Second time's the charm

[Ink Asylum]

In movies it's rare for a sequel to be received as well as the original. Sometimes the novelty and creative spark can't be recaptured. Or not enough care is put into the project, with the hope that a successful name will be enough. Or key members of the creative team don't return.

In video games the second game in a series often surpasses the first. The functional elements of the game system can be refined in more obvious ways than the creative elements of a film. Larger budgets allow for more testing and asset creation. Game studios tend to be more stable from one title to the next, giving them the opportunity to improve with experience.

Whatever the reasons, people are far more likely to have sequels in their lists of top video games than in their lists of top movies.

This thread is specifically for discussing how and why the second game in a series was a big improvement over the original.

[Lint of Death]

Aliens VS Predator 2 beat the everliving tar out of the first game. At least, I assume so because I sure as heck never played the first nor even considered looking into it. I mean, how could something with those licenses be better than AVP2?

Remember, I'm talking the game, not the movie!!1

Also, I suspect public opinion places UT2004 over UT2003 (you can even find some snide commentary on that in the singleplayer campaign, that the brute team won 2k3 in a surprise overturning but everyone hates them).

[Gorvi]

I think it's obvious. In most cases an original IP has a hard time getting backing, so budgets and development time can be limited. If that happens to be successful enough to get a sequel the developers will, ideally, have access to more resources to capitalize on the success of the first. That, and they can take feedback from players of the first game and make improvements where needed.

[biosc1]

It is actually interesting that sometimes you find the 1st is good, the 2nd is better, and the 3rd falls flat.

For example, I loved Masters of Orion. Loved MOO2 even more, but MOO3 wasn't as good. It is like some games reach perfection at the sequel level, but they try too hard on the sequel's sequel.

[Ink Asylum]

Originally Posted by biosc1

It is actually interesting that sometimes you find the 1st is good, the 2nd is better, and the 3rd falls flat.

For example, I loved Masters of Orion. Loved MOO2 even more, but MOO3 wasn't as good. It is like some games reach perfection at the sequel level, but they try too hard on the sequel's sequel.

That's a good observation. Perhaps there's more to improve between the 1st and 2nd game, and with those obvious changes made the developers experiment too much with the 3rd.

[Dahzer the Cosmic Fool]

those I do agree that it usually seems the the second is better then the first but there are a few faults to that line:Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen, by far the best one in the series. With biosc1 i agree also heck look at call of duty, 1 2 4 and 5(world at war) (3 was a console version) were the best of the series and have in my opinion gone significantly down after that, that could be my biased seeing that they are want more arcade and consolized.

As an example of a sequel being better then the first Natural Selection was a great mod/game and what ive seen and played with NS2 i believe it is even better (for some reason the only games coming to mind were games where the second was worse then the first)

[Ink Asylum]

The inspiration for making this thread was Borderlands 2. Superior in practically every way than the original. The team clearly paid attention to their fan base and solidified the type of game they wanted to make and story they wanted to tell.

[Widgetcraft]

Best example of this: Assassin's Creed. The first game is so bad that most fans of the series will tell you to skip it and move on to AC2, which is mind-blowingly good (until it gets old towards the end). This was an example of what was already talked about, a new intellectual property that couldn't get the polish it needed in the first game, but proved to be of great interest to the gaming community so the sequel was given much more resources to work with.

You also have situations like the Final Fantasy series, where the franchise stretches across such vast spans of time that there can be several paradigm shifts in gaming between the first installment of the series, and the latest. Final Fantasy VI, for example, had much better technology available to it than Final Fantasy did, and with that technology they were able to tell a better story and produce better atmosphere to draw the player into the world.

Then there are games where you get a sequel that is nothing like the first game at all, like the third Kid Icarus game, Kid Icarus: Uprising. Decades apart from the first game, they went for something entirely different, and succeeded in making one of the best games in it's new genre.

[Ink Asylum]

After Borderlands 2, the first game to spring to mind was Assassin's Creed 2. I enjoyed the original enough, but definitely saw where it needed improvement, and AC2 made nearly all of those fixes.

[Dark Prince]

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

After Borderlands 2, the first game to spring to mind was Assassin's Creed 2. I enjoyed the original enough, but definitely saw where it needed improvement, and AC2 made nearly all of those fixes.

And it looks like AC III will add even more awesomeness to the series.

I'd add in that Uncharted 2 was way better then the first one if only because of the set pieces alone. You could also throw in Arkham City as well, as I think it was a great idea to open it up to a whole city as the Dark Knight.

[Widgetcraft]

I think Arkham City was actually a downgrade in quality. The first game's main strength was that it was such a tight, content-rich experience. The second game had too much sprawl and made you glide way, way too much. Batman really needed a better way to get around the city. The Riddler challenges were also much worse all around.

[Krispy]

Half Life 2.

[menage]

The equation works most of the time, but not always. Bioshock 2 being good but not better than the first, dame for Metroid Prime. Can't say I enjoyed any Tomb Raider that much after the first.

AC is a given though. And I prefer the open world of Dark Souls to Demons. Even though they're both excellent.

Lots of examples but I'm on the toilet

[Dahzer the Cosmic Fool]

so if your on the toilet is the "sequel(#2) better then the original(#1)"?

[muddi900]

Uncharted 2 has less Elena, so it was not as good as the first.

[biosc1]

Originally Posted by menage

Lots of examples but I'm on the toilet

Where 2 is sometimes better than 1 as well.

[Ink Asylum]

Originally Posted by menage

same for Metroid Prime.

I was thinking about Nintendo games. Early on the original games were usually better (Mario, Zelda, Metroid), but later on it started following this trend more.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is typically ranked as the best in the series.

Pikmin 2 added a lot of great content and fixed some issues from the first, like the time limit.

I, personally, think Star Fox 64 is better than the original, but some people would probably disagree.

[menage]

Originally Posted by biosc1

Where 2 is sometimes better than 1 as well.

I really enjoyed 2 this time around. Sometimes it can drag a little though, and the ending sucked.

[johnperkins21]

The difference is pretty simple. In a movie, the story is easily one of the most important aspects. If the movie isn't designed with a sequel in mind, then they're usually just trying to make lightning strike twice. Whereas with games, the most important aspect of it (the gameplay) can easily be improved upon. The story is often ancillary to what makes a game "good", but that is not the case with movies. It's much easier to improve on gameplay than to take an original story idea and then superficially make it longer.

[Urizen]

Metal Gear Solid series gets a big nod for improving on the formula as long as it did.

MGS to MGS 2 to MGS:TSS to MGS 3. Consistent improvement in my book. MGS 4 was good, but a definite step backwards.

And the PSP titles, Ac!d and Portable Ops were rock solid as well.

Kind of like the Metroid series, I guess. The first real misstep was Prime 2. And Other M was the equivalent to the MGS iOS title.