I don't know about you, but I hate it when a beloved franchise suddenly disappears. It happens all too often these days. With tighter budgets, fewer publishers are keen to try and push a new franchise, especially if the initial game doesn't sell huge numbers even though it's well received. Triple A gaming has changed a huge aspect of the gaming industry, some publishers try to make games a "service" a continually supported product that goes on years, similar to MMO games.
What really baffles me though, is when a game is so successful, or has a stream of successes just suddenly just disappears! Seeing a franchise vanish into memory is a saddening experience and one I've dealt with too often.
I can get quite passionate about games these days, I'm an old, nostalgic guy now and the memories I have of these games warms my heart and reminds me of carefree, younger days where I'd play a game all day long and never go out the house. I know it sounds terrible anti-social but when you're hungover on a Sunday it's quite pleasant to vegetate on a videogame and not worry about anything!
Anyhow, without further ado, here is my list of games I'd like to see revived:
Grandia
The Grandia series was most active in the early 2000's, most people were introduced to the second game that debut on the ill-fated Dreamcast and then was ported to the PS2 where it found a bigger audience.
Grandia's USP is it's unique battle system, a spin on the ATB system where all participants in battle utilise the same ATB bar and can perform actions to delay or even cancel enemy actions. It's a fast paced, strategic battle system and the games are really fun to play. Sadly, Grandia didn't seem to survive well once the PS2 era came to an end. It never saw the same success as Final Fantasy or Shin Megami, but they're still great games.
The last time the world saw an original Grandia game was the Japanese exclusive MMORPG they released back in 2009 and subsequently shut down in 2012.
It's shocking that this IP has pretty much gone to waste, all we've had since 2009 is the well polished HD port for PC in 2015, but where's the news of a sequel? There was enough demand and great support for the re-release you'd think Game Arts and Gung-Ho would get together and make something new! There're renewed homes for JRPG's now with the PS4, Switch and 3DS embracing the genre. So come on Game Arts, breath life back into the Grandia!
Vanquish
A re-release of this fantastic shooter this year, is criminal. The original game came out back in 2010! It was a hit! You did a Bayonetta 2, Platinum so why no Vanquish sequel?
Vanquish is a game in it's essence. The plot is paper thin and complete nonsense, the characters are over-the-top archetypes but where it shines is the gameplay! It was simply amazing!
Cover based shooting with a twist, you can slide boost (like Megaman X!) from cover to cover in slow-mo and it absolutely nailed the thrill and speed. It was a highly addictive and fun game to play - the only issue was it was such a short experience! I finished the whole game in one sitting on a Sunday. (with a broken wrist believe it or not.)
I'm beside myself why Platinum haven't done a sequel to be honest, surely it would be a massive hit? It's got a huge following and people are still discovering it to this day and say to me "how did I miss this game?" The audience is here and waiting Platinum, bring back Vanquish!
Final Fantasy Tactics
Can you believe it's been over ten years since Final Fantasy Tactics A2? Hands down I really enjoyed Tactics Advance 1 and 2, the original is a bit too dated for me these days but I can still reap a ton of fun on the GBA and DS games. The closest I got to a fix for my FFT desires was discovering the brilliant Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together!
With Final Fantasy's rich job class pool to pick from and memorable beasties it's a great world to make SRPGs in and I'm so gutted this sub-series has disappeared. The SRPG genre in general has receded so it was nice to see a Disgaea game get released on the Switch recently, letting the world know there still is an interest in the genre.Come on Square, dust off Montblanc and get him back to recruiting adventurers! Ivalice is a big place and I look forward to seeing more of it.
Parasite Eve
I have a little confession with this one; I have never finished the first Parasite Eve game. It's because I actually don't find it a particularly good game to play, but I would say it's got more to do with when I played it, than the game itself. Time has not been kind, the first PE game has aged and it's now just a very stiff, repetitive and slightly boring game, in my opinion.
However, what I yearn for is a true sequel to the second game. I actually replayed PE2 not long ago and had a real good time with it. Yeah, it's aged as well but it's still totally playable. The change of gameplay to a more Resident Evil like style, was a good choice and it's very well balanced with the RPG elements.
The last PE game released is the 3rd Birthday which came out back in 2010 in Japan and a year later in Europe and America. It's barely recognisable as a PE game. It wasn't what I wanted at all, it changed the story, it overhauled the gameplay so it played more like a twitchy arcade shooter sort of game. It was just such a bizarre design choice.
I'd really like to see Square bring back PE and actually have it connect to the first two games on the Playstation 1. The odds of this ever happening though, I imagine is zero. But hey, a man can dream.
Dead Space
I love, love, love Dead Space! It's sci-fi, it's horror. It's The Thing meets Alien really, and it's worked almost flawlessly. (Grrr! EA diluted the final game with forced co-op design and universal ammo!) The worst part is, it ended on a complete cliff hanger! The Brethren Moons have awoken and they're at Earth! It's doomsday on a galactic scale!
There has been rumors and mutterings of a reboot and it's all very tantalising, but I'm not so confidant they're going to amount to anything and what a shame, horror games are at the peak of their return. Imagine how great a Dead Space game would look on current gen systems? We could have a superbly, detailed, atmospheric and gross game but alas it doesn't look like these rumors are going to amount to anything.
Sure Dead Space 3 released back in 2013, so it's still fresher than any other game on this list but with no real sign of fourth entry and the original studio now dismembered, I'm not hopeful we'll ever see another Dead Space.
Megaman X
There are many sub-series in the whole Megaman franchise but for me the best of them all is the X series. It's the one I have the most memories with, having played every entry even the awful seven and the enjoyably cheesy RPG Command Mission.
The Blue Bomber Megaman received some love, but besides that the series has virtually vanished! However, could we see the series continued? X and Sigma appear in the new Marvel VS Capcom game which does mean Megaman is in Capcom's mind, but is he to be relegated to minor appearances in all-star games? Or will X get his own revival? Who knows!
Sadly, like pretty much all titles in this list, I'm not hopeful. Capcom has shown us that's it not bothered much by the Megaman series and rather just port the old collections every now and again. It's like they're sweeping the old scraps off the table and us Megaman fans scamper about gathering them up.
Shame on you Capcom. No more ports, give us Megaman X9!
Half Life
Well, this list would not be complete if I didn't include Half Life on it. Half Life 2 was followed year on year with additional content and has seemingly concluded with Episode 2, that came out over a decade ago!
Valve these days, seems to spend all it's time on DOTA, Counter Strike and their game selling platform Steam. Half Life it seems, has disappeared into thin air.
It's quite strange, normally game companies milk a successful franchise until it's just a husk of it's former self, but they literally just stuck Half Life on the shelf and forgot about it.
There are quite a few people who live in hope, that one day they will announce Half Life 3, but lets be real. We will never see Half Life again.
It's a shame as it's another series that ends on a cliff hanger and people like closure. Game devs, you gotta give us some closure! Even it's crap just wrap it up?
Well, Gordon's journey may not be over for me and many more, but for Valve, it unfortunately is.
Farewell, Mr Freeman.
Condemned
In case you don't remember, Condemned (Criminal Origins) was a brutal FPS brawler for the Xbox 360 back in 2005 and published by Sega. It was a short but compelling game in which you play as a Detective looking for a serial killer with a distinct MO.
You're investigation takes some very strange turns as you experience hallucinations and encounter crazed psychopaths. The combat was incredibly tense and visceral, guns are sparse and ammo even more so. Instead you're primary weapons are anything lying around you could swing about, like a 2x4 or a sledgehammer. Weapons also had durability properties, forcing the player to constantly scavenge new weapons or face being caught with their pants down.The sequel was just as dark and violent as the first and introduced some interesting plot twists (secret societies etc), but instead of taking the series any further they just upped and left it.
Monolith now are more well now for making Lord of The Rings games, but these guys cut their teeth in the mid naughties with FPS horror games Condemned and F.E.A.R.
However with the new Shadow Of Mordor being released and no sign of the Rings games and media disappearing, it looks like we won't be seeing a follow up to this forgotten and overlooked game.
And that's a damned shame. Condemned is like RE7 and Outlast had a horrific baby, one that really scares the hell out of you. That's a good thing sometimes, right?
Sleeping Dogs
Sure some of the dialogue and voice work is questionable but you can't beat this game's insane car chases (hopping from car to car is great fun), enjoyable beat'em up sections and solid shooting. The characters were on the basic side but likable and the story was thoroughly enjoyable too.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person whose hopeful that we'll see a second game appear, but it's none too hopeful now that United Game Fronts is shutdown. Square still hold the IP and they haven't dropped Tomb Raider or Hitman (which are both great series that like Sleeping Dogs, didn't sell the numbers Square wanted). So who knows? Perhaps some other developer will get the chance?
But the way the industry moves these days, I think Sleeping Dogs will sadly fade away.
Breath of Fire
Let me say first and foremost: I am ignoring BoF6. It's a Japanese exclusive MMO that is in no way spiritually connected to previous games, beside having a character called Ryu and some Dragons. It's also an MMO that was shutdown within a year because of poor ratings and micro transaction sales.
To be honest I should also disregard Dragon Quarter, as that too seemed like a completely different game with the Breath of Fire title slapped on it.So, really the last true Breath of Fire game came out all the way back in 2000. Seventeen years ago. I have no idea why Capcom chose to destroy this series the way they have, the games were very popular back in the late 90's and JRPG popularity was sky rocketing into the PS2 era. It's positively head scratching how they handled the move to PS2. Dragon Quarter was such a bad game that it literally killed the franchise!
Breath of Fire games are linear, plot-centric titles with a familiar battle system between the four main titles. It's was winning combo for this JRPG series and they could have done some really great things with new hardware.
I can't think about it any more it's giving me a headache to be honest, all I know is that the series should get some real good treatment. You don't even have to go mad, BoF would be a perfect fitment for Switch or the 3DS or even the PS4 if they wanted to go all out. But this is Capcom which has a history of abusing it's franchises and then abandoning them, as we'll see.
Onimusha
The Onimusha series had four games through the PS2 lifetime and the first game was a roaring success! Mixing Resident Evil exploration elements with melee combat was a great mix. The first game is still the best iteration of the whole series and has surprisingly aged really well.
The second title is probably the weakest one in my opinion but I did enjoy the third game which had an interesting idea of mixing feudal Japan and modern France and actually pulled it off well. The final game, Dawn of Souls abandoned the exploration aspect of the first and third game and instead went all out action. It just didn't really feel like an Onimusha title and you could tell Capcom were wavering with a series it suddenly didn't know what to do with.
Aside from the four PS2 games there was oddly enough a SRPG title released on GBA that's so, so and Capcom was going to release a mobile game but that didn't take off.
You see, I think Capcom are really missing a trick here because I think, if you'd make an Onimusha game today, it would work really well as Souls game. Onimusha does play quite slowly, and the combat focuses primarily on evasion, defense and parrying attacks.
The closest it looks like we'll get to playing anything like a souls Onimusha game is obviously going to be Team Ninja's Nioh. Well, it would sate my appetite if I could beat the second boss...
So you have it, my list of woes and dreams. It was a cathartic experience writing them down, but it hasn't dampened my longing for more Necromorph slaying, Genma slicing, head crab bashing and reploid blasting. Perhaps I'll be surprised and one day one of these franchises will see the light of day again and I'll be forcing my cash into the bosom of some retailer, blinded by nostalgia. But until that day, I'll just have my collection to come back to.
If there are any franchises you miss, feel free to share you pain in the comment section below. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a great weekend everybody!
This blog was written with the aid of Wikipedia and it's contributors, to help me discover the release dates of games and also if any sneaky releases evaded my radar. (Breath of Fire MMO?) It's a great resource we all know and love and so if you're interested, here is a link to their contribution page.
Wikipedia Donation Page
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