Sequels you knew were going to be awesome

[Master_Craig]

Have you ever played a sequel to a game where you were super excited to get this game, this sequel, and within the first five minutes you knew that this game was going to be so much better than the one prior to it?

For me, it's Diablo II on the PC.

I played a lot of Diablo when I was eleven years old, back in 1999. Diablo II was to be released in 2000, so naturally my brothers and I were excited. I nearly had a heart attack at the screen shots, showing new character classes fighting new monsters in the outdoors, rather than underground.

I knew Diablo II was going to be awesome after watching the cinematic intro to the game, which back then was so damn awesome. The cherry on the cake was the character selection screen, with the five playable characters standing around a fire, each with their own animation sequence when you click on 'em.

The Barbarian had the best one, the "HAAAAAARGH!" shout. Yet I chose Paladin.

 

[Sourdeez]

Max Payne 2!

 

[Paradox]

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It just surpassed GTA3 in every way. I remember watching the Flock of Seagulls commercials and thinking that this game is just going to be absolutely tits.

 

[MattAY]

Crash Bandicoot 2. Love spewed on that day.

 

[COMaestro]

Hmm, I would say Metal Gear Solid 2, as I loved the original and after playing the demo that came with Zone of the Enders I was pumped as hell for the game. While it was still an awesome game, being switched over to play as Raiden rather than playing as Snake for the whole game was a bit disappointing.

 

[UrbanMasque]

StarCraft 2. After a 10+ year long hiatus - you knew they were going to get it right the second time and you also knew there would be no shortage of people to play against online..

 

[cyberjim2000]

Half-Life 2. I remembered seeing the screens shots for the first time and it looked amazing. Then I saw the gameplay trailer and oh man. Cool looking graphics AND physics? Then we heard that they're going to force you to use Steam for the game and a lot of people were pissed. If only we known what it'll become 10 years later.

 

[HK-47]

Etrian Odyssey II, the first one started it all but the second one improved on it completely.

 

[Master_Craig]

Another one for me was Mass Effect 2.

Like Mass Effect 1, I honestly bought ME2 on a whim. I saw it on sale, thought "Hey I finished the first one and that was good, I'll try this".

I discovered that I could import my character and his progress from the first game which I thought was really cool.

The opening cinematic of ME2 (minor spoiler: between Miranda and the Illusive Man) is what made me realise that this was going to be an awesome game that would most likely surpass the original. The graphics, the dialogue and the general setting of things to come. I knew this game was going to be awesome.

I think ME2 is the game of the series that made me such an ME fan.

 

[WickedLiquid]

Uncharted 2. 10 minutes in and I knew... I knew....

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I was trying to think of a game where I sat and waited for the sequel and it meet every expectation, and I realized there has only been one.

Assassin's Creed 2

The first game was a neat premise filed with problems, but the second game took every flaw in the first and fixed then, rather than just removing them. It added a million new things and had a fantastic story on top of it. Shame the series didn't continue to improve, but oh well.

 

[Master_Craig]

I was trying to think of a game where I sat and waited for the sequel and it meet every expectation, and I realized there has only been one.

Assassin's Creed 2

The first game was a neat premise filed with problems, but the second game took every flaw in the first and fixed then, rather than just removing them. It added a million new things and had a fantastic story on top of it. Shame the series didn't continue to improve, but oh well.

I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed II and I think you're right, that's one game where the sequel surpassed the original in every single way possible.

Personally I enjoyed Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood in terms of gameplay, that was the most fun to me. You're right though, the AC games have just kinda... trailed and become stagnant. Although I loved Blackflag purely for the pirating aspect.

 

[used44]

Assassin's Creed II is an improvement on the first game in all ways, true, but it is so bloated. It's boring as hell after about 20 hours and that repetitive pace has persisted in the series since.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

It took you longer than 20 hours to beat?

 

[used44]

Whatever, you know what I mean. Boring side quests add up.

 

[drathbone]

Borderlands 2. It did EVERYTHING it needed to do to improve upon BL1, from making a more engaging story, a more varied environment and keeping the same humor it had in the first one.

Darksiders 2 was really good but for some reason I just didn't play it from start to finish like I did Darksiders. I'll prob have to sit down and get back into it here soon.

 

[WickedLiquid]

Oh I thought up some more.

Silent Hill 2; the game that created the iconic villian Pyramid Head. It also reinvented itself as a stand alone game that has little to nothing to do with the first game, not that the first game was bad.

Metal Gear Solid 3? Does that count? Because it was such a great improvement over part 2. Waaaaaaaaay less convoluted but still tells a complicated and complex story with a heart breaking ending that brought man tears. And no Jack and Rose love story about how they went shopping that one time and Jack didn't buy her shoes, even thought Jack asked her and she said "no, they're too expensive" but she secretly thought he would still buy them anyway... when all I wanted to do was SAVE MY FUCKING GAME... Ahem... Moving on...

Resident Evil 2. Another horror game but come on who didn't love this game? The voice acting has not aged well but compared to the first game it sounds like Shakespeare.

Whoa! This hall is dangerous!

 

[Master_Craig]

Metal Gear Solid 3? Does that count? Because it was such a great improvement over part 2. Waaaaaaaaay less convoluted but still tells a complicated and complex story with a heart breaking ending that brought man tears. And no Jack and Rose love story about how they went shopping that one time and Jack didn't buy her shoes, even thought Jack asked her and she said "no, they're too expensive" but she secretly thought he would still buy them anyway... when all I wanted to do was SAVE MY FUCKING GAME... Ahem... Moving on...

Completely agreed.

 

[HK-47]

Another one for me was Mass Effect 2.

Like Mass Effect 1, I honestly bought ME2 on a whim. I saw it on sale, thought "Hey I finished the first one and that was good, I'll try this".

I discovered that I could import my character and his progress from the first game which I thought was really cool.

The opening cinematic of ME2 (minor spoiler: between Miranda and the Illusive Man) is what made me realise that this was going to be an awesome game that would most likely surpass the original. The graphics, the dialogue and the general setting of things to come. I knew this game was going to be awesome.

I think ME2 is the game of the series that made me such an ME fan.

After playing a few hours or 20 of ME 2, this. And especially the importing, the amount of continuity porn and callbacks to the first game's events and choices is outright amazing.