<slightly off topic>
Quote: "maybe this is why Star Wars came out 4,5,6,1,2,3? Seems like a logical explanation to me!"
Star Wars was released like that because the technology necessary to do justice to 1, 2, & 3 didn't exist when 4, 5, & 6 came out.
I mean, episode 1 was great, but really, it was mainly George Lucas saying "HEY! Look at my CGI! ITS AWESOME!"
I mean, think about Yoda from episode 4; a puppet, and compare him to Yoda from episode 3; pure almighty CG awesomeness.
There was too much in episode 1 that couldn't be done well enough with puppets and masks and the technology that existed at that time.
Think about episode 2: hundreds of millions of Clone troopers running around a battle field. It would've been financial suicide to pay that many extras to appear in the movie.
</slightly off topic>
<on topic>
As for games' sequels being let downs compared to the originals: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. With LoZ, its been essentially the exact same plot:
1. Find 3 magic stones
2. Get the Master Sword
3. Seven more dungeons, usually done to awaken sages
4. Defeat Gannondorf/Gannon. (Except in the case of Majora's Mask and Phantom Hourglass.)
5. ???
6. Profit!
But many, including myself, love the LoZ series! If you find a formula that works, run with it! The trick is, knowing when to stop running. Many dislike the LoZ series because its the same thing over and over again, just slightly re-done.
While I agree that Nintendo has milked this one plot too long, I also agree that it IS a good plot, in and of itself. The big problem is, they essentially trapped themselves in a corner; because in order to make a truly original storyline, they'd have to break away from what has already been established as true for the LoZ universe; they'd have to break cannon!
Lets look at FF12:
I absolutely loved the game, couldn't find much of anything bad to say about it. The sequel, FF12: Revenant wings (For DS) was good in its own right, but it simply could NOT compare to the original FF12.
How could it? The power of the PS2 VS the power of the DS alone is almost enough to ensure that Revenant wings couldn't be as good as the original FF12.
You really can't take an epic tale with awesome graphics and sweet music, and compress it onto the DS. It simply wont be the same.
In contrast, they did almost the exact same thing with LoZ: Wind Waker, when they made Phantom Hourglass; they compress one of the best games in the series from a console to a hand held.
But in this case, Phantom Hourglass didn't suffer at all. One of the main reasons being, WW already had cartoon-y graphics to begin with. So, when it made the move to DS, its graphics quality barely suffered at all. Plus, the excellent use of the stylus controls in WW made it an awesome game, both as a sequel and by itself.
It really depends entirely upon the game that is being sequel-ed, and HOW it is being sequel-ed.Games like FF12 really lose their awesome-ness when taken to a smaller platform, but others don't lose anything.
I think just about any game
can be made into a sequel, its just a matter of the developer knowing whether it SHOULD be.
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