It was good clickbait. I clicked on it just to see which game they were talking about (I forgot about red dead revolver) because I knew for damn sure Redemption wasn't about to be on this list 😂
@@kunimitsune177 Yeah. I strongly prefer less brightness and a more toned down monitor; things look more 'real' that way, even if they are less flashy.
12:58 So regarding Assassin’s Creed, while I do find it hilarious that Altaïr just immediately drowns upon hitting water, it’s worth pointing out that they actually explain why that happens. There’s a little blurb in the instruction manual (I miss the days of long, detailed game instruction manuals) where the main scientist guy you interact with mentions that the Animus isn’t capable of handling swimming, or something to that effect. It’s not that Altaïr can’t swim, it’s just that the simulation can’t show that. Which I’m 99.9% sure is just Ubisoft’s handwave explanation for “We didn’t feel like programming this / didn’t have time to do this so here’s a lore reason why.”
The original Assassin's Creed was rough, but it had some stealth and planning mechanics that I really enjoyed that never came back. Eavesdropping to learn patrol routes and stealing maps so you could plan a route to your target without being spotted was really cool. I'd enjoy the whole series more without the present day frame story though.
The problem with AC1 wasn't the assassinations, but everything leading up to them. Every level was ride to city, do the same 3 tasks to gather intelligence over and over, before finally getting to do the fun part. If they'd made the intelligence gathering part more varied and story driven like the AC2 missions, and have them act as tutorials for new gameplay features, but kept the actual assassinations structured like immersive sims, Ubisoft would have made the greatest assassin game of all time. Syndicate tried to return to this formula, but it failed to commit. Each assassination gave you only a few options as clearly signposted set pieces that didn't allow for any player creativity.
AC1 in retrospect was an open world story game sharing space with a simplistic assassination sim. The second game basically dropped the sim part. Much for the better I think, but I would like to see an alternative universe where they were perfectly married in the sequal instead.
A great example I think it's the Elder Scroll series. Arena had a very rocky start. Then came Daggerfall, improving everything, and is so iconic that 28 years later still has a very active modding community. Then came Morrowind that went in a completely different direction and revolutionized RPGs and worldbuilding.
It's not even a mid game but the LEAP to Titanfall 2 from Titanfall 1 can be measured in parsecs and light years combined - going from an online only multiplayer free for all, to one of the most intricately crafted, well executed, satisfying as all Heck single player campaigns, with some of the most genuinely emotional storytelling I've ever seen in videogames, deserves all the praise and adoration possible. I almost don't want Titanfall 3 to come out, so there isn't a chance it won't be as good as Titanfall 2, I love this game so. Goddam. Much
@@scottneil1187 It is, but 2 really took off. I might be biased as that was my first game in the series I played, but I went back replayed it after completing it because I simply enjoyed it so much. One day I might even try getting into 4. 3 was fun, but I got the 'Thor gun' early and it was too easy with that.
The story of Red dead Revolver: To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day... Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say.... No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip. For the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.
It was early in the morning when he rode into the town He came riding from the south side slowly lookin' all around He's an outlaw loose and running, came the whisper from each lip And he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip
I was about to say. Knowing the background explains it but that still doesn't get us a good second part. Even the first one was a bit rough tonaly speaking but still fun to play. The only reason I stuck with the second one for as long as I did was beacuse I knew the third one was going to be good
@@nightmare62089The official chronological recap vid in Devil May Cry 5 says so too 😂😂 *Banger Devil May Cry 2 theme (Dante did this with Lucia)… for only 7 seconds, here is Devil May Cry 4!!*
@@ellbent I love talking to people who haven't played and explaining that I still own my physical copies of the originals. I always say that '2 never happened. I own it, but it never happened.'
@@nightmare62089 *”The game that never was… anyways-“* I wish 2 was good. I love the gothic aesthetic and tone (I use the soundtrack for DnD lol), and they can do a stoic Dante that is grieving the loss of Vergil (like slightly-depressed Dante in the anime). It just… unfortunately sucked… and didn’t really play well.
Hitman: Codename 47 belongs on this list. The basic disguise mechanic was there but it often felt like a puzzle game where the objective was to find the “correct” way to take out your target. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin leaned much more into giving players the freedom to take out targets by whatever means they chose and creative kills became a hallmark of the series.
There were more than one way to kill your targets in "codename 47", not many granted, but two or three in most levels. "Silent assassin" was a step forward in storytelling but the lack of dual wielding felt like a step backwards in terms of gameplay.
That “Leon me” quip brought flashbacks to my middle school days, when I could count on this one kid to sing that to me at least once a week for a full year. Thanks!
And after having success selling expensive vacuums he started acting like the British Steve Jobs, campaigned for Brexit and then immediately moved to Singapore. He still thinks he’s a visionary like Steve Jobs despite he’s latest revelation being luxury headphones by a vacuum brand. Brilliant.
Fun story: in GTAV, theres an easter egg in the form of a book titled "Red Harlow - by J Marston" Seemingly implying that "Red" is a characterization of John Marston as told by his son Jack.
I'm still waiting on Assassin's Creed to give me a button that lets me run without climbing everything. Sometimes you gotta go fast but don't want to climb every single thing you get a little too close to.
I agree, fellow human. It is very cool when sequels improve a series. Do you also find it cool when a series continues to be good? As an actual human, I know I do.
I would suggest that Civilization II was a huge jump forward from the original, symbolized wonderfully by the Council, whom you can now watch and hear snipe at each other, trying to flatter you when they're not passive-aggressively suggesting you're bad at the game, or just losing their minds entirely during periods of anarchy.
The first Deus Ex game is considered a classic. It's sequel Invisible War is more divisive, but Deus Ex Human Revolution is considered an improvement over Invisible War. While the first Deus Ex may never be topped, Human Revolution is seen as a worthy successor.
Strangely, Invisible War was my first foray into the series. For the life of me, I don’t know why I bothered getting Human Revolution, but man am I glad I did.
I tried giving Invisible War the benefit of the doubt, but in the end I was pushing through the story to just get it done and over with. Normally a 100% completionist, but the oversimplified mechanics, bland characters, an incredibly dumb and easily predictable plot twist late in the game revealing the religious leader (hmm. Uses the same voice actor as a major NPC in the past game, who could it possibly be????) and a character you meet early on is so obviously the mole who betrays you they could have named her Wormtongue Peter Baelish Benedict Arnold McTraitorson
seriously now that Eidos is finally free from Square Enix's stupid antics about Marvel crapwares, maybe they can have a go to finally finish Adam Jensen's story, I've been waiting FOR AGES for this and Human Revolution is so good I finished it like 5 times in 5 different playstyles. Mankind Divided was mostly a graphics overhaul that I absolutely loved start to finish but was way harder to complete in pure stealth
Did not expect to see Assassins Creed 1 on this list... maybe it was overhyped, but as someone who played it blind of expectation, it still holds a very special place in my gaming memories
Titanfall 2? If I remember correctly the OG Titanfall wasn't super stand-out at the time, but Titanfall 2 is still pretty active to this day. Longevity is a sign of success, and watching BT's growth in the main campaign was quite the expereince.
The Evil Within 2 was such a step up from the first game it actually improved it in retrospect. I wish I could recommend the second game on its own, but it makes plot points from the first game so much more interesting that playing the first game is a must to fully appreciate every little way in which 2 is an improvement.
I’ve been wondering what’s got these videos suddenly more comfortable and inviting for me. The 8:24 comes around and shows me why I felt this way. Sincerely -The Void
I'll agree with this. I bought the Legacy collections and started with the first game again. Boy, did I forget how rough parts of that game were! Especially the powerplant... Absolutely, 100% the worst dungeon. Possibly ever. Time limit? (Via limited battery power for Mega Man) Check! Healing restrictions? (No auto-healing after battle if the battery is low!) Check! Difficult enemies? (Electricity theme = stuns are common) Check! Time-wasting dungeon mechanic? (Invisible paths!) Check! Time-wasting dungeon puzzles? (Have to figure out where to place batteries, but have to backtrack and recharge them every 2 guesses) Check! Back-to-back boss fights? (After an impossible boss fight and cutscene, to boot!) Check and CHECK! Thankfully, hey got most of their terrible ideas out in one dungeon. (Or maybe we would have been better off if they were spread out and not piled on you all at once?) A lot of the things that were improved in the sequels were basically taking a decent mechanic and making it better. (My personal favorites are having the different armors for Mega Man effect his sprite, and the joke chip that lets Mega Man tell you terrible jokes!)
@@DumbOhioFarmboy calm down kid, yeah it's to get people to click out of curiosity, it's not new or bad, it's not clickbait or lies, get over yourself and grow up
Maybe controversial, but I've always felt that The Evil Within was the epitome of this. The first one was about as fun (gameplay-wise) as slamming your head in a particularly heavy door, but had fantastic design. Then the sequel was an absolute polished gem that expanded on that design brilliantly.
I would say Borderlands would be a good contender for this category. Everyone knows about the sequel and Handsome Jack, but nobody really talks about the first game at all.
Little known fact about Red Dead Revolver. The game was originally going to be a Capcom production, and a lot more over the top than the final game, involving people being able to fly, transform into animals, and I believe there were also zombies. However, the game was dropped, the team was picked up by Rockstar and rebranded, and the game was revived into a somewhat more grounded spaghetti western than the more cartoonish title it previously was.
Resident Evil 6 sold 10 million copies and those copies were promptly nearly all returned, I knew someone working in game at the time and he told me all the copies they'd sold came back within a fortnight. Red Dead Revolver is available on modern consoles for those that don't know.
16:20 funny you mention big thunder, there was a comic adaptation that told a pretty interesting and linear story about the ride. From what I remember it was a classic girl with rich mining dad falls for a worker, they discover the dad/the other executives were covering up unsafe conditions. Pretty neat, I kinda wish more people had read it so the story could continue.
To be fair to saints row 2, it was quite silly, but also had some genuinely impactful moments. Carlos's death and Aisha's funeral were incredibly powerful moments, made all the stronger by the juxtaposition with the silliness. Saints Row 2 remains my favourite of the series
While SR2 is my favourite of them all, I still prefer to think of them as two separate series. Unlike most of the fanbase though, I enjoyed both eras, just for different reasons. Of course, I say both, because I also choose to believe the series ended with Gat Out Of Hell (which I never got around to).
@@torgranael Gat out of Hell was a fun little snack of a game, a nice epilogue to SR4. I did end up playing the reboot as it was a free PS+ game a while back. I had some fun with it but it's just so much lesser than before. None of the characters, allies or enemies, are at all memorable, not like the OG crews. Only game I never played was SR1, and I enjoyed all the other ones a lot
@@aeloswindrunner SR2 is basically a more polished version of 1. If you like 2, you'll probably enjoy play through 1 at least once, with the most significant differences being no dual-wield, you can't play a female, and the player character is silent (with a few in game jokes about it). As for my opinion of the reboot: I channel I've come to trust a lot regarding recommendations did a video on it, and it looked disappointing.
@@torgranael disappointing is right. I wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't a freebie. Main takeaway from my time with it was that I should get my 360 fixed so I could play SR2 again xD
I’m still sad they nerfed the hidden blade in the AC2. You can kill anything in one strike with it, provided you are countering them or catch them off guard, including the final boss, who reverses your counter with any other type of weapon.
I would add Koudelka/Shadow Hearts. The first was a PS1 RPG that nobody remembers. Shadow Hearts 1 was a decent but very rough-looking and limited PS2 RPG. Shadow Hearts II basically improves absolutely everything: the graphics, humour, gameplay, world and story. I would personally rank it higher than FFX.
I remember being the *only* person I knew who didn't like the o.g. AC lol and funnily enough, it took until I tried a later title and enjoyed it that I went back to 1, & even with all its shortcomings I was finally able to appreciate it for what it was
In Tony Hawk 1 you couldn’t do combos like in 2. Definitely an improvement. Also, red dead revolver is a flawless classic and I will fight any reviewer who gave it less than 9/10
Alright I've commented a ton on this video so luckily this is the last entry I can say something about but Revolver was a great game!!! Sure it wasn't anywhere near redemption 1 or 2 but I remember the reason I was so eager to get 1 was because of how much fun I had with Revolver.... and holy cow did they DELIVER 😂
totally agree, Red Dead Revolver while not amazing was a memorable game on ps2. The whole being too linear was not bad imo, its just every game started to try and be open world about that time. It actually made the levels more interesting and cinematic, allowing for better set pieces than if it was open world. The multiplayer was very underrated, loved playing it with friends.
@@fintan9218 I agree that while it was maybe an unexpected move by rockstar to make things so linear, there's still room for games like that to this day imo, no less so back then, and they can be just as satisfying a play experience. Although, if they're going to charge 70 bucks from here on our for big studios like that by and large I understand the instinct to try and give players a world to live in for awhile and side things to do. At least Rockstar seems to respect you enough to make things fun and interesting and worthwhile the entire time, though I'm sure it's not easy to guarantee that happens no matter how hard you try. I guess I'm just rambling now getting way off topic 😂
@@ChristophBrinkmann as great as X1 was, I find myself turned off by the mega buster’s charge shot unless the game auto charges it. I find holding down the button most of the time (and the constant sound the charge makes) a little annoying. So that’s basically everything from MM4 on.
I wouldn’t call Red Dead Revolver “disappointing”. It’s obviously not on the extremely high level of the Redemption games but it’s a fun ps2 shooter with some cool set pieces and fun mechanics. For being a brand new series developed by a smaller Rockstar studio I think it’s pretty good all things considered.
Speaking of Midnight Club, the first one was rather lackluster, but it laid the groundwork for the next 3 games, which were arguably one the best racing games in the PS2/Xbox 360 era
Genuinely surprised you forgot about Borderlands considering the videos you made about the terrible movie. The original game was absolutely mid and led to an incredible sequel that established the franchise.
Agreed. I started with 2, played a bit of 1, but couldn't get into it. Just the quality of life enhancements alone is enough, but the story takes it over the top.
Another game with a great sequel: Dune 2. Dune 1 was an okay game, but largely forgotten. Dune 2 on the other hand set the standard for RTS games for decades to follow.
Although strangely, Dune II was never written to be a sequel to Dune. Two different game studios won the rights to the Dune licence at more or less the same time, and the first one to finish their game got to use "Dune", the runner-up had to use "Dune II"
Persona 3/4/5 anyone? 1 & 2 never really made it to the west outside of the psp but 3 created the formula, 4 blew up, and 5...well no one saw it coming
I don't think 4/5 were such huge leaps as the games on this list. Refined/improved, yes, but let's be honest. P3 is still a great game in its own right, especially for being the first of the neosona formula.
Persona 1 and the second part of 2 made it to the West on the original Playstation. The first half of 2 never made it because of one of the final bosses.
I'd add Shadowrun to this list. The first game was felt more like a showcase of the system but the next two greatly improved upon that and presented us with great stories and memorable characters. Shadowrun Dragonfall is my fave!
When people say, "Far Cry", they're most often referring to Far Cry 3, or the series as a whole, and lamenting how it's most recent entries have paled in comparison to FC3... Completely forgetting the two games that came before it, Far Cry in 2004, and Far Cry 2 in 2008. Both were competent, open world shooters with unique settings, but the first Far Cry even introduced a brand new game engine into the industry (CryEngine). This is a text book case of the sequels vastly improving on the original game's premise and potential both artistically and technically.
Donkey Kong Country wasn't a disappointing game by any means, but Donkey Kong Country 2 blows it out of the water. Same with Mass Effect 2 vs the original Mass Effect. Could work for a "Sequels Better Than The Original" type of video.
To me it never really got topped off, BL2 was the peak of the series with clever writing, bombastic humour and a very enjoyable villain, unlike the Third one that features twins even more annoying than the Olsen, lackluster writing *and* lacks a horse named Buttstallion.
@@LET4M4RU True. The series definitely peaked with 2, but I will say that the others are still fun for what they are. The quality of the writing has definitely been the worst aspect of the sequels.
Video suggestion: “7 times characters knew their songs were bangers”. Like in FFVII: Rebirth when Yuffie sings her own theme and makes up lyrics. Or in Transistor when Red hums along to the current track.
Let's just have a video entirely about Yakuza's karaoke singing "DAME DAME, DAME YO" oh and BG3's "Raphael's Final Act" because nobody else than Raphael himself could sing his own battle theme.
Ha! I was totally thinking of Red Dead Revolver this whole list (I actually have a copy of it sitting on the shelf beside me). It was... okay. Definitely not a stand-out by any means. I actually picked up Revolver second hand after playing Redemption when it launched, hoping for more of the same, so... yeah.
It's funny that they mentioned GTA, but it wasn't on the list. GTA and GTA2 were okay for their time, I guess, but GTA3 was where they really hit their stride.
I would say there is too much of a difference in the gameplay from GTA 2 to 3. Completely different game play mechanics. Yooka-Laylee was still a platformer just in 2-d rather than 3d
I usually don't comment but one I can't help mention is Uncharted to Uncharted 2. The first game is such finicky, janky controls for a game that hyped up the parkour of it. Very little story compared to the game play (for context a 'cutscene movie' of the game is 1.5 hours long only). Its basically a blurb of story before back to another gunfight. And while enjoyable for me its very over the top and campy dialogue delivery. That isn't mentioning the sudden and abrupt pivot into what felt like survival horror at the end of the game for a bit. But the second game took every I loved about the first game and improved on it, as well as greatly expanding the scope of the game to the "globetrotting" the series is known for.
Saints Row came out before GTA4 and was in development since Vice City. In that regard it actually did a lot of things better than GTA at the time and even some things better than it’s sequel. Comparisons like the ones in this video are why Volition felt the need to take the series into such a shit direction. Which is a damn shame considering how well received other “GTA Clone” series were received without changing much in tone such as Mafia.
was looking up to see who else was in Saints Row since I recognized Keith David right off. it was quite stacked with stars! how about a list of video game characters you didn't realize were voiced by someone you know?
I completely forgot about red dead revolver and the thumbnail had me thinking you suddenly didn't like RDR1
Some cheeky clickbait
They got me too
I was fully ready to come in guns ablazing 😂
It's available to buy on modern consoles right now, been put for ages. Now if only we could get Gun.
It was good clickbait. I clicked on it just to see which game they were talking about (I forgot about red dead revolver) because I knew for damn sure Redemption wasn't about to be on this list 😂
"Finally you can watch our videos comfortably at night without blinding yourself all it took was 12 years"
I felt that very deeply xd
For me I got a smash cut to a TH-cam ad - which started with an entirely white screen.
Being flashbanged was one of the reasons i disliked watching this channel sometimes
If the videos would hurt your eyes at night your brightness is too high.
Very happy with the change, thank you!
@@kunimitsune177 Yeah. I strongly prefer less brightness and a more toned down monitor; things look more 'real' that way, even if they are less flashy.
12:58
So regarding Assassin’s Creed, while I do find it hilarious that Altaïr just immediately drowns upon hitting water, it’s worth pointing out that they actually explain why that happens. There’s a little blurb in the instruction manual (I miss the days of long, detailed game instruction manuals) where the main scientist guy you interact with mentions that the Animus isn’t capable of handling swimming, or something to that effect. It’s not that Altaïr can’t swim, it’s just that the simulation can’t show that.
Which I’m 99.9% sure is just Ubisoft’s handwave explanation for “We didn’t feel like programming this / didn’t have time to do this so here’s a lore reason why.”
They couldn't be bothered, so the animus coders couldn't be bothered either... kinda a thin cover tbh.
@@persephoneunderground845 More like "deadline is coming up, swimming is the easiest cut to make."
@@NickW855 Heh, and this was back when Ubisoft wasn't hated yet. :D
haha I mean that's a good explanation!
@@marhawkman303 "baaack in my dayyys..." uh huh, go to bed granpa! :p
The original Assassin's Creed was rough, but it had some stealth and planning mechanics that I really enjoyed that never came back. Eavesdropping to learn patrol routes and stealing maps so you could plan a route to your target without being spotted was really cool. I'd enjoy the whole series more without the present day frame story though.
The problem with AC1 wasn't the assassinations, but everything leading up to them. Every level was ride to city, do the same 3 tasks to gather intelligence over and over, before finally getting to do the fun part. If they'd made the intelligence gathering part more varied and story driven like the AC2 missions, and have them act as tutorials for new gameplay features, but kept the actual assassinations structured like immersive sims, Ubisoft would have made the greatest assassin game of all time. Syndicate tried to return to this formula, but it failed to commit. Each assassination gave you only a few options as clearly signposted set pieces that didn't allow for any player creativity.
AC1 in retrospect was an open world story game sharing space with a simplistic assassination sim. The second game basically dropped the sim part. Much for the better I think, but I would like to see an alternative universe where they were perfectly married in the sequal instead.
The eavesdropping and map stealing were great, they definitely nailed those aspects first time.
I'm one of those freaks who preferred Altair to Ezio lol.
@@shadearion Same. I like Ezio a lot, but I just love Altair.
8:13 No, I refuse to accept this until you show you have rescued the iconic chair from the void.
good choice of thumbnail, i can feel a stampede of engagement in the distance
It's not clickbait, but it will upset/intrigue everyone who sees it. The perfect combination!
The comment directly above yours even mentioned they forgot Revolver existed for a moment 😂
did the yoriginally post this with an Assassin's creed thumbnail ? why did they change it?
@@qwertyno100 IIRC recently TH-cam let creator choose few thumbnail to use and it rotate automatically, even to the same viewer.
@@mharits2522 This is correct. The first thumbnail was Assassin's Creed.
A great example I think it's the Elder Scroll series. Arena had a very rocky start. Then came Daggerfall, improving everything, and is so iconic that 28 years later still has a very active modding community. Then came Morrowind that went in a completely different direction and revolutionized RPGs and worldbuilding.
I feel like there's a title missing from that lineup.
@@sourwitch2340 Nothing good came after Morrowind
@@sourwitch2340 Nope, for the mainline games it goes:
Arena
Daggerfall
Morrowind
Oblivion
Skyrim
1:55 Ellen delivering the line "The first Street Fighter was a load of old bum" like a super serious news reporter is killing me 🤣🤣
There's real The Day Today energy to that line. Absolutely brilliant 😁
It's not even a mid game but the LEAP to Titanfall 2 from Titanfall 1 can be measured in parsecs and light years combined - going from an online only multiplayer free for all, to one of the most intricately crafted, well executed, satisfying as all Heck single player campaigns, with some of the most genuinely emotional storytelling I've ever seen in videogames, deserves all the praise and adoration possible. I almost don't want Titanfall 3 to come out, so there isn't a chance it won't be as good as Titanfall 2, I love this game so. Goddam. Much
Is this Ellen's way of saying "Outside Xtra is better than Outside Xbox"?
I could never really vibe with the main character of the first channel (I believe his name was Randy?)
But oxtra is just outside xbox: the after thought aka oxbox the dregs
Maybe her way of saying she's better now than with Luke...
@@TheBasementMonster Ouch.
Hahahaha
Just Cause - 2 is so much a step up from 1 and gives you the grappling hook to traverse with. Plus, boss battles atop ICBMS.
1 is still good though.
@@scottneil1187 It is, but 2 really took off. I might be biased as that was my first game in the series I played, but I went back replayed it after completing it because I simply enjoyed it so much. One day I might even try getting into 4. 3 was fun, but I got the 'Thor gun' early and it was too easy with that.
Ah, would have traded Assassin's Creed for this suggestion, I must say.
@@scottneil1187 The first is a decent open world game, but it's nothing special. JC2 is what made the series what it is.
The story of Red dead Revolver:
To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day...
Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say....
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip.
For the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.
Big iron on his hip
Big iron on his hip
It was early in the morning when he rode into the town
He came riding from the south side slowly lookin' all around
He's an outlaw loose and running, came the whisper from each lip
And he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip
The big iron on his hip
In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red. Many men had tried to take him, and that many men were dead
There's also the DMC series. The difference in quality between 2 and 3 is almost enough to give you whiplash
Devil May Cry doesn't have a 2. It goes straight to 3. Really weird choice from Capcom. Love those games.
I was about to say. Knowing the background explains it but that still doesn't get us a good second part. Even the first one was a bit rough tonaly speaking but still fun to play. The only reason I stuck with the second one for as long as I did was beacuse I knew the third one was going to be good
@@nightmare62089The official chronological recap vid in Devil May Cry 5 says so too 😂😂
*Banger Devil May Cry 2 theme (Dante did this with Lucia)… for only 7 seconds, here is Devil May Cry 4!!*
@@ellbent I love talking to people who haven't played and explaining that I still own my physical copies of the originals. I always say that '2 never happened. I own it, but it never happened.'
@@nightmare62089 *”The game that never was… anyways-“*
I wish 2 was good. I love the gothic aesthetic and tone (I use the soundtrack for DnD lol), and they can do a stoic Dante that is grieving the loss of Vergil (like slightly-depressed Dante in the anime). It just… unfortunately sucked… and didn’t really play well.
My brother and I used to joke that Altair could swim, he just fell prey to the tragically extinct Arabian Piranha.
Food for the piranhas. Nom.
Considering everyone else died when going into the water, that does track.
@@carlsiouxfalls Or maybe barracudas? They've got some.... bitey fish that are more dangerous than a piranha.
@@daviddaugherty2816 the manual for AC2 explains that Altaïr drowning was a glitch in the animus.
@@willh2690 We knew that. The piranha explanation was more fun.
@@daviddaugherty2816 but the glitch explanation is technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.
Excuse me yes, I preordered this video last week and was promised green socks? I took Jane’s word for it, so much for these pre order bonuses.
00:05 An Aliyah reference from this channel wasn't on my 2024 bingo card
RIP, Queen.
Mine neither but it absolutely earns the like.
Got To Give It Up for that One In A Million reference.
Didn't know Brits fwed Aaliyah like that
Hitman: Codename 47 belongs on this list.
The basic disguise mechanic was there but it often felt like a puzzle game where the objective was to find the “correct” way to take out your target.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin leaned much more into giving players the freedom to take out targets by whatever means they chose and creative kills became a hallmark of the series.
There were more than one way to kill your targets in "codename 47", not many granted, but two or three in most levels.
"Silent assassin" was a step forward in storytelling but the lack of dual wielding felt like a step backwards in terms of gameplay.
I knew 50 Shades was missing something, but I'd never have guessed it was a whole extra shade of Grey
That “Leon me” quip brought flashbacks to my middle school days, when I could count on this one kid to sing that to me at least once a week for a full year. Thanks!
And after having success selling expensive vacuums he started acting like the British Steve Jobs, campaigned for Brexit and then immediately moved to Singapore. He still thinks he’s a visionary like Steve Jobs despite he’s latest revelation being luxury headphones by a vacuum brand. Brilliant.
Motherkarking Brexit.
Fun story: in GTAV, theres an easter egg in the form of a book titled "Red Harlow - by J Marston"
Seemingly implying that "Red" is a characterization of John Marston as told by his son Jack.
10:14 I'm sure you could walk that one off, seeing how you somehow end up with extra body parts when you explode in those old Mortal Kombat games
The growth from Warcraft 1 to 2 is one of the biggest jumps in quality I can think of
This is such a good idea, and a great way to look at franchises over the years and how they've progressed
I'm still waiting on Assassin's Creed to give me a button that lets me run without climbing everything. Sometimes you gotta go fast but don't want to climb every single thing you get a little too close to.
It's cool when sequels improve a series.
I agree, fellow human. It is very cool when sequels improve a series. Do you also find it cool when a series continues to be good? As an actual human, I know I do.
Yes.
Hello fellow humans, I also like when they take a good idea and make it better. I like when humans continue to learn and improve. Don't you agree ?
Yes.
I would suggest that Civilization II was a huge jump forward from the original, symbolized wonderfully by the Council, whom you can now watch and hear snipe at each other, trying to flatter you when they're not passive-aggressively suggesting you're bad at the game, or just losing their minds entirely during periods of anarchy.
The first Deus Ex game is considered a classic. It's sequel Invisible War is more divisive, but Deus Ex Human Revolution is considered an improvement over Invisible War. While the first Deus Ex may never be topped, Human Revolution is seen as a worthy successor.
Human Revolution is the pinnacle of the franchise to me. The original Deus Ex is good and all, but HR was damn near perfect.
Human revolution and Mankind Divided are brilliant. Shame we'll never get another.
Strangely, Invisible War was my first foray into the series. For the life of me, I don’t know why I bothered getting Human Revolution, but man am I glad I did.
I tried giving Invisible War the benefit of the doubt, but in the end I was pushing through the story to just get it done and over with. Normally a 100% completionist, but the oversimplified mechanics, bland characters, an incredibly dumb and easily predictable plot twist late in the game revealing the religious leader (hmm. Uses the same voice actor as a major NPC in the past game, who could it possibly be????) and a character you meet early on is so obviously the mole who betrays you they could have named her Wormtongue Peter Baelish Benedict Arnold McTraitorson
seriously now that Eidos is finally free from Square Enix's stupid antics about Marvel crapwares, maybe they can have a go to finally finish Adam Jensen's story, I've been waiting FOR AGES for this and Human Revolution is so good I finished it like 5 times in 5 different playstyles. Mankind Divided was mostly a graphics overhaul that I absolutely loved start to finish but was way harder to complete in pure stealth
I think Assassin's Creed 1 deserves a full remake, with all the lessons learned from its sequels.
How about Age of Empires? A moderately successful real-time strategy game that was followed by one of the biggest games in the genre.
I played the F out of AoE2
It's true, Mike was gonna be an F1 driver, but then he took an arrow to the knee.
Or was it a pullrod? That crash was pretty nasty.
Did not expect to see Assassins Creed 1 on this list... maybe it was overhyped, but as someone who played it blind of expectation, it still holds a very special place in my gaming memories
Titanfall 2? If I remember correctly the OG Titanfall wasn't super stand-out at the time, but Titanfall 2 is still pretty active to this day. Longevity is a sign of success, and watching BT's growth in the main campaign was quite the expereince.
The Evil Within 2 was such a step up from the first game it actually improved it in retrospect. I wish I could recommend the second game on its own, but it makes plot points from the first game so much more interesting that playing the first game is a must to fully appreciate every little way in which 2 is an improvement.
For twelve years, I've sat down in my leather, wingback chair. Popped on my Morphius glasses, and enjoyed Oxboxtra content (and my retinas)😎
I’ve been wondering what’s got these videos suddenly more comfortable and inviting for me. The 8:24 comes around and shows me why I felt this way.
Sincerely
-The Void
I'll go out on a limb and say Megaman Battle Network. The first game was a somewhat decent proof of concept, but the 2nd and 3rd really made it shine.
I'll agree with this. I bought the Legacy collections and started with the first game again. Boy, did I forget how rough parts of that game were! Especially the powerplant... Absolutely, 100% the worst dungeon. Possibly ever.
Time limit? (Via limited battery power for Mega Man) Check!
Healing restrictions? (No auto-healing after battle if the battery is low!) Check!
Difficult enemies? (Electricity theme = stuns are common) Check!
Time-wasting dungeon mechanic? (Invisible paths!) Check!
Time-wasting dungeon puzzles? (Have to figure out where to place batteries, but have to backtrack and recharge them every 2 guesses) Check!
Back-to-back boss fights? (After an impossible boss fight and cutscene, to boot!) Check and CHECK!
Thankfully, hey got most of their terrible ideas out in one dungeon. (Or maybe we would have been better off if they were spread out and not piled on you all at once?) A lot of the things that were improved in the sequels were basically taking a decent mechanic and making it better. (My personal favorites are having the different armors for Mega Man effect his sprite, and the joke chip that lets Mega Man tell you terrible jokes!)
"Who are you?"
"I'm you, but better."
You better be talking about Red Dead Revolver
@@Lubble- oh boo you and your logic
@@Lubble- don't bring that BS in here. They knew what they were doing when they put that thumbnail together.
@@DumbOhioFarmboy calm down kid, yeah it's to get people to click out of curiosity, it's not new or bad, it's not clickbait or lies, get over yourself and grow up
@@Lubble- I think you missed the tone of the original comment and mine.
@@DumbOhioFarmboy original comment was fine, yours was just stupid
Zone of the Enders was basically a demo, but ZoE the 2nd runner is amazing.
RE6 was a great RE game.
Not a survival horror but still a great game to use to introduce friends to the franchise
Is that the one where Chris beats up a boulder, inside an active volcano?
@@johnstarks7759 that’s 5.
Maybe controversial, but I've always felt that The Evil Within was the epitome of this. The first one was about as fun (gameplay-wise) as slamming your head in a particularly heavy door, but had fantastic design. Then the sequel was an absolute polished gem that expanded on that design brilliantly.
While I wouldn't call the OG Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games disappointing per se, the glow-up between Beijing and Vancouver was insane.
Oh my gosh, I LOVED the first Olympic Winter Games! The dream events were so cool, but even the regular events were fun.
I would say Borderlands would be a good contender for this category. Everyone knows about the sequel and Handsome Jack, but nobody really talks about the first game at all.
Uncharted 1 was serviceable if a little repetitive. Uncharted 2 was one of the best games for the PlayStation 3
Red Dead Revolver was GAS. It was one of the first games I ever saw my dad play as a kid. Nostalgia is strong here
Specific dream? Is that why my haystack diving game "Tall Building Haystack dive" failed? 😢
Little known fact about Red Dead Revolver. The game was originally going to be a Capcom production, and a lot more over the top than the final game, involving people being able to fly, transform into animals, and I believe there were also zombies. However, the game was dropped, the team was picked up by Rockstar and rebranded, and the game was revived into a somewhat more grounded spaghetti western than the more cartoonish title it previously was.
Came into this video ready to be indignant that Psychonauts was on the list, because it was great, even if the sequel was absolutely incredible.
I love the first "Super Smash Bros." well enough, but "Melee" was LEGENDARY.
Resident Evil 6 sold 10 million copies and those copies were promptly nearly all returned, I knew someone working in game at the time and he told me all the copies they'd sold came back within a fortnight. Red Dead Revolver is available on modern consoles for those that don't know.
I hope they HD remake resident evil 5 with better Co-op
16:20 funny you mention big thunder, there was a comic adaptation that told a pretty interesting and linear story about the ride. From what I remember it was a classic girl with rich mining dad falls for a worker, they discover the dad/the other executives were covering up unsafe conditions. Pretty neat, I kinda wish more people had read it so the story could continue.
To be fair to saints row 2, it was quite silly, but also had some genuinely impactful moments. Carlos's death and Aisha's funeral were incredibly powerful moments, made all the stronger by the juxtaposition with the silliness. Saints Row 2 remains my favourite of the series
While SR2 is my favourite of them all, I still prefer to think of them as two separate series. Unlike most of the fanbase though, I enjoyed both eras, just for different reasons. Of course, I say both, because I also choose to believe the series ended with Gat Out Of Hell (which I never got around to).
@@torgranael Gat out of Hell was a fun little snack of a game, a nice epilogue to SR4. I did end up playing the reboot as it was a free PS+ game a while back. I had some fun with it but it's just so much lesser than before. None of the characters, allies or enemies, are at all memorable, not like the OG crews. Only game I never played was SR1, and I enjoyed all the other ones a lot
Same. 3 and 4 are fun but they feel very disconnected from 1 & 2.
@@aeloswindrunner SR2 is basically a more polished version of 1. If you like 2, you'll probably enjoy play through 1 at least once, with the most significant differences being no dual-wield, you can't play a female, and the player character is silent (with a few in game jokes about it).
As for my opinion of the reboot: I channel I've come to trust a lot regarding recommendations did a video on it, and it looked disappointing.
@@torgranael disappointing is right. I wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't a freebie. Main takeaway from my time with it was that I should get my 360 fixed so I could play SR2 again xD
I’m still sad they nerfed the hidden blade in the AC2. You can kill anything in one strike with it, provided you are countering them or catch them off guard, including the final boss, who reverses your counter with any other type of weapon.
I would add Koudelka/Shadow Hearts. The first was a PS1 RPG that nobody remembers. Shadow Hearts 1 was a decent but very rough-looking and limited PS2 RPG. Shadow Hearts II basically improves absolutely everything: the graphics, humour, gameplay, world and story. I would personally rank it higher than FFX.
I remember being the *only* person I knew who didn't like the o.g. AC lol and funnily enough, it took until I tried a later title and enjoyed it that I went back to 1, & even with all its shortcomings I was finally able to appreciate it for what it was
I am surprised Witcher is not mentioned here. The first 2 games were medicore at best but Witcher 3 is one of the best games out there.
Resident evil 6 was pretty fun if you forget about previous entry. I have played it more than any other resident evil game except 4.
In Tony Hawk 1 you couldn’t do combos like in 2. Definitely an improvement.
Also, red dead revolver is a flawless classic and I will fight any reviewer who gave it less than 9/10
When I was a kid and I had just watched the movie, Romeo Must Die, I had that song from Aaliyah stuck in my head for months!
Alright I've commented a ton on this video so luckily this is the last entry I can say something about but Revolver was a great game!!! Sure it wasn't anywhere near redemption 1 or 2 but I remember the reason I was so eager to get 1 was because of how much fun I had with Revolver.... and holy cow did they DELIVER 😂
i'm glad some people agree, i love playing multiplayer with my brothers, and getting all the characters from perfecting the missions
totally agree, Red Dead Revolver while not amazing was a memorable game on ps2. The whole being too linear was not bad imo, its just every game started to try and be open world about that time. It actually made the levels more interesting and cinematic, allowing for better set pieces than if it was open world. The multiplayer was very underrated, loved playing it with friends.
@@fintan9218 I agree that while it was maybe an unexpected move by rockstar to make things so linear, there's still room for games like that to this day imo, no less so back then, and they can be just as satisfying a play experience. Although, if they're going to charge 70 bucks from here on our for big studios like that by and large I understand the instinct to try and give players a world to live in for awhile and side things to do. At least Rockstar seems to respect you enough to make things fun and interesting and worthwhile the entire time, though I'm sure it's not easy to guarantee that happens no matter how hard you try. I guess I'm just rambling now getting way off topic 😂
Woo there... Original Red Dead is amazing! The draw mechanic is fantastic!
Mega Man.
The first game is fun, but rough.
II is considered one of the best games ever, and every installment since has added something of value.
The jump in quality between 1 and 2 is astounding.
After the X series came out, I couldn't find myself going back to the OG Megaman games. Just loved that wall climbing!
@@ChristophBrinkmann as great as X1 was, I find myself turned off by the mega buster’s charge shot unless the game auto charges it. I find holding down the button most of the time (and the constant sound the charge makes) a little annoying. So that’s basically everything from MM4 on.
I'm just going to say Borderlands, because the second one just expanded on the first in every possible direction AND had a horse named Buttstallion.
I wouldn’t call Red Dead Revolver “disappointing”. It’s obviously not on the extremely high level of the Redemption games but it’s a fun ps2 shooter with some cool set pieces and fun mechanics. For being a brand new series developed by a smaller Rockstar studio I think it’s pretty good all things considered.
Speaking of Midnight Club, the first one was rather lackluster, but it laid the groundwork for the next 3 games, which were arguably one the best racing games in the PS2/Xbox 360 era
Genuinely surprised you forgot about Borderlands considering the videos you made about the terrible movie. The original game was absolutely mid and led to an incredible sequel that established the franchise.
The first Saints Row is amazing! And has one of the best video game hip hop soundtracks in gaming history
I feel like Borderlands definitely fits this list, the first game is only okay but 2 is the absolute gold.
Borderlands 1 is underrated, imo. Lacks a strong villain but I think its great fun. Obviously 2 is much better but I wouldn't call it disappointing.
@@sealionpressblogeditor7550 There's a lot of games in this list where "disappointing" is doing some serious work.
When you get a minute, ask Andy what he thinks of the Borderlands movie. He’s been pretty vague about it.
Agreed. I started with 2, played a bit of 1, but couldn't get into it. Just the quality of life enhancements alone is enough, but the story takes it over the top.
@@riveramnell143 Ah yes, the chaotic evil choice....
I love the Seattle shirt with Mt Rainier on my favorite OX commentator.
08:20 nope, still missing the white void
Bring back the void.
@@sufianhaq the lighting was definitely better for the videos, but if it was hurting ellen's eyes, i'd say its a fair trade off.
I'd gladly trade my sight for the return of my beloved void
… hopefully we could see Andy Farrant headlining some more rockstar/rdr content. Or not, just love the guy’s passion for rdr2 when he streamed it.
Another game with a great sequel: Dune 2.
Dune 1 was an okay game, but largely forgotten. Dune 2 on the other hand set the standard for RTS games for decades to follow.
However, even Dune 2 got eclipsed by Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert for good reason.
Although strangely, Dune II was never written to be a sequel to Dune.
Two different game studios won the rights to the Dune licence at more or less the same time, and the first one to finish their game got to use "Dune", the runner-up had to use "Dune II"
I love how you don't mention that Saints Row 2 could be played co-op from start to end.
Persona 3/4/5 anyone? 1 & 2 never really made it to the west outside of the psp but 3 created the formula, 4 blew up, and 5...well no one saw it coming
I don't think 4/5 were such huge leaps as the games on this list. Refined/improved, yes, but let's be honest. P3 is still a great game in its own right, especially for being the first of the neosona formula.
Persona 1 and the second part of 2 made it to the West on the original Playstation. The first half of 2 never made it because of one of the final bosses.
I'd add Shadowrun to this list. The first game was felt more like a showcase of the system but the next two greatly improved upon that and presented us with great stories and memorable characters. Shadowrun Dragonfall is my fave!
Yooka laylee’s “rap” really sounds like it’s trying to be the dk rap
And failing miserably
I was getting more PaRappa vibes.
I mean, it is. It's the same company using the same structure and explicitly calling it out as a "familiar rap." That was the joke.
@@Ziergon maybe it just bugs me because its not a good joke
Considering its made by literally the same people that made that game...
Feels like I've seen a very similar video from you guys made a few years back:) Thank you for the good work🙏
When people say, "Far Cry", they're most often referring to Far Cry 3, or the series as a whole, and lamenting how it's most recent entries have paled in comparison to FC3... Completely forgetting the two games that came before it, Far Cry in 2004, and Far Cry 2 in 2008. Both were competent, open world shooters with unique settings, but the first Far Cry even introduced a brand new game engine into the industry (CryEngine). This is a text book case of the sequels vastly improving on the original game's premise and potential both artistically and technically.
Far Cry 1 definitely wasn't open-world.
My brother and I played red dead revolver a lot as kids seeing those graphics brought back some nostalgia
Donkey Kong Country wasn't a disappointing game by any means, but Donkey Kong Country 2 blows it out of the water. Same with Mass Effect 2 vs the original Mass Effect. Could work for a "Sequels Better Than The Original" type of video.
Nah, Mass Effect 1 is peak.
For the sequel video Borderlands to Borderlands 2. Huge improvements across the board.
The jab at the old couch and the blinding white had me rolling
Does the team know where the camera is? Half the time it looks like they were told, "just look this way, don't worry about it"
One I'd like to add to the list is Borderlands. The original was alright, but Borderlands 2 was where the series really took off.
To me it never really got topped off, BL2 was the peak of the series with clever writing, bombastic humour and a very enjoyable villain, unlike the Third one that features twins even more annoying than the Olsen, lackluster writing *and* lacks a horse named Buttstallion.
@@LET4M4RU True. The series definitely peaked with 2, but I will say that the others are still fun for what they are.
The quality of the writing has definitely been the worst aspect of the sequels.
Video suggestion:
“7 times characters knew their songs were bangers”. Like in FFVII: Rebirth when Yuffie sings her own theme and makes up lyrics. Or in Transistor when Red hums along to the current track.
Let's just have a video entirely about Yakuza's karaoke singing "DAME DAME, DAME YO"
oh and BG3's "Raphael's Final Act" because nobody else than Raphael himself could sing his own battle theme.
Ha! I was totally thinking of Red Dead Revolver this whole list (I actually have a copy of it sitting on the shelf beside me). It was... okay. Definitely not a stand-out by any means. I actually picked up Revolver second hand after playing Redemption when it launched, hoping for more of the same, so... yeah.
That thumbnail is going to lead to some “interesting” comments.
That’s what they planned for.
How? When they were just getting it out of the way that Red Dead Redemption is on the list as one of the games that’s a lot better than the original
I completely forgot about RD Revolver! You totally got me with that thumbnail 😂🤘
3. Shouldn't they have called the sequel 'Yooka-Twodee'?
Good one 😂
The Peraona Series. 1 and 2 were basically copies of shin megami tensei, but 3 was so different and also so much more successful.
It's funny that they mentioned GTA, but it wasn't on the list. GTA and GTA2 were okay for their time, I guess, but GTA3 was where they really hit their stride.
GTA was great but ugly. GTA2 felt like the same thing released again.
I would say there is too much of a difference in the gameplay from GTA 2 to 3. Completely different game play mechanics. Yooka-Laylee was still a platformer just in 2-d rather than 3d
GTA 1 & 2 were amazing for their time. An actual open world in the time of corridors and rails.
I usually don't comment but one I can't help mention is Uncharted to Uncharted 2.
The first game is such finicky, janky controls for a game that hyped up the parkour of it. Very little story compared to the game play (for context a 'cutscene movie' of the game is 1.5 hours long only). Its basically a blurb of story before back to another gunfight. And while enjoyable for me its very over the top and campy dialogue delivery. That isn't mentioning the sudden and abrupt pivot into what felt like survival horror at the end of the game for a bit. But the second game took every I loved about the first game and improved on it, as well as greatly expanding the scope of the game to the "globetrotting" the series is known for.
Sly Cooper 1- annoying missions and characters
Sly Cooper 2 - play as all three (Sly, Murray and Bentley) and missions are actually fun
Sly 2 is one of my favorite games. I played it before the first one, so going back was jarring. 😅
EVERYTHING about Sly 2 was better! The Overworld maps were more fun, having a hideout to plan, the hud...the health system!
Saints Row came out before GTA4 and was in development since Vice City. In that regard it actually did a lot of things better than GTA at the time and even some things better than it’s sequel. Comparisons like the ones in this video are why Volition felt the need to take the series into such a shit direction. Which is a damn shame considering how well received other “GTA Clone” series were received without changing much in tone such as Mafia.
Sniper Elite 4. RDR 1. Jagged Alliance 2. Sonic 2. Soul Calibur. Championship Sprint. SSX Tricky.
Jagged Alliance!!
The firt Jagged Alliance was still very good, although clearly inferior to the sequel.
Another vote for SSX Tricky, SSX was fun but Tricky was awsome
I wouldn't call Sonic 1 a disappointing or mid game
was looking up to see who else was in Saints Row since I recognized Keith David right off. it was quite stacked with stars! how about a list of video game characters you didn't realize were voiced by someone you know?
Peronsally I love the first Assasins's creed and wish they bring back the mechanics of learning information and the stealth,
I was actually excited when I heard the rumour (clearly not a true one) that they were building AC1 into AC Mirage.
I'd argue the jump from borderlands 1 -> 2 and witcher 1 -> 2 can be on this list.
17:38 legit “I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee.”