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Reply 21 of 49, by SpeedySPCFan

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Resident Evil 2 fixed pretty much everything wrong with the original Resident Evil and added some neat new stuff.

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Reply 22 of 49, by F2bnp

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dr_st wrote:
This is a great example. I was almost sure it was going to be brought up, and almost mentioned it myself. […]
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F2bnp wrote:

Heroes of Might & Magic 2 and then 3.

This is a great example. I was almost sure it was going to be brought up, and almost mentioned it myself.

I think HoMM3 is the real jump. HoMM2 is amazing, adding quite a few elements (two new castle types, creature upgrades, secondary skills, more interesting places on the map, larger battlefield), while staying true to the HoMM1 formula. It is in many ways like Warcraft II to Warcraft I.

But HoMM3 is the one that added even more stuff, and also worked on balancing the castles and heroes. The first two games had a clear hierarchy of castle strength (which was balanced by cost), and a pretty clear distinction of hero specialties. In the third game they really tried to mix & match the creatures so that no castle is clearly strongest. Heck, even the 7th level creature hierarchies are not clear. There are two hero types per castle, many more skills, much more complex and advanced spell/artifact systems, new combat elements. Just wow.

But here's the catch: shocking as it is - I never liked HoMM3 nearly as much as I did the first two games. I really think they went a bit overboard with it. The game is too big. There are too many options. Every creature can be upgraded, and a lot of the upgrades are quite stupid/useless (sometimes the creatures themselves are useless too). The depth is overwhelming - you can play for years and not cover all the aspects. I realize that for some people it's a dream come true - a game that's almost endless. But to me it just felt alienating. I think it's a psychological issue. 😉

So, objectively, it's a great example of the concept of this thread. Subjectively, I just couldn't bring it up because I didn't like the game enough. 🙁

And don't even mention WoG. It's a masterpiece of programming/scripting/whatever, and the folks who did that are geniuses. It broke the game and rebuilt it from the ground so thoroughly, and provided such level of customization, that I think every game in the universe can somehow be implemented as a combination of WoG scripts/settings. 🤣

Yeah, HOMM3 is a masterpiece. I'm much more partial to HOMM2 however, purely for nostalgia reasons. I also think the 2D hand-drawn graphics have aged far better than late 90's pre-rendered graphics that HOMM3 endorsed.

I don't exactly agree with you, but I can understand why you feel this sort of disconnect. I love both games honestly, just have a thing for the 2nd one 😁.

I thought of another example that not a lot of people know of probably. There were a couple of strategy Warhammer games in the mid to late 90's. The first one was called Shadow of the Horned Rat and the second one Dark Omen. Dark Omen completely overhauls the interface, a lot like what happened in the case of Warcraft I to Warcraft II.

Reply 23 of 49, by tincup

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Maybe Dark Forces vs Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight?

Serious simulations like racing, war and air games generally improve as the series advances: things like World Circuit vs Grand Prix II, M1 Tank Platoon vs M1TP 2, Longbow vs Longbow 2, and F1 Challenge rendered the previous iterations unnecessary - just to name a few.

For sims, advances in performance steadily fill out limited/wanting physics, ballistic, damage modeling - not just offer improved graphics and superficial effects - though that is can be a happy by product. Detailed high res graphics in simulations are often regarded as more than just pretty pictures but essential to actually interface with the game in a realistic and efficient way.

Reply 24 of 49, by leileilol

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Call of Duty Modern Warfare is a recent one, somehow completely removing all the previous games' existence whenever anyone brings up CoD and how it came to be in the first place (by being a well refactored, polished, and far less spielbergy Medal of Honor Allied Assault, with multiplayer killcams).

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Reply 25 of 49, by tayyare

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King_Corduroy wrote:

Not sure that I agree with the last one, I mean RA2 was great but Tiberian Sun was epic as hell.

No, IMHO, because of two things: Navy and Tanya.. 😈

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Reply 26 of 49, by King_Corduroy

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Tanya? Really? That character annoyed the fuck out of me. 🤣

Personally I never liked the RA story as much as the original Tiberium story line. Plus the general atmosphere of Tiberian sun was awesome and way more believable.

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Reply 28 of 49, by tayyare

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King_Corduroy wrote:

Tanya? Really? That character annoyed the fuck out of me. 🤣

Personally I never liked the RA story as much as the original Tiberium story line. Plus the general atmosphere of Tiberian sun was awesome and way more believable.

It's just a matter of personal tastes of course, but Allied Forces vs. Russians felt more attractive to me.. 🤣

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Reply 29 of 49, by Great Hierophant

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Commander Keen 4 took the Keen series to a whole new level. Real backgrounds, Adlib music, larger character sprites, more variety in the gameplay, and a real personality to the enemy designs.

Ultima IV versus the previous three Ultimas, a unique quest, a huge world, NPCs that could say more than one thing, far less sadistic cruelty to the player, character creation, moral choices.

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Reply 30 of 49, by Lo Wang

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Not strictly a sequel, but very closely related: Shadow Warrior totally blowing Duke Nukem 3D out of the water.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" - Romans 10:9

Reply 31 of 49, by badmojo

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Lo Wang wrote:

Not strictly a sequel, but very closely related: Shadow Warrior totally blowing Duke Nukem 3D out of the water.

Your religious nonsense I can ignore, this however is sacrilege 😒

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 33 of 49, by King_Corduroy

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badmojo wrote:
Lo Wang wrote:

Not strictly a sequel, but very closely related: Shadow Warrior totally blowing Duke Nukem 3D out of the water.

Your religious nonsense I can ignore, this however is sacrilege 😒

Lol I completely agree, I don't think Shadow Warrior was half as fun as Duke3d. I will say though that Blood was better than both of them. 😜

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Reply 34 of 49, by candle_86

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MDK2 was way better than MDK
Medal of Honor Allied Assault compared to the previous games on PS1
Combat Flight Simulator 2, totally outshined the first one
Klington Academy dominated Starfleet Academy
Starfleet Command II again bested Starfleet Command
Knights of the Old republic II
and lastly Roller Coaster Tycoon 2

Reply 35 of 49, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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Ultima series until Ultima XIII. Ultima VI is much better than Ultima V (in fact, the engine is so good compared to the former, that they made Savage Empire and Martian Dreams out of it) , Ultima VII is better than Ultima VI. Some may argue that Ultima IV is the best, but still, combat is a pain. At least in Ultima VI you can let AI control your NPCs.

Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.

Reply 36 of 49, by Putas

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Street Fighter - Street Fighter II

dr_st wrote:

But here's the catch: shocking as it is - I never liked HoMM3 nearly as much as I did the first two games. I really think they went a bit overboard with it.

I also did not like HoMM3 that much, but for different reason. The shift in style did not work for me, I prefer more fairy tale like artwork of prequels, the 256 color palette is awesome.

Reply 37 of 49, by dr_st

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Putas wrote:

I also did not like HoMM3 that much, but for different reason. The shift in style did not work for me, I prefer more fairy tale like artwork of prequels, the 256 color palette is awesome.

That too. It's possible that subconsciously it also affected my opinion of HoMM3.

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Reply 39 of 49, by meisterister

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The original Age of Empires was outshined by Age II. II is a far larger, deeper, and more complex game that retains the same fundamental gameplay but polishes it very nicely.

It can also be argued that Age III outshines II but in a sidestep-y way. This is just because of the Havok engine (who doesn't want to see a building flying apart after your artillery arrives on the scene?)

SimCity 4 is also far improved over 3000, though that comes at the cost of significantly higher realistic system requirements. It needs a fast P4/Athlon 64/Core 2 to play smoothly, but it's a far more complex simulation that still hasn't been outdone by its own developers.

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