Easy and surprised no one said it yet. Just Cause 2
Ever? That's a hot take, as they say in the sports world, but I like it.
Not gonna try to choose one, but I'll give a short list of my opinion:
Red Dead Redemption 2 (technically Red Dead Redemption is a sequel and deserves to be talked about, but RDR2 overshadows it) Diablo 2 Resident Evil 2 Team Fortress 2 Half Life 2
Not an MMORPG, but I would say Tribes 2. Far superior game to Tribes 1 other than skiing. Another; Mechwarrior 2: Mercs was a greater game than Mech 1 or Mech 2 or GBL ever dreamed of being. Another that I'll get some grief from; Freespace 2 vs Freespace 1. The first one was epic, but the 2nd added some amazing multiplayer and an even better storyline than the first.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
Well OP,i would have hoped most realize sequels are just expansions MOST of the time.Now if you hire a whole different studio and build a NEW game from ground up with a different engine,different systems,then it would be new game but not many do that and would be hard pressed to think of one.
Ok i have it and i know it caused arguments back in the day but EQ2 MUCH better than EQ1.The only argument i would accept is people prefer playing in a group style game rather than a linear questing game but the overall technical and depth of the game EQ2 wins over easily.
Furthermore,on the topic of expansions,i have played expansions bigger and better than COMPLETE games,like rpg expansions are usually better and bigger than the entire game of Anthem or Destiny or fallout.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Super Mario Bros. 2. People who never played Mario 1 "remember" it with nostalgia, but I thought that Mario 1 was a pretty terrible game at the time. Everyone had it because it came "free" with an NES. But the controls to jump the height you wanted were all weird. Mario 2 was a much better game.
I nominate GW2. It was a million times better than GW1.
You are mistaken. GW2 was not a million times better than GW1. Because there isn't any game that is a million times better than GW1. Or 10% better than GW1. Because Guild Wars 1 is the best game of all time.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Baldurs Gate 2. The first part was already pretty good, but the second part was HUGE.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines was better than the other game, though its not really a sequel as such. Much better storytelling and not a group of braindead NPCs in your neck that you have to babysit.
The Witcher 3 is probably correct. I disliked the second part even more than the first though so I couldnt get myself to try The Witcher 3 so far. Maybe one day if I see it somewhere for cheap.
Havent played TES games before Morrowind but indeed I heard Arena and Daggerfall are very buggy. Either way Morrownd and Oblivion are pretty much the same deal and its hard to say which I like better.
I am completely baffled anyone would claim that KotOR2 would be
better than KotOR. KotOR2 was simply unfinished. The party NPCs frankly sucked.
The story was pretty weak. The "surprise" of the story wasnt one at all, you suspected that already not five minutes into the game.
And there havent been many improvements over the first part, either.
I dont agree that Fallout: New Vegas is much better than other Fallout games.
I barely care about Diablos and Guild Wars existence. Played Diablo 2 once and never ever touched it again. It felt very grindy, in fact the whole game was nothing but a grind. Played Guild Wars for three days and was completely bored out of my mind. And never touched it again, eiher. Thats all I ever did in this regard. It was sufficient to know I dont like either type of game.
Dont ever get me started on what crap game Gothic is. Though admittedly I havent talked about that in almost two decades by now, so I've probably now forgotten most of the reasons. Could fill pages after pages about how crappy Gothic is, back in the day, though. One comment I read once online about it was that Gothic dropped everything from roleplaying games that havent been fun. I felt the exact opposite.
No one seems to be taking into account the length of time between the original and sequel. For example the OP used Guild Wars, there is seven years between those two. Also the game sequels design can be totally different. The design premise for GW2 was, they just stuck a guild wars label on the tin.
So I do not think we are nominating for the same reasons, the idea is a very tricky pitch to bat on.
I am going for Ultima IV, the Quest of the Avatar. So how do you get an idea of what sort of player you are? You ask them questions and give them a set of moral values based on their answers, it seems so obvious now, it was astonishing back then.
Too many sequels "change/improve" in ways I disagree with. Many others I played missing out on earlier games in the series. Lately, sequels are making games more and more streamlined, losing much of the charm of the previous games. RPGs are especially bad at this.
The TES series (Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion) is a prime example for me. All had multiple ways to open locks. Skyrim had one way only. So our mages and warriors HAD to carry and learn how to use lockpicks. The lock spell and bash action were gone, all in the name of eradicating redundancy. I came into the TES series with Morrowind and have yet to make it through either Arena or Daggerfall. One thing I despised about Arena and Daggerfall is the "move your mouse like so" combat. Morrowind also had this, but had a lovely little "always use best attack" button one could click in its settings
Lately, I have been playing lots of XCom (Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within reboot) and XCom 2. I do like some aspcets of both better than the other. XCom's base building and soldier equipment is much better than the sequel. Most of the other aspects of XCom 2 I enjoy more. I haven't played much of the original XCom games, but they had aspects that outshone the reboots, like soldier equipment and the ability to drop items and pick them up with another soldier. Then you have the War of the Chosen DLC and a mod called The Long War that significantly changes the XCom 2 base game. Both have their pros and cons
Overall, I'm not a huge fan of sequels, though some are better than their predecessors, like the Witcher series, thanks to its combat changes. Too many make changes I may not agree with (but sells more copies).
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
After completing it yesterday and for the sake of not repeating previous mentions like Mass Effect 2 and Morrowind, DMC 5 gets my nomination. I’m still smiling at how fantastic the combat and corny story was.
Diablo 3 which I think is a lot better than D2 + LoD or D1, and since xpacs don't count D2 without LoD was total rubbish.
Most of the Ubisoft series can fit in here. Most of the Assassin's Creed and FarCry games have been better than their predecessors. Sometimes the story arcs of previous releases were better but overall each release brings the series forward. It's easy to see how FC:New Dawn is better than 5 and 5 was better than 4 just for removing towers.
Almost every single Gold Box SSI game is like this too for me. Secret of the Silver Blades is better than Curse of the Azure Bonds which was much better than Pool of Radiance.
Torchlight 2 > TL1.
Pretty much agree, except for D3 if we judge it by its original launched incarnation. It was patched into a much better game.
Comments
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Not gonna try to choose one, but I'll give a short list of my opinion:
Red Dead Redemption 2 (technically Red Dead Redemption is a sequel and deserves to be talked about, but RDR2 overshadows it)
Diablo 2
Resident Evil 2
Team Fortress 2
Half Life 2
Another; Mechwarrior 2: Mercs was a greater game than Mech 1 or Mech 2 or GBL ever dreamed of being.
Another that I'll get some grief from; Freespace 2 vs Freespace 1. The first one was epic, but the 2nd added some amazing multiplayer and an even better storyline than the first.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
Ok i have it and i know it caused arguments back in the day but EQ2 MUCH better than EQ1.The only argument i would accept is people prefer playing in a group style game rather than a linear questing game but the overall technical and depth of the game EQ2 wins over easily.
Furthermore,on the topic of expansions,i have played expansions bigger and better than COMPLETE games,like rpg expansions are usually better and bigger than the entire game of Anthem or Destiny or fallout.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
oh wait... still waiting
Take the already perfect gameplay, tweak it a bit and make everything else bigger and more open.
1997 Meridian 59 'til 2019 ESO
Waiting for Camelot Unchained & Pantheon
Mass Effect 2
Warcraft 3
Division 2
Tales of Vesperia
Nintendo Switch (best sequel system Nintendo ever made )
Kotor 2
So I do not think we are nominating for the same reasons, the idea is a very tricky pitch to bat on.
I am going for Ultima IV, the Quest of the Avatar. So how do you get an idea of what sort of player you are? You ask them questions and give them a set of moral values based on their answers, it seems so obvious now, it was astonishing back then.
The TES series (Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion) is a prime example for me. All had multiple ways to open locks. Skyrim had one way only. So our mages and warriors HAD to carry and learn how to use lockpicks. The lock spell and bash action were gone, all in the name of eradicating redundancy. I came into the TES series with Morrowind and have yet to make it through either Arena or Daggerfall. One thing I despised about Arena and Daggerfall is the "move your mouse like so" combat. Morrowind also had this, but had a lovely little "always use best attack" button one could click in its settings
Lately, I have been playing lots of XCom (Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within reboot) and XCom 2. I do like some aspcets of both better than the other. XCom's base building and soldier equipment is much better than the sequel. Most of the other aspects of XCom 2 I enjoy more. I haven't played much of the original XCom games, but they had aspects that outshone the reboots, like soldier equipment and the ability to drop items and pick them up with another soldier. Then you have the War of the Chosen DLC and a mod called The Long War that significantly changes the XCom 2 base game. Both have their pros and cons
Overall, I'm not a huge fan of sequels, though some are better than their predecessors, like the Witcher series, thanks to its combat changes. Too many make changes I may not agree with (but sells more copies).
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee