Good Games With Shitty Sequels - How did they mess it up so bad?

[Tablet County]

I genuinely can't believe nobody's said Dragon Age: Origins yet.

I think everybody who has anything to say about Dragon Age's downward trajectory have already said it in the dedicated thread.

 

[The Early 2000s]

Postal 3 is irredeemable dogshit

 

[The Evil Midnight Bomber]

Red Dead Redemption
Arthur and the gang are such moronic insufferable cunts I rooted for the Pinkertons the entire game. After the Valentine Heist they had so much cash they could have just fucked off on an ocean liner and started a new life anywhere in the world but none of them brings that possibility up even once. I guess killing hundreds of random people for no good reason while constantly morally grandstanding is preferrable.

 

[Observotron]

I genuinely can't believe nobody's said Dragon Age: Origins yet.

Well, I'm still waiting on a sequel to that game.

 

[Miriam Margoyles]

I loved Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

Arkham Knight?
More like Arkham Shite, amirite, gamers? It was like they kicked me in the cunt with that game.

 

[The Evil Midnight Bomber]

Would you believe me if I told you that BioShock is the most Jewish game ever made

Yeah Fontaine is the evil white man destroying Ryans perfect jewish paradise.
Here is a Kotaku article about it.

 

[Raging Capybara]

Considering the size, scope, and price, I don't consider Shadow of the Erdtree a DLC but a sequel. And it's a garbage, shit sequel.

 

[Blackstar]

Postal 3 is irredeemable dogshit

Postal 4 is also shit

 

[Kid Named Rocket]

Darkest Dungeon 1 was fucking perfect, I don't care what anyone says.

But the second game, with its dogshit overly complicated "token" battle system, the scrapping of Afflictions & Virtues in favor of a generic relationship system, relegating my boy BH into a gimmick class that can only be used for one area, turning each run into a multi-hour "we have Slay the Spire at home" slog, locking Crusader behind DLC, forcing you to go through retarded scripted battles just to unlock each character's kit, not letting you use multiple of the same class, somehow making each hero feel less individualistic, reducing Antiquarian to a miniboss, retconning a lot of characters' backstories to be fucking retarded, having boring uninspired narration that doesn't hold a candle to Wayne June's work in DD1, going from a cool Mike Mignola-inspired artstyle to weird 3D slop... I could go on, but basically, Darkest Dungeon 2 is dogshit and Red Hook can go fuck themselves.

 

[Observotron]

Darkest Dungeon 1 was fucking perfect, I don't care what anyone says.

But the second game, with its dogshit overly complicated "token" battle system, the scrapping of Afflictions & Virtues in favor of a generic relationship system, relegating my boy BH into a gimmick class that can only be used for one area, turning each run into a multi-hour "we have Slay the Spire at home" slog, locking Crusader behind DLC, forcing you to go through retarded scripted battles just to unlock each character's kit, not letting you use multiple of the same class, somehow making each hero feel less individualistic, reducing Antiquarian to a miniboss, retconning a lot of characters' backstories to be fucking retarded, having boring uninspired narration that doesn't hold a candle to Wayne June's work in DD1, going from a cool Mike Mignola-inspired artstyle to weird 3D slop... I could go on, but basically, Darkest Dungeon 2 is dogshit and Red Hook can go fuck themselves.

Another good choice for the thread.

IDK what it is, but It baffles me when a company releases a game with a great base formula that it's fanbase wants more of, only for them to turn around and just make something completely different as a sequel.

Just so I can contribute to the actual thread, Let's not forget Gothic 3.

 

[Jimbobaggins]

Kerbal Space Program 2. Released into early access and only got 1 major update. (Which was just a feature from the original.) Then studio got shut down and radio silence

 

[SnowBall]

Lunar Dragon Song. The first two Lunar games were iconic jrpgs of their time and people wanted a third one so badly. They finally got their wish in Dragon Song which was so offensively bad that it killed the series.

 

[Terra Pax]

Any of these games that drag on for a long time are doomed to this. Cities Skylines 2 and Payday 3 from the OP, Sims 4, Kerbal Space Programme, Paradox games. The previous games survive for so long with DLC and modding support, that any sequel game cannot help but have less content at launch and flop - especially since with these things, meagre graphical improvements and a migrating online scene aren't really factors.

Liek why would I buy a hypothetical Stellaris 2, when Stellaris currently has near infinite replayability for a sperg like me that already enjoys it?

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

I genuinely can't believe nobody's said Dragon Age: Origins yet.

That's because the topic is about shitty sequels to GOOD games.

 

[eDove]

The Evil Within.

The first game was a great Resident Evil style game designed to be a slow burn where you tactfully defeat interesting bosses that were actually scary.

The second game though, while I liked it, and while it did get positive reviews, took a lot of the intensity and anxiety out of the game, basically becoming a full blown shooter.

Overall I loved the story and wish they would make a third installment.

Man, that sequel made me furious at the time. I could type up an essay about how that sequel spits in the face of the original, but all I'll say right now is that the first one had a reveal in the end that was clearly setting up a sequel, but they completely threw it out and went for Hollywood rip-off schlock — probably because they thought they were smarter than the original creators.

 

[Punning in the 90's]

Black Ops 2, genuinely just an inferior sequel to the first in every way regardless of what it's many dickriders would say to the contrary.

 

[Tablet County]

Black Ops 2, genuinely just an inferior sequel to the first in every way regardless of what it's many dickriders would say to the contrary.

I would've probably agreed with you years ago when I first played it but having replayed both recently I was actually surprised how well Black Ops 2 holds up compared to the first one. Part of that is because BO1's PC port is dogshit but even so, there are a lot of missions in Black Ops which feel like filler or tacked on while 2 is all killer. Even the weird pseudo-RTS side missions are pretty fun. Plus the soundtrack is better.
Though I am annoyed that people behind the series seem to have forgotten that Weaver exists.
Now that I think about it I do like the characters of Black Ops 1 better. Who the fuck even remembers Mason's son's best friend?

On that note, COD 4 and MW19 are the only two good games in the Modern Warfare series. Both the original and the reboot Modern Warfare 2 and 3 suck dick for diverse reasons.
Oh yeah I only play campaign unless its with friends. Online multiplayer is for homosexuals.

 

[TheHarbinger]

The newer series of X-COM games are majorly declining now. Especially compared to the Long War mod. X-COM 2 was streamlined already enough. But Chimera Squad had almost infantile design and was insulting bad in its art direction and design choices.

Diablo III was a tremendous step down from the second game. With Diablo Immortal probably still being the low point of the series. People complained about the live money auction house of III but the microtransactions and whale level economy in Immortal is Vegas casino level entrapping. And Diablo IV is not really being an improvement anywhere on the first two games. A game series seemingly in permanent decline. And most likely Diablo I and II will always be the peak of the franchise.

You could arguably put nearly every single fighting game franchise here as well. As they've all continually gone into a direction of being DLC and microtransaction heavy. Stripping out nearly all content to make the games barren of modes. Online modes and netcode are getting worse. Companies are charging money for things like frame data, old music, and replays functionality. Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite had arguably the worst marketing campaign of any fighting game in history. So not only was the game terrible but the most memorable parts were the disastrous promotions for the game.

Dawn of War III essentially stopped the franchise dead in its tracks with no signs of life. Fallout 76 is probably not enough to kill the series especially with Amazon now investing into a television show. But the brand is never going to resemble its darker and more serious tone of the 1, 2, and New Vegas iterations. Half Life: Alyx turned the series into being overtly nothing more than a tech demo but Steam and Valve sycophants will still worship the franchise no matter how putrid it becomes.

 

[Irregardless]

Man, that sequel made me furious at the time. I could type up an essay about how that sequel spits in the face of the original, but all I'll say right now is that the first one had a reveal in the end that was clearly setting up a sequel, but they completely threw it out and went for Hollywood rip-off schlock — probably because they thought they were smarter than the original creators.

Yea I agree with everything you said. It's been years since I've played either so it was hard to really describe why I feel the way I do, but based on the time frame I played them (played the first in 2016 and then a year later played the sequel when it came out) the first one was fresh in my mind, and suffice to say, the sequel did not feel like the first game at all, and felt like it went off in a totally different direction.

The first game felt way more intentional, the bosses were a way bigger deal that you actually had to figure out how to beat, and like you said the story was set up in a way where it should get a sequel, but then we got it and it had nothing to do with the whole point of the first game. Instead were treated to a run an gun style "defeat the evil corporation" shooter, where you literally can just solve everything with guns. Again, I liked it for what it was, but I had to stop playing the original several times because shit was actually scary, versus the second I was never nervous or anxious, I just shot everything.

 

[Tablet County]

Half Life: Alyx turned the series into being overtly nothing more than a tech demo but Steam and Valve sycophants will still worship the franchise no matter how putrid it becomes.

To be fair, Alyx is a really good tech demo. You could also argue that Half Life 2 already put the series on that trajectory, given how much it was praised for its physics engine at the time.