I've figured it out!
Valve has discovered the magical powers of the number "2". When Valve creates a game with "2" in the title, it's automatically better than its predecessor. Sequels suck? No, Valve can apply the number "2" to make a game infinitely better.
Half-Life came, then Half-Life 2 came. Half-Life 2 is much more critically acclaimed.
Team Fortress the Quake mod came, then Team Fortress Classic, then when they added "2" to the title in the form of Team Fortress 2, which despite the hat surplus and tie-in promotion apocalypse, is still an extremely successful game.
Left 4 Dead came, then Left 4 Dead 2 came. This one may be cheating, as it pretty much copy-pasted the original game, replaced all the character/zombie models and voices, added in a few new SI, new campaigns, new items, and called it a day, but it's still much more popular than Left 4 Dead 1. In fact, it's so much more popular that virtually all of the maps, weapons, and survivors from the original game are also included in the sequel, with the exception of one lighthouse survival map.
And of course, Portal came, then Portal 2 came. Portal was an amazing game in the first place, very hard to top. Well, add a ton of new features including multiplayer, quadruple the game's length, expand the plot, triple the amount of utterly and completely hilarious characters (Glados/Wheatley/Cave), and somehow manage to create another new meme ("SPAAAACE"). You have... Portal 2.
If you want to tell me "Well you see, Tooie, you bumbling idiot, it's just because Valve knows how to greatly improve a game without changing anything drastic, which is why their sequels just work." Nope. The number "2" has mystical superpowers. It's the only explanation.
No wonder Valve is afraid of the number "3". It's probably tainted with dark magic to counteract the excellency of the number "2".
Valve has discovered the magical powers of the number "2". When Valve creates a game with "2" in the title, it's automatically better than its predecessor. Sequels suck? No, Valve can apply the number "2" to make a game infinitely better.
Half-Life came, then Half-Life 2 came. Half-Life 2 is much more critically acclaimed.
Team Fortress the Quake mod came, then Team Fortress Classic, then when they added "2" to the title in the form of Team Fortress 2, which despite the hat surplus and tie-in promotion apocalypse, is still an extremely successful game.
Left 4 Dead came, then Left 4 Dead 2 came. This one may be cheating, as it pretty much copy-pasted the original game, replaced all the character/zombie models and voices, added in a few new SI, new campaigns, new items, and called it a day, but it's still much more popular than Left 4 Dead 1. In fact, it's so much more popular that virtually all of the maps, weapons, and survivors from the original game are also included in the sequel, with the exception of one lighthouse survival map.
And of course, Portal came, then Portal 2 came. Portal was an amazing game in the first place, very hard to top. Well, add a ton of new features including multiplayer, quadruple the game's length, expand the plot, triple the amount of utterly and completely hilarious characters (Glados/Wheatley/Cave), and somehow manage to create another new meme ("SPAAAACE"). You have... Portal 2.
If you want to tell me "Well you see, Tooie, you bumbling idiot, it's just because Valve knows how to greatly improve a game without changing anything drastic, which is why their sequels just work." Nope. The number "2" has mystical superpowers. It's the only explanation.
No wonder Valve is afraid of the number "3". It's probably tainted with dark magic to counteract the excellency of the number "2".
