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Beat/worst is all relative, not sure I can say. But I can say franchises that I liked and those I didn’t (harder, as I mostly ignore those I didn’t care for).
My favourite franchise departures are easily Super Mario Bros 3, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario Galaxy, Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Dragon Quest 9, and Breath of the Wild.
• Super Mario Bros 3 added maps and really felt like an adventure. I suppose the series was only a few years at this point, but over a decade if you include the Jumpman era.
• DKC updated the franchise to SMB3 style and added CGI rendered graphics that gave the series a real cinematic flair.
• Super Mario Galaxy’s gravity effects and more interesting level design was the first time I loved 3D Mario.
• Xenoblade Chronicles (which I consider the 5th game in this spiritual franchise) really opened up the locations after Xenosaga’s more corridor focused experience - and this was very fresh after Xenosaga Episode 2 and 3 particularly.
• Xenoblade Chronicles X was the first properly open world game that I enjoyed (not including some sandbox titles, like Minecraft and simulation/strategy game type things) and seemed like the proper direction for Xeno-games. I did not enjoy the XC2 regression.
• Dragon Quest 9 added in multiplayer and a massive post-game which dwarfed the main game (it might be that 80%+ of the game is in the post), making DQ9 one of my most played and loved games of all time. Though, are any of the DQ games really a departure when every game is a departure?
• Breath of the Wild brought all of what I liked from XCX’s open world design (minus the RPG elements), and added in polish and sandbox elements that really made it what I’ve always wanted in a Zelda game, and more. The first Zelda game I’ve loved since Link to the Past.
The ones I wasn’t too keen on that stick out include Final Fantasy 12, Mario 64 (but more so Sunshine), Ocarina of Time (but more so win Celda/Wind Waker - so I agree with Curl on the Celda stuff), and Metroid Prime, Dragon Quest 6, again with 7, and again with 8 - but all these games have loads of fans. Not too much to say on them, they just weren’t my bag.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
