There are some franchises like Mario and Pokemon where it doesn't really matter which game in the series you decide to pick up first, because even though different games will offer you different experiences, for the most part the story and formula of those games always remain very similar.

What about long running franchises where it's important to follow the story or the continuity of the game? For example I got into Metal Gear Solid for the first time just last year when I bought the 3DS port of Snake Eater. I was blown away by the game so when the MGS Legacy Collection came out I picked it up without a second thought.

Now I'm not saying that I regret my purchase. I definitely got my money's worth. But when I tried to play some of the older games in the series like MGS 1 & 2, I found myself struggling with the controls and put off by the dated graphics. I think this is natural to anyone playing older games in a series they just got into. I wouldn't expect my 5 year old brother to fully appreciate the original Red & Blue Pokemon games.

So what about you? Are there any gaming franchises that you wished you would have gotten into sooner, or felt as if you missed the train completely?
Age 28
Male
Cincinnati
Seen June 30th, 2014
Posted June 30th, 2014
673 posts
11.9 Years
Pokemon, but not because of a continuing story. I started with Crystal in '03, and most of my friends started with Gen I shortly after it came out. (I was born in '94, for context.) The majority of Pokemon players in general must have started after me, but I still feel left behind.

For the reason you mentioned, Sonic. I have a vague memory of playing Sonic Adventure 2: Battle at an exhibition or something, which must've been around 2001 when it came out, and I rented Sonic Heroes when it was fairly recent, but the 3D one I really started with was Shadow the Hedgehog. I wish I'd played Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 and Sonic Heroes so I'd understood the background to the story more. (I now own all three of these games.)
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curiousnathan

Male
Australia
Seen October 18th, 2020
Posted October 5th, 2020
7,753 posts
13.7 Years
Definitely the Elder Scrolls Franchise after playing Skyrim which was one of the best games I've ever played. I also wished I'd have gotten into Zelda sooner; I have no idea what it involves other than fighting monsters and... saving a princess? I've never played a Zelda game (ooooh the shaaaaame) so I suppose my lack of knowledge on the franchise is only natural, xD Assassin's Creed I wish I also got into earlier, as I've heard it is a great franchise.
Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted January 2nd, 2021
1,549 posts
9.9 Years
When I played the elder scroll morrowind I new it was the third one and I remember seeing it sitting in my grandfathers house and I saw the ma sign and contemplated if its okay to play. As soon as I played it I wanted to play the originals which until skyrim I felt left out but skyrim brang in a lot of new people who probably never learn the lore or story of the elder scrolls games so it makes me feel better. As satoshi ookami said it was a few years ago when I finally got into the MegaTen series.

Algo Fonix

oh god

Male
Flagstaff, AZ
Seen June 17th, 2015
Posted January 6th, 2014
535 posts
13.8 Years
Dragon Quest. I didn't get into it until I played VIII, at which point I fell in love with it. I'd played the original years before and VII for a short time, but they just didn't click at the time.

It's my favorite JRPG series now. Go figure.
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Male
Seen September 17th, 2019
Posted September 15th, 2019
186 posts
9.7 Years
Assassins Creed. I started with 3 and it was amazing to me, 4 was as well. Unfortunately, when I tried playing the earlier games, they seemed outdated to me, so I couldn't fully enjoy them, which is a shame because I have heard that they are amazing games.
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Seen 6 Days Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
12,283 posts
10.8 Years
Definitely Assassin's Creed; it's a great franchise. I got into it two years ago back in 2012, and my first game was AC II. As soon as I put the disc into my Xbox and started playing, I instantly fell in love with it. The graphics were mesmerizing to me, and the story was just very easy to get dragged into.

Altair

Willpower

Age 28
Male
Sydney
Seen August 5th, 2015
Posted June 12th, 2014
578 posts
10.2 Years
Assassins Creed. I started with 3 and it was amazing to me, 4 was as well. Unfortunately, when I tried playing the earlier games, they seemed outdated to me, so I couldn't fully enjoy them, which is a shame because I have heard that they are amazing games.
Definitely Assassin's Creed; it's a great franchise. I got into it two years ago back in 2012, and my first game was AC II. As soon as I put the disc into my Xbox and started playing, I instantly fell in love with it. The graphics were mesmerizing to me, and the story was just very easy to get dragged into.
I first played part II just before Brotherhood was released, if it wasn't for my friend in High School quoting AC all the time I wouldn't have gotten into it! I played the first one with no problems though, I guess I didn't mind the repetitiveness. AC III is my favourite in the series, I really liked the Assassin's personality (Connor).

I'm not even sure I want to continue it with part IV though, it ended in part III in my opinion...
Age 33
Male
Somewhere next to your motherboard
Seen July 24th, 2014
Posted July 21st, 2014
480 posts
10.4 Years
I'm on the Assassin's Creed Train as well, although, I don't think I'll ever give the series a proper play through, I wish I would of played through the first one when it was released, because I enjoy the series, but I'm too stubborn to slog through the first game, and I won't play the other games because I want to experience the story in order. I have enjoyed the multiplayer from Brotherhood/Revelations alot though.

Spinosaurus

Seen May 27th, 2019
Posted June 7th, 2018
4,569 posts
14.1 Years
....I'm surprised at the AC3 love. I thought it was widely acknowledged as awful. o_o
I'm not even sure I want to continue it with part IV though, it ended in part III in my opinion...
AC4 is way way waaaaay better than AC3. Give it a go.

Definitely Advance Wars for me. Been playing Fire Emblem all the time for my strategy fix, but after playing Advance Wars this year every single FE I play feels so SHALLOW.

I don't care what they do to Fire Emblem anymore. Just give me Advance Wars 3DS. (Preferably in an Advance Wars 1/Days of Ruin style of simplicity. Dual Strike was way too much.)

Raine

Age 29
Female
Ontario, Canada
Seen December 16th, 2017
Posted October 5th, 2017
3,722 posts
9.3 Years
Pokemon! D: I feel like I'm missing out on so much on this community because it revolves around the franchise. I know nearly nothing about the strategies, settings, etc. aside from the actual Pokemon themselves. Additionally, there are a number of other series that I wish I got on board with earlier on instead of just sticking to Final Fantasy and Zelda. The 'Tales of' series is definitely a franchise I wish I knew about sooner rather than later, and also CoD.

Puddle

Mission Complete✔

Age 27
Male
Jacksonville, Florida
Seen November 17th, 2019
Posted September 5th, 2014
1,458 posts
9.4 Years
Definitely the Zelda series. I could never get into it or understand the concepts and by the time I attempted to get into it, it got too complex. I feel I've missed out on a lot of series completely, but that's the only one that I really felt like I was too late to catch.

Shadowraze

ur mum

Age 24
Non-binary
ur mum
Seen November 24th, 2022
Posted October 16th, 2016
794 posts
10.1 Years
Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect (Still haven't played, still don't have enough money to buy the trilogy), Pokemon ofc, Portal (I didn't knew about it until like 5 months ago), NBA 2K (I just started with 2K11 last 2012 xD).

Pretty much just that :3

Brendino

The Ruins of Alph
Seen 54 Minutes Ago
Posted April 6th, 2023
8,567 posts
13.5 Years
While it isn't a franchise that requires any knowledge from previous installments, I would've loved to have been invested in the Animal Crossing series prior to New Leaf. Always just saw it as a game for highly casual players- never expected to get sucked into it like I have.

The only other game that I can think of off the top of my head is Mass Effect, since I started with the second game (the original wasn't available for PS3 at the time). I didn't understand some of the references and missed call backs to previous characters, but I still enjoyed the game in spite of that.
Well, Pokemon has been around all my life since my family were fanatic's but i've never really had a proper interest in it, 'cos I thought it'd always be around. But then they stopped suddenly and we just stopped buying Pokemon stuff. :C

I wish I got into it at a waaaaay younger age, but only a couple of years ago did I really take a shine to it~ <3

skyluigi2

Male
United Kingdom
Seen October 4th, 2022
Posted July 21st, 2019
988 posts
13.6 Years
I have four of these. The first being Zelda... I only really got into the series after Ocarina of Time 3D (although I had played Phantom Hourglass before). Since then though I've been back and played the majority of the games, the most recent being A Link to the Past.
Secondly is Metroid. Like Zelda, I only really got into it because of the 3DS (namely the Ambassador Programme and Metroid Fusion)... but I now own Metroid Prime Trilogy, so I'll let you decide what I think of the series.
Thirdly... Ace Attorney. I only became aware of this series because of the Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney cross-over that was announced in 2011. I now own every AA game and it's become one of my favourite series of all time...!
Finally, MegaMan. I tried out the 3DS Virtual Console version of the original MegaMan a while back, and I loved it. If I'd played it before the 3DS, I probably would own most of the spin-offs by now...!

Pinkie-Dawn

Vampire Waifu

Age 30
Male
California
Seen February 16th, 2021
Posted May 16th, 2019
9,528 posts
10.5 Years
- The Legend of Zelda, due to my inner child not wanting to play platformer/adventure games get couldn't have you jump
- Mega Man, as the main games' difficulty would've been frustrating for me as a kid
- Metroid, because the complexity of switching weapons and the use of the speed boost scared me as a child