game that got left in the dust, despite being a rather genius title.
Third, was one of the funnest games around.
Fourth, has a soundtrack I still enjoy to this very day, had sweeping, glorious battles, and was just absorbing.

 

[guitarsniper]

Mirror's Edge, one of the best original IP's i've seen in a while. It deserves a chance to correct the mistakes in what was otherwise an excellent concept. (also another installment of DAT SOUNDTRACK )

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Not having played either ME3 or Human Revolution I can't really comment on either ending, but I can say with certainty that just because YOU didn't like it doesn't mean they "cocked it up." Game developers don't make games specifically to please you, because you alone are not a large enough market to make it worth while.

Given that Mass Effect 3's ending is rather irrelevant to it's sales (since, well, people have to buy it to watch the ending most of the time), the market is irrelevant to this discussion. That, however, does not mean i can't critisize them for the ending.

If you go watch at Metacritic, ME3 is one of the games that is being reviewbombed [http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/mass-effect-3/user-reviews?dist=negative] currently by angry people. Now, i didn't participate in the reviewbombing, and i don't condone it either. But regardless of the immaturity of the reviewbombing itself, the complaints of the people who does this aren't to be dismissed lightly (most of them bought the game after all), and while many of their review complaints also center about stuff like Day 1 DLC (which can be debated to death) which i personally don't feel should weigh in for a game if the base experience is really good, many complaints - ironically just like me - is about the ending.

Why? Because it's terrible. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but to put it simple, it (or rather, they, because it's a multiple choice ending) counteracts pretty much EVERYTHING you've worked for throughout the entire game series. Nothing in the game series (all 3 games) previous ~60-80 hours of gameplay in any way implied the terrible twist in the ending. They just dropped it on us like a meteor and excepted us to swallow it after having lived through everything else, which is inevitably going to disappoint almost anyone who feel that they invested into the story with their actions. Like i said in my description above, it's like being invited to take a looong warm shower, only to have your host dumb ice cold water on you just before you're about to step out.

The problem is that it's a class example of writers bringing something into a story that doesn't need to brought in, but that they "felt" they had to bring in to make the story more special (unfortunately in the negative way). Without giving spoilers away again, the best way to explain it is that the writers brought in their own version of "Intelligent Design" into the story. That alone should be enough to indicate why it was a terrible decision, even if you haven't played the game )

I still recommend the game though. It's of very solid construction, right up to the ending, and if you can suffer being heavily disappointed by the last 30 minutes of ME3 (or avoid investing any emotions into the story and characters, in which case the terrible ending won't matter so much).

I also expect Yahtzee to rip on the ending in Zero/Extra Punctuation in a few weeks.

Yes you do have every right to criticize, but there is a difference between criticizing and whining like the thing in question just shot your best friend. And in case we're not totally clear, what you were doing falls into the latter category.

And what's so bad about these endings anyway? Do they pull the "It was all a dream" card? Does God himself come down and banish the Reapers? What? Do the Reapers turn out to be God?

 

[Danny91]

Not having played either ME3 or Human Revolution I can't really comment on either ending, but I can say with certainty that just because YOU didn't like it doesn't mean they "cocked it up." Game developers don't make games specifically to please you, because you alone are not a large enough market to make it worth while.

Given that Mass Effect 3's ending is rather irrelevant to it's sales (since, well, people have to buy it to watch the ending most of the time), the market is irrelevant to this discussion. That, however, does not mean i can't critisize them for the ending.

If you go watch at Metacritic, ME3 is one of the games that is being reviewbombed [http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/mass-effect-3/user-reviews?dist=negative] currently by angry people. Now, i didn't participate in the reviewbombing, and i don't condone it either. But regardless of the immaturity of the reviewbombing itself, the complaints of the people who does this aren't to be dismissed lightly (most of them bought the game after all), and while many of their review complaints also center about stuff like Day 1 DLC (which can be debated to death) which i personally don't feel should weigh in for a game if the base experience is really good, many complaints - ironically just like me - is about the ending.

Why? Because it's terrible. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but to put it simple, it (or rather, they, because it's a multiple choice ending) counteracts pretty much EVERYTHING you've worked for throughout the entire game series. Nothing in the game series (all 3 games) previous ~60-80 hours of gameplay in any way implied the terrible twist in the ending. They just dropped it on us like a meteor and excepted us to swallow it after having lived through everything else, which is inevitably going to disappoint almost anyone who feel that they invested into the story with their actions. Like i said in my description above, it's like being invited to take a looong warm shower, only to have your host dumb ice cold water on you just before you're about to step out.

The problem is that it's a class example of writers bringing something into a story that doesn't need to brought in, but that they "felt" they had to bring in to make the story more special (unfortunately in the negative way). Without giving spoilers away again, the best way to explain it is that the writers brought in their own version of "Intelligent Design" into the story. That alone should be enough to indicate why it was a terrible decision, even if you haven't played the game )

I still recommend the game though. It's of very solid construction, right up to the ending, and if you can suffer being heavily disappointed by the last 30 minutes of ME3 (or avoid investing any emotions into the story and characters, in which case the terrible ending won't matter so much).

I also expect Yahtzee to rip on the ending in Zero/Extra Punctuation in a few weeks.

Yes you do have every right to criticize, but there is a difference between criticizing and whining like the thing in question just shot your best friend. And in case we're not totally clear, what you were doing falls into the latter category.

And what's so bad about these endings anyway? Do they pull the "It was all a dream" card? Does God himself come down and banish the Reapers? What? Do the Reapers turn out to be God?

Spoiler

Your second option there is surprisingly close in some ways to what happened

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Spoiler: *snip*

Not having played either ME3 or Human Revolution I can't really comment on either ending, but I can say with certainty that just because YOU didn't like it doesn't mean they "cocked it up." Game developers don't make games specifically to please you, because you alone are not a large enough market to make it worth while.

Given that Mass Effect 3's ending is rather irrelevant to it's sales (since, well, people have to buy it to watch the ending most of the time), the market is irrelevant to this discussion. That, however, does not mean i can't critisize them for the ending.

If you go watch at Metacritic, ME3 is one of the games that is being reviewbombed [http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/mass-effect-3/user-reviews?dist=negative] currently by angry people. Now, i didn't participate in the reviewbombing, and i don't condone it either. But regardless of the immaturity of the reviewbombing itself, the complaints of the people who does this aren't to be dismissed lightly (most of them bought the game after all), and while many of their review complaints also center about stuff like Day 1 DLC (which can be debated to death) which i personally don't feel should weigh in for a game if the base experience is really good, many complaints - ironically just like me - is about the ending.

Why? Because it's terrible. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but to put it simple, it (or rather, they, because it's a multiple choice ending) counteracts pretty much EVERYTHING you've worked for throughout the entire game series. Nothing in the game series (all 3 games) previous ~60-80 hours of gameplay in any way implied the terrible twist in the ending. They just dropped it on us like a meteor and excepted us to swallow it after having lived through everything else, which is inevitably going to disappoint almost anyone who feel that they invested into the story with their actions. Like i said in my description above, it's like being invited to take a looong warm shower, only to have your host dumb ice cold water on you just before you're about to step out.

The problem is that it's a class example of writers bringing something into a story that doesn't need to brought in, but that they "felt" they had to bring in to make the story more special (unfortunately in the negative way). Without giving spoilers away again, the best way to explain it is that the writers brought in their own version of "Intelligent Design" into the story. That alone should be enough to indicate why it was a terrible decision, even if you haven't played the game )

I still recommend the game though. It's of very solid construction, right up to the ending, and if you can suffer being heavily disappointed by the last 30 minutes of ME3 (or avoid investing any emotions into the story and characters, in which case the terrible ending won't matter so much).

I also expect Yahtzee to rip on the ending in Zero/Extra Punctuation in a few weeks.

Yes you do have every right to criticize, but there is a difference between criticizing and whining like the thing in question just shot your best friend. And in case we're not totally clear, what you were doing falls into the latter category.

And what's so bad about these endings anyway? Do they pull the "It was all a dream" card? Does God himself come down and banish the Reapers? What? Do the Reapers turn out to be God?

Spoiler

Your second option there is surprisingly close in some ways to what happened

0_o Really? Ok, that is a bad ending.

 

[rebelscum]

-No One Lives Forever
-The Suffering
-XIII
-Freedom Fighters
-Bully (Though apparently this one might be happening)

 

[Dondonalien44]

A huge, HUGE second to both Timesplitters and The Longest Journey. The latter is one of my favorite series of all time, and the cliffhanger ending in Dreamfall was almost criminal.
On a related note, where's that OddWorld game we were promised?
And also Ape Escape. I know they did that little PSN-only Move title, but I want a true sequel!

 

[android88]

Persona. That game needs a sequal. A proper Yakuza sequal too, not the zombie spin off coming out, which I'll still get.

 

[Athinira]

Yes you do have every right to criticize, but there is a difference between criticizing and whining like the thing in question just shot your best friend. And in case we're not totally clear, what you were doing falls into the latter category.

Not really, that's just your assertion of what I'm doing. I'm just against stupidity in general, and i consider the decisions on the BioWare and Eidos Montreal writers in regards to the endings to be terrible.

Now, for the Eidos Montreal team (who developed Deus Ex: Human Revolution), i can sort of symphatize in the sense that their inability to figure out a proper ending might have been the result of a constrained budget. If the writers are limited in what they can do... well, then they are limited in what they can do. Was this the reason behind it? We'll likely never know.

The Mass Effect 3 ending, however, aren't the result of that. It's a result of plain poor decision-making on the behalf of the writers. Actually making a good ending out of it wouldn't have cost them anything.

And what's so bad about these endings anyway? Do they pull the "It was all a dream" card? Does God himself come down and banish the Reapers? What? Do the Reapers turn out to be God?

Since you're so ichy for the spoilers:

Spoiler: Mass Effect 3 ending spoilers in here. Don't click if you dont want to know

It turns out that the reapers do what they do because the "Catalyst", a sort of "godlike" entity behind the reapers, can't see a solution for humans and synthetics ever living together, so it created synthetics (Reapers) to wipe out organics every 50.000 year.

Now, first of all: bringing in a "godlike" entity that created the Reapers and therefore completely demystifies them (as opposed to the statement by Sovereign in Mass Effect 1: "We simply are", which leaves our fantasy to fill the holes about an enemy we don't understand) into a sci-fi universe is just terrible. And like mentioend, it brings up the Intelligent Design problem (now that we know that the reapers was created by that Entity. Now, who created the Entity?). They've spent 80 hours taking us through a sci-fi experience, only to suddenly drop a supernatural existence into the whole mess. The Reapers, as powerful and old as they are, are at least a believable foe with flaws and weaknesses who can be destroyed, and who needs to work within the normal boundaries of the laws of physics (as they exist in Mass Effect 3).

But this is just the start of the problem. You see, the three way ending in Mass Effect 3 - That is, the 3 ways the game can end IF you managed to gather enough forces to face the reapers. In reality there are 16 endings in total, most with small variances though - allows Shephard to do several things depending on the readiness rating. Not having played the Galaxy At War Multiplayer (which is necessary to avoid Shephard dying), here was my options:

- Send out an energy wave that destroys ALL the Reapers, but at the same time also destroys most technology in the galaxy, including the Mass Relays. "Galactic Civilization" will therefore end (given that it's now isolated) and organic races are basically bombed back into the stone age. In an ending cinematic you see the Normandy (with Joker and the rest of the crew) crash-land on a jungle planet where they will be stranded forever.

- Send out an energy wave that assimilates ALL organic and synthetic life in the galaxy into a new framework, therefore solving the Catalysts problem of synthetics and organics coexisting. Now, beyond the fact that rewriting the DNA of all life in the galaxy doesn't seem like a good moral decision, i would like to know how the hell that is possible. Last time i checked, the game was called "Mass Effect" because of the Mass Effect field technology, NOT "Magic Effect". The BioWare writers fell right into the good old trap of all-purpose-plot-insulation that Star Wars also fell into with The Force, because apparently we can change the entire makeup of the galaxy with supernatural energy novas now.

- Control the reapers (by becoming a Reaper yourself from what i understand. Haven't played that particular ending). How much of Earth is saved depends on readiness rating.

The worst of the above is the "Magic Effect" problem i talked about, which just destroys any faith people might have had in the universe, but another problem here is that out of the 16 different endings (although not all of them are THAT different to each other) in ME3, there is no REAL 'happy ending' option.

Now, you might argue that a game not having a happy ending doesn't mean it has a terrible ending. And that is true. I agree.
But the problem is that Mass Effect goes out of it's way, both in ME2 and ME3, to give you a way to "track" how well you have prepared for the war (or in case of Mass Effect 2, the suicide mission). What this does is that it makes people who are invested in their universe work their asses off to be as prepared as possible and stack the odds in their favor. They are going to take every side mission they can, not just because of the story involved, but because they want to see themself succeed completely, similarly to how people would complete all loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2 and get all ship upgrades to make sure everyone survived the suicide mission. And in ME2, that was possible. I've completed the game several times with everyone surviving the mission.

Only this time, no matter how much you prepare, you are going to find that BioWare are still going to cockpunch you in the guts with a terrible ending. You are going to see ALL of the characters you came to love throughout the series getting pounded into the dirt, and it's inevitably going to leave people - who worked their asses off for hours upon hours to actually WIN the game - frustrated, disappointed and/or angry, because these people actually fought to see some or most their characters through this (even if SOME of them dies, like Mordin/Wrex and Legion indeed does in ME3).

To booth, they also added love interests (read: romances) to the game, but apparently those are also irrelevant since Shephard and his or hers love interest will never see a future together. In Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhall, your epilogue was based on which character you romanced, which - even though it was just an epilogue - added weight to the romance because it implied your protagonist was fighting to see a future after this. The Romances in Mass Effect... well, unless you can get off on the sex scenes (which i certainly don't hope is the case), then why bother?

So in short, in the last 30 minutes of the game, BioWares writers managed to:
- Destroy the believability of the universe by bringing in a "god" with supernatural (not just sci-fi/high-technological) powers.
- Finally show you that most decisions you made in the game (love interests etc.) doesn't matter in the end, no matter how hard you busted your ass.
- Piss on all the characters in the game that they worked so hard to make players actually love.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I'll go with Mother. I'd eat my own foot (which I use every day, and would deeply lament the loss of) for a new Mother title that feels like a Mother title.

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

-No More Heroes.
Travis' story may be over, but there's a lot of potential left in Shinobu, or even Henry.

-Metroid.
Other M doesn't count goddammit!

-Shantae.
These games were so good that I actually bought the original cartridge for $100, and that was after serious negotiation with the seller. The first game ranks in my top 5 best games ever, and the second get's in the top 10. I'm really starting to miss the dancing half-genie.


And while slightly off topic, I'd like some closure for Sonic Chronicles. The game ended with the group falling out of the sky in a damaged aircraft to world that has been conquered by Dr. Eggman. Hell, I'd be happy if there was a comic in which the craft crashed and exploded, and Sonic crawled alone, broken and bloody, from the burning wreckage, only to be gunned down by a passing platoon of robots.
It's dark as hell, but it's an ending.

 

[uzo]

Biohazard: Outbreak !!! The last of the true survival horrors.

<----- ELITE !!!! (Let none say I do not take every opportunity to point at my avatar and scream)

 

[Chalacachaca]

Legacy of Kain, a Silent Hill made by Team Silent (you know, the original guys), Half-Life, Thief, SWAT and Police Quest.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yes you do have every right to criticize, but there is a difference between criticizing and whining like the thing in question just shot your best friend. And in case we're not totally clear, what you were doing falls into the latter category.

Not really, that's just your assertion of what I'm doing. I'm just against stupidity in general, and i consider the decisions on the BioWare and Eidos Montreal writers in regards to the endings to be terrible.

Now, for the Eidos Montreal team (who developed Deus Ex: Human Revolution), i can sort of symphatize in the sense that their inability to figure out a proper ending might have been the result of a constrained budget. If the writers are limited in what they can do... well, then they are limited in what they can do. Was this the reason behind it? We'll likely never know.

The Mass Effect 3 ending, however, aren't the result of that. It's a result of plain poor decision-making on the behalf of the writers. Actually making a good ending out of it wouldn't have cost them anything.

And what's so bad about these endings anyway? Do they pull the "It was all a dream" card? Does God himself come down and banish the Reapers? What? Do the Reapers turn out to be God?

Since you're so ichy for the spoilers:

Spoiler: Mass Effect 3 ending spoilers in here. Don't click if you dont want to know

It turns out that the reapers do what they do because the "Catalyst", a sort of "godlike" entity behind the reapers, can't see a solution for humans and synthetics ever living together, so it created synthetics (Reapers) to wipe out organics every 50.000 year.

Now, first of all: bringing in a "godlike" entity that created the Reapers and therefore completely demystifies them (as opposed to the statement by Sovereign in Mass Effect 1: "We simply are", which leaves our fantasy to fill the holes about an enemy we don't understand) into a sci-fi universe is just terrible. And like mentioend, it brings up the Intelligent Design problem (now that we know that the reapers was created by that Entity. Now, who created the Entity?). They've spent 80 hours taking us through a sci-fi experience, only to suddenly drop a supernatural existence into the whole mess. The Reapers, as powerful and old as they are, are at least a believable foe with flaws and weaknesses who can be destroyed, and who needs to work within the normal boundaries of the laws of physics (as they exist in Mass Effect 3).

But this is just the start of the problem. You see, the three way ending in Mass Effect 3 - That is, the 3 ways the game can end IF you managed to gather enough forces to face the reapers. In reality there are 16 endings in total, most with small variances though - allows Shephard to do several things depending on the readiness rating. Not having played the Galaxy At War Multiplayer (which is necessary to avoid Shephard dying), here was my options:

- Send out an energy wave that destroys ALL the Reapers, but at the same time also destroys most technology in the galaxy, including the Mass Relays. "Galactic Civilization" will therefore end (given that it's now isolated) and organic races are basically bombed back into the stone age. In an ending cinematic you see the Normandy (with Joker and the rest of the crew) crash-land on a jungle planet where they will be stranded forever.

- Send out an energy wave that assimilates ALL organic and synthetic life in the galaxy into a new framework, therefore solving the Catalysts problem of synthetics and organics coexisting. Now, beyond the fact that rewriting the DNA of all life in the galaxy doesn't seem like a good moral decision, i would like to know how the hell that is possible. Last time i checked, the game was called "Mass Effect" because of the Mass Effect field technology, NOT "Magic Effect". The BioWare writers fell right into the good old trap of all-purpose-plot-insulation that Star Wars also fell into with The Force, because apparently we can change the entire makeup of the galaxy with supernatural energy novas now.

- Control the reapers (by becoming a Reaper yourself from what i understand. Haven't played that particular ending). How much of Earth is saved depends on readiness rating.

The worst of the above is the "Magic Effect" problem i talked about, which just destroys any faith people might have had in the universe, but another problem here is that out of the 16 different endings (although not all of them are THAT different to each other) in ME3, there is REAL 'happy ending' option.

Now, you might argue that a game not having a happy ending doesn't mean it has a terrible ending. And that is true. I agree.
But the problem is that Mass Effect goes out of it's way, both in ME2 and ME3, to give you a way to "track" how well you have prepared for the war (or in case of Mass Effect 2, the suicide mission). What this does is that it makes people who are invested in their universe work their asses off to be as prepared as possible and stack the odds in their favor. They are going to take every side mission they can, not just because of the story involved, but because they want to see themself succeed completely, similarly to how people would complete all loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2 and get all ship upgrades to make sure everyone survived the suicide mission. And in ME2, that was possible. I've completed the game several times with everyone surviving the mission.

Only this time, no matter how much you prepare, you are going to find that BioWare are still going to cockpunch you in the guts with a terrible ending. You are going to see ALL of the characters you came to love throughout the series getting pounded into the dirt, and it's inevitably going to leave people - who worked their asses off for hours upon hours to actually WIN the game - frustrated, disappointed and/or angry, because these people actually fought to see some or most their characters through this (even if SOME of them dies, like Mordin/Wrex and Legion indeed does in ME3).

To booth, they also added love interests (read: romances) to the game, but apparently those are also irrelevant since Shephard and his or hers love interest will never see a future together. In Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhall, your epilogue was based on which character you romanced, which - even though it was just an epilogue - added weight to the romance because it implied your protagonist was fighting to see a future after this. The Romances in Mass Effect... well, unless you can get off on the sex scenes (which i certainly don't hope is the case), then why bother?

So in short, in the last 30 minutes of the game, BioWares writers managed to:
- Destroy the believability of the universe by bringing in a "god" with supernatural (not just sci-fi/high-technological) powers.
- Finally show you that most decisions you made in the game (love interests etc.) doesn't matter in the end, no matter how hard you busted your ass.
- Piss on all the characters in the game that they worked so hard to make players actually love.

0_o Ok you didn't need to go into that much detail. A simple one sentance summery would've sufficed, something along the lines of say "Reverse Duex Ex Machina."
Anyway, I'm guessing you're not fond the character of 'Q' from Star Trek then eh? Or that one Star Trek:TNG novel that suggested that there was a being that was even higher than him (them).
However I certainly can't argue that those are indeed shitty endings.

Spoiler

I'm guessing the other 13 possible endings all involve all organic life getting fucked in some way or other. Not because of the introduction of the "God" character, but because there's no way to truly win. From your desc. it sounds like no matter what you choose, everyone still ends up fucked; or at least Shepard does.

So okay you've convinced me.

 

[Something Amyss]

Funny story: The re-release on Gamecube covered some of his background, but ya had to sidequest the hell out of it to get it all. (There was also some question as to whether a Black Moon Stone - known to have the power of reversal - could change a man's personality or that Galcian had one, but that's neither here nor there.)

The point is, YES! We could do with a sequel OR a prequel about the war that changed the face of the planet!

Yeah, I actually only played SOAL, because I never owned a Dreamcast. One of the best GCN games I ever owned, and it was a port/remake.

...I just wanted to make a "The Great Pansy" joke. >.>

 

[ChupathingyX]

Star Wars: Republic Commando.

We need an Imperial Commando, and we need to know what happened to Sev!

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

I would very much like a new installment of Banjo Kazooie that does not revolve around the construction of haphazardly put-together vehicles and the completion of mini-games.

That would reinstate my faith in Rare, seeing as how they are Microsoft's Kinect monkey and nothing else right now.