Top 5 Game Franchises that should not have been abandoned.

JohnnyMoJo wrote:

Anyone who actually thinks Blizzard has abandoned any of their franchises needs to have their head examined.

QFT.

Wizardry - I need a sequel, but a remake of Wizadry 7 is welcome too.

Beyond Good & Evil - I've had a good time with this game.

Monkey Island - They can make it a little more action adventure if point and click is dead, but please keep it in cell shading.

For a top 5 i will add Wizardry and Wizardry.

I was just thinking that I wanted someone to mention the D&D license, and some people have, but I suddenly realized that NWN 2 just came out. That said, the NWN games are nothing like either of the previous classic D&D series (Gold Box games and Baldur's Gate).

I have heard that NWN 2 is a much better single-player experience than the somewhat painful NWN 1, but I still want to control a full party on a grand adventure. I have high hopes for Dragon Age, since Bioware says it is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate.

necroyeti wrote:
4. Ultima (Origin). Ultima 5 (er, the Black Gate, whatever that one was) starts with you finding someone drawn and quartered, with the body left in a barn. It was awesome.

7. It was Ultima 7. You have deeply offended me sir!

Upon further reflection, I feel that pretty much all the life has been sucked out of the Ultima franchise by the one-two kick in the junk/knee smash to the head combination that was 8 and 9.

I'm not sure what I'd say killed Ultima, but I'm pretty sure UO was a large part of it.

The only two mentioned here that rang much of a bell with me were Chrono Trigger and No One Lives Forever. In both cases, they ran the originals into the ground with the sequels. NOLF2, while technically far better, abandoned much of what made the original so delightful (particularly Cate's original voice, one of the best I've ever heard in gaming), and the plotting in Chrono Cross was Byzantine to the point of insanity.

Most of the games mentioned were ones I ENJOYED, but I'm not sure most of them should be brought back. I'd rather see new stuff.

Oh, well, okay, one more: Beyond Good and Evil was neat, and they haven't messed it up yet. I'd buy a sequel.

I really liked Ultima 8. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

Fletch_101 wrote:

I really liked Ultima 8. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

No, you're just easy to please. I did like that kid who said "yeah?" at the beginning, at least. To this day, when people ask my younger brother (6'4", 21years) why he's taller than me, we tend to respond in unison, "A troll stretched me!"

Fletch_101 wrote:

I really liked Ultima 8. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

Not necessarily, at least when you compare to me because I think I'm the only one who actually liked Ultima 9!*

*...except for the last dungeon.

Nei wrote:

I got one more... Road Rash!

I think I remember someone mentioning here that it's all a bit hush-hush but that Road Rash may be under development again.

wordsmythe wrote:

No, you're just easy to please. I did like that kid who said "yeah?" at the beginning, at least. To this day, when people ask my younger brother (6'4", 21years) why he's taller than me, we tend to respond in unison, "A troll stretched me!"

I'm actually pretty damn picky about my games, but once I get into a series, I'm hooked regardless of how sucky the games may become (Castlevania?). Also, I played the Ultimas way out of order and may have gotten to 8 before some of the better ones. Actually, I know I played 8 before 7. Never finished 7 pt. 2 though.

Nei wrote:

Not necessarily, at least when you compare to me because I think I'm the only one who actually liked Ultima 9!*

*...except for the last dungeon.

Everytime I upgrade my PC, I pull out U9 to see how well it runs. I think I'm finally up to "tolerable."

Prederick wrote:
Nei wrote:

I got one more... Road Rash!

I think I remember someone mentioning here that it's all a bit hush-hush but that Road Rash may be under development again.

Thank goodness, about time. I'd like a break from Need for Speed. Last time I played Road Rash was on the 3do, same time I was 1st introduced to Need for Speed.

If Ultima Online is still going, can the Ultima franchise really be said to have been abandoned?

Quintin_Stone wrote:

If Ultima Online is still going, can the Ultima franchise really be said to have been abandoned? :)

Yes. They had a tenth game in the works, and they dropped that in favor of focusing on an online game that nobody cares about anymore.

Ultima X looked good, too...

Quintin_Stone wrote:

If Ultima Online is still going, can the Ultima franchise really be said to have been abandoned? :)

Have you played Ultima Online? Did you note that I credited it for killing the franchise?

Brizahd wrote:
Prederick wrote:
Nei wrote:

I got one more... Road Rash!

I think I remember someone mentioning here that it's all a bit hush-hush but that Road Rash may be under development again.

Thank goodness, about time. I'd like a break from Need for Speed. Last time I played Road Rash was on the 3do, same time I was 1st introduced to Need for Speed.

Well it was CrawlingChaos that hinted at the fact that either Road Rash or Jet Moto was making it's way to Next-gen consoles. However, that was more than years ago.

Nei wrote:
Brizahd wrote:
Prederick wrote:
Nei wrote:

I got one more... Road Rash!

I think I remember someone mentioning here that it's all a bit hush-hush but that Road Rash may be under development again.

Thank goodness, about time. I'd like a break from Need for Speed. Last time I played Road Rash was on the 3do, same time I was 1st introduced to Need for Speed.

Well it was CrawlingChaos that hinted at the fact that either Road Rash or Jet Moto was making it's way to Next-gen consoles. However, that was more than years ago.

Well guess I won't hold out much hope in that case. Thats to bad though, it would be awesome to see what they would do with it now. Hopefully more than just Need for speed on a bike.

I wish Criterion would get their hands on Road Rash IP...!

You guys have really come up with some excellent stuff. I wasn't really thinking about consoles at the time but I thought of some old NES games that were really fun when I was a kid. Some of them probably wouldn't work, but a few of them could be great. Sorry if someone mentioned any of these already.

1. Wizards and Warriors
2. Shadowgate (would give Myst a run for its money)
3. Blaster Master (Metroid but there's a guy in the suit?)
4. Mad Max (would be an awesome MMO, Fallen Earth maybe?)
5. Missile Command or Atlantis (essentially the same game but one was NES and the other Intellivision I believe. Not sure how they could be redone but they were really fun at the time)

- Speedball - One of the best original sports game playable on a computer. I preferred SB I to SB II (on an Amiga)... but both were EXCELLENT! I hear they are remaking II for the PC.

- Archon - Crazy fun game with great strategy and twitch gameplay. Again... I think Archon I was better than II... Atari 400/800/1200 was the best version. I think I read they are remaking this one as well.

- Falcon Falcon 4 is still the best hard-core sim period in my book. Just spectacular.

- Janes Sims Longbow 2, F-15, F-18... all stellar flight sims.... from the "Golden Age" of flight sims....

- Mechwarrior Man those games were F-U-N!! Imagine with the graphics now!

Fletch_101 wrote:

I really liked Ultima 8. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

I, too, have fond memories of Ultima 8. Maybe due to the fact that I played it as a first game. In fact, it made me buy Ultima Collection (Ultimas 0-8). I enjoyed 7 immensely, but I still remember 8 as a pretty fun game.

I also fired up Battle Isle Phase Four: Incubation under Glide wrapper recently. That game seriously deserves a sequel.

I really enjoyed each release of the the Magic Carpet series by Bullfrog. Swooshing along on my magic carpet, taking down massive waves of baddies and changing the earth below me, while building up my own magical citadels.

I wish it could be resurrected.

MYST - the series stalled about but still has potential if they were to continue moving away from the point-and-click interface. I'd really like to see a redesign of the original on the 360 but I'm not sure this would sell.

DOOM - there is a lot of untapped potential here and I feel that the developers could rejuvinate the series if they focused more on the storyline and creating identifiable characters that players can grow attached to.

Socom: US Navy Seals - this hasn't been abandoned persey but the developers have really strayed far from the gameplay and game elements that made the first two games such huge hits. I'd really like to see them go back to focusing on infantry combat as opposed to being so vehicle-centric, which IMO, has ruined the series.

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Or other Oddworld games)
PoyPoy (Yeah Legion!)
PowerStone (PSP port doesn't count)
Jade Empire (Gorgeous)
BladeRunner (I want to visit this world again)
JetSet Grind/Radio/Future (Anarchy-skates)
Shenmue (Just a little bit more excitement please)
Kings/Space Quest (Series re-invented please)

That's all I got for now but I'm sure there's a ton more..

Janes: Yes.

KQ: Um, maybe. Did you play 7 or 8? Can we consider it "abandoned" after 6?

Actually, Ive changed my mind. The correct list reads like this:

1. Syndicate
2. Syndicate
3. Syndicate
4. Syndicate
5. Syndicate

Alien Love Gardener wrote:
ubrakto wrote:

- Bioware crafted AD&D (doesn't have to be Baldur's Gate, just something in the genre by people who know how to do a serious high-fantasy RPG)

You better hope their next games flop then, because as I understand it, they won't be doing any more games with a DnD ruleset because of the content restricions that come with the license. About the only thing I could see changing their mind is dire financial straits.

And as Wick pointed out, they're doing high fantasy role playing with Dragon Age anyway.

Oh believe me, I'll take a spiritual successor like Dragon Age appears to be. I have no trouble being sold on high fantasy w/o the AD&D license. I mean losing the GURPS system during development didn't exactly kill Fallout, so there's no reason Dragon Age can't be great. I'd just also like to see an AD&D property that doesn't suck, and Bioware and Black Isle seem to have been the last/only ones to do it justice since the goldbox days. (Admittedly, I haven't tried Neverwinter Nights 2.)
---Todd

wanderingtaoist wrote:
Fletch_101 wrote:

I really liked Ultima 8. Does that mean I'm a bad person?

I, too, have fond memories of Ultima 8. Maybe due to the fact that I played it as a first game. In fact, it made me buy Ultima Collection (Ultimas 0-8). I enjoyed 7 immensely, but I still remember 8 as a pretty fun game.

My problem with Ultima 8 wasn't so much the story as it was the gameplay. Plucking the Avatar out of Britannia and putting him on world that followed the antithesis of the virtues he championed for five games (counting both parts of U7) was a marvelous direction for Garriott to take the series. But the gameplay... god. I just thought that was awful and that the Super Avatar Bros. nickname was well-deserved. It was just the wrong way to take that series for the fans who played the previous versions (I had played Ultimas IV through both parts of VII by that point).
---Todd

7. It was Ultima 7. You have deeply offended me sir!

Bah, sorry, horrid mistake. The last one I had played before 7 was IV.

Yeah I really liked Ultima 8.. I thought its updated engine worked well for the most part.. until... the blasted jumping sections. (those were so bad that I almost gave up) once you dealt with save/reload/save/reload and go through them it was fine.

But it just felt "small" and not nearly up to U7(s) standards.. and then U9 was a complete assfest with their Glide Optimized engine when Voodoo Graphics was basically at that point a year dead.. I think around a year after release I tried it again fully patched with a system way more powerful and it still ran like ass and crashed constantly.

1. Tie Fighter / X-Wing. This was definitely for those of us too impatient to play a true sim, but wanted the fun of (especially) killing rebels.

2. Gold Box AD&D -- Gimme back my 2-d world! I hate the 3-d one, mostly.

3. Panzer General done right. Though WWII games are goofy oversaturated

4. Jet Moto

5. Madden before the introduction of the stupid passing pooh-pooh, the 'reworked' controls, and the removal of the ability to pool all football players and then draft them to create your own team and allow tons of replayability as you basically reworked a team entirely. This has definitely become the bloated turkducken of the franchise world and it needs to be trimmed some.