I was thinking about this while playing Skyward Sword. And I was really looking forward to this game, but it's the first zelda game I havent finished, It feels like it lost some of what made it good, and it is the only one that's ever bored me before. There's so much backtracking, and there arent many characters and only one village to see. The controls need to be readjusted every 5 minutes, it just is kind of disappointing to me, but I still wanna finish it.

A few others are the Fable series, they're good games but the dumbing down of things is making it worse, the same for Final Fantasy. 1-10 were wonderful, then 11 and 14 are MMO's so I didnt play them, but 12 and 13 just weren't as good.

Any game series you feel are losing their touch?

while its a two game long series im gonna have to say DragonAge
the first game was awsome in every way and well...... less said about number the better

Smithburg:
The controls need to be readjusted every 5 minutes

Funny I only had to readjust the controls maybe a half dozen times in the whole game

OT:A series I'm not enjoying as much as I used to - Football Manager.Why?Well,off the top of my head,it's a full price release every year for what amounts to little more than a roster update.The game is usually riddled with bugs at launch.The media section is utterly pointless as you get asked the same half dozen questions over and over.The game still suffers from the same minor gameplay annoyances that have plagued it for years.The final nail in the coffin - FM2012 requires Steam activation regardless of whether you bought a physical or digital copy

Sorry Sports Interactive but I don't think I'll be buying your games anymore

For me?

Resident Evil.

Resident Evil 4 was a great game and all... but it drastically changed the gameplay and tone of the main-story series games. Do I still have fun with 'em? Sure. But I don't get excited for them anymore like I used to, because they just don't feel like Resident Evil games anymore.

The first Kingdom Hearts game was brilliant (except for the part where you couldn't skip cut scenes.)

It had a great balance of fun gameplay, an engaging story, and fleshed out characters.

Then the sequel came and dumbed everything down with PRESS TRIANGLE NOT TO DIE and endless cut scenes every 5 minutes (I know I can skip it, but there's still too many).

The rest of the series has gone that way too. More flashiness than substance, which can be said about Final Fantasy as well.

Final Fantasy. While the newer ones are not too bad and can be enjoyed for their own reason, I have to say that it has lost some of it´s charm over the years. The biggest changes was when Squaresoft joined forces with Enix Studios and became Square Enix, which is also when the series really started to change, not for the worst, but perhaps not how everyone wanted to. But then again, things change and series move on so. I´m actually hoping that Final Fantasy XV (15) will be a really good game.

Matthew94:
The Elder Scrolls

Morrowind was a great RPG. Oblivion was simplified but still fun and the mods made it great.

Skyrim (while still fun) is more of a straight action game with stats than an RPG.

I'm more of the opinion that Morrowind is the Best and Skyrim is wonderful. Oblivion is the crap of the series

Silent Hill. Silent Hill one was amazing (though it hasn't aged all that great). Silent Hill 2 is the best in the series and also the best horror game period. Silent Hill 3 was pretty great though it didnt quite reach SH2. Silent Hill 4 made some... interesting decisions but wasn't THAT bad. Silent Hill Origins... What the fuck happened? Where is the atmosphere? where is the horror? where is the survival? where are the likable characters? and this continued through the rest of the games.

Assassin's Creed: Awesome!
Assassin's Creed 2: Pretty awesome!
AC Brotherhood: Fairly good!
AC Revelations: Oh for fucks sake.

Really? No Sonic?

Sanic is my vote.

DigitalAtlas:
Really? No Sonic?

Sanic is my vote.

I think Sonic isn't getting mentioned because of how infrequent the good games have been. People don't seem to expect anything from him anymore and people still get disappointed.

---

I want to comment on Dragon Age: It took off and looked like it could have been great but then took a dive and slammed into the ground.

Assassins Creed. I liked the first game, LOVED the second...and have been waiting around for the third because I don't care for side-stories and was getting tired of Ezio before the end of AC2.

Im gonna throw my vote in here for God of War. I loved the first game, it was just fantastic. But the sequels just felt weaker in the story department, and all the extra toys just felt useless compared to the Blades of [chained to your arm].

Yeah the gameplay was still tight, but I couldn't really see any point to the games. Other than milking me for money I suppose.

Kingdom Hearts, full stop.

Ill have to go with the only series ive stuck with in the long-run- Command and Conquer.

Since Tiberian Sun the series had been on a gentle downward slope, but when it got to Tiberian Twilight it finally found a cliff to jump off of.

Shawn MacDonald:
Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City- What the Fuck.

I think i figured out What the Fuck.

This game was another in a fairly long line of outsourced projects from Capcom, with RE:ORC it was to Saint Six who had only really made two PSP shooters and one incredibly crap PS3 shooter. All of which, you guessed it, had a real-life military basis.

Possibly theyre simply a developer that cant learn from its criticisms, or they simply have no clue how to improve thier games.

Im gonna go with Fable it just keeps losing what made it awesome.

Also no one ask me what that thing was as if the creators can not comprehend the dohickys that made it good I doubt I can.

I don't know if saying Splinter Cell would be an appropriate answer. That didn't "start" to lose what made it good, it completely threw it out the window.

Though I guess that last game was fun in it's own right.

Does this one have to be about videogames? I mean, granted there are a few out there that I could name if I took my time to think about it, but a better example of things losing their luster would be TV shows. Spongebob is one of them, basically going from a cartoon about a guy that wants to be helpful to the point of annoyance (kind of like a younger brother) to being a show about an obsessive homosexual sadist.

Smithburg:
I was thinking about this while playing Skyward Sword. And I was really looking forward to this game, but it's the first zelda game I havent finished, It feels like it lost some of what made it good, and it is the only one that's ever bored me before. There's so much backtracking, and there arent many characters and only one village to see. The controls need to be readjusted every 5 minutes, it just is kind of disappointing to me, but I still wanna finish it.

To be fair, Skyward sword did try to introduce new gameplay mechanics like the stamina bar and the fighting system. Not that I don't agree with you, the game is too underpopulated. The desolation would have worked better if it had more of a dark ruin feel to it, like the 4th temple in Majora's Mask where there were elements of story in the level.
I guess where I feel they dropped the ball with that is by making the surface inhabited at all. I could forgive the lack of NPCs if the surface world was a dark and dangerous place inhabited only by the lizard warriors and other elrich horrors at every turn, but it wasn't, so lifting the people into the sky felt kind of unneeded.
...and nothing could have made the padding work...and yeah, readjusting controls were always annoying...

I wonder if anyone else is going to bring up Street Fighter. Perhaps Capcom fighting games in general. Has anything they released after Third Strike even come close to matching its quality?

Sonic the Hedgehog
This series has lost complete and total focus on what made it good in the first place.

Physics-based gameplay? Gone.
Awesome, clever stories that don't rely on stupid gimmicks or being extremely linear? Gone.
Important cast of characters? Gone.
At least some degree of realism, seriousness, and edge? Gone.
Robotnik being a chaotic threat? Gone.
Characters never breaking the 4th wall? Gone.
Consistency? Gone.
A good balance of levels (like, some are more slow/puzzling like Casinopolis and others are fast/action-packed, like Sky Deck)? Gone.
Additional mechanics and innovative game modes to keep the fun coming after the story? Gone.
Characters actually being rather mature and decently fleshed-out? Gone.
Going the extra mile four authenticity (like the Adventure titles)? Gone.
Actually performing actual platforming, rather than cruising non-stop or having awkward "jump from this block to that block" sections? Gone.
Actually having to figure out how certain things may work? Gone.
Having to carefully and strategically take out certain enemies? Gone.
Having level-specific mechanics? Gone.
Having well-spaced bosses that actually have context? Gone.
Having woodland creatures come out of the badniks and do stuff with them? Gone.
Being able to use the Spindash? Gone.
Constant wonder of how the adventure at hand is going to end? Gone.
Quality? Gone.

I'll say Final Fantasy. I loved every Final Fantasy released by Square until they merged with Enix (well, except 2, 3 and 11), but I've hated every release after the merge, except for 13 (and Dirge of Cerberus, but that doesn't really count), which has given me some hope. If they continue using all their old traditions again and get rid of that awful linearity, it could get good again and I will be very happy.
Also I'll throw in a predictable vote for Silent Hill. 1 gave me chills pretty often, 2 had me on edge the whole way through, I have yet to play 3, 4 scared the shit out of me, and... yeah. The only new one I've played is Homecoming, which I didn't mind as a game but it wasn't scary at all. Origins and Downpour don't look interesting to me either.

kman123:
Assassin's Creed: Awesome!
Assassin's Creed 2: Pretty awesome!
AC Brotherhood: Fairly good!
AC Revelations: Oh for fucks sake.

You summed that up perfectly.

OT: GTA, where did all the cool unlockables and fun shit to do go?

spartandude:
while its a two game long series im gonna have to say DragonAge
the first game was awsome in every way and well...... less said about number the better

You lie, there wasn't a Dragon Age 2. Bioware was bought up (ie guttered) by EA before they could start on a sequel.
/sarcasm

Dragon Age 2 really lost the plot game-play and value wise.

Ed130:

spartandude:
while its a two game long series im gonna have to say DragonAge
the first game was awsome in every way and well...... less said about number the better

You lie, there wasn't a Dragon Age 2. Bioware was bought up (ie guttered) by EA before they could start on a sequel.
/sarcasm

Dragon Age 2 really lost the plot game-play and value wise.

I'd say it was an improvement gameplay and story wise. The structure was just shit.

imahobbit4062:

Ed130:
-SNIP-

I'd say it was an improvement gameplay and story wise. The structure was just shit.

The story wasn't really an issue for me. And yes the skill trees were an improvement, the parts where enemies would jump into combat behind your warrior line and spam broken abilities wasn't.

Pretty much every Nintendo Franchise I've lost interest in. They're just not compelling to me any more. Oh, and I'm pretty much tired of the Kingdom Hearts games, since square's been milking it out with the these terrible spin-offs. Can we just get KH 3 already? Oh yeah, it's not even in development yet because of Final Fantasy Vs 13.

Ed130:

imahobbit4062:

Ed130:
-SNIP-

I'd say it was an improvement gameplay and story wise. The structure was just shit.

The story wasn't really an issue for me. And yes the skill trees were an improvement, the parts where enemies would jump into combat behind your warrior line and spam broken abilities wasn't.

I should rephrase that.
The combat was an improvement. I hated Origins style where there was a delay between pressing the attack button and the attack being performed.

kman123:
Assassin's Creed: Awesome!
Assassin's Creed 2: Pretty awesome!
AC Brotherhood: Fairly good!
AC Revelations: Oh for fucks sake.

I had this exact same issue. I was like, "Bombs, tower defense, zip lines, really? I'm out of here" Honestly didn't get past the first key in turkey.