I’m looking at you Metal Gear.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, so here’s a small little discussion topic…

With the recent release of Devil May Cry 5 and it absolutely blowing my mind with how good it is on all fronts, I thought to myself that the series can end right now and I wouldn’t even mind. That it could be the final Devil May Cry game that fans had wanted after DMC4 had received such mixed reception, and no other game had to come afterwards… And DMC5 did something really smart with how it ended, where it is just vague enough to either end right there, set up a sequel or even set up a spin-off of some kind.

And all of these options are in the realm of possibility and I wouldn’t mind as long as the games that come after it are good… And that’s the main problem, right? If the next game that does come out turns out to be another Devil May Cry 4 or God forbid another Devil May Cry 2 situation, then the series will once again be tarnished in some kind of way.

So when is it a good time to stop a series? Another example I like to use is Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid is a series that could’ve ended by the first one, and Kojima wanted it all to be over by the second… Then game after game the final true Metal Gear Solid game ended up being V: The Phantom Pain, which in my opinion tarnishes the series more than it does good for it, as the series had a perfect conclusion by the end of Snake Eater and didn’t need any further explanations to what happens in the story. Then Guns of The Patriots comes out which was at least tackling a different time in the story and giving it a very definitive send off, people are extremely mixed on 4 but I personally adore it cause of all the fan-service and stupid shit, but I digress.

Peace Walker still also has more of a place in the story than V does as it tackles the subjects that V was supposedly going to talk about while being extremely subtle about it such as Big Boss’ descent into villainy.

Metal Gear is a franchise that is for me at least, slightly tarnished with the inclusion of the fifth entry.

Then there are games that can keep going forever such as Call of Duty, or maybe Borderlands, as they are more about gameplay and just the experience the game provides rather than the story. If Borderlands 3 comes out and keeps the same formula, and has a much worse story, I don’t think that a lot of people would even be bothered by it since there is no expectation of it in that regard.

But then again, Devil May Cry 2 also had the worst gameplay known to man and it could’ve easily ended the entire franchise right then and there…

Another series that doesn’t really get affected by this is Final Fantasy as that series had a long run of games, spin-offs and all kinds of other media and yet it has stayed consistent with releasing games due to the nature of them not being too tied together to each other. This allows people to not even be invested with the franchise as a whole but maybe only a one or two games within it.

As I’m writing this I still am extremely divided on a lot of series, and when they should stop adding sequels or anything to add onto it as to not ruin what is something people enjoy. And as I’m writing this I understand how much of a whiney bitch I sound like right now so I’m gonna end it here. I would really like people who read this article to give their thoughts on the subject as well, so we can start a discussion as this can branch off to a lot of other things.

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