How Far Can A Franchise Push You (Before You Just Quit)?

[Imthatguy]

For me Red Alert 3 was kind of the end for the C&C franchise with me and C&C 4 totally killed it when they announced the completely stupid system they were putting in place that involved a leveling up prestige system like Call of Duty to unlock good units and that there was no base building I was done. I didn't even buy it because it wasn't a C&C game anymore.

I'm even less excited about this new free to play Generals 2 pile of garbage they announced a while back, way to take one of your best franchises and just grind it into the ground EA.

They WHAAAAA?!

It's kind of fallible in an FPS, but an RTS?

Surely that couldn't work unless the unlockables were completely token, like skins or something; and even then that'd not really have much point.

I can sort of get how 'no base building' *could* work (a la Dawn of War II), but unlocking (and by association, locking) units through prestige?

And as a fan of C&C Generals; I'm ambivalent, I'm not sure how an F2P/microtransactions (because EA) model could work for an RTS (and still be balanced/good), and I've still got the first to go back to, just seems an odd decision.

Are you aware they've dropped the Generals subtitle and it only going by 'Command and COnquer' now?

 

[Mirroga]

The God of War series, that I loved, is still keeping on making prequels when the finale of the franchise's story has already been finished. It's feels like I'm being reminded of Star Wars Episode 1-3.

Also, indirectly as I've never played the games before, the Halo franchise. The original developers already ended the story of Halo and Microsoft just gave the franchise to another developer so they can milk a franchise dead.

 

[Darks63]

I was pretty much done with the FF series after X it was just dull and seemed to try and ride the the graphics are pretty who cares about story wave thats been around for awhile now.

 

[llubtoille]

when it gets to the point that I stop feeling anything about them,
best example I can think of is WoW,
I disliked a lot of the events and plot in the game from vanilla to cata,
but I kept playing because it still sparked some fire of passion and thought.
since the start of the year I've pretty much felt nothing towards it, and hence I stopped playing.
When I think of the upcoming expansion, I feel no emotion towards it, so I know I'm done with it.

 

[Soopy]

A few for me;

Mass Effect, loved #1, #2 ruined it and I never bothered with #3 and it seems that was a wise decision.

TES, Loved them all right upto Skyrim. Skyrim vanila I played through the first time and was disappointed. I got Dawnguard and was also disappointed, I downloaded Hearthfire for my wife and it broke the game (won't load/freezes and just generally wont work).
I'm done with the series now, It's not just Skyrim its self either. Bethesda has demonstrated for a very long time now that they are not capable of developing a game that functions as intended. They would have to be among the worst developers as far as polish and functionality goes.

Final Fantasy, I started playing it on the SNES with #6, #7 on the PS, #8/9/10 on the PS2. Loved them all, and then X-2 came along. Didn't really like that one at all and none of the following titles really lived upto the previous.

 

[Nazulu]

Yes and No. I'll never give up completely because then I could miss out on something great.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl is amazingly terrible. I couldn't believe it even with my own eyes after such a great game like Melee. HAL lost my trust after that, but I'm still looking into Project M and keeping my eye out for similar games and sequels just incase. You never know when the developers will pull their heads out of their asses and make another great experience.

Same with most of Nintendo's franchises, C&C games, Blizzard games, and many others.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Final Fantasy is pretty much dead to me. to much style over substance, to many characters i couldn't care less if they died or not. far as I'm concerned the last good Final Fantasy game was 10, yes, cringe worthy laughing scene an all

 

[skywolfblue]

That's a bit of a tricky question, since I don't have much in the way of blind "faith" in developers and prefer to evaluate games on a more individual basis.

I can hate and love games from the same franchise (example, hated oblivion - loved skyrim, hated ME1 - loved ME2 & 3) and still like future games as long as they're good.

when it gets to the point that I stop feeling anything about them,
best example I can think of is WoW,
I disliked a lot of the events and plot in the game from vanilla to cata,
but I kept playing because it still sparked some fire of passion and thought.
since the start of the year I've pretty much felt nothing towards it, and hence I stopped playing.
When I think of the upcoming expansion, I feel no emotion towards it, so I know I'm done with it.

This is a good method.

The "big sign" to me to quit WoW was that I just didn't care about Cata, the magic I had once felt was completely gone. Same with Assassin's Creed 3. I enjoyed all the rest, even Revelations despite it's flaws. But AC3 just fails to interest me.

 

[Racecarlock]

Mafia II. Incredible, isn't it. The first game in the franchise I buy and I never want to buy another one again. The traffic laws were annoying, the mobster storyline was ripped from mafia movies and given a "Crime doesn't pay" storyline, which is sort of like a racing game trying to make you feel guilty about driving fast in the game. Plus, the damn thing is filled with chores. I hope you enjoy cleaning toilets in prison, because the game wastes a whole minute of your life with it. Then, two chapters later, you have to spend 10 or more minutes selling cigarettes. Or, not selling cigarettes, just having a guy tell you which color of carton to thrown him, then you walk to the correct box and press X to throw him a carton. I'm dead serious.

Mafia II was the worst sandbox game I've every played, and even going by the standards of an interactive drama, the story is ripped from every mafia movie ever made. Not to mention you spend the entire game being someone else's ***** boy, whether it's your friend, or a mafia boss, or a prison fight organizer, or even the friggin' police at the end of the story, you're never ever your own boss. Maybe that was the point, but it was still kind of like having a katamari game try to make me feel bad for making a big katamari.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Kingdom Hearts is the worst offender for me: instead of just making the third game they have squandered the whole thing on handheld exclusives. It could have been the greatest trilogy on the PS2, now it's just a bunch of stuff few people have played in its entirety. (And it's not like the inbetween games are that great: I played RE: Chain of Memories and it made me dislike some of the characters I loved in KHII.) Don't even get me started on the Final Mix releases never making it to the states...

Also Final Fantasy lost me at 11 when it went MMO for no reason; when I picked up 12 in the bargain bin I couldn't help but feel they lost their way.

Mass Effect and Dragon Age have both lost me, more due to EA being a bunch of jerks than anything else. (Note: I have DA:O, ME 1, and ME 2 and will not be getting anything farther in either series.)

It takes a lot to really turn me away from a franchise/company, but it doesn't take much at all to push me into waiting for the bargain bin/discounts/steam sales. If a company isn't treating consumers like they should, I am pretty quick to return the sentiment.

Even Valve is pushing it with their no-class-action-lawsuit-eula bullshit.

Sorry for so much bile. Why don't we do a nice thread where it's "What Franchises Have Made You Rabidly Loyal?"

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I don't see why anyone would feel the need to buy an installment that doesn't meet their standards. Even fans. Just wait until the next good one, that way they have to make a good one before people give them money. It's really the most sensible thing to do.

When MH Tri went to the Wii, did I go and buy a Wii? No, I got bitter about it and to this day am waiting for a Monster Hunter game I can actually play.

 

[runic knight]

Like a lot of people, final fantasy seems to be it for me. Loved a lot of their earlier games, but the last one I really enjoyed was 9. X was just annoying to play, with characters I really disliked (except Auron, he was pretty boss), an annoying leveling system and a story I couldn't stay that invested in. X-2 was just terrible. I did sort of like the idea of character classes (loved Tactics and the system of them it had), but the story was retarded and felt like fanfiction. also the pandering to lowest common denominator mixed with way too strong cutesy feel.... just made me feel the game creators had made some sort of pet fetish project or something. XII was alright, though I hated the autoplay aspect to it, and the story just didn't get me interested. I was so bored playing it I never did get around to beating it. I feel no desire to go back to replay it either (unlike earlier ones that I have replayed to this day) XIII yeah... not touched, not gonna. Nothing about it gets my attention, I hear nothing but how boring as hell it is, and after the others before it, there is such a strong sence of graphics over story and gameplay that Square is gonna have to actually bust ass a little to convince me to buy the next one.

 

[Stryc9]

For me Red Alert 3 was kind of the end for the C&C franchise with me and C&C 4 totally killed it when they announced the completely stupid system they were putting in place that involved a leveling up prestige system like Call of Duty to unlock good units and that there was no base building I was done. I didn't even buy it because it wasn't a C&C game anymore.

I'm even less excited about this new free to play Generals 2 pile of garbage they announced a while back, way to take one of your best franchises and just grind it into the ground EA.

They WHAAAAA?!

It's kind of fallible in an FPS, but an RTS?

Surely that couldn't work unless the unlockables were completely token, like skins or something; and even then that'd not really have much point.

I can sort of get how 'no base building' *could* work (a la Dawn of War II), but unlocking (and by association, locking) units through prestige?

And as a fan of C&C Generals; I'm ambivalent, I'm not sure how an F2P/microtransactions (because EA) model could work for an RTS (and still be balanced/good), and I've still got the first to go back to, just seems an odd decision.

No, it literally was that you had to rank up in order to play with high level units like Mammoth Tanks and such and the more you ranked up after unlocking units the more upgrades you could get for them. I'm not entirely sure what they were thinking by adding this feature to an RTS but it didn't work. The last time I saw a copy of C&C 4 in a store it had been marked down to $20 from the original $50 and then again to from $20 to $5 and I still passed on it.

 

[aba1]

Were it not for the Desmond sections I'd have probably walked away from Assassin's Creed Revelations. They're gonna need to shake things up a bit in AC3 or else I won't be buying it.

I hear ya assassins creed was my favorite new series this gen. I loved the first the second was so improved I don't think I could touch the first ever again then the third came out I had lots of fun but was getting annoyed the story wasn't moving forward then the forth was announced for a year later with Ezio again and I said screw it I am out. They established in the first game they need to go to the future and the whole series is just a giant attempt to avoid its own story it is annoying and embarrassing. People criticize the new MGS game coming out but at least they care enough about the story to transcend the genre for the sake of story that takes balls I respect that. Assassins creed is so afraid to do anything different it is getting kinda embarrassing.

 

[the_great_cessation]

I actually have quite a few.

I loved Fable and it's sequel. I thought they were fun, charming and surprisingly engaging RPGS that I really loved and invested a lot of time into. In fact, I loved the first one so much that I decided to buy a 360 over the PS3 originally because of Fable 2. At this point however, I just don't care...Fable 3 came out way too soon after Fable 2 and appeared to add nothing of value. Add to that the stupid Kinect and Party games the series is associated with, and you have a series that I used to love that has completely lost my interest.

I really loved God of War but the latest game in the series has me completely uninterested. It seems so unnecessary considering how three ended, and there isn't really much that can be improved upon from the first 3 games.

Prince of Persia was one of my favorite series last generation, and I really loved the 2007 reboot....but they really lost me with Forgotten Sands. What was the point of rebooting the series, only to retread familiar grounds with the next title? Forgotten Sands was just so "been there, done that". Until they decide to continue where the reboot left off (or at least not do something completely derivative), I could care less about what was formerly one of my favorite series.

I was losing interest with Assassin's Creed due to the annual releases of what have essentially been expansion packs for Assassin's Creed II. However, they have won my interest back with III which looks to be one of the most interesting and engaging games to be released in a long time.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

Personally, I think it's a bit dumb to *completely* give up on a franchise. At the very least, I'll keep an eye on it in the hopes things will eventually get better. Blacklisting a franchise like that only means I'm denying myself the opportunity to have fun with it again. Anyways, yes, there is at least one franchises that I'm currently playing the "wait and see" approach with. Harvest Moon has been in a slump for the last few years, not counting the Rune Factory spin-offs. They've just been these boring, slow, bland yearly cash-ins that I give up on before I even finish the first Spring. Then I just play one of the older games, instead.

 

[Johnny Impact]

Not very far.

Final Fantasy VIII turned me off to the series as a whole. I can't play a character-heavy game where I don't like any of the characters. We've got an emo tosser in the lead, a forgettable cookie-cutter eco-freak, a sniper who refuses to shoot people, and a dumb skateboard kid who thinks facial tattoos are edgy. I got tired of reading the conversations -- hell, I got tired of skipping the conversations. Most especially I got tired of wanting to grab Squall by his ridiculous fur collar and slap the stupid out of him. No more, thank you.

I can't get Mass Effect to run and will not spend another dime on the franchise until they make the product I've already purchased actually run. In other words, never.

I played the original Resident Evil for about an hour, said "yeah, this blows," and didn't touch it again until RE4. On a friend's insistence, I played that for about an hour, and said "yeah, this blows." I have a strong dislike for shitty control schemes, and for games that punish you for playing. This series is both.

World of Warcraft lost me as soon as I hit max level. All this "life begins at 80" crap just doesn't wash. What's wrong with enjoying the ride? I gave the end game content a chance and found it simply didn't justify a continued subscription. Pandaria Shmandaria, I'm not going back. (Seriously, Blizzard? You're calling it Pandaria? Sounds like what happens when a panda eats too much Mexican food.)

 

[scorptatious]

Not very far.

Final Fantasy VIII turned me off to the series as a whole. I can't play a character-heavy game where I don't like any of the characters. We've got an emo tosser in the lead, a forgettable cookie-cutter eco-freak, a sniper who refuses to shoot people, and a dumb skateboard kid who thinks facial tattoos are edgy. I got tired of reading the conversations -- hell, I got tired of skipping the conversations. Most especially I got tired of wanting to grab Squall by his ridiculous fur collar and slap the stupid out of him. No more, thank you.

...So I assume you haven't played IX?

Fantastic game in my opinion.

Although I can understand not wanting to play it if VIII disappointed you so much.

OT: For me that would probably be the Mass Effect series sadly.

I LOVED ME1, ME2, and most of ME3. When I got to the ending however, I felt kind of empty inside. For a while, I was in denial about the whole thing. But after a while, I found I couldn't deny my feelings about the ending anymore.

Bioware really dropped the ball when it came to not just the ending, but the final level in the game. I was kind of expecting to see scenes of most, if not all of the different races and factions in action. Or heck, even choose who goes where or who does what like in the end of ME2.

A part of me likes to say that something like that would probably have been a bit too grand and ambitious to create. But I don't know, I can't help but wonder what could have been.

And no, I haven't watched the Extended Cut. Probably never will either...

 

[karcentric]

They should stop after making more than 5 titles in the same series.

That would stop Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Call of Doddy, Medal of Honor, Mortal Wombat, Halo, The Zelda series, and pretty much every casual game.

Some of these games should of stopped before they were made...