Kill a Franchise

[Wolf Kanno]

Did this thread two years ago, wanted to see if people's opinions had changed. So pick one franchise (minimum of three games, reboots included) that you would love to see put to rest.

[Skyblade]

Madden.

[Loony BoB]

I'm not sure I want to do this to any series. :(

At a stretch... Pokémon as it is. Be done with the constant new single player games and create an MMO instead.

[Psychotic]

This one is easy. Call of Duty.

[CAST VOX]

Call of Duty and Medal of Honor have overstayed their welcome, unless they cover unique shit we rarely/never see in a game; The Civil War, The First World War, Vietnam, Fallujah, etc.

Fire Emblem has barely evolved in gameplay and story at all since gods know when. It's changed even less than Pokemon, the only unique feature I recall from Awakening was the creepy waifu simulator.

Resident Evil should stop reanimating itself, if only because Crapcom no longer knows what the hell they're doing with it in terms of tone and gameplay.

I really don't wanna see what they try to do with Classic Mega Man either (if anything), Mega Man 9 was a cheap nostalgia cash-in with terrible level design (though 10 was decent). And I don't want to watch them try and tie it together with the X series, they'd fuck that up so hard and they would probably try to find an excuse to keep pumping out games for Rock. Let "The Blue Bomber" lie, please.

Mega Man, Call of Duty, and Resident Evil it is.

[maybee]

Halo- Same with a new coat of paint each time.

Call of Duty- Same with a new coat of paint each time, usually new war zone and updated graphics, for graphic whores to jizz their pants over.

Resident Evil- I love you, but Crapcom isn't doing you justice anymore. I'm so sorry.

Mega Man- Again I love you, but Crapcom isn't doing you justice either like RE. It would be better to just let him go.

Spyro the Dragon- Stopped being a solid platformer about 2000 with Spyro 3. Has been holding by the ropes ever since, died with Skylanders. Now a zombie.

[Depression Moon]

Without a doubt Call of Duty.

[Loony BoB]

There are two reasons I opted against saying Call of Duty. The first is that the devs will probably just come up with a new game called Yell of Duty or Shout of Duty or something, and the second is that if Call of Duty is gone then all the annoying people who play it will suddenly be forced upon the rest of us, citing why they wish Final Fantasy, Journey and Civilization were more like Call of Duty.

[Bubba]

This one is easy. Call of Duty.


Call of Duty


Call of Duty- Same with a new coat of paint each time


Without a doubt Call of Duty.


Without a shadow of a doubt I am definitely saying Call of Duty.

[CAST VOX]

There are two reasons I opted against saying Call of Duty. The first is that the devs will probably just come up with a new game called Yell of Duty or Shout of Duty or something, and the second is that if Call of Duty is gone then all the annoying people who play it will suddenly be forced upon the rest of us, citing why they wish Final Fantasy, Journey and Civilization were more like Call of Duty.

I honestly wouldn't mind Call of Dookie if they had unique settings (that one Fallujah game that was cancelled) and or a good story (Spec Ops: The Line). Besides, fratboys and tweens don't have the patience for any of those games. None of 'em suck our military's penis enough.

[Slothy]

Call of Duty- Same with a new coat of paint each time, usually new war zone and updated graphics, for graphic whores to jizz their pants over.

Pretty sure no one has ever jizzed themselves over the graphics in Call of Duty. Aside from the fact that they never used a state of the art engine, the art direction in most of them is shit.

I'd say it's time for Metal Gear Solid to die. Despite the fact that Phantom Pain actually looks like it will be good, Kojima's wanted out for a long time and the man needs to go back and do another Z.O.E. Though him getting to make a Silent Hill game is a nice change at least.

Let's kill Battlefield while we're at it since DICE and EA have completely lost it and seem intent on releasing the same damn game over and over now, which might not be so bad if they hadn't started tacking on shitty single player campaigns.

And Final Fantasy should probably die. XV looks like it might be interesting, but it could just as easily be a steaming pile of shit like FFXIII. I'd rather see Square have to focus on either revisiting some older series and making new games. And it'd be nice to see them have to work with the fear that comes from not being able to rely on millions of sales just by slapping the Final Fantasy name on it.

[Loony BoB]

And Final Fantasy should probably die. XV looks like it might be interesting, but it could just as easily be a steaming pile of trout like FFXIII. I'd rather see Square have to focus on either revisiting some older series and making new games. And it'd be nice to see them have to work with the fear that comes from not being able to rely on millions of sales just by slapping the Final Fantasy name on it.
I'll bite. There's no reason for FF to end. There might be a reason for them to change how much money they churn into it, but there is no reason for them to kill off the series. It would serve no purpose at all. The best thing about FF as a series is that each game is unique, it innovates. Sure, they have "Fira" and "Chocobos" etc, but the stories are new, the characters are new, the world is new. So what's the point in killing the franchise? To 'end the fear'? Please. That's not a reason. So far as I can tell, they have had one main game in the series that didn't work out in the long run, and even then it was a mere 7/10, still a pass mark for most games. XIV got redone and is now a huge success. So... one bad game and you want them to call it quits? Pshaw, Veev, I expect better of even jaded ol' you.

I can understand saying "The XIII series should end" or "VII should get no further sequels" but there is no sense in ending a series where every game is something new. The only people that would serve are people who get their panties in a twist over a Final Fantasy game not being something they wanted. Which will happen when every game is something new.

[Bolivar]

I believe all popular franchises I do not enjoy should be canceled, especially the ones I have not played, for compelling and well thought out reasons such as "copypasta" and my own obtuse stereotypes about the people who play them. All evidence to the contrary of my assumptions be damned.



Pretty sure no one has ever jizzed themselves over the graphics in Call of Duty.

58998

[Slothy]

And Final Fantasy should probably die. XV looks like it might be interesting, but it could just as easily be a steaming pile of trout like FFXIII. I'd rather see Square have to focus on either revisiting some older series and making new games. And it'd be nice to see them have to work with the fear that comes from not being able to rely on millions of sales just by slapping the Final Fantasy name on it.
I'll bite. There's no reason for FF to end. There might be a reason for them to change how much money they churn into it, but there is no reason for them to kill off the series. It would serve no purpose at all. The best thing about FF as a series is that each game is unique, it innovates. Sure, they have "Fira" and "Chocobos" etc, but the stories are new, the characters are new, the world is new. So what's the point in killing the franchise? To 'end the fear'? Please. That's not a reason. So far as I can tell, they have had one main game in the series that didn't work out in the long run, and even then it was a mere 7/10, still a pass mark for most games. XIV got redone and is now a huge success. So... one bad game and you want them to call it quits? Pshaw, Veev, I expect better of even jaded ol' you.

I can understand saying "The XIII series should end" or "VII should get no further sequels" but there is no sense in ending a series where every game is something new. The only people that would serve are people who get their panties in a twist over a Final Fantasy game not being something they wanted. Which will happen when every game is something new.

First off BoB, defending FFXIII by pointing out review scores is silly when we live in a world where most media outlets rarely rate below a 7.

Second, FF used to be about something different every game. Now it's about one new game every 5-6 years and franchises within franchises because they don't know how to develop a game without blowing the budget way out of proportion. So when I say they need to end Final Fantasy, that's why. It's not a series that's about trying something new and different every game any more. It's a series about putting out one new game and following it up with a minimum of 2-3 sequels even when they're sequels to the worst game in the series because churning out half assed sequels so they can put in a minimum of effort and be guaranteed millions in sales because it's Final Fantasy.

The series name has made them lazy. FFXIV is actually a prime example. It wouldn't have garnered half as much interest if it weren't an FF (just ask every MMO ever that up sn't made by Blizzard), and if it had been as bad as it was at launch without the name, it would have gone F2P in a month and died a slow death. Which is actually kind of telling because I doubt even they would have released it as it was without the FF name to fall back on. But since it was FF, it had enough eyes on it that they had no choice but to fix it. Which admittedly is a good thing, but how many FF titles do we need to see them half ass before we notice the series is making them lazy?

And even worse is that we live in a world where we had the compilation of FFVII and FFXIII sequels out the yin yang and next to nothing in the way of substantial new series or sequels to older series. If the money they were making from their endless FF sequels was going to help fund new IP's like Bravely Default more often I'd have less of an issue with it. But it's not. Compare Square of today to Square when they were making games for the SNES and PSX and there is no comparison. They used to do a lot more than just FF. And every title with the FF name was actually unique. Now it's sequels to every FF title because like most AAA companies, they're spending too much money and are too afraid to take actual risks.

So forgive me if part of me wants their cash cow to die so they either have to stand on their own merits or die, but I'm tired of modern day Square. They're boring. A Square that has to actually try again is at least interesting, even if they do fuck up in the process. Hell, I'd at least respect them if they tried to stand on their own two feet again and failed.

[Loony BoB]

First off BoB, defending FFXIII by pointing out review scores is silly when we live in a world where most media outlets rarely rate below a 7.
Those were user scores. :p The media gave it about 8-8.5 or so if I recall correctly. I take media scores with a pinch of salt, though, regardless of how high they are, because the media are often earning favours with their scores.

The entire rest of your post furthers my point of "you appear to want changes more than you want the series to die."

As for not trying, I think XIV is a prime example of them trying, and I think XIII-2 and LR are prime examples of them actually being creative and learning what works. Regardless, they are doing something new in every game and that can't be said for 90% of the other franchises out there right now. You think the ones churning out the same old, same old should continue while the ones trying new things should stop? It just baffles me when people criticise the series for the sake of 1-2 entries not suiting their tastes.

[Iceglow]

I'm going to be the most controversial one here. I'll ignore Call of Duty, sure same shit, slightly different, different day. Halo, same mechanics (well that's fine, they are after all the same universe it makes sense for mechanics to be the same) different story. These are all fine, you know what I'm aiming for...


MARIO

Why? Well because every new console Nintendo releases they go back and are like "Hey, you know what'll be cool? Let's re-release the exact same game we released every 5 years for the past 20 years with slightly updated graphics and a new gimmick included such as only being able to see Luigi on the Wii-U controller screen.

Please for the love of god Nintendo... let the fat old plumber get his princess and sit around getting noshed off with his feet on Toadstools head.

[Dat Matt]

Dragonball Z. You know that the DBZ anime ended in 1996, but I always see a new one pop up every year or so. Dragonball GT: Final Bout was released since the anime finished in 1997, There has been 18 released DBZ games in 2000 onwards for consoles and 24 handheld games if wikipedia is to be trusted. Many of which have not made it to the west, but still, that's 42 games in 14 years. 3 games a year.

It's worse than any crappy yearly franchise like Call of Dooty, or "Ass"assin's Creed, or even Mario.

[Ayen]

At last, I will have my revenge on you. You, who reap all hope from the user's hand at every opportunity. You, who laugh in the face of pain and feed off it like a parasite. You, who destroy worlds and ruin countless lives! You, who try to mimic success of video gaming past. You, who don't know how to properly utilize an instruction manual to explain how the game is played! YOU, WHO LACK A PAUSE BUTTON SO I CAN TAKE A TROUT!


http://i.imgur.com/ugwZeEX.jpg

GO TO HELL, DARK SOULS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, I'm not taking this the least bit seriously. I don't know which franchise deserves to end.

[Wolf Kanno]

Like the last time I did the Ress and Kill franchise thread, the kill thread gets more posts...

[Colonel Angus]

WWE games.

[Depression Moon]

Dragonball Z. You know that the DBZ anime ended in 1996, but I always see a new one pop up every year or so. Dragonball GT: Final Bout was released since the anime finished in 1997, There has been 18 released DBZ games in 2000 onwards for consoles and 24 handheld games if wikipedia is to be trusted. Many of which have not made it to the west, but still, that's 42 games in 14 years. 3 games a year.

It's worse than any crappy yearly franchise like Call of Dooty, or "Ass"assin's Creed, or even Mario.

Yeah, I'm tired of seeing DBZ games too.

[Mirage]

How many here has actually played the franchises they want to kill? I mean I'm sure some have, but I've got a suspicion that it's a lot of "something lots of others like that I think is dumb" going on here.

[Uchu]

I honestly don't hate any franchise enough to want to see it end. If i don't like something, I generally ignore it. Now, i'm not criticising anyone for having a franchise they would like to disappear, I just don't see it as a solution to anything. I would much rather see them offer something new (e.g. CoD, Halo, Gears of War) to grab my attention. Now with that said, seeing a potentially new IP get cancelled or a game i'm looking forward to get delayed because of a old franchise that I don't particularly like, that can still get on my nerves, but if it wasn't one franchise getting in the way it would be another.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-28-whats-happening-with-black-tusks-highly-ambitious-new-ip

[Bolivar]

Like the last time I did the Ress and Kill franchise thread, the kill thread gets more posts...

Jim Sterling once remarked how disturbing our enthusiasm and eagerness to kill things or pronounce them dead is in our hobby.

[chionos]

Yeah I don't see any reason to go around killing franchises. If I don't like them I don't have to play. Now there are franchises that are clearly played out, and perhaps should end, but if people want to make them and other people want to play them, that's their business.

[Pete for President]

At last, I will have my revenge on you. You, who reap all hope from the user's hand at every opportunity. You, who laugh in the face of pain and feed off it like a parasite. You, who destroy worlds and ruin countless lives! You, who try to mimic success of video gaming past. You, who don't know how to properly utilize an instruction manual to explain how the game is played! YOU, WHO LACK A PAUSE BUTTON SO I CAN TAKE A TROUT!


http://i.imgur.com/ugwZeEX.jpg

GO TO HELL, DARK SOULS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, I'm not taking this the least bit seriously. I don't know which franchise deserves to end.


Kind of agreed on this, even if Dark Souls 1 is my precious. I'm really enthusiastic about the new Bloodborne and even a new "Something Souls" would be awesome, but I hope they don't make a Dark Souls 3. Let Demon's Souls and Dark Souls live forever in unmatched glory.

[Dat Matt]

How many here has actually played the franchises they want to kill? I mean I'm sure some have, but I've got a suspicion that it's a lot of "something lots of others like that I think is dumb" going on here.

Personally. I agree I'm guilty of this. The last Dragonball Z series of Games I played was Budokai/Tenkaichi and they were fine. When they made the move to Gen 7, they lost appeal to me and I never looked back. Friends had them bur I never went out my way to buy them anymore.

Games like Call of Duty, Madden etc, they do their job. They are designed for the people that have Gaming as a secondary or even tertiary means of entertainment. They play video games say 2 hours a week with friends when they come over before going out to a club or making love. These sort of games are designed to offer cheap thrills to those that don't spend a large portion of their time on video games, which is why I opted to go for something that is designed for those who have gaming as a primary for of entertainment.

Even games like Mario, which I would be glad if it Mario platformers dropped to a 2 year schedule rather than a 1 year schedule, are designed with these players in mind. I know I'm pretty sick of Mario games just now.

[Skyblade]

I've played a few of the Madden games. I wasn't impressed.

Admittedly, I'm outside the target demographic. They exist for sports fans. Ok, I get that. But they've also stopped progressing for the past five years or so. The graphics aren't really improving. The mechanics aren't being polished. There are no new game modes. It's just a complete rehash with different names. It's a money grab at a pathetic level, and it is depressing to me that people keep buying them. It sets a horrible standard for the industry. It also stifles the market, as most of these people wouldn't even think of buying an alternative, so there basically are no other football games. No competition means no innovation or shift in the market, and nowhere is this clearer than in Madden. At least Call of Duty actually changes things. For better or for worse is up for the fans, but they at least TRY. Madden doesn't, and for that, I'd be happy to see it perish.

[Colonel Angus]

They play video games say 2 hours a week with friends when they come over before going out to a club or making love.
What kind of friends do you have? :eek:

[AssassinDX]

WWE games.

I'd have also gone with this but for 2k15 looking rather good at this point, although the jury will of course be out until it's released. Could be just as dull as every other WWE game released in the last ten years.

Call of Duty is at the top of my list, that damn franchise has bred a whole generation of angry, degenerate children and it needs to die. I've played a fair few of them as a friend really enjoys them, but playing online is not just the worst gaming experience I've ever had, but one of the worst life experiences in general. Awful franchise, awful community it attracts.

As for anything else I second Mirage's opinion, I'm not interested in seeing a franchise be killed off that I've either never or barely played. Like with Halo, I've only played the first game and didn't enjoy it enough to bother with anything it's spawned since, but it sells a lot of units and makes Microsoft a shedload of money, so it's all good.

[Colonel Angus]

Microsoft should take that money & invest it in an operating system people would like to use.