I have actually noticed this more in Console games than in PC titles, but the ratio of good to bad sequels are pretty bad; not as bad as movie sequels but still pretty bad. There are still some sequels for beloved video games that were really good. Some of these games were panned due to one issue or the other, some of them didn't get the attention they deserved until they became available electronically (like on GOG, Steam, PSN, XBLA etc.) and some of them should have been their own game instead of tacking them to an existing IP. So here you go, it's your turn to praise the sequels that others may have missed or dismissed because of bad press or whatever. Tell us what the game is, what it's a sequel to and why it's good despite the general opinion.
For me, it's Sacred 2 (sequel to Sacred and Sacred: Underworld). The initial release of the game was so buggy that may people couldn't even get it to run and some of the console errors were truely impressive (characters passing through each other and being merged together, hit detection ten feet from the target; crashing when using a portal or mounting a horse). On the PC end, the errors went from hilarious (I went accepted completion of a quest over twenty times and it still wouldn't give me the next one in the series, my system was shut down, rebooted and the game automatically launched on start up and put me right back where I was, not at the starting menu.) to catastrophic (launching the game while running a web browser caused a corrupting error that resulting in my having to wipe and re-install my wife's entire system).
Once these problems were fixed, though, the game is a sprawling, epic fantasy tale about governmental corruption, moral corruption and the irrevocable consequences of willful decisions. Each character in this Action RPG would play either the light or dark campaign (excluding Seraphim where were always light campaign and Inquisitors who are always dark campaign)and had not only the main quest and hundreds of side quests but also a class specific quest that changed with the campaign.
With a sprawling 22 square mile world with a lot of monsters, dungeons, caves and loot to keep you busy for hundreds of hours. I've been playing it for a few years and while my characters are powerful, they are no where near maxed out.
On top of that, the special powers provide a lot of customization and skills actually apply immediatly and obviously to the character starting at level one.
I really enjoy this game and I think that it's a shame it didn't get a fare shake, but I can't fault the public when a game doesn't ship in good working order.
For me, it's Sacred 2 (sequel to Sacred and Sacred: Underworld). The initial release of the game was so buggy that may people couldn't even get it to run and some of the console errors were truely impressive (characters passing through each other and being merged together, hit detection ten feet from the target; crashing when using a portal or mounting a horse). On the PC end, the errors went from hilarious (I went accepted completion of a quest over twenty times and it still wouldn't give me the next one in the series, my system was shut down, rebooted and the game automatically launched on start up and put me right back where I was, not at the starting menu.) to catastrophic (launching the game while running a web browser caused a corrupting error that resulting in my having to wipe and re-install my wife's entire system).
Once these problems were fixed, though, the game is a sprawling, epic fantasy tale about governmental corruption, moral corruption and the irrevocable consequences of willful decisions. Each character in this Action RPG would play either the light or dark campaign (excluding Seraphim where were always light campaign and Inquisitors who are always dark campaign)and had not only the main quest and hundreds of side quests but also a class specific quest that changed with the campaign.
With a sprawling 22 square mile world with a lot of monsters, dungeons, caves and loot to keep you busy for hundreds of hours. I've been playing it for a few years and while my characters are powerful, they are no where near maxed out.
On top of that, the special powers provide a lot of customization and skills actually apply immediatly and obviously to the character starting at level one.
I really enjoy this game and I think that it's a shame it didn't get a fare shake, but I can't fault the public when a game doesn't ship in good working order.
