Games that have lost their way

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Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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Adam Jensen said:
Splinter Cell. But I guess we should wait to see what Blacklist has in store. Conviction was a disaster.
I don't know about you but if it wasn't for the names of the characters and organisations, I'd have thought I was playing a game based upon the television show 24 rather than a Splinter Cell game.

I didn't think the game itself was bad, but as a supposed Splinter Cell game it was a massive disappointment.
 

TheLastFeeder

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Oct 29, 2012
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Johnny Novgorod said:
*Downpour goes back to survival horror, but turned linear gameplay into a sandbox-y open world.
So kind of like the exploration part of SH 1 with the story taken out of SH 2?
 

FoolKiller

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Feb 8, 2008
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Adam Jensen said:
Splinter Cell. But I guess we should wait to see what Blacklist has in store. Conviction was a disaster.
Yes. You mean where they went from playing a game to press B repeatedly.

The only one I can sort of forgive is Final Fantasy. Their own success cost them dearly. It is now nothing more than a pretty tech demo. They forget that while Final Fantasy used to be the prettiest RPG, it was still an ugly game compared to others since the focus wasn't on that. Now they want the game to be the best looking which doesn't lend itself to open world goodness. Damn the spirits within.
 

DanielBrown

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Dec 3, 2010
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My biggest annoyance is the Jak & Daxter series. I really loved the first game. It was challenging, yet still relaxing, and it was really fun to gather everything. Reminded me of my days as a kid with Crash Bandicoot. Bought the second game and expected more of the same, but what I got was some gritty, hard, action game with guns. Couldn't even finish the game with the HD trilogy box for the PS3(though mainly due to turrent aiming controls being retarded).
Third game... Still guns, grit, difficult and... racing? The fuck?
Didn't get the game during the PS2 era, so my first encounter was with the trilogy box. Finished race after race, after tons of retrys and eventually gave up.

I get that Naughty Dog wanted to get away from the platforming games, but I would've preferred if they did it with another IP, rather than ruin this one. A lot of people probably loved the changes(from what I've read on these forums at least), however I didn't. :(
 

FoolKiller

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Feb 8, 2008
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Michael Rogov said:
Dragon Age. Went from fucking masterpiece to trying to emulate Mass Effect..... I cry a little every day for the series.
My problem with Dragon Age is they took away customisation which I think was a terrible step. That, and if you want it to be an action-y game then let me fucking block.
 

MajorTomServo

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Jan 31, 2011
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dogenzakaminion said:
MajorTomServo said:
Castlevania. From balls-to-the-wall platforming to Metroid: Medieval Edition
Well, actually the original Metroid and Castlevania games were quite similar to begin with, even coining the phrase "Metroidvania" to describe those types of platformers. If anything, Castlevania's mistake was to move away from that style into hack'n'slash: Medieval Edition, and Metroid moving into shooter territory (Hunters and Other M, the Prime Series was amazing)
No, the original Castlevania was nothing at all like Metroid. It didn't become Metroidvania until Symphony of the Night.
 

CorvusFerreum

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Jun 13, 2011
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Since it wasn't mentioned yet (I think) I go ahead and say:
Dawn of War (went from squad based RTS with conquer mechanic to squad tactics game)

The second installment was really different from the first one, especially in the campaign, and many were disappointed by that. I personally likes the approach to take the series in a new directions and had a blast with all installments. I really hope that they try something new when (DON'T FUCK THIS UP SONY! I DARE YOU!) DoW 3 comes around. Reinventing the formula everytime and delivering a fresh experience in every installment is a nice and unique approach to keep franchises breathing, at least I see it that way.
But it is not deniable, that they strayed far from their roots (although I wouldn't really say they have lost their way. Perhaps it even is their way to change once in a while)
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
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TheLastFeeder said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
*Downpour goes back to survival horror, but turned linear gameplay into a sandbox-y open world.
So kind of like the exploration part of SH 1 with the story taken out of SH 2?
Well there were no sidequests in SH1, multiple ending requisits aside. But yeah the story is a definite rip-off from SH2. Or rather, it badly wants to be SH2, but can only copy the more frivolous aspects of SH2.
 

WendelI

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Jan 7, 2009
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Stagnation is boring, i am glad games like metroid went from a backtracking fest through a more directed experience like in the prime games. Ofcourse i hated it when it turned into a completely linear game like Metroid other M so i guess you have to draw a line. If it holds the spirit of the succesor and it still feels like they are in their roots its fine, like with the metroid example. even in metroid prime 3 you feel like you got tossed in a very inhospitable world alone and noone is coming to help you now, while the game was the most talky on the series during its time you still felt like you where alone and doing things by your self...I guess the ship helped here and there but it was mostly all on you. On other M you where constantly asking adam what the hell to do and if you can wear your fire proof suit in the room full of fire.
 

TrevHead

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Apr 10, 2011
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I think most IPs need to go through change to stop stagnation. However what has certainly gotten worse with this generation with EA is how a single trilogy with a continuous story can change so much, considering you would want to aim the game at ppl who were there from the start.
 

dogenzakaminion

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Jun 15, 2010
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MajorTomServo said:
Fair enough, but I still feel the series as a whole is more Metroidvania that pure platformers...I know the early ones technically are, like 1, 3 and Super. They just took on other elements with it. Simon's Quest already had a non-linear design.
 

floppylobster

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Oct 22, 2008
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I agree with all of the OP's picks. Definitely have to add Command & Conquer. I don't even know what part 4 was.
 

Nomanslander

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Feb 21, 2009
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StormwaveUK said:
-Mass Effect (went from RPG to action)
-Dead Space (went from Survival Horror to action)
-I'm sorry, but ME1 was not as great of an RPG as people like to remember it. The action was mediocre at best, and there wasn't enough RPG elements to begin with. By the 2nd game, they just dumped all the half-ass RPG and refined the TPS into a better game.

-It was never a survival horror... action horror? Yes!

As for my picks:

GTA: went from sandboxy fun to sandbox mundane.
DMC: game was more gameplay heavy before with garbage story. Now it's better to play the game for the story.
 

Pulse

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Nov 16, 2012
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CorvusFerreum said:
Since it wasn't mentioned yet (I think) I go ahead and say:
Dawn of War (went from squad based RTS with conquer mechanic to squad tactics game)

The second installment was really different from the first one, especially in the campaign, and many were disappointed by that. I personally likes the approach to take the series in a new directions and had a blast with all installments. I really hope that they try something new when (DON'T FUCK THIS UP SONY! I DARE YOU!) DoW 3 comes around. Reinventing the formula everytime and delivering a fresh experience in every installment is a nice and unique approach to keep franchises breathing, at least I see it that way.
But it is not deniable, that they strayed far from their roots (although I wouldn't really say they have lost their way. Perhaps it even is their way to change once in a while)
The multiplayer was great in both dow 1 and dow 2 IMO. Dow 2 played far more like (almost exactly) CoH which definataly isn't a bad thing.

But the single player campaign in dow 2 was a real let down. It just became a level up your squad simulator. No real tactics/strategy apart from "stick your guys in cover".

So, IMO, they definately lost their way in the campaign, if nothing else.
 

TaboriHK

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Sep 15, 2008
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Daystar Clarion said:
Assassin's Creed 3 pretty much defines a game that can't decide what it wants to be.

It wants you to freerun, but then places you in a setting with nothing above 2 stories and many building being to far apart to jump to.

It wants to be a stealth game, but it's handled horribly.

It wants you to be the silent killer, running from combat upon discovery, but makes combat so ridiculously unchallenging that you can kill whole armies on your own.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that absolutely despised that game by the end. It just drained all the joy from the franchise for me.
 

CorvusFerreum

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Jun 13, 2011
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Pulse said:
CorvusFerreum said:
Since it wasn't mentioned yet (I think) I go ahead and say:
Dawn of War (went from squad based RTS with conquer mechanic to squad tactics game)

The second installment was really different from the first one, especially in the campaign, and many were disappointed by that. I personally likes the approach to take the series in a new directions and had a blast with all installments. I really hope that they try something new when (DON'T FUCK THIS UP SONY! I DARE YOU!) DoW 3 comes around. Reinventing the formula everytime and delivering a fresh experience in every installment is a nice and unique approach to keep franchises breathing, at least I see it that way.
But it is not deniable, that they strayed far from their roots (although I wouldn't really say they have lost their way. Perhaps it even is their way to change once in a while)
The multiplayer was great in both dow 1 and dow 2 IMO. Dow 2 played far more like (almost exactly) CoH which definataly isn't a bad thing.

But the single player campaign in dow 2 was a real let down. It just became a level up your squad simulator. No real tactics/strategy apart from "stick your guys in cover".

So, IMO, they definately lost their way in the campaign, if nothing else.
I personally liked the way of the campaign. It was mainly about unit positioning and use of abilitys. Although some abilities and characters were just broken (I'm looking at you Cyrus and Tarkus!). Commanding giant 40k armies like in DoW I was a really awesome thing, but that way I found myself more caring about characters and story. As I said: I really liked it but I also really liked DoW I. But I can definietly see why it was a letdown for some fans of the original. I can't talk about the MP to much, because I didn't play it to often. I definietly enjoyed it, I'm jut horrendously bad at competitive RTS gameplay. So I tend to not touch it very often.
 

Astoria

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Oct 25, 2010
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Assassin's Creed, as well as the usual reasons, the story makes no sense anymore. It spent 3 games drilling into players the difference between Assassins and Templars and that they had to be stopped only to have III tells us how similar the two are and that

Juno was the bad guy all along! And now they might have to work together after centuries of fighting each other

That more than anything is what's killed the series for me.