Written by The TAG Team
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| No, this movie is NOT better than the original. But the image was a good match for this blog post. |
We all have our favorite games, out favorite designers, and favorite series. But, sometimes they don't start out strong. Which adventure game sequel came out that was remarkably better than the original?
Tough, right? Usually they mess things up in sequels. In movies, for example: Back to the Future 2. But sometimes they get it right, taking something good and rolling with it. For example, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit took the idea of role-reversal and make the game so much better by letting you be the cop instead.
Thoughts?
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ReplyDeleteMy first thought would be Day of the Tentacle" as a sequel to "Maniac Mansion", although maybe that's an unfair comparison because I'm setting a 1987 computer game against another from 1993.
ReplyDeletemmm, yeah but still .. there are sequels that came 20 years after .. and still didnt beat the previous ones
DeleteWhoa, whoa, whoa, Back to the Future Part 2 is my favourite of the bunch!
ReplyDeleteI always thought that Space Quest 2 was a much more interesting game than the first one, though I'd find it difficult to say why. I guess I just loved the setting and the story more.
The Legend of Kyrandia 2 is a massive improvement over the first game. They found the magic formula for that one and got everything right, fixing all the little issues and introducing one of the best adventure game protagonists in Zanthia.
I found Riven to be a much better game than Myst. DoTT leaves Maniac Mansion in the dust. And Police Quest 2 poops all over PQ1!
Getting a bit more modern: the Blackwell games have steadily improved with each entry, and the Sherlock Holmes games from Frogwares were on an upward trajectory for quite a while with most people agreeing that Crimes & Punishment is the high point.
BTTF 3 was so, so much better than 2. No question.
DeleteBut Kyrandia? That's a fair argument (and we'll find out on the blog soon enough, it's an upcoming game).
DOTT? Agreed.
PQ2? Hmm. That's tough. It's another game where you could fail half of the puzzles and still win, but even more so than the first. You could leave the evidence kit back at the station, not collect any evidence all game, never find the gun at the airport, and many other puzzles, and still win. Literally , as long as you adjust the sights on your gun twice, you can win.
In this case (and I guess many cases), it's always story, setting and character which draw me to a game. I can overlook silly design if I'm wrapped up in the game's world. PQ2 somehow delivers on that for me, even if everything you say is completely true!
DeleteEven better, I like the novelized version of the story in the Police Quest Casebook.
Deleteare we only counting the first sequel? cos a lot of the Sierra series' best entries were often at 4/5/6.
ReplyDeleteThat said,as a very obvious choice, I would say Monkey Island 2 is a great sequel.
I agree with the first part - LSL hit it's stride with #3, and again with #7, both arguably better than the first.
DeleteMI2, many people would disagree with you. There's people who dislike the game because they feel Guybrush was written as a mean a-hole. It never bothered me, but I get where they're coming from.
There is a point in MI2 in which it seems that the writers lost interest in the story they were telling, because LeChuck's Fortress seems a half-baked section and you get to Dinky Island by pure chance, so all your search for the four map pieces was unnecessary. Also, some characters like Largo Lagrande, Phatt island's governor or even the juju priest who assists
DeleteLeChuck were deserving of some kind of final confrontación against them, and the game seems to recoil from its final plot twist in Elaine's scene during the credits. MI2 seems to me a game in which the total is less than the addition of its parts.
I always wondered what was the deal with the voodoo priest .. seemed like an interesting and creepy character to have by Lechucks side .. specially Lechuck from MI2 where he was super creepy and not a buffoon
DeleteNot adventure: GTA2 versus GTA1. Adding the gang elements along with the mood lighting made a big difference.
ReplyDeleteAdventure? Besides the obvious (like KQ6 versus #1 or other Sierra series) I'd put a couple forward: Fate of Atlantis is pretty obvious to me. But how about Les Manley 2?
Games that failed miserably include Gabriel Knight. While I don't hate number 3, it's a miracle it was made after the awful #2.
ReplyDeleteReally? I think that GK2, while certainly not at the same level of the first one, is still pretty good (and surely the best FMV adventure game ever made).
DeleteI loved GK2, arguably one of the few games that got FMV right and it has such a great atmosphere. Whether I think it's better than GK1 is tricky, though.
DeleteSpycraft: The Great Game was a pretty good game too. Not a sequel though.
DeleteOoh Spycraft! While I wouldn't classify it as a "real" adventure game, it was indeed awesome.
DeleteWell, I guess this comes down to liking FMV. For me, it's a detraction that removes me from the game, so I can't stomach the game at all.
DeleteSeconding Day of the Tentacle, Kyrandia 2, Fate of Atlantis and the later Blackwell games.
ReplyDeleteSimon the Sorcerer II is vastly superior to the original game. It's actually funny, with several moments comparable to Monkey Island. Only the music is arguably worse, with more focus on harmony and vibes instead of memorable melodies.
While I understand some of the criticism, I liked 7 Days a Skeptic the most out of the Chzo Mythos series. The thickest atmosphere and the highest amount of memorable moments out of them, plot holes be damned.
Conquests of the Longbow's puzzle design and storytelling is on another level compared to the earlier Conquests of Camelot.
I forgot to mention the Black Mirror series. Contrary to what most seem to think, I consider the first game to be by far the worst one. It's been years but I remember awkward dialogue (probably written by aliens), a protagonist blander than a glass of lukewarm water distilled by committee, and at least one puzzle which felt like the designers trolling the player. The two sequels got progressively less bad (with e.g. a main character with some actual personality traits this time). Only the visual atmosphere in the first game was admittedly nicer, with its usage of colour and mist.
Delete7 days is considered the weakest games in the chzo mythos (not counting the stealth platformer game where you steal random places), that weird ending .. and the title being just a random word.
Deletebut the saga is great, I actually enjoying a lot watching the playthrough of Hotel Trilby because I couldnt beat it back in the day with the text parser
In my opinon...
ReplyDeleteStationfall was better than Planetfall.
Zork: Grand Inquisitor was better than Zork Nemesis, but was it even a sequel? (I haven't played Return to Zork.)
Telltale's Sam & Max got better for each season.
Seems to me "best sequel" and "most improved sequel" mean different things. But some that come to mind -
ReplyDeleteDay of the Tentacle - Nothing wrong with Maniac Mansion, but DOTT is the GOAT.
Curse of Monkey Island - The whole trilogy is fantastic, but Curse is easily my favorite.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - Last Crusade was a bit clunky. Fate of Atlantis is perfection.
King's Quest VI - Proof that Roberta Williams was holding her own series back.
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness - Wages of War was lackluster. Shadows of Darkness is back to form.
Under a Killing Moon - Mean Streets was innovative but unpolished, Martian Memorandum was just crap. Under a Killing Moon makes the jump to 3D in style, and its cheesy FMVs are earnest and entertaining instead of embarrassing.
Star Control II - Apparently there are people who actually like Star Control 1, but I never took to it. Granted, I played the sequel first, so the original non-adventure game just felt threadbare.
Baldur's Gate II - Bigger, more complex, more polished, more impressive, more epic than Baldur's Gate 1, but you've really got to play them in order to fully appreciate it.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Daggerfall would be obscure trivia if not for Morrowind which is such an improvement that it isn't funny.
having played BG2 and 1 in the wrong order, I still came away with the impression that the better was a much more polished and impressive game. BG1 isn't a bad game, and a certain type of RPG player will probably appreciate its sandbox more than BG2's more delineated epic. Chapters 3-5 of the sequel do almost feel too confining in my opinion, and Chapter 1 is a terrible introduction to the game almost on Fallout 2 levels of bad - oh dear, I seem to be changing minds mid post! - but specifically the open world section of the game you have access to, in Chapter 2 and 6, is my favourite RPG experience of all time.
DeleteI love Discworld 1, the graphics and music are great, the voice acting is the best of all the adventure games ever released (Eric Idle as Rincewind even beats Dominic Armato as Guybrush) but the puzzles are so moon logic that is impossible to beat without a walkthrough). For that reason only, I say that Discworld 2 is a better game, although I prefer the first one.
ReplyDeleteOn another genre, Half Life is a masterpiece, but Half Life 2 is perfection, the best game I"ve ever played
I feel compelled to chime in when talking about Discworld.
DeleteThere is no doubt that DW2 is the better game, since in the intro to the manual Terry Pratchett himself threw shade on the first game absurd puzzles. Word for word this is the beginning of the manual:
This is the second Discworld game.
What do you mean, "I haven't finished the first one yet?"
Good grief, some people... look, give the prunes to the fishmonger, get the dragon to breathe on the mirror, throw the Black Monk to the crocodiles and shoot the dragon with the other dragon.
Done that? Good. Now, if everyone's caught up...
Those are all real solutions to puzzles in the first game, BTW, and they don't even count as spoilers because they are just the (very small) tip of the iceberg of the completely insane puzzles in that game.
I haven't yet played the first two games, but I have played Noir. I suspect I've played the best in the series, in some ways. Noir might be dialog heavy, but at least it doesn't have Rincewind, my least favorite character in the Disc.
DeleteNoir is excellent. The only problem with it is that it completely mischaracterizes Commander Vimes. Apart from that, however, fantastic game.
Deleteyou could also include Portal 2 being much better than 1, like HL
DeleteYeah, every review i've read said that Portal 2 is even better than the first one, but I've played Portal 1 only. Great game, as everything coming from Valve
DeletePortal 2 reflects a comfort with its own concept that in some ways makes Portal 1 feel almost like a tech demo.
DeleteI for one think Portal is the better, more tightly designed and written game. Portal 2 relies much more on un-portalable surfaces and overindulges in being a cinematic rollercoaster. A great deal of GLaDOS's appeal was how unhumanlike her mind was, which was diminished in Portal 2.
DeleteHalf Life and Portal are both games which are better than their sequels, which, as Laukku says, are cinematic rollercoasters or themepark rides. They give up a lot of the atmosphere in pursuit of spectacle and variety. I don't dislike them, and as attempts at the almost unattemptable - how do you improve on a masterpiece? - they are worthy efforts. But the originals are much the better games.
Delete@Vetinari I'm not entirely sure. Maybe that is how Vimes looks to people that Vimes disapproves of (which, sure, is not the usual set you'd expect a cop to disapprove of).
DeleteLewton is an extremely unreliable narrator. You should not trust him about anything.
It wouldn't be the first time Vetinari mischaracterized Vimes. See the early Watch books (like "Men at Arms") for examples. 😜
DeleteOkay, so Maniac Mansion was a fantastic game; in fact, it was the first adventure I truly enjoyed (the language barrier was very high for past-Fincas), but DotT is just one of the best games of all time.
ReplyDeleteIt is however surpAssed by Indy IV which is THE best adventure game ever and surpasses another strong first part.
Otherwise I think MI2 is a great game but not as good as the original which was way less generic and played the awesome pirate theme much fuller.
Kyrandia 2: check! Also better.
If other games are allowed:
Fallout 2 is waaaaay better than part one,
while the new Pirates! (live the life) is an abomination that needs to be forgotten in favor of the awesome original game!
Don’t forget Mad Max IV (Fury Road).
^^sorry, the above was meant not as an answer, but as a new comment.
DeleteFKM