Sequels We'd All Like To See

Voodoo Extreme has a feature up that's a wishlist for future sequels. They run down some great game franchises that have been off the board for a little while, and wonder out loud about the possibility of new installments. Besides the usual suspects for lists like this (StarCraft, TIE Fighter, Descent, Ultima), they touch on some cult favorites that are ... less likely to show up in modern gaming. From the article: "Planescape Torment 2: The Poop -- Loved by many a forumgoer is Planescape Torment, a Dungeons & Dragons-themed RPG set in the other planes of existence. It was a dark game with evil undertones, but also lighthearted and funny at times. Just think Baldur's Gate with an M rating. The Scoop -- Odds of a sequel are equal to or greater than Elvis coming home on the mothership." Any oldies you'd like to see back on modern systems? While I really like many of the ideas listed here, the LucasArts classics Grim Fandango and Maniac Mansion are the ones I'd most like to see rehashed.

Re:A *real* Star Control III

[LSD-OBS]

Yessir. I've just spent the last few days making stupid geeky Star Control icons and trying to remember the locations of all the rainbow worlds. Thank $deity for UQM [sourceforge.net]. Anyway, go sign the petition [gamespy.com] for a real SCIII if you haven't already.

Another greatly desired sequel would be Full Throttle II. It keeps getting brought back to life, then canned again. LucasArts made some awesome, fantastic games. Great to see a Sam & Max comeback, but there's plenty more juice to milk out of their old titles.

Re:Bard's Tale IV

[elrous0]

The new "Bard's Tale" really has absolutely nothing to do with the original (aside from the title and the fact that it's an CRPG). It's a funny game, with a lot of satire, but it's a shame they had to stick it with that name.

A real Bard's Tale sequel is indeed well overdue.

-Eric

No way: Wing Commander Privateer

[halivar]

And I don't mean "Privateer 2: The Random Game We Grafted Onto The Franchise."

I mean a real, honest-to-God Wing Commander Privateer sequel.

Re:X-Com!

[hobbes vs boyle]

Have you checked out UFO: Alien Invasion? It's "heavily inspired by the X-COM series" (and if they say "heavily" they mean it!), supports network gameplay, and is licensed under GPL. And it has no underwater missions :-) http://ufo.myexp.de/ [myexp.de] Cheers, hobbes vs boyle

Deus Ex?

[crossmr]

You know, one that doesn't suck so goddam much.

Re:They already did that...

[LarsWestergren]

I pine for the LucasArts games of old. The Monkey Islands, the Day of the Tentacles, and Grim Fandango which was more art than a videogame.
[...]
I pine for charm and subtle humor, for fully developed characters, for well developed plots for the denouement... for story telling and all the other things forgotten.

Get Psychonauts. Make all your friends get Psychonauts. Seriously. It's available from Steam if you can't find it in the bargain bins. DON'T just write it off as a platformer. It has all you want of that, and more. FFS, it even has the same creators as the games you mention.

Re:X-Com!

[bar-baronic]

CENEGA [cenega.com] published two XCom inspired games in the past 5 years; UFO: Aftermath and UFO: Aftershock. I've just started playing the Aftershock title in the past couple of weeks. So far the gameplay is very close to XCom with some changes both tactical and strategic. Two improvements I've noticed is the addition of two new (and maybe a third) unit races you can add to your teams and during missions the action is almost real-time if you want. Not so great changes are primarily strategic. Research progresses very slowly through a huge technology tree. New bases are earned, not purchaced. And the economic engine is resource based as an alternative to currency based. I've built up a good supply of savaged weapons without ammunition and no way to "sell" them.

Torrents are your friend if you want to trial the game.

And CENEGA announced a third UFO game call Afterlight to hit stores February 9, 2007. This one will not have any underwater missions - they're going to Mars.

Planescape Torment deserves a better description.

[ghastlygray]

For those who aren't familiar with it, Planescape Torment deserves a better description that "The Poop" of TFA. I got to know this wonderful game because of Ernst Adams, who devoted an entire column to ruminations about it (and its connection with the philosophical theme of Death). Adams' column is still the best introduction to Planescape Torment. Here is a link and a quote.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/designers_notebo ok/20000519/index.htm [gamasutra.com]

But what's most interesting about Planescape: Torment, and what most deserves our attention as designers, is its setting, its characters and its plot. The phrase "fantasy role-playing game," of course, immediately conjures up images of a group of Tolkienesque characters marching through the forest in search of dragons. Planescape is blessedly free of these stereotypes - I've played for several hours now and there's not an elf or dwarf in sight, nor, for that matter, a forest. The designers of the Planescape universe have at long last abandoned Northern European mythology and devised something perhaps richer, definitely darker, and altogether fresher. If Baldur's Gate is a lager, Planescape is a homemade stout.

The story centers around a nameless, immortal character who is searching for his forgotten past. It uses the hackneyed "amnesia" device to explain why he doesn't seem to know anything about the world he lives in, but I have to say that it's handled at least as well in Planescape: Torment as in any book or game I've seen it in. Our hero is seeking the information that will explain, and then end, his immortality and allow him at last to die permanently. At least that's what I think he's looking for; motives and morals in Planescape are nothing if not ambiguous.

Re:Classic games I would love to see more of

[Matchstick]

> made by lucas arts and not tell tale

You did know that Telltale was formed by people who were working on Sam and Max at LucasArts, right?

Re:No bullfrog games? No X-com? Crappy list.

[rafg]

It might not be an official X-Com sequel, but Laser Squad Nemesis [lasersquadnemesis.com] is a really good spiritual successor by the same designers, with more of a multiplayer focus.

Re:Just working down VE's list

[M0b1u5]

Descent 3: Yeah, this would be decent. I don't see why it needs to be so unlikely, as well.

Well, just go and spend $4.99 and buy the thing then. It was released in April of 1999. :P

You weren't much of a fan really were you? It is Descent 4 which has tried three times to get off the ground, but they have been cancelled each time. Volition's Descent 4 turned into the useless and annoying "Red Faction" and the fan-written Descent 4 stumbled over legal issues and team stupidity... Currently the rights belong to Matt Toschlog (Ex-Outrage owner).

Currently there's TWO Descent clones in the works: Into Cerberon is the "Descent into Doom" project using the Doom ]|[ engine. It looks damn good too. Current release is 0.03 "Coal" and if it supportede a Joystick I'd actually install it. But Descent without a joystick is like sex without penetration.

The other one is "Core Decision" by www.highoctanesoftware.com - but the new web site is not yet operational. They are both on schedule for a release date later this year.

Re:X-Com!

[Jesus_666]

Hasbro Interactive was producing three sequels, of which one (X-COM: Genesis) was what the first two games were, with modern technology - ie. that what every X-Com fan was aching for.

Then Hasbro decided to shut down Hasbro Interactive and sell the rights to X-COM to Infogrames.

Then Infogrames (now part of Atari) decided to scrap all X-Com projects and produce X-COM: Enforcer. On top of that, Atari doesn't plan to revive the series, despite the unbroken popularity. (Thanks a lot, Atari! I hope you die a horrible death!)