Games That Ruined Their Series

[Carlos]

For me, probably Paper Mario: Sticker Star or Banjo Kazooie: Nutz N' Bolts. Whats yours?

Edit: Thought of another idea. Mario Party 9.

[ClaudX]

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are, as you said, Nutz and Boltz, and Saint's Row 3. The first two actually revolved around the Saints, but 3 and 4 just made the story less involved with the Saints and more with wacky, silly stuff.

[CosmykTheDolfyn]

Let's see... There's this...

Plenty of good did come after this, but it was a bad omen...

Whatever this abomination is:

Don't say it... Don't Say it... NEVER MIND, PORK BOARDIN!!! (If you have actually played this, you just peed your pants due to the sheer terror of those words due to the impending horrid gameplay).

And finally...

[CLXcool]

I think we should all give a reason in detail why the one game out of the batch of games that the series is known for is considered 'the black sheep/ruined' for the series. Now onto with mine. I would name the CDI games, but that would be just too damn easy. I can only think of one but If I think of any more I'll mention them on here.

First off. This one has NOTHING to do with the original Larry series. Its an in name only game. The original Larry isn't a playable character, there is a lot of sex references(its mostly filled in for 'fanservice' along to the point of crossing the lines of a hardcore porno with Fritz The Cat) and its not even an point and click adventure game. Its no wonder why Al Lowe hates this to this day. Its a revival done poorly. I find it hard to believe that it even got approved for an 'uncensored' version.

[gamemaster1991]

Let's see... There's this...

YOU TAKE THAT BACK! Sorry. I just like that game. It's not the best sequel in the world but it's better than a bunch of games that just rehash the same thing over and over again.

Also....

Whatever this abomination is:

I still don't get this. It's the same game as the NES version but Broier and maybe harder.

For my games that ruined their series...

Sonic and the Black Knight: Secret Rings was a fun experiment (like the first Sonic game was) and I was looking forward to playing a more improved version. Sega must have thought I said "Make a game with worse control, annoying characters, and a dull Plot." At lest the final boss music is awesome, but too bad it's a chore to get there.

Mega Man X6: Way too much to explain. For starters: Bullshit levels that go on for too long, a dumb plot, to much engurish to put up with. Before this game, I would have said that X4 was the worse, but, OH BOY, was I wrong.

Resident Evil 6: Just an overall worse version of RE5 (which I liked).

Shrek: Can you ruin a series before it even started? Well this definitely did it. The other games helped bring the series back up, but like a F on an all A Report Card, it just looks ugly when you look at it.

[Pewable]

I will say Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, because since this game, we don't have a true 2D Castlevania game... And I am losing hope.

(Castlevania LoS 1 & 2 are ok but Miror of Fate is by far one of the worst game I ever played, and I 100%'d it.)

[CosmykTheDolfyn]

About BomberMan Act Zero...
You do realize that every main series Bomberman game released after that has been Downloadable titles only due to how poorly it sold, right? Not that Bomberman was doing great, but it has prevented anything that looks like these classics:




Very fun action games that also have multiplayer modes based on the classic Bomberman setup? Act Zero RUINED that much.

[gamemaster1991]

^ The only thing that I can see wrong with it is that it's meant to be "Hardcore" like everything in the late 90's/early 2000's and it was a game that did not have all that going for it. Like you said, All the action games that Bomberman has had, the multiplayer was there. Act Zero had only the multiplayer mode and that was it. Really it should have been a Downloadable game, not a retail game.

I will say that I miss the old action games like Jetters and Tournament.

[Melcadrien]

DmC, I'm afraid.

Granted, if the game took a different view and became a new IP chances are it would be a fantastic game. But turning the main character, Dante, from a pizza-eating badass into a vulgar druggie killed what truly made Dante.

[BumblebeeCody*]

Bioshock infinite:
A game with a story that's filled with plot holes and utter stupidity. NOt only that but a story that people who couldn't be bothered to even Wiki the basics of science, ended up praising as a game for "smart people" even though it's far from it.
To make it worse it completely and utterly ruins the beauty of Bioshock 1 and 2's setting(everything set within that world).
I'm not going to spoil the ending but man, what a terrible game.
Related:


That game receives far too much praise.
I'd use the word 'pretentious' and 'high-brow fans' but that's still an understatement.

/Rant [angry face]

[RepentantSky]

My opinion of games must be vastly different than most people here, because excluding the obvious Bomberman, X6 and Nuts and Bolts, I like most of these other games. I don't have a problem with RE: 6 in the slightest, it's fun. If anything, RE:4 should have killed the franchise because it's one lame escort mission with one of the stupidest AI's you'll ever to guard following you. X4 is also probably the best in the x series, and Bioshock was killed by that bitch Ken who owns Irrational, the game itself did no harm to it, LSL was crap from the start, so nothing could ruin what was already that bad. I haven't played the newest DmC and have absolutely no interest in Castlevania, it's pretty clear the latter of those two games only has a success when it repeats the boring jump and whip controls of the first game.

As if I haven't burned enough people by calling some of their favorite franchises total garbage and actually liking some of the things they think are total garbage, now I'm gonna piss of Tales series fans because I really do not like Tales of Symphonia. Not only does it have about 3 good voice actors in English, and this is coming from a guy who is pretty sick of Japanese voice acting as of late, it's loaded with backtracking that makes any other game that has it, or has been ruined by it seem normal, and far too many times in the game, it gives you no idea what you are supposed to do next, so good luck guessing. You know the last game I played that did that was, Final Fantasy II. The games are literally 15 years apart from release, so there is no excuse for that. Also, most of the puzzles are crap and can be solved by a 5 year old. It shocks me that a game this bad, didn't ruin the tales series.

[Mass Distraction]

I don't think I really have a game that would have ruined a franchise for me, I tend to like all the games I buy.

I guess the two closest ones I have played would be King of Fighters XII and Ninja Gaiden 3. Yet, with KoFXII the gameplay itself was amazing and the art looked gorgeous, what went wrong with it were the super laggy online and boring time trial arcade modes but everything was fixed in XIII so no problems there. Ninja Gaiden 3 on the other hand was by far one of the worst games I have ever played but I hear they fixed almost everything in Razor's Edge and Yaiba brought my hopes for the series back up a bit. Still weary of NG4, though.

EDIT: Oh, oh! I have a better one! Dino Crisis 3. Didn't that game end up killing the whole series?

Resident Evil 6: Just an overall worse version of RE5 (which I liked).

Version? I was so much different from RE5 that the only thing they had in common was Chris as a playable character.

Castlevania, it's pretty clear the latter of those two games only has a success when it repeats the boring jump and whip controls of the first game.

Not exactly true. The Lords of Shadow games sold really well.

[Psychospacecow]

Can I say Spore? Would that count? It was very different from what was promised and dumbed down for the sake of social gaming.

[retrolinkx]

Bioshock infinite:
A game with a story that's filled with plot holes and utter stupidity. NOt only that but a story that people who couldn't be bothered to even Wiki the basics of science, ended up praising as a game for "smart people" even though it's far from it.
To make it worse it completely and utterly ruins the beauty of Bioshock 1 and 2's setting(everything set within that world).
I'm not going to spoil the ending but man, what a terrible game.
Related:


That game receives far too much praise.
I'd use the word 'pretentious' and 'high-brow fans' but that's still an understatement.

/Rant [angry face]

But yeah, Bioshock Infinite was retarded, the guy who was making the game even said that "He wanted to make the game from something he found hard and could never wrap his head around, something that made him feel stupid" and so made the game revolve around that stupid plot, and then didn't want to try and fix up the gameplay, allow the player to carry more than two guns, actually EXPLAINING why Plasmids are even there.

Hell, they even took away gameplay options and such just for the sake of the story and progression. Remember that time when you had to throw the ball at the interracial couple? It gave you a choice to throw it at the person on the stage as well, but it only gave you that option. It gave you a button prompt instead of a fucking leaving it to the player so they could find out THEMSELVES they could hit the guy on the stage. Imagine if in Half Life 2, there was a button prompt to tell you that you could "hit the guard" with the can as well as put it in the trash can, it's just removing gameplay for no apparent reason other than to have a smell section where you do something that shows something.

[BumblebeeCody*]

But turning the main character, Dante, from a pizza-eating badass into a vulgar druggie killed what truly made Dante.

The new Dante does eat pizza (it's found in his trailer within the first part of the game) and Dante hasn't taken drugs in DmC.

I haven't played the newest DmC and have absolutely no interest in Castlevania, it's pretty clear the latter of those two games only has a success when it repeats the boring jump and whip controls of the first game.

That's the problem there though. A lot of people haven't played DmC, Resident Evil, Castlevania, FFXIII and are willing to dismiss it based on what the herd say. Before giving it a try, it's always given a perceived negative reception and others follow suit whether they have played it or not. Fair enough I rag on games but that only because I've played them. I've still yet to play Diablo 3 and despite the already bad feedback I know of, I still have to play it for myself in order to form a valid level of criticism. Not just DmC, there's only so much you can tell people to actually play the game before judging but there's other games like Lollipop Chainsaw or Dragons Crown.

But yeah, Bioshock Infinite was retarded, the guy who was making the game even said that "He wanted to make the game from something he found hard and could never wrap his head around, something that made him feel stupid" and so made the game revolve around that stupid plot, and then didn't want to try and fix up the gameplay, allow the player to carry more than two guns, actually EXPLAINING why Plasmids are even there.

Hell, they even took away gameplay options and such just for the sake of the story and progression. Remember that time when you had to throw the ball at the interracial couple? It gave you a choice to throw it at the person on the stage as well, but it only gave you that option. It gave you a button prompt instead of a fucking leaving it to the player so they could find out THEMSELVES they could hit the guy on the stage. Imagine if in Half Life 2, there was a button prompt to tell you that you could "hit the guard" with the can as well as put it in the trash can, it's just removing gameplay for no apparent reason other than to have a smell section where you do something that shows something.

Wow I've not seen that video on it before but if Craig Charles (Lister) makes more sense than the "Magnum Opus" of gaming, then that's a problem.
I'll forever praise Bioshock 1 for the incredible game that is but Bioshock Infinite really took away the point of Bioshock 1 because in the grand scheme of things, it's all irrelevant.
There's so many questions with what's wrong with Bioshock Infinite:
Why doesn't Book just cover his hand?
The Songbird?
How do we know that the ending result ...etc etc.

Slightly on a tangent but it's what bothers me about movies too. Not knowing the basics of science means that people will praise something as mind blowing or let stuff slide.

I can't really think of any other sequel that really stood out as bad. There are some mentions for games maybe not being as good as the game that came before but ruined the series. Eh. Nothing else really comes to mind.