We all looked forward to Resident Evil 2 when it first came out. And don’t try to deny that Devil May Cry 2 was exciting when you got it, even if it wasn’t when you actually began to play. But just how many games for one franchise is too much?
We’re up to thirteen Final Fantasy games, not including the run off games, such as 10-2 and Crystal Chronicles and Ring of Fates and blah blah blah. Boring. You reach a point in your life where you get tired of hearing about the new Kingdom Hearts game that should be coming out soon, cause you know that it’s just like the rest of them, only with better graphics and more glitches than normal. And you wallet is groaning as you fish out another sixty bucks for the same Halo game you just beat.
So the question is, how many games can a company make before the gamer starts to become bored with the idea and gameplay? Square Enix has no idea. They’ve just released Final Fantasy 13, and their gamers ate it up. Is the same angst and reusable characters with different names really all that enticing? Then you have the games such as the Guitar Hero/Rock Band league. Same exact gameplay everytime, only different songs and perhaps new outfits for your characters. These games could go on forever, with how wide the music industry is, yet I don’t see that franchise ending any sooner than Final Fantasy.
And some of these “neverending” franchises have turned to remaking old games. What’s the point? Mario will always be Mario. If gamers wanted to replay storylines, they would play the games they already have instead of spending the money on a game they already own. Ever heard that sequels are never as good as the originals? That goes for remakes, too.
Now, some games deserve sequels. Red Ninja: End Of Honor was one of the best ninja style games I have ever played, but unfortunately, it had to end with that game. Fortunately, though, there is the Ninja Gaiden series. And Bioshock 2 is a sequel that I am ecstatic about simply because there is so much more material that could be covered there that was untouched in the first game. So I’m not saying that all sequels just suck period. I’m saying that once you hit three, it just needs to end there.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
While I agree with you in theory, sequels in games aren’t similar to movies, whereas their rehashing the same concept.
Final Fantasy games have rarely shared the same mechanics over the same game. Mario games are the same way. When technology comes along, it allows developers to try new ideas and mechanics along a new template, refreshing the franchise. It’s what happened to Resident Evil when 4 came along.
And Red Ninja? Really? That’s the best ninja game you’ve played? Somewhere…A Tenchu developer has cried himself to sleep.
Red Ninja blows.
Mass Effect 2 FTW!!!
Final Fantasy, regardless of how many sequels are made, will always draw an audience for 2 reasons. One it’s a classic title and two the story. Final Fantasy first drew their audience in because of the compelling storyline. People get attached to the characters. They want to be like Cloud, Yuna, or Vaan. It’s the story and the characters that make Final Fantasy.
But I do agree that some games are made over and over again without much being added to it. Halo 1,2, and 3 are not much different than each other. They make some guns better, some guns worse, change some of the maps, and they added stuff like the bubble shield in 3. But it’s pretty much the same game. Now there’s Halo ODST and a fourth Halo is in the works. ODST is kind of different in the campaign mode is different. The story isn’t all that great but I do like the new concept of playing from different character points of view while piecing the mystery together. I just don’t know how much better the 4th Halo will be though. It’s supposed to be a prequel to the first 3 games but if movie prequels are terrible (i.e. Star Wars 1 through 3), I have no faith in this video game prequel.
No way. I loved all of the Resident Evil Sequels AND the Fallout ones. (Ok ok, except for RE:5 because cmon, had almost nothing to do with HOW MANY of the pre-quels?)
Looking at thirteen Final Fantasy games, few of them ever used the same battle systems, and most of them were a totally different game. Even X-2 was completely different from it’s prequel, connected by story but different in aspects of gameplay.
But relevant to the topic, as much as I love the Tekken and Soul series, two or three new characters per game and increasingly ridiculous final bosses is about all I can take. Soul Calibur and Tekken need to cut the cord and give us a new fighter, even if it uses a pretty similar system. These franchises have had at least five games each, and I think it’s time we get a new set of characters to follow. If not, at least a revamp to refresh the series would be nice. Resident Evil did it. Mortal Kombat did it. Both are better for it.