If you think I meant to discredit Bully, I think I either didn't explain myself well or there was a misunderstanding.
For the record, I think Bully is the best open(ish) world game Rockstar ever made. Then probably Vice City or San Andreas. They really haven't done a lot in my mind that expands on how the games play, they've just added more stuff. I get that most of the humor was tongue-in-cheek. It felt to me like it was making fun of the stereotypes versus really making fun of certain types of people with those stereotypes. I just don't know if making fun of it in that manner would make certain people rage now.
Then you have things like Cook's Crush quest where you help the lunch lady acquire items for her date with one of the teachers that includes sedatives, because he doesn't really know there's even going to be a date. Implying some things that aren't considered things to laugh at anymore. The lady is unhinged, the situation is crazy, and it's played for laughs.
Did I laugh at the ridiculousness at the time. Yes. Would I laugh now? I really don't know. I think so given the right set up. I don't even know if it's objectively bad to laugh at a joke like that. It's fiction, but it's also making fun out of a dark scenario.
Regardless of whether or not I'm aware of what 70's and 80's coming of age/teen movies and shows inspired the humor and world, and regardless of whether or not the game knows it's making fun of those things, I just don't know how some of it would be received currently.
Shadow Hearts, Suikoden and Legacy of Kain
Ironic considering the thread title, but Dead Island. Maybe????
Apparently Deep Silver still sends a winkie face to people on twitter who say it's dead:
https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/12...ms-deep-silver
But Dead Island 2 was announced 6 years ago, so.
I'd like Squenix to fully abandon Deus Ex, and for Arkane to magically snatch it up.
This is tough because so many franchises don't die so much as they just change or get 'revamped' in some way that loses their initial appeal. But for genuinely dead ones? This is probably my list...
Favourites
Portal - Astonishing that this doesn't have another game yet. Bizarre.
Left 4 Dead - if you aren't counting Back 4 Blood as a sequel (it basically is, but still just annoyed that L4D never got a #3).
Warcraft - The RTS, that is.
Honourable Mentions
Gauntlet
Magicka
Burnout
Destruction Derby
Twisted Metal
Really hard to say overall.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
I was actually just thinking of this recently. Mine:
FEAR
Dead Space
Chrono
Parasite Eve
Dino Crisis
Earthworm Jim
Deus Ex
Darkstalkers might as well be considered "dead", but its characters will likely still get milked by Capcom in various other games. So not sure if that counts for the franchise itself being dead.
And also, thank the video game gods for bringing Perfect Dark and STALKER back from the dead.
edit:
way late edit, but I never knew SE canned future DX games until Mankind Divided became profitable (which I presume was never). So...RIP DX. It's been added to the list.
Darkstalkers is pretty much dead. I mean up until MvC3 they had been re-using the same sprites from the original games for all the characters that appear. The producer of the SF series had been hoping to resurrect the franchise but could never generate enough interest. Granted, at least Capcom acknowledges Darkstalkers exists unlike say... Breath of Fire that almost never gets any lip service in any of their games.
True beauty exists in things that last only for a moment.
Current Mood: And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last. I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself. To hold on to these moments as they pass...
Suikoden was the Marvel movies of video games: each title worked as a standalone story, but playing through all of them showed interconnected characters and story arcs. By starting over in a new world, Tierkris abandoned that.
Legacy of Kain was an epic storytelling with an enviable VA cast, but I doubt they could finish it now without Tony Jay as the Elder God.
Ar Tonelico was a great premise, where magical music was the ultimate power in settings of enormous towers over vast wastelands. Qoga was far too fanservice-y though.