It makes sense that the navy combat is not avaliable in BF2 because the navy is pretty much replaced by the air force, only use the navy has are Air Craft Carriers.

Also from my experiance with1942, Battlefield has not change that much, so fans complaining that BF 3 is too much of a COD Clone should shut the fuck up.

Risen
Gangsters
Broken Sword
Phantasmagoria
Puzzle Agent
Black Mirror
Homeworld
Kohan
Sudden Strike

Portal. Definitely Portal. Portal 2 was still a good game, but it's really not in the same league as Portal. Way too much padding, for one thing.

The story of II had much more potential to begin with - the only problem it had was it was unfinished. Still, I played II much more than original KOTOR.
Back on topic - Diablo and Gabriel Knight comes to mind immediately. And Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was far better than anything that came after that.

Well I kinda said why I understand why there's no more naval combat in the next sentence so *shrug* I was hoping to get going with that again when they made BF1943, but I didn't know much about it other than false claims of a PC Port.

As far as changing too much, I think there's been quite a bit and depends on the type of changes over the number of changes since it's been gradual over BFV-BF3. This was supposed to be a sequal to BF2 after all, and many long time fans expected all the "COD clone" stuff to stay in Bad Company.

I don't mind the COD clone stuff but I could definitely go without health regen, infinite sprint, or the obscene amount of weapon/perk unlocking. I take more issue with the way they handle hit detection and how I can unload my entire clip into someone from behind and only have them at like 75% health, then they turn around and kill me in 2 trigger pulls while I run away, reload, and curse.

Hm.

Diablo - It was just bigger, better, more stuff, awesome cutscenes, big boss battles.

HoMM - Although, I always found the original installment as the most charming of the series, in regards to graphical style, 2 and 3 each built up more and more content while streamlining the things the series did well.

Fallout - I loved both of these games very much, but the second game had more of everything I loved about the first.

Fable - The 2nd installment made a much bigger mark on me than the first in a lot of ways and from the opening cut scene established that feeling in a better method.

Age of Wonders - Second game took the first, streamlined it, added more races, better graphics and really expanded on the first quite well.

Disciples - Better graphics, better artwork, bigger gameplay, more factions, more spells, the expansions were pretty awesome as well.

There's probably quite a few more I can think of and I'll be back to this later when I do!

Shitfuck - had a very long list already and then the browser crashed. Well, another try (which is missing some of the games from my previous list)...
Games better than their official sequels (at least the direct ones):

Vietcong
Mafia
Max Payne (personally I prefer MP2 but many seem to prefer MP1)
Dawn of War
Dungeon Keeper
Prince of Persia (the original being better than PoP2)
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (being better than the sequels from the same trilogy)
Ultima 7 (haven't played it yet but everyone knows the story about U8 and U9:P)
Diablo 2
Cannon Fodder
Army Men
Operation Flashpoint / ARMA: CWA
SWAT 3 (arguable, I know :P)
Stalker (yeah, arguable, but many seem to prefer SoC over the sequels)
Unreal
Unreal Tournament 2004
Deus Ex
Crysis (arguably, I guess)
Duke Nukem 3D :P
Doom 1 & 2
Fallout 1 & 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Panzer General
Master of Orion 2
Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Shadow of the Beast

I have more but that's probably enough for now. :P

Are we talking about comparing the original to its direct sequel or all sequels that followed?

If we're only talking comparing the original to the next sequel then The Legend of Zelda was way better than Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Funny that you hear a lot about unreal tournement 2004 but it never was a sequal to unreal tournement, there was an unreal tournement 2003 as wel, ok unreal tournement 2004 was a polished 2003 version but 2003 came after the normal tournement if im correct.
Yeah its about that the sequal wasnt as good as the original.

Absolutely this. I think The Guild is very cool, and find it rather sad that network play is pretty much impossible since some Windows version or update. I remember long and hilarious sessions many years ago.

Not sure if I agree here, but I think I know what you mean. Portal 1 was more of a pure puzzle experience. Anyway, I love both games (coop is pretty cool in 2), and there are very good user created levels as well.

Hm. The Legend of Zelda is definitely better than the Zelda games for the CDI, all three of them. Heck, is there even a good game for the CDI?

Deus Ex > Invisible War
Thief > Thief 3
Master of Orion > Master of Orion III

Definitely, Ghost Recon. The first one and its expansion packs were awesome but the rest were just good.

Personally speaking Deus Ex was squished by the current game. If there was ever a game i'd say was overrated it's Deus Ex. Bad controls, Bad graphics (speaking from playing it all those years ago) and terrible level design. Urgh...

My choice (even though it's not technically a sequel but it might as well be) is Demons Souls. Compared to dark souls it was generally an all round better game. There was no horrendous slow downs, a lack of bugs and a lot more fun and less stressful. It could just be me but the hit detection in dark souls was a right downer for me. The opponent can miss by a good foot and still take off half your health. A bit of a deal breaker.

Also, I'm amongst those who enjoyed the straightforward Assassin's Creed better than Assassin's Creed 2.

Some I haven't seen mentioned.

Red Faction: First one was imperfect, but great nonetheless. The whole geomod thing, though underutilized, was just present enough to raise it beyond the generic shooter it'd have been otherwise; I remember once when I didn't have much health, and just walking into this room meant getting killed every time. I had a bunch of explosives with me, so I blew through the side wall, went around, and ambushed whatever it was that was getting me. Red Faction 2, on the other hand, was kind of a mess. Still played through the whole thing, but it was totally soulless and stripped down. Probably one of the most forgettable games I've ever played.

The Longest Journey: So, Dreamfall isn't necessarily a bad game, but it's still completely devoid of the charm of the original. The first one sucked you in, while the second one relied mostly on familiar locations and characters from the first to carry its mostly-incoherent plot to an even less coherent conclusion. The Longest Journey, on the other hand, is a complete game with a good (some would say great) story, making it the vastly superior game, even if a lot of people have trouble with that rubber duck puzzle.

Actraiser (SNES): This was an awesome mix of god game and platforming. The sequel went, "Hey, remember all that fun god game stuff that you had fun with? Screw that, now we're 100% platformer." It was a much less interesting game for it. I'm not even sure anyone remembers that there was an Actraiser 2.

Pokemon (GB): I remember playing Pokemon Red and thinking that it was actually pretty good. Now there are a million and a half sequels with a billion stupidly-named pokemon that look like mentally-handicapped inbred versions of the first 150. I was really easily entertained as a kid, but even I recognized just how stupid the whole thing got.

Mass Effect: I don't exactly hate the later games in the series, but playing them back-to-back made me see just how much greater the original game was in virtually every aspect. Most notably, the storytelling was tighter and made more sense (2 and 3 seemed designed like the show 24, with certain moments set up purely for random shock and subsequent soap-opera drama), and leveling up actually felt like it had a pretty tangible difference in combat while the later games relied more on player skill.

Soul Calibur (Dreamcast): This is from way back when the characters still dressed semi-modestly and gameplay mechanics were the game's top priority. Now it's all about the jiggly jiggly and making people uncomfortable by putting Ivy in costumes that make Milla Jovovich's outfit early in The Fifth Element look like winter attire. They also strike me as much less fluid, balanced, and responsive than the original.