Best improvement on a game series?

[Belated]

Whether it was a sequel, or a prequel, as long as it was better than the game that was released before it, what do you feel is the game that brought the most improvement to its series?

This isn't about the "best" sequel. This is about a game that was just much better than the one that came before it. The sequel could still be bad on its own. But it just needs to be amazing compared to its predecessor. Or the game that came before it could be really incredible, but the sequel might be that much better. Or maybe it's an amazing sequel to a really crappy game, which gives it many more improvement points in its favor.

Prequels count too. It just needs to be a game that was released after a game that wasn't as good. Remember, don't think of just the game itself, think of all the good changes between the older game and the newer one.

So, what game do you think improved upon its series the most?

Spoiler: My Pick

with Pokemon Gold and Silver. While not the best Pokemon games ever, they came with so many new additions. New items, new Pokeballs, new Pokemon, a new land while still keeping the old one, a cell phone, item holding, Pokemon breeding, bug-catching, a nice little bedroom to customize, a ship you could go on more than once, the magnet train. Though I loved the first generation a lot, Gold and Silver just added so much to the series, and all of these additions were great ideas.

 

[Radeonx]

Pokemon Black and White.

It has the best Pokemon since Red and Blue, had a good story, and made TONS of improvements to the franchise.
Overall it is just a great addition to the series.

 

[mikev7.0]

Whether it was a sequel, or a prequel, as long as it was better than the game that was released before it, what do you feel is the game that brought the most improvement to its series?

This isn't about the "best" sequel. This is about a game that was just much better than the one that came before it. The sequel could still be bad on its own. But it just needs to be amazing compared to its predecessor. Or the game that came before it could be really incredible, but the sequel might be that much better. Or maybe it's an amazing sequel to a really crappy game, which gives it many more improvement points in its favor.

Prequels count too. It just needs to be a game that was released after a game that wasn't as good. Remember, don't think of just the game itself, think of all the good changes between the older game and the newer one.

So, what game do you think improved upon its series the most?

Spoiler: My Pick

with Pokemon Gold and Silver. While not the best Pokemon games ever, they came with so many new additions. New items, new Pokeballs, new Pokemon, a new land while still keeping the old one, a cell phone, item holding, Pokemon breeding, bug-catching, a nice little bedroom to customize, a ship you could go on more than once, the magnet train. Though I loved the first generation a lot, Gold and Silver just added so much to the series, and all of these additions were great ideas.

I'm not saying this with any sarcasm but because everyone has told me to avoid Pokemon at all costs due to lack of depth and how much I love that in my games but do any of those additions that you mentioned lend any depth to the game?

For my pick I would honestly say that Street Fighter IV (Full disclosure: My favorite genre is fighting games) would get that honor not only for all of the evolution to their already great game but by showing us where they stood on the arguement about 3-D vs. 2-D and also showing us that just because they wanted to make a technically great fighter, it didn't mean that they couldn't use the accelerated graphics and tech without sacrificing game play, and to do it, they didn't have to make it 3-D. That took guts and innovation and I feel that Street Fighter IV has both.

 

[Sarge034]

Resident Evil 4

It gave the series a huge graphics overhall and still had a pretty good story. It is the first one I played and by far my favorit. Yes I have played most of the others, but the only other one I was able to finish was RE5. The graphics on the other games gave me headaches, litterally made my head hurt.

 

[Belated]

*editing sound effect*

I'm not saying this with any sarcasm but because everyone has told me to avoid Pokemon at all costs due to lack of depth and how much I love that in my games but do any of those additions that you mentioned lend any depth to the game?

I would say so. Well, at least one way. The ability to return to the first land meant getting to see how the actions of your old character from the previous generation helped to influence and change the region later on. In doing this, it also created the feel of a changing world. I hesitate to use this word when describing a Pokemon game, but it was "realistic" in that it depicted a sense of time going by. Though this is the only way I can think of off the top of my head that the game might produce depth, so I guess I wouldn't really recommend it to you. And you see less and less of this kind of thing with newer games in the series.

 

[x-machina]

Good question, It's a helluva lot easier to name faults with sequels then compliment them. Ummmm, I'm honestly drawing a blank

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Assassin's Creed 2.

The first game was boring and repetitive. It wasn't even that long a game, but I never finished it because I just couldn't taking having to do the same 3 missions over and over again before I got to the one interesting part in the game, actually assassinating the targets.

The sequel completely rebuilt the way the story was told, and redid the mission structure, which made the game MUCH more entertaining the play.

The first game was one I was completely disappointed with, but the sequel is one of my favorite games of this generation.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I have to admit i felt doom 3 was a damn good remake of doom. It modernised it while bringing in so much more depth, and still stayed true to what made it 'doom'.

People complain about the darkness and how you had to switch from flashlight to weapon instead of having it gun mounted like many other games. It seems as though i'm the only one who realises this was a purposely chosen mechanic with some pretty solid logic behind it.

Its based on a simple choice. You can have your weapon ready so you can fire in a split second, or you can have your touch out to see what coming (and subsequently have to switch out to your weapon before you can shoot).

Its a case of 'you can't have your cake and eat it too', yet no one seems to realise this. you don't hear (reasonable) people complaining that you should have had a machine gun in amnesia, or that you should be able to build everything without mining tiberium in C&C.

So why do they complain about the flashlight in doom 3?

 

[cowsvils]

Assassin's Creed 2.

The first game was boring and repetitive. It wasn't even that long a game, but I never finished it because I just couldn't taking having to do the same 3 missions over and over again before I got to the one interesting part in the game, actually assassinating the targets.

The sequel completely rebuilt the way the story was told, and redid the mission structure, which made the game MUCH more entertaining the play.

The first game was one I was completely disappointed with, but the sequel is one of my favorite games of this generation.

Gah, go ahead and steal all of my thunder why don't you.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

spiderman 2, the first game was a pile of old dried up balls, but the second one was so much fun. Well, only the web slinging part really, the rest was a pile of stinking old balls hid behind a couch :/

 

[SoranMBane]

Dead Space 2 over Dead Space. Zero-G jet packs, it's set on a city with tons of variation in environments rather than that insufferably brown industrial mining ship, and, most of all, Isaac Clarke is no longer a silent protagonist (not saying silent protagonists are necessarily bad, just that DS1 handled its silent protagonist about as well as the Umbrella Corporation handles dangerous bio-weapons). I mean, you've got a generic avatar in a power armor space suit who never talks or even shows any remote hint of emotion with regard to the things happening around him, and the game's trying to make me feel sorry for him because he's supposedly looking for his girlfriend? How was that supposed to work? In contrast, Isaac in DS2 shows emotions (a LOT of emotions), forms real relationships with other characters, takes the initiative in dealing with the various crises that arise (making me feel less like an errand boy being ordered around by dipshits and more like someone struggling to survive a desperate situation), and even gets to show off his engineering skills from time to time (the first plasma cutter you get in the game, for example, is cobbled together from a flashlight you get earlier and a piece of surgical equipment). Hell, his plight even made me CRY, making Dead Space 2 one of only three games to do so.

 

[mikev7.0]

*editing sound effect*

I'm not saying this with any sarcasm but because everyone has told me to avoid Pokemon at all costs due to lack of depth and how much I love that in my games but do any of those additions that you mentioned lend any depth to the game?

I would say so. Well, at least one way. The ability to return to the first land meant getting to see how the actions of your old character from the previous generation helped to influence and change the region later on. In doing this, it also created the feel of a changing world. I hesitate to use this word when describing a Pokemon game, but it was "realitic" in that it depicted a sense of time going by. Though this is the only way I can think of off the top of my head that the game might produce depth, so I guess I wouldn't really recommend it to you. And you see less and less of this kind of thing with newer games in the series.

Thank You I appreciate your honesty I'd just heard so many great things about the series (and I have a fellow VS. player that's a huge fan.) that I was considering it as I really like Duelist games but even the added realism that you define wouldn't be there for me since I haven't played the previous titles.

@ Some_Weird Guy: I agree with you about the flashlight. It (as well as the way the game had me counting ammo) made Doom almost seem like a survival horror. All of it's incarnations have made improvements (especially the one called Hexen!) and I am still stuck on the original's level 2 trying to find all of the secrets. Doom? A thinking game? Perish the thought! Perish it all you want but it doesn't make it any less true.

 

[Mr Thin]

Possibly... Prince of Persia: Warrior Within?

Sequel to Sands of Time.

It's been a long time since I played either, so nostalgia has probably significantly influenced my opinion of them, but the combat in the second game was so much more interesting and varied, and I thought the prince actually looked cooler.

I also think Half Life 2 has to get an honorable mention, because Half Life 1 was fantastic, and I didn't think the sequel could possibly match up to it. I was wrong. It was as good as Half Life 1, plus it looked better.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Bioshock 2 giving you the ability to use a gun AND plasmid changed everything for me.

Beyond that, and yes I can feel the flames coming on, FFXIII. I thought it gave a new, more interesting spin on the series. Just made things faster.

 

[Trogdor1138]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

While I like the Castlevania classics, Symphony just made everything ridiculously better to me. It's an amazing game and they nailed the style on their first go which is very rare for new changes in sequels.

Also, the new Mortal Kombat looks to be an amazing reboot of the classic games, my hype level is through the roof.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Bioshock 2 giving you the ability to use a gun AND plasmid changed everything for me.

Beyond that, and yes I can feel the flames coming on, FFXIII. I thought it gave a new, more interesting spin on the series. Just made things faster.

Dude, the battles ( ESPECIALLY boss battles ) took an insane amount of time because of the incredibly unnecessary amount of HP the enemies had.

Dude, I still loved it.

 

[Ghaleon640]

Working designs remaking Lunar silver star and Lunar eternal blue onto the playstation. It was a remade game, but wow, it had so much into it. They made it into a box set with a soundtrack, making of video (and if you entered a code you could play warlords with the characters faces inside the boxes!) and more since I actually don't own the box set only the discs. They added cutscenes right out of an anime... (Alright, I admit it, I never played the original,) but everything that working designs did... it was flat out amazing. The story was fixed up a bit, graphics of course. I have an incredible respect for the people that did all that and am saddened that they've been taken down long ago.

Lunar Dragon Song on the other hand... took away the ability to pick which oppenent you attack... in a turn based RPG.

Yes, what you see before you is a man cry on the inside. I had my fun with the game, but it doesn't need to be a part of the Lunar series.

I haven't played the new psp version of Lunar silver star, but as far as the amount added, it doesn't look at all to compare with how much Working Designs added... Though I still really, really want to play that game.

 

[EzraPound]

Street Fighter II FTW. But a few others:

-- Spider-Man 2: The Movie
-- Assassin's Creed II
-- Resident Evil 4
-- Grand Theft Auto III
-- Super Mario Bros. 3
-- Red Dead Redemption
-- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
-- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
-- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
-- Red Steel 2
-- Call of Duty 4
-- Mega Man 2
-- Streets of Rage II
-- Duke Nukem 3D
-- Terminator 3: The Redemption
-- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
-- Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
-- TimeSplitters 2
-- Ultima III: Exodus
-- X-Men 2: Clone Wars

. . .I love how two of these games are subtitled "redemption." Indeed!

Some of the worst. . .

-- Red Faction II
-- Ultima IX: Ascension
-- Super Mario Sunshine
-- Perfect Dark Zero
-- Metal Gear Solid 2
-- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
-- The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
-- Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
-- Mario Kart: Double Dash‼
-- Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
-- Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
-- Spider-Man 3
-- Mercenaries 2
-- Quake IV
-- Driv3r