Bad game Sequels that if not for the original would have been great

[Minky_man]

Was thinking the other day as you do, about the everlasting question "But is it as good as the Original?" and starting musing on games that would have been awesome if not for their original doing everything its done before it and/or the original just being better.

So my question to the masses, would Final Fantasy 8 have been the crowned jewel of gaming if Final Fantasy 7 didn't start things off? What bad game sequels would have been great if not for being in the shadow of their former game?

 

[Merkavar]

people seem to say fallout 3 is one of these games. like if they called it postapocoliptica instead of fall out it would have got better reviews cause they would compare it to fallout 1

 

[nukethetuna]

Chrono Cross. It got a ton of slack from the average joe for being too different from Chrono Trigger, but was actually a very good RPG... especially the soundtrack.

In general, any series that sets itself up as a sequel, and then doesn't quite deliver an experience in line with what the original gave, will suffer from this.

 

[AlternatePFG]

people seem to say fallout 3 is one of these games. like if they called it postapocoliptica instead of fall out it would have got better reviews cause they would compare it to fallout 1

Damn ninja'd.

In all seriousness though, that's how I feel. First off, Fallout 3 was a great, fun game, with an amazing atmosphere and one of the best exploration mechanics in any RPG I've played. I've spent a ton of time on it, and it wasn't wasted. It's just a terrible Fallout game. It doesn't mesh with the previous titles at all (not because of the gameplay changes) and if Bethesda wanted to make a Fallout title, they should have just retconned Fallout 3 shortly after the Great War as a prequel. That way, the many, many plotholes would probably disappear (like why there's no farms and everyone still is just scavenging).

The story and writing were pretty bad though, but that could have been fixed with some editing. It's easy enough to avoid though but it isn't even comparable to the previous main Fallout titles.

 

[Katana314]

Left 4 Dead 2 might have been nice if it had avoided the flack of Valve putting out a horrible original and ignoring it.

It was like Unreal Tournament 2003/2004...except without the freebie.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

Just in my opinion, I'm going to say Portal 2 and Mass Effect 2.
Portal 2, like Yahtzee said, did feel like it was story based with a few puzzles thrown in.
Mass Effect 2, for a game that was based around building a team, the team could have done with a bit more personality and combat variation.

 

[Sixcess]

I wouldn't call it a bad game, but DOOM 3 had a rather mixed reception owing to it being more survival horror than run-and-gun. 10 years on and about the only thing id have said about DOOM 4 so far is that it won't be like 3.

Also, although I haven't personally played it, I get the impression that Deus Ex: Invisible War suffers very badly from comparisons to its amazing predecessor.

 

[hobohazard]

if not for the overflow of ww2 shooters (of and the fact that its a call of duty game) cod waw would have been one of the best ww2 shooters of all time, if it hadn't ben for cod1,2,4 (3 sucked) i still think that cod1,2 and the others are grate but that's not the point

 

[Maxtro]

Dragon Age 2.

Not a bad game by any means, but not as good as Orgins.

 

[dancinginfernal]

Dragon Age 2.

Not a bad game by any means, but not as good as Orgins.

My thoughts exactly. That game receives far too much undeserved hate.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Deus Ex Invisible War

 

[ColeusRattus]

For me, it would be

Need for Speed: Underground

The first need for speeds were great, with Porsche being the zenith of the series. Then came underground. While it got great critical acclaim, it departed so for from the original series of driving insanely expensive and exclusive cars on tracks with beautiful vistas.
What we got instead was driving ridiculously tuned rice cookers in a city by night. Not a bad game per se, but not "the need for speed". And especially not for me, as I don't like the fast and furius like tuning scene much.

Also, it pains me that Nfs:U has assimilated the series and is regarded as the norm.
And ironically, Shift 2, successor the game that somewhat took it back to the roots has ditched the NfS handle.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Hotel Mario.

[/thread]

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Dragon Age 2.

Not a bad game by any means, but nowhere NEARLY as good as Origins.

Fixed. I wanna agree with you on DA2, but I've played the first half....and the combat is just downright atrocious! DA:O's combat was boring sure.....but atleast it was tolerable.

And random encounters, Bioware? Seriously? If I wanted to play Pokemon. I would fucking play Pokemon, Wouldn't I?