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Was Mass Effect Andromeda the most damaging entry a Game series has ever had?

SmarmySmurf

SmarmySmurf

Banned
Nov 5, 2017
1,931
I think Mass Effect 3 was far, far worse than Andromeda. Both in my first impressions, and after a long post game mull. Andromeda wasn't a bad game, nor a bad Mass Effect game, and it fixed a ton of issues ME3 and even 2 had. IMO of course.

I would say Bomberman (360) or Banjo NnB (also 360. hmmm...) could be seen as very damaging. DmC almost was too. I don't know... unless EA or Activision is involved, I'm pretty forgiving of a bad entry or two, and willing to give future attempts to revisit a series a chance.
 
HardRojo

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,144
Peru
It isn't even a bad game, yeah it's not up there with the others, but it's still pretty enjoyable in its current state.
There absolutely must be better examples, like MvCI or MGS V.
 

jdstorm

Member
Jan 6, 2018
7,566
Mass Effect Andromeda wasn't even the biggest franchise killing game of 2017 that was Destiny 2.

The difference is Bungie had incentive to improve Destiny while with Andromeda EA cut their losses.
 
StallionDan

StallionDan

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,705
Markitron said:
That would be Dead Space 3

Took an extremely promising series, that contained two brilliant games and a fantastic spin-off, and killed it stone-dead. We're probably never gonna see it return.

Fuck Dead Space 3.
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Dead Space 3 is a great game, EA just had unrealistic wants of it, like the two previous games before it.

The entire series did poor, they only made more in hopes it would grow, never did.
 
Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,129
Most of EA's franchise to be honest.

-Mass Effect Andromeda
-Dead Space 3
- Sim City
-Sims 4
-Mirror's Edge Catalyst
-Command and Conquer 4
-Medal of Honor

Might be missing some.
 
HardRojo

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,144
Peru
VDenter said:
But MGSV is a great game. Not even the worst mainline MGS game. Certainly far above Andromeda.
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I know I mentioned Andromeda's quality, but the point of the thread isn't whether the game mentioned is good or bad, the point is how damaging it was to the franchise and MGS V, despite its great gameplay, ended up damaging the franchises really badly because of all the shit surrounding it, things not only related to the game's content.
 

nunivek

Member
Nov 1, 2017
6
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (2008)
It's now been like 10 years since that came out.
It was a terrible departure from the look and feel of the rest of the series, they went from colourful and bright, if even cute, aesthetic with big CO powers to drab and ugly with muted CO powers as units.
And we've had not a single Advance Wars since than...
 
julian

julian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,788
Xero grimlock said:
For me personally its ME 3. as evident by I couldnt give two shits about any other mass effect games after it.
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Yes. This. I didn't give two shits about Andromeda because of 3, not at all because of anything coming out about Andromeda. I figured if it was truly great I'd hear about it a long while after it was out, but I had no reason to get invested in it.
 
Shepherd

Shepherd

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,040
I feel like Other M destroyed Samus character. FedForce das way less damaging in that regard.
 
Mona

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
have you seen Ninja Gaiden 3?

Xero grimlock said:
For me personally its ME 3. as evident by I couldnt give two shits about any other mass effect games after it.
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yep, ME2 was so amazing i was forced to buy ME3 on day one, and then ME3 instantly killed any interest in the series, i still dont have Andromeda and probably never will
 
Gamer @ Heart

Gamer @ Heart

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,622
No, because although it halted the series for the moment, a large part of that is just the state bioware is in trying to launch their own 10 year heavily monitized future of the company game at the same time that they needed all hands on deck for.

It was still received 'well' and sold in excess of several million copies. I'm one of those that enjoyed it.

On the other hand something like MGS5, which also sold well, actually killed the series because it allowed an unsustainable relationship between creator and company to continue to fester untill it exploded, along with pretty much the entire part of the company that use to make ''traditional' games.
 
giancarlo123x

giancarlo123x

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,399
Crazy Izanagi said:
Not as bad as some other instances mentioned but didn't Yakuza Dead Souls almost kill the series in the West?
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That was such a stupid choice to bring over here imo even though I enjoyed it. Series was already very niche over here and they bring a spinoff to measure how much demand the series has. Game controlled like ass and story was ridiculous.
 
Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,129
Giudecca said:
Mirror's Edge was doomed form the start. It's a miracle we even got a sequel at all.
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It was doomed because EA put unnecessary expectation on it, hence the usual open-world and AAA features in a game which doesn't need them.

Chasing a Twitch audience with some multiplayer and spectator features would've been more interesting on most likely more successful in my opinion.
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,140
Sydney
It can't be Dead Space 3, that at least got some follow up DLC which Mass Effect didn't.

It can't be MGSV, that at least got another entry in the Metal Gear series made, which sure didn't have Kojima but got Konami to release a video game in 2018 which is no small feat.

SimCity 2013 maybe is a competitor, that effectively killed that studio and we haven't seen a whiff of SimCity five years later.

What else? That ET game that precipitated the crash back in the 1980s? Didn't damage its own series so much as it was the canary in the coal mine for the industry.

Andromeda is definitely the most damaging game we've seen in a long time though.
 
crimsonECHIDNA

crimsonECHIDNA

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,454
Florida
On a slightly separate note, I will say the quick turnover of Mass Effect's rise and fall is just straight up surreal. Went from being one of the gen-defining franchises to getting shelved so quickly.
 
julian

julian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,788
danm999 said:
It can't be Dead Space 3, that at least got some follow up DLC which Mass Effect didn't.

It can't be MGSV, that at least got another entry in the Metal Gear series made, which sure didn't have Kojima but got Konami to release a video game in 2018 which is no small feat.

SimCity 2013 maybe is a competitor, that effectively killed that studio and we haven't seen a whiff of SimCity five years later.

What else? That ET game that precipitated the crash back in the 1980s? Didn't damage its own series so much as it was the canary in the coal mine for the industry.

Andromeda is definitely the most damaging game we've seen in a long time though.
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I don't think the existence of another entry should necessarily be what defines whether a game damaged the series. As I said earlier, I found ME3 extremely damaging - and I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. This lead to me not buying Andromeda. But sales of 3 were so good that of course they would make a sequel. The real test would be comparing first week sales of a new entry compared to the previous entry - or something along those lines.
 

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
Delaney said:
I'd argue that Final Fantasy XIII had a similar impact in the franchise's public reception.
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FFIV and FFXV disagree.

CHC said:
Debatable, but all the other candidates are also made by EA so what's it really matter?
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If you only played EA games or only know those, sure..

Garlador said:
Perfect Dark Zero killed that franchise pretty hard.
Other M at least put Metroid on ice for several years and everyone still is holding their breath that Prime 4 can bring the goods.

But my money is on EA for taking great games from great developers, missing the point entirely, and driving them straight into the ground.

Dead Space 3, Mass Effect Andromeda, Sim City, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, Dungeon Keeper... I don't know how they just keep doing it...
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Metroid had Samus Returns last year.

ME Andromeda and Mirror's Edge had nothing to do with EA with the problems but because of the studios. That without even counting that the studios have their own CEO and many individualities.
 
Phellps

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,812
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness nearly killed the series, and set both dev and publisher on a path of inevitable closure or getting acquired by another company.
So I think that one was a tad more damaging .
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,140
Sydney
julian said:
I don't think the existence of another entry should necessarily be what defines whether a game damaged the series. As I said earlier, I found ME3 extremely damaging - and I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. This lead to me not buying Andromeda. But sales of 3 were so good that of course they would make a sequel. The real test would be comparing first week sales of a new entry compared to the previous entry - or something along those lines.
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Yeah there can sometimes be a lag between a poorly received entry and the next entry suffering for it sales wise, but while Mass Effect 3 was damaging I think it wasn't terminally so since there was a lot of optimism surrounding the clean slate moving the series to the Andromeda Galaxy would provide.

You could look at the next game and say ok they got that Reaper shit out of their system and this next game can go back to what we all originally liked about Mass Effect which is a space opera where you're exploring and meeting new races. The core idea of Mass Effect was still good and salvageable.

Andromeda just fucked that up wholesale. It burnt the clean slate. And I think while Mass Effect 3 might have moved a lot of people from "must buy" to "wait and see" for the series, Andromeda moved a lot of people from "wait and see" to "don't bother".
 
grosvenor92

grosvenor92

Member
Dec 2, 2017
1,886
No but Bioware/EA will have a lot of work to do in order for fans to care about a new Mass Effect if they bring the series back
 
Madao

Madao

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
4,697
Panama
hm i don't think Other M was that damaging. not like what happened to ME.

the series is still alive and getting new entries.

ME had it worse unless it receives a new entry.
 
PeakPointMatrix

PeakPointMatrix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,110
VDenter said:
Sonic Adventure. It was basically the first in a line of seemingly never ending shitty Sonic games.
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This is missing the point of the thread. Not only was SA1 critically well received, it was one of the best selling, most fondly remembered Sonic titles in the franchise. I'd also argue that it introduced a whole new sect of fans into the series. Now, as Sonic Team lost focus, their titles naturally suffered. The better answer would have been what ultimately culminated in what Sonic 06 became.

Sonic 06 was such a devastating blow to Sonic Team's faith in itself, it's been over a decade since they've attempted to allow any mainline playable characters other than Sonic. People still refer to 06 as if it's a recent blemish on the franchise, as if Sonic is still running around smooching humans and loading screens for text. That's how big the scar that game left on Sonic is. It may never recover from what that game did, unless ST were to release a Galaxy/Odyssey/BoTW quality Sonic game. At worst, SA1 is a game some people think aged badly (like every 3D game from 20 years ago).
 
UltraMav

UltraMav

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,733
Out of all the ones mentioned so far I'd have to go with Command & Conquer 4. Such a trash game sent to die immediately following well-reviewed and selling followups to 90s classics. As quickly as it felt like C&C was back and better than ever, it was gone for good.
 

Deleted member 13798

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,374
Markitron said:
That would be Dead Space 3

Took an extremely promising series, that contained two brilliant games and a fantastic spin-off, and killed it stone-dead. We're probably never gonna see it return.

Fuck Dead Space 3.
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Coincidentally also an EA game.

I actually liked Dead Space 3 in some ways- narratively it went batshit nuts and ended on a major fucking downer if you played the Awakened DLC and I admire that if nothing else.

The micro transactions and simplifying gameplay I did not, nor did I find the coop relevant at all. But the idea of making your own guns had promise and I still found Isaac a compelling lead despite everyone's else around him being a shit character, as well as that stupid ass forced romance.

I think that's a good sister example to Andromeda though, both games suffered from some pretty heavy overhang of expectations in terms of sales, and I think that ultimately crippled any attempts to be really creative with it.

Andromeda sounds like a total shit show behind the scenes though and far as high profie Series-killing games go it probably is the ur-example right now.its amazing how mediocre it is despite having some things that were truly good.
 
Giudecca

Giudecca

Member
Oct 27, 2017
315
Mass_Pincup said:
It was doomed because EA put unnecessary expectation on it, hence the usual open-world and AAA features in a game which doesn't need them.

Chasing a Twitch audience with some multiplayer and spectator features would've been more interesting on most likely more successful in my opinion.
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They basically had to. The alternative was that it wouldn't get made at all. No way would EA fund a linear single-player game.
 
Roaringburn

Roaringburn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
69
I don't think it's fair to say Medal of Honor was responsible for damaging the franchise - in 2010, the series was already getting squeezed out by superior CoD entries in MW2/Black Ops and Battlefield with BC2. MoH tried to strike a middle between those, but there just wasn't enough of a playerbase to go around.
 

stone616

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,429
Probably Mass Effect 3 was more damaging. It put them in the position to make Andromeda. 3 pretty much doomed the series.
 
Chopin the Third

Chopin the Third

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,446
Underground
I love ME2 and ME3, with the latter being my favorite of the original trilogy. I haven't played Andromeda, but I definitely lost some interest in the franchise because of how much of a mess that game turned out to be. Incredibly disappointing. Still want to play it at some point, though.
 
Popetita

Popetita

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,957
TX|PR
Was Andromeda really that hyped? I thought everyone walked into that one knowing what it would be.

But I totally get the fall between 3 and Andromeda. 3 gets shit but I really loved that game. The ending was weak but I didn't mind.
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,217
FrostyLemon said:
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. Might have been the end for that franchise.
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Banjo Kazooie is probably my favorite game of all time, but I genuinely don't think that series as a pure collectathon platformer would have had any more success than Nuts and Bolts.

Having supported Yooka Laylee in Kickstarter (probably the closest thing we'll ever get to another Banjo again) I was underwhelmed by it even forgiving for a smallish team and a smallish budget. I honestly have no faith that modern day Rare or anyone for that matter could make a Banjo game as great as the first. Even Rare couldn't get it as good again IMO (levels too large, too much padding, super esoteric objectives for some collectibles, etc.).

Nuts and Bolts on its own was actually a fantastic game and had it come out after Minecraft had hit it big I bet it would have done a lot better.
 
Baleoce

Baleoce

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Oct 27, 2017
1,179
Command and Conquer 4 exists, so no. Even after the EA aquisition of Westwood, you had Generals, Zero Hour, C&C3, Kane's Wrath. Red Alert 3 was marmite. But C&C4? Killed it straight in its fucking tracks. To the point the point they didn't even have the balls to fully realise their plans for Generals 2. It was an abomination that died in Alpha when they self confessed that people literally did not want the game they had envisioned. All momentum for that franchise died with C&C4.
 
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