5 best video game series of all time

Games
81

It’s like visiting a fortune teller. Cool. What do you read in my Avatar pic, Skipper?

82

Of all time is tough… I made sure the games I picked had at least 3 entries.

  1. Splinter Cell
  2. Assassins Creed
  3. Anno
  4. Witcher
  5. Tomb Raider
83

Are we still trying to list the “best” games or have we moved on to “favorites” yet?

84

This was tough, but I think I got!

  1. Civilization - From 1 to 4, we got some classic games that span the test of time.

  2. Baldur’s Gate (and Infinity Engine Games) - 4 classic games (not counting Icewind Dale 2) that weave a great story with interesting characters. Or in the case of Icewind Dale, one hell of a Squad based RTS.

  3. Elder Scrolls - a fun romp in the countryside.

  4. Age of Empires - so good, there are still Tournaments to this day! Also, I include both Age of Mythology and Star Wars Battlegrounds, because one is part of the franchise, while the other uses the base engine and set up (although SWBG is ugly. Why did it have to be so ugly!)

  5. Quest for Glory - This 5 game series tells a story of a novice turned hero! Watch out for ogres, Elementals, T-Rexs, Ghosts and Ghouls. Follow the path of Erana, and her magical sites (and staff), join WIT, play games against Erasmus (and try to figure out whether he is the wizard or the familiar). Also, when the disembodied voice tells you might be best not to touch something, it’s best to listen to it. All the fun (and more) of Kings Quest, with the Seria Humor, but with combat and RPG stats! It’s a classic! If you’ve ever played any of the Quest games, but want more, try this series out. http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/homepage/homepage.html has a free updated version of Quest for Glory 2!

85

Even picking my favorite series is kind of challenging because so many of my favorite games were part of a series filled with merely decent ones. Or I only played one or two games in the series before getting tired of it, so it’s hard to vouch for the rest of them. That’s probably a bad sign anyway.

Personal favorites only:

  1. Doom
  2. Fallout
  3. The Witcher
  4. STALKER
  5. Soulsborne
  6. Combat Mission
86

Here are my picks in no particular order, along with my favorite of the series. It’s hard to narrow it down to just five:

Wing Commander (III)
Ultima (V)
Wizardry (8)
Civilization (IV)
Monkey Island (Curse)

Honorable mention goes to the Monsters’ Den series, which topped out with Book of Dread although Chronicles and Godfall are also both excellent.

87

World of Warcraft (which I would consider as a series in it’s own right)
Everquest (same as above, I consider the expansions as almost stand alone games)
Final Fantasy
Wizardry
Fallout

88

I don’t know if I could come up with 5 but I’ll try…Okay I’m actually having a hard time keeping it to 5.

Ultima (Duh)
Souls Games (Easily my favorite series though I’m kind of burnt out on them)
Danganronpa (If you play the first one and don’t like it you are dead inside. DEAD)
Total War (Again another series I’ve burnt out on, but damn what a run)
MLB The Show (I kind of hate putting a sports game, but it’s the only thing keeping the Mets hopes alive)

89

So many of you guys reminding me of series I forgot: Wizardry, Total War, etc. This is tougher than I thought.

90

Great thread! My picks:

  1. Civilization.
  2. Imperialism.
  3. NBA 2K.
  4. Out of the Park Baseball.
  5. Diablo.
91

The Five that meant the most to me over the years, with a minimum of 2 games in the series required

  1. Age of Wonders
  2. Legend of Heroes RPG Series (Trails in the Sky games)
  3. Samurai Shodown (so glad a new one of those is coming next year)
  4. Galactic Civilizations
  5. Virtua Fighter
92

I’m going to arbitrarily decide a series is at least a trilogy, and I should have at least played three of them. And these are my favorites in no particular order:

The Elder Scrolls
Fallout
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Mass Effect (the original trilogy)
Monkey Island

93

Get out of here stalker! man those were great.

94

Zelda
Mario
Megami Tensei (inc. Persona)
Fire Emblem
Dept. Heaven (I just love how these break game genre rules so systematically and effectively)

All Japanese series… I guess it tells my age.

95

Gosh, I don’t think I can remember the series I’ve played. It’s also difficult to separate out how I feel about a game now vs when I played it. For instance, King’s Quest had a big impact on me when they initially released, but I don’t really play point and click adventures anymore.

Based on impact when I played them

  1. Civilization
  2. The Witcher
  3. Kings Quest
  4. DOOM / Wolfenstein (I’m cheating and combining the 2)
  5. Heroes of Might and Magic
    Runner’s Up
    Links Golf
    Age of Empires
    Saints Row
    Wizardry
    Ultima
    Dark Souls
    Baldur’s Gate / Infinity Engine

Based on what I’d want to play now

  1. The Witcher
  2. Dark Souls
  3. DOOM / Wolfenstein (I’m cheating and combining the 2)
  4. Civilization
  5. Saints Row
  • Tomb Raider would probably be on here if I could be playing the new one now.

Special Awards
Links Golf : Technical excellence. Links looked amazing for their time. I played a ton of this.
Age of Empires : Best use of a lunch hour at work.
Wizardry: Magazine ad that sparked my imagination like no other.
Uncharted : Some of the best banter / dialog between characters
Age of Wonders Would have been ranked higher if I liked the first games in the series as much as the last.
Rayman : Best coop series I’ve ever played. When are we going to get a new one!
The Elder Scrolls: So much promise but I always get bored.
Railroad Tycoon : Best games where you build stuff.
Dragon Age: Stumbled too much on game 2. Bring back the more tactical combat.
Mass Effect / Dragon Age : Some of the best characters in a game series.

96

5 games if you count Planesccape: Torment. You HAVE to count PS:T!

97

I am counting it. I’m not counting Icewind Dale 2, because it uses the 3.0 rule set (and ever since I looked into Pathfinder, I really can’t get into 3.0 or 3.5 rules. They are too similar, but not as good (I loved kits, and Pathfinder has the closest thing there is to kits before 5 came out).

98

I’m beating myself for forgetting that one. I had a great time with the first 3, and I liked what I’ve played of Blacklist.

99

“Say it.” He said.
The eight-year-old looked at him and quivered ever so slightly.
“SAY IT,” he yelled, with small droplets of spittle flying in every direction.
“You sank my battleship, Dad!”
“You’re god damned right I did. I know you boys both love this game as much as me. One day, well, maybe you’ll have half a lick of sense while playing it. I swear, I drill you guys every day. Hell, we watched Western Approaches the other night and apparently you weren’t paying attention. Now go make dad his bourbon, two cubes. I have an invasion to lead.”

The vintage phonograph slowly spun the classical record chosen, and as the needle reached the point of repeated plays, the crackles and pops became more frequent. He had skipped to act 3, he always did. Nobody had time to listen to the whole thing. Time was limited, time was important. As the ‘Ride of the Valkyries,’ began to play, the man fired up his computer and carefully loaded the same scenario he had played and replayed thousands of times. This time would be different. He could feel it. Once Panzer Corps booted, he loaded his save point, U.S. West Coast. He played on General level. He always did.

As he began to play, as usual, glaring issues began to show. He didn’t have enough heavy artillery. His tanks were outnumbered. His long and slow pinch of the north and south seemed to fail miserably, as those blasted troops around Seattle took too much of a toll on his group there. He swirled the now leftover ice cubed in his highball glass. He was going to fail this mission. He always did.

100

[slow clap]

That was masterful.