We have seen plenty of game concepts (and just games, period) that have been universally hated by gamers, to the point that the developers in charge may go so far as to reference/lampoon their past mistakes with their next (and usually more acclaimed) attempt.
One of the most famous examples of this is Metal Gear Solid 3. Following the enormous backlash against MGS2 for replacing Solid Snake as the main protagonist, Konami spends a good chunk of Snake Eater cramming in as many jokes, nods, and just plain "we get it, we messed up" moments against Raiden. Hardly a moment is wasted in ridiculing the character right from the start (from Snake wearing a fake Raiden mask in the opening cutscene and commenting how "This doesn't feel right") to having other characters display their hatred at every known opportunity (Zero stating how he was "starting to get annoyed" when Snake wears the mask later on). Then all sense of subtlety is thrown right out the window once the Raidonovich Raikov character appears....
In my opinion, MGS3 is one of those examples of coping to a mistake and laying it on so thick that it diminishes whatever attempts at self-referential acknowledgement the developers were going for. Sure, the opening fake-out was terrific, but everything afterwards just shits on both Raiden and MGS2 (which, controversy aside, still ended up one of the most popular entries in the series).
One example I felt that did this right was Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Unlike MGS2, the original FFXIV was highly reviled by nearly everyone, which is why Square was so quick to kill the game before staining the FF name forever (too bad about a certain other game that continued to get two worse sequels). Despite that, ARR never openly acknowledges the failure of FFXIV, despite everyone at Square Enix freely admitting their fuck-up. Instead, the reimagined game's plot centers around the original game's climax, which featured a literal world-ending event that had Bahamut completely reshape the world and kill a good chunk of its inhabitants. The survivors in ARR go on to acknowledge this event as a sort of karmic punishment, mentioning through dialog how the world of Eorzea was already tainted and filled with conflict, and how the calamity that ended that game allowed them to band together and rebuild their world for the better.
I find that ending the original shitty FFXIV with a cataclysmic event yet still maintaining that setting for the do-over was a pretty brilliant move. Aside from giving them a chance to start over without completely undoing the lore they created (or the progress that the players crazy enough to stick with the game achieved), it allows all of the characters to recall the blight upon their realm without overreaching with the fourth wall acknowledgement of failure that MGS3 painfully did. If anything, they've made the terribleness of FFXIV to be essential to the story behind A Realm Reborn. Considering how great that game turned up, the whole thing ended up paying off.
So what are some examples (good or bad) of game sequels/spinoffs winking and nodding over past mistakes? Do you dread the next Mass Effect making jokes about rainbow-colored endings or embrace the acknowledgement?
One of the most famous examples of this is Metal Gear Solid 3. Following the enormous backlash against MGS2 for replacing Solid Snake as the main protagonist, Konami spends a good chunk of Snake Eater cramming in as many jokes, nods, and just plain "we get it, we messed up" moments against Raiden. Hardly a moment is wasted in ridiculing the character right from the start (from Snake wearing a fake Raiden mask in the opening cutscene and commenting how "This doesn't feel right") to having other characters display their hatred at every known opportunity (Zero stating how he was "starting to get annoyed" when Snake wears the mask later on). Then all sense of subtlety is thrown right out the window once the Raidonovich Raikov character appears....
In my opinion, MGS3 is one of those examples of coping to a mistake and laying it on so thick that it diminishes whatever attempts at self-referential acknowledgement the developers were going for. Sure, the opening fake-out was terrific, but everything afterwards just shits on both Raiden and MGS2 (which, controversy aside, still ended up one of the most popular entries in the series).
One example I felt that did this right was Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Unlike MGS2, the original FFXIV was highly reviled by nearly everyone, which is why Square was so quick to kill the game before staining the FF name forever (too bad about a certain other game that continued to get two worse sequels). Despite that, ARR never openly acknowledges the failure of FFXIV, despite everyone at Square Enix freely admitting their fuck-up. Instead, the reimagined game's plot centers around the original game's climax, which featured a literal world-ending event that had Bahamut completely reshape the world and kill a good chunk of its inhabitants. The survivors in ARR go on to acknowledge this event as a sort of karmic punishment, mentioning through dialog how the world of Eorzea was already tainted and filled with conflict, and how the calamity that ended that game allowed them to band together and rebuild their world for the better.
I find that ending the original shitty FFXIV with a cataclysmic event yet still maintaining that setting for the do-over was a pretty brilliant move. Aside from giving them a chance to start over without completely undoing the lore they created (or the progress that the players crazy enough to stick with the game achieved), it allows all of the characters to recall the blight upon their realm without overreaching with the fourth wall acknowledgement of failure that MGS3 painfully did. If anything, they've made the terribleness of FFXIV to be essential to the story behind A Realm Reborn. Considering how great that game turned up, the whole thing ended up paying off.
So what are some examples (good or bad) of game sequels/spinoffs winking and nodding over past mistakes? Do you dread the next Mass Effect making jokes about rainbow-colored endings or embrace the acknowledgement?
