Games Triolgies

[onethought99]

Ok, so basically i want to find out others opinions on unnecessary gaming trilogies or how games are sold as being part of an "epic" story ark. My main example for an unnecessary trilogy is Bioshock, made by Irrational Games and then EA buys it and decide to make it into a trilogy. Other examples of games being sold by the fact they are trilogies rather than being about gameplay and mechanics is Too Human, Deus Ex 3 (I know its a prequel but we got the backstory in the original, theres no need), Mass Effect, Resistance etc.

I wonder why not make a single decent game with a powerful storyline (look at lost odyssey, could easily have been drawn out but it was made into the one game) rather than have it strong at the start and wear it thin towards the end.

Any thoughts on this trend?

 

[Danny Ocean]

Bioshock is one of a trilogy? Mass Effect?

There are probably many reasons for this. If the game is good enough, then having a trilogy makes more money in the short term, and in the longer term with those people who collect games.
It keeps attention on the company as they make their games, giving it lots of PR.

So it's just another way to milk money and PR.

With Half Life being the exception, they needed to because the game was too long to put on a single disk, and they changed the engine after the first game.
It allows Valve to keep it's audience playing without significant gaps between games. So if a company is going to have lots of games in the same storyline anyway (different perspectives and so on.), they can reduce perceived production time by making the games shorter and released more frequently.

 

[KierzoSBC]

There's big money in series'. That's why they do it.

If a games successful then a sequel is likely and i can garauntee if you like the original you'd buy the follow up regardless of reviews.

Take Mercs2, loved the first and the reviewers slated the new one. I bought it anyway.

Incidently it's awesome but my point is, if it makes money, Developers will do it regardless of how it's perceived.

 

[The Wooster]

I've never understood why the accepted form is three movies/games/books. Why not make two games? Or four?

 

[Danny Ocean]

Take Mercs2, loved the first and the reviewers slated the new one. I bought it anyway.

It's out!?!?

I've never understood why the accepted form is three movies/games/books. Why not make two games? Or four?

Trilogy is the coolest sounding word the voice-over man can say. Right after 'epic', and,'all out war'.

 

[poleboy]

I blame Tolkien.

 

[KierzoSBC]

Take Mercs2, loved the first and the reviewers slated the new one. I bought it anyway.

It's out!?!?

Yeah! Released in the UK on Friday.

Outstanding game BTW.

 

[The Wooster]

Take Mercs2, loved the first and the reviewers slated the new one. I bought it anyway.

It's out!?!?

Yeah! Released in the UK on Friday.

Outstanding game BTW.

Yep. I've never played game that excels so much at being mediocre.

 

[KierzoSBC]

Your just not seeing it for what it is.

So the gameplay isnt brilliant, the missions are repetative, it's incredibly rough round the edges and because your PMC doesnt change you have to travel for miles when you die but.....

.....it's just so much fun.

It has some if the best visual effects i've ever seen, the chaos factor is brilliant and just the fact that you blow the fuck out of anything you want is immense.

It's basically the original with better graphics, which IMO, is all you need.

 

[Copter400]

KILLING CHIMERA IN CANBERRA!

I don't know. I mean, I've been to Parliament House, and it's got some pretty confusing level design. On the bright side, there's nice, long halls and plenty of cover.

 

[Bakery]

I've never understood why the accepted form is three movies/games/books. Why not make two games? Or four?

Because trilogy is easier to say than...whatever the hell you call two or four.

Duology? Quadtology? Nobody really knows.

 

[Bakery]

KILLING CHIMERA IN CANBERRA!

I don't know. I mean, I've been to Parliament House, and it's got some pretty confusing level design. On the bright side, there's nice, long halls and plenty of cover.

Dude. You can just get a five dollar note, and you'll get the level map (and, if you fold it right, pornography).

Ahah fan of the Chaser's War are we? =D

 

[Wargamer]

I blame Tolkien.

Tolkien didn't make a trilogy. The Lord of The Rings has six books in total (2 in Fellowship, 2 in Two Towers, 2 in RoTK), plus the Appendix (big enough to be a book in its own right), plus the Similarion (another book), plus christ knows how many "unfinished tales" there are...

Tolkien didn't make a trilogy, he filled a fucking library!

 

[poleboy]

I blame Tolkien.

Tolkien didn't make a trilogy. The Lord of The Rings has six books in total (2 in Fellowship, 2 in Two Towers, 2 in RoTK), plus the Appendix (big enough to be a book in its own right), plus the Similarion (another book), plus christ knows how many "unfinished tales" there are...

Tolkien didn't make a trilogy, he filled a fucking library!

First of all, Silmarilion and all the other stuff is not part of LOTR. And an appendix is an appendix, no matter how long it is. It's also not literary in nature, it's just a bunch of lists and charts mostly, with some nerdy lingual stuff in there. I'll concede that the story is technically made up of six books, but it has been published and refered to as a trilogy for a long time, even if that was not his intention.

 

[Brett Alex]

Theres gonna be a third Resistance?
FUCK YES! HUMANITIES LAST STAND IN AUSTRALIA! KILLING CHIMERA IN CANBERRA!

Oh please please please! With every Aussie sterotype played straight:
"Sir, the Chimera have completely overrun Europe and Great Britain, and we have just lost contact with Washington... we could be next... we could be humanities last hope,"
"Strewth! You sneaky bugger, don't surprise me like that, I nearly spilled me VB! But who those chimera think they are? Reckon they can waltz all over us too?"
"What should we do sir?"
"Our 'ome isn't girt by sea for nothin'! Round up the Kangaroos! We're gonna chuck a spaz and go the biffo on those Chimera bastards!"
"Are you sure sir?"
"Bloody oath I'm sure! And while your at it, put another shrimp on the barbie,"

It would be absolutely glorious, except for the Adelaide level, which is mainly 40 minutes of waiting for a tram followed 5 minutes at the Veal Gardens... if you know what I mean *wink*. Sorry to anyone from Adelaide, stereotypes of all kinds die hard

EDIT: As to the actual topic I missed, 3 is a good number because it has beginning, middle and end.
The Halo Trilogy as an example. Combat Evolved has a relatively small ensemble cast (almost all of of whom die) and introduces along with Cortana and the Master Chief: the titular 'Halo' device, the Monitor, a rough understanding of the Covenant and the flood and the threat they pose. At the end there seems to be a kind of conclusion that is immediately torn to shreds in Halo 2.

The sequel then builds upon what we had in Halo 1, deepens the story of the war, makes the battles seem on a much grander scale and adds more depth to the Covenant (through the Arbiter etc) while giving more hints to the forerunners and the nature of the rings and general in-universe mythos.

The 3rd game wraps this up and concludes nicely, not before showcasing even more epic and important battles that feel epic and important because they had two games before them. It also allows for things like continuity nods: obviously if you've played through the series you will compare the final warthog escape in Halo 3 with the final warthog escape in Halo 1.

I'm looking at this purely in terms of story though, the financial reasons are probably much more likely. And wow, apologies for the monster post.

 

[Novajam]

Theres gonna be a third Resistance?

FUCK YES! HUMANITIES LAST STAND IN AUSTRALIA! KILLING CHIMERA IN CANBERRA! (well where else could it be? They've overrun everywhere else according to SRPA.net)

Unless you meant Resistance Retribution, but that doesn't really count, any more than Chains of Olympus is the third God of War.

It won't be Canberra. There's nothing worth saving.

Anyway, The off topic sensors are sounding. I'd say we keep getting trilogies becuse it makes good business sense. If the first one gets enough sales that people are likley to buy sequential games, even if it's just out of curiosity to see what happens next. I'd also say that it would drive console sales a fair bit if the trilogy spans over a generation (i.e. People buying a 360 because of Halo 3).

I've never understood why the accepted form is three movies/games/books. Why not make two games? Or four?

Because trilogy is easier to say than...whatever the hell you call two or four.

Duology? Quadtology? Nobody really knows.

Maybe the theory is "All good things come in threes"?

 

[Daymo]

i always thought it was trilogy because of story writting, like how there is a beginning, middle and end to a story. Instead of having that in one book, each book is one part.

 

[ultra_v_89]

Dude. You can just get a five dollar note, and you'll get the level map (and, if you fold it right, pornography).

Just be be sure, are we refering to the whale with its mouth full?

 

[squid5580]

There is nothing wrong with trilogies as long as it doesn't feel like you need all 3 games to have 1 complete game. Bioshock and Mass Effect are great examples of how to do a trilogy. They both left me feeling like I played a full game vs a game like Half Life 2 (yes I know it is not a trilogy) which felt like half a game to me.

 

[fedpayne]

Half Life 2 felt like half a game? Pretty sure it took me longer than Bioshock - and had a rounded plot, too. OMF puts you into world, you find out about peril, combat peril, help out some friends, spark off the uprising and take out the big bad. OMF takes you out of world.