Evolution of a Game Series

[ACME-Rian]

We all love video games, right? From the classic Mario Bros. to the upcoming Halo 3, they're all fun and games to our enjoyment...until we realized some things that make us think how far the series has come along and such...

So, here's my question:

"When a sequel comes out in a game series, has the sequel caused the series to go uphill, downhill or a total middle of the road?"

For me,here's what I have to say. When I first played the Ratchet and Clank series, I enjoyed each and every improvement the creators made...up till Deadlocked...they twisted it into a shooter, instead of a platformer like the other volumes were. Not like I'm saying it's bad, but, this is a thought.

Anyway, what's your opinion?
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Things are going to be changing soon in the next few months.Stay tuned for updates and the like.

[Sketch]

I fixed your post, spaces after commas and periods and what not.
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[Sketch]

I fixed your post, spaces after commas and periods and what not.
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[Sai-kun]

What about fixing the other 2 topics? =P
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all i ever wanted was the world

[HeatShadow]

*going to pretend that nothing's wrong >.>*

It really all depends on how the sequels are handled.

A good example would be the Zero series. Each game tweaked the gameplay and plot progression until you get to Zero 4, which has to be one of the best 2-D platformers around. Each game also advanced the game's overall story.

A bad example would be most of the games in the X series; the bosses, new supporting characters and gameplay features were rather generic, and you never really missed much if you skipped out on them. Another is Rogue Squadron 3. In the process of trying to make the game more versatile, like with the ground missions and the branching storyline, the gameplay changed so much that it lost much of the appeal of the previous games.

Something that's a bit harder to judge is the Madden sequels. Sure, all the football fans want to play with the latest rosters, and the game hasn't needed too many graphical improvements in a long time, so the success of the sequels hinges heavily on how many new features are added to the game and how actually GOOD they are.

In all, I see sequels as being additions to the first game's plot, as well as an opportunity for the developers to improve upon and the fix the flaws and mistakes of the previous game. It's when they don't do that that the sequels end up sucking.
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Stuck In The Middle With You; a Metroid and Halo crossover
Devil May Cry: Renegades

[DanSidney]

A good example of a series that just keeps getting worse and worse?

http://soniclifespan.ytmnd.com/

And they didn't even add the LAST game... which should be burnt with fire. :\
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SPOILER:
Our princess is in another castle.

[Fragman.EXE]

Hmm, for Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, it's been rather so-so. The sequel traded some of its storyline clarity for better gameplay, though it can be influenced greatly by the choices you make. A really nice RPG, though time-consuming.

Now, the Jedi Knight series. Moving from Jedi Knight to Jedi Outcast, there's a huge graphic change and the storyline is still good. Jedi Academy's lost a bit of storyline for better customisability of the character and stuff like that. Still pretty good, though.

[Fragman.EXE]

EDIT: Oops, double post by mistake.

[ACME-Rian]

Sorry about my spacing.I'm just used to it,I guess.^^; However,as for my 2 other posts,my PC decided to screw up on me while posting,so go and delete those...^^;

I actually have noticed that trend for the Star Wars games.If they adapt a movie into a game,they should at least try to capture the magic of the movie into the game.That way,more people would buy it.
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Things are going to be changing soon in the next few months.Stay tuned for updates and the like.

[Shadowbass]

For the Zelda series, the big seques were A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening. These two have become the blueprints for the series.

With ALttP, you get a set of dungeons, Master Sword/failed attempt at beating badguy, rest of the dungeons, final battle which was used in Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.

With LA, you get all the dungeons, but storyline events and obstacles that require dungeon items to get past to control the order you go through them which was used in Majora's Mask, the two Oracle games, and Minish Cap.

The rest have just been evolutions of those two styles, though it looks like Phantom Hourglass is breaking away from them. Let's hope the next console Zelda does too because I don't think there's a whole lot left that can be done with the two molds.
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Red Green's words of wisdom:
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"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!"

"If it ain't broke, you're not trying!"

"Shut up, Harold!"

[Seruko]

Depends of the series ...

The Sonic series were awesome at their debuts, but now, it's going very bad

Another example, Crash bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, when they belonged to Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog, they were awesome series, but since their licenses were sold, their quality was so badly lowered, and Insomniac and Naugthy Dog have created respectively Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter, who are a real success of the PlayStation.


Series who get better with the time? Advance Wars? Rockman.EXE? Super Smah Bros? Zelda? Halo? there's plenty of series who gained lots of new good points with their sequels (But they gained some bad points sometimes, but in the majority of cases, it doesn't really matters)
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