prequel, sequel, spin-off. . .what the hell?. . .

[NeoFighter5]

. . .alright, so when done right we're all happy and jumping and dancing and what ever insane stuff you kids do. . .but dont you think that now adays there seems to be very little new stuff?. . .the biggest games tend to be part of a series. . .in one way or another. . .prequel this, sequel that, spin off of such and such. . .case in point: mgs4, halo 3, gears of war 2, resistance 2, gt5: prologue, ff13, kh 3, cc:ffvii, gow:chains of olympus, halo wars. . .among a growing list. . .

. . .new stuff is not as common. . .probably cuz devs and companies know that a well known franchise or series is bound to get more sells just cuz its name and history. . .but there are some new games out. . .like mass effect, assissin's creed, uncharted, time shift, havenly sword. . .up coming haze, death space, too human. . .

. . .still. . .dont you get sick of so much of the same thing?. . .i mean, nothing wrong if its good. . .but look at ff itself (the reason for my post). . .in the last few months, probably cuz it was the anniversary last year, there have been a ton of new games. . .crystal chronicles: rings of fate, revenant wings, war of the lions, grimore of the rift, cc:ffvii it self, up coming dissidia & last remnant. . .and the thing that still ticks the f** out of me: so many freaking remakes, and not one of ff7-9?. . .you cant tell me every single one of those is an awesome game (it seems you kids your self dislike the tatics games). . .is it any wonder ff13 is taking so long?. . .kh 3?. . .talking of kh, how many blasted kh games are there?. . .3?. . .if my head doesnt fail me, the series if on its second installment, no?. . .and i think there even was a game boy game. . .and there are also those "mana" games. . .

. . .alright, thanks for bothering to read all that big chunk of c****. . .for those that did. . .

[MidgarFanatic]

Originally Posted by NeoFighter5

. . .alright, thanks for bothering to read all that big chunk of c****. . .for those that did. . .

Haha, if you write it... we will read it.

But you are definately right Neo, this has been a bit of a problem in the video game industry lately hasn't it? I made many of the same arguments in my thread Fraggle Fantasy earlier this year, although I only talked about FF games, you are certainly looking at the problem on a much more encompassing scale.

Developer do not give gamers enough credit. They think just because they rehash the same old crap that gamer's will simply mindlessly buy it, if only because of the name. Unfortunately, this trend seems to happen to a certain degree... but this is because there is an element of trust that gamers are putting into the game developers, that they are purchasing a quality game that at least somewhat lives up to the original that they had so much joy playing. And this is what really really bothers me, because these games are more often than not just absolute garbage.

There are an infinite number of possibilities for games, I do not know why we are getting so many spin-offs and sequals these days. Probably because it is easier and cheaper to churn out these games with pre-developed models to follow. I am of course reminded of FFX-2. Although it had a much different battle system, most of the world playing fields were identical to X. Talk about cutting corners.

And you are right that there are many original good games out there, we just need to go out and find them. It is a shame that they are unfortunately not the ones getting much attention these days.

[NeoFighter5]

Originally Posted by MidgarFanatic

Haha, if you write it... we will read it.

. . .ok, let me rephrase that as: "thank you for having bother to provide an answer. . .and thank you even more for having provided a thoughtful answer". . .i think that would be more accurate from my part. . .hmm. . .i should have just call this a rant and be done w/ it. . .

. . .anyways, my thoughts exactly. . .as i said before, ff was my original inspiration for this thread. . .so many new titles for the ds and psp lately, and the gameboy before that. . .yet none catch my attention (exept if its one of the numbered games like ff4 or a tatics game. . .I like those). . .it seems to me that they did those games just for the sake of bringing in money. . .but its not just in the ff series. . .i think kh does it too. . .not to mention the oldest franchises, like resident, castlevania, tekken, streetfighter, need for speed, and on and on. . .

. . .there isnt much i can say. . .you pretty much put down all i wanted to say. . .developers and companies dig themselves in a few (hopefully sucessful) franchises and in doing so limit themselves of more creative and fresh ideas/enviroments. . .also, how far can you take a series before it inevitably reaches the point of "crash and burn"?. . .that ppl get so sick of it, they no longer care. . .i think this would have happen to ff a long time ago where it not for the fact that, except for the few, often times crappy sequels, its game hardly ever have anything to do with one another. . .

. . .that said. . .i dont mind sequels. . .but please. . .dont over do it. . .look at god of war. . .just 3 main stallements (a prequel, granted) and its getting cut. . .look at halo. . .yeah, a spin off, but master chief finally got cut. . .if ff7 gets one more game. . .or anything else added to it. . .then square has gone too far w/ it. . .unfortunatly, although there are few new games, whenever a good one comes out, it instantly gets something else added. . .assassin's creed got a prequel in the ds. . .i will not b surprised but i think haze, if good, will get a second installment. . .

. . .i'll be damned if kh doesnt go something like: kh3. . .kh4. . .kh5. . .kh6. . .kh: seeds of evil. . .kh: a new hope. . .kh7. . .

[JET73L]

No, it'll go: KH3, KH4: the Saga Begins, KH5: The Darkness Begins, and KH6: the Fall of Xehanort. TThen Lucasf- erm squaresoft, will license a bunch of cruddy books, and make people pay for the rights accordind top how badly they want it to be canonical to the KH series.

(PS: Xehanort's Sora's father, Kairi's his sister, and Mickey turns out to be a midget wookie, piloting a gummi ship with Riku in the next TWTNW battle)

Anyway, in all seriousness (well, most seriousness), the sequels are probaby getting more recognition beause they have an established name. I could think of several games (not offg hnd, but if I got this month's copy of the Tips&Tricks New Releases This Quarter list) that easdily could have been considered encredibly popular, had they not been severely overshaowed by the sequels and spinoffs constantly being released, getting people to buy based on a namne and not a demo or an explanation of gameplay/premise. (don't get me wrong, a lot... some... a ghood deal of these games are good.)

As foor why it's taking them swo long to reease FFXIII, that's not because the team's busy on other projects, it's because their team's n9ot being given the proper manpower to wrk on this at a ratye that will keep up with increased expectations.