Series that has gone downhill for you?

[Valiance]

snip

I did, it's on the first page.

I could give you valid reasons for all of them.

And Resident Evil was one of the ones I decided to not include. xD

Fair enough. I can relate.

I'm sure you know how much I hate this Pokemon nostalgia plaguing this site by all the self-proclaimed old skool fans, when I was probably ten times more into Pokemon during that time than they ever were.
I just wish series that get better as time goes on get the recognition they deserve rather than constantly get spit on because they grew out of it and dismiss it, for whatever stupid reason it might be, because most of the time, it's hardly legitimate.

It's okay, people now think they're old-school if they've played the original Halo. It's embarrassing to call myself an old-school gamer, being thrown in with these people, or call myself "hardcore," because I'm thrown in with those people, or call myself a Sonic fan because I'm thrown in with people who thought Sonic '06 was THE BEST GAME EVER?, or call myself a Dreamcast-fan because then I'm expected to love everything Sega ever did, etc, etc...

And you're right. It's hardly legitimate. Even games I normally would say that to, I realize there's obviously components I just don't know about or didn't appreciate when I was younger. There's negative stigmas to plenty of genres of gaming...Might make a thread about that at some point. How FPS players shun RPG players and vice versa. Things like that...get me thinking...

 

[darkcow55]

Resident Evil. Whichever doofus decided to make it a game without zombies needs to be smacked with a large trout.

 

[eternalphear]

Halo, I really enjoyed Halo: CE & Halo 2, but Halo 3 wasn't that great.

 

[Branovices]

Grand Theft Auto... it has been trying to have more "realism" and its creating a game that, to me, is boring and clunky as hell. I think GTA4 is one of the most overrated games to come out, with Halo 3 coming second. I enjoyed Saint's Row 2 a lot more than GTA4.

I don't think Halo has gone downhill... I just think Halo 3 is essentially Halo 2 with prettier (though not that great) graphics. I don't understand why it was hailed as the second coming of Christ in the reviews when other games that release pretty much the same thing get panned. I mean, at least GTA is evolving... even if I think it's in the wrong direction.

 

[Nostalgia]

And you're right. It's hardly legitimate. Even games I normally would say that to, I realize there's obviously components I just don't know about or didn't appreciate when I was younger. There's negative stigmas to plenty of genres of gaming...Might make a thread about that at some point. How FPS players shun RPG players and vice versa. Things like that...get me thinking...

I considered making a few threads lately, one being exactly about the seething hatred for needless post-first generation Pokemon bashing, but then I realize that I would only get flamed for being a heathen.
Then that one thing will come along that I'll agree with, like how a lot of Pokemon now are either uninspiring or bad, and my words will get twisted horribly and it'll somehow not make my point valid anymore, if it was.

I'd have a much better chance and less hate if I posted this vs thread I wanted to a while ago.

 

[Dragonrabbit]

Agreed. And you conveniently picked 4 that I feel most "mixed" about rather than "oh, these are TERRIBLE now."

Zelda is certainly debatable. I have very many mixed feelings about it, but I still think OoT is the best in the series.
GTA is debatable, I really loved 3, but vice city felt samey to me, and gta 4 still functions fine...Just I don't see how it really makes the game better aside from giving it a physics engine.
Civilization, well, the new Colonization game was pretty good, but it's exactly the same as the one I played in the mid 90's.
SSB, it's a very...odd feeling, honestly. I want to say "it got terrible" but it's more like "they're different games for different things and can't really be compared in the same fashion." I'd talk about it here but it'd be very offtopic.
And Elder Scrolls, well, I never played Morrowind, so my opinion holds no merit. I do remember Daggerfall being much more entertaining than Oblivion, but it might be my nostalgic memories.

Which ones do you prefer?

Of those four in this order it would be:
1) Civilization, because with any game in the series I've played (2-4 with all the expansions, as well as Revolution) on any given night I can simply sit down in front of my PC and play for hours on end. Maybe I'm just an addict, but the series just continually absorbs my attention mercilessly and doesn't let it go.
2) Elder Scrolls, Morrowind really didn't interest me much when I played it, granted I was probably eleven, but Oblivion was the first RPG I ever played the held my interest for hours on end.
3) Zelda, simply because it's continually great and even when they try new things (ie. Windwaker, Twilight Princess) it works rather than mucking up the whole series.
4) As for GTA, I've never really been that into it, but the series has improved consistently overtime, at least in terms of grandeur and pushing forward in terms of scale.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but...

 

[Mister Payne]

Sonic the Hedgehog - Hopefully, we all know the situation. If not, here's how it is in the black and white - Sonic has been going steadily downhill since Sonic 3 and Knuckles to the point of complete and utter crap. I loved the (early) franchise as a kid, but now looking at how everything is with Sonic now, I can't take it anymore.

Pokemon - Yes, Pokemon. Same thing as Sonic, loved it as a child. But now the games are not exactly 'sucking' but more of being milked, too repetitive, and otherwise becoming an old relic of a franchise which should be killed off swiftly and painlessly.

Warcraft - I don't hate WoW, but I don't think it's the best game ever made in the history of the world. But WoW is just awful compared to its predecessor (i.e. Storyline, overall gameplay, skill > uber armor), and I simply miss old Warcraft and hope for a Warcraft IV with all of my heart.

 

[matsugawa]

Dear Sonic,
What in the Hell happened? You used to be cool. Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast was a work of art and you should be proud of it. It was almost a perfect game; it had huge sprawling levels, an incredible sense of speed, and a rather good story delivered through my most favorite of narrative devices: Multiple Perspectives. It sold me completely on the notion of a 2D character making the transition to 3D with all the good stuff intact. Sadly, it seemed lightning really only does strike once.
Sonic Adventure 2 fixed the few tiny complaints I could be bothered to muster about Sonic Adventure: a few graphical glitches and collision issues, nothing serious. But, for every step it took forward, it took about five steps back. Shadow is a complete joke of a character, predictable and banal in his very conception. Shadow is an appropriate name, because that's exactly what he cast over the series from there onward.
Letting Bioware make a DS title for you WAS a good move, but it was too little, too late. You had already sold out your loyal fans to the Nintendo giant. While your buddies Gun Valkyrie, Jet Grind Radio, and Panzer Dragoon jumped aboard the unfeeling behemoth of Microsoft's XBox, you stayed behind and got a position as a jester in Mario's court. The XBox needed you, you could have saved us from Halo's drunken frat-boys and stopped them from trampling Otogi, de-railing JSRF, and grounding Dragoon. I hope you're happy... you uncool blue bastard.
Your once loyal fan,
M

 

[matsugawa]

sorry, posting error

 

[Valiance]

snip because my post will stretch the page enough as is

I gotcha. I agree with Civ to a point. I loved them, but I don't see why half of them were made when they're all very very similar.

Elder scrolls, I totally understand - I played Fallout 3 before I played Oblivion, so I was very "unimpressed" by what was new at the time. I feel like a hypocrite who saw the new improved version and then went back to look at the original and felt like "Well, it's like the new one, except a bit worse."

Zelda, I feel mixed. I really loved TP too, but looking at Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, I really...don't like the way things are going.

Spoiler: GTA gets a spoiler since I talk too much.

GTA, I've loved since the first one - which was silly, cartoony friendly violence. GTA 2 was more of that, with hilarious characters, sarcastic gangs, and tongue-in-cheek humor with over-the-top caricatures of generic rednecks, corporation members, mafia members, and whatnot.

GTA 3, however, sorta took that all and threw it away to give you a different experience - which I certainly enjoyed, but it was more of a drama than a cute silly game. However, it was in 3D which was EFFING AWESOME. Honestly, the first time I saw the game, I thought my friend was playing a racing game until he ran over like 6 people, crashed into a police car, bailed out of his car as it caught fire and exploded, and then ran and got another one.

GTA Vice City tried to bring it back with the pastel colors, but I wasn't impressed personally. It looked like a mod for GTA 3, with more collectible items.

GTA San Andreas had some terrible stat-building elements (GOTTA GO RIDE MY BIKE TO LEVEL UP STAMINA) which changed the game quite a bit, but I agree that it certainly pushed forward scale even more, adding a whole new layer of character customization and size of the world.

GTA 4 tries to make you feel like a person trying to live in this world instead of a character playing in it. You have friends, you have girlfriends, you have obligations to take them out and play minigames with them. You have a cell-phone, you have more choices that change gameplay, karma, who's after you and who's friendly, etc, etc...I'm sure it has an engrossing storyline that I'd appreciate if I took the time to, but so far there's no more silliness of what made the game as entertaining as it used to be.

What I'm trying to get at is that the series has (slowly, starting at 3,) taken a darker, grittier, more serious approach to itself, and tells stories of love, betrayal, and drama. That's great, that's wonderful! Many people will enjoy this. Myself, I miss back when the enemy gangs had giant smiley faces on their cars and were demented psychopaths that caused gang-wars for fun.

 

[The Steel Ninja]

The Mega Man RPGs (Battle Network/Star Force). BN was kinda interesting at first, then it milked the thing to hell. I mean, I know Mega Man is the epitome of over-milked franchises, but damn, man. They even ripped off Pokemon with the multiple versions thing.

 

[RH3INLAND.]

Sonic.

 

[Mockingjay]

sonic. nuff said.

Can't deny this logic, hve a gold star.

 

[Mockingjay]

snip because my post will stretch the page enough as is

Zelda, I feel mixed. I really loved TP too, but looking at Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, I really...don't like the way things are going.

Spoiler: GTA gets a spoiler since I talk too much.

GTA, I've loved since the first one - which was silly, cartoony friendly violence. GTA 2 was more of that, with hilarious characters, sarcastic gangs, and tongue-in-cheek humor with over-the-top caricatures of generic rednecks, corporation members, mafia members, and whatnot.

GTA 3, however, sorta took that all and threw it away to give you a different experience - which I certainly enjoyed, but it was more of a drama than a cute silly game. However, it was in 3D which was EFFING AWESOME. Honestly, the first time I saw the game, I thought my friend was playing a racing game until he ran over like 6 people, crashed into a police car, bailed out of his car as it caught fire and exploded, and then ran and got another one.

GTA Vice City tried to bring it back with the pastel colors, but I wasn't impressed personally. It looked like a mod for GTA 3, with more collectible items.

GTA San Andreas had some terrible stat-building elements (GOTTA GO RIDE MY BIKE TO LEVEL UP STAMINA) which changed the game quite a bit, but I agree that it certainly pushed forward scale even more, adding a whole new layer of character customization and size of the world.

GTA 4 tries to make you feel like a person trying to live in this world instead of a character playing in it. You have friends, you have girlfriends, you have obligations to take them out and play minigames with them. You have a cell-phone, you have more choices that change gameplay, karma, who's after you and who's friendly, etc, etc...I'm sure it has an engrossing storyline that I'd appreciate if I took the time to, but so far there's no more silliness of what made the game as entertaining as it used to be.

What I'm trying to get at is that the series has (slowly, starting at 3,) taken a darker, grittier, more serious approach to itself, and tells stories of love, betrayal, and drama. That's great, that's wonderful! Many people will enjoy this. Myself, I miss back when the enemy gangs had giant smiley faces on their cars and were demented psychopaths that caused gang-wars for fun.

Don't hang me, but the Metroid series... see, I can play Super Metroid with the same sort of glee, challenge, excitement, and sometimes fear, as I had so many years ago when I first got it. The Prime series is visually stunning, and very fun, but... once played through a single time, my interest in playing it again has been quite diminished by walking through that much territory, wasting the same PITA enemies that always respawn in tiny corridors, and by the constant feeling of always having to backtrack for one tiny upgrade to progress mere inches through a side tunnel. They're great the first time, but replayability has been absolutely murdered and simple advancement always feels like a slog.

To be honest, I think I have to agree with you. I recently got into the Prime series because I don't own a GCN myself, and got to borrow the system. Playing through Prime 1 so far, I see little to no replay value in it, unless you haven't touched the game in years. It's possibly because I started playing on hard mode, and enemies take that much longer to kill, and it becomes somewhat tedious, but if that's the case, then what replay value is there when killing most trash mob enemies are nothing more than being tedious?
And the fact that puzzle solving and exploration/collecting are my favorite parts of gameplay, once you do it and know where everything is, it's no longer fun as what it used to be.

Perhaps I'm just really sore about it at the moment because I really dislike the Phazon Mines.

The series went downhill for me when they shat all over Sumas as a character. In brawl they made her a woman with a whip, a skin tight costume and an overly sexy voice. She doesn't look like a bounty hunter anymore. Just a bit of a slut.

Twilight Princess was fun but there is no way they're going to be able to tie in all the plots of Zelda sufficiently. It just too much of a mess now. The series goes slightly downhill everytime they make a god damned cell shaded game.

 

[Kstreitenfeld]

Personnaly, I think Every game with a sequel gets worst with time.

I know it happens a lot but sometimes they actually improve the sequel from the original or at least make it equally as epic... But then again sometimes the next sequel after that they screw it up

 

[Skeleon]

Dawn of War
I really loved the first part, although the first addon already felt weaker somehow.
Then came Dark Crusade and its metamap campaign - a huge step backwards.
Soulstorm wasn't really any further downhill since it was basically the same as Dark Crusade.
But Dawn of War 2 sucked.

 

[Valiance]

The series went downhill for me when they shat all over Sumas as a character. In brawl they made her a woman with a whip, a skin tight costume and an overly sexy voice. She doesn't look like a bounty hunter anymore. Just a bit of a slut.

Agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed.

Nintendo has to take its most badass character and make her even more friendly and cute.

Twilight Princess was fun but there is no way they're going to be able to tie in all the plots of Zelda sufficiently. It just too much of a mess now. The series goes slightly downhill everytime they make a god damned cell shaded game.

Again, Nintendo has to take their badass characters and make them kid friendly again.

That said, it's not like the game being cell-shaded makes it inherently bad, but toon-link is becoming the frontman of the Zelda franchise, and honestly, I get the feeling I enjoyed TP much more than I'll enjoy Spirit Tracks. If I even end up playing it.

 

[PeterDawson]

Sonic, Silent Hill, Star Wars, Dragon Quest, Devil May Cry and Pokemon come to mind.

 

[Mockingjay]

The series went downhill for me when they shat all over Sumas as a character. In brawl they made her a woman with a whip, a skin tight costume and an overly sexy voice. She doesn't look like a bounty hunter anymore. Just a bit of a slut.

Agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed.

Nintendo has to take its most badass character and make her even more friendly and cute.

Twilight Princess was fun but there is no way they're going to be able to tie in all the plots of Zelda sufficiently. It just too much of a mess now. The series goes slightly downhill everytime they make a god damned cell shaded game.

Again, Nintendo has to take their badass characters and make them kid friendly again.

That said, it's not like the game being cell-shaded makes it inherently bad, but toon-link is becoming the frontman of the Zelda franchise, and honestly, I get the feeling I enjoyed TP much more than I'll enjoy Spirit Tracks. If I even end up playing it.

It's not the fact it's cell shaded, its the qualty of the cell shaded games they make. Too short, too easy, too much overworld travelling via boat... and now train apparently... I thought the game had a relatively medieval setting but obviously not...