5 Favorite Game Franchises

[TheEnd]

In no particular order:

Phantasy Star. Actually, just the classic trilogy (1/2/4) -- this one is for nostalgia. I have a thing for RPGs,  and this one started it all for me. The amount of meaningful continuity it manages to have with minimal text is also pretty great. PS4 is as good as FF6 or Chrono Trigger, fight me.

Trails. I appreciate strong continuity and good soundtracks, and man, does Falcom deliver. I've bought three consoles and learned an alien language to play these games, and I regret nothing.

Atelier. Great soundtracks and amazing item creation. The stories aren't anything to write home about, but I'm not playing for those. It's a pity that Koei Tecmo is terrible, though.

Puyo Puyo. Especially the pre-Fever rulesets. The fact Puyo Puyo Tetris isn't available digitally for PS4 almost makes me cry.

Yakuza. A new, though perhaps hasty, addition to my list. Combat is cathartic, characters/themes are interesting, and the karaoke is great. Also, Kiwami and 6 are coming in the span of a year, maybe? What a time, etc.
 

[Jedi]

3 hours ago, TheEnd said:

Trails. I appreciate strong continuity and good soundtracks, and man, does Falcom deliver. I've bought three consoles and learned an alien language to play these games, and I regret nothing.

I'm still not quite ready to take the Alien language plunge just for Ao & Zero, but with how good 3rd is doing on Steam & GOG, I might not have to.

[TheEnd]

2 hours ago, Jedi said:

I'm still not quite ready to take the Alien language plunge just for Ao & Zero, but with how good 3rd is doing on Steam & GOG, I might not have to.

Back in 2006, I had absolutely no perspective of ever seeing this series in English, so it was a fairly big motivator for me to keep studying. :')

[qwernst]

Fire Emblem

Total War

the AKI wrestling games on the N64 if they count

Rance (I know, I know)

Legend of Zelda

[Interdimensional Observer]

My current top three franchises of interest are:

SMT (not Persona, I want to but just can't get into that). Perhaps the best major RPG franchise, rivaling DQ, FF, and Tales. Fusion can be a pain at times, but the games are fun. Love many of the demon designs, and the ideological aspects of the main series. Nocturne has some of the absolute best dungeon design of all time (though we didn't need three subway caverns). I'll get around to starting a general SMT topic when the next major game is announced. Does anyone have a DDS1 PS2 Classic save I could use for DDS2? Ideally with every transfer bonus, but I'll settle for just the bonus skills, non-Amala Rings, and the Soma. The imperfect (despite calling itself perfect) save on GFAQS doesn't seem to transfer to my PS3.

EO- more Atlus, what can I say? Challenging, traditional but with plenty of quality of life niceties and great character and team customization. Gotta love the sense of progression as you take a team of level 1 nothings struggling to survive on the first floor against random baddies, to the height of power able to rend FOEs without a blink by the time you're on the 6th Stratum. I'm a fan of bind/ailment teams. If there was a EO MMO, I'd probably be a War Magus/Arcanist/Dark Hunter/Nightseeker/Hexer.

FE- I'm particularly fond of Tellius, but I enjoy the whole series. I keep returning to it more than I do Mario or Zelda, which I do both love to the depths of my soul as well, but I never play quite so much of.

 

Kirby is another favorite, I'll never outgrow it. (Sadly the charm of Pokemon wore off once I learned of competitive battling and became unsatisfied with the single player experience, I still love it though.) I'm a bit worried about the series's future though.

Zelda will round out my top 5. My one genuine spiritual experience happened in front of a Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses poster. I have a terrible tendency to not finish the games (partly out of cowardice- bad childhood memories of Redeads, plus Like Likes have been creeping me out ever since they donned disguises for surprise shocks), but I still love the series very much. I love the mild blend of platforming, action, exploration, and puzzles; with a beloved mythos which has grown with every game.

 

A special shoutout to Tales of Symphonia- that game got me into JRPGs and began my awakening from innocence to reality. (A certain dystopian novel completed the awakening in a most rude manner.)

Edited May 8, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

#5: The Legend of Zelda. Zelda games are pretty nice. My favorite used to be Majora's Mask but then Breath of the Wild came in.

#4: Super Smash Bros. It's Smash Bros. Nuff said.

#3. Azure Striker Gunvolt: I typically don't play a lot of Indie Games. They are nice games but a lot of them haven't really caught my attention. Even the famous Shovel Knight wasn't that interesting to me at the time. But then i came across a game on the 3DS eShop called Azure Striker Gunvolt. I fell in love. Perfect, responsive controls, fair challenge, good replayabilty, decent story, characters and worldbuilding (assuming you're playing the updated version, as the original localization was kinda rushed), but best of all, the vocal songs. Most of Gunvolt's OST is nothing too special but the vocal songs are amazing. There are two versions to the vocal songs: the shortned versions for the game itself, and the full versions, which are avliable in the 3 vocal song albums the two games in the series has gotten, them being Azure Phospherecense (Azure Strikee Gunvolt), Into the Blue (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2) and Electro Rotation (Azure Striker Gunvolt 2). Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 has two vocal song albums because there are two Muses in the game, Joule (who returns from the first game), and Lola. Azure Striker Gunvolt is the reason why i love Inti Creates and decided to play some of their games, such as Mega Man Zero and the recently released, Blaster Master Zero.

#2. Xenoblade Chronicles: Like many, i was introduced to this series via Smash. I was really interested by Shulk and thankfully, Xenoblade Chronicles was ported over to the New 3DS. It is one of the besy JRPGs i have ever played. Great characters, story, worldbuilding, tons of quests (i will admit, some of the quests were tedious), and great battle system. I unfortunatly have not gotten the chance to play Xenoblade X, as i don't have a Wii U but i hope i get the chance someday. Really looking forward to Xenoblade 2 as well. Also, personally, the Xenoblade Chronicles series had the best music out of all Nintendo franchises.

#1. Fire Emblem. I technically started Fire Emblem with Sacred Stones but Awakening was the first one i ever beat. And Awakening made me fall in love with the series. Tons of likeable characters, decent stories (most of them), great gameplay (for the most part). I've played all FEs except the Tellius series, tho i've never beaten Gaiden and Thracia for diffent reasons (i liked Gaiden but it hadn't aged well and Thracia was just nope) My current favorite Fire Emblem is Binding Blade, with Blazing Blade at a close second. Though everything i've seen from Shadows of Valentia makes me think SoV will become my new favorite FE.

[TheGoodHoms]

1. Xenoblade Chronicles- Massive open worlds, fresh and engaging gameplay, lovable characters, great stories. The Xenoblade games are a rare case in which it's very hard to find a flaw that isn't a nitpick about them, except for the fact that even I realize they aren't going to be games for everyone, but if it looks even remotely interesting to you give it a shot.

2. Super Mario Bros.- I feel this one is pretty self explanatory, Mario has touched near every genre of game and it always turns it to something that is simply put, fun. I'll happily play any platformer, racer, sports, party, or RPG that this franchise manages to reinvent with a little bit of Mario's magic touch. As long as he doesn't own a hotel.

3. Guilty Gear- I admit I'm not the best fighting game player out there, but I still love the genre to death and Guilty Gear has topped them all. The game play is fast and flashy with an American Rock'n Roll style that I DIG SO MUCH!!!!! Guilty Gear honestly has the best soundtrack in any video game I've ever played and probably will never be topped. The characters also reflect the music motif well with references to several different rock bands hidden with their names, designs, and even their personalities.

4. Fire Emblem- The fact that I'm posting this on a Fire Emblem community's forms page speaks for itself.

5. Shante- A gem of an indie metroidvania series that just explodes with personality and charm you wont find in many modern games. Enduring characters, vibrant worlds, silly one liners, and creative levels that all combined have me smiling ear to ear every time I play. Much like Mario, Shante is a game I play just to remember that games above all else are supposed to be fun.

Honorable Mentions- The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Marvel vs Capcom, Super Smash Bros. and more that I probably missed here.

[Rapier]

On 07/05/2017 at 2:17 PM, Jedi said:

I'm still not quite ready to take the Alien language plunge just for Ao & Zero, but with how good 3rd is doing on Steam & GOG, I might not have to.

Yeah. I mean, I can't believe that a few years ago all we had was FC for the PSP and an actual SC translation for the PSP was only a remote possibility. We've come a long way.

[OakTree]

5. Inazuma Eleven: I like dumb stuff, sue me, i also love it when RPGs use unconventional gameplay systems, sucks i can't play Galaxy though.

4. Fire Emblem: I mean, we all like Fire Emblem, don't we?

3. Kirby: Kirby is one of these things that fall in the "If you don't like this, odds are likely you hate fun" alongside K-ON! and Spongebob.

2. Etrian Odyssey: My favorite RPG series, not only due to the heavy focus on gameplay, but also on it's incredible aesthetics (Specially on the newer games on the series), i could sing praises to how excellent the aesthetics and small tidbits of writing in the EO series in the series makes it's world feel more lived in than most other JRPGs, but i'm a terrible writer.

1. Team Ico: I know this doesn't count as a series, but i don't really care, the three games by Team Ico are some of my favorite games of all time, with all three having some spot in my personal top ten (With Ico being second only to Okami), these games are, to me, some of the best examples of what videogames can do as an art form, these are the kind of games (alongside anything by thatgamecompany) i will always recommend to anyone, even people who i know will hate them, simply because they are an experience too unique to not be played at least once.

Edited May 13, 2017 by OakTree

[Jedi]

On 5/12/2017 at 7:44 PM, Rapier said:

Yeah. I mean, I can't believe that a few years ago all we had was FC for the PSP and an actual SC translation for the PSP was only a remote possibility. We've come a long way.

I'm kinda glad I got into FC right when SC got properly localized on Steam so I didn't have the long wait. 

Although after beating 3rd now I'm back to waiting for Crossbell & Cold Steel 3.

 

46 minutes ago, shezzy said:

2. Shin Megami Tensei

Still haven't played SMT1 and a few of the spin offs, but for the most part this series hits all the right notes for me. An interesting usage of mythology, fun dungeon crawling, and killer aesthetics. Truly a unique experience among jrpgs, if anything, and if you're a fan of fire emblem I recommend giving this series a look too.

If you ever take the plunge into SMT1 I'd be happy to help because I have an unhealthy like of that game :P

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Quote

1. Tales of
2. Fire Emblem
3. Shin Megami Tensei (Devil Survivor > Persona > main games)
4. Sim City
5. Age of Empires

updated list:

1. Tales of
2. Fire Emblem
3. Shin Megami Tensei (including spin-offs)
4. The Legend of Heroes
5. Sim City