The thread about Spiritual Sequels

[Exhuminator]

In fairness, I'd call Stardew a definite labor of love. That guy worked for years trying to make a new HM-style game that would appeal to him the way that HM did.

I'm not saying Stardew Valley didn't take a lot of work. It did. But after having played Harvest Moon myself a few times, and then watching my daughter play Stardew Valley, holy shit is the latter a twin of the former. You're right about the "filling a niche" part though. There was no game like Harvest Moon on PC, so the developer took a very popular console/handheld series, damn near cloned it, and brought it to PC land. That was a smart move, and paid off big time. But it was also a ripoff, IMO.

That being said - isn't there an actual spiritual sequel to the HM games? I forget what it's called, but it's by the same developer? Or am I screwing up that story?

Harvest Moon on handhelds/consoles split three ways, I'll try to keep it short:

Harvest Moon games today are not developed by the original teams, but Harvest Moon as a franchise continues to exist.

Story of Seasons series are Harvest Moon-like games developed mostly by the original team members.

Rune Factory is an offshoot of Harvest Moon, but amps up the RPG/plot/action elements (there's dungeon crawling).

[isiolia]

That being said - isn't there an actual spiritual sequel to the HM games? I forget what it's called, but it's by the same developer? Or am I screwing up that story?

Story of Seasons is what the actual original developers games are going under. The Harvest Moon name belongs to the publisher, so the newest entries there are something else.

I think spiritual sequels really do need to have some kind of connective tissue, like some of the same key team members effectively continuing their work under a new publisher. I agree with others that spiritual sequels have to be more than merely clones or knock-offs.

Yeah, I would apply the label more when it's an issue of not being able to continue a particular IP for one reason or another, or maybe the original series eventually diverging so much that it's the same in name only. Many popular games end up with similar ones.

Dark Souls and King's Field.

While, far as I know, Demon's Souls started development as a KF game...they aren't similar to play. The relationship I'd say there is Dark Souls more or less being a sequel to Demon's Souls under a different IP and publisher. 'course, there could easily end up being a follow up to DeS too.

Maybe a similar one to that would be Blazblue, since that more or less got swapped in for Guilty Gear for a while, though now we've got new versions of both.


Torment: Tides of Numenera was a very deliberate spiritual sequel to Planescape: Torment.

Bioware had somewhat similar things when they shifted to creating their own IPs - there are certainly some similarities to the structure of the Mass Effect games and KoTOR. Meanwhile, I think only Dragon Age: Origins really bears much resemblance to their DnD roots, but it does pretty much pick up where NWN2 leaves off in a lot of ways.

[Sload Soap]

Freedom Planet, Stardew Valley and Undertale all seem more like examples where someone clearly adored a game from the 16-bit era, noticed no one made those sort of games any more so went ahead and filled that gap themselves.

Bloodstained I would say does count however as it is doing the same as the aforementioned games but also has an "auteur" of the genre onboard making essentially the same game he is known for.

[noiseredux]

Freedom Planet, Stardew Valley and Undertale all seem more like examples where someone clearly adored a game from the 16-bit era, noticed no one made those sort of games any more so went ahead and filled that gap themselves.

Bloodstained I would say does count however as it is doing the same as the aforementioned games but also has an "auteur" of the genre onboard making essentially the same game he is known for.

I do feel like the more I think about it, the more this distinction seems important. Yeah.

[Exhuminator]

Freedom Planet, Stardew Valley and Undertale all seem more like examples where someone clearly adored a game from the 16-bit era, noticed no one made those sort of games any more so went ahead and filled that gap themselves.

I agree with you on Freedom Planet and Undertale.

I don't agree with Stardew Valley, because when it was released, there were still Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Rune Factory games being released, which kept the same overhead view and core mechanics.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I honestly believe Shadow Tower has more in common with Demon's Souls / Dark Souls than King's Field does.

I've always thought of Shadow Tower and Eternal Ring as de facto King's Field games. I know shit about From Software though.

[Exhuminator]

They're not de facto King's Field games, lots of key differences. I don't want to go into it and derail the thread though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

So what you're telling me is that I should..... play the games?

[Exhuminator]

So what you're telling me is that I should..... play the games?

Anyone who loves video games should play all first person dungeon crawlers developed by FromSoftware.

-

To get the thread back on track...

Arx Fatalis is a spiritual sequel to Ultima Underworld

[Gunstar Green]

I agree with the notion that a spiritual sequel needs some connection to the original, either development staff or being made by the same company. Another example I can think of is Star Citizen to Privateer and Squadron 42 to the original Wing Commander (y'know, if they ever actually get finished).

Otherwise it's probably more accurate to say something is simply paying homage to or inspired by. I think the difference between a clone (I use this in a neutral sense) and a successor depends on the people making it (same company or same devs) and their reason for making it (not in control of the original IP, wanting to start fresh without rebooting the original game's story, etc.)