Good series ruined by the biz

[Frostbite3789]

You forgot Mass Effect.

And Star Wars Battlefront.

And KoTOR. And how Jedi Knight was superceded by this Force Unleashed crap. I just want Jedi Knight 3.

I fail to see how "the biz" ruined Battlefront. It was an earlier game series already published by EA (Battlefield) with a Star Wars skin.

An idea like that is really only worth one game of fun.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Mercenaries. Playground of Destruction still stands as one of my favorite games ever, and I wanted to scream when I witnessed what EA had done to it with World in Flames.

And PgoD doesn't even work properly with backwards compatibility on Xbox, it freezes before you get to do much. Luckily I still have my old Xbox lying around.

All the blame none of the credit.

 

[banthro]

I remember that I actually used to be hyped for a new FF game and couldn't wait for the next one to come out.

11, 13, 14, 13 Part 2. What were they thinking? 12 was OK.

No it was not, I would have liked to see every character in that game die.

OT: Deus Ex, probably one of the first few games to suffer from being dumbed down for consoles.

I liked it, but wanted every character to end up brutally murdered. The only redeeming factor was the bad guys, who had to die anyway. Vaan (was that his name? Haven't played in so long) had a six pack which made me think he had a serious disfiguring illness. Plus there was Square Enix delaying FFXIII to make a 360 version, only for the game to suck after such a massive wait. FFIX for life.

 

[DoPo]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Troika ran out of time and money and in the last quarter of the game, it shows, not to mention how many bugs the game shipped with.

Yeah, I was thinking of Bloodlines but it's not really series. Still pretty sucky as it was Activision that led to its and Troika's downfall.

Actually it's nearly bug-free thanks to WESP5. I think the unofficial patches are up to 7.5 or something but they really work.

v8.0 came out a week ago. Newest edition in Plus - the new library level is included (not fully functional, AFAIK) and a fightable werewolf! But since it's just added, wesp5 would like some feedback on that. Right now the battle might be broken.

But no, while the game is way more stable than it ever was, it's still not as stable as other games.

 

[mrpropal]

What Blizzard does not understand (or care about) is that in 12 years since Diablo 2 I am 12 years older rather than younger, hence my need for a more mature narrative/artistic direction.
Like the first Diablo had.

Oh, and a lot of people have been complaining about the CODification of Killzone 3. It's no secret SONY wanted to rush development asking for more approachable mechanics, "run & gun" they said, and an emphasis on multiplayer.

I'm a fan of both Far Cry games, but after having seen the gameplay trailer of the third one, my bet is that it will be irremediable crap.

 

[Lunar Templar]

[
I don't say that games are dumbed down lightly, but... they actually did. Srsly. "Auto level-up" is always on, and you cannot turn it off. It is built into the structure of the level system itself.

I still like the game (what little I have played during the beta, anyway), but damn, that was a bad idea and very disappointing.

*shrugs*

only thing that bothered me about the beta was how short it was, well, that and a lack of options for character creation options >.> but I'm spoiled on other games for that

the leveling system they used didn't bother me, since, i've not played a Diablo game prior

Well, the prior Diablo games had skill trees and allocation of attribute points. The game did not automatically allocate the attribute points for you, and did not choose which skills you got at each level. It really limits the options given to the player as to develop their character for no good reason. It is one of the most poorly thought out design choices I have ever encountered in a game.

well, i can see the loss of the skill tree as worthy of complaint, but the classes where just as set before as they are now right? never got why some games made me set stats if they made me pick a class before i even got in the game, really only makes sense to me if i start with no class and work into something

 

[BreakfastMan]

well, i can see the loss of the skill tree as worthy of complaint, but the classes where just as set before as they are now right? never got why some games made me set stats if they made me pick a class before i even got in the game, really only makes sense to me if i start with no class and work into something

It gives more choices to the player as to how they want to play their class. For instance, do I want to be a barbarian that hits slowly, but hard, or do I want to be one that hits fast, but weak? Or do I want to be using a lot of skills, but not many melee attacks? Giving the player the ability to distribute their attributes as they see fit gives the the player the choice to make decisions such as these. Removing this ability restricts the player's ability to choose how they want to develop their character. And that is just a damn shame.

 

[mateushac]

I'd go with Deadly Dozen... The first game was plain awesome, the second was okay, I guess, but I'll never forgive them for dumping such a nice concept... ¬¬

I know what I said was not exactly not the point of the thread, so I'll go with sonic and the "must go 3d" trend of platforming... I hate those guys!

EDIT:Also Age of Empires 3 was the hugest fluke I've ever seen a franchise I love take!

 

[zeit]

A totally obvious one I forgot about: the Myst series.

Myst was great, Riven was incredible, Myst 3 was okay; after that things just got weird. I'm not really sure what happened with that series. Maybe it's the switch to 3D that did it, I don't know what it was but it just seemed like the magic was gone after Riven.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Fallout 3 was better than New Vegas. Just sayin'.

3D Pokemon Games. Battle Revolution blew ass, so when do we get another XD Style game with shadow pokemon?

 

[Vault101]

Fallout - A series of bad decisions ruined Interplay, thus ruining Black Isle. Now all we get is Oblivion with guns. Rest in peace, Van Buren.

.

because no one enjoyed fallout 3....at all

or new vegas (obsidions go at it)

 

[Dethenger]

Arguably, The Saboteur, which was left with an open (though quite satisfying) ending, which Pandemic could've branched out on, had it not been their swan song game because (you guessed it) EA shut them down.

 

[Winthrop]

[
I don't say that games are dumbed down lightly, but... they actually did. Srsly. "Auto level-up" is always on, and you cannot turn it off. It is built into the structure of the level system itself.

I still like the game (what little I have played during the beta, anyway), but damn, that was a bad idea and very disappointing.

*shrugs*

only thing that bothered me about the beta was how short it was, well, that and a lack of options for character creation options >.> but I'm spoiled on other games for that

the leveling system they used didn't bother me, since, i've not played a Diablo game prior

Well, the prior Diablo games had skill trees and allocation of attribute points. The game did not automatically allocate the attribute points for you, and did not choose which skills you got at each level. It really limits the options given to the player as to develop their character for no good reason. It is one of the most poorly thought out design choices I have ever encountered in a game.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the original Diablo not have a skill tree? I thought you had to pick up spells from book cases. I found this horrible as my fighter was the only one who found spells and my sorcerer never did. I haven't played it in a while though so maybe I'm just forgetting something.

Still I agree with your issues. I once rolled a sorceress in D2 built to have full plate and a sword. It was like a mageknight sort of thing going on. It was cool, not practical or good really, but cool. Its a shame I can't do that so much anymore.

That all said I do like the action bar in D3. I would always end up just using my two abilities in D2 and it felt like everything else was just wasted, so the extra slots might incline me to mix it up a bit which is always fun.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

A totally obvious one I forgot about: the Myst series.

Myst was great, Riven was incredible, Myst 3 was okay; after that things just got weird. I'm not really sure what happened with that series. Maybe it's the switch to 3D that did it, I don't know what it was but it just seemed like the magic was gone after Riven.

I actually enjoyed all of them up until the 5th one. As far as I can tell 3D character models were praised, but I was used to the live actors. Made the 5th game feel very much out of place (I do need to play it fully first though, just the change is immensely abrupt looking to me).

I also dispute the Fallout series being ruined. I absolutely despise the combat systems of the first two. They are, apart from Morrowind's, my least favourite combat systems. Honestly can't stand it. It's so bad that I can't even play the games because of it. Just, eurgh. Normally I can place storyline above gameplay, but that's a rare occasion in which I've been unable to.

 

[MrFalconfly]

Sorry but a company making three failures in a row (I'm talking about Westwood here).
I would have given them the sack too.

Not to mention some of the best C&C's were made by other studios than the original Westwood (Red Alert 2 for example, or C&C 3).

 

[shrekfan246]

It gives more choices to the player as to how they want to play their class. For instance, do I want to be a barbarian that hits slowly, but hard, or do I want to be one that hits fast, but weak? Or do I want to be using a lot of skills, but not many melee attacks? Giving the player the ability to distribute their attributes as they see fit gives the the player the choice to make decisions such as these. Removing this ability restricts the player's ability to choose how they want to develop their character. And that is just a damn shame.

It's well and good to include choices for how people want to play and level their character, but do you recall how many RPGs or games with RPG mechanics back in the 90's-early 00's would utterly mind-fuck the player if they dared level how they wanted, instead of how the game intended? How you could get stuck facing a boss that would crush your entire party in two hits because you didn't think to beef up constitution or strength enough, or just wanted to have a well-rounded rogue-mage-warrior party?

Honestly, I've not really played Diablo so I have no comment on that particular franchise, but sometimes less is more. And when specific classes favor specific stats and skills anyway, why not include an auto-level? I've seen far too many people in WoW who will grab the wrong stats for their chosen class. Plate-wearing damage-dealers who try stacking stamina and avoidance, or a melee damage-focused druid wearing casting gear, healers wearing damage-gear, tanks wearing damage-gear, all of them wearing PvP gear for PvE content, etc. etc.

At least with an auto-level thing it would help assuage that. Why would a paladin need to be dexterous? Why would a rogue want to favor strength? Why would a ranger decide to build up melee combat skills?

I suppose some people just like having the option of building their character the way they want, and that's fine. Yeah, it sucks that they aren't including it. But I hardly think it's going to ruin the franchise.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Well, we're never going to get System Shock 3, because A: Irrational is only focused on Bioshock at the time, and B: The revival of a franchise that hasn't had a new installment since 1999 wouldn't provide enough monetary sustenance for the robots who run EA.
I notice that there's an abundance of hate directed at EA on this thread, and while I thought this to be a bunch of whining at first, I just now remembered that EA is probably one of the worst gaming companies out there.

 

[BreakfastMan]

It gives more choices to the player as to how they want to play their class. For instance, do I want to be a barbarian that hits slowly, but hard, or do I want to be one that hits fast, but weak? Or do I want to be using a lot of skills, but not many melee attacks? Giving the player the ability to distribute their attributes as they see fit gives the the player the choice to make decisions such as these. Removing this ability restricts the player's ability to choose how they want to develop their character. And that is just a damn shame.

It's well and good to include choices for how people want to play and level their character, but do you recall how many RPGs or games with RPG mechanics back in the 90's-early 00's would utterly mind-fuck the player if they dared level how they wanted, instead of how the game intended? How you could get stuck facing a boss that would crush your entire party in two hits because you didn't think to beef up constitution or strength enough, or just wanted to have a well-rounded rogue-mage-warrior party?

Oh, I certainly do, and have gotten into such situations before in some games. Not fun. But, that is why the option to use auto-level up exists; so you don't have to deal with that stuff.

Honestly, I've not really played Diablo so I have no comment on that particular franchise, but sometimes less is more. And when specific classes favor specific stats and skills anyway, why not include an auto-level? I've seen far too many people in WoW who will grab the wrong stats for their chosen class. Plate-wearing damage-dealers who try stacking stamina and avoidance, or a melee damage-focused druid wearing casting gear, healers wearing damage-gear, tanks wearing damage-gear, all of them wearing PvP gear for PvE content, etc. etc.

At least with an auto-level thing it would help assuage that. Why would a paladin need to be dexterous? Why would a rogue want to favor strength? Why would a ranger decide to build up melee combat skills?

But, why not just make the use of auto-level up optional? It gives those who are not experienced with the game help so as not to permanently screw the themselves over, and gives people like me the options they want in character development. Best of both worlds with the downsides of neither. Hell, dozens of other games in the same genre have included such a thing, why not Diablo 3?

I suppose some people just like having the option of building their character the way they want, and that's fine. Yeah, it sucks that they aren't including it. But I hardly think it's going to ruin the franchise.

Well, neither do I. I just think it is a terrible idea, and makes the game worse than it could have been.

 

[Vkmies]

@OP: Wow, you're about as stereotypical a 90's PC gamer as they come.

That said, I'm going to very, very cautiously throw Metal Gear on the stack. MGS4 was brilliant. Peace Walker is a good story, but gameplay is a mixed bag. And let's face it, Rising Reveangance is going to be removed from the canon so fast people won't even begin thinking of the implications on the saga overall.

That said, Kojima has said he is in the pre-production phase of a new game, which he has said will be the "shining moment" for teh series and his career. Honestly, I have faith in the dude, so we'll see what happens.

Well, do you disagree with him?

I am most certainly sad to see the kinds of Freespace and Dungeon Keeper disappear into the cosmos. He also makes a valid point with Van Buren. I would've preferred Fallout to stay what it was.

OP forgot, so I am gonna throw Planescape: Torment in there. More Planescape? Not gonna happen.

On the console front: With all the money Blizzard has, I doubt they will be doing another Lost Vikings. Saaad faces.

In all it's silliness, I wouldn't mind seeing Rockstar go back and give Uniracers another go. A fun game that was