Games/Series that define Wasted Potential

[Modest_Modsoul]

Not a game series but, The Order 1886.

The universe, lore, story, setting, characters, weapons, etc.

It's like a dream game of mine: 3rd person action/horror in alternate history.

But we know how the full game was like...

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Not a game series but, The Order 1886.

The universe, lore, story, setting, characters, weapons, etc.

It's like a dream game of mine: 3rd person action/horror in alternate history.

But we know how the full game was like...

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This. The premise had so much potential. The game itself squandered it, while being just decent it failed in terms of boss fights and overall gameplay breadth.

The developer PR shitstorm that clung to the title from well before launch to long after has essentially poisoned the well for any posibility of a sequel, which is a shame, because RAD are really fucking talented devs, their technology is top tier and the Order's premise and game universe is ripe with richness to explore in future franchise entries.

I would also add Heavenly Sword to the mix for much of the same reasons.

Another missed opportunity is the Warhawk franchise. The first was a god-tier multiplayer only game. Starhawk, while fun, was flawed and just not as good as Warhawk; it also went for a far less interesting aesthetic design. Warhawk needs a continuation.

 

[Tetrinski]

ReCore. Even though I liked the final game, the initial scope was much more ambitious. I have the art book and it shows they wanted to include a big city hub and have the sandstorms change the landscape in real time. I hope Microsoft gives this franchise a second chance.

 

[zzz]

There is only one correct answer.

I'll always love you, Spore.

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This is the one.

 

[T002 Tyrant]

Paper Mario, Star Fox, Pikmin, Ice Climbers, Kid Icarus, Alex Kidd , Pokémon, that's all I can think of right now.

 

[Jakisthe]

Have you played Bloodborne?

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Bloodborne plays absolutely nothing like Castlevania, with no vertical aspect in it's gameplay whatsoever and no ability unlocking. People have been saying that From has been making Castlevania-esque games since Demon's and the comparison has never once made sense beyond the extremely superficial or broad.

 

[SMD]

Sim City went from pure hype to disgust. Thank fuck the Mac version was delayed or I would've preordered it.

 

[Innuendo84]

Dead Space, Black and White.

 

[xmassteps]

The Order is a good one. The concept is amazing and it obviously looks incredible but playing it is dull. Imagine the same concept and world expanded out, would be like a dream game

 

[Nurovek]

• Darksiders would be one of it. Great artwork and identity unserviced by boring gameplay and design : either they are Zelda-likes, "Diablo-Likes" or Souls-like.
• Castlevania : Lords of Shadows series. Didn't have a strong identity (it wanted to be every big game from this time) and the second one fell flat.
• Fracture on PS360 : the original pitch and the emphasis on deforming the ground was interesting, but it was more gimmicky than really useful.

 

[Deleted member 22585]

Not a game series but, The Order 1886.

The universe, lore, story, setting, characters, weapons, etc.

It's like a dream game of mine: 3rd person action/horror in alternate history.

But we know how the full game was like...

Click to shrink...

I enjoyed this game a lot and was in love with its world. But man, it could've been so much more. To this day, I'm hungry for a sequel that improves on its many issues.

 

[Deleted member 47700]

Mirror's Edge

Never been so hyped for a sequel only to end up playing it for a couple of hours then uninstalling it.

 

[Oreiller]

I've never felt a game was a giant wasted opportunity until Mass Effect Andromeda. It's clear that the devs were talented and there is some worthwhile stuff to be found in the game but it's squandered by technical problems and game design flaws.

 

[Spacejaws]

Yep. I love that game but it was destroyed form the outset by shitty business practices.

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Strangely enough isn't the Evolve purchasing stuff kinda normal now?

Like preorder skins, marketplace full of cosmetics and paid characters, I think they were one of the first games to have a seperate Season 1 and Season 2 which was controversial but now it's not unusual to see some games get a Season 3, hell some people are begging for it. There were things people were outraged back then seem a but mundane now. An article I just glanced at said part of the controversy was releasing new hunters would imbalance the game whereas these days in Overwatch and Rainbow Six people are on the edge of their seats waiting for new characters.

Wish the game lived longer I loved it. They also did free map's before it became popular again and I always liked that system so the userbase doesn't get broken apart and the push for cosmetics were more in the background(on legacy I think it got more exposure with F2p) unlike games today where you are opening lootboxes with the marketplace flashing and advertising what you can buy.

The only problem I had was the new monster being more expensive than the hunters. Felt like they should all be the same price.

As for my vote of wasted potential? Dragon Age. First game was close to Bioware heyday and every subsequent title has just dissapointed in varying ways and is telling of the companies attitude to wanting more of an story action spectacle instead of an RPG.

 

[Vic Damone Jr.]

Yea, Mass Effect :/

 

[Deleted member 46948]

I'm willing to bet Anthem will be a prime example of this, at least for the first six months.

 

[Ignis]

Absolutely Kingdom Hearts is the correct answer here.

But also...

Destiny.

Star Wars Battlefront.

Sonic (lol).

 

[oni-link]

I mean, Half Life, or pretty much any Valve IP before they went 100% in on GaaS

Pretty much all EA's single player IP

 

[GymWolf86]

Mgs5.

Strong gameplay but weak narrative and game structure.

Bioshock infinite

great narrative but the gameplay is meh overall

Uncharted 4

Great movements and graphics, nice shooting section but the pacing is garbage, the story is bland and the ratio shoting-climbing\walking is all fucked up.

 

[oni-link]

I'm willing to bet Anthem will be a prime example of this, at least for the first six months.

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I would argue the world of Anthem is already a waste of potential, seeing as Bioware could have probably made an amazing SP RPG series with story and towns and characters, with the same combat, but instead it will probably end up a competent co-op looter shooter

Obviously my genre bias heavily colours my opinion, as someone who doesn't give a shit about SP RPGs but loves looter shooters will have the opposite view

 

[Loadout]

Mafia 3 had a highly interesting story and beautiful settings, but the fact that story progression is tied to loads of filler missions that should have been side-content dramatically bogged down the experience.

Also, Sea of Thieves could have been a dream game for so many people. Imagination is the only limit to what you can do in a pirate game with fictional settings yet somehow it ended up being incredibly dull. Still enjoyed it a bit at launch, I should give it another shot sometime.

 

[Legacy]

Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break

 

[Asbsand]

Kingdom Hearts 1 is legit one of my favourite games of all time and I only first played it with the first HD collection. Everything about that game comes together to form a lovely little cocktail of Disney magic, Final Fantasy crossed with Super Mario 64 gameplay, and an elegantly simple plot that was easy to follow and understand.

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Who are these kids living on this lonely island? How do they live, where do they get their clothes? Why is Sora almost not surprised when he gets a keyblade? Why do they hardly explain what is going on at the end with the door, how did Sora suddenly win just because he decided the door was made of light and just what is "Kingdom Hearts".

What frustrates me when people say KH became a mess is that they almost never admit that even the first game was pretty incoherent and its premise was not very clear from the get-go.

 

[AndyVirus]

Not a game but the Fox Engine. Ran MGSV fantastically well but now only used for PES.

 

[Dr Pears]

Gran Turismo? I mean we know the amazing potential in the series based on the critical acclaim and commercial success of the first 4 games in the series but from Gran Turismo 5 onwards, the series seem to having progressive decline in quality and sales. Heck it used to be Sony's big flagship first party franchise but has since been surpassed by Uncharted, God of War imo.

I feel like if the series had a tighter focus it can go back to being a top tier gaming franchise like the ps1/ps2 days. I do feel like Gran Turismo Sports was a more experimental game and PD could potentially use what they learned to make GT7 a phenomenal game.

 

[Deleted member 51248]

Halo 5 kinda swept away the potential of the post covvie/humanity war setting that we only got some glimpses of in the campaign (and was mostly only explored in the books and comics) with the differing factions trying to get along or sub factions trying get a leg up on the other. The opportunities to see more of the Galaxy, in favour of 'SKYNET IN SPAAaAACE!'

Maybe after Infinite, 'The Created Arc' or The reclaimer saga reaches its conclusion, it can be explored some more if Created shenanigans hasn't left the galaxy a ruin.

Also gotta agree with Mirrors Edge been playing the 1st one a lot recently, might replay Catalyst, but was there anything gained story-wise from making it a reboot? especially

Spoiler: Mirrors Edge Catalyst Twist youll probably see coming a mile away!

The whole deal with Faiths sister being the adopted daughter of the villain vs being a cop who just happened to get caught up in the shady stuff going on in the city

 

[Deleted member 47700]

Also gotta agree with Mirrors Edge been playing the 1st one a lot recently, might replay Catalyst, but was there anything gained story-wise from making it a reboot? especially

Spoiler: Mirrors Edge Catalyst Twist youll probably see coming a mile away!

The whole deal with Faiths sister being the adopted daughter of the evil corporate man vs being a cop who just happened to get caught up in the shady stuff going on in the city

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Beyond this I just found it really bland as an open world. There's no sense of verticality or detail, somehow the linear levels of the original felt more full of possibility.

Remember playing the original and thinking "hope if they do a sequel they make it completely open and get rid of the clunky FPS sections", they somehow managed to do both while still fucking it up.

 

[Deleted member 51539]

Not a game but the Fox Engine. Ran MGSV fantastically well but now only used for PES.

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While we're at it: Capcom's Panty Raid engine was used for zero games, as far as I know.

 

[Larrikin]

Pokemon for the reasons many have listed.

Golden Sun though is my bugbear. Dark Dawn literally ending with a "The End?" Is the biggest face slap of all time. On top of being bland, easy and lifeless it was a total betrayal of many concepts established in the originals. Could've been one of the greats but the world was squandered on a fetch quest.

 

[the_memer_21]

Every single game series.

 

[The_Ultima]

Dear god, why did no one name Final Fantasy XV? I just looked up "wasted potential" and the game is listed for definition.

Golden Sun though is my bugbear. Dark Dawn literally ending with a "The End?" Is the biggest face slap of all time. On top of being bland, easy and lifeless it was a total betrayal of many concepts established in the originals. Could've been one of the greats but the world was squandered on a fetch quest.

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With Golden Sun I + II being among my favourite games of all time, I have to agree. Dark Dawn is not a horrible videogame, it´s playable and has (some) nice dungeon design. But it does not live up to the expectations, it simply goes off the rail after the first few hours. The intro introduces these vortexes without ever giving any explanation for where they came from nor what they even are. In the end it´s like Matthew and Co. literally forgot why they went for their journey in the first place lol

 

[Rendering...]

Mass Effect 2 for sure. It should have been a faithful sequel to ME1 and stuck with the awesome tone and scale of the Reaper storyline without the final mission weirdness and roster shakeup. It should have fixed inventory management but preserved the RPGish aspects with weapon choice, armor variety, and character progression.

I also want to name Star Wars Battlefront in its modern form. Imagine if its gameplay was actually good. Like, Destiny or Dragon's Dogma good. Imagine if it had robust content for every cool Star Wars setting. How do you mess that up, seriously? Just throw money at competent people.

I know it can't be that simple, but talented devs exist in the game industry, and Star Wars is a money printer, so...

Dear god, why did no one name Final Fantasy XV? I just looked up "wasted potential" and the game is listed for definition.

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Royal Edition makes it pretty decent. The last half of the game is still missing, and the story still steps on the gas like crazy right after you travel to the second major area, but the free roam portion with its setting, characters, and gameplay could be far worse. Royal Edition really fills out the good part and improves the ending.

 

[Karlinel]

Fable, Destiny, Sea of Thieves, Elder Scrolls post-morrowind...

 

[MrBadger]

Mario RPGs in general. Paper Mario needs no explanation but the Mario and Luigi series is completely wasting its excellent art direction and gameplay concept on some of the most boring games I've ever finished all the way. I've not played the remakes.

 

[Boddy]

Who are these kids living on this lonely island? How do they live, where do they get their clothes? Why is Sora almost not surprised when he gets a keyblade? Why do they hardly explain what is going on at the end with the door, how did Sora suddenly win just because he decided the door was made of light and just what is "Kingdom Hearts".

What frustrates me when people say KH became a mess is that they almost never admit that even the first game was pretty incoherent and its premise was not very clear from the get-go.

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You are just nitpick things that really don't matter.
I suppose that's what happens when you learn how to crtice art by watching too much cinemasins

Mario RPGs in general. Paper Mario needs no explanation but the Mario and Luigi series is completely wasting its excellent art direction and gameplay concept on some of the most boring games I've ever finished all the way. I've not played the remakes.

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SS and BOS are awesome, though.

 

[Deleted member 39587]

Hot take: Metal Gear; None of the games really delivered both "Tactical Espionage" and a well told story.

 

[Meia]

Disagree somewhat about Mass Effect. The highs of the games are still some of the biggest ones(suicide mission was one of the only times I was stressed playing a non MMO with trying to get everyone through), and for the most part had some great character writing and storylines. How the Geth/Quarian thing played out based on a point system of choices you made throughout was a great idea and the whole series would have been better if they had done this with every other major side plot point. Anything involving the meta narrative was utter nonsense that's best ignored sadly.

Otherwise, Konami the thread. Doing nothing with 2D Castlevania outside of handhelds and bad 3D Castlevanias are definition of wasted potential. Lords of Shadow 1 showed that it was very possible, and 2 kind of ended the concept. Then you have Silent Hill. Dismantling the team after 3 and outsourcing from then on really killed the franchise, then they killed it when it was it's highest in terms of hype for more pachinko machines I guess. I could talk about Metal Gear and what they did after 3, but eh, easier to pretend 5 doesn't exist.

 

[MrBadger]

You are just nitpick things that really don't matter.
I suppose that's what happens when you learn how to crtice art by watching too much cinemasins

SS and BOS are awesome, though.

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Yeah I really like them too. Shame about the rest

 

[Asbsand]

You are just nitpick things that really don't matter.

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They're my gateway into the game's world. "Who are these kids on this weird island" is not a small nitpick. It's basic world building that falls flat but you just have to go with it and watch completely random stuff happen until you get to the part where you have to traverse to disney worlds. Nomura stories always seem to involve characters doing certain things for the imagery of it but with zero practical dimension. The island is just there so Sora, Riku and Kairi can hang out by the palm trees so it looks good but I can't ground myself in this fiction, I just can't and it deflates the revelation of being introduced to the keyblade and the light vs dark stuff.

 

[maouvin]

Freedom Wars had a pretty cool setting. It even got a "lore book", never translated, and a fan event - not to say about the Propaganda idols. Don't help that it ends on a cliffhanger too.

Same for The Order 1886 and its setting.

 

[ckareset]

Jak 1 has got to be one of the biggest nostalgia games I've ever seen lol

There is nothing impressive or noteworthy about it for platformers. Seriously all the PS2 platformers that came out in that era are just as good (or bad?) Dont even get me started on the n64 classics. I will never understand people treating it as some holy grail

Jak 2 and 3 gave the series life.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Comedy hour takes, as usual. Mass effect? Metal Gear Solid? LOL ERA.

Fallout 76 fits this bill. Imagine TESO but fallout, that's what they messed up, Bethesda MMOs.

 

[SweetSark]

Legendary

It have such an awesome concept. You Versus The Pandora Box which include every single monstrosity you can think of (or we hoped).
Sadly the game was no good from what I hear...

 

[Servbot24]

Metal Gear Solid V could have been my favorite game of all time with another year or two in the oven.

As it stands it merely has the best gameplay of all time. :P

 

[ckareset]

Wasted potential will always be Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 came out and they attempted multiple gameplay styles to hype the console despite Sonic Stages being pretty decent. Had they just improved and reiterated them they would have been just fine. But then they started to experiment, slash budgets, shorten development and a bunch of other shit. Doesn't help that management has no idea what it's doing. The same nonsense reasons they gave for allowing Sonic 4 to be made is the same reasons they wont go back to Adventure style. I truly believe deep down they know they just arent good enough to get it right even though Im convinced if they did it would sell gangbusters.

Even outside of Adventure style, they have effectively wasted another style in boost due to a lack of budget, terrible level design and just incompetence. Cant even make a boost game without shoving a bad controlling 2d section in someones face. Sonic Forces is just a culmination of things that should have been fixed but never were put into one game lol. Brought back classic sonic that controls bad even tough they had mania as a template. Brought back 2d sections with bad controls. Somehow managed to ignore all criticisms of boost game-play and do the one thing people exaggerated it already did which is play itself in a linear fashion. Did they read a random youtube comment about boost game-play being too complex? The story is somehow serious and comedic at the same time and fails at both. Ridiculously short game that they swear they took their time on. A culmination of failure that only suggest the series should be packaged up and given to someone else permanently.

 

[Weiss]

Who are these kids living on this lonely island? How do they live, where do they get their clothes? Why is Sora almost not surprised when he gets a keyblade? Why do they hardly explain what is going on at the end with the door, how did Sora suddenly win just because he decided the door was made of light and just what is "Kingdom Hearts".

What frustrates me when people say KH became a mess is that they almost never admit that even the first game was pretty incoherent and its premise was not very clear from the get-go.

Click to shrink...

They live on another larger island, Sora is unclear about the Keyblade when he gets it so this is just wrong, and Sora declares Kingdom Hearts to be light because at the end of his journey he believed that light was at the core of the universe and not darkness like Ansem proclaimed.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Agree with Mass Effect. Damn, people say that ME3 is the one that ruined the franchise, but it is actually 2 that ruined the entire premise. Mind you, it is a good game, but a terrible sequel to the first Mass Effect (although I still hate they used the health regeneration mechanic of Call of Duty. It makes the game harder to replay these days).

Starcraft is my pick. The first one had an ok story, but Brood Wars was fantastic. Then come Starcraft 2 WoL and all the awesomeness of Brood War is gone. Characters get derailed too, with Raynor wanting to save Kerrigan instead of killing her. Worse, it is full of clichés like the ancient evil bullshit and all races must unite against it. The expansions got even worse in that regard.

At least the races in multiplayer are quite balanced these days.

 

[Encephalon]

A lot of FFXIII's premise is great.

The first half of FFXII is pretty good.

 

[Stuart Gipp]

Jak 1 has got to be one of the biggest nostalgia games I've ever seen lol

There is nothing impressive or noteworthy about it for platformers. Seriously all the PS2 platformers that came out in that era are just as good (or bad?) Dont even get me started on the n64 classics. I will never understand people treating it as some holy grail

Jak 2 and 3 gave the series life.

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Came here to agree with this. I absolutely adored Jak 2 and 3. Jak & Daxter is fine, I guess?

 

[Kain]

Rogue Galaxy is the exact definition of this. Everything about the game seems incredible at first then it just ends on a flat note and a horrible last dungeon (I hear in the Japanese version it's even worse).