Bad Sequels

[Softballchic10]

Does anyone have a game that won you over, only for you to anxiously purchase it's sequel/followup and find it utterly disappointing?

[opwuaioc]

For me that was Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3. Didn't care for them like I did the first. I don't know if it counts, but I played FF:Mystic Quest *after* FFII (SNES). And despite the rave attention they got, I never cared for most of the N64 sequels to the SNES ones, including (and I know I'll get stoned for this) the 64 Zelda games and Mega Man.

[Areala]

Their numbers are legion, and their crimes are without end.

Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal 4 - The first two games were made by SingleTrac, headed by Dave ("God of War") Jaffe, and they rocked the car combat genre mightily. III and 4, however, were done by 989 Studios, and as far as most fans of the franchise are concerned (myself included) they simply never happened. Thankfully, Jaffe and company returned to do the absolutely awesome Twisted Metal: Black for the PS2, thus redeeming the franchise for everybody.

Red Faction II - Difficulty out the wazoo, absolutely no ties to the first title save the name, and a complete lack of what made the first game truly fun. No idea how you drop the ball so badly, but THQ did it with this stinker.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Ocarina of Time was a phenomenal achievement on the N64, and basically one of those "must-haves" if you own the system. How Nintendo managed to go from that to this extremely innane, boring and crap-filled apparent sequel to the film "Groundhog Day" will forever force me to wonder. But they did, and people have hated them for it ever since.

Strip Fighter II - There never was a Strip Fighter I. THAT is how bad Strip Fighter II is for the PC Engine. I'm not even kidding.

Devil May Cry II - The original set the tone for games that bitch-slapped you (but did so fairly) and then arrogantly demanded that you fight with them on the PS2. For the sequel Capcom decided, "Wait, wait...let's tone this down a bit," used a completely different director, and managed to completely obliterate every stored ounce of goodwill they had accrued with the release of the original. The franchise has never been the same.

Parasite Eve II - The original was a fabulous cinematic RPG experience by Squaresoft on the PS1. The sequel decided to ditch all the RPG elements and instead try to rebrand itself as a survival horror title, which sadly cost it everything that made the original so good in the first place. Not even Aya's lovely shower scene can save this sucker from the verbal thrashing it so richly deserved.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude - Let me get this straight...you're making a Leisure Suit Larry game, but you aren't involving Al Lowe (Larry's creator) in any way, shape or form, and you aren't even playing as Larry himself but rather his loser nephew who is trying to score on a college campus? When Steve Meretzky did this idea in his "Spellcasting" trilogy, it was a riot. When High Voltage Software attempted it with this horrible cash-in on a beloved franchise, it stank worse than the football players' locker room.

Metal Gear Solid II: Guns of the Patriots - "Hi, I'm Solid Snake, the guy the whole franchise is named after, star of the first Metal Gear Solid. You play as me in the prologue." "Yo, how's it hanging? I'm Raiden, the ambiguously-gendered, white-haired, kick-ass newbie recruit with attitude (you know, like Cloud Strife only more badass, like if he was combined with, uh, Legolas, yeah, Legolas from Lord of the Rings)! You get to play as me for the whole rest of the game!" *PS2 powered down* *game returned*.

Deus Ex: Invisible War - The first Deus Ex was a stunning combination of RPG and first-person shooter that really gave you tons of options for building your character and deciding how you wanted to take on the missions, as each level included several different approaches that would work. Invisible War took that established groundwork, said, "Bah! Who wants choices in a game like this?" and took one enormous leap backwards by making itself little more than a would-be Doom clone fragfest. Warren Spector probably still cries himself to sleep at night over this mishandling of a franchise.

*huggles*

Areala

[opwuaioc]

Red Faction II - Difficulty out the wazoo, absolutely no ties to the first title save the name, and a complete lack of what made the first game truly fun. No idea how you drop the ball so badly, but THQ did it with this stinker.

Absolutely agree! I don't mind Red Faction II for multiplayer, but the original was by far better.

Metal Gear Solid II: Guns of the Patriots - "Hi, I'm Solid Snake, the guy the whole franchise is named after, star of the first Metal Gear Solid. You play as me in the prologue." "Yo, how's it hanging? I'm Raiden, the ambiguously-gendered, white-haired, kick-ass newbie recruit with attitude (you know, like Cloud Strife only more badass, like if he was combined with, uh, Legolas, yeah, Legolas from Lord of the Rings)! You get to play as me for the whole rest of the game!" *PS2 powered down* *game returned*.

Couldn't agree more. It wasn't even a good game compared to the first one (well, the first Playstation one).

[Guest s1500]

Heh. I just bought Deus Ex: invisible war as a package deal wtih the first game. Still trying out the first one.

Worst to me? Carmageddon 3: TDR. Again, made by a different dev house than the first one. Too mission-oriented, but probably done due to the rather zen nature of the game. No more than 3x combo bonuses, where you could get up to 5x in previous ones.

[Gnash]

I would have to agree on Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, the same thing happened to me. Played it after Final Fantasy II expecting something similar... total bummer.

I disagree with the Majora's Mask comment though. Even though I admit it was not what I was expecting. It didn't make the game bad, it's actually a good game. Just different. A bit like what The Adventure of Link was after the first Zelda. Funny thing The Adventure of Link was the first Zelda game I finished.

[Schloss Ritter]

Of the games mentioned that I have played:

DKC2+3 - seemed just as fun to me. So what if the characters changed? It kept the series from being as repetitive. But I never did get more than halfway through any of them before being sidetracked by other games.

Majora's Mask - went through the time loop once and lost all progress. Was like, "how can I do anything without a guide?" Still haven't played much of OoT either for comparison though.

PE2 - agree. If I wanted to play Resident Evil, I'd play it instead. Way to kill the series Square.

LSL - I've heard Box Office Bust is even worse. In a way, I'm glad Vivendi is not trying to reboot any other Sierra properties that they are squatting on the rights for.

TDR 2000 - haven't even played it since I heard about the timer capping at something like 3 minutes. The best part of the first two games was getting bonuses to build time up to like 20 minutes and have freedom to explore the maps while you track down your foes...

FFMQ - I never had a problem with since I knew from the start it was a simplified trainer RPG. I've played through it again when I'm in the mood for a quick RPG that won't take very long to go through. Besides, it has one of the best non-Uematsu soundtracks on the SNES.

[Guest s1500]

Of the games mentioned that I have played:

TDR 2000 - haven't even played it since I heard about the timer capping at something like 3 minutes. The best part of the first two games was getting bonuses to build time up to like 20 minutes and have freedom to explore the maps while you track down your foes...

I distinctly remember racking up lots of kills to the point the timer stops counting(but you still get that time you banked) just so you could go exploring around. Sadly, there wasn't much of a structure to the game. Enemy cars frequently broke down & just wandered around aimlessly. They never actually tried completing laps(or were unable to). That eliminated much of the game right there. Besides, it was more fun to aimlessly drive around & run over everyone, use powerups, do silly stunts & crash up against opponents.

The devs realized this and made missions that you HAD to pass in order to progress. There wasn't much variety to the missions, and there was at least one I couldn't solve, even with cheats. The obstacle bridge(not unlike Escape From New York) was fun, but not enough to make a whole game. It needs a remake.

[Schloss Ritter]

I distinctly remember racking up lots of kills to the point the timer stops counting(but you still get that time you banked) just so you could go exploring around. Sadly, there wasn't much of a structure to the game. Enemy cars frequently broke down & just wandered around aimlessly. They never actually tried completing laps(or were unable to). That eliminated much of the game right there. Besides, it was more fun to aimlessly drive around & run over everyone, use powerups, do silly stunts & crash up against opponents.

The devs realized this and made missions that you HAD to pass in order to progress. There wasn't much variety to the missions, and there was at least one I couldn't solve, even with cheats. The obstacle bridge(not unlike Escape From New York) was fun, but not enough to make a whole game. It needs a remake.

They never counted the laps that enemy cars made in the first two games, so I don't see why people complained that the enemies didn't count them in TDR2000 either. Carma has always been more about the demolition derby than the race to me anyway. And relying too heavily on powerups makes it feel too much like Twisted Metal. I like crashing into them the best.

There were some annoying missions in C2 also, but that is still considered the best in the series. Jumping into the airport tower had me stuck for a long time due to the precise angle needed to enter.

Still, yeah, I've read that they went over the top with unpopular features in TDR2000. I'll still give it a try some day (now that I have free copy), with cheat codes if needed. As for a remake... they just need to make a true Carmageddon 3 and drop TDR2000 from the canon. I wonder who has the rights to the series nowadays.

[Mister Zero]

Strip Fighter II - There never was a Strip Fighter I. THAT is how bad Strip Fighter II is for the PC Engine. I'm not even kidding.

I was always disappointed that this game didn't involve stripping. RIP-OFF!

I agree with Chris on Donkey Kong Country. Those last two games sucked.

[Areala]

As for a remake... they just need to make a true Carmageddon 3 and drop TDR2000 from the canon. I wonder who has the rights to the series nowadays.

Square Enix Europe now owns the rights to the Carmageddon franchise thanks to SCi buying up Eidos, and Square Enix gobbling up SCi. There was talk of a Carmageddon 4 about five years ago, but nothing ever came of it, and I'd be very, very surprised to see Squenix doing anything in the car combat genre.

*huggles*

Areala

[Schloss Ritter]

Square Enix Europe now owns the rights to the Carmageddon franchise thanks to SCi buying up Eidos, and Square Enix gobbling up SCi. There was talk of a Carmageddon 4 about five years ago, but nothing ever came of it, and I'd be very, very surprised to see Squenix doing anything in the car combat genre.

*huggles*

Areala

Doh!

[Guest s1500]

So if Square Enix owns it, there is 0% chance of a Carmageddon remake unless it's Final Fantasy, and it's not.

[Schloss Ritter]

So if Square Enix owns it, there is 0% chance of a Carmageddon remake unless it's Final Fantasy, and it's not.

Unless they replace the drivers with Cloud, Seph, Squall, Tidus, Vaan, etc.

*blech*

[Areala]

Continuing the rampage:

Ultima IX: Ascension - No less a man than Richard Garriott, Lord British himself, touted this as basically the second-coming of the action/RPG, and we had reason to believe him, considering how great Ultima VII (both parts) had been and how much time had elapsed to allow them to correct the minor creeping defects of Ultima VIII. And then, Origin decided that Ultima Online was going to get all the resources and workers. The very frame supporting Ultima IX was ripped away, and it wound up being rushed to market with about half the promised features missing and no end of glitches, bugs, and support issues that were only corrected by a fan-made patch a few years later. Thus died the supposedly-immortal line of kings itself, as support for off-line Ultima was quietly discontinued and nobody raised much of a fuss. Dynasties should not end this way.

Silent Hill 4: The Room - If there is any game that deserves this treatment, it is Silent Hill 4 for the simple fact that the game could have been wildly successful had the developers named it anything but "Silent Hill". I appreciate what Konami was trying to do, but in stripping away virtually everything that makes a Silent Hill game a "Silent Hill" game (including the town of Silent Hill itself), they shot themselves in the foot. Had this game been released without the Silent Hill moniker, and just been called "The Room," people probably would have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, without the "Silent Hill" name, it's entirely possible it wouldn't have sold very well at all. Equally unfortunately, with the first three games in the series having been so damn impressive, Team Silent managed to bone every Silent Hill fan in the world with this disaster area, and subsequent SH titles have been farmed out to other second-party Konami developers instead.

007: Tomorrow Never Dies - Anybody who was anybody with a Nintendo 64 owned a copy of 007: Goldeneye. It was practically mandatory, the game was that good. Four-player simultaneous play via splitscreen mixed with a single-player campaign that was actually engaging and fun, Goldeneye was responsible for more bleary-eyed college students on the Ball State campus in 1997 than any other game save perhaps Final Fantasy VII. After Goldeneye, though, Rare passed on a renewal of the James Bond franchise to instead focus on its own IP, Perfect Dark. EA gladly picked up the ball discarded by Rare and proceeded to ignore everything that gamers raved about when it came to Goldeneye. Needless to say, thousands of Goldeneye fans were disappointed to discover an uninspired single-player campaign that could best be considered Syphon Filter's mentally-and-physically-challenged younger brother, with an added bonus pack-in of a complete lack of multiplayer support whatsoever. There isn't a *facepalm* big enough to cover this blunder, but if there was, we'd need an even larger one to keep smacking gamers with for continuing to encourage EA to abuse the franchise with the likes of 007 Racing, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, The World is Not Enough, From Russia With Love and many, many more.

Final Fantasy X-2 - In a completely unheard of move for the time, Square decided to make a direct sequel to one of its own RPGs, and selected Final Fantasy X for this treatment. Unfortunately, instead of making an actual RPG, they instead decided to make a dressing up and singing simulator with random battles thrown in for the hell of it. Had Square managed to market this as some kind of "Mary Kate & Ashley" or "Barbie" title, they'd have made a fortune without pissing off 90% of their fanbase who weren't at all interested in running Rikku, Yuna and Payne around after some Tidus-lookalike while expanding their wardrobes. As for the 10% who did like it? All I can say is these are the same types of people who legally marry their own pillows over in Japan.

*huggles*

Areala

[Schloss Ritter]

re: Ultima IX - I still haven't gotten to play any in that series, but I read the story of how that went down when I read Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic. It's a good book to get some insight into the progress of the early computer game industry.

King and Borland's crisp study of computer game specialists reads like a screenplay and would make ideal film material. The authors offer an intriguing protagonist in Richard Garriott, who overcame disapproval from his astronaut father and the lonely isolation of being a geek to produce the Ultima Online series. Vowing to create dungeon worlds as rich and frightening as Tolkien's, Garriott went into business with his brother and pursued his goal through lean years and unsatisfying corporate alliances. The authors, both journalists, also profile other colorful characters, such as Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw, creators of the first MUD (multiple-user dungeon), a place where gamers could meet online; John Carmack and John Romero, creators of Doom ("the ultimate visceral experience of kill-or-be-killed"); and Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Dungeons & Dragons' masterminds.

re: FF X-2 - yeah, I've heard a lot of hate on this game, but when I finally get around to playing, I'm still going to try and keep an open mind.

[Guest DJ Crimson]

NBA Street V3, NBA Street Vol. 2 nearly nailed it perfectly. Just needed some online play and a couple of other small fixes. Resistance 2, completed changed from what Resistance: Fall of Man was. Co-op was fun for a minute but got repetitive quick, such a disappointment.

[xlenigma]

NBA Street V3, NBA Street Vol. 2 nearly nailed it perfectly. Just needed some online play and a couple of other small fixes. Resistance 2, completed changed from what Resistance: Fall of Man was. Co-op was fun for a minute but got repetitive quick, such a disappointment.

Damn! I taught I was the only person who felt like this about the game glad to see I am not. I play R2 for a few hours tops before selling it on ebay. Also like you stated really sad seeing how many hours and nice memory's I have from the first game in the series.