Do Sequels Deliver?

Hi all,

Now that I've got a little time on my hands (can you guess why?), I've been reading through the list of anticipated games at this post and looking for patterns. Seems like the most anticipated is Black Mirror 2, followed by Still Life 2, Gray Matter, Tunguska 2 and Dead Mountaineers Hotel. Then there's another batch, the next Sherlock Holmes, the next Nancy Drew, the next Runaway. Then, there's a shedload of also-rans, including, sadly, our own dear 'Rhiannon' :-( . No matter - I'm sure the publishers will soon be trying to change that :-). Finally, there is a cluster of not-yet-announced-but-we-wish-they-were sequels.

Strikes me that sequels figure big time on this list. So, what is it about sequels? And isn't the sequel a bit of a double-edged sword? On the one hand, there is the comfort of the familiar, while on the other the risk that it may not meet elevated expectations that it has to be better than the original? Will you buy the sequel because of its predecessor, or not buy it because you didn't play the predecessor and don't want to come in half way through?

So - 'Syberia' aside, obviously because it was stunning :-) - do sequels always deliver for you?

Cheers

Noel Bruton
Arberth Studios
Watch out for 'Rhiannon - Curse of the Four Branches' - coming unnervingly soon

This is a difficult question to answer. I would have to say for me, one reason I might anticipate both Black Mirror 2 and Still Life 2 was that the originals both left so many unanswered questions it was almost like reading half a book. So I wish/ed for sequels to both of them right from the time I played them, just to get my questions answered. And I also have to say that, though both the originals were good games I see this "need" for a sequel as a serious flaw that made me rate them much lower than I might otherwise have done.

With other games--Runaway, the Rhem Series, The Dark Fall Series--it is the high quality of the original that causes such anticipation. They're great games with absorbing puzzles and you know you can count on the developer to deliver. I suppose that's the "comfort of the familiar" that you referred to, but I don't consider that a bad thing, necessarily. When games are costing upwards of $40 sometimes and you can't return something after it's been opened and you've experienced it, you want to know your money is going to be well spent.

That being said, I'm not the type to pre-order or rush out and buy something the first day it's released. I almost always wait until I've heard from Boomers or read Boomer reviews here. So that saves me from most disasters, whether they be originals or sequels.

Lastly, I, for one, am looking forward to Rhiannon with great anticipation. So don't despair! We're out here even if we don't always speak up.

WW

Like Wysewoman says, it's the difference between spending your money on something you know and trust rather than spending it on an unknown. In my case, I don't specifically go for sequels. Instead I go for games made by developers I trust to make a good game.

Knut Muller for the RHEM games.
Jonathan Boakes for Dark Fall.

Kheops, HerInteractive (Nancy Drew), Frogwares -- you know pretty much what level of game to expect from these developers.

Notice that Gray Matter is high on the list because of Jane Jensen, even though it's not a sequel.

But there are a lot of games on that list that I am not particularly excited about, most notably Still Life 2. Nothing I've read about it makes me believe it will have any of the things I liked about the first one -- no Gus, only swearhappy Victoria, no wartorn Prague, no indication of the thematic connection between the killer's art and the murders he committed, different game engine, different development team... There are a whole slew of murder mysteries out there. The original Still Life was something more. But this sequel looks like all the others. Why are people looking forward to it? I guess they trust the new developers to be true to the spirit of the original. I don't. I may be wrong, but I'm certainly not going to buy it as soon as it comes out. In fact, I'd be a lot more likely to buy a game like Rhiannon before I bought Still Life 2 -- knowing next to nothing about either developer. Rhiannon at least seems to have an original storyline and isn't "just another murder mystery."

Indeed, this is a tricky question.

Certainly the grandaddy of all sequals which delivered was RIVEN. I'm not sure the RHEM games even qualify in this discussion. I liked them, but they were all the same. If the concept of sequal mandates taking a "Next step", the RHEMS don't qualify. Syberia and its sequal worked. The Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes games continue to improve and add to the the Holmesian myth. I have long felt that Dreamfall was a better game than The Longest Journey.

However, I don't remember too many of us being thrilled with The Sacred Rings as a sequal to AURA and from the mixed reactions posted here in early threads, the jury is still out on the Agatha Christie series. Perhaps we need to consider what constitutes a sequal before we can evaluate whether or not it is what it should be.

However, no matter what, I will buy Still Life II just to find out if I'm correct as to who was the murderer!!!

Sometimes they do (Myst series, Tex M, Zork Nem)
and sometimes they don't (Runaway 2, Dark Fall Lights Out)

These examples were a couple that I could think of (in top of my head)

Cheers

Hi

For me, the Agatha Christie sequels have been better than the original game

And The Awakened the best of the recent Sherlock Holmes bunch
[Got to go back to Rose Tattoo otherwise.]

But the sequels that have given me the most pleasure have probably come from the oldies ....

Monkey Island 2 [And maybe 3 but definitely not 4 !!]
Diskworlds 2 & Noir
Tex Murphy all 4
Gabriel Knights 2 & 3
Broken Sword 2 Nothing later though.
Kyrandia 2 but not 3
King's Quests upto & incl 7

I'd better stop here - or my list will get too long.
And other people probably won't want to dwell on these old games that I LOVE and could talk about for days, anyway !!

Cheers.

Mad

Gabriel Knights, Broken Sword 2 & 3, Omega Stone, Sherlock Holmes, and A. Chirsties. And of course any Jean Jensen.
Don't forget Delaware St. John (each one better than the last).
Charllotte