My first true love was Pokemon Yellow for the gameboy color. It was the most iconic thing in my childhood and made it what it was, in fact I still have it hidden away for the day when I finally lose my mind altogether and the only thing I am still capable of doing is mashing buttons and seeing colours. The next couple of generations of pokemon games had me in the same hypnotic, sleep deprived state as the first, up until the remake of the original series. Then I had a sudden realisation that made me quite sad.
The games had not changed. Through the entire series there has been very little difference between the first game I played and the last. Sure! There is better graphics now, a few new moves, not to mention enough new and unexplained pokemon to make Darwin's theory of evolution look like the biggest load of BS since Alice in Wonderland. But no new gameplay changes (that weren't bike or shoe related), no new ways to play, nothing that made your head explode with excitement. I played one of the newest generation of games too, and still, nothing has changed with the exception of a group of slightly worse pokemon that should never have been created.
The games had not changed. Through the entire series there has been very little difference between the first game I played and the last. Sure! There is better graphics now, a few new moves, not to mention enough new and unexplained pokemon to make Darwin's theory of evolution look like the biggest load of BS since Alice in Wonderland. But no new gameplay changes (that weren't bike or shoe related), no new ways to play, nothing that made your head explode with excitement. I played one of the newest generation of games too, and still, nothing has changed with the exception of a group of slightly worse pokemon that should never have been created.
Its a problem a lot of series, which is why games like Final Fantasy take a different approach. They have made, give or take a few, eighty three billion games since they started up, and every single one (with the exception of the spin-off tower defence games, god they were awful) was brilliantly entertaining with a colourful world, memorable characters, and fantastic gameplay, and they're all popular too. However, the only reason the games stay so fresh is that the games are almost completely different, the only running feature of each game are the moogles, which change from time to time, and the combat system, which also varies quite a bit in the way it works, and sometimes isn't there at all (crystal chronicles games).
Don't get me wrong though, for all the series that are just carbon copies of the previous instalment, and the "series" that are not alike in any way, there are just as many that actually develop and progress through time, such as Halo and Bioshock. So, even though series all seem like the same game, just remember there are some that actually ARE worth buying.
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