I'm sure you know the feeling: there's a sequel to a game/book/movie/etc. you really liked, but then when you get your hands on it, it's just not what you wanted at all. I thought it'd be interesting to share our letdowns ;) Please remember to use spoiler tags if you discuss plot points so those who might want to see for themselves can go into the experience without prior knowledge.

My current bone is with the fifth game in the Ace Attorney series, Dual Destinies. I don't have, nor plan to have a handheld so I've watched all games on Youtube and enjoyed them up until this game. This game... Warning, rant ahead:

My biggest deterrent is definitely the use of 3D models. Up until DD the games had 2D visual novel type "animation" and I mean really, extremely good, emotion-carrying stuff. Then with this game they think hey, let's recreate all the main characters in 3D, have them use the same poses so you're always reminded of the old games and comparing the soulless stare of the models to the previous hand-drawn stuff. It's an extreme reaction, but I find I just can't continue to watch the game past the first case, which was a struggle already.

The second point is much, much smaller and something that I could get over if it wasn't for the 3D issue: they cast Flynn Scifo's VA from Tales of Vesperia as Phoenix Wright. Don't get me wrong, I like his voice and he did a great job in Vesperia, but to my ears his voice is too young-sounding and too placid to fit Wright. His "Objection!" and other shouts are lukewarm, whereas in the old games they had fire and struck like a whip.

Well, that's enough about that, how about you? Are you as hung up on execution as I am, or are your disappointing sequels more plot related?

The last book from the Divergent series (which is Allegiant) was disappointing. It felt bland, rushed and just too ordinary for a main character. I expected something a little more heroic and something that made sense.

City of Heavenly Fire from the Mortal Instrument series was alright. I couldn't connect with Emma's introduction to the upcoming series (that I won't read). The ending felt rushed to me. It was just annoying to get those fillers just for the sake of a new series.

The Wings series was overall alright, until I reached Destined (the last book). There had been a built up romance, I was shipping it and the end just left me cold because we didn't get closure. We got closure on a SIDE character intead of the hero. Just didn't cut it for me.

Plot holes = Bane of existence.

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell It's super short, SUPER GLITCHY, the stupid watercolour book/voice over was disappointing as hell, the ending(s) were unbelievably short and unfulfilling. Blech. All of it, BLECH.

Also, Nightmare on Elm Street 2. You know why? They had it about a dude. NOES needs a leading lady. Dudes ruin it up.

I'm always disappointed by sequels in general, I know this is off topic but can anyone think of some any good sequels?

I'm always disappointed by sequels in general, I know this is off topic but can anyone think of some any good sequels?

It's annoying when the last book in a series just doesn't meet the standards the previous books set. Sure, you can't please everyone, but the ending should be where the writer ties it all together and makes the journey meaningful, otherwise the reader's opinion of the whole story can be affected by just the final part. In a worst case scenario the reader is never going to read anything else from that writer. Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy is for me one of those where the final chapter ruined it all for me in a "are you serious?!" type of way.

I'm not into the GTA and Saint's Row types of games, but yeah, short games/expansions at full retail price is just no. But I guess shortness could be excused if the quality was very good - which is not the case with glitchy games. Neverwinter Nights 2 (ugh, a bad game example right there, tho I suppose it was at least better than the first game) had a glitch in an arena quest that didn't let me progress at all. I remember spending hours online trying to find a fix to it and when I somehow got past the point, I just quit the game anyway out of pure frustration.

There are good sequels out there, though it's obviously opinion against opinion. Thief: The Metal Age has a more cohesive plot and much more varied missions than the first Thief game. I thought the second Captain America movie was better than the first one. With anime, imo Natsume Yuujinchou second and third series were better than the first one. I'm sure there are book series that improve from the first book but I'm drawing a blank right now, since these days I mostly read standalone books. No wait, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The first book is the reason I haven't reread it in ages.

Oh yeah for sure, I should've specified that I meant movies lol I'm usually always disappointed with those *sigh. There haven't been many book sequels, series or trilogies that have let me down, but in general I just think that movie sequels always have a weak plot compared to the first one, mainly when those movies aren't based on books. Maybe it's because they've already made tons of money with the first one they don't have to work as hard? They know people will see it because they went to see the first one kind of thing, just your regular old cash cow scenario. I did like all of the Shrek stuff, not the holiday specials crap though lol Pretty stoked for Finding Dory lmfaoo I'm such a kid

That's so disappointing. I'd rather wait longer for a sequel than have a poorly made game. Within the first minute or two I fell into a hole between a couple rocks and was stuck. And when my husband was playing, the triangle button was no longer working, and both of us had some weird issues with flying. Have you ever played Sims and gotten that glitch that stretches out the sim? I had that in GOOH too.

For me some of the most disappointing sequels are the Disney sequels. "Brother Bear 2", "Fox and the Hound 2", "The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea", and "The Lion King 1 1/2" had to have been the most painfully disappointing moments of my childhood. "Mulan 2" was also a little upsetting, moreso because Mushu's character changed and also Eddie Murphy didn't do his voice for a second go 'round.

As for books, I'm going to have to say that "Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports" (book 3) had to have been the worst book in the entire series. The plot was sub-par and preachy, it felt too forced, and it definitely wasn't very "extreme". The ending of "Nevermore" (book 8) wasn't quite what I was expecting but at least it was better than Book 3 in the series.

Many of the disney sequels are dead to me. >:| (especially Mulan 2) •Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (I lost it when the aliens came in at the end, pfft) •Cabin Fever 2 (shout out to subpar bloody horror movies, but this was just, irritating compared to the 1st one. The 3rd is just stupid, but it's stupidly entertaining)

For video games though, Dead Space 3 was, just... Guh. I haven't finished it yet because I just lost interest, not to mention an irritating boss that keeps running away and an obnoxious love triangle when the protags should be trying to survive. but highschool drama tho.

Such a bummer because the 2nd and the 1st were so much fun, extremely creepy.

Dead Space 3 is not a game. it is a movie that let you shoot things once in a while :P i lost interest in less than one hour gameplay.

agree with you on Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, when the alien came, i was like the f***? i'm not a hardcore fan of Indiana Jones, but i know alien have no business being there.

for me, Transformers: Age of Extinction. so lengthy and boring. unsuitable actors for the movie.

I absolutely despise Allegiant. The first book was amazing, the second was kind of iffy, but by the time we got to Allegiant I was ready to throw it at the wall. She rushed so hard on that ending and ruined an entire series in the process all for the sake of a profit.

In terms of sequels it's mostly Allegiant that bugs me the most. The House of Night series after maybe the 5th book just got way to plot heavy with not enough resolutions happening. Maximum Ride had the same thing happen to it. Way too many books.

For movies, nearly all sequels are disappointing.

The most disappointing game I've ever played is Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. It's a glitchy mess (not the fun kind), the loading times are atrocious (I've had it take a minute for just one loading screen), gameplay is choppy at best, and the game is stupid short. It's so disappointing, because I was a huge fan of the first 3 Spyro games growing up. So, the 4th game killed the series for me. But, seeing what happened to Spyro after that, I'm glad I did give up on the series.

Disney sequels are all terrible. I really hated Return to Never-land and Cinderella 2 was studied. However I will admit that I loved Monsters University and Toy Story 3. But i think its because of the timing, when I they both came out I was 20 and in/going to College/Navy. So they hit me in the feels.

I hate the House of Night series. After the 2send book I was over it. The novella on the other hand I did sorta liked. But can we just mention real fast that 12 books in that series is way to many. And I have yet to read Allegiant because I dont feel like ruining the first two books.

I think the Transformers movies were pretty disappointing.2 was not terrible but it wasn't my favorite and 3 was terrible and way to long. The seconded Avengers was also disappointing but I felt Downy Jr wasn't on his game for most of it. And I understand that he is over the superhero thing but he could have been better.

I agree with Star cherry, Sypro went down with Enter the dragonfly. I really loved the third one though so I can't be too disappointed with that. But loading time was defiantly terrible and it got worse with the newer ones.
The newer generation pokemon storylines are also a let down, just because they seem so weak especially in X and Y (I would have preferred no villain than having team Flare, especially since the legendaries in it had so much potential for a great storyline).

Also I wasn't excited about the second series of Warriors that much, which was disappointing considering I really loved the first six books when I was younger.

Seconding the Spyro opinions here regarding Enter the Dragonfly. PS1 Spyro games were (and still are) some of the most enjoyable games I ever played as a kid, so when I got a PS2 and EtD, I was expecting something very different. The game itself was incredibly short (I remember wondering when we'd get to the next world after the final boss lmao), glitchy as hell, and took forever to load anything. I actually quite enjoyed Spyro: A Hero's Tail, although it took me forever to warm up to the new style and different controls. It didn't really feel like an original Spyro game, but compared to Enter the Dragonfly, it was far better quality and actually interesting to play.I haven't played any of the later games, and tbh it's just sad to see what has become of that wee snarky dragon.

Disney's direct to DVD sequels are almost always horrible quality both plot and animation-wise. My most vivid recollection of watching any of them was the utter disappointment at Atlantis: Milo's Return because I was expecting something at least somewhat decent but only got garbage.

Any of the Direct to DVD Disney sequels.

Hands down, worst sequel ever: Mean Girls 2. Does anybody remember that movie? No, of course not. Because 1. it was a tv movie, 2. it had none of the characters from the first film, and 3. it sucked harder than a hole in the International Space Station, causing the few people who have seen it to purge it from their collective memories. Very few people even know there was a Mean Girls sequel.

Hey now I will fight any of yall over the awesome Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. And I personally dislike Rescuers Down Under but I know a ton of people who adore it.

But I totally agree about Allegiant, I never even finished it. I also think it's ridiculous to have the first two books narrated by Tris and the last narrated by Tris and Four back and forth, it's very jarring to do that. I know WHY she did it, but stylistically it was hard for me to read. I didn't want Four's narration, I didn't read the first two books for his narration, I read it for Tris.

I personally was a little let down by The Hobbit trilogy- the movies, of course, not the books. I adored everything about The Lord of the Rings and I grew up with the books and the movies, and I was SO SO SO SO SO psyched for The Hobbit, especially with original cast members involved, and Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage, who I know from watching the smack out of some BBC growing up. While everyone did a good job at their individual roles, I don't think they were nearly as well written as I'd like, they tried too hard to be lighthearted and funnier than LotR, the beginning of the third movie should have been the end of the second, the whole scene with gandalf and other magical people just suddenly fighting Saulron in Dol Guldur (not sure if that's correct spelling sorry) was just fucking weird and out of place, that stupid character who was servant to the master of Laketown should not have had any part in the third movie, there shouldn't have been magically appearing battle goats out of nowhere at precisely the time they were needed (anybody else notice that?), they should have just put a friggin' actor in for Thorin's cousin in the third movie instead of doing CGI for no reason at all...

I have a long list of complaints. Smaug was the most beautiful CGI dragon I've ever seen in my life, and I love the obvious use of real-world reptile references for his structure and movement, but a lot of the CGI felt excessive to me, and somehow seemed to blend less than that in the original trilogy. I'm not sure why, and maybe this was just me, but I think I would have preferred to see some more prosthetic and such used on real actors when possible, like they did with the orcs before.