Current Events > A long running video game series that peaked with the first game

(+) Yeah! (+)

GiftedACIII posted...

The vast majority of the fanbase think it peaked at 3 or AAI2, occasionally 6 and GAA2. 1 is honestly rather mid in comparison and it's mainly the nostalgia value of introducing the iconic formula that gets it remembered, not that the game itself is peak.

I just don't think the series is ever as surprising as it is was the first time you get to play as a video game lawyer. That "am I really fucking doing this" thrill just isn't the same. But I'm willing to change my tune after I play GAA2 if it's better. That's the last one I need to finish.

Don't get me wrong; I think the other games you mentioned are fantastic. I love the whole series. Just nothing quite tops the magic of the first game to me. Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Von Karma..

While I love the whole series, Gears of War.

zelda

CanardElastique posted...

I just don't think the series is ever as surprising as it is was the first time you get to play as a video game lawyer. That "am I really fucking doing this" thrill just isn't the same. But I'm willing to change my tune after I play GAA2 if it's better. That's the last one I need to finish.

Don't get me wrong; I think the other games you mentioned are fantastic. I love the whole series. Just nothing quite tops the magic of the first game to me. Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Von Karma..

I get what you mean, I share your sentiments myself, it's a feeling of nostalgia more than anything, rather than the game itself being peak. So if someone played another installment first, they'd feel the same way.
But looking at it from a more objective and analytical perspective, AA1 is just way too simple and basic on retrospect. 1-1 is literally 20 minutes. It's a perfect intro to how the AA formula plays but it's literally as cookie-cutter as you can possibly get. 1-2 is again an iconic intro to investigations and multi-day trials but like 1-1 it's very simple and the second day trial is outright stupid, with the killer being dumber than the 1st case's and you still lose and have to get bailed out by the ghost of the victim herself. . 1-3 is average to meh. 1-4 is the game's shining case, being one of the best cases in the series but that's most AAs and other games have more than just one case being top tier. There's also 1-5 but that was a remake exclusive case written after the third game.
AA1 is a perfect introduction but if it was actually released as a full new game, people would be very disappointed. The vast majority of people have 1 in the middle if not on the lower end.
I'd still say later games have surprised me just as much with some surprising me more than AA1 did.

Diablo.

I know people love Diablo 2 but for me the first one was much better. The story and atmosphere were unmatched.

Quorthon109 posted...

I was gonna say Dragon Age: Origins until I realized that trilogy released in a 5 year window. Inquisition came out 9 fuckin years ago? Where'd that time go?

Ill still say DA peaked then. Crazy they were released so close together and its been 9 years for Dreadwolf. Shows how messed up BioWare is.

ProfessorKukui posted...

pokemon

I made a stink face like a cat would make after licking their ass reading this.

CrestedTax posted...

Diablo.

I know people love Diablo 2 but for me the first one was much better. The story and atmosphere were unmatched.

The story, atmosphere, and music to Diablo were the best in the series, but it's hard to make a case that it has better gameplay than 2 or 3.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Agreed with TC. Yoshi's Island was a masterpiece, but they went in a completely different direction with Yoshi's Story, and for better or for worse, it's Story that defined Yoshi's character going forward (I read it's because Japan sees Story as more of the defining game for Yoshi, as opposed to the West in which it's Island).

Woolly World was pretty good, though. The rest of the games... Yeah, mediocre at best.

Crafted World was pretty great, aside from the "I Spy"-esque side mission shit that took forever to get through for 100%. I mean, honestly I liked the concept, but holy fuck just let me get a list of all the hidden objects you want me to tag for that world at once instead of having to go back and forth for each one even if it's in the same fucking level I JUST found the last hidden objects in.

Mario & Luigi. The first has a certain charm that none of the others ever captured again.

FL81 posted...

Battlefield 1942

So much this

darkbuster posted...

Mario & Luigi. The first has a certain charm that none of the others ever captured again.

For that matter, and I'm probably gonna get shit about this, Paper Mario.

inFAMOUS

Tyranthraxus posted...

For that matter, and I'm probably gonna get shit about this, Paper Mario.

I agree about that. Part of it might be nostalgia but something about the original feels more satisfying to play than TTYD, even though TTYD is great in its own right. The music style and pacing just really seem to do it for me.

Tyranthraxus posted...

For that matter, and I'm probably gonna get shit about this, Paper Mario.

TYD buried Bump Attack in the annoying "100 floors!" dungeon. Fuck that.

Tyranthraxus posted...

For that matter, and I'm probably gonna get shit about this, Paper Mario.

BakonBitz posted...

I agree about that. Part of it might be nostalgia but something about the original feels more satisfying to play than TTYD, even though TTYD is great in its own right. The music style and pacing just really seem to do it for me.

This is an edge case where I feel like if I hadn't played Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario was my first Mario RPG I'd be more charitable to it. As it was, it felt bare bones to me and I appreciated TYD more as it came closer to SMRPG in scope.

It's by no means a bad game, (it's definitely a good one), it was simply very different from the last Mario RPG and not always in ways I liked.

Chibi-Robo

Xatrion posted...

Mass Effect.

Second post wins

SpiderGuy posted...

Ill still say DA peaked then. Crazy they were released so close together and its been 9 years for Dreadwolf. Shows how messed up BioWare is.

Agreed. Bioware is a shell of its former self.

Oh fuck, how could I forget? No More Heroes.

That game series peaked with the 1st game and literally every game has been worse than the last. Which is such a shame because I love the characters and the world but they never really recaptured the magic of the 1st game since. It's such squandered potential.