Alot of the time we as gamers spend hyping up a game that we want. We'll watch all the trailers, see the gameplay videos and demos, and gaze in amazement. And when the hype is at an all time high, we all wish that the game itself could be as good as the hype that surrounds it. And when the game does come out, it's met with one of two reactions: total dissapointment or high praise. Everyone should be familiar with how hype can ruin a game and caused a game to be received negatively. But even when a game gets high praises and said to have meet up with the hype, I always find that it's not true.

This goes back to the old saying that we spend more time wanting something than actually using it. We spend more time wanting a game, and hyping it, raising the expectation to epic proportions, than actually playing the game when we do get it. How many months do we spend wanting a game, as oppossed to the time we actually spend playing it? With all the hype, we expect a game to be epic, to last us a long time. Sure we might enjoy a good game for a couple of hours, but it still doesn't reach that high bar that we've set up for it. This is why I think that games such as MGS4 and FF13 (two games being hyped as "saviour of the PS3"), even though they will probably be good games, will still be somewhat dissapointing to the people that waits for them. It's impossible to be as good as we make it out or want it to be.

This is why I try to not expect much from any game, and just wait for them to come out. If I spend too much time waiting, when I do get it, I'll probably just be dissapointed in one way or another.

Normally, a game is either rated as Overrated(usually the more mainstream ones) or Underrated (the lesser known games) by gamers. A game or game series is either labelled as one of those two, and maybe some might say it's deserving of it's popularity. No one will ever call Halo or Half Life underrated. But Dynasty Warriors seems to fall somewhere in between.

Dynasty Warriors is a franchise as popular as Final Fantasy and Resident evil in Japan, while doing badly in sales in America, and being constantly bashed on by game critics. Those who see Dynasty Warriors getting praised say that the series is overrated and doesn't deserve to be treated as a "work of art" (from one of the comments on this site) while those who read the bad reviews for the games say that the series is underrated and that they're one of the few people who likes it.

So in general, the series seems to be the one to receive the most mixed reaction. Hate it or love it, what are your opinions on the popularity of the series? Does it deserve more recognition or is it too popular for a game of its kind?

As a new member to the site, I'd like to start of with an issue that I've seen in gaming these days. People are normally always saying how a game series have been always almost the same with every installments, and how they want a bit of innovation. This never mattered to those who are aleady fans though, as they'll keep buying even if the series stays the same. When the sereis does receive a big change, the non-fans become fans and praise its innovation, while the "true fans" complains about how it doesn't feel like a [insert game series here] game anymore.

This is apparent with two series I've been a fan of. The Dynasty Warriors series have always been bashed on by other gamers as being almost always the same game from 3-6, with monor gameplay changes. Yet the fans loved every bit of it and continue to buy them. In fact, they actually want the gameplay to remain the same. The Resident Evil series is the opposite. While most of the series is the same, Resident Evil 4 came and completely changes how the series plays. This is praised by critics and the series became widely accepted even to those who never liked RE before. But the reactions is opposite for the fans. Most of those who were fans of the old RE actually considered RE4 to be the worst of the series and say how it's not "a true RE game".

People want to see something new from a series, but when something new comes, older fans find it hard to accept. This is probably why when a game franchise becomes an established name, they do nothing to change the core gameplay, only adding new features here and there. When something works, they stick to it instead of trying something new, afraid that it might alienate older fans. What do you guys think?

PS: I'm not complaining about the 2 games mentioned above, I'm a fan of both.