Live or Die, the Divine Edition: A discussion game

[SuperSmash5U]

Note this is hypothetical and will never happen, so please do not go into full panic mode, the whole World War III thing was just something I wanted to use as an excuse for a goddess to alter history in this way, it is a mandatory evil needed to save the world.

 

I got the idea for this game from a reader mail that was read on Game Informer's most recent podcast where the mail asked the crew to kill a series forever and let another get away scot-free. This gave me an interesting idea for a discussion about your favorite game series. I am not biased, one of the choices is between two game series I really love.

The premise: A goddess appears before you and tells you that all of the human race will be destroyed in two months because Trump will start World War III and nuclear holocaust will erupt all over the world, wiping out human beings. This goddess has the power to save the human race, but at a severe cost: She must go back in time and erase several video game franchises from existence, altering history so that they were never created in the first place. In other words, all of the games in a video game franchise and every piece of information about those games will be removed as if they had never been created, the idea for those games will be snuffed out before they could become games. The series she listed must be erased from history, but not all of them: She is giving you the choice to decide the fate of those series. She'll give a list of choices between two game series, and one of them must be chosen to be erased from existence. This includes all media connected to them, including all the trophies you have earned for those games if they have trophies or achievements - they will disappeas because you will have never played the game and earned those trophies in this alternate history.

 

You MUST choose from the list of choices and not regret making those choices. So, out of these choices, which of these games will you choose to have erased from history and not exist? These are not one-shot games like Celeste, they are entire series of games, well-established series. And you cannot choose your own option, you must choose between one of the two choices in each part of the list.

 

(1) Final Fantasy OR Dragon Quest
(2) Kingdom Hearts OR Dark Cloud
(3) Super Smash Brothers OR Mortal Kombat
(4) Sly Cooper OR Ratchet and Clank
(5) Crash Bandicoot OR Spyro the Dragon
(6) Call of Duty OR Battlefield
(7) Fallout OR Elder Scrolls
(8) Pokemon OR Monster Hunter
(9) Dangaronpa OR Shin Megami Tensei (this also includes Persona by association)
(10) Neptunia OR Sengen Kagura
(11) Life is Strange OR The Walking Dead
(12) Legend of Zelda OR Mario

 

To make it easier for you to decide, I'll give my choice for which series in the list I would choose to be erased from history.

 

1. Final Fantasy. While it means that Squaresoft would have ended up bankrupt and closing its doors in 1989(Final Fantasy was their ace in the hole after being a bad game company for ten years) and by nature Kingdom Hearts never getting created, I'd rather lose Squaresoft than Enix, which made a ton of great adventures for the Super Nintendo and would have supported them more fully and gotten Dragon Quest V and VI to be localized. Not to say I hate the remakes for the DS but I feel like Dragon Quest needed more support in America. Dragon Warrior IV was my first Dragon Quest game and I loved it despite the soul-crushing difficulty, while Final Fantasy was meh. If I had no choice but to sacrifice one of these great JRPG series, it would have to be Final Fantasy. If you want to make it easier on yourself, I didn't like most of the games except for Final Fantasy IV(II America), VIII and XII.
2. Kingdom Hearts: This is not really a choice I would have liked to make but from (1), Squaresort would die and therefore they would have never met Disney Co. and gotten the idea for Kingdom Hearts in the first place. I'm not saying that this story would have not be possible, but it would have been a different Disney beast and Sora would probably have not been Sora but some lion-kid anthromorph wielding a chainsaw. So by retro, erasing Final Fantasy would erase Kingdom Hearts and would have allowed Dark Cloud to continue with Dark Cloud 3 and 4. If you have never played Dark Cloud or Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle, you owe yourself a favor to download these ports from the PSN store. It's a shame that the series died after the second game because it had such potential with its world-building Georama mechanics and action-based combat with dungeon exploration. But Kingdom Hearts devoured it.
3. Super Smash Brothers: Another choice I had to think about, but after watching a game theory video discussing what the whole World of Light story was about and it being connected to Sakurai "setting the spirits free", I realized that the poor man probably wished he had never gotten into the industry since he was getting more and more ill with each Smash game. I am glad he has retired because Ultimate probably took away most of his lifespan. I know Nintendo is a harsh mistress but I never expected it to be this tough on a single man. I just deleted SSBU off of my Switch because I am not giving it the best attention. While I am not into the ultra violent Mortal Kombat series, I know erasing the fan base of that series is a sin because those games do not promote violence, they curb violence by making people violently destroy digital characters.
4. Sly Cooper: I did enjoy the game series but I don't think I will be platinuming them an umpteenth time. After trying out the first game again, I got bored with it. Ratchet and Clank still has some cool charm, especially the movie tie-in. I hope that whoever takes the license up will reboot the other two games in the original trilogy, Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal. As for the thief raccoon, well, he's trapped in Ancient Egypt now.
5. Crash Bandicoot: Well, have to be biased once. After playing through the Spyro Reignited trilogy twice, I really enjoy the games. I hope that Toys for Bob will remake the GBA games in 3D and redeem A Hero's Tail. Not really into the edgey Legacy arc for the purple dragon but I am not really a fan of Crash Bandicoot despite the N.Sane Trilogy's remastery.
6. Call of Duty: I am not into either series, but Call of Duty is my pick as I think that the creators are just milking everyone for $$$$ now.
7. Fallout: Sorry, Betheseda, but you will have to erase your post-apocalytpic nonsense from existence after the shame that was 76. I'm not saying an MMO Fallout game is bad PR, but you have to do a lot of work to make an MMO of a single player campaign work. Skyrim has gotten a lot more love with modders.
8. Monster Hunter: With Pokemon Sword/Shield revealed, my love for the little pocket critters is being revived as a Heartless. To be fair, I have Monster Hunter World on tap but... not really sure I care about it much to save it from being deleted. The cat chef is cool but you can only watch him grill up a serpent steak so many times before you started skipping the cutscene.
9. Dangaronpa: I know a lot of people will cease to remember the sadistic teddy bear called Momokuma, but I want to give Persona a chance again after the lead of Persona 5 was revealed to be a Smash character in SSBU. Also, I loved watching the cutscenes of Persona 5 Golden and actually having my lead have a harem of girlfriends with some of the best girls in Persona(Chie, Yukiko, Rise, and Marie), so I'd love to see a Persona 6, maybe with a female lead to shake things up.
10. Sengen Kagura: Neptunia is hard to play but the characters are funny and cool. I admit that erasing the super-sexy ninjas in Sengen is probably going to be a hot debate but Neptunia has its fair share of panty shots.
11. Life is Strange: I played the first Life is Strange and hated myself for it because I hate games that make you feel bad for the heroes. Max did not deserve the fate she got by inheriting time-rewind powers and my choice at the end was justified. I don't think I will bother with Life is Strange 2. While I don't care about The Walking Dead as it's just a choose your fate series based on a TV series, I think that a lot of people work with that better.
12. Mario: Wow, why did I choose this when I have Super Mario Odyssey and played every game in the series? Well, I think Mario is overrated. Also, I know this is a loaded question because Zelda would have never came to be if Nintendo hadn't made Super Mario Brothers, but I would find a way to make Legend of Zelda appear because it's a very good adventure franchise and I enjoy the speedruns of Zelda more than Mario. Also, Princess Peach is holding back on her powers and affection for Mario while Zelda is a woman who isn't afraid to fight the evil who kidnaps her and flirt with Link.

Edited March 4, 2019 by SuperSmash5U

[Cassylvania]

Alright. I'll give it a shot. I'll erase...

1. Final Fantasy OR Dragon Quest. My experience with both franchises is pretty limited, but without FF, there could be no Kingdom Hearts. So, this is an easy one.
2. Kingdom Hearts OR Dark Cloud. Without Kingdom Hearts, there could be no Kingdom Hearts.
3. Super Smash Brothers OR Mortal Kombat. I have no idea why people like MK in the first place. Some of the stuff in those games makes me want to vomit.
4. Sly Cooper OR Ratchet and Clank. I haven't played any games in either of these series, but R&C looks more my style.
5. Crash Bandicoot OR Spyro the Dragon. I was never into Spyro. Crash is my boy.
6. Call of Duty OR Modern Warfare. I honestly thought these were the same franchise.
7. Fallout OR Elder Scrolls. Never played a Fallout game. Never wanted to.
8. Pokemon OR Monster Hunter. Without Pokemon, I may have never gotten into gaming. I'd probably be...scrapbooking now or something.
9. Dangaronpa OR Shin Megami Tensei (this also includes Persona by association). Never heard of either, but I want to play Persona someday.
10. Neptunia OR Sengen Kagura. What are these? A quick Google search tells me we'd be okay without either.
11. Life is Strange OR The Walking Dead. Years later, I remember LiS vividly. Don't remember much about another-zombie-game.
12. Legend of Zelda OR Mario. This is a hard one. I love Zelda, but I didn't grow up with it...and outside of Majora's Mask or A Link in Time, I don't think I'd miss much. If this was a question about which series I'd kill now, though, it'd be Mario hands-down.

No offense to anybody who likes the franchises I've erased from history. I have bad taste in games.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Kent10201]

1 hour ago, Cassylvania said:

Call of Duty OR Modern Warfare. I honestly thought these were the same franchise.

That’s cause they are. 

 

Other than Mortal Kombat v Super Smash Bros and Life is Strange v The Walking Dead I had the same choices. 

 

I’ve never understood why people like Smash Bros so much. If I’m reading correctly The Walking Dead show would be erased as well and that would essentially erase nearly ten years of my life so I’m keeping that as well. . 

[SuperSmash5U]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Alright. I'll give it a shot. I'll erase...

1. Final Fantasy OR Dragon Quest. My experience with both franchises is pretty limited, but without FF, there could be no Kingdom Hearts. So, this is an easy one.
2. Kingdom Hearts OR Dark Cloud. Without Kingdom Hearts, there could be no Kingdom Hearts.
3. Super Smash Brothers OR Mortal Kombat. I have no idea why people like MK in the first place. Some of the stuff in those games makes me want to vomit.
4. Sly Cooper OR Ratchet and Clank. I haven't played any games in either of these series, but R&C looks more my style.
5. Crash Bandicoot OR Spyro the Dragon. I was never into Spyro. Crash is my boy.
6. Call of Duty OR Modern Warfare. I honestly thought these were the same franchise.
7. Fallout OR Elder Scrolls. Never played a Fallout game. Never wanted to.
8. Pokemon OR Monster Hunter. Without Pokemon, I may have never gotten into gaming. I'd probably be...scrapbooking now or something.
9. Dangaronpa OR Shin Megami Tensei (this also includes Persona by association). Never heard of either, but I want to play Persona someday.
10. Neptunia OR Sengen Kagura. What are these? A quick Google search tells me we'd be okay without either.
11. Life is Strange OR The Walking Dead. Years later, I remember LiS vividly. Don't remember much about another-zombie-game.
12. Legend of Zelda OR Mario. This is a hard one. I love Zelda, but I didn't grow up with it...and outside of Majora's Mask or A Link in Time, I don't think I'd miss much. If this was a question about which series I'd kill now, though, it'd be Mario hands-down.

No offense to anybody who likes the franchises I've erased from history. I have bad taste in games.

 

I agree with you that Kingdom Hearts should stay because it's a great series, it's just that I like Dragon Quest a lot. That doesn't help my cause that I played lots of re:Chain of Memories instead of Dragon Quest XI.

 

This is just a hypothetical discussion, it is not meant to say anything about games in general. I just got the idea from a podcast where the reader mail gave a question about what franchise you would put down if you had the power to do so. I wanted to take it further and see what would happen if you had to remove the history of a game franchise completely. And I admit that I didn't really think about the first two choices very well. Of course Kingdom Hearts would not really exist without Squaresoft. The Disney crossover didn't really happen until Squaresoft bunked with Disney in the same office building.

 

Could Kingdom Hearts exist without Disney properties? Probably, if this fanfic has anything to say about it. Would it exist without Squaresoft? Probably not, or at least it would be a different game. I don't think any other company could have handled Sora's adventures as well, but that's another idea for another thread.

 

The only reason I like Smash was because of the Nintendo characters. If they had made an RPG involving these characters instead of a fighting game, I would have enjoyed it more.

[jemmie]

Most of these were easy picks.

 

1. Final Fantasy - I liked the one DQ game I played, so I'd rather keep that.

2. Kingdom Hearts - I know nothing about Dark Cloud, but a world without KH is a better world indeed.

3. Mortal Kombat - MK is an alright series, but I've made too many good memories with SSB to wipe it off the face of the Earth.

4. Ratchet and Clank - This was one of the harder picks, mostly because not choosing Sly Cooper means letting Bentley stay in this world. Overall though, the Sly Cooper series is fairly good, and R&C isn't good enough in comparison to keep.

5. Crash Bandicoot - I haven't played either of these series, so this choice means next to nothing. I'm just ever so slightly more intrigued in playing Spyro (though I'll likely play neither series).

6. Modern Warfare - Again, I've made too many fond memories with CoD to see it go.

7. Elder Scrolls - I'm not a fan of either series, but Skyrim is one of my least favorite games of all time, so the choice is obvious here.

8. Monster Hunter - Again, too many fond memories of Pokémon were made to erase this series.

9. Shin Megami Tensei - Look at my avatar, and the choice should be clear.

10. Sengen Kagura - HDN is a great series, and I haven't played Sengen Kagura. I doubt I'd like it more though.

11. The Walking Dead - If you have some free time, go to my trophy checklist and give my entry on TWD a read. My choice should be clear after that.

12. Legend of Zelda - I've played too many fantastic Mario games to see the series go.

[SuperSmash5U]

I apologize for the misunderstanding on one option - I forgot that Modern Warfare was a Call of Duty so I fixed that. Feel free to alter your responses.

57 minutes ago, jemmie said:

Final Fantasy - I liked the one DQ game I played, so I'd rather keep that.

That's great. You love Dragon Quest too!

 

58 minutes ago, jemmie said:

Kingdom Hearts - I know nothing about Dark Cloud, but a world without KH is a better world indeed.

On second thought, I redact my statement. Yeah, I am a Kingdom Hearts fanboy and they made mistakes but I love them, just started KH3 and love it so far.