Your top five game series

Alright people it's time for me to do somethin useful and ask everyone what is your top five favorite game series, and give a decent explanation as to why.

5. Metroid Prime: The series that in general got me and a good amount of people interested into the Metroid Series as a whole, the best crossover of first person action and puzzle solving to ever be made, also some of the bosses are fuckin awesome.
4. Mario RPG's as a whole: All of them are excellently done and have a good charm to them, and for the most part are challenging enough to keep one interested for the long haul.
3. Final Fantasy: I'm talkin about the main series not all the 900 spin-off games (I swear Final Fantasy is the Mega Man of the RPG genre) though the series in general has been hit and miss with me, what does hit, hits well and makes a great case as to why the game is good.
2. Department of Heaven: Stings brilliant concept of games, each one is it's own beast but despite that each plays rather well, even the weakest game in the series imo Yggdra Union was a good strategy game worthy of attention
1. Persona: The Persona series (and the Megami Tensin series in general) typically deals with a lot more deeper themes than most rpgs, and backs the dark themes up with great combat, characters, and gameplay in general. That and one game had Hitler as a boss, that's some serious skill.

Interesting thread. I haven't heard of Department of Heaven before....

Since the inside of my head is just a nebulous, swirling mass of confusion, I'm just going to say what mine are without ranking them. That'd be too hard.

KINGDOM HEARTS IS LIGHT
Mindless button mashing combat. Retarded dialogue. Awesome lineup of bosses.
It's almost perfect.

It's hard to describe. It's like, there's a feeling you get when the dungeon door slams shut behind you and the ambiance starts up.
"It's showtime."

I have to agree with Serene on this one.
These games manage to be RPGs and, at the same time, not boring to me. This is almost impossible. The action commands are to thank for this, I'm guessing.
Although they can be a bit too easy at times, there are usually optional super-challenges to help with that. Also, Mario & Luigi 3 seems to be a lot tougher then usual, so the series seems to be headed in a good direction.
These also help add characterization to people that otherwise wouldn't have much. Meaning, Bowser. Yes Mario & Luigi 3 is pretty good why do you ask
Great soundtrack, too, and the writing is often pretty good.

The most impressive crossover I've seen- and also the most fun multiplayer game I've ever played.
I have no idea how many years Melee stayed fun, but it was a lot.
And then there was Brawl, with its God-soundtracks and...okay campaign mode. That was okay.

YOU ARE A LAWYER
Somehow this is entertaining. That alone is worth mention.
I dunno. I think I'm a sucker for mystery-type things like this. Also, cornering murderers is always fun. Partly because of, that's right, the music.
Miles Edgeworth's recent adventures seem to have made the series even better. I like the investigations a lot more, and also you get to shout at random people who are just standing around. Courtrooms are for pussies.


This list probably isn't accurate at all, and there were a few series I left out that deserve to be up there. But I'd say this is pretty close.

5. Final Fantasy, I like the fairly unique stories they provide with each series, as well as interesting characters, most of the time.

4. Metroid Prime, Honestly I liked when they started putting more of a story into the game it made it a lot more interesting.

3. Fire Emblem, It is a good series unique characters and games, it also provide an interesting strategy interface.

2. Mass Effect, I like the series storyline and the way they built the game, its built around the choices you make and how it affects the world around you.

1. Tales of, This series is one of my favorites, its funny, has fairly good character development and good stories, though not all of them are super amazing most of them are worth playing.

Well, the problem with this is that most of my favorite games are part of a series. But I don't like them all as a series so much. It depends on how a game ends. If the game can stand on it's own, then I can consider it part of a series. However, in the case of Halo, or Golden Sun, you can't really get the full experience without playing all of the games.

It's hard to explain, but since we're judging a game by series, lemme show what I got.

5. Pokemon
-Well....It's pokemon. Sure if you play one game you've pretty much played them all, but I like the idea of customizing your experience with different pokemon. And there's such a wide range to choose from, all with different potentials. There's no two pokemon alike.

4. Tales of
-This really should be higher, but as a series, I'm not that fond of the games. I really like more individual games in this series. I see them more as stand-alone games. For example, Symphonia stands as my favorite game of all time, while Legendia is one of the worst games I've played. And Abyss is probably the most 'average' game I've ever played. So, while Tales is great for individual games; Symphonia, Vesperia, etc, games like Legendia, and the average Abyss keep the series as a whole low on the food chain.

3. Fire Emblem
-Granted, I've only really played through Por and RD, but I have done a few of the other ones on Emulators. I just never got around to beating them. Cept for the one with La'rachel. I forget which one that is. But like with pokemon, I like the customization of which units you use, combined with the intense strategy that comes with it. Mind you, in RD most of the strategy is: 'How many units can Ike kill before I have to let other people get exp'?

2. Mass Effect
-Mass Effect is a game series that does one thing really well: Ending sequences. The first one felt a little unfinished it some aspect. The story was well written, but a bit lacking at some points. When I got to the final part of the game, going off to the final planet to find the conduit, I started getting more into the game without realizing it.
It was only when I shot through the elevator and starting running across the side of the citadel, shooting armies of geth, watching a fire fight between the Alliance warships and the geth ships that I said to myself: "Wow, this is fucking awesome!" The music helped to increase adrenaline and my heart was pumping out of my chest. It was pure fun, blasting through geth with my point-click-death shotgun.
Mass Effect 2 was a bit more structured with it's story, which was a plus, BUT it had no side missions like Mass Effect 1 did. Sure it had SOME, but they all felt like an intergalactic version of duck-hunt. But again, the endgame sequence was awesome. Rushing through hordes of Collectors to save companions from certain death. Watching as chaos erupts on the other side of the small wall protecting you from the 12 rounds of gunfire all pointing at you, popping out from behind the wall during each lull to try and take another chunk of health out of one of them, then ending with a creepy looking giant ship, that shot a giant laser beam of death at you.
So yeah, Mass effect rocks because of it's endgame.

1. Persona
-The persona series sits comfortably at #2 of my favorite games of all time, right below Tales of Symphonia. But unlike symphonia, for all the games I've played in the series, I've liked all of them. Mind you I've only played three of them, and P3P really counts as P3 but with a patch, but Personas consist of good enough games, that I look forward with a lot of hope for the continuation of the series.

Juiz wrote: There's no two pokemon alike.

Plusle Minun WHAT NOW BEOTCCCCHHHHHH
...
Sorry that was unnecessary.

Stats and stuff may be different.

Of course, you could also put Pachirisu and Pikachu with them too. I dunno WHY they decided to make all those Pikachu clones, but WAHTEVUR.

Oh, I thought this was individual games at first. Lol. I just did a Top 10 video game meme. Lol.

But Series? That's trickier...Hmm...

5. Uh, Castlevania? Tales of? - Wasn't sure what else to put here...most other series I've only played one or two games. So I wasn't what else to put. D:
4. Smash Bros. - I like crossovers. And Brawl/Melee make good party games.
3. Baten Kaitos - I know there are only two games in this series, but I've played both, and I love them both. Unique gameplay, wonderful stories, nice characters, lovely art, great music, and beautiful visuals. I personally think Baten Kaitos had the best graphics/visuals on the Gamecube, hands down. I just love these two games alot.
2. Fire Emblem - This, this series (FE9 specifically) was one of the biggest turning points for me, Baten kaitos in close second.
I LOVE the art, I LOVE the characters, the music, and gameplay. I just wish I could play RD...
1. Pokemon - As expected. Lol. Nearly half the games I own are pokemon. I just love Pokemon, it's my childhood. D:
And I also like competitive battling. :D

5. Cooking Mama. It's like crack, you play it and that's it. I have not met a single person who has played it and given it away easily. You want to stop but you can't. That or Harvest moon, I recently got into it but it's a cute enjoyable way to kill an entire day and not realize.
4. Fire Emblem. I love puzzle and strat games. Fire emblem fed that need and had a decent story. You could be on one turn for hours cause somebody needed to level but was weak or was at risk you didn't want to loose anyone. Unless they sucked then they were a meat shield.
3. Mario Kart. Fuck you I like it. Yea racing is fun and all blah blah but honestly any dipshit can hold one button and steer. Mario Kart you can blow people up and TOTALLY fuck them. Then the revenge starts. Awesome. The only racing game without weapons I can stand is NFS: Hot Pursuit.
2. Smash Bros. I kicked ass as Pikachu on N64, even more ass with Pichu and now I don't even know cause after you unlock everyone there is a selection each with a buttload of strategies.
1. Pokemon. I started with Blue and I like many other children were sucked into the world of crazy ass creatures that if they actually existed could kill you in the blink of an eye, not follow your orders. Especially cause your ten, nobody listens to 10 year olds. I remember when I learned the rare candy cheat from my brother and was so pissed I forgot it cause he lives in NJ. I had to wait till I got him on the phone days later. I FLIPPED when I missed pokemon events cause it sounded awesome and they were far and few between. I wish that pokemon were FUCKING REAL. You know you do too.

Im too lazy to describe.

5.Reborn Flame Rumble
4.Blazblue
3.Melty Blood
2.Persona (shin megami tensei)
1.Tales of

5. Megaman EXE/Starforce
This is a shout out to the losers who saw the anime a while ago and got caught up in this bizzness, as well as anyone who can't play platformers past the first fucking level. This is one of the funnest, if not completely repetitive action RPGs I've seen. Fighting on a grid-like field allows you to dodge everything if you're good enough, while letting you use battle chips to unleash combo hell. The later games make your boss chips stronger depending on how fast you can beat their highest form. They also start to let you play as other characters than megaman. Most cases you get a new form for him along with that. It's much cooler to throw tomahawks and drill through enemies than fire a charge shot. This series draws alot of crap from hardcore players from the original and X series, but it follows the same fucking formula as those games. You beat robot masters and can get their powers. You beat an evil organization, yaaay! It just has different gameplay and is geared toward a younger crowd.

4. Rock Band
I got a GH game for christmas and started to get into the music game genre. To this day I'm still not that good at guitar. I abandoned it for singing for various reasons, and I'm pretty good at that. This is the ultimate party game, hands down. Fighting games typically dont let you have 4 people going on at once, and usually there's someone there who just completely owns everyone else. This game doesn't care if you're awesome or terrible, because you're all playing and working together. That doesnt mean elitists dont get annoyed when people play above their level and fail songs, but still. Then there's the music, the whole point of the game. You've got near endless variety to satiate hardcore junkies, popstar wannabes, and the rest of music fans. In my case, whenever I bring out the RB stuff and there's alot of people the whole room sings along. And to quote a bunch of my friends, "I feel a little like a rock star".


3. Shin Megami Tensei
I'm gonna start off by saying I never heard of this series until you all talked about persona 4. Then my friend got a copy of P3 and I borrowed that. Fell in love... Things that appeal to me are the heavy mythological and religious references, the decent level of dificulty, and the dark mood that most of the games portray. Plus it's kinda niche. FF games haven't been fun since the 6th one (note that I havent played 9 YET). The dificulty... I think this is the first non-pokemon RPG I played where I NEEDED to make a strategy to survive. Yes, you can power grind and destroy things but that takes way too long and its not worth sacrificing that accomplishment of beating dificult bosses at low levels.


2. Tales
I rented Symphonia on a whim, then bought it new for $50. One of the best purchases I made. This was also the first real JRPG I played, even before getting into FF. I loved how it felt like a fighting game but played like an RPG. Loved the characters, loved the story and was into it so much that I completed the monster list and was missing 1 item from the item list. Fuck you catz. Anyway, I played Abyss and discovered the same quality as the one I started with and have been steadily trying out other games in the series. Gameplay is just awesome.

1. Pokemon
PFFFF... I was obsessed with this stuff when I was 8. I distinctly remember meeting a new kid and then walking away because he didnt like it. Got yellow version with a brand new GB color and I have been playing the games ever since. With any game, I'll put it down for periods of time but in this case I always come back. I love going on the adventure, planning and managing my team the whole time, doing some emergency training because I fucked up against a gym leader .>.
And then since playing netbattle from the 3rd generation metagame, I've gotten into the competitive aspect alot even though I rarely fight people IRL. Now its even funner. I breed for IVs, natures and moves, effort train them and give them a moveset for whatever purpose I want them to serve on my team. Seeing my completed super pokemon makes me happy.

Metal Rabbit wrote: Megaman EXE

Fucking ultimate winner.

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy series.
The only thing keeping this game off the list is the fact that Square does not know what to do with its innovations. Each game has great ideas behind them and if they would just find a way to implement them well I'm sure they'd make a high quality product. Still as it stands Final Fantasy has some awesome storylines with amazing soundtracks and designs.

5. Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship series
All the fun of the card game without having to shell-out money for booster packs.
4. Mario RPGs
Amazingly fun with great gameplay. Action commands among other innovations make each one a joy to play.
3. Tales series
Fun as hell combat and I love the character interaction.
2. Fire Emblem series
An amazingly fun SRPG. Great soundtrack and story and the supports provide excellent character interactions (except in Radiant Dawn).
1. Persona series
You are a high school kid that can summon Satan. That alone should be reason enough. But the games also feature great storylines and memorable characters that cause it to stand out to me.

1. persona series
2. Disgaea series
3. Tales of series
4. Naruto: Narutimetto hero series
5. Naruto Gekito ninja taisen series

the only one on my list tat isnt listed above is golden sun, which is in my top 5 just cuz puzzles= fustrating, yet satisfying...... summons=overkill=flashy attacks= pretty ^^.