I feel like Naughty Dog has done this with every series. Jak ramped up story-wise, and Crash Warped is an extremely refined version of 2. Although I suppose you could argue the fact with Uncharted 2 Vs. 3. I just remember more about 3 I suppose.
Has any game series improved with every sequel?
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Gameplay-wise, my first choice would be Mass Effect. I'm not the first nor the last to admit that ME1's combat was total crap, biotics and Immunity were incredibly overpowered (especially if one played as a Vanguard with Immunity). ME2, while the gameplay was tightened to be more responsive, was tightened to the point of rigidity (certain classes were better in higher difficulties than others unless one went out of their way to give themselves a challenge). And with more weapons, the (re)introduction of weapon mods, a smaller roster of characters that didn't completely outshine one another (Miranda's skill set made anyone without an ammo power redundant, unless Shepard was a Sentinel) and a more flexible skill set, I daresay that ME3's combat was the best of the series. I'd much rather not talk about the story.
I will also mention the Bioshock series. Out the three, I would say that Infinite easily had the best gunplay and of course, visuals, of the series, but at the cost of ways to engage the enemy via alternative means if necessary. In the previous Bioshocks, I could let security drones deal with the mob of enemies that blocked my progression if my ammo and Eve were low, or in the case of Bioshock 2, I could (eventually) shove my drill up splicers' asses, as long as I had the fuel to keep it running, which wasn't a problem since it was plentiful and cheap.
Come to think of it, I've not played many series.
I will also mention the Bioshock series. Out the three, I would say that Infinite easily had the best gunplay and of course, visuals, of the series, but at the cost of ways to engage the enemy via alternative means if necessary. In the previous Bioshocks, I could let security drones deal with the mob of enemies that blocked my progression if my ammo and Eve were low, or in the case of Bioshock 2, I could (eventually) shove my drill up splicers' asses, as long as I had the fuel to keep it running, which wasn't a problem since it was plentiful and cheap.
Come to think of it, I've not played many series.
Civilization and Mass Effect series spring to mind here.. and the witcher (fingers crossed for the third one)
If we completely disregard story, the Saints Row series more or less improved greatly over the course of its 4 games last gen. Saints Row, was completely and utterly GTA clone dujour. Saints Row 2, was an open world crime game with several diverse and entertaining activities and storyline the player could get into without having played the original. It had a diverse cast of rather interesting people to play with and is one of my top 10 games. Saints Row the Third, was a huge let down for me personally story wise, before we go on, stop, stop trying to tell me Saints Row games were never about the story or the characters, saying that only proves to me you didn't play 2 all the way through. Mechanics and gameplay wise, it greatly improved on the formula and was quite enjoyable about 8 months later when I stopped giving a damn about the terrible plot/story elements/characters being nicked into the ether. Saints Row 4, is essentially the ultimate conclusion, based on the Johnny Gat Clone DLC, the super powers were a godsend in terms of changing up the game, it faltered at times by forcing you back to a "human" state for seemingly no reason to "up the stakes" but had a cast of characters that were more or less likeable, gameplay that was nearly the pinnacle of open world crime based game. And, well, it had Professor Genki 2.0, which was also pretty damn hilarious. All in all, Saints Row was, in my opinion, a series that grew and evolved with every iteration, even if the dev team were phoning it in a bit during development interviews and going for a "Zany" feel, ignoring the fact that the charm of 2 was that it was "weird and insane" in a setting that demanded seriousness.
I feel like the Jak games did that (assuming you only count the ones with numbers on them.) Every game vastly added to your arsenal of abilities and very rarely was anything taken away.
Though Jak 2 and 3 went a bit of a different direction than the first. I'm sure a few people would argue the first was better since it was designed as more of a Mario 64 collectathon where in the sequels the collecting was optional and unlocked cheats.
Though Jak 2 and 3 went a bit of a different direction than the first. I'm sure a few people would argue the first was better since it was designed as more of a Mario 64 collectathon where in the sequels the collecting was optional and unlocked cheats.
For me, Mass Effect definitely did this. The first game had absolutely fantastic writing, but it was a pain to play, and I struggle to make it through it every time I replay it, especially as the genius of the writing loses its luster with every playthrough. ME2 took a serious hit in the writing department, but it was still good enough to keep me interested in at least the characters. What it did was improve the combat so that it was actually playable, and I'd be lying to say it wasn't the game that finally sold me on Mass Effect, no matter how much I enjoyed the first's writing. And, to me, ME3 just felt like an improvement to ME2 in almost every way.
As a rule, I don't consider it a "series," as such, until at least 3 games are out, so...
Thus far, I've enjoyed every game in the SMT (Persona, etc) series, and feel they've gotten better with each iteration. I am not the biggest fan of a few of the titles, but they weren't BAD. I could see Sega (the new owners of Atlus) milking them a bit too much, and screwing it up slightly, but not as of yet.
Until the MMO came out, I would also add the Elder Scrolls to that list. Also, considering I never liked it originally, but snapped up the sequels, Saint's Row was also a good example.
Thus far, I've enjoyed every game in the SMT (Persona, etc) series, and feel they've gotten better with each iteration. I am not the biggest fan of a few of the titles, but they weren't BAD. I could see Sega (the new owners of Atlus) milking them a bit too much, and screwing it up slightly, but not as of yet.
Until the MMO came out, I would also add the Elder Scrolls to that list. Also, considering I never liked it originally, but snapped up the sequels, Saint's Row was also a good example.
Headsprouter said:
Back on Timesplitters though, it was great how even though they made the controls more similar to other shooters (mainly Halo) you could still change them to the classic Timesplitters controls with a shitload of auto-aim, reticule disabled and that weird free-aim zoom thingy (working well for newcomers and older fans). The only drawback I can think of about TS:FP is how the levels dont change depending on the difficulty (and maybe there could have been an unlockable cheat to have the weapons reload almost instantly like in previous games).
Other then that it just improved so much that even though the storymode of the 2 was fun (random timetravel adventures) the story of the third was so well made that it would be hard to trade it for more random timetravel adventures (even then there are still those challenges imitating the simplicity of the storymode of the previous games)
Fuck, those games were great, fuck you Haze!
The Hyperdimension Neptunia series, hands down.
Allow me to explain. The first game in the series was kind of a mess. Clunky and over-complicated mechanics, graphical issues and slowdown problems plagued the game, and the clever and humourous dialogue and interesting setting were brought down by poor pacing and disjointed side scenes. However, the premise alone made it really charming, and the characters in it, while not particularly deep, were quite endearing.
The second game in the series, Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk. 2, did away with the old dungeon and battle system, replacing them with newer, slightly more traditional ones that form a more cohesive experience. The graphical issues were improved, too, though it did still suffer from slowdown problems. The story also flowed much better and seemed to have an actual point to it. The character interactions were also greatly improved. However, it was very different in tone from the first game, opting to be significantly more serious. This is a problem because the zaniness was one of the things that the first game had in its favour. It also turned the main characters of Neptunia into side characters, replacing them in the spotlight with less charming and endearing, though possibly more believable, characters. It also replaced the dynamic character portraits from the first game with 3D character models, which, to be quite frank, didn't look nearly as good. All in all, significantly better technically, but lacked a lot of the charm that the first game had.
The third game, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, actually really pretty well. It carried over the battle system from Mk. 2, with some improvements that increased the flow of battle a lot. It's also pretty challenging at times. They also brought the original main characters back into the spotlight, in addition to the lead character from Mk. 2, and added some depth to them. It's tonally similar to the first game, and even brought back the character portraits. It improved the dialogue and character interactions even more then Mk. 2 did. They did relegate a few important supporting characters to mere side roles, though, and even got rid of a bunch of them entirely. It still has some issues with slowdown and game flow, however, and the dungeons are small and, in many cases, re-used from Mk. 2. While the changes to the battle system do streamline it, it reduces the potential amount of depth to it, though granted Mk. 2 didn't really do anything with it depth-wise in the first place. Overall, though, it's the best game in the series.
More or less, the constant improvement of the Neptunia series comes down to the developers trying new things and seeing which ones click, and changing and improving the things that they tried and didn't work, thus creating a series which, in a way, takes two steps forward and one step back with each iteration. While it does take that one step back with some of the changes, there are enough positive changes to make each game better than the last.
Allow me to explain. The first game in the series was kind of a mess. Clunky and over-complicated mechanics, graphical issues and slowdown problems plagued the game, and the clever and humourous dialogue and interesting setting were brought down by poor pacing and disjointed side scenes. However, the premise alone made it really charming, and the characters in it, while not particularly deep, were quite endearing.
The second game in the series, Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk. 2, did away with the old dungeon and battle system, replacing them with newer, slightly more traditional ones that form a more cohesive experience. The graphical issues were improved, too, though it did still suffer from slowdown problems. The story also flowed much better and seemed to have an actual point to it. The character interactions were also greatly improved. However, it was very different in tone from the first game, opting to be significantly more serious. This is a problem because the zaniness was one of the things that the first game had in its favour. It also turned the main characters of Neptunia into side characters, replacing them in the spotlight with less charming and endearing, though possibly more believable, characters. It also replaced the dynamic character portraits from the first game with 3D character models, which, to be quite frank, didn't look nearly as good. All in all, significantly better technically, but lacked a lot of the charm that the first game had.
The third game, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, actually really pretty well. It carried over the battle system from Mk. 2, with some improvements that increased the flow of battle a lot. It's also pretty challenging at times. They also brought the original main characters back into the spotlight, in addition to the lead character from Mk. 2, and added some depth to them. It's tonally similar to the first game, and even brought back the character portraits. It improved the dialogue and character interactions even more then Mk. 2 did. They did relegate a few important supporting characters to mere side roles, though, and even got rid of a bunch of them entirely. It still has some issues with slowdown and game flow, however, and the dungeons are small and, in many cases, re-used from Mk. 2. While the changes to the battle system do streamline it, it reduces the potential amount of depth to it, though granted Mk. 2 didn't really do anything with it depth-wise in the first place. Overall, though, it's the best game in the series.
More or less, the constant improvement of the Neptunia series comes down to the developers trying new things and seeing which ones click, and changing and improving the things that they tried and didn't work, thus creating a series which, in a way, takes two steps forward and one step back with each iteration. While it does take that one step back with some of the changes, there are enough positive changes to make each game better than the last.
I completely agree about the mechanics, it's just a shame that Kojima fancies himself more as a Hollywood director than a game designer...the ridiculously long expositions at the end of MGS2 meant I thought the original was a better game...also who wants to play as Raiden instead of Solid Snake?COMaestro said:
Narrative, writing, characters, etc. are pretty subjective for any series, but overall I'd go with Grand Theft Auto. It's been impressive how it continues to step up the game and keep delivering something even better.
But GTA V looks like a masterpiece, and it will make me anxious until the next release. GTA VI will either start a disappointing slide from perfection or maybe, just maybe, Rockstar will really shake things up. I'm dying to get out of New York and LA.
But GTA V looks like a masterpiece, and it will make me anxious until the next release. GTA VI will either start a disappointing slide from perfection or maybe, just maybe, Rockstar will really shake things up. I'm dying to get out of New York and LA.
While I wouldn't say that the Mass Effect series improved on all fronts as the series went on, I still think that there were factors that each game seemed to do really well in its own right.
I'll second that Downpour took things in the right direction though, and I'll readily defend Shattered Memories' as one of the better stories of the series.
Yeah, with all the wavering in developers, storylines, and styles of gameplay, it can be a little tricky to objectively compare the whole series back to back.Evonisia said:
I'll second that Downpour took things in the right direction though, and I'll readily defend Shattered Memories' as one of the better stories of the series.
True, if you leave Peace Walker out. It was more like MGS3 lite with base management. And even though they improved the gameplay elements in MGS4, MGS3 still kicked its ass.Marik2 said:
I think it says a lot about how poorly many devs understand why their games worked in the first place since they're so rarely capable of preserving the magic in sequels. Keep what worked, ditch what didn't sounds like the simplest thing in the world, but apparently it isn't.
The Mother/Earthbound series.
Mother was a Dragon Quest clone with a quirky story and atmosphere.
Mother 2 (Earthbound) was essentially Mother-redux, making gameplay improvements such as eliminating random encounters and removing much of the grind and tedium that plagued the first game.
Mother 3 was an emotional tour-de-force and one of the best JRPGs in recent memory.
Mother was a Dragon Quest clone with a quirky story and atmosphere.
Mother 2 (Earthbound) was essentially Mother-redux, making gameplay improvements such as eliminating random encounters and removing much of the grind and tedium that plagued the first game.
Mother 3 was an emotional tour-de-force and one of the best JRPGs in recent memory.