Just observing the disaster of Suicide Squad game, the calamity of the current Doctor Who and many other franchises along the way, it feels like we are on the eve of a purge in western media where a lot of franchises are going to die or at the very least, be put on a very long hiatus.
In my opinion, a lot of these survive off habit, you get used to enjoying a certain thing, you regularly consume certain thing and never think about it. Until they make something that breaks that habit it won't die so thought I'd list off some of those bits of media that killed off a franchise:
Command and Conquer= C&C4: This one singlehandedly killed the franchise, even before they used it's corpse for a mobile game. The complete removal of bases from the game itself was the dumbest decision ever made, but not the first time EA would remove a core mechanic from a major franchise..
Battlefield: Battlefield 2042: the other example by removing classes for 'operators' in the game probably damaged it more than just how much it was a buggy unplayable mess. It was such a bad decision that they put the classes back in but with talk of the next being a live service and even the return of operators, I can hear the death chimes for this franchise just like honourable mention the Medal of Honour series.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: it's amazing how this single film started this franchise tanking that was bought for billions and even had people appreciating the prequels more. From the bad writing, stale acting and stupid plot, this killed the enthusiasm for a decades long series.
The potential new ones: AC Shadows and GTA6: these two in the future have the possibility to kill their respective franchises. We are finding more and more on AC that it's looking like every wrong move has been taken and with how lackluster Mirage was received, it ain't looking good. GTA6 however, there's a possibility it'll simply be another Cyberpunk in just not meeting expectations which IS recoverable.
Just thought this was interesting to discuss seeing franchises both established and barely formed (cough Trench Crusade) killing themselves in a single release especially around our current time.
Mass Effect 3 killed all video games :(
The Last Jedi is a great example too. I don't drink but my theater has a bar; when the movie finished I got a double shot of whiskey and sucked it down quick. Poe arguing against rainbow hair's plan and having a whole bunch of women show up out of nowhere and glare at him also ruined my sex drive.
Although I enjoyed everything till the ending and the multiplayer, it had the very negative effect of essentially normalising loot boxes unfortunately.
I still maintain the whole game was bad, but with 2 or so great moments. Most people critique the ending for being bad, and they aren't wrong.
But that's not all of it, look at its story in comparison to 1 and 2. ME1 was this great mystery being set up against this horrible eldritch foe, just one of them was barely survivable, not much was known about them, and fighting just one took out 40% of your army. Absolutely amazing stuff with jank gameplay.
2 was a bit of a filler episode, more of a side mission with some reveals about their plans for humanity and filling out the relationships with the crew, as well as extra justification for fighting the reapers. Not as good as ME1, but still enjoyable and with better mechanical gameplay than 1, and filler episodes aren't all just a waste of time, they help you get to know the characters better and in so doing, raise the stakes even further. ME2 might feel like a bit of a waste of time in the scheme of things, but it was pretty good and served that necessary purpose.
But notice what none of them had? No mention of the catalyst.
This was a mcguffin from nowhere that makes no sense because they had written themselves into a corner and not introduced anything in the previous two games. Of all media, the thing that comes closest to the creation and then collection of resources across the galaxy to build the galaxy is palpatine. As in episode 9 palpatine. Suddenly, a way to defeat the reapers appeared. And then that quest visiting all over the galaxy to get it built.
Ok yes, the send offs for mordin, and the tali and legion thing were good moments, but they were good moments that could have been a part of any larger story. The broad story they went with failed from the start, not just the ending. The ending failed because the set up at the start of 3 (and the lack of it in 1&2) failed.
Good points, I'd say the worst thing they did was even after the extended cut they made the binary colour choices cannon and if you reject it, everyone dies too bad.
I still believe the theory though, that we were supposed to have a story revolving more around dark matter affecting the universe as there was set up for that in 2 with the Quarians. This got leaked thanks to journalists so they panicked and made the catalyst the new plot and mcguffin.
It almost seems like spite yeah.
Because yeah shooting that little shit is the right choice. This thing arrives and tells you that you have to press a button (for a machine you canonically do not understand, you are relying on its explanation), after explaining how it is reaper tech, and its the same kid that appears in your dreams of oily shadows?
Shoot that thing, don't let it say another word, its the only smart answer. It's reaper tech. The head of the reapers it claims. Shoot it.
Yeah I heard that too, and it was a lot better. And there was some set up for it you are right.