8th February 2016, 2:15 PM
It has steadily become clear for all too many kickstarter games that if you've got a developer shorn from the original company and team working on their own promising an unrelated "spiritual successor", you'll get something about as real as a spirit.
This isn't a physical law I'm claiming here. There's some games that actually DO see the light of day, such as Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity. Yet for every project that actually comes out (and those last two to mixed reviews, deserved or not), there's a bunch more that seem to be in "fund us forever" limbo. Think of the sheer number that, frankly, should be DONE by now. We know from experience just how long it takes to make a 2D Megaman (6 on the NES alone) game, but here we are. Some just keep expanding in scope, and as much as I can respect their goals, one wonders if they're ever going to be able to merge all those otherwise completely separate games into one in a seamless way.
Now, I'm not saying none of these games are ever going to come out. I personally am really looking forward to a few. It's just worrying just how many have out and out been cancelled. Unsung Story, for example, is just plain GONE, with everyone's money. Considering that the person responsible for so many extremely good strategy games with amazing stories was behind it, it just makes you wonder. Perhaps we're all just a pack of idiots for ever believing the lie that a single person is responsible for ANY of our favorite games, even if they are the writer/director. Heck, the FF7 creators have said repeatedly they didn't want to even try to remake FF7 unless they could get the whole original creative team together on the project. Now they're doing it anyway, clearly without the whole team, and right out the gate the direction of the project is worrisome.
Some projects just look shady, such as Shenmu 3: Rise of Papyrus. Now, it could have just been an utter lack of a marketting team to advice them on what actually looks "good", but you see the numbers the original two games needed just to get made, and contrast it with what they're actually trying to make the game ON, and you have to wonder just what to expect.
As an aside, as glad as I am when I see some kickstarter promising the same "gameplay style" as a previous series, but not IN that series, there is a part of me that's disappointed. Here you've got a vast series of games spanning decades with a steadily built-up storyline and overall mythos, and bam, you get final confirmation it'll never be "finished", the story is dead in the water, but here's this brand new nearly identical copycat story. I'm not claiming Castlevania or Megaman have the most meaningful stories tackling important issues in the world today, but dangit, I've been with those stories since I was a kid and got kinda caught up in the twists and turns. I wanted to see how it all ended. I wanted to finally get to the final battle against Dracula in 1999 AD. I wanted to see what happened between Megaman and Megaman X. There is a reason Mighty Number 9 wasn't the character they added to Smash Bros. It was Megaman. Even with no future prospects for the series at the moment, people are more invested in Megaman as a character than Mighty Number 9. So, sure, I plan on buying these reinvented series, but it's a shame that we're basically sliding into some alternate reality version of the story, but starting from the beginning. This is a DC reboot, basically.
"Kickstarter", as a concept is really losing a lot of credibility these days. That sucks, because being able to bypass the normal investor method is a powerful tool. And heck, maybe this is just the calm before the storm and we'll see hit after hit come flying out of the flood gates, but until that time, I'm a bit worried.
This isn't a physical law I'm claiming here. There's some games that actually DO see the light of day, such as Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity. Yet for every project that actually comes out (and those last two to mixed reviews, deserved or not), there's a bunch more that seem to be in "fund us forever" limbo. Think of the sheer number that, frankly, should be DONE by now. We know from experience just how long it takes to make a 2D Megaman (6 on the NES alone) game, but here we are. Some just keep expanding in scope, and as much as I can respect their goals, one wonders if they're ever going to be able to merge all those otherwise completely separate games into one in a seamless way.
Now, I'm not saying none of these games are ever going to come out. I personally am really looking forward to a few. It's just worrying just how many have out and out been cancelled. Unsung Story, for example, is just plain GONE, with everyone's money. Considering that the person responsible for so many extremely good strategy games with amazing stories was behind it, it just makes you wonder. Perhaps we're all just a pack of idiots for ever believing the lie that a single person is responsible for ANY of our favorite games, even if they are the writer/director. Heck, the FF7 creators have said repeatedly they didn't want to even try to remake FF7 unless they could get the whole original creative team together on the project. Now they're doing it anyway, clearly without the whole team, and right out the gate the direction of the project is worrisome.
Some projects just look shady, such as Shenmu 3: Rise of Papyrus. Now, it could have just been an utter lack of a marketting team to advice them on what actually looks "good", but you see the numbers the original two games needed just to get made, and contrast it with what they're actually trying to make the game ON, and you have to wonder just what to expect.
As an aside, as glad as I am when I see some kickstarter promising the same "gameplay style" as a previous series, but not IN that series, there is a part of me that's disappointed. Here you've got a vast series of games spanning decades with a steadily built-up storyline and overall mythos, and bam, you get final confirmation it'll never be "finished", the story is dead in the water, but here's this brand new nearly identical copycat story. I'm not claiming Castlevania or Megaman have the most meaningful stories tackling important issues in the world today, but dangit, I've been with those stories since I was a kid and got kinda caught up in the twists and turns. I wanted to see how it all ended. I wanted to finally get to the final battle against Dracula in 1999 AD. I wanted to see what happened between Megaman and Megaman X. There is a reason Mighty Number 9 wasn't the character they added to Smash Bros. It was Megaman. Even with no future prospects for the series at the moment, people are more invested in Megaman as a character than Mighty Number 9. So, sure, I plan on buying these reinvented series, but it's a shame that we're basically sliding into some alternate reality version of the story, but starting from the beginning. This is a DC reboot, basically.
"Kickstarter", as a concept is really losing a lot of credibility these days. That sucks, because being able to bypass the normal investor method is a powerful tool. And heck, maybe this is just the calm before the storm and we'll see hit after hit come flying out of the flood gates, but until that time, I'm a bit worried.