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The Worst "Part Twos" To Fantastic First Games
- Thread starter Video Games Are Dumb
- Start date
This, R2 is one of the worse sequels ever. Other than all the points you mentioned, R2 just butchered the amazing setting and atmosphere delivered by FoM.
I was kind of skeptical about FoM at first, not even sure why I bought it. But the game did surprise me, I loved the alternative WW2 setting they created, the narrative and gameplay were outstanding. It is the best PS3 FPS I've played alongside Killzone 2. The PSP game was also amazing and kept the same narrative style, while being in 3rd person.
Then comes R2 and kills everything that made the 1st game good. It is one of the most bland and uninteresting FPS I've ever played, I was just done with the franchise after that. The only fun I managed to have with that game was in the online.. but I've bought it for an amazing single player experience, and not for the multiplayer. People here already convinced me that I should give R3 a chance someday, but it is really hard for me to go back after the R2 disaster.
Xenosaga Episode II was a huge step down from the first game in pretty much every way, especially that hideously "realistic" art style. I'll never forget how shocked and disappointed I was when I found out they were going from the first game to this.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
Yeap. Control + F final fantasy and it was right here. I agree lol.
Alundra 2.
No connection to the first game, ugly characters, snail speed gameplay, bland graphics, etc.
WTF actually happen???
No connection to the first game, ugly characters, snail speed gameplay, bland graphics, etc.
WTF actually happen???
This soooooo much. Always the first to come to mind. A terrible game.Xenosaga Episode II was a huge step down from the first game in pretty much every way, especially that hideously "realistic" art style. I'll never forget how shocked and disappointed I was when I found out they were going from the first game to this.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
The weirdly drastic change in art style, the load times for combat (hoo boy), the audio being all over the place, at least in English. Momo's "Mystic power, grant me a miracle!" sounds like it was recorded over a speaker phone.
Episode III is indeed a massive improvement over this abomination.
"crisp 32-bit graphics"? over pixelized mess? are these just phrases you made up?
chrono cross's backgrounds are the best of any game of the generation probably.
I played through the Devil May Cry series for the first time about 2 years ago and even though I knew of the 2nd games infamy nothing prepared me for just how bad. It was just abysmal and made the first person water sections of 1 look good.
Prince of Persia warrior within isn't the worst sequel of all time but God does it kill the good will of it's previous game for me
Crackdown was one of the big reasons to me why a 360 was worth owning early on, with non-linear single-player restricted only by player ability and/or levelling, fun minute-to-minute gameplay, and the simple objective of taking out every single gang boss in any way possible. Crackdown 2 on the other hand used what seemed like exactly the same map, with a 'gritty' reskin and populated with terrorists and zombies instead. It's fascinating how it also managed to drain every drop of fun out of the game, leaving not a lot of substance.
The other reason to own a 360 was Test Drive Unlimited, which was more or less a billionaire car enthusiast simulator, driving around a huge representation of Hawaii collecting supercars, buying mansions, and deciding which interior colour you'd like in your next Ferrari. The sequel however focused on characters, dialogue and cutscenes, all of which were excruciatingly bad. To make things worse, some of the most notable car licenses from the first game disappeared, and the driving physics became much worse. The addition of Ibiza alongside Hawaii was great, but I could never stand to play the game long enough to really explore it.
Arkham City has already been mentioned, but splitting up Asylum's tightly paced and well-designed environments into basically small chunks with mandatory cross-city treks between them was one of the most needless uses of an open world since Mafia 2. It's certainly a much lesser evil than the two games above, but it was very disappointing to find that the sequel wasn't close to being as good as the phenomenal Asylum.
An honourable mention must also go to X-COM 2, which seemed to focus entirely on the punishing part and not the rewarding part. It's objectively a great game, but I've never been able to enjoy it at all.
The other reason to own a 360 was Test Drive Unlimited, which was more or less a billionaire car enthusiast simulator, driving around a huge representation of Hawaii collecting supercars, buying mansions, and deciding which interior colour you'd like in your next Ferrari. The sequel however focused on characters, dialogue and cutscenes, all of which were excruciatingly bad. To make things worse, some of the most notable car licenses from the first game disappeared, and the driving physics became much worse. The addition of Ibiza alongside Hawaii was great, but I could never stand to play the game long enough to really explore it.
Arkham City has already been mentioned, but splitting up Asylum's tightly paced and well-designed environments into basically small chunks with mandatory cross-city treks between them was one of the most needless uses of an open world since Mafia 2. It's certainly a much lesser evil than the two games above, but it was very disappointing to find that the sequel wasn't close to being as good as the phenomenal Asylum.
An honourable mention must also go to X-COM 2, which seemed to focus entirely on the punishing part and not the rewarding part. It's objectively a great game, but I've never been able to enjoy it at all.
I have the feeling NnK2 had a much smaller budget than the original. There's just a lot of areas in the game that feel unfinished and there's some design choices that are questionable, especially given the original. I still kind of enjoyed it though, and the city building was oddly my favorite part.
My choice is always Jak 2. Terrible game. Terrible choice to chase what was popular at the time. Terrible everything.
Meant more the models. I've only played it on psp as well which could be a factor
I agree with everything else the poster I qouted as well.
Shhhhh, Dawn of a New World doesn't exist...it can't hurt you...
Xenosaga Episode II was a huge step down from the first game in pretty much every way, especially that hideously "realistic" art style. I'll never forget how shocked and disappointed I was when I found out they were going from the first game to this.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
Got me beat. This was awful
Xenosaga Episode II was a huge step down from the first game in pretty much every way, especially that hideously "realistic" art style. I'll never forget how shocked and disappointed I was when I found out they were going from the first game to this.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
Was going to post this. Awful game. At some point I just spent a day grinding to max level so I wouldn't have to deal with the horrible combat system.
Nah, Chrono Cross's 3D models are great for the system and were ahead-of-the-curve in terms of textures, patterns, and detail compared to most contemporary models at the time.
Anyway, my pick for a worst "part 2" would probably be...
LOVED Perfect Dark, but its follow-up was just so... pedestrian. It didn't control well, the story was garbage, the missions were weird, the pacing was inconsistent, the visuals were ugly... One of the few games I legit regret playing through.
I was pretty put off by the tonal shift too but over time, the idea has grown on me. Society adapting to a less grim reality and this becoming less reverent was an idea running through the game. Like Yuna's conflicting feelings with how they turned parts of her pilgrimage into a tourist attraction. The lighter tone seems justified when there's no threat of Sin to keep everyone feeling down and the plot did try to show progression on Yuna trying to be more spirited.
... the Japanese humor was still jarring sometimes though. Didn't expect a hotspring scene complete with boob comparison gag from a Final Fantasy. Before then, they'd localize that stuff out but it's impossible to do when the girls are animated and in swimsuits.
Aw. Courage is the magic that makes dreams a reality is a top tier Tales line, I am being so serious. I'm down for that kind of cheese when the game goes so sincerely for it.
The flimsy fanfictiony ToS connections were eye rolling but I didn't have much connection to ToS to begin with so the original elements and cast of ToS2 were top shelf wholesome Tales to me.
I thought it was as charming as ever! The fairy tale plot of fixing people's hearts also seemed to flow better in NNK2. I understand what the game is linking with Motorville and NNK2, I just felt there's nothing to do in Motorville to justify the back and forth.
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I'm still puzzled how Capcom went form the god-like DMC to DMC 2. It's almost like a completely different team worked on it? Maybe they did? At least they made it better with number 3.
Blood 2: The Chosen is fucking class!
I actually really love Blood 2. It was very different to the first game (definitely very different in tone), but I remember it being a kick ass early 3D FPS.
I like the first Blood as well (I rate it over Duke Nukem 3D), but overall, I think Blood 2 was the better game. I'll admit that I prefer the horror tone of Blood 1 but that's it over Blood 2.
Anyway, just thought of another sequel that wasn't as good as the original.
Carmageddon 2 was nowhere near as good as the classic original Carmageddon. I won't hear any counter argument because it's a stone, cold fact.
The Evil Within 2 was disappointing, I felt the core "feel" of aiming and shooting was terrible and that's pretty hard to get past.
What's sad is that Ace Attorney 2's final case may be the single best one in the entire series, yet the rest is such a drag that it can't possibly make up for it.
I actually wonder how many people read the Initial post before answering, because some of the games cited are... I mean... come on!!
Came for this.
Came for this, too.
And
Jesus all the good ones were taken.Xenosaga Episode II was a huge step down from the first game in pretty much every way, especially that hideously "realistic" art style. I'll never forget how shocked and disappointed I was when I found out they were going from the first game to this.
Fortunately Episode III represented a huge comeback and then some, but man, getting there through Episode II was painful.
No, wait!
Nidhogg 2 was kind of crap. I still don't know wtf they were doing with the graphics and the game, somehow, didn't feel as fun when I tried it out.
Man, I thought this game was pretty great when the 360 launched. I just... I just can't even get through it nowadays when I've tried recently.Anyway, my pick for a worst "part 2" would probably be...
LOVED Perfect Dark, but its follow-up was just so... pedestrian. It didn't control well, the story was garbage, the missions were weird, the pacing was inconsistent, the visuals were ugly... One of the few games I legit regret playing through.
All I know about Chrono Cross is I found the combat kinda confusing, but I didn't really give it a "fair shake," to be honest. Great music from what I remember though.
Blood 2: from one of the tightest fps ever (btw, the fresh supply remaster is pretty decent!) to a broken shitshow with balance destroyed and so many glitches GearBox would love to publish it.
Jak II
Don't get me wrong, Jak II was a great game. I loved it as a kid, and absolutely recognize it's flaws as an adult, but at the time I was disappointed that the game wasn't actually a sequel to TPL, and was a GTA rip off with Jak and Daxter characters. I think it's fun, I enjoy the story, it was probably the first twist I ever got to experience on my own, unspoiled.
TPL was an incredible game that never really got a true sequel and I'd love to see one, one day.
Don't get me wrong, Jak II was a great game. I loved it as a kid, and absolutely recognize it's flaws as an adult, but at the time I was disappointed that the game wasn't actually a sequel to TPL, and was a GTA rip off with Jak and Daxter characters. I think it's fun, I enjoy the story, it was probably the first twist I ever got to experience on my own, unspoiled.
TPL was an incredible game that never really got a true sequel and I'd love to see one, one day.
But it has the best case in the series with 2-4.
Even though I'm not a fan any of the "New" Super Mario games, I found NSM2 to be the most dull.
Lords of Shadow 2 really depresses me. The first game got better and better as it went on and had such a great ending with so much potential to improve, then they fucked it all up........
Majora mask.
I want to say phatom hourglass too, but wind waker was not that great to begin with.
I want to say phatom hourglass too, but wind waker was not that great to begin with.
Yeah, I actually liked Jak 2, but I wish it was more similar to TPL. Maybe keep the deeper story/character style of 2, but the environments and gameplay closer to TPL. I think Jak 3 kind of went in this direction, but I think it could have taken even more from TPL's style.
Disagree a lot with this, especially the Wind Waker part. And even as somebody who's favorite Zelda game might be OoT, I'd never call MM bad or anything close to it.
Well, the topic say worst, and even the worst Zelda game is still pretty good, but those games were disappointing to me.
OP
OP
Hm, that is interesting. His resume certainly doesn't line up with DMC2, as nearly everything else he's made are amazing, so who was the OG director?
Thank you.Nah, Chrono Cross's 3D models are great for the system and were ahead-of-the-curve in terms of textures, patterns, and detail compared to most contemporary models at the time.
Anyway, my pick for a worst "part 2" would probably be...
LOVED Perfect Dark, but its follow-up was just so... pedestrian. It didn't control well, the story was garbage, the missions were weird, the pacing was inconsistent, the visuals were ugly... One of the few games I legit regret playing through.
Chrono Cross is a phenomenal game, especially the battle system and character design.
Perfect Dark Zero was insultingly awful. The only explanation I can accept is that the Microsoft forced Rare to release it when it was only 20% done in order to meet launch date.
How do you go from one of the most option-packed, feature loaded FPS games of all time to one of the basic, stripped down and featureless sequels imaginable?!
I remember how excited I was to explore all the multiplayer options. That was quite a rude awakening.
And don't get me started on Joanna's new personality or that weird ending song with ejaculate euphemisms. WTF
Mirrors Edge Catalyst. They didnt get the open world right and there was just something off about it that made it lose everything that made the original enjoyable. Got about a third of the way through before realising it just wasnt what I wanted a sequel to Mirrors Edge to be and giving up on it
Agreed. Far Cry 2 was my initial thought to this question as well. I know it has its share of people who sing its praises, but I really, really did not like it in comparison to Far Cry, which was a sneaky great game in a time when everyone was in high anticipation for Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. And Far Cry 3 returned to a lot of what made the original Far Cry work. Far Cry 2 may be good, but it doesn't work for me at all.Far Cry 2 sucks, and you know there's a problem when the most notable and impressive feature of your first person shooter is that 'they hold the map in their hands'.
It's such a drab game, as you can tell from screenshot.
Yeah, I hardly ever binge games, especially not in a single day, but I absolutely got hooked with the original Hotline Miami. The second one is a step down in basically every single way.
