Poll of the Day > What are some good games that ruined a series?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Resident Evil 4

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

...Wait, are you asking what good games ruined a game series, or what games ruined a good game series?
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Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.
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Maybe Metroid Prime? The first one was kinda cool even if the controls sucked, but it kinda meant the end of the 2D franchise.

EclairReturns posted...

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

...Wait, are you asking what good games ruined a game series, or what games ruined a good game series?

Seems to be the former, which happens when a game fundamentally changes a franchise's direction.
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Zeus posted...

Maybe Metroid Prime? The first one was kinda cool even if the controls sucked, but it kinda meant the end of the 2D franchise.

EclairReturns posted...

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

...Wait, are you asking what good games ruined a game series, or what games ruined a good game series?

Seems to be the former, which happens when a game fundamentally changes a franchise's direction.

What if the game is so good, it ruins the other games in the series.
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I feel like despite being a good game, FFX was the start of the downturn for that series, for me anyway.
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Metroid Prime would be a big one for me. It never needed to be a crappy FPS. I always just wanted more 2D platforming stuff. At least the new remake was pretty decent, but I sorta doubt they will go forward with a full-on new 2D entry.
EclairReturns posted...

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.

No. Not at all.
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As much as I enjoyed Fallout: New Vegas. I can't say I was 100% happy when I saw the direction Bethesda was taking that series when Fallout 3 released.
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WastelandCowboy posted...

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

That was a bad game that ruined a series...

I'd say Fallout 3, because it was good on its own, but totally sharted all over many of the things that made the series good up to that point. It felt like an Elder Scrolls mod.
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Resident Evil 4 came to mind because people claim that it did, but it's simply not true.

Resident Evil 4 was a great game. The series was in a bad state with games that few people were interested in like Resident Evil Zero or the shooter games. Then Resident Evil 4 came along with a breath of fresh air, great graphics and atmosphere, freedom of movement, fun to explore. It was connected to the main series, but with some side characters and a new twist (fast infected zombies). With that it didn't infringe too much on the old games, but added to them instead.

Resident Evil 4 could have saved the series. If the next game was as good or better than Resident Evil 4, and as -or preferably more- scary.
Instead the next game, Resident Evil 5, was much more action oriented, with a real time inventory, and an annoying coop partner that was always there distracting you.
Resident Evil 5 had two DLC, desperate escape (non stop shooting) and Lost in Nightmares. If only the whole game was as good as Lost in Nightmares. This DLC showed that they could make an atmospheric scary game. But the sales people wanted action and shooting.

The next game, Resident Evil 6, was more action heavy, and tried to be Call of Duty. Meanwhile other horror games took over the genre. Like Dead Space (which ironically went the same road) and Outlast.

Resident Evil 4 was the last great game in the series. But it didn't ruin it. It could've saved it. If only Resident Evil 5 was more like 4.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

WastelandCowboy posted...

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

That was a bad game that ruined a series...

I'd say Fallout 3, because it was good on its own, but totally sharted all over many of the things that made the series good up to that point. It felt like an Elder Scrolls mod.

Oh shit,yeah. I misread the topic.

benbeverfaqs posted...

Resident Evil 4 came to mind because people claim that it did, but it's simply not true.

Resident Evil 4 was a great game. The series was in a bad state with games that few people were interested in like Resident Evil Zero or the shooter games. Then Resident Evil 4 came along with a breath of fresh air, great graphics and atmosphere, freedom of movement, fun to explore. It was connected to the main series, but with some side characters and a new twist (fast infected zombies). With that it didn't infringe too much on the old games, but added to them instead.

This, if RE4 was more like it's prototype or earlier games it would have been nothing special and people would probably instead complain that RE was getting stale. Face it, Resident Evil needed innovation and 4 was exactly that.
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Sonic adventure. It was a grand game but 3d sonic is hard to pull off.
Tony Hawk's Underground started to lose people with the walking and story.
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COD4

Other than the grenade spam, it was a fun shooter, but then they had to push everything they did in that game to the nth degree and it became a completely unbalanced mess full of guys camping all day long to get their nuke.
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Final Fantasy 7
Grand Theft Auto 3
Dark Souls
Halo 2
TES: Oblivion

Like, just pick a fucking series...there's a game somewhere that screwed everything else up down the line.
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Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

WastelandCowboy posted...

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

That was a bad game that ruined a series...

I'd say Fallout 3, because it was good on its own, but totally sharted all over many of the things that made the series good up to that point. It felt like an Elder Scrolls mod.

I still need to play the original fallout games, but I will say this. I actually like modern fallout games over elder scrolls games. my dream would be a mash up of the two though. so basically a shadowrun game done in ES/FO style
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mooreandrew58 posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.

Resident evils 1-3 were brilliant survival horror masterpieces for their time. They captured the horror of a zombie apocalypse well, each in its own unique way. Resident evil 1 was scary because you were stuck in this mansion, surrounded by undead where everything is a death trap and your commander is evil. Resident evil 2 was scary because the infection hit the city, the police station, and you had this monstrous tyrant running around. Resident evil 3 was scary for similar reasons as 2 plus the addition of Nemesis lurking around random corners trying to hunt you down.

I can understand that the gameplay was offputting, but the games were otherwise excellent.
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JanwayDaahl posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.

Resident evils 1-3 were brilliant survival horror masterpieces for their time. They captured the horror of a zombie apocalypse well, each in its own unique way. Resident evil 1 was scary because you were stuck in this mansion, surrounded by undead where everything is a death trap and your commander is evil. Resident evil 2 was scary because the infection hit the city, the police station, and you had this monstrous tyrant running around. Resident evil 3 was scary for similar reasons as 2 plus the addition of Nemesis lurking around random corners trying to hunt you down.

I can understand that the gameplay was offputting, but the games were otherwise excellent.

it was mostly the controls I remember killing it for me. and i've never been a big fan of horror survival to begin with. or horror things period. also never liked zombies, think left 4 dead is one of the only zombie games I really liked, but that had to be with my best friend. doubt I would have enjoyed it as much alone.
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DocDelicious posted...

Final Fantasy 7
Grand Theft Auto 3
Dark Souls
Halo 2
TES: Oblivion

Like, just pick a fucking series...there's a game somewhere that screwed everything else up down the line.

It's ironic because Skyrim is better than Oblivion, and also the only game after it in the series. You would have a stronger argument if you said Morrowind.

BlackScythe0 posted...

DocDelicious posted...

Final Fantasy 7
Grand Theft Auto 3
Dark Souls
Halo 2
TES: Oblivion

Like, just pick a fucking series...there's a game somewhere that screwed everything else up down the line.

It's ironic because Skyrim is better than Oblivion, and also the only game after it in the series. You would have a stronger argument if you said Morrowind.

well both games i've seen accused of making ES more mainstream. I didn't hear that complaint with morrowind but I guess because it flew under the radar for a lot of people as open world games weren't the "in" thing yet

I haven't played any before morrowind but each game has its pros and cons. for every good thing they add they seem to take something else away that I liked. Skryim is still the best imo for roleplaying reasons.
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Shadow of war

its a great game, with deplorable business practices
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JanwayDaahl posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.

Resident evils 1-3 were brilliant survival horror masterpieces for their time. They captured the horror of a zombie apocalypse well, each in its own unique way. Resident evil 1 was scary because you were stuck in this mansion, surrounded by undead where everything is a death trap and your commander is evil. Resident evil 2 was scary because the infection hit the city, the police station, and you had this monstrous tyrant running around. Resident evil 3 was scary for similar reasons as 2 plus the addition of Nemesis lurking around random corners trying to hunt you down.

I can understand that the gameplay was offputting, but the games were otherwise excellent.

artificial horror. the scary part was "am i going to be able to manipulate these godawful controls quickly enough to beat that super slow moving, stupid zombie
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Troll_Police_ posted...

JanwayDaahl posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.

Resident evils 1-3 were brilliant survival horror masterpieces for their time. They captured the horror of a zombie apocalypse well, each in its own unique way. Resident evil 1 was scary because you were stuck in this mansion, surrounded by undead where everything is a death trap and your commander is evil. Resident evil 2 was scary because the infection hit the city, the police station, and you had this monstrous tyrant running around. Resident evil 3 was scary for similar reasons as 2 plus the addition of Nemesis lurking around random corners trying to hunt you down.

I can understand that the gameplay was offputting, but the games were otherwise excellent.

artificial horror. the scary part was "am i going to be able to manipulate these godawful controls quickly enough to beat that super slow moving, stupid zombie

pretty much. horror movies and games have rarely ever legit scared me. think resident evil 4 made me jump slightly once to a jump scare that gave you very little time to react and not take some damage for failing to kill the thing quick enough. all I remember was a dude busting out of something and being on fire.

speaking of which I still need to play slender the arrival. only played the first level but so far its the only horror game i've played that honestly kept me feeling uneasy. it did its job as I constantly felt like something was right behind me. though its the only horror game I think i've played where you are incapable of fighting back.
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Good game... ruin a series... Seems paradoxical.
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WarGreymon77 posted...

Good game... ruin a series... Seems paradoxical.

you hear about it a lot though. i've often heard stuff like fallout 4 is a good game, just not a good fallout game. or metal gear solid V is a good game but not a good metal gear game. and final fantasy is full of entries where people will say stuff like that. though most will just go straight to saying the game is trash but when you hash out the details with them it turns out they don't like it because it didn't hold up to what they felt a final fantasy game should be.
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Yeah, often times I'll just say a game is terrible.
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WarGreymon77 posted...

Yeah, often times I'll just say a game is terrible.

i'm about the same I don't really care if a game in a series goes in a different direction if it's still good. like with final fantasy. I don't mind the turn based rpg style but it feels outdated to me, and while it can still be good I prefer the direction they've been trying to go in. what I mostly hate though is random battle occurrences. I heavily prefer being able to see the enemies before entering combat with them, so I was happy 12 and up have done away with that.
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Troll_Police_ posted...

JanwayDaahl posted...

mooreandrew58 posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Anisoptera posted...

Resident Evil 4

Agree 100%

In fact that is always the first game that comes to my mind when a question like this gets asked.

I loved resident evil 4, but to be fair I disliked all the games that came before it. so if you where a fan of those I see your point.

Resident evils 1-3 were brilliant survival horror masterpieces for their time. They captured the horror of a zombie apocalypse well, each in its own unique way. Resident evil 1 was scary because you were stuck in this mansion, surrounded by undead where everything is a death trap and your commander is evil. Resident evil 2 was scary because the infection hit the city, the police station, and you had this monstrous tyrant running around. Resident evil 3 was scary for similar reasons as 2 plus the addition of Nemesis lurking around random corners trying to hunt you down.

I can understand that the gameplay was offputting, but the games were otherwise excellent.

artificial horror. the scary part was "am i going to be able to manipulate these godawful controls quickly enough to beat that super slow moving, stupid zombie

No, the scary parts were the atmosphere.
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Maybe Super Paper Mario. I love the game, but it seemed to have set a bad precedent for the series and totally took it away from its roots.
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In the sense that others have mention: Symphony of the Night. It killed off the classic style and ushered in the metroidvania style.

In another sense: Half-Life 2. It was successful enough to launch steam and change valves focus from ever making a conclusion to the series.

WarGreymon77 posted...

Good game... ruin a series... Seems paradoxical.

At face value, maybe. However, a game can be good and lead to bad things, particularly when it pushes a franchise in a different direction. In that regard, the issue doesn't pertain to the individual game's quality or, in other senses, it could reflect that it's a good game but a poor fit for a franchise. Saints Row 3 could have been in the Mega Man game and, despite being an incredible game, would have been a departure from the existing franchise (although Mega Man is basically Capcom's Mario so he's been used in a lot of different ways)
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FFX