If you could kill one gaming franchise what would it be?

[Fynn]

Blasphemy! The story is continued in CoM (between I and II) 3D and BbS is a prequel, and the side games are also pretty essential to the plot (well, at least Days is). So people should really stop their bitching! Especially because, since BbS, we've been getting some of the biggest questions II left unanswered, answered!

This kind of misses Pete's point. He was complaining because the games are getting released on multiple platforms, despite some being direct continuations of the main story. For the record, I agree with him frankly. I loved Kingdom Hearts, but I didn't have a GBA at the time CoM came out so I didn't play it. And despite reading plenty of previews for KHII before it came out, no one seemed to be making a bit deal of the fact that CoM was required playing before jumping into it. Cue my buying KHII, having concepts, new characters, and new groups thrown at me with not nearly enough of a recap of what the hell happened in CoM, leaving me to spend most of the game trying to decipher what the hell was going on instead of enjoying myself. Once they started releasing games like 358/2 Days on the DS when I didn't own one at the time I just completely gave up on the series. Since then, they've done subsequent games on the PSP and now 3DS. Sure, I have a GBA, DS, and PSP now, but it's been too many years for me to care anymore. And I refuse to pick up a 3DS anytime soon so I doubt I'll start caring for the foreseeable future. Splitting them up like that really was probably the worst thing they could do. Sure, diehard fans might not mind as much, but it killed the series for me.

Of course, this I can understand. If it weren't for the fact that my brother and I share consoles, it would probably be impossible for me to play all of the games as well, and I can only imagine how locked-out a person that hadn't played all of them might feel. This is a valid argument. What drives me nuts is how people say how the story makes no sense or, as Pete said, it has no continuation. Because there is a continuation and a pretty good one at that (though YMMV), so IMO, saying this lack of continuation is what killed the franchise for them is a fallacy. Saying the spread between different platforms killed it for them, is not. That is a legitimate reason for someone to lose interest in a game, so if, from what I said, you were under the impression that I thought otherwise, I apologize, because that was not the meaning I had intended.

As for the FPS point - yeah, I am ignorant when it comes to the genre and I could never tell these games apart. It's just, wherever I look - gaming TV, websites, stores, etc. - everything is now dominated by this sort of game. I kind of feel left out now. it's especially sad that games that are valid to my interests are often not considered modern enough, simply because they lack the "action" of this mainstream genre. And then some games try to change and be more "modern" - just look at FFXIII. I have not played the game myself, but from what I have heard, this game tried to borrow elements from this dominating genre and failed miserably (according to some people, at least). What I am saying here might be strictly personal - I was never attracted to FPSes, and I really don't feel as welcome as I used to in the gaming comunity. I miss the old days, when (to me, at least) there seemed to be more variety, where people wouldn't just assume every game of your favourite genre is of brooding effeminite teens. Then again, this might be just my rambling, me growing old, failing to accept, adapt to the evolving gaming industry...