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What are some of the longest running gaming series that have had consistently good entries?
This is, of course, subjective, so go with whatever your feelings are. Also, you can choose to judge quality as based on the time of the game's release, or by current standards. However you choose to evaluate the question, I'm interested in hearing about which series haven't faltered in releasing good titles across a large number of entries or span of time.
I also think it would be fun to examine some that barely miss the mark: series that are almost entirely great -- if only weren't for those one or two titles that really brought them down.
A classic example to me is the Zelda series. There are some titles that are generally considered lackluster, such as Phantom Hourglass, but I don't think there's a single bad game in the entire series, assuming we're not counting the third party CD-i titles. And there are a great deal of exceptionally good ones - the original, Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Breath of the Wild, Minnish Cap - they're some of the beat titles available for their respective consoles. It's truly amazing that in 30 years of Zelda games, and with quite a few different premises, Nintendo has never screwed up a title and the series hasn't gotten stale.
A series that's almost always been great, to me at least, would be the Command & Conquer series. If you leave out C&C4, which is disliked by pretty much everyone in the fanbase, all the other titles are really solid, at least relative to when they came out.
The Zelda series has always held an odd place on the fringes of my gaming consciousness, and I have always been somewhat baffled by how rabid its fans are. I've never played a Zelda game (and just realized I never knew anyone who was really into them either) but I picked up enough over the years to know the rough outlines of most of major titles in the series... and Breath of the Wild is the first one that got me interested in playing it from first impression. So, what's so great about Zelda games?
It's not really something that can be explained without firsthand experience but the series has been so penetrative through the gaming zeitgeist and into mainstream pop culture for nearly 30 years because of how universally appealing and consistent its simple design goal is: to make you feel like you're on an adventure. Imagine if you lived in an idyllic world full of wonder and mystery, and could simply go out there, explore mountains and caves and rivers, find ancient ruins and treasures, help others, fight monsters, and save the world. That's what the series tries to capture in all of its entries.
What the games capture when they're at their best is the sense of exploration and wonder. Miyamoto was inspired by his childhood in rural Japan where he would go and explore the outsides, imagining all kinds of adventures as he explored forests, fields, and caves. He took that and turned it into the very first Legend of Zelda game, rounding it out with a very traditional and simple "save the princess" story. There wasn't much by way of an introduction or tutorial, you get dropped into a world and then it's up to you to figure it out. NPCs will give you some hints and tips about where to go but then it's all up to you to get through that and find out what to do next. It's your adventure through this world and it's up to you to explore it. As you do so, you'll come across items, weaponry, gadgets, enemies you have to contend with, challenges to intuit, and bosses to fight.
It's grown from there, and morphed into various different forms and tones, but the basic construction stays the same: the series is about adventuring, discovering the world, and becoming a hero through effort, exploration, and ingenuity. The more famous entries like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker all offered large changes to the series (that are unique to the game, the series is not necessarily additive) that gave players a whole new way to feel those same things. The weaker ones compromised in some way and felt either derivative or a bit too controlled. But they've all had tons of charm, polish, and heart put into them so even the weakest entries have their fans claiming it as their favourite (except perhaps Zelda II, which is an outlier for many reasons).
This isn't something that translates onto paper, or even video very well. Perhaps a Let's Play where your enjoyment can come from watching someone go from never having seen something in the world before to figuring out how it works to mastering it, but if you're only looking for highlights, the Zelda games will remain elusive. It's all about the act of adventuring, discovery, and intuition. As a result, most of the series is timeless. I only played through the entire series a few years ago and they held up very well because they don't rely on handholding the player through a plot that didn't age well, or levels that feel spartan and underbaked now, or challenges that feel trite and boring. They built a world and then asked the player to exercise their own agency and explore it for themselves, and rewarded the player for doing so. Consequently, they still feel fresh and novel because each present a fully realized world with its own unique people, cultures, customs, and history that you can venture through.
Breath of the Wild is probably the closest game in the franchise to the very original game. In fact, the game was designed to be so reminiscent of the original's design goals that they even created the prototype in 2D in the style of the original to establish simple mechanics that could scale into the most immersive and open-world Zelda title yet. Concepts like every screen from the original introducing a new challenge or experience was recreated in Breath of the Wild, stumbling across hidden chambers and items, and running into different enemies depending on geographic locations were all recreated in Breath of the Wild. If anyone wanted to get started with the franchise, Breath of the Wild is probably one of the best entry points.
As for rabid fans... well, Nintendo fans have their reputation for good reason. They're pretty strong-willed.
I mean, most Nintendo franchises probably qualify, it almost feels like cheating to bring that up.
Oh, and Civilization!
A really really long franchise is civilization I have played it since civ1 and is still amazing.
The other I can think about is SimCity besides some mistakes lately is still a long running series that didn't lose importance.
I loved all the blizzard titles and all of them where really important in the gaming history but after what happened in the last few year with things like diablo immortal and warcraft 3 reforged I dont know what to tell you.
Lastly I will give you 3 that I don't like them too much but I have to name them:
GTA I remember playing the first one on game boy and enjoying it san andreas was fun too. Then, I tried GTA online and it is just ridiculous, everything is monetized, takes you like half an hour to bring able to play a mission with friends. But, it is insanely high rated and famous game.
pokemon super famous, I played yellow and red, they are very nice, but becomes repetitive for me, anyway I can't say isn't successful.
Final Fantasy I love FFVII but I couldn't get through any of the other not even FFVII remake managed to interest me. People love the saga anyway and make loads of money.
It’s not a video game, but Magic the Gathering would qualify in my opinion. It has some weak sets, but for 25 years it’s overall been really good.
I’ve seen it mentioned already, but Command and Conquer. Even their foray into an FPS is a cult classic.
Perhaps not for everyone, but I’d argue Resident Evil. Sure 6 happened and some didn’t like 7. Overall I’d say it’s a series that defines the survival horror genre.
MTG also has a few video games. I liked all of them.
The latest is MTG Arena. The game is fun even if you just play for free.
Ratchet & Clank
I didn't play the "Future Sage" nearly as much, but what I experienced was solid, even if the formula felt I little tired.
The 'remaster' of the original on PS4, Ratchet & Clank, is a very well done reboot. I played this and loved it.
I'm really looking forward to the next game which is for PS5, Rift Apart. I hope it changes up the formula again like 'Ratchet: Gladiator' did. The graphics look stunning.
One that's on a long hiatus but was consistently great was Breath of Fire. You had the same archetypes (almost but not quite the same characters) in each game, but in each one the setting and specific relationships changed. With a fun combat system and interesting stories, I'm sad that there hasn't been something new in this series in quite some time.
Also, credit to the Lufia series, for all that there were only two main games in the series.
The Fallout series (excluding the non-RPG spin-offs). To me, Fallout 1 and 2 are the best games that's ever made, at least story-wise.
I was very sad when I found out that Bethesda was buying the Fallout IP, because even though I'm a huge fan of RPG games, I never enjoyed playing any of the Elder Scrolls games. I like being part of a story that unfolds, I'm not a big fan of the open-world concept, especially the kind that Bethesda is famous for. That all being said, Bethesda did an okay job with the Fallout IP.
Ironically, the Elder Scrolls series might be another answer to this question. I never enjoyed the Bethesda-style open-world RPGs, but I know they are objectively good games, they are just not for me.
I was going to say, for those who like the game style, the Elder Scrolls series has to be one of the most consistent series.
It's too bad other titles and Bethesda's work/purchases of different concepts mean that Elder Scrolls VI is going to be a while yet.
I'm more invested in TES than just about anyone, but it's not really that consistent in quality. Perhaps the main series could be described that way—Arena (1994), Daggerfall (1996), Morrowind (2002), Oblivion (2006), and Skyrim (2011)—but I think this only holds up with the three most recent titles to anyone who isn't a lore-nut. Even then, I see a major differential between Skyrim and the rest in terms of playability, and Oblivion takes a bit of a step back from Morrowind's daring creativity.
Some of the spin-offs are pretty good, like Online (2014) and Legends (2015), but Blades (2019) has been relatively disappointing, even as a smaller-scale game. Fans are divided on the quality of Battlespire (1997) and Redguard (1998), mostly because they've never heard of them, although I think they're relatively solid. Most of the entries in the Travels sub-series—Stormhold (2003), Dawnstar (2004), Shadowkey (2004), and Oblivion Mobile (2007)—are legitimately terrible, except for Shadowkey, which is only slightly terrible.
All-in-all, a mixed bag, but I guess the sentiment could be applied to the most prevalent games!
Series that I've enjoyed over the years:
Came here to say Battlefield as well. Played all the PC entries in the series, from 1942 to Battlefield 4. I think every version got better gameplay, but Vietnam was my favorite. My buddy flew helicopters everywhere, pumping Flight of the Valkyries, and I'd hear his helicopter well before I could see it. The female NVA voice taunting over the PA systems in the game was pretty great, too.
I fully expected to see more mention of Madden/FIFA/Live/EA and 2K sports games in general. I haven't played any of them with any regularity in more than a decade, but seeing how consistent/iterative they are with their products I thought they'd get some love.
Megami Tensei has lots of very good games, mostly dungeon crawlers with pokemon style catchable enemies. Most of the games are in their own sub franchises, like Persona.
One thing I dislike about Persona 4 and probably 5 is that you don’t really walk around much. The world is too closed and everything menu driven. The dungeons are repetitive. It feels claustrophobic. I realize this is just me, everyone really loves it and I wish I loved it too.
I was going to say the same! But Dark Souls/Bloodborne and Sekiro aren't all the same franchise so I am not sure it fits the criteria. But as you said they are all good so maybe it does.
Ah, I forgot about this one. Yes, the MGS series is pretty epic. Great gameplay, good story. I love stealth games.
Man, MGS 1 was glorious. Long bedore I played the full game, I had a Playstation sampler disc that had the MGS1 demo on it. It was just the first two areas - the dock and the helipad - and it ended when you crawled into any vent that took you inside the building, so that's probably 20 mins of play time. I must have gotten at least 20 hours out of that demo, no lie.
VR Missions was surprisingly enjoyable too. I never played any of the others but I've seen them all, and your opinions match my impressions. Have you ever watched the MGS4 was a mistake video?