A quick question regarding large game series...

[merikuru]

Okay, so as we all know, there are some DAMN HUGE video game series...es...es...out there. The Phantasy Star franchise, the .hack franchise, the Final Fantasy franchise, etcetera. It gets a little too confusing to lump these all together under one "(name) series" heading, and so after talking it out a bit with branewurms, I think we've come up with a viable idea for preventing all of this from getting lumped together.

This is where you, o faithful writers, come into the picture. I'll explain the two choices we're kicking around, and you'll vote for one or the other, to be implemented next round. Also feel free to offer suggestions if you like!

Option 1: A separate top-level comment for each game in the series. Example: one comment for Final Fantasy IV, one for Final Fantasy VII, one for Final Fantasy XIII...you get the point. Advantage: each game is kept neatly separate. Disadvantage: mess of different top-level comments for what's basically the same thing*, especially if the franchise is HUGE.

Option 2: One single top-level comment for the entire series, with subheadings (second-level comments) for each game in the series. Example: one comment titled "Phantasy Star series", and then underneath that comment, leave second-level comments naming each game - Phantasy Star IV, Phantasy Star Portable, etcetera. It's basically Option 1 with the addition of a single heading that brings the whole series together. Advantage: groups all the games in the series together, but still keeps them separate. Disadvantage: might be rather confusing, and some of us would probably forget to do it.

So, which would you guys rather have done? And if I haven't made something clear, do feel free to ask. God knows my mind isn't the sharpest tack in the box today.

(* cypher made a very good point - I phrased this rather badly. Not all games within a franchise tend to be the same, set in the same world and with the same characters and all; it was more of a blanket statement, when I know damn well that the most that games within a franchise tend to share is a similar bit of title. My sincerest apologies - I didn't mean to confuse anyone!)

Comments

[cypher]

I would disagree with the "basically the same thing" premise. I mean...apart from being financed and developed by the same people, games in a franchise often don't share much. Tales of Legendia and Tales of Vesperia, or Final Fantasy IV and XIII, etc., are set on different worlds, have no overlapping cast, are played on different systems...

So I guess that makes me a solid vote for option 1. ^^;

[merikuru]

I phrased that a bit badly; my apologies. I know they're not often the same except for a shared bit of title, it was more of a blanket statement than anything.

Vote noted - thank you for responding!

[cypher]

I always feel like it's sort of a tricky line to sort out, especially since different franchises do different things. Like, Final Fantasy games are usually totally distinct (barring sequels and weirdness), but everything in the Suikoden or Star Ocean series is part of the same timeline, even if they deal with different people & places, and then there's Kingdom Hearts, which just -- I don't even know how all the pieces of that one are supposed to relate anymore.

Which is a long way of saying that it's a pain, yes, and you have my sympathy on tangling with it!

[merikuru]

Exactly - where do you draw the line as to what should be grouped and what shouldn't? Arrrgh. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

But I suppose I'm just crazy enough to try and deal with it. *heh*

Sympathy is very much appreciated. *slouches* Dear god. It drives me totally nutso.

[electric_butterfly]

What I did was something like this:

FF7--Crisis Core

Instead of saying Final Fantasy 7 Compilation.

With Kingdom Hearts though, I don't see anything wrong with Kingdom Hearts series since all the games are pretty "close" anyway.

Something like that.

[merikuru]

Yeah, I saw that, found it quite clever really - but that doesn't quite answer the question, am I to go ahead and put down a vote for option 1 for you then?

[electric_butterfly]

Sure, go right ahead.

[merikuru]

Okay, thanks. :3