Neverending Stories in Video Games

[Hollow 1977]

You have probably played a game once before that for some reason either profit or personal gain that a company decided to continue the game's story even though you felt it was finished. We have seen this in movies and tv shows with old stories being retold albeit a little differently. But why? Do the developers think they can turn an old cash cow into a new one? When they do this they can ruin a good running series. One of my favorite stories Final Fantasy X ended with X-2 and ended well. However now their could an X-3. I feel though a new story needs to be told. FFX is over and the book should be closed. How do you feel? Have you played a game and felt it had a good ending yet now the story is being continued and ruining the original story?

 

[futrchamp]

I feel that trying to milk too much out of one world/storyline can really take away from the enjoyment of the good parts for sure. It's especially bad when plot elements and characters are inconsistent throughout the different tellings of the story.

 

[Tai_MT]

I've played a lot of games that ended well and didn't need a sequel. It makes me feel annoyed because I know why and how it happens and why they usually suck or screw things up.

What usually happens is that a developer or publisher decides that since the original did so well, they'll just make a sequel to make a quick and easy buck (these places aren't usually staffed by actual game enthusiasts and merely by businessmen who think the products in question have no value besides the ability to get money from people. In short, not professionals in the Video Game Industry... but Professionals in some other business profession like marketing or shipping or something that has nothing to do with creating a product at all... only getting that product to market). However, the nature of the industry means that while it is still relatively new, there are people in it who think that all you have to do to make more money in it is to "appeal to a wider audience". While this is true for nearly every single other product in the market, it doesn't necessarily hold true for a product that is "artistic" in nature... or "entertainment" in nature.

So, what you usually get from the get-go is a studio who no longer has its leads in the story/gameplay/art departments and it's an entirely new staff trying to add in all these new demands from a publish to make it have a "wider appeal". As in, it's usually people who have no love or real association with the original product trying to figure out how to turn someone else's intellectual brainchild into their own, well enough, so that all the new "mainstream" junk they have to shoe-horn into the product fits well... or works well.

Meanwhile, most people are buying sequels for "more of the same". You want more story, more characters, more gameplay. Just like the last stuff you just played, because it was so much fun! Call of Duty is kind of the poster child for that particular mindset (never really changing anything, leaving it the same game every single time and releasing it every year to massive appeal... but after a while, that gets stale).

For me, the problem with a sequel in the Video Game Industry in particular is simply that it isn't approached properly. It isn't created because there's more story to tell (with a few rare exceptions) or because they want to try something new in the same universe. It's rarely even created as a cash grab with integrity for the product line in mind. If you muck it up so badly that you kill a franchise, then you're too short-sighted to be in charge of product... anywhere.

That's what we're dealing with now. People too short-sighted to try to maintain their public branding in order to keep it alive and keep it making money. There is no benefit to changing something so much that it is no longer part of your original product line. It'll sell a single product on the name alone, and all subsequent products named the same thing afterwards will not sell. It's bad business practice to poison the well like that... Yet we have a lot of publishers and developers doing just that with their own products. You do not cut down an entire forest to make money in lumber and not replant the trees... or leave some of them standing in order to maintain a steady profitable product line. It's stupid to consider doing such a thing and the only reason to ever do it is because the people in charge have no clue what they're doing and just want to get their quick buck and run away when it falls apart.

Anyway, I'm usually more leery about sequels because of it. Because sequels are pushed out by people who don't even have a Business-Sense... and who have no idea how the industry they're working in even works. I've stopped preordering anything... I've stopped buying many games altogether (since most games are sequels anymore)... I've stopped buying most games as "Day One" purchases... I've stopped buying DLC for a lot of games... I just stopped seeing a reason to give money to people who are incompetent at their jobs.

 

[Spoopy]

@Tai_MT Mass Effect Andromeda = Epitamy of incompetence. I heard that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be paid episodes. I really hope they don't do that, no one like playing a game like that, especially something like FF7. Talking about the subject at hand and FF7, Advent Children was really not necessary. Can't say much about X, never played it.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

Can't agree more with what @Tai_MT said; it is all about out-of-touch *******s with no creative integrity whatsoever trying to make a quick buck at the expense of a customer's nostalgia. It's sad, most big time developers don't even try for any semblance of originality anymore, they just keep rehashing the past over and over again.

Television is even worse about it though, show gets popular so execs keep it going even though it was supposed to end on season 5 and anyone who pays attention can clearly see that if it had it would have ended near perfectly. But it keeps going until it's cancelled at season 9 in a complete trainwreak because the ratings plummeted three seasons ago and only kept getting worse as it dragged on. I can't remember the last modern television show I've watched that actually ended well...or at all. I know they are businesses and all but does every single thing have to be dictated by a bottom line? It seems to me that we've gotten to a point now where much of the entertainment has been zapped out of the entertainment industry in favor of microtransactions and political crusades.

 

[CleanWater]

When the game was made with the intention of having a sequel, things runs fine. I.e.: Megaman X until Megaman X 6, the original plan of Keiji Inafune was to finish the story on Megaman X 5, then revive Zero on Megaman Zero (My personal guess it that the Zero from Megaman Zero would be a copy too, just like the Copy-X, but… They flushed things towards the drain in the end…).

But when they want to just to make some profit and keep exhausting an already dead cow, we have things like Megaman X 6, X 7 and X 8.

Other game I really liked, but that the plot simply is full of holes is Chrono Cross. Chrono Trigger plot was wonderful, but Chrono Cross wins only in graphical terms. There are so many characters that they end without personality in most cutscenes.

 

[KayZaman]

I watched my sis playing FFXV and she finished the game. She didn't satisfied. She start the game again, going more fishing, more cooking by the driver, more taking photos by the photographer, and more quests. She doesn't quit.

Me? I played WWE 2K16, I played the important features. I finished the game but I'm not satisfy yet. I made my own characters, set moves and fight like I want it.

 

[Daniel47]

I've played a lot of games that ended well and didn't need a sequel. It makes me feel annoyed because I know why and how it happens and why they usually suck or screw things up.

What usually happens is that a developer or publisher decides that since the original did so well, they'll just make a sequel to make a quick and easy buck (these places aren't usually staffed by actual game enthusiasts and merely by businessmen who think the products in question have no value besides the ability to get money from people. In short, not professionals in the Video Game Industry... but Professionals in some other business profession like marketing or shipping or something that has nothing to do with creating a product at all... only getting that product to market). However, the nature of the industry means that while it is still relatively new, there are people in it who think that all you have to do to make more money in it is to "appeal to a wider audience". While this is true for nearly every single other product in the market, it doesn't necessarily hold true for a product that is "artistic" in nature... or "entertainment" in nature.

So, what you usually get from the get-go is a studio who no longer has its leads in the story/gameplay/art departments and it's an entirely new staff trying to add in all these new demands from a publish to make it have a "wider appeal". As in, it's usually people who have no love or real association with the original product trying to figure out how to turn someone else's intellectual brainchild into their own, well enough, so that all the new "mainstream" junk they have to shoe-horn into the product fits well... or works well.

Meanwhile, most people are buying sequels for "more of the same". You want more story, more characters, more gameplay. Just like the last stuff you just played, because it was so much fun! Call of Duty is kind of the poster child for that particular mindset (never really changing anything, leaving it the same game every single time and releasing it every year to massive appeal... but after a while, that gets stale).

For me, the problem with a sequel in the Video Game Industry in particular is simply that it isn't approached properly. It isn't created because there's more story to tell (with a few rare exceptions) or because they want to try something new in the same universe. It's rarely even created as a cash grab with integrity for the product line in mind. If you muck it up so badly that you kill a franchise, then you're too short-sighted to be in charge of product... anywhere.

That's what we're dealing with now. People too short-sighted to try to maintain their public branding in order to keep it alive and keep it making money. There is no benefit to changing something so much that it is no longer part of your original product line. It'll sell a single product on the name alone, and all subsequent products named the same thing afterwards will not sell. It's bad business practice to poison the well like that... Yet we have a lot of publishers and developers doing just that with their own products. You do not cut down an entire forest to make money in lumber and not replant the trees... or leave some of them standing in order to maintain a steady profitable product line. It's stupid to consider doing such a thing and the only reason to ever do it is because the people in charge have no clue what they're doing and just want to get their quick buck and run away when it falls apart.

Anyway, I'm usually more leery about sequels because of it. Because sequels are pushed out by people who don't even have a Business-Sense... and who have no idea how the industry they're working in even works. I've stopped preordering anything... I've stopped buying many games altogether (since most games are sequels anymore)... I've stopped buying most games as "Day One" purchases... I've stopped buying DLC for a lot of games... I just stopped seeing a reason to give money to people who are incompetent at their jobs.

Bravo! I feel the exact same way. They market based on the name brand alone most of the time, which can tarnish any games reputation. Like you I've cut way back on buying from the game industry.

 

[roiaa]

Temple run never ending game but addicting one and makes player to play it more and more, also angry birds

 

[Gallia]

I think the worst offender is Final Fantasy VII, we have "Before Crisis", "Crisis Core", "Final Fantasy VII", "The movie Advent Children", and "Dirge of Cerberus"
Forgive me if this offend you, but Final Fantasy X was awesome, it is one of my favorite top 5 Final Fantasy games, but i truly can't stand Final Fantasy X-2, i completed it and i hate about everything, i don't like Yuna's looks, i don't like the way "Brother" react, i don't like Paine, i don't like the story, it feels like Charlies Angels with those stupid poses, seriously i don't like how the sequel is.
But it does not ruin Final Fantasy X, its still a very good game.

Final Fantasy XIII has its conclusion at the end, then Final Fantasy XIII-2 came out, even if its unnecessary, i liked it, then followed Lighting Returns, and honestly i like the ending, there is absolutely NO room for a sequel.

A game that didn't need a sequel is Tales of Symphonia, the game had its conclusion, it ended, all problems solved, but then there is Dawn of the new world.....overall not an bad game mind you, but its not needed, they just added new problems in that world just for the sake of releasing the next game.

 

[Ebontope]

It might not be a great example because the game is an MMO, but World of Warcraft has suffered tremendously from this.

While Vanilla was primarily just an introduction to all the different enemy factions, in TBC you really started to make some significant story progress by launching a second invasion into Outland, slaying Illidan and even preventing another demonic invasion led by Kil'Jaeden himself. Next up, you moved on to Northrend to finally take the fight to the Lich King himself, and we got some real plot development through the characterization of Garrosh, the death of Bolvar, the betrayal of Varimathras, the launch of the Fourth War and the slaying of the Lich King himself.

Unfortunately, this is when Blizzard started to pad out the story with nonsense. First we get a dragon who got killed off way back in Warcraft 2, then we got panda's, then we got time-travelling Orcs from another dimension... Even Legion is guilty of this, as the entire expansion takes place in an area that was supposed to be under Naga control.

 

[Matseb2611]

Most game series that go on for 10+ instalments pretty much. That would include most of Nintendo franchises for sure. I think even with Castlevania series, which I love, some stuff was unnecessary. Like the whole Lords of Shadow reboot could've simply been a different series of its own, but they had to tie it to the Castlevania name to milk money.

 

[Hollow 1977]

@Gallia I have not played X-2 for more than about an hour and I like the job system being brought back and seeing Yuna being independent. Plus it ends everything well. Sadly they want to milk it more and create an X-3. When I beat X I was so sad to see that

Spoiler: Final Fantasy X ending

Tidus leave Yuna and end up disappearing although the faith did say they would recreate him later. I was so happy to learn of X-2.

@Matseb2611 I agree Casltevania needs a new story. I am excited about the Bloodstained ritual coming in 2018 hoping this will be a good series.