What Makes a Good Sequel?

[DethVanXan]

I ask you, fellow escapists.

Sequels are something both loved and feared by the fan base. They can either launch a title to higher levels of greatness by fixing old flaws and continuing a gripping story, or they can bring a once great title to its knees. So I ask this; what makes a good sequel?

There are the sequels which take off moments after the previous game/film/novel ended and continue with the same characters on their journey. Ala, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

Then there's the sequel which seems to have almost no connection to the previous title in any way and could easily be a stand alone title. This would be a Final Fantasy. (Note: I'm not a follower of the FF series, this is just an outsiders perspective so forgive me if I'm wrong.)

Next is the sequel which throws the player/viewer/reader into a whole new setting, but still connects with the old setting, normally a large amount of time has passed between installments. Half-Life 2 for example.

TL;DR, what makes a sequel good and what makes it suck?

 

[Marter]

If there is a reason to further develop the plot or characters, then a sequel can be good.

If the ending brought closure, and there isn't much reason to develop the plot/characters, it will be bad.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Improvement upon the first. And a necessary void to fill with the story. For that reason, Assassin's Creed 2 is something I point to as a great sequel. It continued a story that was left hanging after the first, and it improved upon just about everything from the first game.

On the other hand, Bioshock 2, while a fun game, was a terrible sequel, because story-wise, it wasn't necessary, and the gameplay actually regressed in some areas, and stayed the same in the rest(at least in my opinion...the wrench was more fun than the drill).

 

[Vault101]

Improvement upon the first. And a necessary void to fill with the story. For that reason, Assassin's Creed 2 is something I point to as a great sequel. It continued a story that was left hanging after the first, and it improved upon just about everything from the first game.

On the other hand, Bioshock 2, while a fun game, was a terrible sequel, because story-wise, it wasn't necessary, and the gameplay actually regressed in some areas, and stayed the same in the rest(at least in my opinion...the wrench was more fun than the drill).

thease examples also perfectly highlight another factor, weather or not the story has a "sequel hook" Assins creed was pretty much set up for a sequel from the start, bioshock however was not, the story was wraped up quite nicley.

Usually the good seaquels are ones that are "planned" or at least set up in some way

However a seaquel hook could be done badly, like not tying up any of the plot threads, leaving questions unanswered and creating even more confusion questions and such. This can be very frustrating

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Improvement upon the first. And a necessary void to fill with the story. For that reason, Assassin's Creed 2 is something I point to as a great sequel. It continued a story that was left hanging after the first, and it improved upon just about everything from the first game.

On the other hand, Bioshock 2, while a fun game, was a terrible sequel, because story-wise, it wasn't necessary, and the gameplay actually regressed in some areas, and stayed the same in the rest(at least in my opinion...the wrench was more fun than the drill).

thease examples also perfectly highlight another factor, weather or not the story has a "sequel hook" Assins creed was pretty much set up for a sequel from the start, biochock however was not, the story was wraped up quite nicley.

Usually the good seaquels are ones that are "planned" or at least set up in some way

However a seaquel hook could be done badly, like not tying up any of the plot threads, leaving questions unanswered and creating even more confusion questions and such. This can be very frustrating

And of course you take a HUGE risk with a sequel hook, if there's never a sequel. Then you wind up with games that have open endings and ultimately no answers, something which appeared to have happened to Beyond Good & Evil until the sequel was finally announced.

 

[Woodsey]

AssCreed 2 is perhaps the best example of what a sequel should be. Improvements across the board whilst keeping true to the core of the franchise.

I'd say SC: Chaos Theory too. Pandora Tomorrow was - in my mind - worse than the original, whereas Chaos Theory took the series to a new level by increasing the gameplay options, the visuals, and adding a little (albeit not much) emotional depth to the story.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

A good sequel could come from a movie that lets you know that theres gonna be a sequel (example: movies that have "part 1","episode 1", etc.)
But what makes a good sequel is that the plot of the sequel has to tie into the plot of the first movie.

Bad sequels: Changing the protagonist and putting him/her into an entirely different scenario that they were in in the first movie.

 

[shogunblade]

A good sequel could come from a movie that lets you know that theres gonna be a sequel (example: movies that have "part 1","episode 1", etc.)
But what makes a good sequel is that the plot of the sequel has to tie into the plot of the first movie.

Bad sequels: Changing the protagonist and putting him/her into an entirely different scenario that they were in in the first movie.

I argue that, Sir and/or Madame. Terminator 2 did make Sarah Connor the only female lead, but John Connor was the major character in the sequel, which also had a different scenario and protagonist and indefinitely, created one of the finest sequels of our time.

I say, in order to keep in topic, what makes a good sequel is to have an improvement on story, writing (characters, dialogue - especially dialogue) and execution.

If you make a sequel half-assed, people will know. Transformers 2 is the finest example of that. The movie was being written during the Writers Strike, and as such, the movie suffered from it. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you aren't missing much.

 

[cefm]

The problem with a sequel is that if the original was well done, that story usually came to a satisfying conclusion and there is no room for continuation. Or if the original didn't have a good ending, people probably didn't like it and won't like the sequel either.

That's why direct sequels (same place, time, people, etc.) are usually disasters.

Three ways to make a sequel work:

1) Just pretend the first one never existed. This is a new game. AKA the Super Mario method. It completely ignores any previous Mario games and the Princess gets stolen anew every time. The key here is that it's the SAME characters(that's what makes it a sequel and not a completely differnt game). That gives it the oh-so familiar feel. But the world, story, characters etc. re-start from the beginning each time.

2) Same world, different time. This allows you to explain how the world needs to be saved AGAIN just after you did it last time. AKA the Zelda method. This allows you to introduce new characters and new parts of the world. Basic assumptions about the universe stay the same though (gods, physics, magic, good/evil, etc.). Phantasy Star II did this within one game, as you played different generations of the family.

3) Same skeleton, different skin. AKA the Grand Theft Auto method. It's essentially the same game. You do all the same things for all the same reasons. It's not a sequel because the characters and locations are all different. But it's the same game with a whole new host of locations, characters, missions, etc. The only thing that makes it different from a patch or DLC is that there may be improvements or alterations to the gameplay interface.

The fourth way is a dangerous path:

4) Next step in an ongoing storyline. AKA the Metal Gear or Metroid or Devil May Cry method. This has the advantage of keeping the same character, same world, same assumptions, same everything. This creates a strong sense of connection to the first game. But that's precisely the weakness as well. "what happened to all my cool shit?"; "didn't I just save this stupid princess/city/world?"; "how many damn Metal Gears are there anyway?"; "aren't I getting a bit old for this?"; "why's my character look different?"; and worst "when the hell am I ever going to WIN and get some closure?"