Have you ever sat down and thought 'Yep, this franchise is dead'?

[RatRace123]

I realized that Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were dead when they left Insomniac and Naughty Dog, respectively.

With few exceptions, rarely have series remained good after the original developer ditched them. And if the original developer leaves a series after a trilogy of very very solid games and in Crash's case, a fun Kart racer, then maybe the series should be allowed to die with dignity.

 

[Images]

Red Alert 3...it had no charm and pretty much poked you with a poo covered stick to play it in co-op. I'M A SINGLE PLAYER STRATEGY GAMER DAMN IT!

Oh and Myth 3: The Wolf Age. Bloody prequels! I already know whats going to happen! And what was up with the art style?

I miss the Myth games, so unforgiving, so satisfying. Nothing like getting through a level on that with no casualties. You feel like freaking Sun Tzu

 

[RESURRECTION21]

yup it be the call of duty for me

 

[Taham]

I have to say it: I think Call of Duty is dead. Ever since World at War, it was all basically the same.

 

[Yearlongjester]

Well I'm sure there are several, but for me personally it's the Fable series.

Allow me to elaborate, I liked the first fable for the story. Yes, it had some interesting characters and it was particularly jarring when Maze betrays you (Nope, not going to throw up a spoiler tag, this game has been out for forever.) Honestly it caught me off-guard. When he said my sister was brainwashed I immediately believed him and thought "How am I going to save her?" Maze had always seemed like a gruff distant dad, caring but having difficultly showing it. And his death felt truly grieving for me, and it didn't happen on top of a tower in the middle of nowhere but after an epic battle where you chase down your former mentor/father figure through the town that he's razing to bring him to justice. It just really enthralled me.

Now let's move forward to Fable II, plot is incomprehensible yet completely transparent. However, I liked the gameplay. They added onto the system from the last game and really made it fun to string together Flourishes to decimate the hordes you were fighting. And they actually gave you hordes for the most part so I wasn't insta-killing one dude all the time.

Fable III ruined all of that for me, and then tried to force some godawful pseudo-machiavellian plot down my throat. BAD BAD BAD, nope not interested in anything related to Peter molyneux ever again, hurrah for you.

 

[regalphantom]

I think that Half-Life might be dead if for no other reason than because they risk pulling a Duke Nukem with the perpetually delayed release of Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 or whatever they were going to call it. If they wait to long, people will have stopped caring about it and it may end up losing all relevance. That being said, they might just never release a sequel.

Also, Duke Nukem.

Interestingly enough, I would have said that Pokemon was dead after Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (which I consider to be the worst of the series), but Black/White was definitely a step in the right direction. I also would have said Fable after Fable 2, but unlike most of the posters here, I rather enjoyed Fable 3. I also don't think that you can really say the Mario games are ever dead, because Mario himself is not so much of as a franchise as it is a generic figure to put into any Nintendo platform game. Also, the Mario RPG games have all been extremely good.

Sonic isn't dead as a franchise, it's merely in a coma with Sega refusing to pull the plug.

 

[Callate]

Silent Hill isn't dead! It's pining for the fjords!

...sigh.

SH 4 was an interesting experiment (I enjoyed it, at least), but apparently not terribly successful. Homecoming suggested that whatever might have been going wrong with the series, the new team certainly didn't have a clue how to fix it, and had several bad ideas of their own to contribute. I don't have a lot of hope for Downpour; we seem to have affixed on the "add several more bad ideas, then ship" model.

 

[Bvenged]

CoD, DMC & Final Fantasy.

 

[thespyisdead]

i am thinking of mass effect now, but you guys can strike me with a lightning bolt

edit: people seem to hate Fable 3, but i actually enjoyed it, even though the "king" phase was shorter than a flee

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Silent Hill died after Silent Hill 4 and nothing will bring it back.

Fable died after the very first game. I'm sorry Molyneux, I'm sure you're all about innovation but all you did was proove that Fable was a one trick pony.

Halo will probably be dead from now on because 343 will never recapture the spirit that made the Bungie games so appealing to me.

Resident Evil... you know what? I have no idea what went wrong there. I mean how can you go wrong with zombies? Resi 4 was a great game but ultimately it wasn't a Resident Evil game.

 

[Yearlongjester]

I think that Half-Life might be dead if for no other reason than because they risk pulling a Duke Nukem with the perpetually delayed release of Episode 3 or Half-Life 3 or whatever they were going to call it. If they wait to long, people will have stopped caring about it and it may end up losing all relevance. That being said, they might just never release a sequel.

Also, Duke Nukem.

Interestingly enough, I would have said that Pokemon was dead after Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (which I consider to be the worst of the series), but Black/White was definitely a step in the right direction. I also would have said Fable after Fable 2, but unlike most of the posters here, I rather enjoyed Fable 3. I also don't think that you can really say the Mario games are ever dead, because Mario himself is not so much of as a franchise as it is a generic figure to put into any Nintendo platform game. Also, the Mario RPG games have all been extremely good.

Sonic isn't dead as a franchise, it's merely in a coma with Sega refusing to pull the plug.

Oh yeah, pokemon. I liked it up until Ruby/Sapphire but that's it. And while I can understand where you're coming from I'd have a little more faith in Valve. I'm convinced at this point they've scrapped episode 3 and are creating Half-Life 3 instead. At least that's what they better be doing. If they aren't I'm going to be a sad panda. And sad panda's don't procreate, so do the math Gabe Newell!

 

[Rufei]

One of my favorite series seems to be quite dead. It seems that Koei hasn't put out any kind of announcement as to what's happening with Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII, which was supposedly their "final effort" on the current generation of consoles. I enjoy my hardcore strategy and would like it to return, but five years in and not a single announcement as to "yes we're working" or "we're discontinuing the series" makes it seem like it's in development hell.

And THAT is how a franchise dies.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Usually as soon as it's called a franchise.

The main reason most games work is because there's nothing to compare them to. Once you've made something a franchise, then you've just invited the fanboys in to feast on the differences.

You know, now that you mention it, I think I have to go with this. As soon as it becomes a franchise and gains a fanbase, that's when it starts down the path to shitty town.

 

[Suicideking]

Yep. As soon as I started playing FF7. *flame shield*

I'm with you there. I just can't stand the 3D Final Fantasy games. I keep buying 1-6 though every time they re-release them.

So yes, Final Fantasy has been dead to me ever since they released Final Fantasy 7.

 

[Chordus]

Sonic Heros killed that series. It's never revived.

Spyro, Enter the Dragonfly. Actually, I kinda liked Dawn of the Dragon, but I expect it to go downhill again.

Resident Evil 5 was a pretty brutal hit to that series, but I'd still be willing to give it a chance if #6 comes out.

And on a more obscure note, Extreme G died with XGRA. They had the sense to leave it dead, at least, but I wish a racing game as great as XG2 would come out.

 

[CommanderX1125]

Half Life
HL:EP3 - As someone already pointed out, we can only wait so long, and frankly, given how short the last one was, this one should of been much quicker out the gate, but alas, here we wait.

Left 4 Dead
L4D2 - 0 Improvement besides melee, a cast of characters that make me want to let them die more than kill the zombies, overpriced, rushed release to milk money, no bug fixes, and even new bugs! Seriously makes me sad, as I loved ruining people's days and enjoying the tasty bits from various coeds. So many levels of what was wrong, and the worst part, a good survival horror game that you can relax, sit, and play, and not need a 10 page introduction to get caught up to speed (I'm looking at you RE) is rare these days in a sea of sequels. I could spend a day explaining bugs, obvious map exploit issues, lack of promised content, 0 effort to fix the raging of players, poor points system (though improved over the old one where you could literally win with just the last map), and a myriad of hackers. Even more laughable, the VAC system that simply doesn't work, or have any real effect. Annnnnnd, I've ranted too much, I only hope that someday Valve invents this, and then I'll fall in love again with the series, maybe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDhzBrSOb0Q&feature=BFa&list=HL1318439248&lf=mh_lolz&index=147

 

[K4RN4GE911]

I'll be honest, I grew up with Spyro on the PS1. Even have the games on PS3. They were part of my childhood, and I enjoyed the Hell out of them.

The games following, I had little to no interest in them. Played a couple at a friends house and results were an astounding, "Eeeeehhhh."

But then, I found myself enjoying the Legend trilogy. Sure, the gameplay was repetitive, but I rather enjoyed the storyline of the game. It was kind of like my childhood was brought back to life.

Only to be bodyslamed back down by Skylanders. You've all seen the picture, it's horrid. I refuse to call that.....thing.....the beloved purple dragon I love. No Activision. Just no.

 

[blindthrall]

Shortly after Frank Fontaine's power level reached 9000. Thankfully the game itself ended not soon after that. And about 5 minutes into Deus Ex 2. But that series apparently has pulled a jesus, at least that's what I keep hearing. The little bit I've been able to play so far hasn't impressed, but if I played IW all the way to the end, then I owe it to HR.

EDIT: I'm pleasantly surprised this didn't turn into a 'fuck ME2' thread.