What Does a Franchise Mean to You?

[Hakudamashi]

This topic is targeted directly at Kyo, but I'm making this public cause I want to hear everyone's input.

Now, what a franchise means to me, is a series of video games, that has a consistent set of rules that play alike, and have marginal, or minimal improvements in each installment. One key element that I believe every franchise MUST have, is that the knowledge I gain from playing any game from the series, should be applicable to every other game, with a few tweaks in thinking here and there.
A franchise should come with expectations, as something one can tell from the start whether they want the next game or not. If you liked what came before, then you will like this one, if you didn't like what came before, then you can skip it. A franchise should also be able to help refine someone's taste, like "I like the idea behind it, but these issues bug me", so now you have a better idea of what to look for.
I think a franchise should be a "safe haven", while your out playing other things, some good, some bad, a franchise that you like should be that one guaranteed good time, the one thing you can always look forward to.

I think franchises should have spin-offs. Taking the world, the lore, the characters, and putting them in a different light, a different take, a different percpective. An RPG in the Mushroom Kingdom, a Racing tournament in Mobius, an FPS archery competition in Hyrule.
I think spin-offs are a great way to flesh one's creative mind, to expand the universe that's been crafted, to better understand the world that's been created, and to just take everything you already know and use it differently.
But when it comes to a main series game, a "direct sequel" if you will, things should stay the same, to have what you had before, but have some previous issues ironed out. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, fix what is broken.

[jkid101094]

If the titles are similar enough or the lore points to another game in the series than it's a franchise.

Examples of what I mean are;

Tales of (x) [Vesperia, Symphonia, The World: Radiant Mythology]
Super Mario (x) [Bros., Galaxy]

And then you have games to essentially point to other games in the franchise;

NamcoXCapcom - Project X Zone

I can't think of any others at the moment but I'm sure there are more.
And of course, these are different to references. Sure in Project X Zone Megaman refrences the events of Megaman X1 but that doesn't make it in that game's franchise. Crossovers are kind of an exception to this ruke anyway so maybe that isn't a good example.

[shadowDOESrock]

I agree, but I dont.

To put it in one sentence...
As long I can recognize the franchise, i'm fine with it.

Meaning
DmC Devil May Cry? A-Ok.
Syndicate 2012? Not ok.

But do I hate Syndicate 2012 like people hate Final Fantasy 13, Thief, Resident Evil 6 or DmC Devil May Cry?
No. If it's a good game, why should I?
Hell, maybe it's not my thing -  but if its a good game, why should I?

Dissapointed? Maybe.

[NiGHTS]

I would go with jkid on this one.
To me a franchuse is just a title.and doesnt guarantee that the next game will be a slightly different version of.the.game before.

As long as some points in each game link then i dont have mamy quarells.

[Hakudamashi]

I agree, but I dont.

To put it in one sentence...
As long I can recognize the franchise, i'm fine with it.

Meaning
DmC Devil May Cry? A-Ok.
Syndicate 2012? Not ok.

But do I hate Syndicate 2012 like people hate Final Fantasy 13, Thief, Resident Evil 6 or DmC Devil May Cry?
No. If it's a good game, why should I?
Hell, maybe it's not my thing -  but if its a good game, why should I?

Dissapointed? Maybe.

Because in the case of Syndicate, FF13, RE6, the dissapointment hits hard.
In a world that is void of top down strategy games, Syndicate goes FPS
Where there are less and less open world turn based RPGs, Final Fantasy goes linear action RPG
Where survival horror games are all but nonexistent, Resident Evil goes full action game.

If the big names that we're supposed to rely on for that familiar feeling when every other game doesn't catch your eye goes done a path you do not want to follow, what then? To have to deal with the thought that the last game in the franchise has this issue that will probably never be fixed, what then?

Let's take Kirby for example, say Squeak Squad was like, ur fav game, but you were all like, "I wish the next Kirby game was on a console, and let me play as Metaknight and King Dedede", but the next Kirby game was Epic Yarn. They got rid of pretty much everything that made you like Kirby, his copy ability, his flight, and the fact that there is NO penalty for dying rubbed you the wrong way. But because of it's success or whatever, every Kirby game afterwards was like Epic Yarn, so, now you're stuck with just Squeak Squad and what came before, flaws and all, never again to hope for a Kirby game to play like the traditional way you liked on a big screen with Metaknight and King Deedede playable, or anything.

The case of DMC:Devil May Cry is a different issue entirely. First of all, CAPCOM went about it in all of the wrongs ways. It's even more jarring when CAPCOM handled it much better in the past.

Let me ask you, why didn't Megaman Battle Network get as much hate? Or Oddworld:Stranger's Wrath? Or Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories? Or Tomb Raider?
This situation has happened may times before, and still happens now, yet DMC:Devil May Cry specifally is getting all the hate even though it essentially did the same thing, why do you think that is?

[shadowDOESrock]

Let me ask you, why didn't Megaman Battle Network get as much hate? Or Oddworld:Stranger's Wrath? Or Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories? Or Tomb Raider?
This situation has happened may times before, and still happens now, yet DMC:Devil May Cry specifally is getting all the hate even though it essentially did the same thing, why do you think that is?

I dont know about Oddworld

Battle Network, Chain of Memories were spin-offs.
And the Tomb Raider reboot worked because it was still recognizeable as Tomb Raider and the last few games before the reboot were kinda... bad...
Tomb Raider wasnt relevant anymore.


Oh, I know exactly why DmC evokes the reaction it does

Unlike Tom Raider, there was no 'real' reason (outside the fact that the developers are gone) to reboot the franchise.

DmC4 was a good game, had good reception, sold well and it wasnt released too long ago after the first DmC Devil May Cry trailer debuted at TGS 2010. (Speaking of which, the game is nothing like that trailer)
It was still relevant.

If DmC Devil May Cry was announced today, the large majority wouldnt be so upset about it.

You know that Mega Man FPS? If it was announced in 2010 (like originally planned) it'd be hated as well.
If it was announced today, it wouldnt be. (hence the positive reaction after its leak)

[Hakudamashi]

Well then here's a question.
When is the right time to spin-off? Or Reboot? Or to just keep doing what you're doing?
At what point does one quit the main series to do something different with it, and if they do, when do you go back? Or do you ever go back?

Also, Chain of Memories is not a spin-off.

[shadowDOESrock]

Well then here's a question.
When is the right time to spin-off? Or Reboot? Or to just keep doing what you're doing?
At what point does one quit the main series to do something different with it, and if they do, when do you go back? Or do you ever go back?

Also, Chain of Memories is not a spin-off.

Kingdom Hearts uses a pretty clear Number structure. Despite what happens in the story, it is a spin-off - the same way God of War Ascencion, Gears of War Judgment and Halo: Reach are.

The right time to reboot?
- When your last few games sucked arse, and you need to refresh the whole thing
- When your franchise hasnt seen a game in ages and is not relevant anymore (See Strider)

The right time to spin-off?
- When your franchise is still relevant (amazingly important in this case)
- When your last few games didnt suck

[Hakudamashi]

The right time to reboot?
- When your last few games sucked arse, and you need to refresh the whole thing
- When your franchise hasnt seen a game in ages and is not relevant anymore (See Strider)

Like Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider. Not like how CAPCOM handled Devil May Cry... at all.

The right time to spin-off?
- When your franchise is still relevant (amazingly important in this case)
- When your last few games didnt suck

All the more reason I wished Hyrule Warriors was a Fire Emblem spin-off rather than LoZ
But whatcha gonna do...


Post Merge: January 23, 2014, 07:04:35 AM
And another question: When is the time to make a New IP?

When making a project, how different do you think it has to be before the decision is made to make it a New IP and not attached to an existing franchise?

Or do you think the concept of New IPs are frivolous and don't matter?

[jkid101094]

Bitch, I do what I want. When I plan out my stories and brainstorm what generally gets thrown into the 'New IP' pile are stories that are different enough to exist on their own or fill a niche as a new IP.

So to speak, anyway.

[Hakudamashi]

Bitch, I do what I want. When I plan out my stories and brainstorm what generally gets thrown into the 'New IP' pile are stories that are different enough to exist on their own or fill a niche as a new IP.

So to speak, anyway.

Was the first sentence really necessary?

And how different is "different enough"?

[shadowDOESrock]

And another question: When is the time to make a New IP?

When making a project, how different do you think it has to be before the decision is made to make it a New IP and not attached to an existing franchise?

Or do you think the concept of New IPs are frivolous and don't matter?

A New IP doesnt have to be 'different enough' (as seen with Demons Souls / Dark Souls and Dead Island / Dying Light).

You create a new IP when (quite literally) when you come up with an idea and dont feel like it belongs to anything else you've created.

Keyword being you - as in the developer.

[jkid101094]

Wind.
I'm jkid.
j-k-i-d.
When in the flying, blazing blue rat's ass fuckadoo is anything I do ever necessary?
>:U

And different enough is when I can't connect it directly to another series anymore.

[Hakudamashi]

You create a new IP when (quite literally) when you come up with an idea and dont feel like it belongs to anything else you've created.

Keyword being you - as in the developer.

So, in your eyes, where would you draw the line between New IP and just putting it in an existing franchise?

Wind.
I'm jkid.
j-k-i-d.
When in the flying, blazing blue rat's ass fuckadoo is anything I do ever necessary?
>:U

When you speak to me at night =U

[shadowDOESrock]

So, in your eyes, where would you draw the line between New IP and just putting it in an existing franchise?

There's no 'line'.
All that matters is that they feel like it.

It's their artistic vision.

e.g - sure Syndicate '12 has nothing to do gameplay-wise with Syndicate.
But when the developer started on it that was their idea.
'Let's reboot Syndicate as a first-person shooter' - so they did.