A problem with this kind of polls is that only a minority have actually tried all those series. Hard to judge which one is the best unless one has actually tried them and can therefore compare them.
I am not really a huge Ultima fan but when you consider the history and trend setting of that series I just can't think any series IN TOtAL that deserves it more. Even if there are individual games I like more.
Modern CRPGS just owe so much to Ultima 4/5/6/7 then you have Ultima Underworld which basically sort of redefined RPGs and paved the way for action RPG style stuff. And then Ultima online. And every one of those games is so deep and rich compared to msot of its comteporaries or even its decendants that its pretty amazing.
People who think Mass Effect is somehow amazing because of choices ... Ultima puts those games to shame. Complete shame.
Hate on Richard Garriot all you want, but when you compare the body of work from Akallabeth to Ultima Online to the rest of the entire RPG genre its pretty darn striking.
Well... except for the part about "NOT really a huge Ultima fan", because some of my best memories of gaming were sitting with a couple of my best friends and playing Ultima 4 side-by-side.
Sorry I just preferred Bard's Tale and Might and Magic. Personal taste. But I know what the Ultima series contributed and there is no other series like it really.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
I voted Final Fantasy because of FFT. I put a lot of time into VII VIII and IX, even some time into X but FFT I've clocked... well I'm pretty sure I'm into the thousands of hours, and thats with only about $100 of investment, whereas WoW which I've also put I assume thousands of hours into has cost me well over $1200 in mostly monthless fees and expansions.
But outside of that, the Sim series was also an alltime favorite of mine (no, not The Sims). Sim City was fun for a long time, with Sim City 2000 giving me lots of trouble as a kid. I also played tons of Sim Ant, Sim Tower (a personal favorite) and Sim Farm. Heck I even got Sim Golf, though that one I didn't play too much.
Underrated series of games really, I bet a lot of you guys out there grew up with at least one of those. I know tons of people who played Sim Ant as a kid.
EDIT: Sim Farm, not Sim Far.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
Sorry i don't like to lump it into an all or nothing,i liked several series.I move with the times,as new series opened up i enjoyed them,if i thought they were good.
I guess the timeline is a better way to put it.I loved the Might nMagic series,i loved the Ultima series both great for their time.
I think many of us loved all of the Age of Empires series/xpacs.
For less graphical; i loved the Wizardry series and the Shining Force series was also pretty good.I loved Warsong and part two known as Langrisser II.
A less talked about but gave me some fun times is the Serious Sam series,not a humungous success in sales but was fun to play.
The Final Fantasy series has some i liked and some i didn't but the online FFXI was by far my favorite online rpg.
Not in the rpg genre,i loved the Quake series and the Unreal series,lots of cool stuff and fun times there.
My opinion is that the Final Fantasy series has held a strong point in every timeline,many drooled over FFVII but i loved FFv which is basically the same as FFXI.Even the new FFXIV weather you like it or not,it offers game play not done before and has great graphics which many games cannot claim.Their cutscenes in many of the series are really good as well.
If i am not mistaken the FF series is the first to utilize a sub class system and definitely the first to utilize a language translator.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I said Ulima, as just about every other game on that list owes something to the Ultima Franchise. It invented the video game Rpg and Paved the way for graphical MMORPG's.
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone www.spankybus.com -3d Artist & Compositor -Writer -Professional Amature
Comments
Suikoden series
Final Fantasy series (though admittedly, mostly 10 and below for me)
Civilization series
The original Might & Magic series. I played the hell out of those games. So tempted to go buy them over on GOG right now.
A problem with this kind of polls is that only a minority have actually tried all those series. Hard to judge which one is the best unless one has actually tried them and can therefore compare them.
Sorry I just preferred Bard's Tale and Might and Magic. Personal taste. But I know what the Ultima series contributed and there is no other series like it really.
Dat final fantasy... The only series where i can still play the first games, and not be bothered about graphics.
serious sam games..they are funny as hell and i have never laughed so much playing these games in my life.
Earthworm Jim.
HL
GTA
Half Life
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Same here.
0118 999 881 999 119 725... 3
I voted Final Fantasy because of FFT. I put a lot of time into VII VIII and IX, even some time into X but FFT I've clocked... well I'm pretty sure I'm into the thousands of hours, and thats with only about $100 of investment, whereas WoW which I've also put I assume thousands of hours into has cost me well over $1200 in mostly monthless fees and expansions.
But outside of that, the Sim series was also an alltime favorite of mine (no, not The Sims). Sim City was fun for a long time, with Sim City 2000 giving me lots of trouble as a kid. I also played tons of Sim Ant, Sim Tower (a personal favorite) and Sim Farm. Heck I even got Sim Golf, though that one I didn't play too much.
Underrated series of games really, I bet a lot of you guys out there grew up with at least one of those. I know tons of people who played Sim Ant as a kid.
EDIT: Sim Farm, not Sim Far.
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
For me to be the best game series, it needs atleast 3 games (exps count) and none of the games can suck.
So following that...
Half-Life is about the only series I can think of.
I can think of alot of good series (Civ, Gothic, Elder Scrolls, BG, Kotor, ME, fallout etc...) but they all have atleast one ugly duckling of a game.
I will not play a game with a cash shop ever again. A dev job should be to make the game better not make me pay so it sucks less.
Baldur's Gate
Civilization
Diablo
Half-life
Warcraft
..order is alphabetical, not meant to imply any ordering by best-ness..
Sorry i don't like to lump it into an all or nothing,i liked several series.I move with the times,as new series opened up i enjoyed them,if i thought they were good.
I guess the timeline is a better way to put it.I loved the Might nMagic series,i loved the Ultima series both great for their time.
I think many of us loved all of the Age of Empires series/xpacs.
For less graphical; i loved the Wizardry series and the Shining Force series was also pretty good.I loved Warsong and part two known as Langrisser II.
A less talked about but gave me some fun times is the Serious Sam series,not a humungous success in sales but was fun to play.
The Final Fantasy series has some i liked and some i didn't but the online FFXI was by far my favorite online rpg.
Not in the rpg genre,i loved the Quake series and the Unreal series,lots of cool stuff and fun times there.
My opinion is that the Final Fantasy series has held a strong point in every timeline,many drooled over FFVII but i loved FFv which is basically the same as FFXI.Even the new FFXIV weather you like it or not,it offers game play not done before and has great graphics which many games cannot claim.Their cutscenes in many of the series are really good as well.
If i am not mistaken the FF series is the first to utilize a sub class system and definitely the first to utilize a language translator.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I voted for Elder Scrolls, though there were a lot of good ones on the list.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Geesh i am dissapointed i forgot about Half Life,i Loved that series and like many,yes i did enjoy some time in the SIM City series of games.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone
www.spankybus.com
-3d Artist & Compositor
-Writer
-Professional Amature
Final Fantasy unquestionably for me. My entire gaming life would be inextricably altered if I hadn't been introduced to the FF series as a kid.
Metal Gear Solid is a good one.
the first Fallout
Console its an easy, no questions asked answer: Final Fantasy
Computer its either Ultima or Civ/AC
Half-Life.
Civ!!!
Baldur's Gate for me. Talking bout series, 1 was good but 2 was Much better and then ToB xpac was the icing on the cake for the entire saga.