What are we supposed to dislike more: Change or Continuation?

Capcom has come under a lot of fire for a lot of their recent decisions, one of those big ones are the fact that they haven't been continuing some of their franchises and altering others beyond recognition.

However, even as this huge backlash against them happens, people are still criticizing companies like Nintendo, Activision, and Square Enix for being overly reliant on their franchises and that any new franchises they make are largely put by the wayside.

Is it really possible for these opposite criticisms to exist at one time? For me, this kind of thing boggles the mind as to how the gaming community is criticizing companies for opposite things.

What, are you shocked that the fandom can hold two mutually contradictory views at the same time? ;)

But more seriously, there's a grain of truth here. The problem is that *both* of those are possible failure modes: abandoning franchises willy-nilly, and dead-horsing franchises without any effort at creativity. The success mode would be to both continue popular franchises, and to create new games.

Yeah, I'm getting kind of tired of people complaining about how Pokemon and Zelda and Mario needs to be retired. I don't wanna see a good series go down unless it's actually starting to suffer in quality, not because people "think" it's getting stale. And then when they change it a little to appeal to the staleness complaint, someone says it sucks now. You just can't win with some people.

It's not that which bothers me. It's that people complain about not using franchises and using franchises at the same time.

This too. People are too picky sometimes. Just play the games you like, people!

It's all about finding a happy medium. Nintendo's been using some franchises for a loooong time, but they pace themselves and never gorge on a ton of releases at once. It's why a new Legend Of Zelda release is always such a big deal.

There's not a binary switch where a franchise goes from "Flooding" to "Drought". There's middle ground to be found.

People have a point about Nintendo, in that it has been relying pretty heavily on old franchises lately. Of course, back when we had brain age, endless ocean, ninten dogs, disaster day of crisis, fossil fighters and such the company was still getting that complaint.

It has only recently become a justified one. The game play can actually change a lot even with in the same Nintendo title, Paper Mario Sticker Star vs Bowser's Inside Story, Skyward Sword vs Link's Crossbow Training, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon vs Pokemon Rumble but even with different gameplay people might just get tired of seeing the same characters and settings over and over again. Is there anything new in anticipation besides Wonderful 101?

Maybe Nintendo should just focus on bringing back another dusty title, like how they had the double jab of the Super Metroid Sequel fans were asking for (Fusion) and something completely unexpected (Prime), like Dark Dawn or Kid Icarus Uprising? Maybe now Battalion Wars, F-Zero, or Panel de Pon; if it is sudden nostalgia for their "classics" could they afford to switch it up a more? Maybe shock us with a one shot like Eternal Darkness or Pro Wrestling?

But why are people complaining that Capcom isn't using their franchises?

Because "people" is not a single mass, but rather dozens, if not severals, of differing factions with incompatible opinions.

When Capcom is not using its franchises "people" are usually referring to the teasing they get about Mega Man, the loss of the Cloverfield or fighting games that do not involve Street Fighter. I can almost see their point, though they did get Okamiden, let us see the long term repercussions of that and Devil May Cry's reboot.

edit:emphasis added for your benefit

edited 18th Apr '13 6:40:40 PM by Cider

But I swear, the same people who complain that Capcom doesn't use their franchises are the same ones that complain that Nintendo does.

Also, there's Darkstalkers, not just Mega Man.

edited 18th Apr '13 6:30:21 PM by WaxingName

And it's not just because Capcom isn't using certain franchises, it's that Capcom is altering some of them beyond recognition. On the other hand, Call Of Duty is criticized for not changing the gameplay between installments.

Context might help. The reveal for the latest Devil May Cry title took almost everything people expected from the series and threw it out the window. The combat did not look familiar, the protagonist did not look familiar, the mood was much different, the setting looked too brown...most of that was either false alarms or at least addressed in between the reveal and the release but game was still simplified and less challenging than what people were used to and the characters were pretty much butchered...or at least In Name Only to the point they might as well have been new.

Call Of Duty gets its hate because long time shooter fans are known for their modding and demands for variety, so when a new Modern Warfare comes out that is basically a Mission-Pack Sequel or an expansion of maps the response tends to be "I could have made that myself! Give me a new engine!"

Well that and Call Of Duty is a Casual Game franchise, and casual games are the devil. The same hatred can be seen to a lesser extent to the Grand Theft Auto series, The Wii __ series, The Madden Series, The Smackdown Series between post Here comes the Pain pre Vs Raw 2009, ect

If you want to keep the fans happy, you have to change by degrees. Not too much, not too little, Goldilocks it.

its because, while Capcom is sitting on some unique properties that its just no using, or whatnot, Call Of Duty is fulfilling the same role Zelda games do. their not experiences that need improving or upgrading, as much as their experiences you just want more of. the think that makes people angry I think, is the fact that the industries big money maker is that, something that can easily be a cash cow a ruined. especially since its a shooter and the main appeal is multiplayer. an appeal that can easily be filled without releasing a game yearly.

as for Capcom's situation, people have different levels of how much they can rake the same thing. some people genuinely wanted more of the old Devil May Cry, and a reboot usually means your never going to see the old way it was done again. I should know, its happened to me before. I still hate Legend of Spyro to this day, despite the fact its not really a bad game (just rather boring in my opinion) but I absolutly despise it because its means I'll never see the light hearted tone, colorful unique level design, and fun platforming that I liked in the old spyro games.

the not releasing franchisees thing falls under the wanting more thing too, just usually those games aren't the polished perfect for what they are niches Zelda and Call of Duty fall under, and try new things to hit that point.

edited 18th Apr '13 7:05:28 PM by Jetyl

But I swear, the same people who complain that Capcom doesn't use their franchises are the same ones that complain that Nintendo does.

Do you know this for a fact, or are you just assuming this to have an excuse to accuse people of hypocrisy?

Both. And neither. Actually, both AND neither at the same time.

I wish Nintendo would support some franchises more than they have. Where is my Wii U Metroid game? Or 3DS? Or whatever. Metroid gets spit on too much. Nintendo seems to forget it exists. Although after playing the shit known as Other M, I kinda wanted to forget about it too.

You answered your own question.

I think Metroid's gonna be on the backburner for a while, thanks to OM.

edited 18th Apr '13 7:28:55 PM by Talby

It'd look better if they just released a good Metroid game instead of hiding like cowards after they put out that shit.

This discussion started over on the Wii U thread about Gamespot bashing both Nintendo for only using old franchises (which is most definitely not true) and Capcom for not sticking with their franchises.

Capcom also need to realize people, and I don't always agree but whatever, do not like the direction Resident Evil has gone. Expecting RE 6 is well 7million is insane.

The OP has requested that this thread be nuked. Twice. I am locking it now and will nuke it after people have had a chance to see the reason.

ETA:The OP has requested that I include in this post that he was angry at the time and was a little short sighted when he started the thread.

edited 18th Apr '13 9:04:33 PM by blackcat