The 12 Biggest Upcoming Sequels - (Where Are They Now?)

#8: Diablo III

The 12 Biggest Sequels of 2009 - (Where Are They Now?)

Cry, Sanctuary, and let slip the Lords of Hell.

It is a world not like ours. Diablo III's Sanctuary is a place of necromancy and sorcery and an endless war between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. Twice before, we combated the demon-lords of the underworld, finding victory against Mephisto of Hate, his brother Baal of Destruction, and of course, Diablo. But the sky has opened. The ground that bore the Lord of Terror smolders once again.

Well, it's about damn time. Almost a decade has passed since Diablo II was released, and no game since has melded hack-and-slash and role playing quite as well. Finally, this sequel looks to claim dominion over all the Diablo-clones in the land.

What we know:

Aside from how freakin' sweet Diablo III's new 3D engine is, most of what we know about the game so far comes down to two things: classes and skills. Of the seven playable classes in Diablo II, only the Barbarian will be returning in the sequel. The Necromancer has been replaced by the crowd-controlling, locust-spewing Witch Doctor, and the Sorceress has been reborn as a teleporting Wizard that hurls magic missiles.

As for skill trees, their core structure won't be changing much, but individual skills will be much more customizable this time around, thanks to new, hot-swappable skill runes. Runes will have different effects on different spells: a multistrike rune could make your Wizard's teleport spell spawn shadow copies of herself, or your Witch Doctor's flame skull spell bounce along the ground.

And, since you can move the runes around whenever you want, switching things up isn't a problem anymore. Those that crave change can even re-spec their entire skill trees on a whim.

What we don't know:

Ah, where to begin. Is the Lord of Terror himself really back? What are the game's last two playable classes? What sorts of bottom-of-the-tree skills can we expect to see? Where in Sanctuary will we be going, aside from Tristram and Caldeum? What sorts of changes can we expect to see on Battle.net?

Will there be a cow level? We can't help but ask ourselves such questions over and over again as the interminable wait slowly drives us mad. At least it's Blizzard we're waiting on: we can be darned sure any delays will be worth it.

GamePro's Prediction:

Diablo III will be crowned the new king of action-RPGs-for now.

1. The gameplay needs to be perfect. Diablo II is still thriving a decade later. If its sequel's gameplay doesn't match up, Blizzard's reputation will disappear overnight.

2. It's multiplayer or bust. As amazing as its single-player experience may end up, Diablo III's success rides on its co-op play. Battle.net had better be ready to go by release.

What Fans Want: GamePro.com users sound off!

I'd like to see runes make a comeback. Let the shops sell the basic ones, and then have the more rare ones drop... have them play a more important role than they did in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Also, really epic boss fights are a must; though from the gameplay videos I've seen, it doesn't look like that will be much of an issue. Oh, and a Paladin-like class. I know the Paladin class will not return because Blizzard already said the barb is the only returning class, but something like a battle mage class would be cool--using magic to enhance their fighting skills. Finally, they have to bring back some older enemies to show us what they look like in 3D.--diablo2lod

I would like to know if they will have sets like they had in Diablo 2 as well as a clean pvp system like Diablo 2 with no one hit K.O moves. I'd really like if experience system and ability sheet system will be the same as Diablo 2 with the ladder of skills.-- zanonx



#7: Mass Effect 2

The 12 Biggest Sequels of 2009 - (Where Are They Now?)
What we know:

One down, one to go. Bioware's done with their dalliance with Sega, unleashing a decent Sonic the Hedgehog-based RPG on the world. The company has a hardcore RPG called Dragon Age: Origins in the works, but after that, Mass Effect is ready to be sequelized.

You may think you're ready, but you better check that save file, as developers have stated that your stats and actions will carry over to the next chapter. Let someone die during the story, and they're gone for good, while your more humane friends enjoy their company. Either way, we're guessing neither of you have to suffer through those unbearable elevators.



#6: Assassin's Creed 2

Past, present, and future. Can the future be changed by revisiting the past?

The 12 Biggest Sequels of 2009 - (Where Are They Now?)
What we know:

We know that Assassin's Creed took place in September of 2012 and the end-game scribbles of hidden eagle-eyed text reference the Mayan calendar date of 13.0.0.0.0, which is December 21, 2012 -- the end of the world according to Mayan lore.

Further speculation leads us to believe that since Assassin's Creed was produced by Jade Raymond, her newest I Am Alive game could be closely tied to Assassin's Creed. In the one trailer released for I Am Alive, a major earthquake rocks a major metropolis, leaving water in scarce supply.

"The Earthquake," written in Arabic, can also be seen in the mysterious text at the end of Assassin's Creed, and is the title of a chapter in the Qu'ran that talks about Judgment day.

What we don't know:

There are a lot of things we don't know. Is the Altair storyline finished to the point where he will not make an appearance in Assassin's Creed 2?

Will Desmond be the main character this time around or will he tap into another potentially historically important person? Will any of the characters from the first game be in Assassin's Creed 2?

There are so too many questions and absolutely zero answers. We don't even know how the game plays and if it will keep the stealth, free-running, and combat elements of the first.

GamePro's Prediction:

The free-running, climb anything gameplay in Assassin's Creed 2 will be better than the first game, and the story will be set in modern times.

Where we left off:

Desmond awakes from the recall Animus machine after completing Altair's memory of nine key assassinations and learns that Abstergo Industries is already en route to the locations discovered by the "Piece of Eden" to recover additional artifacts.

No longer any use to Abstergo Industries, Desmond is to be silenced, but is saved by a researcher (and fellow assassin) named Lucy Stillman. Looking around the room in eagle vision also reveals hidden messages scrawled across the walls and floors, many portending the end of the world.

Comments [55]

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weinymew

burn, this list blows chunks.................sike. I wanted to get the fanbitches riled upa little bit

partTimeNERD

good list, though I am most looking forward too FF13, sadly that game won't come out until 2010.

CoD4Rocks

Thanks Gamepro for getting me excited for GOW3 and FF13, thanks for my brain reminding me i cant play those games this year , sigh, anyway at least odst is coming out this year and maybe bioshock 2 but i doubt it ( i hope im wrong). Im actually really excited where AC2 goes with the story.

Toneman

What about Killzone 2? They're allready saying it's a Game Of The Year contender.

ZanonX

just buy the copy of final fantasy 13 in japan lol, you wont understand it but hell least you get to play it

ChokaDaChicken

I might have to dust off the old Wii, since it hasn't been used in a while, love them Zelda games baby!

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