Game series that use to feel special but don't anymore?

What game series to you that use to feel special but doesn't anymore? I'm only talking about existing franchises not dead ones.

There's a couple that come to mind for me the first would be GTA Rockstar ruined it for me by milking GTA online and ignoring the SP. No DLC no nothing just feeding them online whales and leaving the SP fans in the dust and leaving the series dormant for almost a decade now.

The second game would be Battlefield boy did this series fall from grace they tried to become COD and forgot what made them unique now they can't even come out with a finished game. The series has been bad for a long time now but they really shit the bed with 2042.

Most of the annual or biannual series like CoD, Assassin's Creed, Need for Speed, Battlefield, all the sports games...

I don't think these are bad, its just hard to get excited about something so... ubiquitous? Common? Iterative? I'll try out one of these every five years or so if I see a well received entry for cheap, or free as is often the case.

Silent Hill springs to mind, hasn't been anything special in a very long time, tough to count P.T. when it didn't manifest. While I would like to be optimistic, don't have faith in the current slew of projects in development.

Also, Tekken.

I have to say Halo series. Been playing Halo since the first and have been anxious every time a sequel is about to come out, but since 343i have been making Halo it killed the hype for Halo, at least for me anyhoo. Halo Infinite was the best Halo 343i released, but still not expectations that Halo should have been in my opinion.

Assassin's Creed

I used to really like the first couple of games. The idea of a different historical setting each game was inovative. Hell, despite its flaws Assassin's Creed 1 felt new and fresh at the time.

Nowadays I couldnt give a f. Yearly releases and the RPG/loot focused gameplay has ruined it for me. Assassin's Creed Unity was my last AC game and I dont see myself returning to it

• CoD
• Battlefield
• Halo
• Zelda
• Mario

Mind you, it's been 15-20 years since I last cared about some of those, but I did consider them special back then.

Mario lost its charm for me with Mario 64. I could tolerate 64 but to me it was pretty boring, compared to previous Mario games.

Platformers are very unliked genre for me. I think Astrobot series is better than the 3D Marios.

Personally Yakuza, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Fire Emblem.

Yakuza - I can't take the series seriously after Y4. I still enjoy them but the whole rubber bullet shit in Y4 stayed with me for a long ass time.

FF, DQ - Used to love both series but all these spin off makes it bit casual. I will buy a new mainline FF day 1 without a doubt but when I see the billion of spin off of the 2 franchise makes it bit less special.

KH - tired of waiting for KH3 which turned out pretty average.

Fire Emblem - I just love how meaty the attack animation in older FE. I stopped enjoying FE during the 3DS era I just can't with the whole waifu/kids thing and the combat animation felt floaty. I hated FE3H game is repetitive as fk.

Not to sound like a negative nancy, but most, sadly.

Everything ActiBlizz.
Everything Ubisoft.
Everything EA.
Most Nintendo.

Way too much to list, so it's easier to just say that.

Yeah, kinda agree. Still find Mario 64 more fun to play today than Odyssey and I'm much more likely to play that game a 15th time than Odyssey a 2nd time.

Really hope they cut the fluff for the next Mario. 1000+ moons? Why? 120 stars was just fine. Make me a challenge for each one instead of making me basically just pick them up, please. It made replaying Odyssey a chore.

Final Fantasy. The newest release looks okay but I feel like the series died after FFX and became something else.

Agreed on KH, FF, and Tekken. Might as well through sports games in there. I used to look forward to these series' new releases, but now I hardly give them a thought. It could just be a change in preference as I age, because the newer version would be something my younger self would drool over and obsess with.

Gotta agree with Battlefield.

Used to be the "thinking man's" MP shooter. Class-based, tactical...a bit slower paced than your standard online shooter, but not boringly slow. Squad mechanics were implemented well and teamwork occured organically, without the need to join something as formal as a clan with scheduled matches.

Now it's just...blech. Completely unraveled. Too try-hard. Attempted to follow trends and fads instead of sticking with their roots.

The irony is if they kept it simple and more or less the same, they wouldn't have had to spend so much on development. Far be it from me to criticize business decisions but I feel like publishers put all their eggs into one basket with a lot of IP's and in some regards they should take a "less is more" attitude. Like...not every game, even Battlefield, has to be some blockbuster.

halo and gears.

who'd have guessed it might not be the best idea for ms to take two of their marqueest of marquee games, swap out the mega studios behind them for two unproven ones, and expect them to still remain marquee games

Stealth games used to be special. Then every game had stealth and they all played like Assasins creed.

FPS games used to be special. Really special. The CoD made it all the same and ruined Battlefield.

Sonic games used to be special. Then Sega stopped making exclusives. Now Sonic games arent interesting anymore.

Crash Bandicoot and Spyro after ctr stopped being special. Now they belong to every console. Even if Crash lost his soul after Naughty Dog gave licensing to Vivendi and Sierra. Crash will always feel like a playstation franchise to me.

FF after 15.

Pokemon

Almost all Sony games because they lost exclusivity. This company has no pride anymore.

Halo 343 studios

Anything by Namco Bandai including Tekken

Soulslikes

Dynasty Wariors

Grand Theft Auto (granted, I found only fifth to be meh), Assassin's Creed. That's probably it from series games that I play/played.

I agree with the others here, every series that series that releases a new game every year or two. Add to that now we're getting "remasters", at least a sequel had a little new content even if it was mediocre.

-God of War.

- Resident evil.

- Assassin's Creed.

Same it was destined to be ruined by the RPG type, just as every other game in my opinion, i always hated RPG games, and now it seems like the only option in gaming you got now, RPG and FIFA games.