Massive changes in sequels.

[Pezzer]

Many games have huge changes from their original to its sequel, even in a short space of time.

For example divine divinity to the upcoming sequel divinity 2 (although that's only in graphics as far as I can tell so far).

to

Any other examples, feel free to rant, ramble or rejoice about them as much as you like.

 

[NeedAUserName]

Fallout 2, and Fallout 3. Huge change.

 

[Casual Shinji]

RE4 tured out pretty good. That franchise had to change.

 

[Renset]

The 3D graphics in the new Golden Sun game could be considered a big change. Personally, I'd of prefered it if they kept the old style that was in the original games, since it felt very recognizable, and gave the game a distict feel. From what I've seen so far, it just doesn't feel like a Golden Sun game.

 

[Curtmiester]

Fire Emblem for the Gamecube and Fire Emblem for the Wii were two games that are very much the same but so different at the same time.

 

[darkenergy134]

Alone in the Dark.

It changed a lot. Became worse, but changed.

 

[Pezzer]

No way in hell that's divine divinity 2 *shock* what happened to all the isometric charm of the original? the last thing we need is another cookie cutter rpg, also beyond divinity was the squeal to divine divinity so are you sure this isn't something completely different?

I know about beyond divinity ( it's technically a spin-off, I think).

Here's the new game, as soon as you hear the music you'll know its Divine Divinity's sequel.

http://www.divinity2.com/

EDIT - also the oversized swords are still there, and the strange armour.

 

[ItsAChiaotzu]

Jak and Daxter. Jak 2.

New setting, new gameplay, completely new characters. Still well done though.

 

[TheLastCylon]

The change from half life to half life 2 always came as a surprise to me. Not sure why, but the turn from killing evil alien monsters to killing evil alien overlords with monsters always seemed kind of sudden.

 

[spindle]

Dawn of war 2 was such a piss off

 

[The Shrubbery Demander]

Pretty much any of the 3D Mario games. Also, Star Fox 64 to Star Fox Adventures. Nintendo does that so much, and yet so little at the same time.

 

[razbuten363]

Far Cry 2 is a far cry from the original (yes, I was up all night thinking that one up).

 

[Virus49]

Dawn of war 2 was such a piss off

Dawn of War 2 is a great RTS.

Yes its very different to DoW1, but it at least gets away from build base, gather resources, steamroll/turtle/rush.
Makes the game more fun and interesting.

 

[Sensenmann]

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory to Splinter Cell Double Agent. Suddenly I had to care about fitting objectives in at HQ.

Hitman: Blood Money was a good change in mechanics though.

Far Cry 2 did not remind me of Far Cry in any way other than name.

I also wonder why only the first and last Unreal Tournaments are actually fast paced.

 

[Slash Dementia]

I can't believe no one has said Doom 2 to Doom 3. The change while I still enjoyed it wasn't as good.

 

[Generator]

Jak and Daxter. Jak 2.

New setting, new gameplay, completely new characters. Still well done though.

Urgh, ninja'd! Anyways, in this same series, Jak X was a pretty big departure from Jak 2 and 3.

 

[BoxCutter]

How about Daggerfall/Arena to Morrowind/Oblivion? They were very different.

This, also they were all great games.