The Curse of the Wayward Sequel 95
As big a part of the industry has sequels have become, they don't all turn out for the best. 1up takes a look at anticipated or promising sequels that just failed to deliver the goodness a second time around. From the article: "By the next Christmas season, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - except things had changed drastically. The biggest diversion was with the Prince himself, whose clean-cut looks were altered into a rugged, rock star style. Taking with that same theme, the soundtrack featured a sizable amount of death metal, including an anachronistic appearance by a Godsmack song. The fighting engine was improved over the original, but with it came tons of cheesy dialogue spewed out during combat."
Devil May Cry? (Score:1)
Nice ad placement (Score:1)
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wtf (Score:3, Funny)
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The pain of sequels (Score:3, Insightful)
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I await your no doubt pre-planned sarcastic reply.
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Sequalitis (Score:1)
Most sequels are doomed from the start of ever being as glorious as their original. The idea for the original game is already in it's second (or third) iteration and stagnancy begins it's gradual decline.
In contrast most games that have overcome this obstacle usually prosper from a complete overhaul in storyline (FF 1 through whatever) or perspective (the Mario titles).
In the end it comes down to money. Sequels are safe bet from a sales and marketing perspective and the bottom line is the only thing t
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Are you kidding me? (Score:2)
Oh boy... dude, I don't think you could be more far off. In looking back on many long-running series, it's almost an assurence that the second game is the weakest. Let's see:
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You forgot Ur-Quan Masters [sourceforge.net] (Star Control 2).
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I liked SMB-2, even if it was a departure from the series. Is it really accurate to call it a poor game just because the mechanics were different in the rest of the Mario franchise?
Heck, I'd just call it
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Death Metal (Score:3, Interesting)
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Is Godsmack even THAT hard? Stryper rocks harder.
-Eric
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O rly? (Score:1)
I can't even think of reading TFA based on the summary. I thought Warrior Within was the best in the current Trilogy. I found all the improvements made completely up to my expectations. The Prince's dark and brooding attitude of impending doom made it even more thrilling than the first. The mask of the wraith was a really neat plot device and mode of game play... although some of the temporal inconsistencies it introduced were a bit disturbing.
Overall, I'd highly recommend Warrior Within as a fitting a
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"You should be honored to die by my sword!"
--Jeremy
I loved Warrior Within (Score:1)
Best combat I've ever experienced in an over-the-shoulder martial arts style game, though.
Overanalysis... (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's the deal. The Sands of Time was an excelent environmental puzzle game with some crappy fighting. The Warrior Within was a crappy 3D fighter with some mediocre environmental puzzles. Neither the music, the mood, nor the combat engine had anything to do with what made the games good or bad.
It's OK to admit you like an adventure/puzzle game. It doesn't make you less 'hardcore'.
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I've never even played Warrior Within or the third game. I played Sands of Time and LOVED it. Not only was the game beautiful, but it had great platforming challenges and puzzles. The fighting wasn't that great, but it wasn't too bad. The story was good, and the telling was fantastic (like what happened when you would die and the price would say "No wait... that wasn't how it happened").
I eagerly awaited the sequel until I found out more about it. They took the game I really loved and made it "cool". Death
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Anybody who can rank FF VIII as a worse "sequel" in the Final Fantasy series than FF X-2 (which is an actual sequel) needs his or her head examined. I particularly despised how Yuna was converted from a shy, modest, yet strong-willed and powerful woman in FF X into a gun-toting, skimpily-dressed songstress just to satisfy the marketing department's request that the sequel provide more fan service. The Yuna of FF X was a good role model for my then eleven-year-old daughter; I don't thi
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Respectfully sir, you're wrong. Warrior Within is a fine game with more of the same platforming awesomeness. It has a cool time-looping plot and takes place in a huge castle whose parts you traverse more than once, in different time periods, and you have a little more freedom in navigating them (especially when you're seeking out the hard-to find health upgrades and weapons). The
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Actually (Score:2)
I disagree... (Score:2)
Yeah, the puzzles though. In WW, they were the best. They were larger, more intricate, more difficult, and more beautiful. And the Dhaka(that what it was called?) sequences were amazing and intense -- insane 3d platforming i
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Warrior Within bugginess (Score:2)
The bug in question was mentioned on Ubisoft's website. They provided no fix, no workaround. The only solution? Play the entire game over, and *PRAY* it doesn't happen again. Not even a mention of how to avoid triggering the bug.
So I sent Ubi a nasty(no, not like my posting history sort of nasty) e
I have only one answer to this: (Score:2)
Yes, I know Spyro pulled off the whole 'sucked into a new world' bit, and hell, R&C did it too, but Jak II took a decent mute protagonist and animal sidekick, and:
1) Shunted them into the Future
2) Tortured the main character for TWO YEARS (and this was IN the prologue)
3) Made him talk and basically turned him emo, and gave him 'eco-morphing' powers and a gun.
... the original was a platform/collector-style game with minigames. They don't even PLAY the same. Yes, sequels are meant to be different,
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I commented on why I never played Prince of Persia: Warrior Within above, but I'd forgotten about Jak II. I really enjoyed Jak and Daxter and I was amazed what they did with the second. Not only was it put in the future and made edgy, they decided to give the characters GUNS. If the characters were different you'd probably have no way to ever know both games took place in the same universe.
Another game I didn't play because they screwed with the original too much.
I mean, why not just give Ryu Hyabusa of N
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I remember that series! (Score:1)
Command and Conquer 2 (Score:2)
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C&C, C&C:Tiberium Sun, and RA2 are all good.
The rest all suck.
It's very simple.
If you think that Tiberium Sun was bad, you obviously didn't get in to the grove of the Orca Bomber.
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not Death Metal (Score:4, Insightful)
Howzabout the Ultimate Wayward Sequel? (Score:1)
At least... (Score:3, Funny)
Then again, I wouldn't go up against the latter in a game of "First to Impale the Other On A Floor With Metal Spikes Wins."
What, no Angel Of Darkness? (Score:2)
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I like sequals...sometimes (Score:4, Insightful)
Mario, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Tony Hawk, Metroid, Tekken, Zelda, how many people are really doing to go "damn, not ANOTHER Zelda game, try something original nintendo!".
The problem really is when a company runs out of ideas (or at least out of good ideas) and tries to use the name of a great game or series to sell crap. It's bad for gamers who are tricked into buying crap, and it's bad for publishers who ruin the name of a great series.
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Awesome game.
Doom (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, just new levels.
Except for the pain elemental. And the arachnotron. And the mancubus. And the revenant. And the arch-vile.
And the super shotgun.
The additions are a masterpiece orchestration of game balance. I guess Kurt Kalata never actually played it.
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And yeah, it was pretty much just a level pack. A handle of new enemies, a minor new weapon and a few new textures don't qualify as it much more. Not compared to other sequels which actually have more than just minor tweaks.
I personally wasn't a big fan of most of the level design compared to the original either. Plus the final "boss" was nonsense.
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Of course, Heretic blew both Dooms out of the water in multiplayer - I maintian that it's still the best-balanced FPS ever created.
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Whacking players limbs off was also a blast. Nothing like seeing someone running crazily with blood spurting out where their arms used to be.
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And nothing like comments like yours to dispell the myth that games desentisize people to violence. You should spend less time playing with your computer and more on wholesome, gentling activities, like watching Sailor Moon slaughter armies in the name of love and justice. Now that is a children's show that teaches proper values :).
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Poor list. (Score:2)
Insteresting that they named those three. With Metal Gear Solid 2, I've heard nothing but praise for it, except for the fact there's a great deal of cutscenes, but fans of the series don't mind. Raiden might not be loved (I like his animations) but he didn't kill that game, in fact I'd rank Metal Gear Solid 2 higher then Metal gear solid 1 just because there was so much interaction in the world. I've heard far worse things said about Metal Gear Solid 3 (in fact
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"I am Error."
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Final Fantasy 8 isn't a bad game, it just isn't a Final Fantasy game. If they'd stuck a different name on it, it would have been just fine.
Just to add to the list, (Score:2)
MOO3
Tribes 3... (Score:2)
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I still launch Tribes 2 every once in a while, but my desire to dig up Vengeance is just about zero.
Yet more for the list (Score:1)
X-COM: Terror from the Deep
Wing Commander: Privateer 2
Ultima 8 (9 is just a given, of course)
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Rehashed discussion (Score:2)
But... (Score:2)
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Probability (Score:2)