I’ll start by saying I had a bit of trouble wording the title but I’ll try to elaborate on it. I find it can be a bit daunting at times figuring out what a decent entry point is in a series of video games without searching online first. Sometimes there will be ten games released across three different generation of consoles with reboots, prequels, and remasters and you can feel a bit left out of the loop if you start with the most recent release.
I’m wondering where people would recommend starting in other popular series like Nier, Final Fantasy, Armored Core, Ace Combat, Assassins Creed, Metal Gear, Metroid, Resident Evil, and so on.
It might make for a fun bit of Friday discussion and encourage some people to try out some new games.
Here’s my example:
With the Fallout series I’d say you could easily start with any game because you have a new protagonist each time and a lot of the lore is reintroduced. The exception being Fallout 2 because it feels a bit more like a direct sequel to the original.
I would probably recommend Fallout New Vegas as a starting point because it’s the fan favorite, has a few quality of life upgrades over Fallout 3, Fallout 4 adds a lot of extra mechanics to the game so going backwards in the series if you wanted more Fallout could feel a tad awkward and take some readjusting if you are accustomed to them, and the classic Fallout games can be a bit of a challenge if you aren’t used to old school RPGs.
I started Wizardry 8 as my first one and it instantly became one of my favourites. Even though the story is somewhat continuation of 6 and 7, not knowing these is not a problem at all. It’s still interesting and well explained even for novice players. Much later I’ve tried both 6 and 7 and even though I felt I could like them and I even liked the hand made graphics, it was the user interface of the early 90s that was just too much for me.
Favourite Series - Recommended Entry Point
- Final Fantasy - VI
- Atelier - Sophie
- Dead or Alive - 5 Last Round
- Senran Kagura - Burst Renewal
- Romancing Saga - 2 Revenge of the Seven
Final Fantasy - VI
I actually think IV, but then skip to VI and go from there.
4 is better if you want an old school fixed-class character-driven JRPG. But 9 and 10 do that in a more modern way.
6 is better if you want an old-school blank-slate character-driven JRPG. But 7 and 8 do that in a more modern way.
7, 8, 9, and 10 are all retro themselves though.
5 is great if you want an old-school “character class” JRPG. And if you want it to be character-focused, you’ve gotta look at something like 10-2.
Recommending specific games from the franchise really depends on what someone is looking for.
I’ve heard you can pick and choose where to start with any sport franchise.
The Witcher. The first 2 games are real bad.
With Grand Theft Auto I would say you could start anywhere. Each game features a different protagonist and they play quite different to each other.
I would say playing 4 before 5 is probably a good idea because it doesn’t feel like as much of a tremendous leap compared to going from Vice City to San Andreas. Going from 5 back to 4 would probably make things like the car physics stand out even more.
I have a vague memory of some 2D ones early on
The first three GTAs were 2D
Except GTA III—what was 3D, hence the number
There was GTA, GTA London 1969, and GTA 2 all in the 2D era.
Aware
Any action/fighting/shmup franchise because the stories are typically nonexistent/shit anyway:
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Bayonetta: I recommend the original as a starting point for an authentic action experience, but Bayonetta 2 is more beginner-friendly.
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Devil May Cry: either 3, or 5 will work—3 if you’re after a challenging experience, and 5 if you’re looking for an insane combo simulator. 1 could work as an entry point, but it’s too old and will not appeal to everyone.
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Ninja Gaiden: I recommend the original Ninja Gaiden 2 on XBOX (not Sigma) if you’re after nonstop action, and Ninja Gaiden Black if you’re more of a souls-like fan.
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Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion is the superior game.
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Under Night In-Birth: I recommend Sys:Celes because it’s the only one with functional netcode.
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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax because it’s the only Persona Arena game, they just started at Persona 4, and the story has tie-ins for Persona 3 and 4.
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Guilty Gear: start with XX Accent Core Plus R if you need the “the most Guilty Gear” because every character has the most moves they’ve ever had throughout the series. -STRIVE- for beginners, and Xrd if you find XX inaccessible. OG Guilty Gear is a broken artifact, maybe to be admired, but not taken seriously.
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DoDonPachi: DaiOuJou: widely regarded as a shmup goat and the best DoDonPachi game. I recommend the Black Label release.
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counter strike!
Uncharted
You can pick up any game in the series and you get a complete story.
Plus imho, one of the best series in recent memory
Start with The Witcher 3 and head back to 2.
I was just thinking about witcher 1 while coming in this morning
Coming in what?
Monster Hunter. There’s tons of recurring stuff between games due to the nature of the series, but other than being able to go “hey, I recognize that from this other game!” there’s no reason to play the games in any particular order. I’d normally recommend World or Rise to new players, but with Wilds coming out in a month I’d say that’s the best option if you have the hardware for it. Wilds is a thematic sequel to World though, so starting with World before Wilds is something you might consider, though it’s not really necessary.
I haven’t actually played any of the old monster hunters before world, but from what I understand they are far more clunky, and you tend to fight the game almost as much as the monsters.
You aren’t wrong, they’re definitely significantly more clunky, but they also absolutely have their own charm to them. If you’re a fan of “older” game design they might really appeal to you. There’s a much greater focus on the out-of-hunt preparation phase, and while the lack of many QOL features might be frustrating to some players, to others it adds to the personality of the games. They’re definitely games worth trying if you’re interested in retro gaming, or in Monster Hunter history, and they’re all easily emulatable.
That being said though, most players should probably just stick to the newer games, it truly cannot be overstated how much of a leap World was for the franchise. The amount of quality of life features and gameplay improvements is staggering, and going backwards from that can be a bit jarring.
So many nice recommendations here but here are some of my recommendations in genres (in top 5 form). All of them have PC ports (but not all of the series may be available on PC)
Platformers:
- Rayman
- Sonic
- Wonder boy
- Shantae
- Trine
RPGs
- Final Fantasy
- Tales of Series
- Star Ocean
- Elder Scrolls
- Pathfinder
Some noteworthy mentions for RPGs
- YS
- Mana
Shooters:
- Medal of Honor
- Shadow Warrior
- Doom
- Call of Duty
- Wolfenstein
Puzzles, point and click: Note: This was very hard to list since most of them are standalone and those that are not have interesting plot lines that you will not appreciate unless you play in order such as Syberia, Gabriel Knight, Secret Files. Walking Dead)
- Myst (You can play in any order but it would be nice to play the sequels or prequels)
- Broken Sword (Don’t touch 4 and 5 but you can play in any order and it would be nice to play the sequels or prequels)
- Life is Strange (1 and 2 are standalone stories)
- of Loathing series (It has turned based combat but very fun)
- Nancy Drew
I would say I prefer them in the chronological order of their release date. Some of the series I have listed completely have either loosely, small references or completely standalone only sharing a “franchise name”
Do none of the Final Fantasy involve each other?
SLR got busy IRL, well most are standalones.
There are some games in the series that has some sort of connection like X and VII through Shinra or Tactics and XII sharing the same world.
There are direct sequels though like X and X-2 or the XIII trilogy but they are not the norm
The witcher 3 can be played with a great experience even with no background on the series!
I started with number 2 and felt a bit lost. I wonder if it would have been easier to start with 3 in that case.
I think genuinely yeah. 2 built on 1 iirc. 3 is sort of its own thing insofar as the overall story arc
Good to hear. I tried to start with 1, but just can’t do with those controls.
I try to forget but it haunts me
The story of witcher 1 is still quite good and worth experiencing. I’d suggest playing it on easy only so the bad gameplay doesn’t matter too much.
For Metroid, start with 2, then Super is a big step up in terms of feel and gameplay. The first one doesn’t explain anything at all, and compared to modern standards feels quite clunky and tedious (you have to find multiple secret passages to finish the game normally, for example.) It’s worth playing if you’re in the mood for NES-era retro gaming, but it can be frustrating trying to figure it out on your own.
For lore, Fusion is next, followed by Dread. I didn’t like Fusion, felt too hand-holdy for me, I would skip it but many seem to like it. Dread is worth playing on its own though. It’s a much faster pace, more action-oriented gameplay. Fusion added a horror element to the game, but for the most part it’s more for vibe than gameplay reasons. Dread took that scary vibe and moved it into the gameplay.
The Prime series I think is a separate canon story. They can definitely be played independently. They follow a storyline and are direct sequels to each other, but gameplay-wise they don’t require playing other games before. You don’t unlock any important knowledge relevant to one game from playing the previous one.
Substitute 1 with Zero Mission, which is a much better remake.
Counter Strike
commander keen. there really is no need to play 1-3, 4-6 is where it’s at. just make sure you pirate the non-buggy version (there’s a broken version of one or more of these games floating around abandonware sites where it looks like it works but the save game feature forgets to save your keys, which breaks some of the levels if you reload).
