Your most-improved sequels

[Leemaster777]

So, I've been on a recent Fallout: New Vegas binge. And, as I play, I can't help but think, "God, I wish Fallout 3 had been more like this!".

I'm not saying Fallout 3 was bad, but there were just a ton of niggling little annoyances with it that tempered my enthusiasm. And, despite most of the changes in New Vegas being rather small or subtle, New Vegas fixed almost every issue I had with 3.

Firstly, the change in scenery was greatly appreciated. Fallout 3 just felt so... grey, all the time. And, as Yahtzee put it, "You'll see the interiors of more copy-pasted subway stations than an indecisive hobo.". The Mojave just felt more... colorful. Well, as colorful as a nuclear desert can feel, anyways. And that's not even counting New Vegas itself. Plus, I really dug the whole "old West" feel that the whole game had. Made me feel like a cowboy.

The companions and other NPCs really endeared themselves to me alot more in New Vegas. The only character in Fallout 3 that I found myself liking was Fawkes, while in New Vegas, I loved every single one of my companions (Veronica, in particular, was my favorite).

In terms of actual gameplay-affecting things, I really liked the faction system in New Vegas. It made my choices feel just that much more important. Also, and this is a bit smaller, I GREATLY enjoyed the ability to see whether or not speech challenges would succeed or fail, before you choose them. I cannot TELL you how much that frustrated me in 3.

And while I'll admit that 3 had a better introduction, New Vegas had a better ending, with a better final boss. And, no, I don't care that the DLC that came out later fixed the poor ending. I was playing it on the PS3, and we didn't get the DLC until LONG after I had already traded 3 in.

I could go on, but you get the gist of it. So, what are some of your "most improved sequels"?

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Mass Effect 2, the combat felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better. Seriously combat in ME1 felt like a disabled man trying to open a cupboard while climbing an escelator.

 

[dimensional]

Obligatory mention of Street Fighter 2 I only played Street Fighter on the C64 (Which I would assume was not a very faithful port) but it was kak SF2 however was and still is awesome.

Recently though I would say Uncharted 2 improved massively on Uncharted it was actually fun to play for a start.

Only other one that immediately leaps to mind (and may be cheating a bit) is Soul Calibur if you accept Soul Blade/edge as part of the series (which I do) while soul blade wasnt a bad game Soul Calibur just destroyed it gameplay wise and the series has never been as good since although Soul Blade still has a much much better intro (in fact its my favourite intro ever).

 

[Terminate421]

Mass Effect 2, the combat felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better. Seriously combat in ME1 felt like a disabled man trying to open a cupboard while climbing an escelator.

Actually to me it felt like playing Halo 2 with a plasma rifle, plasma pistol, beam rifle, and shotgun with unlimited ammo.

I agree fully with him, I loved Mass Effect 2 better than the first one. This is not to say that the first one was bad at all.

I do have to give credit for this:

The story in the first one was litterally like watching a shitty episode of Pokemon.

The story in this went felt like it had gone Hamlet or something on those lines. One would never think writing could be this solid in a Pokemon game.

Also Every Halo game has improved Massively upon the last one in my eyes.

 

[Zouriz]

How about Super Mario Brothers 3? I don't really count Super Mario Bros. 2/Doki Doki Panic or the real Super Mario Bros. 2/Lost Levels as the true sequel to the first game. The REAL Super Mario Bros. 2 is just a hard rom hack of the first game really. Anyway. SMB3 took everything from the first game and improved on it. The game physics are better, more levels, more variety in the levels, mini games, different bosses, a map screen, more power-ups, the ability to select and use power-ups before a level, and the ability to fly. A HUGE improvement.

 

[WoW Killer]

I could write an essay on how Diablo 3 adds so much to Diablo 2, from what I've seen of it so far in the beta anyway, but forget that; Diablo 2 over Diablo 1. Better combat, customisation of characters, balance, length, lore. There's a reason Diablo 2 is still played in large numbers to this day (12 years after release).

Although I do like the example of SMB3. That was a good example of progression over the first (ignoring the 2nd because it shouldn't have even existed). My personal favourite is SMW, but this is mostly a minor progression over SMB3, and I'll admit the third is what made most of the crucial steps.

 

[Vault101]

Mass Effect 2, the combat felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better. Seriously combat in ME1 felt like a disabled man trying to open a cupboard while climbing an escelator.

and customizing the armour

ok yes it was dumbed down, and the story wasnt as good, buuuuut still a winner for me

anyway Fallout New vegas..except its not quite a "seaquel" seaquel

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Also Every Halo game has improved Massively upon the last one in my eyes.

Reach defiantly was the best, right next to 2.

From what little I played, I really like Twilight Princess.

 

[Rumpsteak]

Ummm sonic 2 or 3 + knuckles? I liked both a lot more than I did their predecessor.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Killzone 2 to KZ1. Easily the biggest improvement I've seen in a game.

 

[DoPo]

Assassin's Creed 2.

More content, more plot, more weapons, more interesting stuff. Better in every way. Well, I preferred Altair but still. You get money and resources as well as a mini-tycoon sort of thing with your villa. You can actually run away from people who chase you (as opposed to crossing the whole city and still having to hide, even though there wasn't anybody nearby) etc, etc.

Personally, I still prefer AC1 but I cannot deny that AC2 is an improvement in all aspects.

 

[distortedreality]

Sensible World of Soccer over Sensible Soccer.

First football game (afaik) to have a world trades market. The brilliant gameplay was still there, but when added to a worthwhile management mode, the game was taken to a whole new level.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

Left 4 Dead 2. They are pretty much the same game but melee weapons alone make it cooler.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Mass Effect 2, the combat felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Much better. Seriously combat in ME1 felt like a disabled man trying to open a cupboard while climbing an escelator.

Huh... I felt completely opposite this. ME2 was smoother, I guess, but it just seemed like they realized that ME1 was too ambitious and nerfed the whole thing. Let's see... No grenades, only one cooldown timer, no advanced equiping (armour, weapon mods, etc...), no weapon stats, recharging health, totally cover-based, no long range combat, no vehicle combat, really no variety in combat at all, and it was super easy. ME1 was awkward as fuck, but at least once you actually got into to it it was tactical and challenging. ME2 was just: 1) hit cover 2) spam singularity 3) move to next waist-high wall. Once you have one power leveled up the single-cooldown-timer basically makes all the other abilities useless. Just take one squad member with biotics and one with tech so you can handle the different types of shields and you're good to go. Really boring shooter, imho. It didn't help that BioWare decided they didn't need loot - that totally unincentivized exploration and made the linear level design all the more apparent.

 

[3asytarg3t]

I thought at the time No one Lives Forever (NOLF) was really rather brilliant and pretty damn funny, and while I'm not sure if I'd say NOLF2 was better necessarily, it was certainly on par with the first one in many ways.

 

[Raggedstar]

Assassin's Creed 2.

More content, more plot, more weapons, more interesting stuff. Better in every way. Well, I preferred Altair but still. You get money and resources as well as a mini-tycoon sort of thing with your villa. You can actually run away from people who chase you (as opposed to crossing the whole city and still having to hide, even though there wasn't anybody nearby) etc, etc.

Personally, I still prefer AC1 but I cannot deny that AC2 is an improvement in all aspects.

AC2 didn't really NEED all that villa stuff, and it did get a little easier when wandering around town, but the good really does outweigh the bad. It feels good for it to finally be legal to RUN on city streets

Ratchet and Clank 2 set the standard for the rest of the franchise, and maaaan did it up the ante. More focus on gunplay and polishing it up went farther than you would think.

However, my favourite sequel evar? Spyro 2 a million times! The controls and hit detection are better, lovable characters, serious expansion on the formula, sheesh nearly everything it did simply clobbered the original.

Capcha: Oh lord
Er, this is the second time I had this lol.

 

[mParadox]

Assassins Creed 2.
Half Life 2.

Seriously, improved graphics, new mechanics, new characters and a very awesome story which got dragged another two sequels. Though on the other hand, one is finally getting a sequel while the other one is still a mystery.

I love these two to death. =D

 

[Winthrop]

Are we only counting games? Best sequel in general for me was Terminator 2. It just didn't fall into the usual traps sequels fall into at all. Making the T-1000 the protagonist added an incredible amount of depth and comedy in my eyes.

As far as games go, Just Cause 2 was a pretty big improvement (Though I only briefly played the original). Diablo II blew the first out of the water in a number of ways, especially in the class and abilities systems (I could never find spells with my chaster characters, only my fighters). And finally I think the warcrafts got better as they went along as they gained much more depth and strategy (for the strategy ones that is, not that I have a problem with WoW buts is a different genre so I'm not counting it).