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What (direct) sequel was so good that it kinda made its predecessor obsolete?

Regginator

Member
So like many people here I've been obsessed by Tears of the Kingdom lately, and it's unreal how good it is. Which says a lot, because BOTW is one of my favourite games of all time, and somehow it feels like TOTK has made BOTW obsolete. Not even just from a gameplay perspective, which absolutely blows it out of the water, but overall speaking it's quite a few steps up from its predecessor. Abilities wise, some sort of weapon maintenance system, general gameplay, dungeons (though not by a whole lot), replayability, variety, story, final boss, and so on. Looking back, it really feels like BOTW was a prototype and I kinda dread revisiting it in the near future.

It made me think of whether or not there have been examples of direct sequels that were SO much better that it was hard going back to its predecessor? I'm not talking about sequels that did some good some bad, but pretty much all good (especially mechanically speaking).
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
Resident Evil 4


wink-james-franco.gif
 

RCU005

Member
Kingdom Hearts 2
Playing the first one after the sequel feels so bad (gameplay-wise)

Then, Birth by Sleep improved so much again, that all it’s mechanics stayed for later games.
 
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Exede

Member
The other way arround would be Overwatch and Overwatch 2, one was so good they had to kill it by force so people would play their Battlepass shit show of what is 2
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
God of War II
It easily surpasses the original in every single way.

Doom II
Yeah, when revisiting the classics, I kinda prefer to go for the sequel because it just has more stuff. More monsters, more levels, it has a super shotgun... It makes the original look like a shareware version.

Battlefront II (EA's)
There's literally no reason to play the 2015 Battlefront because the follow up is a much more complete package and it's jut better. The first of the Battlefront reboots was a stripped down joke in comparison.
 
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Teslerum

Member
None

Unless the content is the same (White Knight Chronicles II) I enjoy going back. There's a reason I enjoyed playing the original in the first place.
 
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Fredrik

Member
I agree with Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild.
Breath of the Wild was my #3 all time game but Tears is so much better at everything that I don’t know why I would replay Breath.
 

cireza

Member
I rarely play the first Panzer Dragoon as Zwei was such a huge step up. Everything is better, from the framerate, the level-design with the various paths, the dragon's evolution etc... The first game is still a great game, of course. It has the merits of creating this incredible universe, but the sequel brought it to perfection.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Kirby’s Dream Land 2.
Gradius II.
Super Metroid.
And while I still enjoy the SNES Mario Kart, MK8 made every single MK game before it completely superfluous.
 

Nico_D

Member
Really Xenoblade chronicles 2? I dunno the combat is fun on the first game but i dunno if ot makes it obsolete

I found the combat to be dull in the first one, it never went anywhere and pretty much stayed the same from start to finish. But I did play the sequel first, Idk what my opinion would've been had it been the other way around.
 

Shut0wen

Member
I found the combat to be dull in the first one, it never went anywhere and pretty much stayed the same from start to finish. But I did play the sequel first, Idk what my opinion would've been had it been the other way around.
You are right 2s combat is a million times better but the first games combat shines when you change your party for different combos, alot of trial and error but you are right its way more dull compared to 2s though the first games story imo was still better
 

Regginator

Member
Also, I'm reminded of Shadowrun Dragonfall DC as well. It's been a while since I've played through it, but I remember it being lauded as one of the best cRPGs of all time. And that it absolutely was. Afterwards, I played through Shadowrun Returns and remember thinking it was quite a dud, relatively speaking. Dragonfall seemed better in literally all aspects.
 

Husky

THE Prey 2 fanatic
Since Left 4 Dead 2 includes the entirety of L4D1, both in its original form and with L4D2's improvements (new weapons, special infected), it makes L4D1 completely obsolete.

I'd say Middle-earth: Shadow of War makes the map and mechanics of Shadow of Mordor feel obsolete, as the Nemesis system and world map is so greatly expanded for Shadow of War. But I'm in the camp where content doesn't become obsolete just because there's newer content. Shadow of Mordor still offers its own setting, story, and pacing of gameplay mechanics. It's sorta like how Portal's puzzles and story don't suddenly become worthless just because Portal 2 has more to offer overall.

Pokemon: Third Version always makes Pokemon: First & Second basically obsolete. Sometimes fellas might have a reason to prefer one of the first two releases though, like if you don't enjoy the winter setting in Platinum, you might prefer to keep playing Diamond and Pearl.

To address some previous answers, the first The Witcher and Kingdom Hearts are my favorite entries :lollipop_smiling_face_eyes:
 
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