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Best games that didn't turn into a series/franchise

Alien: Isolation

Hopefully we get a sequel, It's one of the best games I've ever played.
 
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It is incredibly depressing how many games posted in this thread were my "favorite of the moment" at some point or another. Gun, God Hand, Vanquish, Binary Domain, Freedom Fighters, Shadow Complex, Bully, Jade Empire. Seriously, the list is huge. Some variation of the phrase "I can't wait to try the next one" came out of my mouth at some point for all of these games. Life isn't fair sometimes.
 
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I remember leakest footage of the canned sequel getting out a few years ago. The pain.

I think it's a pain I need, got a link?

Man I want a new Freelancer so badly. All I keep seeing is Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous, but apparently neither are playable in 3rd person so I'm not excited for them as much.
 
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Trenched/Iron Brigade.
Man i love this game, the cool as hell WW1 Trench Mechs, the weird bolsjevik humor, the coop, I just love it!

Too bad the game got delayed because of the name, and it just never seemed to be this big succes...
 
Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.
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The World Ends With You

Parasite Eve. I thought Third Birthday was so terrible coming off 2.

Final Fantasy Tactics - It's unthinkable that we never got a proper sequel to this game.

Dragon Force - I know there was a sequel that came out in Japan, but I was never able to play it. Still, such a promising start to what could have been a great series. Oh well.

Tactics Ogre - Much like FFT, I would have loved to see a proper sequel to this game.

I want an original Spyro remake, not another obomination that the last 10-14 years has created of him.

Original art
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Most current art
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What the shit did they do to him?

Maniac Mansion
Faxanadu

Chrono Trigger :D

Okami (Okamiden is a fun game, but not a true sequel)

Xenogears
Panzer Dragoon Saga

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Or just one real sequel would have been nice. Ghoul Patrol doesn't count because it was originally intended to be an entirely new property.

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For me no other game even came close to this for a long time.

Demon souls

ITT: I don't like the sequels and successors so I'll pretend they don't exist
 
Ristar
Grim Fandango
Heavy Rain
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
L.A. Noire
Journey
Vagrant Story
Sleeping Dogs (shaddup, Triad Wars doesn't count)
Attack of the Friday Monsters!
Second Sight
Puppeteer
rain
The Last Story
Dynamite Headdy
Enslaved
DmC: Devil May Cry
Bully
Chu Chu Rocket
Beneath a Steel Sky
 
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This could have been PlatinumGames' smash bros with Korra, Wonderful 101, Sam Gideon from Vanquish, Transformers, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, etc (if they could get all of the rights :p)
 
Oh man this one hurts. I play this game once a year, it's a ritual. So much potential for a sequel or remake with upgraded mechanics. One of my favorite rpg battle mechanics. Up there with Panzer Dragoon Saga, I guess that's my contribution. I had hoped that Last of Us didn't get a direct sequel, it was a good ending to a story.

Off topic: So is half life 2 a stand alone game? Got the entire franchise on steam, where should I start?
 
The first game that pops into my mind is Master of Magic.




To this day there hasn't been a better overall fantasy 4X game. Many have tried, some have come close, a few have done better in certain regards, but none have completely bested MoM and taken the crown from it yet. I fear that if anyone ever DOES resurrect the franchise and give us a proper sequel that it too will fall short of the mark...
 
Vanquish.

Binary Domain
Remember Me (I believe this game can still have a sequel. However, part of me is also doubtful because of the poor sales)

Alpha Protocol. I'd love another one of those.


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Series would probably include different genres of comic words visited. With different stories, setting and even a different art style. And in every console generation the 2D sprites/art would become better and better. Imagine a high budget comix zone game today, with the most detailed sprites possible and biggest number of individual frames on each sprite.


All of these.
 
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It was advertised... It was well-reviewed and well-received by those who've played it... And it STILL underperformed! A damn shame because this game was great, and does a ton right! And it doesn't help that now the I.P. is in bullshit limbo by a company who just wants to hold onto it and not do anything with it.

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Geist, man... This game may have not done anything spectacular in terms of gunplay and the writing switches between passable and stupid. but damn, it's puzzle mechanics were firing on all cylinders and the game was build around that. But man, did it underperform. Hell, people barely remember that this game was even a thing!

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You know what? I don't care if it's only been a few months. I'm calling it now. Unless this somehow gets the same stroke of a second chances like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem ,(Before Awakening) This is going to be one of those titles. The titles that are for whatever reason was shun by a lot of people at launch, but will still have a core audience that loves it and still supports it. Then many years later when Nintendo tosses it's last fuck to give out the window and copies cost an arm and leg, people are going to want a sequel after ponying up absurd amounts of cash or through other means.

It's a great game that got way too much bullshit at launch. But is fun and has enough potential to expand into a damn good series.
 
I totally agree with the folks saying Skies of Arcadia (it feels self-contained, but the cast and adventuring spirit could really accommodate a series), Eternal Darkness (such great lore to explore) and Beyond Good and Evil (which felt like Jade's first adventure). While we're on the GameCube train, I'm A-OK with Killer 7 standing alone, though. It felt like a self-contained story to me -- I love the hell out of it, but its headiness and experimental nature don't really lend themselves to a franchise.

A game that I haven't seen mentioned, though, is Gladius.
Man, what I wouldn't give for an HD Gladius sequel. Anyone that played it on the GameCube, PC, PS2 or Xbox knows where I'm at. It was such an expansive game, and the combat system was glorious. If you're not familiar, it was a turn-based strategy game in which you traveled a fantastical version of ancient Greece and recruited human and non-human gladiators for your crew, then customized and tweaked them and put them into arena battles. Even had a great multiplayer, especially if you had friends with their own gladiator team. LucasArts was supposedly working on Gladius 2 for a hot minute, but we all know what the chances are nowadays.

I'd like a Kid Icarus Uprising sequel. While basically the 3rd kid Icarus game, it's basically a new franchise with how different it is. A console sequel with better controls would be lovely

Kid Icarus Uprising with pointer controls would be fucking divine.
 
I did not realise this. Will have to look it up. Lewd adult humour to boot?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh...

No.

It was an overly kiddy, family friendly game.

Conker originally was a kid friendly mascot, they had 2 planned games for him "Twelve Tales" and "Conker's Pocket Tales" for the n64 and GBC respectively, the GBC game came out first but at some point, for reasons i have forgotten, they revamped Twelve Tales into Bad Fur Day and basically took it in the completely opposite extreme of the thematic scale.

It's quite interesting if you think about it.
 
I've always had a soft spot for Dark Void. It had it's share of flaws and while not in the same league as Vanquish or Psi Ops as "best" games that never took off, there was so much potential there.
 
Damn, I'm going to have to try Dark Void then! I always see it priced extremely cheaply, like $3.99, cheap enough to where I just assume the game isn't even worth that much.

All the negativity I've read so far is that it's too much like a Gears clone and it's too short. But for $4 I don't mind a short game and I've never been into the Gears series, nor do I want to so this could be nice way to dip my toe in that sort of gameplay.
 
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