Game series you feel started to lose their roots?

[GameMasterGuy]

(Really.. Nobody's gonna say it...? Fine. I will, then.)

Zelda. Yes. I said it! The Legend of freakin' Zelda has lost it's roots!

Ocarina was fun, we all showered it with ooh's and ahh's, and marveled at how the series could be done well in 3D.. It was a really good game that stayed the 3D critics and proved Nintendo can make a Zelda game relevant amidst advancing technology.

The year is 2012, roughly 14 years after the release of OoT. Nintendo is STILL making that game over and over again..

Okay, Nintendo - you proved your point! Zelda can be done in 3D.. Now can we please go back to the classic, top-down view that made the series classic and (*ahem*) legendary??
And don't try to tease me with that cel-shaded Windwaker portable nonsense. It's pseudo 2D/3D and it doesn't count! I want A Link to the Past on fucking STEROIDS!! I know it can be done! I'm sick of every new Zelda experience being just a graphical update of Ocarina of Time..

Except that handheld games aside, LttP is a pretty unique Zelda game. Don't get me wrong, it's my favorite. It's just that it wasn't until Majora's Mask that there was a console Zelda that played like a previous entry in the series. 1 was extremely open ended, 2 was half platformer, LttP is the formula the handheld games use, and OOT created the real "series roots". Zelda's certainly sticking to its roots; that, however, is a problem in this situation.

[Erik_Twice]

Read the name of this thread. You can hardly consider fan programs contributions to the status of a series. GF's Pokemon is way too overly complicated without any in game tutorial for EV/IV/nature bullcrap.

He knows how to read. Like most pokemon fans, we feel the game has remained very close to it's roots, perhaps even too close as other than a better competitive enviroment that only matters in multiplayer the games have not evolved since the original in any meaningful way.

I also wouldn't call Pokemon a complex game, natures and evs or not, it's extremely simple in design.

[Jmustang1968]

Heroes of might & magic has stuck to its roots. Sure they have changed some combat elements and attempted to streamline a bit, but it is still the same core game.

Civilizaton has as well for the most part. Again, 5 streamlined some and changed combat, but still a civ game.

Persona series is another, and the etrian odyssey games.

[AppleQueso]

(Really.. Nobody's gonna say it...? Fine. I will, then.)

Zelda. Yes. I said it! The Legend of freakin' Zelda has lost it's roots!

Ocarina was fun, we all showered it with ooh's and ahh's, and marveled at how the series could be done well in 3D.. It was a really good game that stayed the 3D critics and proved Nintendo can make a Zelda game relevant amidst advancing technology.

The year is 2012, roughly 14 years after the release of OoT. Nintendo is STILL making that game over and over again..

Okay, Nintendo - you proved your point! Zelda can be done in 3D.. Now can we please go back to the classic, top-down view that made the series classic and (*ahem*) legendary??
And don't try to tease me with that cel-shaded Windwaker portable nonsense. It's pseudo 2D/3D and it doesn't count! I want A Link to the Past on fucking STEROIDS!! I know it can be done! I'm sick of every new Zelda experience being just a graphical update of Ocarina of Time..

...so instead of Nintendo constantly copying OOT, you want them to start constantly copying ALTTP?

A stagnant series is kinda the opposite of losing its roots...

Besides, Zelda really needs a straight up kick in the ass and a serious shakeup of the entire fundamental core of what the games are. We don't need them to start milking ALTTP after milking OOT for so long, we need them to redefine "Zelda".

[sabrage]

I also wouldn't call Pokemon a complex game, natures and evs or not, it's extremely simple in design.

The "evs and natures" (I didn't even know what they were called; I read a bit into Pokemon Diamond+Pearl and decided what they'd done would prevent me from going back) don't add complexity, they add tedium.

The problem with Zelda isn't a lack of evolution, it's the de-evolution the series has suffered since OOT. There have been countless complaints about the "sidekick" characters, and yet every single goddamn Zelda that comes out has to introduce a new one to annoy us and hold our hand! I've been playing Zelda for 15 years, I don't need a 30 second cutscene to slo-o-o-wly pan towards the obviously breakable part of the wall that I need to bomb! I noticed that within 2 seconds of walking in the room! Skyward Sword honestly made me nauseous; I think it's the worst entry in the series solely because of Fi.

[GameMasterGuy]

I also wouldn't call Pokemon a complex game, natures and evs or not, it's extremely simple in design.

I think it's the worst entry in the series solely because of Fi.

Master, there's a 100% chance I need to shut the **** up.

[harper]

The problem with Zelda isn't a lack of evolution, it's the de-evolution the series has suffered since OOT. There have been countless complaints about the "sidekick" characters, and yet every single goddamn Zelda that comes out has to introduce a new one to annoy us and hold our hand! I've been playing Zelda for 15 years, I don't need a 30 second cutscene to slo-o-o-wly pan towards the obviously breakable part of the wall that I need to bomb! I noticed that within 2 seconds of walking in the room! Skyward Sword honestly made me nauseous; I think it's the worst entry in the series solely because of Fi.

I don't know about de-evolution. But they pretty much used every amazing idea possible in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Honestly the only cool thing that has happened since was the double clawshots.
But what I'm saying is, they left no good ideas for other games, so everything is just, like Rurouni_Fencer said, a graphical update of Ocarina of Time. Maybe if I had played the N64 installments back when they came out, I would've been disappointed with Majora's Mask practically being Ocarina of Time on crack, but since it was actually the first Zelda game I ever played, I wasn't biased and I loved that game.

[YoshiEgg25]

I also wouldn't call Pokemon a complex game, natures and evs or not, it's extremely simple in design.

I think it's the worst entry in the series solely because of Fi.

Master, there's a 100% chance I need to shut the **** up.

ಠ_ಠ

[dsheinem]

A more interesting topic would be series that haven't lost their roots, as pretty much all of them have.

I don't think Metal Gear Solid has lost its roots. Mario games and Kirby games are still pretty much the same, as are the majority of shmup franchises.

NBA Jam did lose its roots but recently rediscovered them.

that's a few off the top of my head, anyway...

[Rurouni_Fencer]

...so instead of Nintendo constantly copying OOT, you want them to start constantly copying ALTTP?

A stagnant series is kinda the opposite of losing its roots...

Besides, Zelda really needs a straight up kick in the ass and a serious shakeup of the entire fundamental core of what the games are. We don't need them to start milking ALTTP after milking OOT for so long, we need them to redefine "Zelda".

Nah, all I'm saying is I'd like for Nintendo to go back to the 2D top down view from days old. The 3D stuff was fun, but it's been way too repetitive. And I agree that the series needs a serious "kick in the ass", but I'd just like to see them make one more 2D top-down game to do that with.. I'm in no way saying that they should start making the next 4 sequels all 2D top downs..
I'd just like to see a return to form - hence what the thread topic is about..