into the discussion of prequels and spinoffs, and specifically the common complaint of their trying to explain and address every single setting bit in one story instead of spreading it all out to keep the world seeming big
it's very rare (at least outside of the context of a cinematic universe that plans to interlock all the stories once they're in), but can anyone name some that went in the complete opposite direction
where they explain very little, have very few connections with the original work, and stand alone to the point that their connection to it is basically an obscure piece of trivia
both are set in the worlds of the connected works, but don't really explain much of anything; heck, they're even different genres from the original works
Angelic Layer lets you infer that Angels were a precursor to Persocom technology, but never actually tells you; the only two characters it shares in common with Chobits died in Chobits' backstory, and AL does not tell you how they died or much of anything that a Chobits fan might be looking for
and then while it starts off pretty soon after the effects of that ending, it then flings you like 1000 into the future and does nothing to explain any of the drakengard parts of it except in like supplementary material
"Hey so we're gonna have the protags and the... bad guy? Fall through a rift, have a final battle via rhythm game, and then the JSDF is gonna shoot them down, and the dragon's gonna land on the Tokyo Tower!" -- Drakengard Ending E, leading into Nier.
yeah, Nier and Drakengard is a weird case in that there's plenty of explicit lore to connect them, but it's never actually in the games themselves except as subtle hints
but if you DO want to get really into it there is supplementary material that explains what went down in the time gap in more detail. none of it comes up in game, it's just neat
Automata is similar in that it also takes place in the VERY far future of the original Nier and is definitely like. a consequence of what happened in the first but a none of people enjoyed it without ever playing the first and info from the first only really comes up more substantially in the last third of it
I feel like you can vaguely point to the final fantasy series operating this way, except that's like. layered, since each "sequel" is a different world/universe altogether with similar elements, with exceptions like ivalice in ffxii/ffxiv, and then some have their own various spinoffs and sequels and remakes. cough ffvii cough.
Aah, I do think it's been confirmed that the FFXIV Ivalice is not the same as the FFXII Ivalice. Though Fran's existence throws everything into confusion and so I just ignore that it exists at all in FFXIV since I dislike FFXII.
and then Drakengard 3 is a prequel to the original Drakengard also with a couple thousand years between it but it actually.... doooooooooooes explain some of the shit that would happen later in drakengard proper and also some nier stuff? idk drakengard 3 is weird
lmao I was just typing let's not even get into how Drakengard 3 is a prequel to Drakengard 1, but the entire story is alternate history branches that can't quite directly connect to those events. and also technically contains elements from the far future of Nier as well.
they simply do not explain how these things are related except for a character you see briefly in sharknado .......... 3? is one of the main characters in z nation
Portal takes place within the Half Life universe but is independent outside of backstory connections (Aperture Science has a one-sided rivalry with Black Mesa, the tech company from Half-Life).
-Angelic Layer (Chobits)
-Carole and Tuesday (Cowboy Bebop)
let's not even get into how Drakengard 3 is a prequel to Drakengard 1, but the entire story is alternate history branches that can't quite directly connect to those events. and also technically contains elements from the far future of Nier as well.