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| UnderwaterFunktown said: I don't think I fully agree with your statement there at the end, I think there are many examples of games getting some extra credit for what they helped start, but that does require the game itself to also be fairly popular I suppose, so maybe what you're saying holds mostly true on PC. Honestly I'm also more a believer that games should be judged on their own merits (despite my comment about Earthbound inspiring later games, I suppose. Didn't mean that was why I liked it, it's solid in its own right). I'm a big Warcraft fan for example, love 3 and 2 is pretty great as well, but my god 1 is rough in my eyes (RTS might just be the genre that has aged worse in terms of controls), so I never really considered voting for it even if it started a franchise I love. |
Games are very much a product of their time just like any other media. So while good to judge games on their own merits, the context can't be ignored. Earthbound I guess was a bit too Japanese for it to catch on in the US, especially the marketing, and it never even got released in Europe!
Though Nintendo spent about $2 million on marketing,[17] the American release was ultimately viewed as unsuccessful within Nintendo.[35] The game's atypical marketing campaign was derived from the game's unusual humor. As part of Nintendo's larger "Play It Loud!" campaign, EarthBound's "this game stinks" campaign included foul-smelling scratch and sniff advertisements.[26] At the time, Digital Trends described the campaign as "bizarre" and "based around fart jokes".[38] GamePro reported that they received more reader complaints about the game's scratch and sniff ad than about any other 1995 advertisement.[39] The campaign was also expensive. It emphasized magazine advertisements and had the extra cost of the strategy guide included with each game.[40] Between the poor sales and the phasing out of the Super NES, the game did not receive a European release.[17] Aaron Linde of Shacknews believed that the price of the packaged game ultimately curtailed sales.[26]
Badly handled release.
I actually prefer the older 'simpler' RTS games like Dune 2 and the original Warcraft. Grouping units, rally points all added more complexity next to automation. I've always preferred micro managing I guess. Plus a sequel already starts at a disadvantage for me, seen most of it before. I love Warcraft 2 as well, 3 I lost interest and was into Age of Empires and Command & Conquer instead. Which I also 'quit' after the first 2 in those franchises. Just like Valve, 3 is a tough number fro me lol. It sometimes backfires, or rather keeps good things for later. I didn't play MGS3 until after MGS4 got me back in the franchise (I started MGS3 on ps2, quit after 2 hours) and now think MGS3 is the best of the series.
