What game series are consistently good?

Demon

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I thought I would ask this since there are a lot of game series with poor entries. And since I can't say what a good series is since I'm asking you, I'll provide an example of an inconsistent series:

Final Fantasy - the latest ones seem to have, apparently, taken a turn for the worst in most people's eyes. The reception of XIII isn't as good as the reception of most games in the series.
 
Castlevania. This is perhaps the best example of a consistently good series. Every handheld instalment since Circle of the Moon has been incredible, and even the console games are fantastic.

Star Ocean. Another good example. Whilst SO3 has it's faults - well, the only fault I can think of is that damned MP system - it's still an incredible game, with a brilliant battle system, a good storyline, a several hours to it. The PSP remakes of the first two games were brilliant, and I consider The Last Hope to be one of the best RPGs to ever be released.

God of War. Y'know, even though I wasn't overly keen on Ghost of Sparta, I'm going to give this series it's due credit: all of them have provided epic, bloody action with one hell of a soundtrack. Not as good as people make it out to be, but still good nonetheless.

Disgaea. Remains the best SRPG series in existence, in my opinion. This is mindless grinding and insane difficulty and it's finest - where the humour has been declining, the battle system has been growing, which balances things out fairly well, in my opinion. Even though the second and third weren't as funny as the first, they definetely had their moments, and the Disgaea series is very consistent indeed.

Before last year, Metroid and Pokemon would have also been on this list. However, Other M and Black/White have definetely removed them from the playing field entirely. Dawn of the New World has also kept the Tales series off the list, as well.

Also, I'm not including series with three games or less. If I was including those, then Luminous Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics, Mass Effect and Ninety-Nine Nights would also be added to that list.
 
I'm going to list Kingdom Hearts. Although a lot of people are getting tired of the spin offs it doesn't mean they're bad games and they constantly get good reviews.
Great characters, great although confusing story and great gameplay!
 
Ratchet & Clank games are consistently strong. Deadlocked didn't do much for me, but that game focused more on multiplayer than on campaign. Otherwise, all of 'em kick ass.

Others...

Kingdom Hearts (though I don't care much for the hordes of handheld titles)
Metroid (with the exception of Metroid Other M)
The Legend of Zelda
Tales (Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, etc...)
Metal Gear Solid
Pokemon (they're all basically the same game, but they're all good)
 
I'm always fond the WWE SmackdownVSRaw series to be off high quality.
not the right game for most but I ignore the regular wrestlerts and create my own which alot of fun and I a play all year long.

Definitly Star Ocean:ryan: Ive played 2,3 & 4 with 3 being the best of the bunch.
Tomb Raider is a bit iffy but has come back well in recent years I think.

Marvel RPGS like Xmen and Ultimate alliance are good games but not for the masses, great for me though:D

Its hard to not say FF coz I have most of the main sequence games in my collection,
i suppose the past success make up for the lesser efforts of recent years.
 
i recommend the Valkyrie Profile games. They're non-traditional RPG's (save for the DS spinoff which is an SRPG) and have a quirky story to tell about gods, mortals, and valkyries of norse mythology. they're also fairly difficult so you won't be bored with combat after a few hours. the battle system is also markedly different from usual RPGs.
 
The Wing Commander series was good.
I would say the Metal Gear series was also relatively good, Megaman too. I can't exactly consistently good about pokemon, but consistent I suppose.

I'm honestly having a hard time coming up with series that didnt fuck up at one point. Besides I'm trying to avoid series with less than 4 games. Maybe The Elder Scrolls? I wouldn't know.
 
Star Ocean was a great series with amazing story and gameplay (for the time they were realsed mind you)

Chrono Series- Yes theres only two games in it, but they were both great games and intresting story lines and had you hooked till the end of time :D

Suikoden series- I really liked this series too, very instresting gameplay, and side things, and lots of characters and intresting story to add to the games

Dynasty warriors- something about these games never gets old for me... slashing through hundreds of not thousands of soldiers with one guy just makes me think... im kick A**

Shining Series- Mainly the early sega games Shining in darkness-Shining Force 3 were amazing, I havn't really tried any of the newer Shining games, but I havn't heard anything really good about them so I'm kinda nervous.

Most recently

valkyria chronicles- had intresting story line with good main characters and a very intresting gameplay, should give these games a try if you havn't touched them yet.
 
I agree with the Valkyrie Profile series, Valkyrie Profile Lenneth is the best rpg for the PSP imo, and although its PS2 prequel Valkyrie Profile Sylmeria is not AS amazing, it's still pretty good. VPL has such a great storyline and it has three possible endings, so be careful with your decisions. :P the story has sad parts, epic parts, and even lovey parts, a bit of everything I like. :D

Dragon Age, does this count as a series? It has a bunch of DLC spinoff stuff and Dragon Age 2 is coming out soon, so I'm calling it a series. ^_^ It's a hardcore fantasy game with elves, dwarves, dragons, and demons. What I like about this is that you create your character, and you can actually REALLY interact with your party members. You can make them hate you and leave you, or like you and even fall in love with you with your choices and stuff.
....it's just so epic. A brilliant game. :x3:
 
Ah, Valkyrie Profile...I've played both games and I was left very satisfied and lusting for more. I did prefer the original (which I finally got to play on my PSP) and I actually found myself drawn in to some of the more tragic character recruitment scenes.

In addition, I'll agree with Aerith above me and say Dragon Age as well. Frankly, it's nice to see an adult orientated and in depth RPG that full of grit and tasteful humour. Each character was built up nicely, and I have faith that the sequel will follow suit.

Finally, I'll list the Metal Gear Solid series. I've enjoyed each of the games I've played so far! Oh, and as an afterthought...the obscure Forbidden Siren series. Underrated, but interesting in my opinion.
 
GalaxyFlare said:
I'm always fond the WWE SmackdownVSRaw series to be off high quality.
Personally I think the series kinda went down hill when it changed from Smackdown to Smackdown VS Raw. For me I've seen a lack of real innovation since the name change. Though to be fair, I haven't played the most recent few. It is still probably the best wrestling series out though.

Metal Gear Solid: Aside from the Acid spinoff's I have yet to play a bad MGS game. As far as I'm concerned all of the main games in the series are classics; great game play, superb storytelling and plenty of replay value.

Uncharted: Although it is a fairly young series with only two installments so far, it looks very promising indeed. Both games have had great Indiana Jonesesque stories with lovable characters and simple, but addictive game play.

Resident Evil: Bar the dodgy spin offs, this series has been consistently good for me. The stories have always drawn me in and I always end up loving the characters. I absolutely loved the game play of the first few games: 1,2 and 3 (plus Code Veronica and Zero). But despite the fact that they drastically changed the game play for 4 and 5, I still have much love for this series.

Final Fantasy: Despite the fact that the newer FF's don't really live up to the standard of the older FF's, they aren't exactly horrible. So I still like this series.
 
With ever series, I feel that there is at least one title that I am disappointed in, except one.

Harvest Moon. I dunno, but I enjoy virtual farming and dating I guess XD And I haven't really been disappointed with an entry yet even though have gotten poor reviews. Maybe it's just blind fan love I dunno.
 
I have a few:

Silent Hill: Love them all. Some of the most disturbing games ever made, and they consistently scare the living shit out of me. Even Shattered Memories was interesting.

Final Fantasy: It's not inconsistent to me. I find them all to be of consistent quality, with good game play, good story, and good ideas abundant. Even the entry I woudl considered bad are a step above the common game.

Chrono Series: Two games but two amazing games. Great stories, good characters, great battle systems, and all make these games so much fun and so good.

Xenosaga: A trilogy of masterpieces. The deepest and most thought out story to ever make it into a game, with characters that you'll love to death, then hate because for a while, then love to death again. They're all so dynamic.

Suikoden: Everyone I've played is amazing, and fun. It's awesome to collect all the characters, and I adore the entire concept of the series.

And that's it for now.
 
Professor Layton - critics say that once you have played the first game, you've pretty much played all the other subsequent games because the puzzle format stays more or less than the same. To contest that, it's not like the second and third games have been exactly the same as the first at all. New puzzles come in and make things fresh, there are the deep and interesting storylines to get into and if you're a fan of the first game like I am, having sequels that are more or less the same is no bad thing particularly as they're all enjoyable.

Uncharted - yeah, we're only two games in with a third one coming in on the horizon and one for the NGP, but the quality so far has secured Uncharted as being one of the PS3's AAA exclusives. And there's virtually no one who contests this. True, it may not be the most original of ideas, but Naughty Dog has executed it really well, with pretty much spot on gameplay, voice acting, character dialogues and storyline scripts.

Legend of Zelda - I'm counting the main Zelda games here as well as the pretty enjoyable DS ones. The thing I love about this franchise is, I've yet to really come across a bad entry. Yes, they do frustrate me a lot at times, but you go into the Zelda games expecting that to happen to you. In this instance I don't care if the games are pretty weak and repetitive when it comes to storylines (though Twilight Princess has quite a compelling storyline), that isn't really the main point of the Zelda games. As long as the dungeons continue to feature cunningly crafted puzzles and interesting bosses, I'm sold for at least the next few games.

Disgaea - Prinnies, need I say more? Disgaea is one of those games that keeps you occupied for at least...forever seemingly. It's a turn-based strategy-RPG, though actually really compelling to play, with so many characters to make and customise, an array of ridiculous weapons and general comical storylines thrown in. The first one continues to hold a place in my heart for having the funniest storyline yet while its sequels haven't quite achieved the same level of comedy success, but they're still great games to invest a lot of time in. Dood.

Valkyrie Profile - right, I know there have only been two main games and one strategy-RPG spinoff for the DS (which I haven't touched), but the two games in themselves have done enough to secure a place in my list. I would argue that the sequel Silmeria is the better game in my opinion because I personally disliked the time limit conditions of the first game. That doesn't make the first game bad at all - in fact, both games feature some of the most interesting methods of battling and dungeon navigation I've seen yet from JRPGs. There's something strangely enticing with how they tackle 2D dungeons, while the overarching story in itself is pretty dark and engrossing - despite the initial complex nature of it.
 
My List

Heres a list i came up with. Enjoy.

1)Final Fantasy(up untill FFXII)
2)Mortal Kombat
3)Metal Gear(and its may awsome sequels/prequels)
4)WWE games(particularly the Smackdown vs. Raw series)
5)the Xenogears series
6)the Hitman series
7)Every TEKKEN ever made:highfive:
8)crap i almost forgot about the RESIDENT EVIL series
 
I would have to agree that the latest Final Fantasy games seem to be quite weak. I would have to say the most consistent games for me have been, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. The Resident Evil battle system has been improving a lot in my opinion, and Metal Gear is still just amazing with a consistently catchy storyline. :awesome:
 
Dragon age, awesome awesome awesome game. Nothing negative to say about it. Dragon age 2 looks very promising as well.

Uncharted. The first two games were amazing and they are high in my top game lists. Uncharted 3´s trailer looked amazing and the gameplay as well.

Zelda- I've only played the gameboy series and they were all good. especially the two you could link. I've played each game at least 4 times. Don;t know yet about the nintendo zelda's, will try them once.

Final fantasy - Even when I dont like a FF game that much I keep on playing it more than once anyways xD
 
Girl Gamer in the house...

Final Fantasy -- I wouldn't really class myself as consistant but I would say I'm rather jolly good.

Metal Gear -- How could NOT try and be consistant to that handsome badass dude?

Street Fighter -- Super Street Fighter 4 to be exact, maining Adon, B+ and rising 8)

Vanquish -- Eventhough it's offline only, I can say I'm consistant at it.

Bioshock -- Yes baby. Bioshock.

 
The Elder Scrolls series have been consistently good from the very first one made, and they have all been increasingly better than the last. I can hardly wait for Skyrim, and I'm hoping the one after that is in Elsewere, land of the Khajiit.

For the most part, the Breath of Fire series has also been awesome, excluding the last one (Bof 5) which was a complete piece of trash and the worst game to end the series off with.

The Shining series is also an epicly good seires. I fell in love with the series back with the Sega Saturn 'Shining the Holy Ark', and that then flowed into my next favorite (And most played) Shining Tears. The other shining games are all epic, and each one has vastly different story lines, much like the Final Fantasy series.

And speaking of which, the FF games have been very good, with only a few exceptions. A2 and Reverent Wings were not that good IMHO, and I really didn't like XI online.

Bioshock has got to be one of the very few shooter games that I not only play, but love to play. Hacking, turning enemies against each other, the surprising twists and turns and the shear epicness of everything.

The Dragon Quest series is also full of epic goodness. Despite the very DBZ art style, each game is just awesome in storylines, customization of fighting styles for each character, and hilarity.

While I love Dragon Age, I can't really consider it a series just yet, as there's only been Origins and Awakening, which isn't a sequel, it's just an addition, much like how Bloodmoon was an addition to Morrowind. Once DA2 comes out, I'll add it to my list of loved series.

Star Fox is the only flight game series I have ever loved, though Command was pretty much a slap in the face, and very difficult to 'do a barrel roll' with the stylus while trying to blast stuff and dodge with the directional pad. Adventures was simply beautifully done.

Ace Attorney is fun, interactive with a magnificent storyline, moral dilemmas and puzzle solving.
 
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Disgaea is my favourite video game series of all time, so of course I consistently enjoy these strategy role playing games, they all have insane replay value, and can actually make you laugh out loud. Again. And again.

They are just really fun and addictive games, and even though overall, Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days is technically my favourite, story-wise alone I definitely find the first Disgaea game to be the best in that area, in both humour and in seriousness (mostly for events in the latter part of the game, in the second half (end of Chapter 8 is moving).

Final Fantasy may have had some more recent questionable releases that have received some mixed feelings/responses, perhaps even leaning toward the negative side, but considering it is a very large series with having so many games.

All games considered, many of the games right up to (and including) Final Fantasy X are at least quite good, some are great, and some are simply something very special, VII and VIII are my favourite FFs, X being next up. Won't elaborate on this one, since this is FFF, you should all know about it pretty well. :P

The Legend of Zelda is, aside from the cartoony ones, not big on those, and they are way overdoing it imo, but anyways, setting Wind Waker and the DS games that take on a similar look, using that same cartoon-like style, the series has had it's share of really, very solid games.

Truly taken to a whole new level when Ocarina of Time was released on the N64, the game saw it's share of awards, game of the year amongst them. My personal favourite though, is, if you can believe it, Twilight Princess. Why? I like the storyline involving that Midna character, and love playing as a Wolf. ^_^
 
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