The Series that Lost Us

I've been watching some live streaming of Call of Duty Ghosts today, and it feels very strange that I'm not going to play it until Xbox One releases. This got me thinking about all those series of games that I used to play, but for whatever reason stopped buying.

Pokemon
Pokemon was probably the biggest series that was hard to give up. I first played the game when a Japanese exchange student was living with us, and even though I had no idea what was happening I was taken in by what I was playing. When it finally released I took the "Gotta catch 'em all" motto to heart and made it a point of experiencing everything each game had to offer. As the next generation of games released we got some pretty cool new Pokemon, but I found myself missing the charm of the original series. After several more generations the creatures got increasingly ridiculous, the non-existent story made the monotony more obvious, and the time requirement to train competitive Pokemon was unbelievable. Pokemon White is the first game I never beat, and since then I've just kept the game on my peripheral in case IGN had some interesting article about it.

WoW
My next obsession was World of Warcraft. Although it wasn't a series per se, the biannual expansion packs basically created a new game using the same core mechanics. Although the game was packed with things to experience, the time requirement to master one aspect of the game simply wasn't worth it. I don't mind spending a good deal of time to improve at a game, but spending several hours to maybe get a new pair of boots (that would be made irrelevant in a few months) quickly lost its appeal. What finally drove me away was the realization that there wasn't an end to the game - I could cap off at max level and get the best gear, but the next expansion would make all of that moot.

Legend of Zelda
Forcing me to use the Wii motion controls to play a game I've always enjoyed has turned me off of Zelda forever. Motion control may be a thing of the future, but right now it ruins established games that use motion controls as a gimmick, rather than actually enhancing gameplay. It's very unfortunate, but there was nothing about the game that made me regret getting rid of it and never looking back.

Assassin's Creed
The one that pains me the most not to play is Assassin's Creed. I bought the game when it first released and was enthralled by the gameplay, storytelling, and the way it made me feel like an assassin. The second game was unbelievably amazing, with the following two games making small-but-good changes to the series. However, the last game in the Assassin's Creed II storyline made a lot of hungry for a new story. We'd followed Altair, we went through the life and times of Ezio, and now we wanted to see how the meta story of Assassin's Creed would play out for an entirely new character.

I won't get in to an overblown rant here, but Assassin's Creed III is one of my greatest gaming disappointments. It had so much potential - using the American Revolutionary War to tell a completely new story. Despite the location and history having more appeal to me as an American, I almost quit the very last mission because it was so dreadfully boring. The only redeeming quality the game had was the naval battles, and that's the driving force behind the latest game in the series. However, ACIII was such a horrible experience that I just can't talk myself in to getting the newest game. I don't know if this means I'm done with the series or just taking a break, but it seems to be destined for another game in a growing line of series that I just couldn't stick with.



What about you? What series were you religious about playing, but have stopped playing even though new games have come out? What made you drop a series that you once enjoyed so much?


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