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Non-Linear Sequel: Difference between revisions
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Some video games, especially RPGs, do not have a strict sense of a linear [[Sequel]]. The game may -- ''may'' -- take place in the same continuity, but not necessarily in the same time period. Occasionally the only thing similar is the system of play or shared tropes and references.
This is because video games, uniquely among media, have another dimension by which installments in a series can be interrelated, other than characters, [[The Verse|setting]], plot, or tone; that dimension being gameplay mechanics. Of course, this also means you might get an installment that [[Dolled-Up Installment|isn't really one at all]]. Plus, it has the benefit of helping to avoid [[Continuity Lock Out]]--with non-linear sequels, it doesn't really matter if you start with, say, An RPG Adventure 1 or An RPG Adventure 10.
This also avoids the logical conclusion of why the hero isn't [[Bag of Spilling|at Level 255+ when he starts the next game]].
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* The ''[[Castlevania]]'' series is the reigning king of bouncing around in the timeline, though the games all take place in the same continuity. Games have been set as far back as the year 1094 and as far forward as 2036. Konami didn't even wait till the series left the NES before starting this habit -- ''Castlevania III'' was set more than 200 years before the first game.
* Though the various ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' games are released roughly in chronological order within their own series, the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series which takes place after the end of the ''[[Mega Man X|X]]'' series & before ''[[Mega Man Legends|Legends]]'' began & ended years after the last Legends game came out. The newer ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' series takes place after ''Zero'' but still before ''Legends''.
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] fans have had more than a few arguments trying to sort this one out.
** [[All There in the Manual|Depending which region's version]] you follow, ''Tails Adventure'' is the first game, then ''Sonic 1'', or Tails Adventure takes place in the same chronology it was released.
** ''Sonic CD'' was developed at the same time as ''Sonic 2''. A piece of bonus artwork (Tails with a caption saying "See you next game"), suggests to some of the fandom that this means Sonic CD is before Sonic 2
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** And as of ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', the entire series takes place in a larger [[The Multiverse|Multiverse]]. Provided ''Dissidia'' is [[Canon]], anyway.
*** ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' already hinted at a multiverse; ''[[Dissidia]]'' just elaborated on it.
*** As did ''[[
*** A Japanese guide for ''[[Final Fantasy II]]'' (''[[All There in the Manual|Final Fantasy IV Settei Shiryou Hen]]'', [http://www.sceneryrecalled.com/trans/ff4comp.htm for those curious]) states that the world of that game is the same of [[Final Fantasy IV|the Blue Planet]], only 100 years beforehand. It also states that the Deathbringer that King Fabul gives to Cecil was left to him by Leon from ''II'', who then renounced his status as a Dark Knight to become a priest (as a parallel to Cecil's own class change from Dark Knight to Paladin). However, this is possibly shot down ''[[Shrug of God|again]]'' in ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'', which reverts the whole "Kain being Ricard's son" thing back to a [[Retroactive Legacy]] [[Mythology Gag]]; there, Kain says that he was roughly the same age as Ceodore (17) when he heard news {{spoiler|of his father's death against an evil empire}}, while the Kain seen in ''II'' is a young boy.
** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' is the first game to be made with other games (''[[Final Fantasy Versus XIII]]'' for example) in the same setting in mind. However they have nothing to do with each other for the most part, with the exception with the direct sequel ''[[Final Fantasy XIII-2]]''.
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** If that's the case, the games take place at least multiple millennia apart with [[Fridge Logic]] mass-reconfiguration of the planet's continental crust fragments. But hey, if the planet's center is filled with supernatural blue mud, you can [[Hand Wave]] just about anything.
** Actually, it was set in the same "universe" but not the same planet.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series all take place in the same world and are roughly chronological, but have different locations and, for the most part, characters.
** Except for the spin-offs. Battlespire takes place just before and during the first game, while Redguard takes place roughly 300 years before the first game.
** The up-coming ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'' is going to take place two centuries after Oblivion, but has been announced as a more direct sequel, events-wise.
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