i agree that the way Aliens was set made it really difficult for future movies as a lot of mystery was removed from the being.
offcourse Aliens had some elements in it that could have been better, but that's with any movie, really.
There's a reason Aliens is regarded the best sequel to a movie almost ever, and in some regards is even seen as better than the original.
there was enough to work with though.
the problem is, Alien3 completely killed and destroyed that. there was so much to go for and all the worst were taken.
They never had to kill the crew. That would have been a base for so much more.
And as Ridley said, he never understood why they didnt look into it's origins. They could have went there with Alien3.
Where did it come from, why?
Ripley, Hicks, Bishop, Newy all waking up from reaching 'home base' and in discussion with Weyland Yutani chairmen.
Undermining what happened and being suspicious of Ripley's deeds and removing Hicks decorations and deactivating Bishop.
Bishop stating that they sent another vessel when discovering the nuclear explosion on 'acheron' and taking a batch of eggs
with them, having been frozen solid and brought to a space station for investigation.
Hicks suggesting they have to go there and stop what's going on before it's too late since they have no idea what they're doing.
You would get more or less the Alien Isolation story, which is an awesome story really.
They also would have brought material from the derelict and discover it had communicated to a specific planet when crashing,
opening the story for the origins story.
instead, they came with the most stupid ideas ever like a wooden planet with monks.