*How does it feel to live long enough to see all your favorite franchises go down in flames?*

[Lathanx]

Feels great.

Can someone tell me why is it so hard for modern developers to just... do what propelled them to success in the first place?

Don't they have 6 other games too look for guidance? Why do you need to reinvent the wheel.... AGAIN?

FFS.

[TyCobb]

Because they made the game around how they can sell the most DLC. They'll make more money off that stuff than the base game. It's the modern developer way.

[Shivver]

2-3 Years till all addons get released?

[Lathanx]

Originally posted by The Gray Fox:

Gamers really the most oppressed minority

Charging 200 dollars for mediocre garbage is definitely some form of oppression you're right about that.

Glad we could see eye to eye.

[Lathanx]

Originally posted by Shivver:

2-3 Years till all addons get released?

As is tradition, can't wait for the endless litany of bug threads when it's almost unplayable on release.

[ParabolaWaVe]

My theory is, constant social media exposure has turned a lot of people, including game developers, into narcissistic attention seekers and they want to break things up just to be talked about by other people and for the shock value alone.

Still, we could be wrong and the new features might prove to be part of a grand long term plan for the franchise. To be perfectly honest, I don't have a lot of hopes that they have any clue, but the game is still far from release.

[Lathanx]

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

My theory is, constant social media exposure has turned a lot of people, including game developers, into narcissistic attention seekers and they want to break things up just to be talked about by other people and for the shock value alone.

Still, we could be wrong and the new features might prove to be part of a grand long term plan for the franchise. To be perfectly honest, I don't have a lot of hopes that they have any clue, but the game is still far from release.

100%, If this game flops expect them to Quadruple down and make articles complaining that their fans didn't do enough to support them.

It's like... how about you make a game like the 6 other ones in the franchise and stop trying to copy trash mechanics from games that COPIED you in the first place.

For, ♥♥♥♥♥, sake.

[Shepard-Commander]

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

My theory is, constant social media exposure has turned a lot of people, including game developers, into narcissistic attention seekers and they want to break things up just to be talked about by other people and for the shock value alone.

Still, we could be wrong and the new features might prove to be part of a grand long term plan for the franchise. To be perfectly honest, I don't have a lot of hopes that they have any clue, but the game is still far from release.

There is certainly a deconstructionism fetish among those in the entertainment industry these days.

[Lathanx]

Originally posted by Shepard-Commander:

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

My theory is, constant social media exposure has turned a lot of people, including game developers, into narcissistic attention seekers and they want to break things up just to be talked about by other people and for the shock value alone.

Still, we could be wrong and the new features might prove to be part of a grand long term plan for the franchise. To be perfectly honest, I don't have a lot of hopes that they have any clue, but the game is still far from release.

There is certainly a deconstructionism fetish among those in the entertainment industry these days.

If you don't want to see egypt transform into mongolia, you're a nationalist and should probably seek therapy - Some doof on twitter.

[Shepard-Commander]

Originally posted by Lathanx:

Originally posted by Shepard-Commander:

There is certainly a deconstructionism fetish among those in the entertainment industry these days.

If you don't want to see egypt transform into mongolia, you're a nationalist and should probably seek therapy - Some doof on twitter.

I'm really looking forward to when the Chinese audience sees people doing the classic Egypt -> Songhai -> China game.

[TyCobb]

Originally posted by Lathanx:

Originally posted by Shepard-Commander:

There is certainly a deconstructionism fetish among those in the entertainment industry these days.

If you don't want to see egypt transform into mongolia, you're a nationalist and should probably seek therapy - Some doof on twitter.

"You started as Africa and ended with Great Britain. You're a racist bigot"

[Shepard-Commander]

Originally posted by The Gray Fox:

Originally posted by Lathanx:

100%, If this game flops expect them to Quadruple down and make articles complaining that their fans didn't do enough to support them.

It's like... how about you make a game like the 6 other ones in the franchise and stop trying to copy trash mechanics from games that COPIED you in the first place.

For, ♥♥♥♥♥, sake.

"Civilization VII failed because its imperialistic fanbase just wanted a disgusting heteronormative power fantasy where civilizations stand the test of time and Shaka Zulu couldn't lead a Mongolia which transitions into a Democratic Poland"

Oh, be prepared for devs blaming the fans if this thing fails. Anyone who didn't like this is a racist, bigot, homophobe, and transphobe.

[Shepard-Commander]

Originally posted by TyCobb:

Originally posted by Lathanx:

If you don't want to see egypt transform into mongolia, you're a nationalist and should probably seek therapy - Some doof on twitter.

"You started as Africa and ended with Great Britain. You're a racist bigot" :WH3_greasus_rofl:

Nigel Farage enters the chat.

[Sunday Driver]

Lets be real. We've got decades of Civ games, official and various related and inspired ones. Those games that were good in the past are still good and will stay good as these are basically electronic board games. They age like wine. If it all goes off the rails now you could be playing what was already made for many many years to come without any time to spare.

When someone makes a game (or product in general...) that sucks or you feel is insulting to you, just don't give them money, no matter the brand or names attached. Especially don't give them money in the false hope that the bad game you've rewarded them money for will somehow become good after you've already surrendered the only incentive that would have pressured for change. We are spoiled for choice now for entertainment.

[ParabolaWaVe]

Completely agree, Sunday.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

Well, let's see. My favorite franchises:

• Doom - alive and kicking and its last game was possibly my second favorite in franchise history. New game recently revealed, forthcoming. Looks promising to me, but we shall see.
  
• Mario - alive and kicking and continuing to somehow do things I haven't seen before, which is kind of remarkable
  
• Elder Scrolls - alive and kicking, albeit as glacial to release as ever, but Starfield is awesome in the mean time (for me, obviously, since we're talking about personal favorites, not anyone else's opinions)
  
• Zelda - alive and by overturning some of its conventions actually managed to give me one or two of my most beloved games of all time in recent years
  
• Civ - reserving judgment on this latest installment, but still going and what we've seen so far is tentatively promising
  
• Silent Hill - was on life support, but the remake of 2 gives me hope tentatively. As with Civ VII, reserving judgment
  
• Earth Defense Force - 6 is probably my favorite yet (don't care about Epic, sorry)
  
• Suikoden - still on life support, like so many Konami IPs (give me a new Mystical Ninja, dammit lol) but the remasters of I & II give me hope... if they ever come out lol... and I love Eiyuden Chronicle, its spiritual successor (RIP Murayama-san 😞) Probably not getting any new installments ever again though, sadly. Though I'd love to be wrong.
  
• Quake - just got awesome remasters of I & II including new episodes. Probably not getting a new Quake single player campaign though ever again sadly. Would love to be wrong. So I'll call this in limbo or dead outside of remasters.
  
• Heretic/Hexen - probably dead sadly, barring a possible remaster at some point
  
• Star Ocean - still kicking, and just got a gorgeous remaster of my favorite installment in the series... its future is uncertain, however.
  
• Baldur's Gate - BG3. No need to say more.
  
• GalCiv - still alive and kicking and implementing some interesting features using generative AI currently
  
• Halo - on the singleplayer front, I actually enjoyed Infinite's campaign quite a bit. But the cosmetic business model and challenge-based design has affected multiplayer in ways I'm not a fan of. I'm mostly a singleplayer gamer so that's not a huge, huge deal to me, but it was offputting.
  
• Shenmue - I actually loved Shenmue III and the I & II remasters were something I never thought would happen and was so happy to get, but... Shenmue is still Shenmue. Which means if you're a fan. Paaaain. Long, slow, decades-consuming pain and eternal lack of resolution lol. 😂
  
• Deus Ex - HR was a miraculous followup imo and was one of my favorite games of all time, comparable to the original, which was surprising and delightful to see at the time. MD less so for me, but I still enjoyed it. Sadly, it appears its followup is gone and the IP may effectively be as well, which is a profound shame. Hopefully that won't remain the case.
  
• Ridge Racer - effectively gone, sadly. This one is really hard to see go imo. I hope it somehow gets a resurrection.

So, 8 alive and kicking and fine to my satisfaction, 5 or 6 doing alright or reserving judgment but potentially promising in terms of upcoming releases, and 3 or 4 either dormant or in perpetual limbo to the extent of effectively being gone for now.

I also think there's just a legitimate question to ask in: is it also just okay for things to end sometimes? I know I for one don't necessarily think things need to go on forever. I don't think the world would end if certain franchises came to their natural culmination point, or just had nowhere else to go creatively or iteratively and just... stopped. Much as I feel with certain film franchises.

The idea that things need to go on forever might in itself kind of be self-defeating. My main concern is just preservation of the old experiences so that they aren't lost or inaccessible, as some on this list are in danger of becoming.