5 best video game series of all time

Mid 90s is about the time I lost interest in JRPGs so that makes sense, either the games changed or I did. Only ones I really care for that are made these days are the Dragon Quest games.

I was going to mention in my previous post Dragon Quest, however I haven’t played the last couple of games, so I refrained, but to me the series kept for the most part that “straight and to the point no BS” approach I really liked in some games of the genre.
Dragon Quest 5, in my rose-tinted world, is like the whole panorama of JRPGs, from multiple Final Fantasy to Tenshi no Uta through Chrono Trigger, condensed in one single game, before those games even happened.

Maybe, but probably not as I still played, and enjoyed, many we’ll post that time. Final Fantasy 12 probably being the most recent JRPG I played.

But the premise does have something for it. There definitely was a trend for JRPGs to bloat the play time, and include obscure, and frankly impossible to know of, side quests that required pouring through strategy guides and endless forum threads, lest you open a chest at level 4 that prevents you from getting some ultimate weapon later.

While I actually love Planescape Torment, I’m not sure I would personally include it as part of this series. While it shares some basic mechanics from the engine, it really feels like something completely separate to me. One of my favorite gaming experiences of all time? Definitely, but not part of a series in my mind.

Maybe we can include Planescape Torment as part of a series constituted by it and KOTOR2?

Ah yeah, the “what can change the nature of a man, and what difference does that make” series!

Just want to add that The Sims series is pretty much the only game series I consistently like over the years. Dolling up people is kind of fun (!). Building my dream home is kind of fun as well. Making social drama or play the traditional career progression “game”? Not so much.

In fact in most games nowadays there is option to doll up the avatar. I spent far too much time dolling up my dude/chick in perfect camo gear in Ghost Recon Wildlands, for one.

The Sims got kind of stale though. I played a crap ton of Sims 1 and 3, and in many respects they are the same game, one is just prettier than the other. Prettiness matters though.

You’re probably right. Been a while since I’ve played those first three TR titles. Still, those games were nowhere as graphic…sure, part of it is because of the technological limits of the day, but it’s also the direction. Some of those death animations were totally unnecessary.

That was a hard series to NOT have in my top 5. Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time. The GBA games and Metroid Prime were all great games. Just picked up the last 3DS one, looking forward to it.

Also could have put Castlevania on that list now that I think of it.

Yes, Twilight 2000 is a good game for people who like making characters. However, I believe Darklands to be a better choice if character creation is what you’re after.

You could say that, but I think you would quickly realize that you are most definitely wrong. That’s not me making that claim. That’s just the universe we live in. I don’t argue with the universe.

Favorites in parentheses
1. Command and Conquer (Red Alert, but Generals comes in as a close 2nd)
2. Civilization (2)
3. Baldur’s Gate (2 of course, but I would like to include all the Infinity Engine games as part of the series)
4. GTA (5, but Vice City holds a special place in my heart)
5. The Elder Scrolls (Morrowind because it was my first)

Honorable mention: Need for Speed (haven’t played any in the series in awhile, but Most Wanted was my favorite)

Ah. But do you yell at clouds?

That’s different. That’s just nature. Not something important, like the Univere’s will and the ranking of early 90’s PC games.

(LTTP but I had most of this reply in the cache so might as well post!)

Tough question. What makes a series best, as opposed to an individual game? A bunch of series are basically iterations on the same core, like Mario Kart. A great game, but you could probably make do with just your favorite iteration of it and let the rest of the games in the series go.

The same is true of many strategy series, Civ especially. So even though it’s the game series I’ve probably spent the most hours playing, I wouldn’t say Civ my favorite series as such; I’d just say Civ IV is one of my favorite games.

And how do you judge a series when not all parts of it are equally good? The game series I’m most looking forward to the next iteration of is The Witcher, but by the same token I’m not especially fond of Witcher 1 (it’s not bad, either, just there.) The Fallout games contain some of my favorite moments in all of gaming, but each individual game, including the first two, has substantial flaws in with the amazing stuff.

But let’s skip over this dithering about definitions. As an entire series I’d say my favorite is Ultima. Most of them, and especially 4-7, were excellent for their day (and created the open world genre.) Just as importantly each iteration tried to do something very different within the established framework. 5 isn’t just the same as 4 but with fancier graphics, but is actually a commentary on the design of 4.

If I rank by playtime I’d go:

  1. Civilization
  2. Age of Empires
  3. Disgaea
  4. Sims
  5. Warcraft (If you can throw WOW in with Warcraft II).

This is a tough poll for me. Some franchises change ownership and/or release some real stinkers. As far as consistency goes, most of the top series probably are (or were at some point) Nintendo exclusives IMO. Otherwise I would have to limit series to within a range of years as opposed to the whole series run.

This list goes to 11:

1st place, with everything else following a long distance behind: The Thief games (1 - 3). Never before or since have I been so enthralled with games as much as these.

2nd place: The Stalker games.
3rd place: The Sniper: Elite games.
4th place: The early Tomb Raider games (1 - 3).
5th place: The Elite games.

Runners Up:
6th: The Call Of Juarez games.
7th: The Far Cry games.
8th: The Doom games.
9th: The short-lived Vietcong series.
10th: The Alone In The Dark games (1 - 3).
11th: The Carnivores games.

As you can probably tell, I play only on PC.

Holy shit that’s an interesting list you got there @Giles_Habibula!

Let’s see if I can come up with 5 franchises I love.

1. Monster Hunter Definitely my all time favorite franchise by a pretty large margin. Been playing these since the first game on PSP (later played the PS2 game as well).

2. Street Fighter I am never any good at these but I’ve been a fan since SF2 in arcades and on SNES. Just fun, even if I can’t seem to dedicate the time to learning it for real. SF5 is probably me best effor tto learn though.

3. Dark Souls I’d include Demon’s Souls and Bloodbourne in this as well. Terrific series and Demon’s Souls very much blew my hair back when I first played it. One of those games I thought about even when I wasn’t plaing it.

4. Gran Turismo Love these racing sims.

5. Current Tomb Raider I really like these games and I have even finished the first two (haven’t gotten to the third yet, but I will). That’s high praise from someone who rarely gets around to finishing games.

Destiny almost made the cut, but I mostly just played the crap out of the first game and the second fell pretty flat for me. maybe once we see more of these It’ll make the cut. Red Dead Redemption also was my favorite game of last gen and one of the only huge open world games (possibly the only) I have ever finished. Still I haven’t even played the second game so it’s hard to call it a favorite franchise at this point.