Game Series of the Decade?

[Kaendris]

So Gamespot concluded it's "Greatest Game Series of the Decade" poll on September the 12th. A link can be found here [http://www.gamespot.com/greatest-game-series/index.html?page=2].

The Elder Scrolls just edged out the GTA series for dominance. A decision which I confess I agree with. However, there were more than a few comments that certain great series were left out, even though no one bothered to name any of course.

So what do you think Escapist? Did Elder Scrolls deserve the win? Should Mass Effect really have beaten the Legend of Zelda? Does Team Fortress really deserve to be called a "series"?

Would you have picked a different champ?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well I'm more of a GTA guy. Counting the times "the whole world was amazed", GTA has GTA III, San Andreas and GTA IV. Elder Scrolls has Skyrim, tops. And I think GTA has run a more interesting arc too.

 

[Aerosteam]

By 'decade' does that mean it strictly disregards anything from before 2003?

Skyrim and Oblivion were both Game of the Year (probably Morrowind also) to most people so it would make sense if The Elder Scrolls was also Game Series of the Decade.

Also how the heck is Team Fortress game a series? The first one was just a mod! ... And released in 1996!

 

[tilmoph]

Makes sense to me, though quick question; in what sense was xcom a series in the last 10 years? I'm pretty sure the old xcom series was in the 90's.

Going through the brackets, I'm a bit surprised Fallout made it to the finals. I mean, 3 and New Vegas are good games when they aren't busy crashing, but the only ones in the last decade were pretty much post-nuke Elder Scroll games. Ok, that's a bit unfair, their not point for point clones, but they are pretty damn similar.

Last point; Mass Effect's placement and loss to GTA makes perfect sense to me; the series kept altering itself, first being a bit clunky upgraded classic RPG, then becoming a third person cover based shooter with story only roleplaying, and the last... I don't like, and I'm not harping about again, but for me seemed like a standard issue action shooter with RPG elements. GTA has changed a few things, but it's core has been very reliable, which makes me think it attracted a larger, more consistent fanbase, where ME has fanbase that frequently subdivides itself along which game they liked the most and which they hated, with fewer liking every iteration.

It's first two bouts are against games with a similarly divided fanbase (RE and Bioshock), with RE having far more detractors for the later iterations, and Bioshock 2 being a sore point for it's series. Against consistently enjoyable for the same reason GTA, ME's loss seems perfectly sensible to me.

 

[Saelune]

Which decade? Skyrim was 2011, but if it counts for last, then yeah, cant beat Morrowind AND Skyrim....and Oblviion I guess.

 

[spartandude]

This poll has me a little confused. When we say decade do we mean 2000-2010, or 2003-2013? and do all games in a series have to come out with in that time frame or just one? because alot of the options on that list have games from the decade before.

 

[A Weakgeek]

As much as I don't care for it at all (don't like the FPS genre) - the clear winner is "Call of Duty".
Anything else is just plain wrong.

Nice to see Final Fantasy beat Halo though!

For me personally though - it has to be the "Souls" series. Or Disgaea.

I agree, Call of duty is pretty much the only valid answer.

Hmm, hopefully the vita tv thing will play all the disgaea games past 2 that I had to miss because I didnt own a ps 3.

 

[Yopaz]

It's GameSpot. What did you expect?

I am severely confused by that poll. I'd assume we were talking about a game series from this decade, not just a game series that happened to exist in that decade. Also what decade are we talking about? Just picking the arbitrary 10 years we've been living through now or from a certain point?

Zelda should not be part of the poll, nor should Resident Evil, GTA, Super Mario, Fallout, Final Fantasy and some others that are older than a decade. X-Com had one game released in the period 2000-2010 which should disqualify it as a series in that decade. Wii sports is obviously a series too. Those were 2 tech demos, I'd hardly call that a series.

Seriously, that poll is quite bad because it doesn't define what it means by best of the decade. It's basically a standard vote for your favourite game series.

 

[LaoJim]

Had to check the dates, but GTA3 = 2001 Vice City = 2002. So that leaves us with San Andreas and IV over the last decade (+ spin offs) so on that basis I don't think it can be a winner.

Call of Duty might not be quite a winner but it should certainly be in the last 4, and losing to Max Payne seems wrong. (Max Payne 2 was 2003 so the series just squeaks two games). I didn't even enjoy Max Payne 3 that much.

While this kind of competition is fun, you do get tough groupings for examply Dead Space, Dragon Age and Arkham all in the bottom right corner.

I'm also going to get on my current high horse and go on about how, as always, Racing games are critically underrepresented in these kinds of things. Of 64 games we just have 4 racing series: Need for Speed, Forza, Burnout and Dirt, and only Forza got through to the second round. Irritatingly I can't really argue with any of the results even though I'm not a Metal Gear Solid or Dead Rising fan.

 

[Kaendris]

Seriously, that poll is quite bad because it doesn't define what it means by best of the decade. It's basically a standard vote for your favourite game series.

Well, from what I can gather from the comments section (because the good lord knows Gamespot would not explain anything if they were on fire and riding a moose), in order to qualify, the most recent game had to be released within the last decade. So one game in the last 10 years would qualify any series no matter how far back it originated.

Here is my question; where is The Witcher? I have only played the first one... and only 10% at that, but even I would acknowledge that is one powerful series. Also, how does something like Starcraft go up against TES in the first round. There was no chance there....

It seemed like there was quite a bit of ire in regards to Halo losing to Final Fantasy in the first round. The fanboys were at each others throats for awhile.

Good stuff, makes me chuckle.

 

[LaoJim]

It seemed like there was quite a bit of ire in regards to Halo losing to Final Fantasy in the first round. The fanboys were at each others throats for awhile.

Yeah, I checked it out: 2003-2013 gives us Final Fantasies XI,XII and the XIIIs, but everything Halo except the first one.


If it was every game over all time then you couldn't really argue with FF being the winner, but with that selection, come on.

Similarly how good have the Zelda's since 2003 been? (This is a genuine question, I haven't had a Nintendo console since the N64) Is it really more relevant than Forza?

GameSpot really needed to list which games fell within the time period, otherwise people don't realise what they are really voting for.

It also works the other way, I'd forgotten that God of War was released so late in the PS2's life that EVERYTHING from that series falls within the period. Again it lost to the last few supposedly inferior Final Fantasies.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Similarly how good have the Zelda's since 2003 been? (This is a genuine question, I haven't had a Nintendo console since the N64) Is it really more relevant than Forza?

Let's see, since Wind Waker came out in 2002 only in Japan but 2003 everywhere else, I'm not sure it would be considered for this poll.

Even without Wind Waker, pretty much every Zelda game from 2003-2013 have been highly regarded and sold pretty well. I remember Twilight Princess winning many GOTY awards in 2006. Minish Cap in 2005 is considered one of the best GBA games. Four Swords Adventures(2004) was well regarded I remember. The two DS games have mixed opinions, lots of people think they are awful, but plenty of people liked them and they still got good reviews overall. Skyward Sword, like the DS games reviewed very well, and has lots of fans, but lots of people were also very disappointed. Ocarina of Time 3D was a big hit too, but it is a remake of a game from before 2003.

For me personally Zelda is the series of the decade, but that's just my opinion. It's still an influential series, but it has lost some of its huge influence in the gaming world. I would say it's still a much bigger deal when a new Zelda game is announced as opposed to a new Forza.

Ot: If I really had to say what the game series of the decade was, for better or worse it would be Call of Duty. It's got the sales, the name recognition, and enough influence to bleed into other games. I think Call of Duty is on it's way out now, but it has dominated gaming for far too long to simply ignore.

 

[Evonisia]

Yeah The Elder Scrolls beats out all contenders, in the decade 2003 - 2013 it had Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, all of which have tugged at the heartstrings of the general public (the latter most more than others). However, surely Halo would stand as a strong contender, even over GTA? It had Halo 2, 3, Wars, ODST and 4, all bar 4 and arguably Wars were extremely popular. And what of Call of Duty? Every single game from that series has been released in this 2003-13 decade and we all know it's mass appeal.

So yeah, I'm stuck between TES, Halo and CoD.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm gonna have to go with Mass Effect.

Not my favourite series by a longshot, but you can't deny the impact it's had both possitive and negative.

 

[GraveyardTricks]

I would of said Zelda but I don't understand the whole decade thing? Why wouldn't this poll be made in 2019/2020? Seems that Elder Scrolls won solely on Oblivion and Skyrim, which is a shame.

 

[FourCartridge]

Lack of Uncharted/Kingdom Hearts saddens me. =( Course, the whole "tournament" style poll is kinda stupid for something like this IMO.

 

[xPixelatedx]

When these were the choices, you know this is truly was the worst gen ever. I don't have much hope for the next at this rate.

I.. I guess it could have been worse. It could have been Dear Esther and The Last of Us at the end.

 

[LetalisK]

Funny thing is with this poll, I suspect everyone has a different definition of what "greatest" means to them. It could mean most entertaining, best quality, most impact, etc.