Franchises surviving on their name

[Spirit]

Zelda, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Sonic the Hedgehog Resident Evil...

These titles are instantly recognisable and range in quality, sometimes wildly, sometimes they dip so bad that they alienate fans and some franchises never recover or come close to the halcyon days of old and survive merely by their name and memory of greatness alone.

Which franchises in your opinion are surviving based solely on past glories and their name?

 

[Dio]

Sonic is definitely surviving on past glory. They haven't made a good game since Shadow The Hedgehog and that isn't even well liked.

Zelda is also one that does it. The series split its fanbase in half when it released Wind Waker. A high quality but divisive game. Since then the series has had such inconsistent quality ranging from great to the downright abominable. No need to name names there.

Zelda hasnt released a great title since 2006 and it tends to rely on its name to sell itself and to get the reviewers to give elevated scores, praising entries that don't deserve them.

 

[Stitch]

I feel like the only person who enjoyed Sonic Generations as much as the other sonic games. I also think that Zelda is doing quite well for itself. I can't really think of a game series that I play regularly enough that I can gibe a sold opinion on if they are relying purely on their name to survive.

 

[funnier6]

Sonic is definitely surviving on past glory. They haven't made a good game since Shadow The Hedgehog and that isn't even well liked.

Zelda is also one that does it. The series split its fanbase in half when it released Wind Waker. A high quality but divisive game. Since then the series has had such inconsistent quality ranging from great to the downright abominable. No need to name names there.

Zelda hasnt released a great title since 2006 and it tends to rely on its name to sell itself and to get the reviewers to give elevated scores, praising entries that don't deserve them.

Are you purposely ignoring how botw is one of the best reviewed games ever or is this just your opinion?

 

[Dio]

Are you purposely ignoring how botw is one of the best reviewed games ever or is this just your opinion?

As I have said. Zelda scores are often given higher by reviewers than they should be. Skyward Sword (commonly called Suckward Sword in the Zelda community) holds a 93% score on metacritic. So just because BoTW holds a high score does not mean anything. The reviewers tend to give high scores for Zelda games no matter how mediocre they actually are.

 

[funnier6]

As I have said. Zelda scores are often given higher by reviewers than they should be. Skyward Sword (commonly called Suckward Sword in the Zelda community) holds a 93% score on metacritic. So just because BoTW holds a high score does not mean anything. The reviewers tend to give high scores for Zelda games no matter how mediocre they actually are.

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree, and even though you dislike several Zelda games you must admit that several million people hold them in high regard and feel quite justified thinking so.

In response to the thread Sonic immediately jumps to mind. Though I haven't played any of the ''good'' Sonic games I actually love Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, both final boss battles are two of my favorites ever. I even love that spin off Sonic Chronicles rpg that I'm still mad never got a sequel. Sonic Boom was definitely awful just by character designs alone so they really need to get it together.

 

[Dio]

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree, and even though you dislike several Zelda games you must admit that several million people hold them in high regard and feel quite justified thinking so.

In response to the thread Sonic immediately jumps to mind. Though I haven't played any of the ''good'' Sonic games I actually love Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, both final boss battles are two of my favorites ever. I even love that spin off Sonic Chronicles rpg that I'm still mad never got a sequel. Sonic Boom was definitely awful just by character designs alone so they really need to get it together.

Yes millions of people do hold them in high regard but it doesnt make them any less mediocre because of it. Acceptance and praise of mediocrity is rampant in the film and game industry which is why big film and game companies churn out such garbage most of the time.

 

[Turo602]

Yes millions of people do hold them in high regard but it doesnt make them any less mediocre because of it. Acceptance and praise of mediocrity is rampant in the film and game industry which is why big film and game companies churn out such garbage most of the time.

That goes both ways. Just because some fans out there suck at getting motion controls down or didn't like this or that, doesn't mean the game is mediocre. It's a well made game despite anyone's personal taste. Most if not all Zelda games are well made quality products, that doesn't mean everyone is going to like them or agree with whatever gimmick or direction a particular game is going in. Dumb fans calling Skyward Sword "Suckward Sword" are the equivalent of butthurt Resident Evil fans who lie through their teeth when they say games like Resident Evil 4 or 5 are terrible games.

 

[Hyrulian Hero]

I wouldn't call myself a Resident Evil "fan" but I've played the crap out of 4 and want impressed in the slightest by 5. I'm not saying that the game was bad, I hardly played it (key phrase) but you have to admit that the games were so incredibly different (steady, constricted, claustrophobic horror game vs. break-neck, mow-them-down, Michael Bay action game) that one could really like one and not like the other. I feel like Final Fantasy is a good call. Again, haven't played much past 6, but I've watched the quality consistently falter. But I have hope for the series! Every game changes so much, they've even jumped into other genres (MMO, Tactical RPG), so it seems they're at least open to taking risks. Plus, and I know it was Mistwalker, but The Last Story was an innovative and solid game. I call Halo, Halo hardcore. Um, I hate to say it but Minecraft hasn't seen much in the way of advancement. Granted, it's kind of like a single game but you know what I mean. Obviously Call of Duty. Even they know it, considering they're about to make a heart-breaking attempt to recapture the nostalgia of their early games. They haven't made a great game since Modern Warfare and they haven't made a decent game since Black Ops. Ooo, Magic the Gathering! TMNT! Family Guy! There are so many to choose fr...ahem, from which to choose (and now I'm pretentious too, let the hate flow through you!)

 

[Turo602]

I wouldn't call myself a Resident Evil "fan" but I've played the crap out of 4 and want impressed in the slightest by 5. I'm not saying that the game was bad, I hardly played it (key phrase) but you have to admit that the games were so incredibly different (steady, constricted, claustrophobic horror game vs. break-neck, mow-them-down, Michael Bay action game) that one could really like one and not like the other.

I know the games are incredibly different. But that's my point, just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's terrible or even mediocre. I absolutely hate Resident Evil 7 and despise what 4 did to the series, but they're not bad games. Sure, the fans might still be buying the games based on the name alone, but the fans themselves do not make up the majority of the sales. The games sell well because they have not only been good, but also accessible. The accessibility has ruined the series for a fan like me, but this series is still wildly successful and while the iconic name has kept the series relevant, it's far from surviving on just name alone. Same with Zelda.

 

[Ninja]

+1 for Final Fantasy, and Sonic, even though I quite enjoyed FFXV. Another series that lived off its name and finally died out was SOCOM.

Call of Duty is definitely the same game year after year with slightly different mechanics. I absolutely love the older ones like COD4 obviously, and World at War. BONZAI!

For me, I can quite say Zelda is living off of it's name just yet. I love all of the main console ones, even SS had its strong points. The non-canon Hyrule Warriors was lacking in story but fun in gameplay, and despite BotW taking a different direction, I'm enjoying that as well.

 

[the8thark]

• Sonic is the obvious answer here.
• COD is another living of it's name, as the ganes are not that good anymore.
• Final Fantasy is a third.
• Assassin's Creed is probably another.
• Animal Crossing is another. It's jsut the same thing rehashed from the GC game. The few different games were all bad.
• Blaster Master - All apart from the first and last games. The NES game was great, though very hard and the Switch clone is quite amazing. Every game in the middle was hot garbage.
• Mega Man - Simply because there has been no games at all for a long time. The series is surviving on name only not because of bad games, but because of no games.
• Star Fox is another. The SNES and N64 games were good. The GC games were alright. Past that, nothing good has come from the series. The fan made Fox in Space cartoon series is still using the name of the series, taking the series back to it's SNES roots. At the moment, the series is broken and relying on name only to get recognition.
• Master Of Orion. Only one good game out of 4. The 2nd game is amazing and still holds up today. It's a gaming masterpiece. The other 3 games are really hot garbage. Totally a series that is not relying on name alone to get traction.
• Sim City - I have to say this because the 5th game totally trashed the good reputation that the 4th game built up. 2000 was good and SC4 was quite amazing. After the train wreck that was the 5th game, the series is surviving on name only. I recomment everyone I know to skip the 5th game and just play SC4.

The series split its fanbase in half when it released Wind Waker

That did happen. Though not the series, it was WInd Waker itself, one single game that split the fambase, simply because there was no general consesus at release on if the game was good or not. 50% thought Wind Waker was one of the best games ever made. The other 50% thought Wind Waker was hot garbage that should never be played. At launch I was in the Wind Waker was garbage half. Today I have mellowed my opinions. I feel, if you can tolerate the game's many many many flaws then it's worth playing to jsut say you've beaten it. Totally not worth a 2nd play through.

Do play the HD version though. The HD version does objectively look worse than the GC original, the other improvements make up for this to make it the perfered version to play.

 

[Dio]

That did happen. Though not the series, it was WInd Waker itself, one single game that split the fambase, simply because there was no general consesus at release on if the game was good or not. 50% thought Wind Waker was one of the best games ever made. The other 50% thought Wind Waker was hot garbage that should never be played. At launch I was in the Wind Waker was garbage half. Today I have mellowed my opinions. I feel, if you can tolerate the game's many many many flaws then it's worth playing to jsut say you've beaten it. Totally not worth a 2nd play through.

Do play the HD version though. The HD version does objectively look worse than the GC original, the other improvements make up for this to make it the perfered version to play.

Just the wording. I know what I meant.

As for the HD version. It looks way better than the original though I still find the disproportionate characters to be unpleasant.