Are second sequels doomed to fail?

[LeftHand]

I don't like Civ3 as much as I liked Civ2 and still do. The same happened with MOO too..

Is there any series of games where the second sequel was actually a lot better than the previous one? The only second sequel that did not totally let me down was X-COM series and the first sequel was the best of course, but the second sequel was still enjoyable.

[Adagio]

...and put in The Settlers III for this also... didn't live up to The Settlers II at all... (Kinda like all Settlers games released after)

And SimCity 3000 didn't hold me as much as SimCity 2000, luckily the 4th one was much better...

And there's probably many more games that gits this...

[Adagio]

Most "3" games are just made to harvest what the first two games seeded...

[General Ludd]

MOO3
Civ3
HoMM3&4
Doom3
Settlers 3
SimCity3
Warcraft3


Yep... seems so. What did I miss?

[Dis]

fallout3? . too soon to tell.

Baldur's Gate 3? hasn't been made

[Dis]

ahh, I found a good one

The Elder Scrolls III. Morrowind

[Dis]

P.S. Civ3 is actually a pretty good game.

[Apocalypse]

Tony LaRussa Baseball 3 was good.

[Japher]

I like Super Mario 3

[LeftHand]

Warcraft 3 was a disappointment. WC2 was just too good. Settlers, I agree.

Super Mario 3 could be an exception. Super Mario 1 was good, but Super Mario 2 was bad... Super Mario 3 was good again.

[Sandman]

I reckon most games can stand one cloned sequel, but for second sequels, you need to reinvent the game.

[DrSpike]

WC3 was very different from WC2, and highly successful, both in SP and MP. It still has 100,000s of players more than 2 years after release.

[Japher]

What about Command and Conquer?

All because they don't put a "3" after their games doesn't mean they aren't sequals.

Also, games like Heroes of Might and Magic have had doezens of sequals, it seems. While the game doesn't change a whole hell of a lot that is part of it's appeal.

Same with Leisure Suit Larry

[Apocalypse]

Wing Commander III is really good.

[Stuie]

Rome: Total War is the third in the series and the best in my opinion. But then again I'm a sucker for the time period...