"Pseudo-sequels", spin-offs, loosely-connected games, etc...

[brunoafh]

Would the King's Field - Demon's/Dark Souls connection count here?

Absolutely. And let's not forget that Demon's Souls is moreso a successor of Shadow Tower/Shadow Tower Abyss, and Dark Souls is moreso the King's Field successor. Also, most of From's RPGs have connections not very much unlike how the Final Fantasy games are are loosely connected by featuring similar worlds and recurring items, themes, and weapons. There is the Sword of the Moonlight too, which originated in King's Field and is featured in nearly every single From Software game to date, including their Armored Core games.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Ever heard of that fantastic eroge DOS JRPG Knights of Xentar? Well it's actually the third game in a series of four.

Dragon Knight (JPN only. Released on MSX, X68, PC88, and PC98. Eventually remade for the PC Engine CD under the name Dragon Knight & Graffiti.)
Dragon Knight II (JPN only. MSX, X68, PC88, PC98, and PC Engine CD.)
Dragon Knight III (Released in Japan on PC98, X68, and PC Engine CD. Brought to the US under the title Knights of Xentar, for MS-DOS.)
Dragon Knight 4 (JPN only. FM-Towns, PC98, X68, Super Famicom, PC-FX, PlayStation, and PC. Super Famicom version is censored.)

I may have missed a few ports in there.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Would the King's Field - Demon's/Dark Souls connection count here?

Absolutely. And let's not forget that Demon's Souls is moreso a successor of Shadow Tower/Shadow Tower Abyss, and Dark Souls is moreso the King's Field successor. Also, most of From's RPGs have connections not very much unlike how the Final Fantasy games are are loosely connected by featuring similar worlds and recurring items, themes, and weapons. There is the Sword of the Moonlight too, which originated in King's Field and is featured in nearly every single From Software game to date, including their Armored Core games.

There's also Evergrace and Eternal Ring!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Until recently, I always though that The Legend of Heroes was the original Dragon Slayer.

I dunno if there's anything on the packaging that indicates it's part 6. But both the cover and disc of The Legend of Xanadu indicate that it's part 8 of the Dragon Slayer series... in the most microscopic font possible:
http://www.pcengine.co.uk/HiRes/The-Leg ... adu-CD.jpg
(blow up image and you can still barely see it - under 風の伝説ザナドゥ it says ORIGINAL ROLE-PLAYING GAME DRAGON SLAYER VIII)

[brunoafh]

I've always seen their library as something that could be easily categorized for the most part and with several "spiritual successor" type games. The mecha games and the RPGs are all very "familiar" ones you've played a few, it's interesting.

Dungeon crawler RPG series
King's Field I-IV, Portable I & II
->Eternal Ring
->Dark Souls
->Shadow Tower, Shadow Tower Abyss
-->Demon's Souls

Traditional RPG series
Lost Kingdoms I & II
Forever Kingdom (Evergrace) I & II
Enchanted Arms

Action games
Yoshitsune Eiyuuden/Shura
Spriggan Lunar Verse
Otogi I & II
->Ninja Blade

Mecha
Armored Core (going on 20 games)
Chromehounds (Armored Core V is kind of a sequel to this)
Frame Gride
Metal Wolf Chaos
Murakumo
Another Century's Episode series
Gundam Unicorn

Horror games
Echo Night series
Kuon

[prfsnl_gmr]

How about the Xeno- series?

I have not played through any of them, but aren't Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade loosely connected?

[Hobie-wan]

Firepower 2000/Super Swiv/Mega Swiv have a tenuous link to Silkworm. The end bit is supposed to mean SilkWorm IV.
Gradius started out as Scramble 2 early in development.
Universal Soldier is a mangled Turrican port with the movie license hot glued on.
Heavenly Guardian was originally going to be a Pocky & Rocky sequel.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yup! I knew about Heavenly Guardian. Mentioned it in another thread just yesterday.

Dept. Heaven series. Oh boy. Main titles in bold, spin-offs italic.

Riviera: The Promised Land
Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone
Yggdra Unison
Blaze Union: Story to Reach the Future
Gloria Union
Knights in the Nightmare
Gungnir

What's hilarious is that Riviera is supposed to be episode 1, Yggdra Union + spinoffs comprise episode 2, Knights in the Nightmare is episode 4, and Gungnir is episode 9! Apparently the middle/"missing" titles have yet to be created/released.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Are the Vanillaware RPG 'em ups related? Spiritual successors?

Princess Crown
Odin Sphere
Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Not sure where their other titles fit in.

[BoneSnapDeez]

How about the Xeno- series?

I have not played through any of them, but aren't Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade loosely connected?

Yup. And now we have X coming out 2014.