Ever felt let down by a franchise?

[Frizz.Meister]

This may seem a little weird but has anyone ever felt let down by a franchise? I bring this up because the Halo franchise which i used to be a huge fan of has changed alot. Ill never forget when i was 11 years old pooling my money with a friend to by the xbox with Halo combat evolved. The game was incredible, with amazing graphics, a great story and more atmosphere than i had ever felt from a game. Certain levels used to scare me so much that just a certain score of music would put me on edge.

Then came the sequel. A very different story which was far more simple and linear, however with the massive plot twist of the civil war and the introduction of 'matchmaking' still made me love the game to no end to the point where i missed out on most late 128bit games.

Then it went downhill for me. Halo 3 came out and being a huge fan i had preordered it almost a year in advance and ate up any information on it i could. But when i finally got it, the story was short simple and well childish. So i decided to hit the multiplayer which without question is incredible. However unlike the first or second game of the series it wasn't dark and sci-fi with alien enviroments. Instead it looked alot like action figures fighting in sterotypical environments(ie green feilds, desert, training complex). Fortunatly the gameplay overshadowed this making it still a good game, but nothing like its predecessors.

So i went and played what was called the Halo reach 'beta'. In my honest opinion the gameplay was so far from the original gametaht i could not stand it. It honestly felt like any other FPS out there today. In fairness none of the single player has been released yet, BUT after the terrible single player of the third (and supposedly final) game in the series i just dont have any anticipation for this game.

Has this happened to any one else? Or i this focus shift just typical of all FPS at the moment with online deathmatch being the big (ironically) new best thing?

[dsheinem]

Sonic

[EvilRyu2099]

Not to change the subject... But I happen to be a Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders fan...

[Frizz.Meister]

Sonic

True, very true. However sonic (bar the last couple of games) didnt get directly worse at its formula. More that it changed and then got worse

[racketboy]

Sonic

Ditto.

[AppleQueso]

Mortal Kombat for sure.

[Hatta]

King's Quest. I - IV pioneered the graphical adventure. V & VI perfected it. VII was lame, and Mask of Eternity was an insult.

[Rurouni_Fencer]

Samurai Shodown & King of Fighters.. *sigh*

[skyknight]

Koei's Warriors series, the potato chips of videogame!

So bad that people keep munching'em over and over again!

[yomomma1]

Tales of series.

Oh wait those are great games.

Namco's fault for ruining it.