I'm like this as well and was actually thinking about it a lot recently. I know I've probably said this before somewhere but a sequel is like another album from a band you like. Sometimes it'll be more of the same and you'll still love it, sometimes they'll experiment a bit and it will either work for you or it won't.Xeogred wrote:But it's like if they made 100 more NES Mega Man games, I'd play and like them all. It's how Doom has stayed alive for me personally with the mod community going for 20 some years, people are still making maps and I think it's safe to say I will continue to go back and play new Doom wads for the rest of my life. If From Software wanted to keep making Souls games I would play them forever. A traditional Metroid is something I always want in my life.
A good game is a good game and as long as a developer is willing to make sequels and the demand exists for them, then there's enough justification to keep making them. Not every game needs to be groundbreaking or set out to change its genre. Sometimes another adventure layered on top of a pre-established formula is all you need and isn't that was most games, original IP or not, are anyway?
I'm not saying sequelitis isn't a thing of course, when a developer stops giving a crap (see the diminishing quality of Mega Man X after X4) then maybe it's time to stop instead of drilling a franchise into the ground.
On the other hand if you've got something as popular as Mario you can risk trying something different to try and draw in new people once in a while. 3D Land interested me because it was different. Super Mario Odyssey isn't even on my radar because of its Mario 64 genetics. So when you've got huge franchises that have been so many different things you have this delicate balancing act of trying to please everyone who enjoyed different iterations of your franchise. Of course when you're on Mario's level it's going to sell a bajillion copies anyway because of the multi-generational general audience appeal and you can release stuff like NSMB and Mario Maker as well to keep retro fans happy so Mario maybe is a bad example. Zelda may be a better example since that fanbase can get pretty heavily fractured in regards to their preferences. For me personally I've ignored releases for years outside of Link Between Worlds. You would have to pay me to play a traditional 3D Zelda but I'd love to try BotW.
So the long and short of it is giving fans what they want is fine and changing things up occasionally is fine. Just make good games dammit.
