Forums > Game Talk > Game series without numerals in later instalments
MrFlibble (18361) on 8/26/2013 1:05 PM · Permalink · Report
There's this pattern in how parts of a game series are somehow titled that has attracted my attention recently: the second part has the number 2 in the title but the third (or a later) part doesn't. Examples:
Age of Wonders - Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne - Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Marathon - Marathon 2: Durandal - Marathon Infinity
Star Wraith - Star Wraith 2 - Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion*
Yendorian Tales Book I - Yendorian Tales Book I: Chapter 2 - Yendorian Tales: The Tyrants of Thaine
* The game was initially titles Star Wraith 3: Shadows of Orion but eventually the numeral was dropped from the title, as seen here and here.
Note that in all cases, the part without the numeral is not a spin-off or a branch of the main series, but a direct sequel.
I wonder what other game series have used a similar pattern?
Indra was here (20750) on 8/26/2013 1:27 PM · Permalink · Report
You have way too much time on your hands, dude. :p
vedder (71207) on 8/26/2013 1:52 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MrFlibble wrote--]
Age of Wonders - Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne - Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
[/Q --end MrFlibble wrote--]The next game in the series, currently in development is actually called III. I think Shadow Magic was considered more of a standalone expansion pack as was popular at the time.
I think with low numbers marketeers still hope that new players might buy both parts, but high numbers scare new players off because they are afraid they will be lost if they haven't played all the earlier games.
Indra was here (20750) on 8/26/2013 3:00 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start vedder wrote--]I think with low numbers marketeers still hope that new players might buy both parts, but high numbers scare new players off because they are afraid they will be lost if they haven't played all the earlier games. [/Q --end vedder wrote--]Well that certainly makes sense for story-related content of games of today. Though it wasn't that much of a problem back in the day considering the summary of previous episodes were included in the manual.
Doesn't make much sense for most strategy games or simulation games though.
Patrick Bregger (303488) on 8/26/2013 4:01 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Command & Conquer (Germany)! They wrote themselves into a corner because they just had to call Red Alert "C&C2" instead.
Command & Conquer 2 (=Red Alert)
Command & Conquer 3 (=Tiberium Sun)
Command & Conquer: Generals
Command & Conquer 3
Daniel Saner (3503) on 8/27/2013 5:44 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Thief, Medal of Honor, Prince of Persia, Rise of the Triad, Shadow Warrior, Mortal Kombat, Bionic Commando, a few years back: Alone in the Dark, Turok, ...
Miss any? They really love doing this lately.
lilalurl (733) on 8/27/2013 6:33 PM · Permalink · Report
Shadow of the Beast: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/20/gamescom-shadow-of-the-beast-reboot-coming-to-ps4
Rola (8482) on 8/27/2013 6:54 PM · Permalink · Report
I really hate and ridicule this. Also true for movies: "Star Trek" and you need to add [2009]
I understand that marketing may want to skip reference to Nth part of the series (but at the same time tries to exploit series' popularity? make up your mind!), but at least add a new subtitle.
Daniel Saner (3503) on 8/27/2013 7:17 PM · Permalink · Report
It was in a review of the most recent X-Men/Wolverine movie that a critic on the BBC said: it's already the nth installment (I'm not sure about the number), they just don't number them anymore because they don't want you to know how many times they already tried to make a tolerable film, and failed.
By the way, the verdict was that they still didn't succeed this time around.
Rola (8482) on 8/27/2013 7:58 PM · Permalink · Report
For me there's always this contradiction:
It's the same good old thing! / It's NOT the same old thing!
-
Hey, it's Star Trek Batman Wars! That good ol' thing! Buy, buy! We use existing franchise because it's already famous and we don't need to spend so much on marketing!
-
It's totally different! Like, totally! Yay! Not that old thing for nerds! Our reboot is sooo cool even sexy girls watch it! Word.
Be it films or games: they want new blood (customers) even at the cost of alienating old fans; despite changing everything they're too hestitant to pump their money into a new name, so we get sequels and reboots.
Why skip numbers for games that aren't plot-driven, like racing games or Worms? High sequel number looks suspicious only because we worry about rehashed stories, these games were only about upgraded graphics anyway.
j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】 (101753) on 8/27/2013 8:23 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Rola wrote--]Why skip numbers for games that aren't plot-driven, like racing games or Worms? High sequel number looks suspicious only because we worry about rehashed stories, these games were only about upgraded graphics anyway. [/Q --end Rola wrote--] On the flip side, there's Final Fantasy sticking numbers onto spinoffs and side stories and other numbers. See: Versus XIII becoming XV, XIII-2, or even Type-0 and Dissidia Duodenum 012 or whatever the hell it's called.
To be completely fair, I actually skipped Brotherhood and Revelations after loving Assassin's Creed II because I assumed they were side stories and I'd pick the main story back up when AC3 came out. Then I find out they're all part of the main continuity, and suddenly I can't be bothered to try to catch up.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 8/27/2013 10:20 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 2
Tomb Raider 3
Tomb Raider Last Revelation
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Then we get into...
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Angle of Darkness
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Underworld
And so on. I didn't keep up after that last one, but that makes ten main TR games including the recent one. Then there are the handheld spin offs which seem to have little, to any order to them.
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 8/28/2013 3:05 AM · Permalink · Report
Underworld is what made me give up. I still like TR, but until one comes out that's actually about, you know, exploring tombs, I'm not really interested.
j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】 (101753) on 8/28/2013 6:57 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--]Underworld is what made me give up. I still like TR, but until one comes out that's actually about, you know, exploring tombs, I'm not really interested. [/Q --end DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--] Didn't you hear? Uncharted sold eight billion copies so therefore every game needs to be an over-the-shoulder shooter with cinematic set-pieces where you commit mass genocide. When someone makes a game about exploring tombs and it sells eight billion copies, then people can start making games about exploring tombs. That's just how these things work!
GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 8/28/2013 12:32 PM · Permalink · Report
The video game industry! A model of market efficiency !
Parf (7871) on 8/29/2013 4:05 PM · Permalink · Report
It's kind of funny how trends work in the video game industry... If someone makes a good game, everyone wants to make the exact same game without realizing that perhaps the success was more about good timing, many small things that clicked just right in the game and that abstract thing called "good game feel".
I just loved it when SquareEnix called Hitman and Tomb Raider failures because they didn't meet the sales goals, and yet the games sold several million units the first weeks alone... :|
Daniel Saner (3503) on 8/29/2013 11:53 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Or sometimes they just plain don't get what made a game so successful. I believe I mentioned that in my review of Grand Theft Auto, although it applies mostly to GTA III. After that one sold like crazy, every publisher wanted to have a "gangster game". They were chocked full of (involuntarily) caricatural badass characters, gangsta speak overload, and plenty shooting, blood, and well chavvy cars. But very few of them had an open game world, free mission structure, detailed and simulated environments... I don't think most of them got it even after Rockstar successfully applied the formula to completely different scenarios with Red Dead and Bully.
The only truly similar games of that time I can think of are True Crime and Mafia.