Popular game series you never played or were late to

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

While I had always been aware of it culturally, my first Resident Evil was 7: Biohazard.

I've never played an Assassin's Creed or Far Cry game.

[Fynn]

Well there’s tons, but if you only count those that I really want to get into at one point but still haven’t had the chance, then Dark Souls and the Legend of Heroes series are top picks.

[Wolf Kanno]

I was very late to the Dark Souls train, finally jumping in around the time the final installment came out.

For series I've been meaning to jump into, probably Legend of Heroes and VNs.

[WarZidane]

None that are really popular (or were popular when I got into them), but Yakuza took me a while, got into that with Yakuza 4.

There's also SaGa, which I kind of want to try but haven't yet (apart from like 30 minutes of Unlimited SaGa when it came with some FFX thing)

[Wolf Kanno]

There's also SaGa, which I kind of want to try but haven't yet (apart from like 30 minutes of Unlimited SaGa when it came with some FFX thing)

If you want to venture into SaGa, I'd start with either Romancing SaGa 2 or one of the SaGa Frontier titles. The first one introduces most of the series gameplay features in a sensible way before they became legacy elements while also being simple enough to easily jump in, whereas the Frontier series tends to be a bit more story-centric than the rest of the franchise which is a nice jumping in point for people who love RPGs more for plot and characters.

[Vermachtnis]

Also going to say Legend of Heroes. I'm love Falcom and Ys, but never got around to picking up the Legend of Heroes series. And Yakuza and Bayonetta.

[Karifean]

I want to get into Ys proper. Ys VIII was fucking glorious, and I have like seven games before that to catch up on. There's a lot of popular game series I never played but have no real interest in either, there'd be too many to count. But Ys is a series I'm genuinely interested in getting deep into.

Glad to see so many Legend of Heroes picks =P

[Freya]

Persona.

I have like zero interest in the series but everyone adores it.

[Lord Golbez]

There are lots of popular series I've never played. Most of them I reckon. Most of them are also ones I have no interest in or only bare knowledge of their existence. As far as ones I've been late too... aside from things like FF, Zelda, Mario, and such, I figure I've also been late to many or most series I'm into. Am I late to Persona because I started with P3 FES or is that pretty normal. Probably late to God of War, because I only played the last entry. I was late to Katamari. People had already gotten tired of the lackluster sequels by the time I played the first one. I could probably go on and on with this topic.

[Darkhero]

A lot, since I never owned a Playstation system (though i did play some PS2 games back in the day including the first KH). Metal Gear and Persona are probably the biggest franchises that I was late too but am a fan of now, also Legend of Heroes and Metroid (I had Fusion but the cart was broken).

I still need to play DQ4 at some point as well.

Also can't forget Touhou, I was sort of aware of the franchise for a long time but never played a game until last year.

[Wolf Kanno]

One I didn't necessarily get into late, nor never played, but certainly falls into the category of, "I got on the train, and at the first stop I got off real fast to pick up a snack. When I returned, the train had left me behind and I never caught up again" would be Pokemon. Played first gen when it came out, loved it, and... never played another entry until maybe a few years ago when the Pokemon GO craze inspired me to check the series out again, and then I quickly moved onto something else.

[Fynn]

Oh yeah, I was super late to DQ too. Now it’s ons of my all time favs

[maybee]

Never played a Donkey Kong game apart from the arcade original. Should really get on that.

[Sarisa]

I've never played any of the previous titles mentioned in this thread, nor do I tend to play most mainstream games. In the rare event that I do it's usually years after they've come out as it's the only way I could afford them since both the game and the system would be significantly cheaper by that point. For reference I was playing used Final Fantasy PSX titles on a used PS2 after the PS3 had already come out. It's kind of why I tend to stick to PC indie titles these days as I don't have to keep getting new hardware and the games are usually pretty cheap to start with (and Steam has great sales around Christmas).


I was very late to the Dark Souls train, finally jumping in around the time the final installment came out.

For series I've been meaning to jump into, probably Legend of Heroes and VNs.

If you need VN recommendations I'd be happy to give you some. There's always the popular stuff like Stein's Gate, but I tend to prefer more niche titles myself. I've actually made some recommendation posts on these forums already:

http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/172189-Your-games-of-the-year?p=3692780#post3692780

http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/171489-The-Thread-of-Free-Video-Games?p=3685601&viewfull=1#post3685601

(http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/171489-The-Thread-of-Free-Video-Games?p=3685601&viewfull=1#post3685601)http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/171966-Horror-Games?p=3693239#post3693239
(http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/171489-The-Thread-of-Free-Video-Games?p=3685601&viewfull=1#post3685601) (http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread.php/171489-The-Thread-of-Free-Video-Games?p=3685601&viewfull=1#post3685601)

[Scruffington]

Kingdom Hearts.

Tried to get into the original Kingdom Hearts about 7 times. Gave up every time because I just got bored or had other games I was more interested in. During my winter break in December of 2018, I ended up binging KH1 and KH2 back to back. Got 100% in both titles just in time to play KH3 on release.

[Vyk]

One I didn't necessarily get into late, nor never played, but certainly falls into the category of, "I got on the train, and at the first stop I got off real fast to pick up a snack. When I returned, the train had left me behind and I never caught up again" would be Pokemon. Played first gen when it came out, loved it, and... never played another entry until maybe a few years ago when the Pokemon GO craze inspired me to check the series out again, and then I quickly moved onto something else.
This was kind of me. I got the original Pokemon in my late teens, beyond the intended audience age, on the Gameboy Color. It was popular enough to at least give it a glance. And I got to maybe the second Gym? And I just had to quit, there was no driving factor in the game at all. You just walk around and fight. I'm seriously not sure how the series has proliferated the way it has, especially with the stigma that adults play and enjoy it more than children do. I had a colleague at my job a couple years ago who was 29 and obsessed with the series. I have no idea how a grown adult can enjoy something so empty and devoid of story and character development, other lesser games get derided for only having one note, but Pokemon not only gets a pass, it gets praise for it. I tried whatever game was the last set on the original DS through a ROM, and felt it was more of the same, just prettier. So I was happy to have missed that train. I will say I was amazed at how Pokemon Go went over. The camaraderie that strangers suddenly had with each other in the streets was kinda magical. So full praise for that, but that wasn't even made by the same team, so it's kind of its own thing

[Scruffington]

This was kind of me. I got the original Pokemon in my late teens, beyond the intended audience age, on the Gameboy Color. It was popular enough to at least give it a glance. And I got to maybe the second Gym? And I just had to quit, there was no driving factor in the game at all. You just walk around and fight. I'm seriously not sure how the series has proliferated the way it has

Because the games have evolved drastically over time. Each new generation has brought forth a new setting, a plethora of new Pokemon, and several new mechanics / features in each installment. It's not like the series has just stagnated for 24 years.


especially with the stigma that adults play and enjoy it more than children do. I had a colleague at my job a couple years ago who was 29 and obsessed with the series. I have no idea how a grown adult can enjoy something so empty and devoid of story and character development, other lesser games get derided for only having one note, but Pokemon not only gets a pass, it gets praise for it.

I take issue with these statements. Your use of the term "stigma" doesn't make much sense in this context; are you implying that people who are older players of the Pokemon series have a "stigma" because they aren't the intended demographic?

There isn't any confirmation of the Pokemon playerbase demographics. About the only information we have from Nintendo is a financial briefing from several years ago for Pokemon Sun and Moon, which stated that Generation VII pulled in more players in their 20s and 30s compared to previous titles. That doesn't indicate that the number of adults surpasses the number of children playing the game, only that there are now more adults playing Pokemon.

The biggest problem I have is your somewhat dictatorial approach to what a 29-year-old colleague can or can't enjoy. Why are you using his age as a way to undercut his enjoyment of the series? Why does him being 29 years old invalidate his opinion? Not everyone has to be invested in story and character development to enjoy a game. People can enjoy games purely for their gameplay, their unique settings, their artistic representations, their music, etc. Attempting to undercut someone's enjoyment of games because they are "devoid of story and character development" -- which is untrue, by the way -- completely ignores the multitude of ways that people enjoy gaming.

Furthermore, the Pokemon games have evolved in their complexity in terms of storytelling and character development as the series has progressed. I won't pretend that the Pokemon series is becoming like Sony where they're invested in dramatic storytelling -- because that isn't the purpose of the series to begin with -- but the series has increasingly placed the story at the forefront of the games. Characters like N from Pokemon Black and White, and Lillie from Pokemon Sun and Moon undergo dramatic character development as the game progresses. So the series is anything but "devoid of story and character development." It's there; you're just dismissing it in its entirety.

In conclusion, people can enjoy games for whatever reason they want to. Someone who strictly plays multiplayer games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has no more valid of an opinion about gaming than I do. Everyone enjoys gaming in their own way, and people of all ages can look for different things in a video game.

[RedPrince]

I'm also a late newcomer to Dark Souls series. This franchise got sucked me in right after getting DS Remastered and then I decided to beat the other games in order: DS2, DS2 SotFS, DS3, Bloodborne, Sekiro... Haven't tried Demon Souls though and not planning to.

[Cell]

I still haven't bothered with Dark Souls.

You could count Kingdom Hearts I guess, played the first ten minutes of the first game and switched it off and never bothered with the rest of the series.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm also a late newcomer to Dark Souls series. This franchise got sucked me in right after getting DS Remastered and then I decided to beat the other games in order: DS2, DS2 SotFS, DS3, Bloodborne, Sekiro... Haven't tried Demon Souls though and not planning to.

Curious to know why you're going to skip Demon's Souls?

[Vermachtnis]

I need to go back and play Demon's Souls at some point too.

[Rez09]

Yeah, I haven't touched Dark Souls either -- I hear nothing but good things, but nothing I've seen of the games pulls me in. I did play King's Field way back when, and I hear the series is a spiritual successor, but I didn't especially care for what I played of field, soo . . . meh.

[Lord Golbez]

Nothing about Dark Souls remotely interests me. Definitely counts as one I've never played, but I won't be late to it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Dark Souls appeal really comes from wanting to play a series that is more lore based in it's plot, and open ended in it's gameplay structure. With that said, it's not for everyone, especially if you prefer traditional narrative stories versus one where you kind of have to figure out the plot yourself. The core gameplay is super fun though.

I remembered another one for myself. Uncharted series. The real funny thing here is that I actually own the first four games, I've just never had a chance to sit down and play through all of them. The most I've played is a demo of the first game.