Topic: The Universal New To The Series Recommendations Thread

This is a thread for people who are new to a certain series and want to know which game is the best to start with.
_{hope this won't be locked...}

Anyway, sometime in the distant future (When I have more money, more time, and less incomplete games), I may buy a Castlevania game. It'll be my first Castlevania game, so which game do you recommend for me to start with? (Only Nintendo systems OR PSP)

@Qwikman Aria of Sorrow (GBA) is my suggestion for a first Castlevania game. It's the game which started the new games' Metroidvania style, it has a good difficulty curve and it has an epic storyline. Don't play Dawn of Sorrow first, whatever you do - it has MAJOR spoilers for Aria, being a direct sequel. Aria also has the original style of artwork by Ayame Kojima, which is a huge bonus.

What would be a good first classic Mega Man game to play? I've only played 8 on the Saturn and... I didn't like it. I played the MM9 demo on a friend's Wii years ago and that was pretty cool.

@Mackeral- Alright I'll check it out the next time I go to GameStop. For Mega Man games, I'd go with Mega Man 2. It's perfect on every level, from difficulty to graphics to music to gameplay. As long as you have a Wii or NES of course.

Would Suikoden III be a good starting place for the Suikoden series? I also agree that Mega Man 2 is a good starting spot for the Mega Man series. For those interested in the old school castlevanias, I suggest the original, as its the most classic, and the rest of the series builds off its design. For the new school CVs, I suggest Symphony of the Night if you have access to it, or Aria of Sorrow if you'd unable to obtain the superior alternative for whatever reason.

Oh, and what's a good game to get into Dragon Quest with?

Megaman 8 is the least liked original series Megaman game in existence so it's not a good one to start with (or play at all by some standards). That's the only one I haven't played. Megaman 2 is most people's favorite and both 2 & 3 are more forgiving than the new 9 & 10.

For Castlevania Dracula X Rondo of Blood is awesome and is sort of a bridge between the original games and the newer style games. Symphony of the Night is usually considered the best of the newer style games or even the best Castlevania game ever. The earlier games have their charm though they aren't as deep. Castlevania 3 is a favorite from the NES days. But the original Castlevania for the Sharp X68000 was really quite nice and there was a port of it to the original Playstation. It's quite a lot better than the NES version.

I only have experience with Suikoden I & II but I had heard that the newer ones strayed from the original formula and some people didn't like them as much. I just remember the first two games had 100 characters or more which was kind of cool but also hard to choose party members! Great RPG's though.

@MIckeymac I'm terrible when I say you should start the Suikoden series with II, but I'm also right. I and II are fantastic and neither of them sell for cheap - especially II, which is the best of the series. IV is generally regarded as the worst.

@JebbyDeringer Suikodens III to V have over 100 characters as well, and have expanding castles (IV has a ship I think), etc. V returns to a similar style to II and is quite good, but it also feels too generic to really stand out.

Probably DQV. One of the best in the series (maybe the best overall?), and the DS version is great. DQIV would also be a good choice.

Ok I could be wrong here but I thought Symphony of the Night was the game which started that style.

@Tasuki Oh yeah, you're right. I haven't played SotN so I wouldn't know. I think Aria expanded the RPG elements of the game much further than SotN though.

It did. In fact, that's why I didn't like Aria of Sorrow. You could ignore the RPG elements outside of quick equipment upgrades in the other Metroidvanias, but in Aria, it felt like the RPG elements were more important, and they just don't feel right in a Castlevania game, IMO.

Also, why does everyone like to recommend the most expensive games in each series? That just sounds like a very bad idea. Would you buy the most expensive game in a series that they don't even know if you'll like? I wouldn't. I'd go with a cheaper alternative so in case I don't like it, it doesn't break the bank. I mea sure, some of those cheaper alternatives suck, but unless every game in the series sucks besides one, I think it shouldn't be that hard to find a good game in the series that doesn't cost a fortune.

looks like there was a thread for this ma...

I think this one's more specific, IMO.

they're both asking the exact same thing which is the best starter to a series, just worded differently is all.

I recommend starting the Mario Bros. series of platformers with Super Mario Bros. 1, Super Mario World, or Super Mario 64, as the series has built heavily off of those 3 in particular.

I recommend starting the Sonic series with Sonic 2 or Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, as again, the series was built off of those games heavily over time, especially Sonic 2.

This is a problem if the series is hit-or-miss or if the games vary wildly within the series.

I would not recommend a sub-par sequel over an expensive original. That would be setting people up to dislike a series with some worthwhile entries.

I didn't just recommend Suikoden II without reason. Suikoden III and IV have many more flaws than II, mostly due to experimentation. IV in particular is seen as the worst in the series. Suikoden V is something of a pale imitation of II. It's still good, but it feels too generic to capture the best of the series. Suikoden II made graphical and gameplay improvements over I. II is generally regarded to have the best story in the series - and one of the best stories in any JRPG. This is why I recommended II. I have no problems recommending the pinnacle of the series if it is also a good entry point in to the series.

Now if graphics are very important to you (and I don't know if they are), then I would not recommend II, but III or V. II is an early Playstation title and has old-fashioned sprites. Add this to the battle scenes which have pixelated sprites over blocky, blurry 3D backgrounds which suffer due to zooming and scaling effects and you have a game that would be considered ugly these days. That said, Suikoden II has the most impressive and flashiest spell effects of any game in the series. III and V have awkwardly-animated 3D graphics but are passable, if a little low-tech by today's standards.

Generally, opinion on the numbered titles is: II > I > V ~= III > IV

Good reasonings. However, IMO, if another games in the series is good enough, why not recommend that? Surely Suikoden II isn't the only good game? I personally can't justify paying $100 for a game in a series I've never played, so an alternative is almost a must. Besides, and maybe I'm just unique in this regard, but I find that when I play the best and most impressive game in a series first, I find it very difficult to enjoy the rest of the games in that series, since they end up paling in comparison. For instance, when I started the Metroidvania series of Castlevanias, I started with SotN. Now SotN is basically the only game in the series I really like, since the rest pale in comparison. In fact, in retrospect, I take back that recommendation I made earlier and replace it with Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow.

Well I suppose that makes sense. It differs for everyone. I like to play the best of the series first if I can, as long as it's a good gateway game. This is because I want the best experience out of the games I buy. If I like the best in the series, I'll be enthusiastic enough to try the others too, flaws included.

Suikoden V, then, would be the choice for you.

I guess I really should get SotN some time then, because I love the new Castlevanias.

Thank you. Suikoden V was the one I wanted most, anyways. I already got Suikoden III, but if I like that, SV will be the one I'll get next.

And I had a friend who played all the castlevanias before ever trying Symphony of the Night, and when he did, he was still impressed with it. Trust me, it's a fantastic game, and I'm sure you'll love it.

Bump.

Anyway, thanks for the info, people. I think I'll try the CastleVania series by first buying CV 3 on the VC then buying a package deal on the PSP with Rondo of Blood and SotN if I like 3. I saw it used at a local GameStop for about $15.

Cool, hope you like them. I gotta warn you, though, CV3 is frustrating and even pretty, blantantly cheap at times, and can even be down right evil. Honestly you're just diving in there. Good luck.