What Series Are You Intimidated By?

[Flashman85]

For me it's the megaman and castlevania series. I've had preconceived notions about their difficulty since my early childhood in the NES days.

In my experience, the Mega Man series is most difficult at the beginning; it's often a tough challenge until you beat just one boss, at which point the difficulty becomes pretty reasonable in most cases (until the Zero series and the latter half of the X series, anyhow...). If you can master one Mega Man game, you're in a lot better shape when you start the next one because the game mechanics are often similar or identical from game to game.

I could wax nostalgic about my own experiences with the Mega Man series, but nobody wants to hear that, so I'll just make a shameless plug for the Mega Man Anniversary Collection so that you can sample a bunch of games and find one that you can master.

As for Castlevania, the few I've played seem to be far less forgiving than Mega Man, and I still can't beat the first one without save states...

Anyhow, I am intimidated by any and all RPGs that I did not play when I was younger, regardless of whether they're part of a series or just standalone games. I fell in love with Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Dragon Warrior, and I also enjoyed Final Fantasy I, IV, and Mystic Quest, but I think those all set the bar so high for me that I've been disappointed in some way by most (but not all) of the RPGs I've played since then.

So now I have trouble on two counts: One, I'm afraid of trying new RPGs because I automatically assume that there's a good chance they won't be worth the excessive amount of time I need to devote to them; and two, I'm a completionist, so I will be compelled to play the first game in a series no matter how it may pale in comparison to the ones that follow it.

[DaGamingMonkey]

For me it's the megaman and castlevania series. I've had preconceived notions about their difficulty since my early childhood in the NES days.

Yea those are both series I never got into and don't know where to start.

[Flashman85]

For me it's the megaman and castlevania series. I've had preconceived notions about their difficulty since my early childhood in the NES days.

Yea those are both series I never got into and don't know where to start.

I can't be much help with the Castlevania series, but the place to start with the Mega Man series is, again, the Mega Man Anniversary Collection or the Mega Man X Collection.

If you're looking at the classic Mega Man series, I'd say to start with either MM2 or MM4, and I hear good things about Mega Man Powered Up. MM1 is really the best place to start, but it's harder than most of the other games, and the feel isn't entirely indicative of the whole of the series.

With the Mega Man X series, you gotta go in order. Not only is there plot that continues to build from one to the next, but each installment is notably harder than the last. No one will fault you if you jump ship before you get through them all.

As for the Mega Man Zero series, play those in order after you've played a good amount of Mega Man X, both for the sake of the story and so that you don't get totally annihilated when you start playing. It's a very good series, but I wouldn't recommend it for the casual Mega Man fan.

I did a more in-depth overview of the franchise on my blog that might possibly be useful:

http://exfandingyourhorizons.blogspot.c ... -time.html

Hope this helps.


...Oh, and as a site note so that I pretend like I'm still on topic, I'm not fond of the horror genre, so while I'd love to get into the Resident Evil games, I'm probably too chicken to try. On the other hand, I received Half-Life as a gift (which I never thought I'd work up the guts to play) and decided to throw caution to the wind and play it anyhow, and despite being freaked out on maaaaaany occasions, I've played through all of the Half-Life 1 Anthology and The Orange Box, and it's one of my new favorite series. Go figure.

[MrPopo]

I think Metal Gear Solid is a series that intimidates me. I have a friend who swears up and down by them, but the whole "flowcharts to possibly get a semi-understanding of the story and intruige" thing kinda freaks me out.

[Doctor Fugue]

Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super G 'n G, Ultimate G 'n G...

[Coaltar]

and two, I'm a completionist, so I will be compelled to play the first game in a series no matter how it may pale in comparison to the ones that follow it.

Thats my problem too, when my friend tried to get me to play FF7 for the first time I was determined to beat the first 6 even though they have NOTHING to do with eachother XD.


A game that intimidates me would be like every rpg I play because they use up so much time that I barely beat any of them; no matter how much I love the blasted game I refuse to go any further in Phantasy Star 2 until I beat the original which is a pain in the ass to beat without a guide!

[the7k]

Intimidated by the games' difficulty of completing, the story order, or simply of hassle involved in obtaining?

I'd say for me it's the Megaman series. While I have almost all of the Megaman X series, I got a Nintendo AFTER I got a Super Nintendo, and so I missed out on all the Megaman games because as a kid I thought "Why play an older game when I have Megaman X?"
The hardest part for me isn't actually completing the games, it's just finding the games and after that, coughing up the money for them. Megaman 7 and 8 don't seem like they'd be a walk in the park to obtain either. I could just take the easy way out and get the Collection, but I'm weird like that.

Same goes for Castlevania series for the NES. I have Super Castlevania IV, but none of the others.

Shenmue; I'd like to play it, but it seems like a large investment of time. Also, since my Xbox is a brick, I'd probably go for the PAL Shenmue 2 for DC, and then I have to worry about the whole television signal issue.

pre-Final Fantasy VII series... should I get the original NES and SNES carts and let the nostalgia take hold? Or should I go for the collections on the PS1 so I can line them up perfectly with 7-9? Or should I get 'em for the GBA so I can play them on the go and on the Gamecube? Or should I just wait for FF5 and 6 to inevitably be remade on the DS?

[Ack]

Any and all platformers(excepting Mega Man...), and SHMUPS. But with SHMUPS it's that I don't even know where to start, and I currently don't have the money to get into them. Plus, let's face it, the guys on this forum are pretty hardcore.

[Pulsar_t]

I found Megaman's lack of 8-directional shooting a turn-off. Is there a Megaman game that offers this? Difficulty isn't really that much of an issue for me.. but give me control dammit! Turrican is also a great series marred by lack of directional aim. I might be wrong about Super Turrican II though and I hope it has that feature.

Also, Silent Hill has been elusive to me. There are 5 parts and I don't know where to start. I detest 32-bit 3D (ie PS) so I find it hard to start with the first game. The fact SH1 didn't come to the PC (unlike Resi1) didn't help. Heck it was a pain to go through MGS1 (after having completed both 2 and 3)

[pompeyparsons]

I wouldn't say intimidated to be the word, but I've been very reluctant to get into a few series already mentioned such as the Dragon Quest series and the Suikoden series.

Also I've been checking out the Persona games and they look interesting as well.

Also after reading your Saturn Shmup article, there is such a wide array of choices I don't even nowhere to begin there are just so many choices. I'm one of those people who reads a ton about a game before finally deciding to make a purchase so that might be my problem. Instead of going through so much Analysis Paralysis I should just pick a game and play it.