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Happy belated 10th anniversary, Plants Vs. Zombies!

Deleted member 5853

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
12,725
I didn't see a thread about this, but I was inspired by that fence zombies thread to check out the banger that was:


And I was shocked to find that the 10th anniversary of PvZ was 3 weeks ago! I have really fond memories of the game since it was one of the first games I remember playing on mobile devices. I spent a lot of time playing the game, and not a whole lot getting good at it, evidenced by the fact I never beat the final level.

Even though the franchise is dormant and the mainline series when the F2P route, I think the original is a gaming classic and really solidified PopCap's status when it came to making fun and innovative games. Shame the company hasn't really done a whole lot since PvZ: Garden Warfare 2.

But, yeah, share your PvZ memories down below.
 
DoradoWinston

DoradoWinston

Member
Apr 9, 2019
6,235
in the last year or so my dad and I played thru PvZ on 360 (we used Xbox One BC tho).

Its not the first time he has played a game since I grew up with them (and he really enjoys Age of Empires! which is how I got into falling in love with AOE) but it was the first time I can say for sure he has finished a video game from start to finish.
It was great, mom was out of town so when he was home from work I cooked dinner and we played PvZ on the tv.

Thanks for the amazing memories PopCap!
 
milkyway

milkyway

One Winged Slayer
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May 17, 2018
3,012
One of the only mobile games I actually enjoyed playing, in a genre I'd normally hate. Congrats to it.
 
Richietto

Richietto

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,071
North Carolina
10 years? Lordy! The sequel was soooo disappointing. Just something about it made me quit after like a chapter or however the game handled progression.
 
jiggle

jiggle

Member
Dec 23, 2017
4,511
The original was sooo good
Even my mum completed it

The follow ups were EAed :/
 
Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule

Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule

Alt Account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
506
My cousin became addicted to this game when i introduced it to her back in 2010. Pretty sure she hasn't played a (non mobile) videogame since then. Shame the sequels got EAd
 
kittens

kittens

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,237
Damn I remember playing loads of PvZ and Drop7 back in the day on my iPod Touch.

Edit : Yeah, the sequel was really disappointing. I was actually talking about PvZ 1 and 2 with my friend's kids (13 and 11) the other day and we were all commiserating about how bad PvZ 2 is lol
 
RochHoch

RochHoch

One Winged Slayer
Member
May 22, 2018
18,978
Damn shame that PvZ never got a proper follow up.

Fucking EA ruining everything they touch.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5853

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
12,725
Yeah, if there's one thing I have to mourn about the franchise, it is the number EA did on it. I know that there are big fans of the shooter spin-offs, but none of them were really what I wanted. I would have honestly been kinda happy to see the franchise continue on being small well-done RTS games, but instead EA made the decision to make the game into a freemium nightmare in the era when every EA mobile game was a freemium nightmare.

I hope one day that someone manages to make a spiritual successor to this since I doubt we will never get a true reboot/sequel to PvZ.
 
Captain of Outer Space

Captain of Outer Space

Come Sale Away With Me
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Oct 28, 2017
11,415
This is probably my favorite game of all time. I've beaten it on PC, Vita, DS, iOS, Android, Xbox 360, and PS3.

The composer Laura Shigihara had a big 10th anniversary livestream where she talked about the game, the music, and played a bunch of it throughout the stream:

 
Zalman

Zalman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,896
I played this game on PC the first time. I got hooked. It's addicting, colorful and the music is fantastic. The fall of PopCap still disappoints me. Their games were incredibly charming, and there's still no one like them.
 

Adventureracing

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
8,055
Incredible game and one of my all time favourites. As with everyone else I wish it got a proper sequel.

Popcap really were the king of addictive little games back then. Peggle and plants vs zombies were almost like modern versions of minesweeper or other little flash based games. Only more addictive and fleshed out.

Amazing how fast time goes playing them.
 
Virtua Sanus

Virtua Sanus

Member
Nov 24, 2017
6,492
Absolutely brilliant game. Easily my GOTY of 2009. I do not think I would have ever bothered much with PC gaming if it was not for this game Trojan horsing me, and that is wild to think considering I am basically PC only nowadays.

Really, really disappointed EA squandered the franchise like they did. It honestly deservs to be considered one of the all-time gaming classics.
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
21,467
Still one of my all-time favourite casual games, tower defense games, and also one of the most brilliant PopCap games (and those guys made stuff like Bejeweled, Zuma, Insaniquarium and then some, so they're not exactly bad normally) ever made. I used to chat with some dev back in the day, too, it was a great time over there as they were spawning excellent casual games on a regular basis. I played this game on just about any platform: PC digitally, I bought the disc, I have it for 360, played it on mobile, even on the DS. Such a shame it never got a proper sequel without mobile grind, and PopCap's turning to shit under EA is such a fucking tragedy. I mean, I loved Garden Warfare, but the fact they stopped making proper games from their franchises, instead going for uninspired and limited sequels first (Peggle 2) and horrible mobile episodes that mantain nothing of the originals' qualities (Bejeweled, PvZ and Peggle again) is so damn disheartening. I'll probably play Garden Warfare 3 if that's what's coming from them, but I totally miss their old school 20$ casual games :(
 
oofouchugh

oofouchugh

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,990
Night City
Loved the original, and a big fan of the Garden Warfare games despite the awful monetization and player progression systems. Honestly depressed as hell thinking about the next Garden Warfare game being a f2p Battle Royal game. Good things just aren't meant to last.
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

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Oct 25, 2017
76,219
Providence, RI
Skittles said:
Really wish we got a sequel
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exodus said:
Such a shame it never got a proper sequel.
Click to expand...
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Er...

PVZ2.jpg
 
Glass Arrows

Glass Arrows

Member
Jan 10, 2019
1,414
I was thinking about this game again today, had no idea the anniversary was a few weeks ago.

I think it's a tremendous game. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it; it's a casual game that is very easy for anyone to pick up and play, but still has a lot of appeal and enough depth for a "hardcore gamer" to get a lot out of it. It's a balance that I don't think I've seen any other game nail as well as this one.


Not to mention the great art direction and Laura Shigihara's excellent music... it really was a very special game. I've heard some of the shooter spinoffs are quite decent, but they're not exactly what i would have liked. I have never played PvZ2 but everything I've seen and heard make it look like a giant disappoontment, a perfect example of EA taking something perfect and ruining it via their corporate greed.
 
Blackpuppy

Blackpuppy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,228
I played and beat the DS version. In terms of graphics and sound, it wasn't great but I loved playing it on that system with its stylus.

A shame the sequel was pretty terrible.
 
Zalman

Zalman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,896
Blackpuppy said:
I played and beat the DS version. In terms of graphics and sound, it wasn't great but I loved playing it on that system with its stylus.
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I've been interested in trying the DS version for the stylus controls. I might do it one day. It's a shame it didn't come out on the 3DS instead for better visuals and sound. Actually, the Wii U would have been perfect.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,125
Belated happy birthday*

Original PvZ is amazing. Ome of the best games I've ever played, honestly, mobile or not.

I spent hours growing my Zen Garden. I think I need to reinstall.

Sequel was awful, they made it far too complex. In this case, less was absolutely more.

Ome of those rare gems that comes around where it just happens to be a simple, perfect little game.
 
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winstein

winstein

Member
Oct 28, 2017
593
Malaysia
PopCap's games are generally great, but what is pretty fascinating in hindsight is how Plants vs Zombies ended up being the prime IP for Popcap in the present, as opposed to Bejeweled, since after EA took over PopCap, Plants vs. Zombies games are primarily being made from them. As for Bejeweled, I attribute its fading popularity to Candy Crush, which essentially took over Bejeweled as the match-3 game. I think Plants vs Zombies is positioned to stay unique because there is nothing quite like it, namely its unique take on tower defence and the battle pairing of two unlikely things (plants going against a zombie horde). This premise even has potential for a lot of great ideas, and one where a sequel is viable.

The premise of Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time is not bad, because there's a lot that could be done. It did have a lot going for it, namely the new types of plants and zombies, plus new challenges. I didn't quite like how this game is designed around being free: the game becomes far challenging on a normal playthrough, plus some plant options are paid unlockables. It did live up to its potential as a sequel, but with too many things I didn't like that I didn't bother playing on my own (though I did play my cousin's save to check the game out).

Regarding EA, while I do agree that their influence is detrimental to PopCap as a whole, I thought that an account of a former employee is interesting:
I worked at PopCap from 2006-2011, left a few months before the buyout. As much as I don't like EA - in this case it wasn't EA at all. The cultural lights were in the process of going out at that company when I left - it was the reason I left.

The company was gearing up to be sold for about a year before I left, cancelled every non-sequel non-mobile title in prototyping or development. Large expansion of teams working on the fb games and tried to pivot (too late) to mobile games. But the culture was in turmoil - half the company yearned for the popcap dev cycles of old that took their time and invested fun in every nook and cranny of the game (even if it took 4 years: see PvZ), and half the company was being looking at Bejeweled Blitz and how to expand and replicate that. It became a mobile milk the franchise dev studio before EA bought them - explicitly to get the buyout it wanted, which happened to go to EA.

From what I know from friends afterwards, EA wanted continued success and definitely held the team at PopCap accountable after buying it -but the lack of success was far more from dev culture being all over the place and lack of vision as the talent drain accelerated as golden handcuffs and specific timed bonus payouts happened.
Click to expand...
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Essentially the fading golden touch within PopCap is due to their own culture struggles, but PopCap positioned themselves to be bought by a bigger company through their popular online games (such as Bejeweled Blitz), and as we all know, EA was the one.

Thank you for reading.
 
Lucifonz

Lucifonz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,133
United Kingdom
Would love to see a PvZ3 even though it's unlikely to ever happen outside of being a mobile follow up to 2.

Hoping for PvZ Garden Warfare 3 this year though, I adored 2.
 
Alyssa

Alyssa

Member
Oct 27, 2017
291
Belgium
One of the best tower defense games, so simple and yet fun.
Finished it on Xbox 360, PS Vita, PC & Mobile.

It's a shame what happened to PvZ2, because it looks great, but the P2W mechanics ruined everything.
 
Blackpuppy

Blackpuppy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,228
Zalman said:
I've been interested in trying the DS version for the stylus controls. I might do it one day. It's a shame it didn't come out on the 3DS instead for better visuals and sound. Actually, the Wii U would have been perfect.
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Yeah! WiiU or even Switch in portable mode.

I feel like the 3DS's second bottom screen suffered when they made the decision to go with a bigger top screen and in 3d to boot. The balance of the two identical screens of the DS was gone and all we got were much more classic games with the second screen used for maps or item selections.
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,784
This thread made me go back to PvZ on Steam, getting enormous frame drops from time to time (mostly between stages, definitly not during). Is there a fix for it?
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,125
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

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Oct 25, 2017
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astro said:
It absolutely did suck. Look at the responses in this thread. It was pay to win garbage and overly convoluted the aqseomly simple play of the origi al.

Awful game.
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Yes, responses in a gaming forum thread are never hyperbolic and always telling of reality.

Again, the first was better. But it doesn't have an 86 on Metacritic because it's "garbage." The P2W stuff was crap, the game as a whole was't.
 
Fliesen

Fliesen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,260
ZeoVGM said:
The proper sequel which was actually pretty well received (8's and 9's from most critics), despite the in-app purchases.


The first was better. But it certainly got a sequel and it didn't suck.
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The sequel sucked. Consumables, microtransactions, a silly overworld instead of a proper 'story mode'.
It was only reviewed well because the core of the game - the PvZ concept itself - is still amazing. Anything the sequel didn't lit from the original, but added on top was garbage.

The original PvZ was perfection.
 
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