gaming Predecessor vs. Successor (Video Games)

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,682]

Sequels! Sequels are friggin' everywhere in gaming. They are now so common that some greedy companies (I.E. Activision) are now making a game with the full intent of making sequels. Sometimes though, a developer or publisher will actually use a sequel for good purposes and use them to improve upon the previous game.

 

Sometimes, this works. Other times, it doesn't. Sometimes the new game tops the old one in every way while in some other cases, the game before it just couldn't be topped, or they somehow made the sequel worse. In this thread, we will go into both! To you, what are some games that were either better than their predecessor OR better than their successor?

 

Here is a simple one: Dark Souls. I feel that the first game in the series is better than the successor Dark Souls 2 in most aspects. The level design, the feel of the gameplay, the minor changes that were not needed in DS2, that KICK! It seems the devs thought this as well as many of the changes made in DS2 did not carry over into 3.

 

Now for the opposite: Uncharted 2. This game improved upon the first in literally every single way. The graphics, the gameplay, the scenery, the characters, it was soooooooooooooooooooo damn good! One of my favorite games ever. Also for the record, I feel Uncharted 2 is also better than its successor, Uncharted 3.

 

I might make a separate thread for movies as well for this at some point. Don't want to jumble a single thread too much.

[Megas 27,742]

Megaman 1 is often forgotten about and ignored due to so-so level design, some cheapness and a forgettable soundtrack, it's only remembered for being the first game and a few others like the original 6 robot masters and the Yellow Devil boss fight that is often considered one of the hardest bosses ever. If it wasn't for the sequel, it would've been entirely forgotten about

 

In contrast, Megaman 2 turned the series into a house hold name. Great music, better challenges, fun bosses and a great endgame really puts it about the rest

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I havent played much games, but here a 2 Examples for me :

 

One Game, that was better than its successor, was Silent Hill.

 

And yes i know, thats a very uncommon Opinion and Silent Hill 2 is very highly praised as the best Survival Horror Game of all time, but i really dont like it.

The first game had more interesting looking Other Worlds and Level Design, more creative Monsters and the Story was way more interesting for me.

Silent Hill 2 just disappointed me in various Levels.

The Other Worlds wasnt as bloody and weird than in the first Game, some places didnt even had any Other Worlds.

Pretty much all the Monsters of the second Game looked way to human for me, specially the final boss felt like a joke.

And i know its intentional, i know, that pretty much everything in the game was well thought out, makes sense and is emotionally deep.

 

But the Game was nothing, like i wanted it to be.

The Story was unconnected, the whole feeling of the Game felt different, the Other Worlds werent as scary for me and the Monsters looked boring.

And the Explanation, why SIlent Hill is so weird in the first Place, was the worst and most cliched origin Story, that they couldve thought off. I cant even believe it is canon.

And i cant believe that it got mostly ignored, by all the praising critics

 

One Game that was better than its predeccessor, is Worms 4 - Mayhem.

I always found the older Worms Games as to hard and a little bit empty, when it comes to the Story. Because they didnt really had one.

I know, for a Worms Game is the multiplayer aspect more important to most people, but not for me.

And Worms 4 was a really refreshing experience.

You had high Quality Cut Scenes, a challenging, but way less frustrating difficulty and tons of Options for customization.

 

I played Worms 4 the most and im pretty sure, it is my most played game of all time.

I so wish and hope, for a fifth part to be made.

But as it stands right now, i only got a remake, since most people prefer the 2D Games.

Oh well.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Tweakbright Spirkle

[PoisonClaw 8,165]

The first Paper Mario was a box-standard Mario game mixed with an RPG and made out of paper. Bowser kidnaps Peach and Mario has to go rescue her, just like almost every other Mario game ever. But Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a different beast entirely. It polishes the battle system established in the first game to a mirror shine, is filled with a memorable cast of well defined characters and can be surprisingly dark and sinister for something baring the Mario name. It's not one of my all-time favorite games for nothing.

 

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Bioshock 2, which is nowhere near as good as the first. It's not terrible, but it fails to capture the atmosphere and feel of the first game.

[Glacies Frost 428]

I havent played much games, but here a 2 Examples for me :

 

One Game, that was better than its successor, was Silent Hill.

 

And yes i know, thats a very uncommon Opinion and Silent Hill 2 is very highly praised as the best Survival Horror Game of all time, but i really dont like it.

The first game had more interesting looking Other Worlds and Level Design, more creative Monsters and the Story was way more interesting for me.

Silent Hill 2 just disappointed me in various Levels.

The Other Worlds wasnt as bloody and weird than in the first Game, some places didnt even had any Other Worlds.

Pretty much all the Monsters of the second Game looked way to human for me, specially the final boss felt like a joke.

And i know its intentional, i know, that pretty much everything in the game was well thought out, makes sense and is emotionally deep.

 

But the Game was nothing, like i wanted it to be.

The Story was unconnected, the whole feeling of the Game felt different, the Other Worlds werent as scary for me and the Monsters looked boring.

And the Explanation, why SIlent Hill is so weird in the first Place, was the worst and most cliched origin Story, that they couldve thought off. I cant even believe it is canon.

And i cant believe that it got mostly ignored, by all the praising critics

 

Gonna have to disagree on part of your opinion here. Silent Hill 2, I agree, is slightly overrated. However, in terms of the best scares, the best controls, best puzzles, and best atmosphere in the series (if a slightly lackluster story), I'm going to have to go with Silent Hill 1's true successor, the continuation of the first game's story, Silent Hill 3. Hardly anyone talks about this game, but dear Celestia to me, this game blows both of the previous two entries out of the water.

 

As far as an original game that blows its successor out of the water... Hmm... Sorry folks, but Super Mario World is... chuckle... worlds ahead of its successor, Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island.

[Mesme Rize 15,685]

The first street fighter by Capcom in 1987, was their first attempt at a fighting game. While it was certainly a good try, the arcade button with the punching mechanics where odd and the controls in general where very stiff (doing a hadouken was hell) and also the fact, that it barely got any console ports. If this would've been the only game, Street Fighter would've been forgotten.

 

Street Fighter 2 turned everything upside down though and is still considered one of the most influential games of all time. At that time, it was the most competitive multiplayer game and pretty much started the fighting genre craze, which created millions of Street Fighter clones and some other great fighting franchises.

 

Going the other way, the original Castlevania for the NES, was a very cool action platformer with a great soundtrack and a nice homage to old horror movies. It was a very challenging game for it's time, but a very rewarding one and today it is considered one of the essential NES games.

 

with Castlevania 2 though, i felt like Konami was a bit too far ahead of it's time. They tried to go into a more RPG style game. While it wasn't entirely bad, most of the time you really didn't know what you should actually do and you barely get any real clues inside the game. The only really good thing about it, is that it also has a really good soundtrack.

[Ganondorf8 11,336]

Some game franchises have it where the first game ends up being the best in the series with the subsequent sequels failing to achieve the same kind of greatness despite the developer's best efforts in trying to recreate the magic. Other franchises have it the other way around where the sequels completely outdo the original on such a large scale that no one wants to play the original game anymore due to it being outdated. Only on rare occasions do both first games and sequels stand on equal footing, and I attribute that to the developer wanting to make some slight tweaks while maintaining the same core gameplay elements.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,007]

I really love it when the second instalment in a video game franchise takes a look what was good about the original and improves upon it, while still being able to make it seem like a fresh, new game that can successfully live up to the first, while managing to stand on it's own two feet. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze for example improves on everything that could be found in DKCR. Better music, better controls, better and more creative level design and more interesting environments to get engaged in. At the same time, it also feels like it's own game and never once feels too familiar or like they're re-treading the same ground as before.

[SONICchaos 824]

The original Genesis Sonic series I felt were the perfect example of sequel progression.

 

Sonic 1 set the framework for the series with bright, busy and colorful levels while focusing gameplay on platforming and treacherous stage hazards.

 

Sonic 2 took all those ideas and pushed out so much more of that. Now the staple of the gameplay. "Speed" has been incorporated in all the levels instead of just the first level in Sonic 1. You get the freedom to let it rip and move quickly through the level without constant fear of unforeseen enemies and hazards blocking your way. They also doubled the number of levels so instead of just the 6 now its 12 to see even more. They gave you a new move to advance through the game faster and in new inventive ways. The enemies and bosses are now more creative and utilize the levels environment theme to make them feel unique. You even get a new character to play as even if he's basically the same.

 

Sonic 3 and Knuckles(im counting them as the same game because technically they were developed to be but split up due to cartridge capacity) again pushed what sonic 2 did by now making those levels more interactive. You can now hang off vines and chains, spin gears and ride tops through the fore and back ground. You now even have 2 characters to play each with different abilities and level paths specifically designed for them. You have options to traverse the levels above and below in ways you never had before. Even some bosses can only be accessed with your character. The levels are now more complicated than they were before with puzzle and back tracking elements included to keep it fresh. Now the Chaos Emeralds which were more of a side quest in previous games are now a reward to to play the game in a new way giving you enhanced abilities and even challenging you with the unlockable final boss you wouldnt even know about. To make the game more immersive it also introduced story with sparse cutscenes breaking up stages and even explaining how sonic is advancing from one stage to another. Before it was just video game logic where you would go from water world to casino world and you would just accept that. Now after every stage a scene plays showing how your character is actually getting to your next stage. Finally the designers made a great decision to include a new battery save option allowing you to continue where you left off with your character and even kept how many emeralds you found. They knew this game was HUGE and let you select the stage you wanted after you beat the game to recollect emeralds and replay levels now in your super and hyper forms.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT!

 

Predecessor was better than successor-

 

Borderlands 1. Borderlands 1 did an excellent job of capturing the theme of Borderlands, with all of the anarchy and hicks you'd expect to find in a nuclear wasteland in the Deep South (Not where it's set, but it may as well be.) The humor was on-point and didn't feel forced in any way. The reward system was great. The boss battles were fairly well designed 

(Except Mad Mel...) and the guns were at least reasonable (Who wouldn't expect Rocket-shooting shotguns in Pandora...?). Borderlands 2 comes in and screws it up. Now with Handsome Jack in charge, it looks nothing as it did before and everything feels awry from the first game. The setting feels wrong. Don't know how to describe it, other than it feels wrong. Humor was usually forced, and to me felt a little bit bland (there were still some funny parts, mostly from Handsome Jack). Reward  system is a shadow of its former self with Weapon Levels removed and replaced with cringy, tiny stat-boosts that come out of nowhere. W4R-D3N is UNBEATABLE without an electrical weapon (that EASILY tops Mad Mel...). Guns feel mis-categorized in places, and mostly feel like they belong in a completely different category from what they are in...

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by TwillyFSniper

[cmarston1 5,959]

The original Pokemon games for the gameboy were pretty much the weakest games in the series and are pretty overrated.

I would have to say that after 20 years of refinement, Sun and Moon are the best games out of the main series.