Spring-Loaded
Member
Every time I get over this, someone reminds me of the pain.
Franchises with wasted potential
- Thread starter JaxJag
- Start date
Every time I get over this, someone reminds me of the pain.
Rodney McKay
Member
Assassin's Creed in the sense that it could have been a great game about actually assassinating people similar to a game like Hitman but in different time periods. Then it just became "run/jump/sneak (but mostly run) at the main target and stab in the neck."
By Revelations you have such a massive toybox of weapons and tools at your disposal, but nothing really creative to do with them for main targets. Bombs of all varieties, poison, bribing different factions, a hundred different weapons, etc.
Instead of embracing the sandbox nature that open-world games can do so well, it merely gives you mostly linear story missions with the standard smattering of side missions.
By Revelations you have such a massive toybox of weapons and tools at your disposal, but nothing really creative to do with them for main targets. Bombs of all varieties, poison, bribing different factions, a hundred different weapons, etc.
Instead of embracing the sandbox nature that open-world games can do so well, it merely gives you mostly linear story missions with the standard smattering of side missions.
Mirror's Edge - I loved this first game, honestly. But I think there was definitely something to be said about how it exists as a racing/time trial game. An online race mode would've been REALLY interesting. The lack of action on EA's part for a sequel is disappointing, no matter how many times DICE has apparently tried to get it off the ground.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - I can't say I was interested in the whole MMO, but I thought Reckoning was awesome from a gameplay perspective. I loved the feel of the combat, I loved how awesome your character ALWAYS looked, even with shitty armor, and I loved exploring every expanse. Where it failed was its super-forgettable story, and how overly-filled with pointless quests it was. The number of bad MMO-style "go get this thing from a cave" quests, or "go kill (insert arbitrary number) monsters" kind of quests was overbearing. I still did a bunch of them, but it took the focus away from what I think the game should've focused on. By letting you join every faction, or never having to take any meaningful sides in the story, it prevented you from feeling invested in the world. I LOVED exploring the environments, finding a whole other forest to run around in, etc. I would've loved a sequel, if only to explore even more lands though. I dunno, some super icy cliff-sides or something, or some cool monk temples...
Epic Mickey - The original concept of this game was clearly held back by Disney, and the game suffered for it. Spector himself admitted that he couldn't take it as far as he wanted to, and that is a HUGE shame. A twisted Disneyland, an upside-down take on all those forgotten characters... There was huge promise in that. Instead the game lost its edge and had to rely on its mediocre platforming design. It's really sad to see what happened to this.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - I can't say I was interested in the whole MMO, but I thought Reckoning was awesome from a gameplay perspective. I loved the feel of the combat, I loved how awesome your character ALWAYS looked, even with shitty armor, and I loved exploring every expanse. Where it failed was its super-forgettable story, and how overly-filled with pointless quests it was. The number of bad MMO-style "go get this thing from a cave" quests, or "go kill (insert arbitrary number) monsters" kind of quests was overbearing. I still did a bunch of them, but it took the focus away from what I think the game should've focused on. By letting you join every faction, or never having to take any meaningful sides in the story, it prevented you from feeling invested in the world. I LOVED exploring the environments, finding a whole other forest to run around in, etc. I would've loved a sequel, if only to explore even more lands though. I dunno, some super icy cliff-sides or something, or some cool monk temples...
Epic Mickey - The original concept of this game was clearly held back by Disney, and the game suffered for it. Spector himself admitted that he couldn't take it as far as he wanted to, and that is a HUGE shame. A twisted Disneyland, an upside-down take on all those forgotten characters... There was huge promise in that. Instead the game lost its edge and had to rely on its mediocre platforming design. It's really sad to see what happened to this.
Sorcerer Supreme
Member
Socom 3 was MAG light and Combined Assault was an expansion pack to that; both games were awful and they went away from the classic Socom formula.
Socom: Confrontation was a terrible take on the series by a studio that had and still has absolutely no idea how to make a console game nor any idea what made Socom so special.
Socom 4 was the biggest insult to not only the franchise but the fans, an abomination that marked the death of Zipper and the series.
phosphor112
Banned
Sony.
Yes, Sony.
Yes, Sony.
GunGrave
The anime is really good at least.
aliencowz7
Member
That's pretty much what I meant though, It wasn't really a case of them sweeping the series under the rug in favor of other shooter series, it was just a matter of them being totally incompetent and having no idea where to go with the series post socom 2.
The fact that they even had 4 more entries meant they wanted to use the socom brand, they just subsequently destroyed it with awful entries.
grosvenor_92
Member
Idk if either of you saw this thread earlier but Prey 2 might still be a thing and coming sooner than later maybe
Link http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511313
Tricky I Shadow
Banned
Zelda is the first to come to mind.
Monocle
Member
Devil May Cry. None of the sequels even attempted to recapture the dark tone of the first game, and we still don't have a definitive HD DMC. DMC4 is heavily flawed despite its fantastic combat system, and DmC is way too dumbed down to be considered a mainline entry in the series. We need a real DMC5.
grosvenor_92
Member
PedroPanache
Member
Shadow Hearts. It's such an interesting premise, to build an RPG using some mad alternate history where Al Capone will happily converse with a giant cat, and Rasputin "the mad monk" is a villain in one of your games. There's so much you can do with that template, and even though the third game wasn't up there, it represented the potential the series had with that particular template. It's a shame that we'll never get another one.
Of course, there's Parasite Eve as well, the first game had the brilliant idea of using the JRPG template and wrapping that around a contemporary setting, with a tight, cinematic story that clocked in around 10-15 hours. I wish more JRPG's adopted this format, there's so much you can do with a contemporary setting and a good sci-fi story. Parasite Eve pretty nailed it at the first time of asking. Pity, that Third Birthday game never came to pass, I'm sure it would have been a worthy successor to the series.
Of course, there's Parasite Eve as well, the first game had the brilliant idea of using the JRPG template and wrapping that around a contemporary setting, with a tight, cinematic story that clocked in around 10-15 hours. I wish more JRPG's adopted this format, there's so much you can do with a contemporary setting and a good sci-fi story. Parasite Eve pretty nailed it at the first time of asking. Pity, that Third Birthday game never came to pass, I'm sure it would have been a worthy successor to the series.
Singularity42
Member
Socom- That shit was like crack to me for the first few games then zipper sucked and then the franchise was dead to me when I played 4
Sapphire Dreams
Member
Too Human: Such and original universe with interesting lore made by a developer that was still beloved after the msterpiece that was Eternal Darkness on the GameCube, sadly, delays, engine changes and bad decision making made this game pure shit and a technical nightmare, they wasted what could have been the best IP this gen, now it's going to be remembered as one of the biggest wastes of potential in the Xbox's history.
RyanardoDaVinci
Member
Mass Effect
Metal Gear Online
Metal Gear Online
Kickass667
Banned
Darksiders
MightyKAC
Member
nhlducks35
Member
slightconfuse
Banned
Dead rising
Funchameleon
Banned
The out-of-animus story of Assassin's Creed. In fact Ezio was really the only thing the writing had going for it.
ii Stryker
Banned
Halo 4
The Promethean's and their weapons end up feeling more generic than the flood from Halo CE
The story was mostly dull as well.
MoH- with the Flashpoint IP all but dead and ARMA being PC exclusive the cooperative military sim genre is open season but completely ignored on consoles.
Syndicate the co-op should've been the focus entirely.
The Promethean's and their weapons end up feeling more generic than the flood from Halo CE
The story was mostly dull as well.
MoH- with the Flashpoint IP all but dead and ARMA being PC exclusive the cooperative military sim genre is open season but completely ignored on consoles.
Syndicate the co-op should've been the focus entirely.
speculawyer
Member
Yeah, WTF. Nuts & Bolts was OK. But someone needs to challenge Mario for building a simple 3D platformer.
Onimusha. That first game was dope, and the others were pretty good, but I need MORE.
Yakuza Kenzan not being a regular thing.
All of Feudal Japan is a wasted potential in games. It's always ridiculous anime bullshit instead of like manly ass samurai fighting times.
Yakuza Kenzan not being a regular thing.
All of Feudal Japan is a wasted potential in games. It's always ridiculous anime bullshit instead of like manly ass samurai fighting times.
les papillons sexuels
Banned
crackdown.
I always wanted a massive mech like thing to take out as it walked through one of the zones.
I always wanted a massive mech like thing to take out as it walked through one of the zones.
Fable.
Mass Effect 3 was also a major disappointment. Not just because the ending, but the entire main plot was atrocious. I think in a bigger picture sense, ME had the potential to tell one of the best stories in gaming history. In the end, the plot was overall inconsistent and incoherent.
Mass Effect 3 was also a major disappointment. Not just because the ending, but the entire main plot was atrocious. I think in a bigger picture sense, ME had the potential to tell one of the best stories in gaming history. In the end, the plot was overall inconsistent and incoherent.
speculawyer
Member
Max Payne.
Rockstar paid a zillion bucks for it then came out with Max Payne 3 like 7 years later. It was OK but not well received. The franchise may be dead now. :-(
Rockstar paid a zillion bucks for it then came out with Max Payne 3 like 7 years later. It was OK but not well received. The franchise may be dead now. :-(
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Ahem: Pilotwings. Not a single mention yet? I'm not surprised. The latest game doesn't even improve on what the N64 installment had. I don't like how Nintendo treats this franchise as just a bunch of tech demos. They feature some of the most accessible yet challenging aerial gaming I know of.
Delusional
speculawyer
Member
NHL 2Kn. I loved it. It felt smoother than EA's NHL to me. But it fell out out of favor and died.
ClassyPenguin
Banned
Not like Halo of Gears had any better writing. Killzone just reeked of a company overreaching their potential. KZ1 was just big in terms of maps that the encounters seemed sparse. 2 and 3 were way better and up to par.
Wait to make me get on buyers remorse before I even played the campaign buddy.
I just got the trilogy a week ago looking foward to the campaign. Hoping it would be similar to resistance and its AI.
I got the trilogy after having fun with the killzone 3 multiplayer trial.
Gosh, killzone 1 is just stale, really really stale.
I couldn't stand it and jumped straight into Killzone 2 multiplayer which is a blast. I enjoy it more than black ops 2 which I sold to some guy for $45 3 weeks ago. Spent that cash on this trilogy. Mixed feelings, but I'm already having fun with it so its more than a fair deal.
DMC. Not gameplaywise, but storywise, definitely.
They presented a really cool universe in DMC1, but never really went into it. Still, they had enough hooks to get people who are into that kind of stuff hooked.
But then DMC2 happened....
But then DMC3 happened! And things were back on track and they gave dante a really good character arc and set up even more awesome things with Vergil and Arkham's magic and stuff.
Then DMC4 happened. Dante acted like a caricature of himself and Nero fucked the lore inside out with his very existence and strange connection to vergil and Sparda.
Then DmC happened, and it has it's own problems. *Spoilers in link*
What is truly tragic here is that, from a story perspective, I don't know if I want them to go back to DMC because I don't think Capcom knows how to handle that universe. They'd have to have DMC4 join DMC2 as "that game we don't talk about" in terms of story canon if they want to make a believable effort at a cohesive narrative again.
They presented a really cool universe in DMC1, but never really went into it. Still, they had enough hooks to get people who are into that kind of stuff hooked.
But then DMC2 happened....
But then DMC3 happened! And things were back on track and they gave dante a really good character arc and set up even more awesome things with Vergil and Arkham's magic and stuff.
Then DMC4 happened. Dante acted like a caricature of himself and Nero fucked the lore inside out with his very existence and strange connection to vergil and Sparda.
Then DmC happened, and it has it's own problems. *Spoilers in link*
What is truly tragic here is that, from a story perspective, I don't know if I want them to go back to DMC because I don't think Capcom knows how to handle that universe. They'd have to have DMC4 join DMC2 as "that game we don't talk about" in terms of story canon if they want to make a believable effort at a cohesive narrative again.
Ronan_Berthelot
Member
James Bond
Platinumstorm
Member
Sometimes it's very much okay for games to not have sequels.
The Gataway games were basically Driver with a touch of GTA and they never even took the best parts of either franchise. I going to say that this one should stay dead.
mugoldeneagle03
Member
That's why it was wasted potential. I'll fight till the death for the franchise but they took major steps back after S2, and the PS3 entries were even worse which was kind of pathetic.
Not to mention it pretty much killed the future of any Fireteam Bravo Vita games we might have seen in the short term, which would have been amazing.
StunandStab
Member
F-ZERO: could be so much more than a racing game. Even as just a racing game though, F-ZERO has so much potential in the way of different modes, online, and just being plain awesome but Nintendo doesn't want to make F-ZERO anymore...
Zelda: This will probably be repeated over and over in this thread, but everybody will say different things. There is so much potential in Zelda, I could write an essay about it but I'm just going to say here that Nintendo really needs to up the presentation in Zelda.
METROID: Oh my god, Metroid, if only Sakamoto did not kill you with Other M.
there are so many different ways this franchise could go. Metroid has infinite potential, really. It even had the potential to end up a horrible game and we saw that with Other M.
Why is it all Nintendo games that come to mind for me in this thread? Nintendo makes me sad
Zelda: This will probably be repeated over and over in this thread, but everybody will say different things. There is so much potential in Zelda, I could write an essay about it but I'm just going to say here that Nintendo really needs to up the presentation in Zelda.
METROID: Oh my god, Metroid, if only Sakamoto did not kill you with Other M.
there are so many different ways this franchise could go. Metroid has infinite potential, really. It even had the potential to end up a horrible game and we saw that with Other M.
Why is it all Nintendo games that come to mind for me in this thread? Nintendo makes me sad
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
They pretty much explored everything they needed to in the first level. I just recommend the demo, this video and a CSI box set to people now.
Host Samurai
Member
I was going to say Condemened, so much potential for a unique series that the developers decided to sell out and make it Hollywood. The original game had such a realistic and gritty tone that the sequel even changed the entire look of the main cast.