Taking franchises in new directions

[Aiedail256]

What video game franchise do you think is sitting on untapped potential, for itself or the industry as a whole? More specifically, what kind of spin-off/much-different-sequel do you think should happen, and for what series?

I think there should be a pokemon game in which the battle system is translated faithfully from turn-based to real-time format, just to see whether it would work. The nature of the challenge of battling would change dramatically, and I think it would be interesting to see things like Double Team actually creating decoys or Quick Attack closing a 20-foot gap in the blink of an eye. I do NOT want an adaptation on the level of the upcoming Pokemon Conquest, where the relations to the original material are mostly just the characters (seriously, I think types are, as far as we know, the extent of the game mechanics taken from Pokemon in that game). I'm talking all the same species, types, stat formulas, held items, statuses, Abilities, movesets, everything, but with the moves themselves playing out in real time. I want the representation of battles that the player sees to be closer to what actually happens canonically. Even if it's just for one game. Please?

What do you all think? Critique/add to existing ideas or submit your own. Discussion, away!

PS: captcha = "pipe down". Irony much?

 

[OrpheusTelos]

You know what franchise could use a RETURN to formula?

Final Fantasy.

Good lord, guys. Traditional RPGs are awesome and we don't see nearly enought high-profile ones these days. Get on that.

 

[TehCookie]

No screw companies that do that. If you want to make something different don't change a series, make a new one. When you have a name people expect something from it. I'm not saying it has to be the exact same but I like to use Disgaea as an example. Every game they added something and improved gameplay but still stuck to the core mechanics and style. If you want to mix it up a little bit but still have it be related to the older games, make a spin off. If you completely change it, why not change the title.

 

[Ryotknife]

disgaea had a few spinoffs.

phantom brave
makia kingdom
soul nomad

just to name a few.

granted those 3 are not directly related to the disgaea series but rather loosely associated to the disgaea universe.

i dont mind companies experimenting, in fact that is great. but i do not like...for example...farcry 2.

farcry 2 had absolutely nothing to do with farcry 1 other than the fact that they had guns.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I think that there's a pretty significant "in name only" risk associated with re-imagining franchises. There's also the not insignificant risk of failing to create a formula as good as the one that made the franchise in the first place. It's not like it can't be done, though - Metroid: Prime is an example of doing it right. (Of course, you could also end up with an Other M.)

 

[Mysterious Username]

I'm cool with it as long as the company makes the change abundantly clear and it doesn't veer off away from what made the franchise good.

 

[Aiedail256]

To the detractors, most of you are either misunderstanding or strawmanning me. I'm NOT advocating in-name-only sequels and such; I'm talking about cases where the defining aspects of a series could get more mileage if some of the other aspects were changed.

Metroid: Prime is an example of doing it right

^This is the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Also, what do you all think of my real-time pokemon idea?

 

[baddude1337]

What age is Sam Fisher now, 80?

Who knows, he looks younger than he ever has in Blacklist. :/

Spin-offs can be good, but obviously not for everyone, especially if the game changes genre. Take Halo Wars. It was actually a decent Console RTS but had nowhere near as big sales as the main games, which are shooters.

(Incidentally, I would LOVE to see a RTS Gears of War game for Xbox.)

 

[Kahunaburger]

Also, what do you all think of my real-time pokemon idea?

I think that might be interesting. Certainly something the 5th grade me would have played the shit out of. Really, there's all sorts of cool stuff they could do with Pokemon, like AI and procedural generation. But, considering that they basically have discovered crack for Elementary-schoolers, I don't blame them for keeping the formula the way it is.

 

[Aiedail256]

Pokemon
...
procedural generation

Spoiler: My primary reaction to that was this

My secondary reaction was "wait, how would that even work?"

 

[Kahunaburger]

Pokemon
...
procedural generation

Spoiler: My primary reaction to that was this

My secondary reaction was "wait, how would that even work?"

All sorts of stuff, man. So, for instance, you can take how in Gold/Silver (and maybe in later gens, I don't really know) you get these events where a bunch of Yanma or Remoraid show up at a particular location, combine that with things like time of day, dynamic weather/season patterns, and so on, and create a dynamic model for Pokemon migration in the overworld. This would actually be a lot less complicated to implement than it sounds. So catching a particular Pokemon would then involve learning about its behavior patterns.

It's pretty cheap in terms of labor time to create NPCs, because 99% of them have like two lines of dialogue. So you could create 1000's of potential lines - enough that trainers and people don't feel "samey," and randomly place those NPCs. Locations, of course, are also very simple. So, for instance, you could define some parameters for what the area around a power plant is like, what trainers hang out there, and what sort of electric-types and others you find around power plants, and so on. The result is that:

A) whenever you play a new game, every power plant in your game is completely fresh, and you're genuinely exploring it for the first time. Nobody else will get that power plant, and you have no idea what you'll find there.

B) it becomes very cheap to put power plants (and everything else!) in the world, which increases the potential size of the world.

That was something I wanted as a kid before I even knew what procedural generation was

 

[Aiedail256]

...create a dynamic model for Pokemon migration in the overworld.
...it becomes very cheap to put power plants (and everything else!) in the world, which increases the potential size of the world.

Gaf - agh - wh - I - you - DAFUQ NINTENDO DO THIS NAO!!!
If I hadn't already posted the head explosion picture I would SO do it now.

 

[TheCommanders]

I think if you are going to make a big spin off it might be better just to make a new IP if you can.

Splinter Cell and Lara are evidence of that. Instead of a reboot they could have introduced us to a new hero instead of an old one.

Pretty much this. When you change an established series, you are inevitably going to piss off people who liked it the way it was. Then, in the next game when you try to compromise, you will just end up with a mediocre product. I know that developers are hog tied by the producers who demand a guaranteed profit before being willing to commit to a game, and that using an established name gives a little bit of security in regard to first day sales, but some of these franchises just need to die.

 

[Zhukov]

I always thought the Halo universe had a lot more potential than the games give it credit for.

It kind of gets lost behind all the lame characters and alien shooting though.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I still say Pokemon Snap 2 needs to be made

 

[Dandark]

I tend to dislike it. If you take an established franchise and suddenly change it's direction then fans of the old style will feel betrayed. Look at all the complaints that pop up when franchises do take a new direction, it's because people feel angry and let down.

It's because they want to make sure everything has a brand name so that it's a bit safer in day 1 sales but it's getting really damn annoying.

That said some of them could be good. Im looking forward to the next Lost planet despite the fact it should have been a spin off or new IP. I look forward to it and like the idea but I still think it shouldn't have been done. They could have easily made a new ip for it but they want all the Lost planet fans to buy it on day 1 so they do this.