The lights are on
I'm sure everyone at one point or another has heard the comment "This franchise needs to die already." Hell, I'm sure even a few of you have said it yourself. I know I have. But honestly I have to wonder why it is that people feel the need to kill off franchises that are still successful and still making great games. Especially when said sequels are more creative than 98% of the original IPs that are coming out anyways.
In fact I'd have to say that is one of my biggest issues with games as of late. The creativity is lacking and it seems like developers are rushing to find what works and sells well just to copy it. Two recently have been Dante's Inferno (a game I hate for any number of reasons, let alone the fact that it is just a god of war clone) and Darksiders both of which are nothing more than zelda/god of war clones down to the puzzles, platforming and over the top action. These games may be original IP but are hardly creative in any fashion, and as such are the reasons why I personally can not stand the people that cry for more original IPs.
Take a look at Halo for example. Halo has to be one of the most hated on franchises ever. It constantly has people saying how they are sick of it and how they just need to stop and work on something else, but honestly Halo has consistantly been one of the most revolutionary games of our generation. CE was the first truly playable FPS game on a console and gave people who were just getting into shooters a way to play with others across the globe. Halo 2 expanded on that experience and pushed the Xbox to its limits. Halo 3 gave us a host of features including the replays and the forge mode. Honestly it's unique, it's special and it's more innovative than most games that come out. So why is it that people feel the need to say that it should be killed?
I think we're too obsessed with IPs to really see things clearly. Granted there are some franchises out there that do nothing to improve their games and just release them year after year (looking at you Activision and EA) but there are others that seriously take a look at their games and only want better for them. Honestly look at Killzone for the Playstation. Arguably without KZ2 there is no chance that UC2 looks that good. It set the bar just with a simple tech demo a few years ago and when the final game came out it turned out to be one of the top 5 best looking games on any system. This was because they were an established franchise who sought to better themselves and create their own identity.
That isn't to say though that all original IPs are bad. Recently there have been some great ones including Dead Space, Assassin's Creed, and Demon's Souls that all changed the way we view games. Dead Space for example showed that devs can still make games that scare you even without poor camera angles and worse controls. Assassin's Creed made a great combination of stealth gameplay with intense action set to a medieval/sci-fi theme. And Demon's Souls showed that there are still gamers out there that are willing to take up a challenge. This is what original IPs should be. The use of good ideas changed to make their own game because devs believe there is a market for that game and they want to be the first to tap it. Not like other ones where the market is already established and they are just trying to get a piece of the pie.
In the end it doesn't matter what the game is, original IP or an existing franchise. Creativity is creativity and people need to understand that. Lest we go bellowing around like idiots every time an established devolper produces a sequel to a game that has earned it. I for one will applaud that developer, provided that they try to do something different.
I have a much better reply, but the reply I was going to give is pretty long and drawn out and it broke off topic a bit. So I've decided to blog about it. (I'll be sure and give you credit for giving me inspiration.)
What I will say is that one hand I agree with you, but on the other hand not so much. The idea of originality is a tricky thing, and while I agree that newer doesn't always translate to better, established game play mechanics aren't such a bad thing.
To start I must side with those who feel Halo is losing steam. I liked the 1st but past that I was unimpressed. However I will throw in the fact that I am not a FPS player in most cases so my opinion is tainted with some bias. I also feel more discontent not with the game itself so much as it's over commercialization. At the same time, though I do anxiously await the FFXIII release, I loath the fact that I hear too much about it. At a certain point I feel it is time to move on to other subject matter rather then discuss the same title for months on end. In terms of ending good titles I am inclined to agree. On the one hand I do wish for newer experiences, however franchises can remain well for the player particularly a follower.When I say I crave new experiences, that umbrella falls over franchises as well. Despite a common character base or story set up you can add freshness to the story line and game play. Franchises need that. Zelda is a good example, though I love the franchise it could use a boost. Should it end, I don't believe so but changes do need to be made.
It's not that those of us who don't like Halo can't merit it for it's technical achievements, I played both the CE and Halo 2 but I got fed up with a story that became too convoluted and the feeling that I had done it all before...existing franchises can be creative provided they provide new experiences, you can argue all day over what a "New experience" is...I'll just leave it at that before I get into another online war...my last one was about how KH2 was a rehash of the 1st...it still has ended
The issue I have is with IP oversaturation. Halo doesn't have this problem, but there are plenty that do. Guitar Hero, Madden, and Mario just to name a few, and I think the same thing is happening to Call of Duty. People start to lose interest in a franchise when it gets released year after year after year, regardless of creativity.
For me, I don't care to play Modern Warfare 2 because, like I said to me, it's just another military FPS. A genre I feel is oversaturating the market.
I do see some repeated games with diffren titles, however there is usually something that doesn't make it the exact same game. I know they need to be creative but they are making tons of dollars. So they are doing something right
@ Starkiller
On the one hand I agree with you, on the other I still don't care. Games like CoD and Guitar hero really need to change or go away. More though we need more games like AC, Demon's Souls, and such so that this becomes a non-issue.
There are tons of original IPs dropping this year, Heavy Rain and Alan Wake being the most prominent. But I agree with most of your other points. Personally, I don't think Halo is oversaturated at all, as they've only had 6 games in 9 years (including Reach and Wars). But, GH and others are, and unfortunately CoD is getting to that undistinguished position because of Activision's greediness. Regarding Madden, sports titles can remain fresh every year (look at every The Show and every EA NHL game), so I don't think they deserve to be lumped into this. The straight up copycats...well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. All in all, an excellent blog, and whichever moron gave it one star deserves to be banned.
I see what you mean, because if you look at COD MW1 and then at COD WAW they used the same engine, the only thing that they changed was the setting, and if they make sequels they should make it different but with the same feel. A good example of a game that is different but has the same feel is assassins creed 1 and 2 because Ubisoft made it so they can make it a different experience each time you play, and how they make it end is priceless. They made it like a movie, you can't what for the next one.
@ B-money
Sorry if the title implied something else, but I'm not complaining about the lack of creative games with this. Originally I had called this "Original IPs and Creativity" but I thought that was a bit bland, hence the change to this. Personally there are a lot of games coming out that should push the level of creativity including the ones that you have mentioned.
@ Dylan
That's exactly what I am talking about. AC1 and 2 while both being part of the same series and mostly the same game are still unique to themselves. AC2 was polished to the point of being great even though it still did mostly everything that AC1 did. Now though, if they were to release AC3 and it was almost the exact same thing as AC2 then I would have an issue though I would still at least rent it for the fact that I want to finish the storyline.
oh and lol @ B-money
I know it seems like I have a few dedicated stalkers that always rate my blogs down. Seriously this one is at one star, my last one was at three. I don't think I've had a 4 star blog since my first one. I have to laugh though because ratings don't matter really to me. I write for discussion and to hear what others think and that is why I like doing this, for comments like yours and for things like Jacen's blog (Which is a very well written one if you haven't checked it out)
@BHW- I read Jacen's blog, and wrote a fairly lengthy comment on that as well. Your title did lead me to believe that there are no original/creative games in the works, as well as some of the sentences in the body. But it's all good. And I still think the stalkers should be banned. People who don't know your work might not bother reading the blog if it has a low rating. Kinda like a low rating in GI or another major publication is the kiss of death for any game.
Good blog although I disagree with the part about Halo. For me the Halo franchise ran stale with ODST, not with 3. Though, judging by what I've seen of Reach, they are looking to shake up the gameplay enough to where it could come off as very fresh.
As far as Darksiders goes, I had no expectations other than a zelda/GoW clone. I had been following the game for nearly 2 years and everything I read on it, the development team was going for that feel. What I liked was that the story line was something that really hadn't been done yet. I think that there are a lot of IP's that may not do anything new as far as gameplay is concerned, but are willing to push things in the story and visual department.
A case in point would be Dante's Inferno. The game is blatantly a GoW clone, and bare in mind that I have only played the demo. This game is pushing things with the story and setting. Granted, based on reviews I've read, it loses steam and fall short of its goals, but the concept is to me what feels fresh about this game. Not to mention it stirred up some religious groups which is always fun.
Hey, if people keep reading and responding then I'll keep writing. It's fun for me and honestly ratings and the like don't matter.
@ Demon Ragnarok
I don't really count ODST. It was more of a hiccup than anything else, and as bungie said originally supposed to be an expansion to Halo 3. However though I don't agree on what you said though about story. Honestly the story is probably the only thing required by law to be unique. Not to mention if a game blatantly ripped off another's story there would be issues with not only the companies but the fan bases as well. Concepts are more what I want to be unique anymore, and more what I look for (obviously with some exceptions as I still buy almost every single major Dynasty Warriors game that comes out). IMO Dante's is not a new concept but that's just me.
I do agree with one thing though, stirring up the super-religious always makes for an interesting time.
@BHW you should definitely keep writing. If hater's follow, it's usually because you've made them consider something that they wouldn't have otherwise. I'm all for differing opinions, if we all agreed our discussions would be pretty boring.
I wrote about this kind of stuff too, but I think you did it much better then I did. Great post I agree that we are getting copycat happy in the video game biz lately. We need to return to the roots of games which was original, fun, and inventive game designing.
what if someone wants god of war/zelda and only has an xbox 360, then is darksiders/dantes inferno ok
Well, its subjective. A game may seem original to the gamer if he never played the game it was inspired by or something like that. I could go play Dante's inferno now, and becasue I have never played God of War (I will soon) I could think it seems original. good arguement though
Oh yeah, I love the nod to Halo as a great franchise. It is consistent everytime. My only really big problem is they work harder on multiplayer then single player modes.
There are definitely some games out there that just need to be let go.
Not saying any names *cough* Sonic *cough*
But when a game company can keep a game series fresh and unique, they can make 5,000 games for all I care. A game doesn't start to suck because of how many installments there are, a game starts to suck because the game play sucks.
When a game runs out of ideas *cough* Sonic *cough*, that is when it turns bad, and something new needs to step in.
*Check out my new blog post*