I mean look:

Assassins Creed 2

TES 2 Daggerfall

Watch Dogs 2

Gothic 2

Thief 2

Dishonored 2

Age of Empires 2

BFME 2

Mass Effect 2

Half-Life 2

Grand Prix 2

Broken Sword 2

Fable 2

...

I haven't played it but from what I hear the Witcher 3 is by far the best in that series. Many people think Mass Effect was the best game in that series. I thought Morrowind was superior to Daggerfall. I thought KotOR 1 was superior to KotOR 2. I thought Neverwinter Nights 1 was superior to Neverwinter Nights 2. I thought Half-Life 1 was superior to Half-Life 2. I could on on: Dungeon Siege, No One Lives Forever, Blood Rayne, ect, ect. I'm not really seeing a pattern...

The problem with "the second is the best" hypothesis, as I see it, is that it is based purely on opinion. And opinions differ wildly. Somebody will disagree with everything I said in my previous paragraph. And I will dsiagree with what somebody else says. As far as I'm concerned, there is no "best" in art or entertainment.

2 was good (and a major step up from 1), but not the best.. I'd say best went to either Brotherhood or Black Flag

I actually think ME2 was the worst Mass Effect.. it had poor pacing, key elements of the Story make absolutely no sense when you know of certain events from the first (like Shep siding with Cerberus), and it added absolutely nothing to the over all narrative that couldn't have been handled with half a line of dialogue in 3..



ME1 was probably the best Mass Effect, but 3 was pretty close and actually far superior to 2 imho..


sure, 3 may not have had the greatest ending (although its no where near as bad as people make it out to be) but both the Krogan and Geth/Quarian arcs were great, gameplay was fun (as the weapons actually provided many utility uses the previous games did not have, like the sticky grenade pistol which is great with cryo rounds), it had the best pacing in the series (it actually felt like there was a sense of urgency and danger that the previous games totally failed at providing), side quests were all interesting and varied (like the one you rescue the former Cerberus scientists, or evacuate grissom academy), it did great with inter-character interactions, and some of the choices were actually hard to make and emotionally impactful..


while ME3 did not have the greatest ending, as "a whole" it was still superior to ME2..



but once again, ME1 was the best

it was, first game was terrible, 2nd was just a bit better than average, 3 was pretty good.. sure it didn't have the greatest pacing, and sometimes feel like its just draggin on to long, but it was still a really good game

yeah, i'd be one of them

I actually liked 2 better personally, which is probably one of the reasons i got so ticked off from Dragon Ager Origins (its entirely plot was a rip-off of NWN2 Act III, just with all the names changed)

most definitely

Lol. Deus Ex 2 /thread

It stands to reason because they get feedback from the first one.

Megaman Battle Network 2 is usually considered the best of the BN series.

I found the first Mass Effect to be really boring but I won't say 2 is the best of the series, 1 is still the one that I'm never going to touch again to be honest. Although there is little reason to play 2 again as well.

I suppose to depends on the game?

As has been mentioned above the hypothesis doesn't hold water, but a factor that contributes to its appeal is that the second entry in a series is usually mostly the good things of the first entry with the rough parts sanded away. By the third entry the creators typically expand the scope and begin experimenting, which doesn't always pan out and is very liable to alienate long-time fans but new ones are less likely to jump in in the middle of a series to replace the ones that are lost.

Star Trek TNG

Star Wars Ep V

The Second Doctor Who

Game of Thrones Season 2

It works!

Until you try:

Babylon 5

Fallout (2 was a series of pop culture references and fourth wall breaking like an episode of Family Guy)

Tropico

Zeno Clash

I can agree with HL2, I always disliked the original, but not with ME2, where I thought the first game was by far the best of the series. But in general terms I think it's not an unreasonable observation that the first game in a series is often not the best: later iterations often see things getting a bit more refined. Although even when that happens, it doesn't always go to plan: you get stuff like Two Worlds II which undeniably worked out some of the particular problems of the first game but I also felt it lacked its sparkle too. Although some of that might've just been nostalgia, because nothing says nostalgia like dodgy voice acting.

Dark Souls 2... Widely considered the weakest of the trilogy.

Dead Space 2.... Definitely not better than the first.

Zelda 2... Different doesn't always equal bad, but in this case it sure wasn't an improvement.

Dragon Age 2.... It's awful.

Goldeneye 2: Rogue Agent.... No one even remembers this game exists.

Katamari Damacy series... The first game remains the best.


See, the argument only works if you list sequels that are really good. But just as many sequels could be weak.

Depends on the game series or movie for me Skyrim or The Elder Scrolls Online is the best in the series while in movies The Wrath of Khan is the best of the classic Star Trek series while Star Trek Beyond is my favorite in the J.J Abrams movie series.

I vastly preferred Dark Souls 2 at launch, until the whiny fans ask for huge magic nerfs and got what they wanted.

Dead Space 2 was the best in the trilogy by far. The least amount of pathetic jump scares, fantastic level design and a well-paced and gripping narrative that played out exceptionally.

Zelda 2 was my first Zelda game and got me into the series. It may have played differently, but it is definitely a classic for many reasons (some of them bad admittedly). I still prefer Zelda 2 gameplay-wise to Zelda 1 tbh, and I'd say Super Mario Bros. 2 was as good, if not better than the first (though, as we all know, it was a reskinned Doki Doki Panic).

Goldeneye : Rogue Agent was incredible imo. I even have the OST. So much negativity surrounded it because "it wasn't Goldeneye!" but the game epitomised the genre of an "EA Shooter" and excelled at it. Fast-paced combat, interchangeable dual-wielding on the fly, high production values and again, excellent pacing made it a favourite of mine on the Gamecube. Many developers could learn a lot from playing it and taking their "nostalgia goggles" off. Perfect Dark was Goldeneye 2.

So yeah, I disagree with your examples.

I also disagree with the OP though, because I find Mass Effect 1 the best, amongst many other examples.