Games that have lost their way

[chozo_hybrid]

Metroid. Though that just ties in with just how much Nintendo sucks. They sucked with Prime Hunters, nobody cared about Prime Pinball, and Other M speaks for itself. How hard would it have been for Nintendo if they just did what Konami did for Castlevania, and used their GBA games' formula, except with better graphics? How easy would it have been to take my money, Nintendo, and yet, you continue to stagnate, fapping to the pile of money Mario has made and will make, instead of taking risks and expanding your horizons.

The Prime Trilogy was amazing, then what came after... Not so much. I honestly think they should get Retro to make the next game on WII U, wonder what would happen then.

You mean what happens when Nintendo finally gets their heads out of their asses and tries to make a non-Mario/Zelda IP not suck?
http://www.digital-ink.co.uk/Sites/Animated%20GIF/Skypig-250-128-ANI.gif

Essentially, yes. That would be a hammer meet nail moment.

 

[The Nossa]

Pokemon, Mario and Need for speed ring a bell.

 

[Nimcha]

Surprised nobody's mentioned WoW yet. But I guess that's more a personal view, since for me it has been declining in quality since the second expansion while others thought it required too much time to play properly.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I think in some cases it's a case of technology making things even more complicated to develop than they were back in the PS2 era (which Yahtzee also points towards as a possibility). There are larger teams, more complicated game engines, and more time consuming art assets than there used to be back in the early 2000s.

I think this is a huge problem plaguing the industry and many game franchises. Technological advancement doesn't always make things better and sometimes it can make things worse.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

Mass Effect of course, from game 2 on,
Ratchet and Clank, which has finally managed to kill itself forever in my eyes.
Jak and Daxter, which got entirely retarded during Jak X, and got WORSE with Lost Frontier
Kingdom Hearts: afflicted with FFVII's own problem, though not as severely. Some hope still remains.
FFVII: everything released in this series after the first game has been progressively shittier.
SSX: Blur was a misstep in every way, and SSX 2012 was good, but had several new problems, most seriously the lack of real multiplayer and the awful shop system
Assassin's Creed: 2 made the game less "boring", but starting from then on, the games became more stupid as well, culminating in 3 which is a failure in nearly every venture
The Elder Scrolls: hasn't lost its way exactly, but definitely needs to bring back some older design choices, and the dedication to story seen in older games.
There are more, but I think that's enough bitching for now

 

[sXeth]

Castlevania: (I loved the old platforming Castlevanias, and thought that Symphony of the Night was brilliant. Why do we now have a God of War clone)?

They made Lord of Shadows and changed some names to make it Castlevania later, 'cause we don't need no stinkin' new IPs in the 2010s.


Final Fantasy - Tactical RPG into Interactive Movie
Kings Quest : Adventure/Puzzle Game into First Person Shoot/stabber
Ultima - A bit of an odd ride in the first couple games before landing onto a party rPG, then abruptly turned into a third person action-platformer.
Warcraft - Fantasy RTS into MMO

 

[dimensional]

I'd be quite surprised to see a Soul Calibur 6. Lazy design, trying to turn the thing into a JRPG with fighter-controls, replacing mainstay characters with teenage anime cliche versions, crappy multiplayer, etc

What id love to see a Soul Calibur 6 granted 5 was crap in new characters and single player modes but the online multiplayer was very good and the fighting itself was the best since the first SC in my opinion (although it never reached the heights of that game) if anything its slowly finding itself again, shame they dont seem to want to give it the time and money it needs to actually develop itself properly instead just relying on Tekken which despite a good recent showing seems struggling to remain relevant a bit like Virtua Fighter despite their credentials.

Also how is it becoming a RPG of any description in anyway? because it had a terrible story mode that used to be just part of arcade mode?

I don't see any sort of pattern. And FFVII wasn't really very open at all, most FF's have a world map but very carefully restrict the places you can go on that world map and drive you in a linear direction.

No FF game has been open they all tell a linear story and ferry you along but there is some sort of choice in most even if its only a couple of places to choose between and only one would advance the plot (only XIII got rid of this for most of its duration) heck in the early ones like 1,2 and 3 in particular they would stick stupidly powerful monsters in areas they didnt want you to go often very close to low level areas so if you wondered over an invisible line you died because you couldnt escape the battle or hurt the monster.

Also, in Final Fantasy, you went from controlling parties of 3 to 5 (there were parties of 5 in some FF games, right?) to controlling one person and making suggestions that the CPU should follow I guess. They look great sure but, you might as well just watch Advent Children again.

Its been a while but I have played all the main Final Fantasy titles (MMOs exception) and quite a few spin offs and never remember playing a party of 5 its has always gone between 3 and 4 with 4 being the traditional size, I think it was 7 that first switched to parties of 3. I dont think just changing party sizes and how you control them constitutes losing its way especially when they change things up between each title anyway some for better and some for worse.

Final Fantasy, through and through. I havent played much of the series, but reading up on them, I understand why the series was so beloved from I to VII.

You havent played much of them but have read about them and so have knowledge of what made the early games great? well I have played the early games, seriously play them and then see if you still think they are great FFII in particular is a horrid broken mess with a laughable plot and characters while one has almost zero plot and zero character development, III is I but better and V is III but better (its all about the crystals). IV tried something different and IMO was pretty damn good so was VI and VII the series overall has been very up and down I cant see how a series like FF with its massive inconsistencies can be said to have lost its way some of its games are terrible some are ok and some are great.

Series that spring to mind for me are Sonic (as has already been said) DMC (lost it after the team switch i.e DMC 2 onwards) CTR (seriously WTF happened here oh yeah they sold it to someone else) Guitar Hero (thought it was a license to print money rather than a series that needed to be handled like any other) COD is going the same way as well its now just about purely for the huge money it has been bringing in but it seems to be slowly dying thanks to how it is being abused.

 

[TheDuckbunny]

I hate to say this but; The Elder Scrolls. I still enjoy the games a lot(300+ hours logged on Skyrim just to give you a rough idea)but Bethesda keeps removing more and more RPG elements with each instalment, what some people might call streamlining others might call dumbing down, and I'm inclined to agree with the latter.

I'm inclined to disagree with you. I think recent Elder Scrolls games are still amazing achievements at offering the amount of freedom and vastness that you saw in their older titles. While its list of features has slowly been shrinking I think what makes an Elder Scrolls game is not the depth of its game systems but the sense of exploration, world building and freedom that all games in the series have had (barring the 'Elder Scrolls Adventures' titles) and what other game series have largely been unable to do.

 

[Jumendez-sama]

Halo has gone from an Arena shooter to an Arcade shooter, though this change only really came when the developers changed with Halo 4 so I would say that most of the blame should fall on them. Arguably, you could say Halo started its descent into Arcade shooting with Halo Reach through load-outs, though I would argue that this system retained enough of an Arena feel that it didn't seem like the next game would go full-blown Arcade.

And that's just gameplay wise, I don't even want to talk about when you finish the game by QTE killing Darth Forerunner with a nuke, let alone the existence of that thing, as well as making Cortana a damsel-in-distress getting all hot and bothered over MC (though I suppose seeds of that were in Halo 3, though I don't think Halo 4-Cortana would've handled this situation [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzKCZazUJ-A&t=7m25s] like the Cortana we all knew in the first three games).

Also I'd like clarification on how Pokemon has lost its way; sure the Pokemon designs don't seem as nice and simple as you remember the 1st gen being, but even in the 1st gen there was an emphasis on battling and properly raising your Pokemon, which the newer games definitely have paid attention to. I'd say that the games today are only a natural progression from what the games originally were, or at the very least were the games that the people who paid attention to the online metagame wanted, who arguably are the true fans of the game.

 

[LadyTiamat]

I hate to say this but; The Elder Scrolls. I still enjoy the games a lot(300+ hours logged on Skyrim just to give you a rough idea)but Bethesda keeps removing more and more RPG elements with each instalment, what some people might call streamlining others might call dumbing down, and I'm inclined to agree with the latter.

yes and no, in parts its improving like not having to choose a class at the very belonging and sticking with if all you have to do is change you playstyle and train that way. But the conservations are too linear , cannot choose to bribe/taunt/intimidate whenever its chosen for you, no key stats like strength or luck to influence your gameplay. Also the world is a bit disconected from your character - no bite like in fallout 3 where choices mattered to the world.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Both Adventure games are very over rated, the first is fun but the second is easily the second worst 3D sonic game I've played after that 2006 abomination. Shadow the Hedgehog is playable but it's far from good. Heroes is okay but the dodgy grinding, extremely long levels and the fact every story has the same levels in the same order detract from a decent experience (brilliant music though, one of my favourite Sonic OST's). Unleashed is... good, but it requires already knowing the levels in their entirety to not die constantly to your own sub-godly reflexes. Colours and Generations are brilliant. Need more 3D from them though.

The inherent problem with 3D Sonic is that trying to not just run straight into obstacles is harder when you have to move from side to side as well as up and forwards. Trying to do it without resorting to something like the quickstep is even more difficult. It can be done, but I don't really know if it has yet.

Sonic 4 is appalling and I will not forgive Dimps for it.

Secret Rings is dreadful.

Haven't played either.

The Black Knight... y'know, it would have been good if not for the terrible control? The waggle is atrocious, I'm no motion control hater but Black Knight would have been much better with a gamecube or classic controller or just an ATTACK BUTTON rather than relying on the standard wii remotes imprecise shaking.

I haven't played Black Knight, but I know that the accelerometer, while fine for detecting how tilted it is (Super Mario Galaxy requires you to tilt the Wiimote a few times), falls to pieces with actual movement - especially if it's required in a specific direction. The biggest example of this is Warioware: Smooth Moves - there are some games that are just impossible due to dodgy detection.

Almost all of the Sonic games have a saving grace in having brilliant soundtracks though.

Agreed. And arguably, the final boss' music was the ultimate insult of Sonic '06 - imagine if that had music had been in a good game...

 

[Spearmaster]

A better question would be which games have not lost their way, these days all the delicate points that make a game successful get filed to a dull lump for the next installment to "reach a broader audience" which translated to corporate means "we will destroy this IP if it means more profit".

I remember when new installments sold better because they went further with the things that made the game unique, not because they removed them for online multiplayer or a more action based game play.

 

[Squilookle]

Grand Theft Auto, anyone?

What started out as a fast paced kill-crazy zany city runabout with guns has now become a dreary, fun=bad dull as ditchwater mope around an oppresive grey metropolis simulator.

Thank god for Just Cause 2, The Saboteur and Saint's Row.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

Metal Gear - It was a tactical espionage game. Along comes MGS, and it became a digital soap opera. I lost complete interest in Solid Snake and consequently the whole series. Yes, the basic gameplay from the NES is all there( and improved upon) but the story surrounding the game changed it too much. I prefered it with pixels and text so that I could imagine myself as Snake.

Contra - It was a side scrolling, platforming, arcade style shooter. Shattered soldier was apparently a great game, but they made it more of a science-fiction horror game with babies heads on aliens and what-not. It was almost like Contra meets Dante's Inferno, but way back in the PS2 days.

Prince Of Persia - I loved the original, and the SNES version. I loved the Sands of Time. I loved the 360/PS3 version with Elika. Hatedthe two sequels to Sands of Time that tried to make the Prince into a dark bad-ass when he was never that kind of character. It was like Prince of Persia meets Mortal Kombat, and it annoyed me. We have enough dark bad assery withing gaming as it is. We may never get a sequel to Prince of Persia with Elika.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Kinda surprised to not see Hitman on here, so I'll throw it in there.

Hitman: Went from being a sandbox choose-your-method-of-death assassin game that captured my imagination to being... Splinter Cell.

Tomb Raider: Went from being an action/adventure title to being Uncharted.

Also, I don't mind change. I still enjoy Hitman: Absolution and I prefer Mass Effect 2 over the first title any day. It's a shame that Castlevania's not a platformer anymore, but when the Metroidvania-style ones make a shitzillion dollars, there's no reason for them to go back to basics, although they tried with Dracula X Chronicles. They also tried with Castlevania 64/Legacy of Darkness, but I think I'm the only person who liked that game series.

Its been a while but I have played all the main Final Fantasy titles (MMOs exception) and quite a few spin offs and never remember playing a party of 5 its has always gone between 3 and 4 with 4 being the traditional size, I think it was 7 that first switched to parties of 3. I dont think just changing party sizes and how you control them constitutes losing its way especially when they change things up between each title anyway some for better and some for worse.

Actually, FFIV allowed you a max party of 5.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Castlevania (which is now god of War)

Metroid (which is now an FPS. Even if you like that it's fine, just not my cup of tea and still technically a huge departure)

Resident Evil (which now has a giant "be anything and everything western" boner)

Zelda (this game went form being a real head-scratcher and one of the most rewarding adventures to typical Nintendo handholding. Is slowly phasing out exploration and anything that could even be remotely mistaken for difficulty of any kind. You'll never get another one like OoT or Majora's Mask... EVER!)

Sonic (Nothing I can say that hasn't been said a thousand times before)

Devil May Cry (Not terrible now, but still not DMC at all)

Final Fantasy (The entire game now is a pretty hallway... there isn't anymore to say)

Starfox (Went from being one of the best aerial combat games to a furry fanfic. I don't say that because it involves anthropomorphic animals, I say that because it involves anthropomorphic animals and it's AWFUL.

Capcom vs. Games (A good one hasn't been made in a decade. MvsC3 was more a travesty then anything else, and just showed how much better sprites looked then stylized polygons)

Turok (The last one made was about a Space marine.. yeah.)

 

[Spiderfro]

I hate to say this but; The Elder Scrolls. I still enjoy the games a lot(300+ hours logged on Skyrim just to give you a rough idea)but Bethesda keeps removing more and more RPG elements with each instalment, what some people might call streamlining others might call dumbing down, and I'm inclined to agree with the latter.

Glad I'm not the only one here to think that. I don't hate skyrim, but it's very disappointing how much potential they missed, just to squeeze in prettier walls to lick.

It's a very shallow game, and I didn't realize that until people who WEREN'T neck deep in TES lore started pointing it out to me.

 

[Ascend]

Ghost Recon :Went from harsh permadeath squad based tactical shooter to generic Spunkgargleweewee,turret sections and all.

 

[astrav1]

I'd say the Sonic series can safely be added to the list.

How so? It's a platforming game about speed. Anything after Adventure 2 and before Colors I can understand.

 

[Vault101]

what was so great about Mass Effect as an RPG anyway?....ME1 isnt exactly my favorite