Sequels BETTER than the Originals?

by Josh Maciel

Let's face it, sequels in movies get worse and worse, and when you think that they can't get worse, they get worse again. Video games are different, so it made me wonder why. And in my meandering thoughts, I came up with a few points that I'll share with the rest of the gaming community. Would anyone else listen to the ramblings of an insane man? Sequels to video games generally have progressively better technology. NES can't hold a candle to the raw computing power of an SNES, and the PSX put them both to shame. But we all knew that (Dan Quayle: I didn't know that...) Thus sequels that get put out on new systems generally top their predecessors because they can fit more new stuff in a game then they used to be able to. From sprites, lack of space for story, and very simplistic gameplay, to elaborate stories, gorgeous backgrounds, to FMV. Even the music gets exponentially better (in sound quality at least.)

OK you say, big deal, games get better because technology evolves. It is a big deal, it's a cosmic thing. As games progress, games become more like movies. As we've discussed, movie sequels get worse as time goes on. I'm not going to deride FMV or any such nonsense, I'm just going to say that in general, once a game gets more like a movie, it will run into the restrictions movies have hit. Movies tend to be driven on plot, and well, plot only goes so far, no real HUGE innovative things in movies (save special effects) have come out since color television. This is the prime for video games, like it or not. We have FMV, we have CD quality sound. That means we have movies in our games, the best that it gets. Until there's a huge innovation, like truly 3d televisions, games, movies, everything will be stuck in that rut. This is why I don't expect FF8 to be any better than FF7. This is a real bummer for gamers, since I think we'll find that games have just stopped getting better. Some of us may be content to play FF7 clones for the rest of our lives, but personally, I hope for a more fufilling existence.

The evolution from FF1 to FF4a was incredible. FF6 to FF7 was another huge leap (same goes with the DQ games for those of you avid DQ fans, yay! From 1-4-6-7) It has to stop somewhere, and that's with FF7 and FF8. We have two games, chock full of FMV, but we've had that before. We have Xenogears, but that's just a movie with animated cut scenes instead of CG people. PSX2 will come out, and we'll have FMV's process themselves while they're going, whoo-wee, more of the same. Do you see where I'm going? The evolution has stopped, one of the greatest innovations of video games and RPGs will be gone -- the strength of their sequels. In conclusion, let's all have a moment of silence for our wonderful friend, evolution...