What makes a good franchise?

[Wolf Kanno]

So I pulled out a few old issues of Expert Gamer for some light strategies needed for some games I'm playing at the moment, and one of the issues had plastered all over it the complete guide to Dino Crisis, one of Capcom's three survival horror series based around the Resident Evil engine and concept. I thought to myself, what the hell happened to that franchise? I remember it being such a big deal back in the day and then the series just kind of imploded in on itself. On the flip side of this argument, I'm still surprised Dynasty Warriors is a thing cause it always felt pretty one note to me, but perhaps that has more to do with the gameplay just not appealing to me.

So what are some franchises that petered out before their time that you thought would still be around? What are some franchises that are still around that has you shaking your head in disbelief. What elements does a game need to build a community that will allow a game to transition towards a franchise?

[Fynn]

I definitely expected Breath of Fire to last longer. Not only was it a very solid RPG series, I liked that there was actually an overarching mythos that glued the games together. Dragon Quarter was seriously ahead of its time in so many ways and is a pretty phenomenal game on its own, buuuuuut it seems most of the fans believe otherwise since that game killed the franchise. Which is such a shame on so many levels.

[Spuuky]

The world wasn't ready for Dragon Quarter; it was too far 'ahead of its time' and didn't offer what people were hoping for (ie more of the same, just better).

What makes a good franchise? Mostly, the absence of bad games.

[Depression Moon]

Multiple good entries. You can't be good with just one or two good games.

[Example]

Good games I guess.