A True Sequel

[EmphaFish]

I've always been curious as to what makes a true sequel to a game. Is it a sequel just because the same characters and names from the original and a two are slapped onto it? Does it have to differentiate itself from its predecessor? Or is there no such thing as a "true sequel"? I am also curious on how someone would "milk" a game for sequels. I'm interested to see some opinions on this.

 

[Lucem712]

Based on a slightly educated guess, I'd imagine a "true" successor to be something that carries either the storyline/universe/characters. While a spiritual successor carries on the spirit of the original while not being constrained to the original universe or mythos. Such as Fallout being a spiritual successor to Wasteland.

"Milking" usually means the original game company has stopped caring about the franchise or the IP has remained with the parent publisher and shipped off to a developer who has no attachment to it. These games are shoddy at best every year, show little to no growth or expansion on the originals ideals. Or any game that loses it's heart and continues on being published frequently.

 

[TehCookie]

To me a sequel must have the same core gameplay, but hopefully with improvements or a few new additions and the same "spirit". That last one is kind of vague but like how all the Final Fantasy games have a similar feel. Having the same characters and names does not make it a sequel, the Prinny games have the same characters as the Disgaea series but the gameplay is completely different so it's a spinoff.

Milking a series can either be slapping good selling name on an otherwise unrelated piece of shit *cough*DmC*cough* or releasing the games very quickly without updating or improving it.