It's almost a certainty these days that if a video game does well, it will spawn a sequel or three...or fifty. Usually this is seen as a good thing, because it means a continuation of the story and quality of life changes to the gameplay that will make for a much better game...in theory. The reality isn't always quite as pretty. Have you ever played a sequel that you wished they hadn't made? What made it so undesirable to you?
They aren't really 'sequels' so much as they are spinoffs, but all of the Final Fantasy VII sequels. They're wholly unnecessary; the stories are uninspired, the gameplay is average at best (not unlike their progenitor), and the characters are still as flat as ever (except for Zack; he's cool). Also, FFX-2.
Everything Mario Jk. But, seriously, there are some sequels I've played that even I, the guy who doesn't like to complain, complained about. A majority were Call of Duty, but some Mario and Smash Brothers 4 kind of made me question why they continued in the first place. *With Ultimate out, I kind of don't mind Smash 4 anymore since it led up to the development of Ultimate* I don't think it's because I'm picky, but because they just didn't ring with me like the others in the same series and franchise. And while I get they technically could be considered different universes but same stories, I'm throwing that out the window. CoD because it keeps the same routine of YOU being the main hero in it all. I'd like to see you be the sidekick for once. Mario just because it keeps following the "Save the Princess" rule. It gets boring after, like, three games. Smash 4 only because it didn't have a story (or Snake). So, yeah - that's all from me. Have a wonderful day!
Every call of duty game, for me. I really like some of the older ones, such as Modern Warfare 2 and 3, but the series has overstayed its welcome. Square released way too many games way too fast for the Final Fantasy series. That has slowed down over the last several years, but that series has a ton of unnecessary games, imo. The last one that comes to mind are sports games. I know that due to roster changes, they release one every year. However, it is totally unnecessary from a consumer standpoint. The games have slight roster updates, minimal changes (which are normally useless), and cost full price. Also, these games don't age well, seeing as there is a game EVERY YEAR that puts the previous games more into the realm if irrelevancy.
Spoiler: A brief history of the Mega Man X series main installations X1: New life breathed into a defined series to expand it into a more powerful gaming console and art genre. X2: More content! Better upgrades! Dash from the start! Expand the story! X3: Story is in full swing, and what's this: not only can you be X, but also fan-favorite character Zero a few times in this game? So much fun! X4: Adding in a new flavor but it's kind of shaky. On the plus side, full-time X or Zero to add a whole new difficulty depth to the game. X5: Direct sequel to X4 to keep your weapons and conclude the recent storyline, a satisfying intended end to the series! X6: Unfinished pieceofcrap that illustrates its biggest problem accidentally in gameplay and story. The series died and now it's back as a ghost of its former self? You don't say. You don't say. X7: Clumsy numb-footed expansion into full 3D with good intentions but the worst execution imaginable. X8: Back to the X4-X5 basics hindered by godawful level design and a disappointing knockoff villain. Mega Man X should have stopped after X5 like it was intended. Corporate meddling decided they wanted to milk it for all the cash it was worth and ended up ruining the good name it had. X6 and beyond is the entire reason why the overall Mega Man series isn't as popular as Kirby or Zelda today. I mostly agree with you. Back in the NES days a game could be made in a year, so why not make it in a year. Not so applicable now though as a triple-A studio. On sequels, the only sequel in the entire series I think was worth while was the one to 4. 10-2 was hollow, 7's sequels and prequel were shameless cash-grabs, 12-2 should have just been a separate IP, and what little I know about 13 seems like they should have just let it alone. Even the MMOs (and perhaps some non-numbered games) I think should have just been entirely separate products. They could have afforded themselves more freedom and less crowding of the series by saying "from the company that brought you Final Fantasy" and making something new and fresh all on its own. But no, they have to market everything as being a precious family member of the actual alumni because they're too scared to release it standalone. Sigh. I just wish they were more comfortable separating from the safety net of their primary series. It's good that we didn't get Final Fantasy Gestalt or Final Fantasy Automata, is what I'm saying.
...yeah, as smartphone titles. Oh, Square Enix... On the subject of Final Fantasy, whilst I felt FFX-2 and XIII-2 were both entirely necessary to give Yuna and Serah respectively an actual personality - and with XIII-2 it was especially important to give the series a proper villain, something it had previously lacked - those really are the only two I'd give a pass to. Lightning Returns was an absolute mess of a game that royally screwed up pretty much everything that made XIII-2 worth playing (mostly because of Lightning and Hope, who ruined the first game) and the less said about FFIV: The After Years, the better. I haven't played FFXII Revenant Wings and I have no intention of doing so...going from the best FF ever made to a badly designed DS RTS doesn't sit right with me. Even if they did give Vaan the shirt he so desperately needed. But the first game that springs to mind for me is, ironically, one I had BEGGED for for years, and waited on baited breath for, and went through the roof when it was finally announced. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The Golden Sun duo remain my favourite handheld JRPGs - ignoring Xenoblade on 3DS as it was originally a Wii game; I'll get to that one in a minute anyway - and the cliffhanger of The Lost Age drove me mad when I was younger. They finally release Dark Dawn, and it's TERRIBLE. It also ends on another cliffhanger that I actually pray they never resolve, because I don't think I could take another bad game in the series. Metroid Prime: Corruption is another one, because of dismal motion controls and the generally mediocre narrative. It was a very weak ending (then ending, anyway) to what had been a very strong series. It introduced some new characters and then promptly threw them away with no real narrative to speak of, had one of the worst final bosses I have ever seen in video gaming, and was just...really, really bad, comparatively. The original Metroid Prime was spectacular for its time, and I loved every minute of Echoes. Corruption was...well, it was its namesake, I will give it that much. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, for ruining Aria of Sorrow with dismal touch screen gimmicks - it was THAT time when everyone wanted to do touch screen controls and nobody could do them right - and horrible anime-style portraits which didn't do the characters any kind of justice. Soma easily wins out as my favourite Castlevania protagonist, and the plot for DoS was...unnecessary, to say the least. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 makes this list for being a disappointment in nearly every way imaginable. Bad characters, bad narrative - DREADFUL narrative, in fact; where the first was a masterclass in storytelling, this was more cliche than even the worst Kemco JRPG - mediocre soundtrack and voice acting, and whilst the battle system was a significant improvement that didn't make up for the rest of it. I wish they'd never made this game. XCX I could forgive for its focus on exploration and fantastic open world. XC2 tried to be the original Xenoblade again and it failed spectacularly. I should mention Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, but I'd really rather not. Let's not talk about that one.
