what once-beloved series is now dead to you?

Changed direction, went down in quality, or just got old...

For me, it's Mortal Kombat. I've tried to like the 3D games, but they're just no fun. They seem like a lame attempt at making MK more 'complex' but they fail miserably and come off seeming clunky instead. Ah, how I miss the days of MK 2 and UMK3. :( I'm having to resist the urge to buy MK: Armageddon on the Wii - so many characters, so much nostalgia! But I know it's still the same craptacular gameplay from the previous two. Sigh.

Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog is also dead to me... but I think that one is dead to everyone by now (except on portables, at least). 

I feel the same about UMK3. How can a developer go from the awesomness that is UMK3 to the craptacular crappy crap that armaggedeon is and not notice that somethings wrong there.

Also Bloody Roar. After 2 is was all downhill FAST from there.

Actually, I have another one.

The Elder Scrolls. Daggerfall was brilliant, Morrowind was...different, but not necessarily bad in its own right, but then Oblivion came along and now we no longer have an RPG on our hands. 

Gonna have to go with Zelda. Wind Waker just completely turned me off from this game like no one else's business. Having a Wii isn't reason enough for me to try this series again after such a dissappointment.

Then again Mario Sunshine sucked in the same manner. 

series that are dead to me- Sonic, every 3D sonic game has sucked, so unless the next 2D sonic game is really good Sonic is dead to me. Mortal Kombat, same as sonic, all the 3D games suck. those are all i can think of right now

series that are comming close to being dead to me- Zelda, Twilight Princess was good, but just as good as everyone expected, but i felt like i played it 9 years ago, it was better, and it was called Ocarina of Time. and Final Fantsy, FFXII sucked, the characters were uninteresting, the story was boring, and political, call me cheesy, but i like romantic stories in my FF games, and also they seem to be milking the series for all it's worth, i don't care how good a series is, you shouldn't make a series out of a single game in a series (refering to FFVII) 

every Sega franchise, they just like screw every franchise that doesn't have virtua name on it (excluding virtua quest)faridmon

Yeah, I rant about once a month.  All the lost opportunities for Sega.  I mean, bring out some of those great Dreamast games for the PSP at least (Skies of Arcadia, Jet Grind Radio).  Even if they are just ports they'll make enough to develop some other stuff.  They have the rights to Tezuka's work and what have we gotten out of that so far -- 3 games (2 Astro and Blood WIll Tell).

Mortal Kombat was sliding downhill ever since MK2, but MK4 buried it.  I tried to reconcile with Deadly Alliance, but that game was awful.

Devil May Cry is dead to me.  DMC2 was very boring and mediocre by every standard, but I didn't really like DMC3, either.  I think God of War and Ninja Gaiden showed me a better way, and DMC just doesn't stack up anymore. 

Phastasy Star......way to ruin a brilliant series SEGA-relegate your best IP to the pointless, tedious and ultimately shallow formula that is MMORPGs.  What a way to sell out one of you best games for the almighty cash cow.  You deserved what you got.

Panzer Dragoon (while not entirely dead, any new releases are too far and few between to keep the franchise alive.  And given that mostly all of the talent has left SEGA, it will slowly slide into obscurity.)  While on the topic of SEGA, mostly all of their once great series: Sonic, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and on and on.....

Mostly eveything that once came from Square: Final Fantasy, the Mana series, FF Tactics, Vagrant Story.

All the new Castlevanias that have been done in 3D.

And so many more, that's just off the top of my head for consoles.

every Sega franchise, they just like screw every franchise that doesn't have virtua name on it (excluding virtua quest)faridmon

Yeah really - I'm just waiting to see what horrors they commit with the new Nights. Still crossing my fingers though... 

Suikoden series, I really liked playing the first and second suikoden in PS, the storyline was so deep and nicely written. Suikoden III was ok to me... even though I dont really like the idea of having 3 main characters and can only use them together in the final chapter. Then, it went down hill at suikoden IV... the only addition is having a voice acting, but it doesnt seem to be done properly. Suikoden V was good, but a few minor problems here and there sometimes make me lazy to play it.zixarga

oh no mester, Suikoden V was the best in the series, and I liked it better than FF XII, trust me, the story was just incredible. 

Gonna have to go with Zelda. Wind Waker just completely turned me off from this game like no one else's business. Having a Wii isn't reason enough for me to try this series again after such a dissappointment.

Then again Mario Sunshine sucked in the same manner.

SemiMaster

Phastasy Star......way to ruin a brilliant series SEGA-relegate your best IP to the pointless, tedious and ultimately shallow formula that is MMORPGs.  What a way to sell out one of you best games for the almighty cash cow.  You deserved what you got.

Panzer Dragoon (while not entirely dead, any new releases are too far and few between to keep the franchise alive.  And given that mostly all of the talent has left SEGA, it will slowly slide into obscurity.)  While on the topic of SEGA, mostly all of their once great series: Sonic, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and on and on.....

Mostly eveything that once came from Square: Final Fantasy, the Mana series, FF Tactics, Vagrant Story.

All the new Castlevanias that have been done in 3D.

And so many more, that's just off the top of my head for consoles.

 

Rekunta

Ah so true about PSO. But really, the original trilogy will never be dead to me. I just replayed PS4 and damn that is one fine RPG. 

Resident Evil. The first two were fantastic. The third and Code Veronica were pretty good. I haven't played REmake or RE0, and they're probably alright. But the other PS2 games (Outbreak especially) sucked, and Resident Evil 4 is a good game, but I don't think they should have changed the style of the game. Maybe they could've made a completely different series for it, but it's not really comparable to the first two resident evil's.

Sonic...:(nuttybar

Yeah I second that. Sonic Heroes was so buggy and glitch-ridden that it single handedly destroyed a decades devotion to a franchise. 

Deus Ex, thanks to good old consolization.XaosII

Amen to that.

I'd also add these....

Fallout - Thanks to the crappy console game, and then with Bethesda grabbing up the franchise (which I highly doubt they'll be able to capture the atmosphere and essence of Fallout), this series is now dead to me.....to me, I will always remember the Fallout series (as in the true Fallout) having concluded with Fallout 2....it was great while it lasted.

Rainbow Six - The series has gone from being one that focused on tactical elements and mission planning that had a home on PC to being an action shooter on Console that has little resemblence to the original series formula. For me the last true "Rainbow Six" game was Raven Shield.....the series now bears little resemblence to its original foundation. I mean, you even have blind-firing in the new games, which would have been totally out of place of the original series theme. Now when I think of a great tactical game...the last thing I think of is the new RS games, instead SWAT 4 is the game I think of when I think of a true tactical shooter.

Silent Hill - Unless the next installment turns out to be fantastic and hopefully connects again to the original Cheryl / Alessa storyline....then the series is pretty much dead to me. SH4: The Room was a major letdown and really had no connection whatsoever to the main series. At this point I pretty much think of the Silent Hill series as a trilogy.....with SH3 having properly concluded the series and the storyline of the original game.

Shadowrun - Thank you MS for ruining that one. Remember when this used to be a great RPG series?.....I do. But now thanks to MS, the series has now been turned into yet another wannabe counterstrike shooter....one that doesn't look all that interesting to me at all....another game that requires Vista and Microsoft's crappy Live for PC?....keep that thing away from me! Interplay?....No thanks!  

Homeworld.
It's a shame Relic doesn't hold the rights.
I think THQ should try and get the rights to Homeworld, so Relic can continue their excellent series.
Doom_HellKnight

I think it's gonna happen. It has to happen! :P

[QUOTE="SemiMaster"]

Gonna have to go with Zelda. Wind Waker just completely turned me off from this game like no one else's business. Having a Wii isn't reason enough for me to try this series again after such a dissappointment.

Then again Mario Sunshine sucked in the same manner.

faridmon

Excuse me? Don't you dare presume to tell me what I can and cannot say about games I play. Mario and Zelda are dead to me in their traditional incarnations. I loved Zelda for the NES, SNES and N64, but Wind Waker went and took a big steamy crap all over the series that I've not been able to clean off since. The original topic is what series is dead to me... well that's the series that's dead to me. And I own both the GC and a Wii and I've not picked up Twilight Princess yet, and don't plan to until it reaches the 19.99$ mark.

And Mario Sunshine diluted everything that was awesome about Mario 64 and made it some stupid thing involving a water filled jetpack that had clunky controls and a generally stupid premise.

You think I hate Mario games? On the contrary, Smash Bros and Paper Mario are some of the best series I've ever played.

I've clarified my point about what series is dead to me, and if you don't like my choice, then you can just sit down and be quiet. 

Sonic is pretty much dead for everybody right now. Although I'd very much like Sega to revive it properly.AuthenticM

Would that be like in 2d perhaps? 

[QUOTE="faridmon"][QUOTE="SemiMaster"]

Gonna have to go with Zelda. Wind Waker just completely turned me off from this game like no one else's business. Having a Wii isn't reason enough for me to try this series again after such a dissappointment.

Then again Mario Sunshine sucked in the same manner.

SemiMaster

Excuse me? Don't you dare presume to tell me what I can and cannot say about games I play. Mario and Zelda are dead to me in their traditional incarnations. I loved Zelda for the NES, SNES and N64, but Wind Waker went and took a big steamy crap all over the series that I've not been able to clean off since. The original topic is what series is dead to me... well that's the series that's dead to me. And I own both the GC and a Wii and I've not picked up Twilight Princess yet, and don't plan to until it reaches the 19.99$ mark.

And Mario Sunshine diluted everything that was awesome about Mario 64 and made it some stupid thing involving a water filled jetpack that had clunky controls and a generally stupid premise.

You think I hate Mario games? On the contrary, Smash Bros and Paper Mario are some of the best series I've ever played.

I've clarified my point about what series is dead to me, and if you don't like my choice, then you can just sit down and be quiet.

It makes sense for Zelda since TP was really a total continuation (as where the 2 before it). But with Mario it's based on a one off. 

crash banditcoot, sonic the hedgehog, smackdown, contra, street fighter, tony hawk

Metal Gear Solid for me. The Twin Snakes and Sons of Liberty were both fantastic but Snake Eater was terrible. Some of the gameplay changes were a joke:

  * Keeping the camera at a high angle but removing the radar while extending the vision of the guards meaning that you can be spotted by someone miles away you didn't see.

 * Completely changing the stealth system so instead of having to hide, you just had to check if the percentage was high enough. And in fact, there were several times when it would be on 95% and you would still get seen.

 * Having to eat and heal yourself were just unrequired and didn't add anything to the game.

 * The Cobra Unit were terrible. Psycho Mantis and Vamp were on the cusp of believability, but having a Ghost and a man who spits bees was too far.

Since that, my entire interest in the series has just dropped.

Honestly, Mario and Zelda.  I just think they're two franchises that had their best years and installments in the 2D days.  I just don't like 3D platformers and I'd much rather play any of the Marios from 1-3 rather than anything like Mario 64 and beyond.  Zelda...well, I very much hated OoT, MM, and WW, but TP is better.  I'd be interested in maybe giving the next entry in the Zelda franchise a chance.fathoms_basic

I just picked up a DS and New Super Mario Bros. 2D Mario heaven.

Final Fantasy gets my vote.  Even though VII is regarded as one of the best...I kinda saw it as the beginning of the end.  I think that FF lost its "magic" when players could no longer roam freely...without the restiction of pre-rendered backgrounds.  There was something so awesome about building characters up to Level 99 in FF 1-3 and just obliterating the bosses.

 I guess I'm just old fashioned that way...

Final Fantasy gets my vote. Even though VII is regarded as one of the best...I kinda saw it as the beginning of the end. I think that FF lost its "magic" when players could no longer roam freely...without the restiction of pre-rendered backgrounds. There was something so awesome about building characters up to Level 99 in FF 1-3 and just obliterating the bosses.

I guess I'm just old fashioned that way...

Boostd4

I'm confused...  Exactly what "free roaming" were you doing in any FF before VII?  And what's stopping you from leveling up to Lv. 99 and obliterating bosses in ANY FF? 

[QUOTE="Boostd4"]

Final Fantasy gets my vote. Even though VII is regarded as one of the best...I kinda saw it as the beginning of the end. I think that FF lost its "magic" when players could no longer roam freely...without the restiction of pre-rendered backgrounds. There was something so awesome about building characters up to Level 99 in FF 1-3 and just obliterating the bosses.

I guess I'm just old fashioned that way...

fathoms_basic

I'm confused... Exactly what "free roaming" were you doing in any FF before VII? And what's stopping you from leveling up to Lv. 99 and obliterating bosses in ANY FF?

I was wondering the same thing...

Well, technically in FF X you don't have levels per say. And FFXI only goes to level 75 last I knew.

Sorry, I just have to respond to this. 

Metal Gear Solid for me. The Twin Snakes and Sons of Liberty were both fantastic but Snake Eater was terrible. Some of the gameplay changes were a joke:

  * Keeping the camera at a high angle but removing the radar while extending the vision of the guards meaning that you can be spotted by someone miles away you didn't see.

I actually agree with you there.  Keeping the perspective while removing the radar was not a good idea, however that was corrected in subsistence.  Good point though, because by the time that came out it's already been played through.  Yea, I'd say the camera position was a bad design decision.

 * Completely changing the stealth system so instead of having to hide, you just had to check if the percentage was high enough. And in fact, there were several times when it would be on 95% and you would still get seen.

You still had to hide, the percentages were just there as an indication of how well you were hidden overall, which would've been helpful in the previous games.  I would have preferred that it never reach got up to 100%, because you can never be completely undetectable, which goes onto your next point.  The only way you were seen at 95% camouflage was if the enemy was standing right on top of you. 

 * Having to eat and heal yourself were just unrequired and didn't add anything to the game.

Not true.  Not eating for a while affected your ability to aim accurately, and would also make your stomach grumble which would alert nearby enemies.  Healing did become a bit much sometimes (especially during boss battles) and should have been streamlined or toned down somewhat, but otherwise I thought it was a pretty cool feature.  It made me think twice about taking a leap and added an extra feeling of vulnerability to the fights, and made me watch my inventory.

 * The Cobra Unit were terrible. Psycho Mantis and Vamp were on the cusp of believability, but having a Ghost and a man who spits bees was too far.

I also thought the Sorrow was a bit pointless, but the Pain was alright.  And you can't honestly tell me that being able to take a round to the forehead, teleport around the room, stand on water and walls and drink blood is any more believeable than someone spewing bees out of their mouth.

Since that, my entire interest in the series has just dropped.

To each his own.  But some of the things you mentioned that got on your nerves were prevelant in the previous games as well, what was the difference?  I thought MGS3 was far better than the 2nd.