[Multiplatform] Game Series you just stopped playing. Sonic is the correct answer, by the way.

Have you ever noticed that you stop playing game series as a whole? You know, waaaay back in the day, you thought that series was one (if not THE) best? Well, what stopped you from playing them? Money? Life? Boredom? Stupid features?

Here are a few series that come to mind:

Pokemon: I will admit it. The FIRST batch of Pokemon games had me excited. I bought Blue, my friend bought Red. We both tried to go for all 150 Pokemon (he succeeded but I did not because he got the WRONG Pokemon at some point in the game. OR something like that). We both played them and then had fun with battles and such. The game was also fun given the rather simple but effective formula.

What Happened?: The game felt like it was recycled with just a few new features added in for several incarnations. More so, the game had the 'only for kids' stigma which wasn't good for teenager becoming a young adult. Also, around this time, sitting there, waiting for Pokemon to pop up and capturing them just seemed boring.

Final Fantasy: I played the first game simply because "Hey, this game has the most game genie codes. It's got to be good!". Despite that rather odd mentality, I played and beat the game. I then didn't play any Final Fantasies (excluding adventure and I think Legends but not sure) until FF6/3. I played FF3, and the music, the graphics, the battle system, all of it was awesome. I HAD to have that game and I did get it. I also played FFIV, which I enjoyed and eventually decided to get the other Final Fantasies available at the time.
When FF7 was coming up, I bought it and went through the game twice. The updated graphics, the music, the story, were all quite fun. Getting super materia was just awesome. All and all, a fun game, as was the next game, Final Fantasy Tactics (which I might replay on my PSP).

What Happened?: Final Fantasy 8. I tried the game and within a few hours was bored with it. I put it down, never to play it again. The music was fine, heck, the final boss music was excellent and so I was excited with the game. However, the game just didn't have that "Fantasy" feel for some reason. Final Fantasy 9 was a step in the right direction, which I enjoyed, but due to time constaints and just the Final Fantasy aura wearing off due to 8, I never beat it. Same deal with X. As for X-2, and up, I never even bothered, mainly due to 1) the cost (although they have gone down), 2) time, and 3) again, the aura that Final Fantasy had being gone.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Ace Combat or rather Air Combat as it was back then. I was a huge fan of the first three, but when the series went to PS2 I just stopped enjoying them. I still bought 4, but couldn't get into to it. With all the Ace Combat weeks and stuff here I bought Zero, but again couldn't get into to it. Eh, I still have really fond memories of the first 3, undoubtably my favourite games on the PSX.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I have to say Pokemon too. I loved it, played through Blue and Yellow, got Stadium 1 and 2. Blue was my first game, Yellow I got because I'm a sucker for Pikachu, and you can get all 3 starters without trading. The adventure itself was alright, but the best part was customizing your team of six pokemon and their moves. A bit unfortunate that I didn't know anyone that played a legit version of the game for me to trade/battle.

The Stadium games were probably my favorite part about the series, regardless of what others may think. These games actually encouraged training your pokemon and using TMs, due to the restrictions placed on each of the competition. I mean, sure you can get into trainer/gym battles in the GBA games, but you can go into most battles with your pokemon at 10+ levels higher than your opponents, and most trainers don't use anything resembling a strategy. In Stadium though, your opponents are varied, and you're pretty much playing on an even playingfield. Also, the opposing pokemon have really unpredictable movelists, or a trainer having pokemon with specific tactics. One that I remember clearly is the Gambler trainers, who outfits all their pokemon with at least one OHKO moves, like Fissure. It's neat that they also put in rental pokemon (and I definately used them for Prime Cup), but they get crappy stats, and the evolved pokemon usually gets really horrible moves. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Squirtle with Hydro Pump while Blastoise gets Bubble.

I got into the card game too, but it got a bit too expensive with the constantly expanding card set. The GBA game was fun for a bit, but it was so sloooooooooow, and not really exciting to play.

Why I stopped playing:
I think it's after I beat Stadium Round 1, and decided to train my Yellow team up to play Prime Cup. The training bit just got really really tedious, going to the Elite 4 billions of times. I maxed out the money counter, bout some stats upgrading stuff, and maxed it again, yet my team still isn't lvl 100 yest. I think, until this day, they're around lvl 94.

I tried to pick up the later games again, but I seem to just stop playing after the first few badges, might be because I play them on emu, or that I stopped following the pokemon list after the first 151. I still understand the appeal, but unless they re-invent the battle mechanics, I don't think it's a series for me anymore (still love the original 151 pkmn though).

A Smash Bros. style game with epic storyline and keeping the stat/move level ups? I'm all for it!


Star Wars Rogue Squadron:
Not sure if it's a series I used to play a lot, but I did recall really liking the original for what little time I spent with it, and loved RS2, even though it was a bit shorter than I would have liked.

Why I stopped playing:
RS3. Sure enough, the two player co-op was pretty awesome, but single player was pretty crappy. On-foot missions were a chore and didn't feel that good. I think what I hated most was the level designs though. I only recall 1 or two that were actually enjoyable, and the rest were annoying as hell when compared to RS2, and also needed a bit more flying missions. Using the ATST and landspeeders were fun for a bit, but honestly not fun enough to take that much time in the canpaign mode.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Definitely the Sonic series for me. I played Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic Chaos all on the Game Gear when I was very young and I must have enjoyed them, eagerly playing through each iteration. As I grew up though, I clearly started to form a preference for Mario and sort of just forgot or lost interest in the speedy nature of the Sonic games. Perhaps it was a couple of issues within the Sonic series, like the startling number of spikes you could run into, only needing one ring to live technically, and how exactly one attacks with Sonic without being hurt. Regardless, I literally forgot about the series for years and when I started to really get into gaming, all the newer Sonic games were pretty crappy, effectively sealing off my interest towards the brand forever.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yes, Sonic is a great call--I've gone from unbridled enthousiasm for a new Sonic (Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles especially had me delirious, still holding a spot in my top 5 favorite games of all time) to dreading the letdown of another poor game in my favorite franchise despite it all.

For me, it has to be almost all FPS's, but most importantly Doom. I grew up loving Doom and Duke Nukem 3D as a young teen. When Doom 2 came out, it vaguely coincided with my going to high school, where a network was in place. So we played a LOT of online multiplayer Doom 2. And I mean a lot. All we ever played was deathmatch on the first map, I don't believe I've even seen the rest of the game, but it was just amazing.

When Doom stopped and Quake made its way, I was still really into it, and when Quake 2 came out, I even joined an online clan, mostly playing Rocket Arena. When Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena came out however, UT was the victor. I just found it to be so much more fun than Q3A, although I still enjoyed both. But starting from those games, I just didn't get into playing multiplayer FPSes anymore, and then I gradually lost interest in the FPS genre altogether. I tried to play and enjoy Doom 3, Quake 4, and the various Unreal and UT games, but I just couldn't get into it. I still like Half Life 2 though largely cause of the story.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Pokemon - I was bothered about it through middle school and finally got my first Game Boy (Color) and bought Red and Blue. After that, I went up to Yellow and played Snap and Stadium for the N64. I bought Silver and Gold, but I never beat them...I pretty much lost interest in those games seeing as how 151 Pokemon to collect just wasn't enough, so they went up to about 250 or something like that. Nowadays, they have male and female versions of each Pokemon to collect (back in the day, it was just Nidoran) so now they're up to what, 1,000?

Mario Party - 1 and 2 were awesome, 3 was a little meh, 4 was cool since it was the first one to come out on the Gamecube, but then I bought 5 and I just lost interest. I know, I know...it took me 5 somewhat similar games to get me to stop buying them.

WWE - This might not count since I downloaded the demo for 07 on the 360 and...well, maybe this does still count. I couldn't win with either character and I couldn't figure out the whole stamina thing. I understand they're trying to go for realistic gameplay, but the older wrestling games set a better example. Back then, you had a simple life bar that would go down as you were dealt damage by your opponent. Last best WWE games to come out were Attitude and the first Smackdown! for the PS1. Attitude was the last WWE game I played that stuck with the old life bar tradition, whereas Smackdown! relyed on fast paced action and some freakin awesome in-ring music to boot. However, after the first Smackdown I lost interest.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Namco's Tales of series - The first time I saw this series was a Nintendo Power preview for ToP. Of course it was followed by the classic line that went something like "...but we don't see this being released outside of Japan". Then comes the PS1 era and ToD which I decided to get since I had been so interested in ToP's gameplay mechanics and story when I read the NP preview. I throughly enjoyed everything in ToD, and it just felt like a fun RPG to play in the way that its fights mixed action and RPG elements together. I think it was kinda under the radar at the time due to having been released near Xenogears.

What Happened?: I'm not too sure why I lost interest in this series. It has (had?) a lot of RPG elements and themes that I liked in ToD. Sure it's not mind blowing with some of its story elements and such, but I still don't understand how I can't seem to get into any of the other titles in the series. I got ToE off ebay along with the guide for a good price, and got bored somewhere around the 2nd disc. I tried ToS on the GC, and while it sorta held my interest at the start, I found no compelling reason to continue playing. I also tried the translated ToP rom, and barely got anywhere in that. I don't know if I've been spoiled by other RPGs and games in general, or that when I tried playing those games that maybe in the case of ToE and ToP that they felt too dated. It's kinda disappointing since I know the games are good in their own right, but since I haven't been able to finish any of the ones I listed up there besides ToD, I thus haven't bothered getting any of the subsequent releases since ToS.

FELIPE NO

Sonic, definitely.

I love the Genesis games. Grew up playing them, alongside Bubsy, as my favourite platformers (pre SMW), I even really liked the Dreamcast incarnations as far as 3d goes. But man, after that? Forget it. Won't go near them anymore, they've completely taken out everything I ever loved and left them a broken husk I can't be bothered about. Give me speed, give me simplicity, and I might come back again. Maybe.

The Shining Series.

Man, that Shining Force I-III are pretty great games. Man, I could play that series for a long time. Hey, what's this Shining Tears thing? Jesus Christ, what'd they do to my games? Give me Shining Force IV, you bastards.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Mega Man

Actually, I should have stopped playing the series a lot earlier than I did, but I kept convincing myself that THIS time they wouldn't fuck it up. If I'd been smarter, I would have told Capcom to screw off after Megaman X5, but I went on through X8 (skipping 7, at least).

What happened? Capcom stopped giving a shit. The storyline was actually going in an interesting direction in X5, building on the concept of Zero being Dr. Wily's robot, and then they dropped it entirely in favor of X6's non sequitor of a storyline, and fucking Axl from then on. Everything from X5 on was, at best, a half effort. The graphics were terrible, the levels poorly designed, and when the game jumped to PS2 they introduced all this terrible 3D bullshit that was barely playable at all.

They started fresh, after a fashion, when they jumped to the Mega Man Zero series on Gameboy. Only problem was that the Zero games were punch-you-in-the-balls hard, where you weren't allowed to have the boss' special weapons if you so much as took a single point of damage during the level, counting the boss fight. They were essentially using Devil May Cry's rating system, except tying vital power-ups to ludicrous performance standards. The last two weren't quite so bad, but the tiny GBA screen kind of hurt things.

No, I didn't buy any of the Zero series. I played them through alternate means. I'm glad I did, too. The hell with doing these without save states.

The ZX games on the DS are actually good, without qualifications, but I'm not surprised that nobody cares after the crap Capcom's been shoveling for the last several years.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I was prepared to love ZX, but the map thing just made the game over-complex and I lost interest. So while not a "bad" game, it didn't do much to stop the overall slide.

Would be nice if they could something even 10% as appealing as Megaman 2 nowadays.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Denicalis

The Shining Series.

Man, that Shining Force I-III are pretty great games. Man, I could play that series for a long time. Hey, what's this Shining Tears thing? Jesus Christ, what'd they do to my games? Give me Shining Force IV, you bastards.

Did you play Shining Soul for Gameboy Advance? That was heart crushing. I did hear Shining Soul II was much better, but the first left such a wretched taste in my mouth that I couldn't be bothered. After all, much better than heart crushing can't be anything to look forward to.

Megaman X also got ridiculous with the names. Optic Sunflower? Earthrock Trilobyte? Vanishing Gungaroo? Less crack when you're naming things, please.

Grand Theft Auto
I've only played the first two in small amounts, but I'm mostly speaking about the GTA 3s. The first one was pretty enjoyable due to the novelty. The free-roaming and wanton violence was nice and visceral. But after a while, there's so many times you can shoot a hooker and blow up the ambulance that came to get her. In the end, I tried to do ridiculous stunts with the vehicles and sending Claude to drown a lot. I couldn't finish half of Vice City. San Andreas was pretty much DOA, especially due to the MMORPG bits, like building muscle mass and whatnot.

I'll wait and see what GTA 4 does.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by xiaowei

Did you play Shining Soul for Gameboy Advance? That was heart crushing. I did hear Shining Soul II was much better, but the first left such a wretched taste in my mouth that I couldn't be bothered. After all, much better than heart crushing can't be anything to look forward to.

Shining Soul 2 was much better. Just not good.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Deni... it's funny how we had massive arguments in the past - most of them containing swear words directed at me and yet I barely even know you - but we are so alike. My answer for this thread is also Shining Force because of Shining "Force" Neo and Exa and Shining Soul. I must also note we are in the NHL thread a lot too.

Too bad Camelot cannot make SF games anymore...

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

Deni... it's funny how we had massive arguments in the past - most of them containing swear words directed at me and yet I barely even know you - but we are so alike. My answer for this thread is also Shining Force because of Shining "Force" Neo and Exa and Shining Soul. I must also note we are in the NHL thread a lot too.

Too bad Camelot cannot make SF games anymore...

I'd argue I'm -in- the thread in name only. Have you seen my score? Clearly I'm not really "in" the thread.

And man, I want Shining Force IV so badly. Thank god for the translations of SF III scenarios I and II and a modded Saturn.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You mean scenario 2 & 3. Do you have a website for copies of them that are translated so I can play on my modded Saturn? I already beat them in Japanese and read the storyline on a website. It would be sweeter to play them in English!

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Borg1982

You mean scenario 2 & 3. Do you have a website for copies of them that are translated so I can play on my modded Saturn? I already beat them in Japanese and read the storyline on a website. It would be sweeter to play them in English!

No, I meant one and 2. But apparently they've recently finished 3 as well.

Shining Force III Translation Project « Suspended In Dusk

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

No, I meant one and 2. But apparently they've recently finished 3 as well.

Shining Force III Translation Project « Suspended In Dusk

That is all kinds of awesome. I always hated Sega because of that stupid crap. Since the Saturn was the first Sega system I ever owned and so little got released on it. Sure it had some great gems in that small collection but man owning a Saturn sucked without a PS1 to go with it.

As for the topic, I stopped playing the Mario games. I don't hate Mario but I never had a N64 and I thought Mario Sunshine looked lame, so I just stopped bothering to pay attention to Mario.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Final Fantasy:

Played quite a few, enjoyed 9 the most. I still have a soft spot for that one, and as far as fan games though I don't mind the traditional set.

Why I stopped: Two words: Kingdom Hearts. (Two more words: Stop laughing) KH introduced me to the action RPG genre that I avoided since disliking the slow pace of the Zelda games. KH, despite all of it's rumored "kiddyness" (but LOL at all the guys at tvtropes claiming it's nightmare fuel) and "emoness" (Hercules notwithstanding), had a decent story and fast gameplay I could get into. Plus the FF7 crowd looked and acted so much better than they did in their OWN universe! I decided KH had rendered FF obsolete, and I could never touch a slow paced RPG ever again.

And it still irritates me that everyone's like "LOL 3-D Sonic games suck" when this causes them to ignore and pass up his handheld epics like Advance 3 and Rush/Adventure.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Wait, SFIIIEp3 was translated (I can't get the link to work and when I checked the forum that has the translation project, it seems like they are not finished)?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The Zelda series. Although, it's not really a case of completely ignoring the series. Huge, huuuuuuge large big fan of them back in the early 1930's. Zelda, Adventure of Link, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening. Yes. Yes! Nobody could stand in my way of being a praise shooting demon beast for these games. Link's Awakening is still one of the best games I've ever played, true story.

Then it went 3D, with Ocarina of Time. Everyone shit their pants at how amazing it was, but I made a squishy kind of face. I didn't even bother with Majora's Mask. So, some years passed. Along comes Wind Waker. Everyone's shitting their pants, but with anger this time. How it's forcing their sexual orientation switch to the gay position due to the graphics and so forth. But for me it was like fuck, yeah! Zelda's cartoony style is back! And a cheesy 80's synth pop song played in my head. I loved Wind Waker.

So I figured it was time to go check out the ones I missed, Majora's Mask and those Game Boy Color ones. Nope. Flaccid. Wii launches, I pick up Twilight Princess due to the insane hype and the fact that it was in development since the Big Bang. It didn't hold my interest for long, I ended up forcing myself to play through it because it was too late to return it for my money back. I don't know, I just found it extremely boring. I'm sorry internet! ;_;

I checked out that DS one too, I made it past the first boss and never played it again. Why do I keep doing this to myself, it's like returning to an abusive lover. His name is Tingle.

Also, yeah. Pokemon. The main Pokemon games, that is. I love the spin-offs! Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Pinball and Pokemon Channel 2 plz Nintendo/The Digimon Company.

How ya doing, buddy?

You did try out Zelda: Minish Cap though, right my friend? I found that game was pretty decent and brought back the feeling of Zelda of old to a degree.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Minish Cap was all right, but it felt like half a Zelda game. To me it seemed like it was wrapping up about the time Link to the Past was getting to its midpoint.

I think we're getting to that point where Nintendo is just throwing the same old stuff at the wall trying to make lightning strike twice, instead of coming up with something new. I didn't realize until I recently replayed Ocarina of Time just how much Twilight Princess swipes from that game. It's like they spent more time prostrating at the feet of OoT and trying to hurredly rewire the controls to work with the Wiimote than they did making a game that could stand on its own two feet.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I gave up on Quake after II. I played through Quake III and IV, but really didn't enjoy them that much.

Final Fantasy, X was it for me. X-2 and XII were so utterly unenjoyable in the little bits I tried (I own both but haven't played either for more than an hour) that I'm tired of it. I still like the classics - Technically I've only beat 6-10, so I'm playing 4 and 5 right now. But one of the main points for me is that if I want some goofy "realistic" battle system, I'll play, you know, an action game. I like turn-based combat in my RPGs, sorry.

Also, yet another vote for Pokemon. I loved red/blue. Everything like that has seemed like a cheap milk-the-cash-cow attempt, sort of like the entire Friday the 13th series.

FELIPE NO

Final Fantasy series.

I appreciated the traditional turn-based old school rpgs more (ditto Arainach). I stopped after IX... its just not the same. I could be an oldbie for not accepting the new vamped battle systems but really... I couldn't give it much of a damn other than the eye candy work they give you in the guides instead. Although I must make a mention of XII's battle system, its engaging but its not as exciting as til way late into the game (til you gotten all of those necessary gambits...).

Phantasy Star Series.

OMG. While its nice for the MMO scene but fuck you guys. I want my traditional turn-based battles back. I want my IPPO music back. I want my awesome old school sci-fi plot back! DAMN IT... ;___; Watching SD play this PSU's BLANNNNNDDDDDD single-player's gameplay was demoralizing to the memory of this classic series. ;___; I don't see a remake/classic return happening however.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'll take a stab and say Phantasy Star Online. I loved that game on the Dreamcast. I was amazed that latency was actually pretty good most of the time, considering that it ran off just a measly 56k modem. What made it go bad was the ridiculous amount of cheating that went on. I even bought version 2 on the same system but by then they wanted you to pay to play, and I didn't really feel like that was worth doing at the time. I later got Episode I & II on the Gamecube, but it just didn't have the same feel as it did back then, since I didn't feel like shelling out money for a broadband adapter to play online (not to mention paying for online play itself; I think you had to..?) . And then episode III just looked stupid. I later got to observe Phantasy Star Universe when a friend had bought it, but we both agreed (as he played PSO in the past as well) that it was more or less different enough from PSO that the feel spoken of earlier just wasn't there either. Fun in its own way maybe, but not the same. I miss those days.

Jam it back in, in the dark.