Whats the best series of games?

[yellowmadness54]

Dark Claw said:

Heretic/Hexen series =P

I dont even think that counts as a series.
Its barely 4 games and its entirely dead now.

And heretic 2 had very little to do with the originals, and was in 3rd person.

[Captain Red]

I nearly said the Fallout series until I remembered that this game exists so I'll nominate the Thief games as well.

[Rambosee]

Xeros612 said:

Long campaign? I beat that thing in about 7 1/2 hours blind. :P But yes, a hell of a lot of fun.

Oh come on, that's a clear sign that someone didn't look for the secrets, the extra missions, the very secret room that's only unlocked if you beat all the missions plus the secret ones located in the town hall. Also, it idicates that you probably played on the easiest difficulty. I did it on the hardest. Sounds like you didn't upgrade as much as well. Do all what I did and you'll be playing over a month at the campgain.

[Devalaous]

The series that has given me the most enjoyment over the years, has been the Star Ocean RPGs. Rather odd choice yes, but hey, I like them.

Captain Red said:

I nearly said the Fallout series until I remembered that this game exists so I'll nominate the Thief games as well.

Here I thought it was going to be another whine about Fallout 3 not being exactly like 1 and 2 in every way. Thank you for surprising me

[Megalyth]

yellowmadness54 said about Heretic/Hexen:

I dont even think that counts as a series.

Why is that? They all take place in the same realm. Heretic, Hexen, and Hexen II all involve the Serpent Riders and the heroes who battled them. Heretic II is a continuation of the adventures of Corvus.

Its barely 4 games

Actually, it's six games, depending on whether you consider Deathkings of the Dark Citadel and Portal of Praevus games, which they essentially are.

and its entirely dead now.

Which has what bearing, exactly, on anything? There are many series of games which are "dead". It doesn't make them any less a series.

And heretic 2 had very little to do with the originals

See above

and was in 3rd person

So what? Whether it was first person, third person, 3/4 isometric turn-based, whatever, it's still part of the story of Corvus.

Even if you exclude Heretic II because of the differences and you don't consider the add-ons as games, it still leaves three games, which still constitutes a series.

[Frankdude]

Double Dragon. Endless vareints.

[Maes]

Frankdude said:

Double Dragon. Endless vareints.

I can only recall 3 main games on top of my head (with DD 2 and 3 being none as well known as the original) and the last one of them was made sometime in the early 90s. There was that "Double Dragon" versus fighting game for the Neo Geo based on the movie "Double Dragon" too, and of course a whole host of conversions of the first three games, but that's hardly what one usually means for "endless variants".

If you mean the general idea of a sidescrolling brawling game...then yeah, there have been a crapton of those. My favorite one is probably Violent Storm/Vendetta and most Capcom brawlers, but they have as much to do with DD as a "sequel" as Far Cry has with Doom.

Since we mentioned fighting games, well, Street Fighter hands down (if you exclude the little-known and rough Street Fighter "one"). Come think of it, they REALLY made ENDLESS variants of the same "Street Fighter II" game. There was SF II the original with 8 characters, there was the world version with 12 playable, then The New Challengers, then Super/Turbo variants + of course the bootlegs. Then the whole Alpha/Zero/Ex series and the "3" variants.

SNK fighting games are also pretty awesome, and most have well above 3 sequels. Samurai shodown? Of course. King of Fighters? You bet. Art of Fighting? Heh...it never ends!

But the best series on the SNK is without a shadow of doubt, Metal Slug. At least judging by the number of quarters I've put in it ;-)

[Shaviro]

Wolf3D was awesome, RTCW was MEHdiocre and wolf2009 was so horrible it was hard to comprehend :P
Doom 1 and 2 are really amazing games. Definitely a contester for the "title". Doom3 added nothing.
I found the Quake series to be way too diffuse and in my opinion id was already behind when they made quake. Also, Quake4 is awful.
The Dark Forces series was great. DF/JK/JK:MotS are games with some of the best puzzles around. Outcast and Academy was a little too Ravenriffic for my taste.
The HL series has one great game and 1½ good expansion packs. The sequel wasn't all that special and the two episodes are _really_ horrible.
Starcraft 1 was awesome in most (if not all) aspects, but the sequel really really fails in the storytelling department. It's just so bad and the dialogue is some of the worst I've heard. Even Bulletstorm sports better dialogue.
The X-Wing series could be my bet. XvT has weak single player, but that's it.

[Mithran Denizen]

As the indecisive git that I am, I could never narrow down a favourite, but two series that haven't been mentioned come to mind as particularly enjoyable:

1.) Baldur's Gate

The first and second games, along with the second game's expansion, are even solid enough to make up for the two tangentially related and mediocre console games in the series. It's also one of only 3 series to actually get me to enjoy a 'high fantasy' setting, which I generally don't care for.

2.) Hero's Quest/Quest For Glory:






The original in particular has always stood in my mind as the most memorable of those old adventure games. Figuring out cool new ways to die was a great pastime, and the RPG elements were fairly unique for a parser-based adventure. It might be antithetical to the idea of the thread, but I'd even extend this 'series' to the similar Sierra 'quest' games (Police Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest).


3.) A notable mention also goes out to Bungie's/Take Two's Myth series of RTT games. Though the third game in the series was a horrible miscarriage that should never have been, I still play Myth II and its various mods to this day. Since the source was released to Project Magma for continued maintainance, it's at least not dead yet.

[Clonehunter]

Enjay said:

Dark Forces: Mysteries of the Sith started out well but was a poor add on IMO and Jedi Outcast simply wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as DFII for me.

MotS hit and missed. The New Enemies, while simply reskinned or slightly different modeled version of old enemies, the variety was pleasing to have. Jedi Outcast was the first in the series that I actually owned (Only reason though was because of a cheat code where you could completely dismember oponents.). The Multiplayer was pretty fun, and the Modding community was another plus. DFII though was legendary. I celebrated dancing around a room when I beat the first disc.

Enjay said:

Quake: Is a mish-mash of unrelated games: the first rushed out the door before it could be developed to its potential, the second... well I enjoyed it but lots of people criticise it, the third was an OK multi-player game and engine demo but UT was more fun IMO and Q4 has been criticised for being far too linear and not as exciting or revolutionary as its hype said it would be. I believe that Quake Wars didn't make as big a dent in the MP market as was hoped either.

Unrelated yes, but each one is good in their own right. Quake was good for expanding multiplayer and the 3D models. I don't know what potential you speak of. Games about killing crap and finding keys are gold. Quake II is pretty good I think. I don't know why people hate on it. They can fuck themselves. Best PS shooter I have at the moment. 4 player slitscreen, w00t. Quake III, while nice and bloody, the only thing about it that was good was the Engine itself. Pure Servers were nice. No hackers for the most part. Quake 4 I only played the MP Demo, with nobody... But the grpahics were nice I suppose and the weapon facelifts weren't shabby. However I wasn't really sure if it was a Q2 sequel or a Q3A sequel because of the MP. Quake Wars was okay. A lot of people online. A bit glitchy though or nonsensical (I was crushed by a tank which just spawned on top of me. You think there'd be some way to prevent that. But like you said, not a huge impact.

Enjay said:

Medal of Honor: I love MoHAA but I haven't enjoyed anything else in the series that I have played. Even most of the add-ons for MoHAA were nowhere near as good as the core game.

I've only played Rising Sun and Heroes 2, so I don't have a lot to go on I guess. Heroes 2 is a very good PSP shooter, and Rising Sun is fun despite the critics. They know nothing.

Enjay said:

Carnivores: ummm, actually, I never even heard of that one. :/

WHAT THE FUCK? Just how many other games are there where you can Hunt Dinosaurs in a Deer Hunter like setting? (Not counting Primal Prey). If you have a PSP, IPOD TOuch, or an iPad, look for Carnivores Dinosaur Hunter, which is a port of the PC game Carnivores 2. It'll offer a good taste. (It isn't as easy to control though as the PC games.) I have all of the Carnivores games on Disc except Ice Age and Dinosaur Hunter. I have the Ice Age Demo, which is the full game for 30 minutes (Installing the Patch makes it unlimited. Go figure.) and Dino Hunter on PSP. Worth 3.99 USD if you ask me (DInosaur Hunter).

[PRIMEVAL]

I have to say my all-time favorite would be the Twisted Metal series. The storylines are phucked up and TM3 & TM4 are no longer considered canon to the series, but still fun. Twisted Metal 2 is probably the best out of all of them, and Twisted Metal: Head On is a good sequel / tribute to TM2.

[Enjay]

Clonehunter said:

I don't know what potential you speak of.

I meant that id had bigger ideas for Quake, and the original ideas behind the game were quite different, but these were significantly compromised in order to get the game shipped. Some of the ideas were good, some less so. However, no matter how good (or otherwise) the plans were, in the end, they ended up shipping something that wasn't a million miles from a brown, 3D modelled version of Doom. Not bad in itself but, other than the debut of true 3D technology, not too startling either. Mind you, I loved the soundtrack and, if nothing else, buying Quake got me the bonus of a Trent Reznor CD. ;)

Clonehunter said:

Rising Sun is fun despite the critics. They know nothing.

"Pacific Assault" is probably my favourite one that isn't MoHAA but, IMO, MoHAA is head and shoulders above the rest even if the tech is a little dated compared to some of the newer ones (Quake 3 engine). I still play MoHAA regularly.

Clonehunter said:

If you have a PSP, IPOD TOuch, or an iPad...

I don't have any of those myself (but I do have access to an iPod Touch) but it does sound like the game series might be worth looking into.

[Clonehunter]

I'm actually playing Rising Sun right now :P

[Sharessa]

Mithran Denizen said:

2.) Hero's Quest/Quest For Glory:

Man, that brings back memories. I remember my friend had that game and we had a heckuva time trying to not die in the game and trying to figure out what to do. I downloaded it a few years ago and loaded it up on DOSBox and had some fun trying to beat it. It's pretty challenging, even for a Sierra adventure game because of the whole combat element to it, though it's pretty fun training skills and making money.

Yeah, the Seirra adventure games and the Baldur's Gate series are pretty sweet, too.