Clown 2: The Clowning

Last year or so, GoG finally included a "no tags" filtering option in its download manager / ad platform, Galaxy, making sorting my collection at long last a viable option. I have a decent hand at picking games, so my largest category is composed of those which I've played once upon a time, enjoyed to at least some extent but have little intention of revisiting, in other words those which have well earned their purchase price and can rest on their laurels. So I called that category: Laurel.

Then I wanted to separate out the titles with heavy replay value, those I might want to reinstall in the near future to try different options, which is to say those exhibiting hardiness. Thus the category Hardy.

Inevitably, I also needed an oubliette for those games not worth a second look, most of which I didn't even bother finishing, either promising yet marred by too much ineptitude in the execution to be worth my time... or just out-and-out crap.

I called this third grouping... well, the punchline writes itself, really.

Glancing at them now, I was struck by how many of the Bozos are sequels:

Wasteland 3

Blackguards 2

Trine 2

Defense Grid 2

Dungeon Rats

The Witcher 2

Stalker: Clear Sky

Beyond Divinity

Syberia 2

M.A.X. 2

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (or at least it felt that way)

 

I've excluded examples where the series started weak and only improved after the sequel (e.g. the first two Elder Scrolls or Age of Wonders titles.) By its reputation, I'm sure if I ever buy Dragon Age 2 it'll faceplant square amidst this august company. Also, given Wasteland 2 came out two decades after its original, for the purposes of measuring sequelitis it can be considered an initial showing. Dungeon Rats may only call itself a spin-off but it matches too perfectly the stereotype of an actionized sequel not to be included here.

While some of the first installments were merely bearable (Witcher 1, Divine Divinity) and thus the crabapple didn't fall far from the stump, others followed on the heels of interesting, even lauded predecessors. Leaving aside any unnecessarily gentle excuses for sequelitis, this just reinforces the rule that in games just as in movies, sequels are cash grabs. Whether they crank out a pared-down excuse for content to minimize costs or in contrast they actually ramp up the production values to maximize mass appeal (at the cost of substance) it's all about capitalizing on previous work, not improving it.

While less pervaded by this trend (many of the most famous game titles have been sequels; how many movies can say that?) game developers (especially the smaller ones toward which I'm biased) are much less financially stable than Hollywood studios and more motivated to strike while the iron's hot, either for a quick buck or a desperate snatch at the big time. On the other hand, game series also show higher chance of recovery after a bad sequel, whereas movie or TV series tend to get steadily run into the ground. I'm skeptical about Witcher 3 but I keep hearing it praised and the same goes about DA: Inquisition after the backlash against DA2. Divinity eventually spawned a couple of Original Sins and Stalker's Call of Pripyat got some good reviews before its developer dissolved.

As with DLC packs, I think companies are shooting themselves in the foot, as what they're really been teaching their customers is to skip the cash-grab sequel and just wait for #3 in a series. After all, when selling a game as opposed to a movie, you're asking your customers not only for money but also a time investment of much longer than 90 minutes. Who wants thirty hours of Electric Boogaloo?