5 best video game series of all time

If you would choose 5 best video game series of all time. What will it be?

  1. Warcraft
  2. Uncharted
  3. Halo
  4. Gears of War
  5. Ultima

I argued back and forth with myself if I wanted to limit my choices to series with an ongoing narrative—for example, I would not consider the Mario franchise a “series” by that criteria—but talked myself out of that. So I guess I would say something like…

  1. Assassin’s Creed - I just love the way this series has evolved, though I still haven’t caught up to Origins
  2. Zelda - I haven’t played them all, but I can’t ignore the strength of the entries I have played.
  3. Halo - 1-3, Reach, and ODST, are all still masterpieces in my book.
  4. Mass Effect - I haven’t and probably won’t play Andromeda, but the critical response to that one isn’t enough to erase the goodwill I have for the franchise for the first three games.
  5. Rock Band - like I said, I decided we don’t need to restrict ourselves to narrative franchises :)

Are we talking about story progression or just game iterations?

  1. The Elder Scrolls
  2. Ultima
  3. Heroes of Might and Magic
  4. Civilization (do new iterations like this even count?)
  5. Grand Theft Auto

… a very PC-centric list.

  1. Diablo
  2. Elder Scrolls
  3. Civilization
  4. HoMM
  5. The Sims

Very tough.
Can’t believe I left out AoW and EU.

  1. The Legend of Zelda
  2. Street Fighter
  3. The King of Fighters
  4. Streets of Rage
  5. Fire Emblem

Things like Halo, DOOM, Uncharted, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Age of Empires, Super Mario, Mario Kart… all amazing things, but I think those five for me are the best.

I am less attached to “series” in general though and way more attached to specific developers or teams of them who I will follow much more closely than a particular setting or group of characters.

Dave I have to tell you this. I kinda picture you AS your avatar pic as a gamer. Like the guy that is just SUPER into any game he’s playing, and I’ve known from your other posts that you would probably list a few of these here. I also feel like you were the neighborhood final boss. The guy at the arcade that would loiter around the latest fighting game waiting on some poor soul to plop down a quarter, while you sauntered up and mumbled," looking for a game?" Then you utterly destroy the newcomer to the point of tears, while onlookers flocked around you both to the point of having a small crowd by the end of the match. And as you repeated this scene, legends were told among the other kids in the neighborhood of your fighting game prowess. You were the master. You were the Last Dragon.

I read too much into avatar pics.

If your list doesn’t include FALLOUT, you’re dead to me

  1. Might and Magic - taking both the cRPGs and Heroes games into account as a series, since they really were one in the golden era. HoMM if I have to pick one.
  2. Final Fantasy - especially if I get the Tactics games, but it probably makes the top five even without.
  3. Fire Emblem
  4. Persona - which I guess is properly a spinoff from Megami Tensei, though I’d love it even more if I could get all of them.
  5. Mario - the more I think about it, the more 3, World, Yoshi’s Island, and 64 is such a murderer’s row that this has to make the list.

Close but not quite to Legend of Heroes/Trails (half the games aren’t available in English yet, unfortunately), Zelda (highest highs with LttP and Ocarina, but a lot of games that just don’t hit the spot for me), Mass Effect (remember the narrative with the highest regard, but large pieces of the gameplay are very rough), and Civilization (really cooled on the series with the last two entries in a way that I’d never have imagined possible in, say, 2008).

1 - Zelda
2 - Elder Scrolls
3 - Mario
4 - Dragon Quest
5 - Warcraft (Including World of Warcraft)

Going off of series that haven’t crushingly disappointed me in any of the entries I have played, I’ve got to say:

  1. Civilization - Has consumed more of my gaming time than any other series by a wide margin. Unlike most, I didn’t hate 5.
  2. Tales of… - The upbeat nature, delightful music, and exciting battle system make this the best all time JRPG series for me
  3. Final Fantasy - This does come close, though. I love how weird and experimental the games consistently wind up being, and few fall flat for me.
  4. Starcraft - The greatest PC strategy series of all time with extraordinary games all along the way, plus the greatest competitive scene of all time.
  5. Baldur’s Gate - Came in super strong and left on an exceedingly high note. I’d love to see more, but am happy with what we got :-D

Mass Effect, Diablo, and Sim City miss the cut by having final releases that deeply disappointed/frustrated me, otherwise they’d probably all make the cut over the above stuff. Knights of the Old Republic and Warcraft both miss the cut by moving into MMOs, a genre I hate, and thus leaving their true stories unfinished (because MMOs don’t have real stories). Zelda misses the cut purely because I’m super bad at Zelda games; I’ve never not had fun being terrible at them, though! Super Smash Bros. misses the cut because I ran out of space :(.

  1. XWing / Tie fighter
  2. Falcon 3, 4
  3. mass effect
  4. il2 sturmovik
  5. war game ( the Eugene systems RTS)

1 : Football Manager


2 : Civ
3 : Crusader Kings (Especially if I can +EU)
4 : Dirt
5 : Diablo

Honourable mentions : Elder Scrolls, Total War,

LOL! The funny thing is I’m like the most diplomatic and laid back guy you’ll meet in real life. I just like competition in my videogames. :)

I do get super into whatever game I’m playing, movie I’m watching, stuff that I’m reading, points that I’m arguing… but I also am really good at leaving it in that space when it’s done. I am definitely like @ChristienMurawski while watching movies… every great impact on screen has me reacting verbally and physically in my seat as it unfolds.

I also hate losing to my kids. I have learned to accept it.

Anyway, thanks… I think. :D

Dead to you, sadly I guess.

Fallout wouldn’t be in my top 20. Maybe not top 50. OK, maybe top 50.

I gotta go with Tetris. Even the worst entries are solid and the best are transcendent.

This is a great point. Tetris is totally timeless.

The Last Dragon doesn’t need to thank anyone. He achieved that state on his own.

Seriously, it sounds like we play a lot alike. Hell, I play less and less PvP as time goes by because I’m all like, “but I really like Mike, I don’t want to run the game score up.” When in reality I’m avoiding it because I now completely suck at anything competitive.

But when I consider a game series, I’m thinking the title implies a consideration of all games within that series.

And Tetris had followups, and they were all kind of “meh.” They bring the average down.

@Arsalan, you should post your own: feeling like a guinea pig in here!

The only series I can think of which I enjoyed more than a single game are Might & Magic (the RPGs, but Heroes 2 could be added!) and Super Robot Taisen.
Thinking about it, I’m surprised at how many of my favourite games are just single entry of a series (Phantasy Star 2, the first Ace Attorney, EU 2…).