What franchise has gone down hill the most?

[x-machina]

The movie industry has its actors, which are big, visible icons. The book industry has authors, which are the sole name on the front of the book. The game industry has nothing more than titles, which they can add numbers onto. Sure, there are the developers, but A. They are backroom rats in China/Japan's development, B. They don't get up-front exposure the same way.

When Titanic was a big success from Leonardo diCaprio, Inception was them making Titanic 2, the way the movies do.

Execpt that Inception was a brillant new movie with fresh ideas, and a great stroy. Not just a quick cash-in repackaging the same idea and enviroments. Your probably right about the gaming industry needing icons, but having them be big corporate franchises is a terrible solution.

 

[commiedic]

Wow, these are all pretty poor answers compared to the correct one: Command and Conquer.

Shit mofo didn't even think of those. Yes C&C and Red Alert.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Oh I suppose if we're talking about games... Pokemon, to a degree. I still love the Pokemon games but I wish they'd just tweak the main formula a bit... just a little. I wouldn't say its the worst but its the franchise I'd like to see some change in.

Definitely, I agree, I've even made a thread right here on escapist about that very thing.

OT: Aside from that, the Silent Hill series, the games have gradually gotten worse since 2 and really taken a dive with Shattered Memories, I hope Downpour fixes this.

 

[Scarecrow1001]

Wow, these are all pretty poor answers compared to the correct one: Command and Conquer.

Shit mofo didn't even think of those. Yes C&C and Red Alert.

Im sorry, but there isnt any major differences you can make with Real Time Strategy games, if you come up with a better one i will applaud you, and give you money. It is Crash Bandicoot, those games were awesome, now they are not. Simple as that

 

[chuckey]

Crash Bandicoot After Warped he was just not the same marsupial.

 

[Katana314]

The movie industry has its actors, which are big, visible icons. The book industry has authors, which are the sole name on the front of the book. The game industry has nothing more than titles, which they can add numbers onto. Sure, there are the developers, but A. They are backroom rats in China/Japan's development, B. They don't get up-front exposure the same way.

When Titanic was a big success from Leonardo diCaprio, Inception was them making Titanic 2, the way the movies do.

Execpt that Inception was a brillant new movie with fresh ideas, and a great stroy. Not just a quick cash-in repackaging the same idea and enviroments. Your probably right about the gaming industry needing icons, but having them be big corporate franchises is a terrible solution.

It's certainly an opportunity for directors to express great new ideas, but the marketing department, and sometimes the public eye, only sees one thing: The popular actors. It's often why great movies with lesser-known people fail completely even when they're really good.

All I'm saying is that the big corporate franchises ARE the icons right now, and it's not an easy trend to change, even if that would be a good idea.

 

[Space Spoons]

Final Fantasy. There's just no contest at all. Sure, Call of Duty may be copy paste, but that's what the fanboys love. Squeenix, on the other hand, has decided to kick their fans in the collective balls repeatedly ever since Final Fantasy X.

This, absolutely. Lots of franchises start to dip in quality when they've gone on for a long time, but man, the decline of Square-Enix was just plain ugly. It's like watching Elvis go from a fit, sexy coolster in blue suede shoes to a fat, washed up joke in a puke-stained sequin suit.

 

[infohippie]

Dragon Age.

Origins was amazing, Awakening wasn't quite as good, but very nearly... And then came the warm, steaming pile of fail that is Dragon Age 2.

 

[commiedic]

Wow, these are all pretty poor answers compared to the correct one: Command and Conquer.

Shit mofo didn't even think of those. Yes C&C and Red Alert.

Im sorry, but there isnt any major differences you can make with Real Time Strategy games, if you come up with a better one i will applaud you, and give you money. It is Crash Bandicoot, those games were awesome, now they are not. Simple as that

There have been ones worse then Crash Bandicoot lol. Final Fantasy has gone way farther down hill then that game. Plenty of worse games.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

If something is a franchise to begin with, there is a good chance it has lost whatever special quality it had. And, is now just a souless copy being milked for cash.

Thats my biggest gripe with the gaming industry. No one ever complains about tacking on sequels. Imagine what the public reaction would be if a new director/studio just up and decided they would make a sequel to Shawshank Redemption or Forest Gump? But with a game, people actually demand sequels. No one asked if Bioshock really needed a sequel.

I know Bioshock is a far cry from Shawshank Redemption, but you can hopefully see what I am driving at.

Forrest Gump HAD a sequel called Gump and Co. that was in talks to be made into a movie, but didn't happen because they decided they didn't want to make a cutesy historical film after September 11. The thing is that actual people are more removed from the final product with video games. If Tom Hanks doesn't want to do Gump 2, Gump 2 probably isn't going to happen. They can't just make a slightly older Hanks CGI model and put it in a movie.

There are many egregious examples of in other media, especially books. Mark Twain had a true sequel to Huckleberry Finn that was never finished, but some author a few years ago wrote the last half of it and published them together. From what I've read in many reviews, both halves suck. MASH had dozens of spin off books that had nothing to do with the original and were not written by the original author (he just slapped his name on it). There was a Gone With the Wind follow up and a Godfather 4, all not by the original authors.

 

[Gaiseric]

I'm inclined to say Brothers in Arms with the introduction of Furious Four, but that might be the fanboy in me.

I guess Star Wars would be my answer.

Amazing games like Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, and Battlefront. Now we get Force Unleashed 2 and Battlefront 3 gets scraped.

 

[Kiefer13]

Command & Conquer.

Red Alert 3 was already pretty average before Tiberian Twilight came along and dealt a killing blow by both removing or altering everything that made Command & Conquer what it was and also by just being generally mediocre. As a long time fan of the series it makes me sad to say this, but I really don't see the franchise recovering from that fiasco.

 

[Chris Sandford]

command and conquer.
easily.

(see even the dude above me agrees)

 

[Greatjusticeman]

Dragon Age.

Origins was amazing, Awakening wasn't quite as good, but very nearly... And then came the warm, steaming pile of fail that is Dragon Age 2.

Sorry, I don't think so.

First, there have only been two big games. One of them was critically acclaimed and immensely popular among the fans, while the next one did draw good reviews but fans reaction were split.

I think Bioware knows the mistake they made. They delayed the DLC so that they could rectify many of the complains that were said about the first game.

I don't think DA2 was a 'steaming pile of fail'. It just wasn't Bioware quality. It's a good game, probably great if some new developer had made it.

I really don't see Dragon Age becoming a failing franchise unless they really dun goof with the next game.

 

[Daniel Ferguson]

Final Fantasy. There's just no contest at all. Sure, Call of Duty may be copy paste, but that's what the fanboys love. Squeenix, on the other hand, has decided to kick their fans in the collective balls repeatedly ever since Final Fantasy X.

I thought I was the only one who thought that. Me and my brother, anyway.

 

[PeacanPie]

I'll vouch for Final Fantasy. It has been terrible ever since VII with the partial exception for XII, only because of the leveling and combat system.

This.

Or Pokemon.

Or Sonic.

Or Half-life.

Or most things.

Until possibly Black & White I'd disagree with you. Every pokemon game ever has the same plot, it's hard to go wrong with a rinse and repeat cycle... they always have great profits... the only problem seems to be that they're running out of crosses of inanimate objects and animals to make into pokemon. You know you're desperate when you're making a three stage evolution of an ice cream cone.

OT: Final Fantasy since VIII imo, with the exception of XII possibly, I don't even know where they're going with XIII-2.

 

[Torrasque]

Oh wow, no one has said WoW yet. Thats weird.

I agree with Sonic and Final Fantasy though.
Silent Hill and Prince of Persia games aren't doing so well either.

And Pokemon? Wtf are you smoking.

 

[spacepope22]

Even though it's not out yet, I,m going with XCOM. Why would they change it into a FPS.