What Is Your First Game That Got You into Their Franchise?

[Tech_0ne]

Metal Gear solid 1, Mass Effect 1, Tomb Raider 2, Final Fantasy 7, Persona 5, Elite, Tony Hawkes Pro skater 2, Tekken 2, Silent Hill 1, GTA 1, Mirrors Edge, Uncharted Drakes Fortune, The Witcher 1, Steins;Gate.... Could go on but I'll stop there for now.

[Justince]

TOMB RAIDER. Came for the triangular titties, stayed for the adventure.

[CuppaJoe]

UFO: Enemy Unknown also known as X-com: UFO defence (in America). Still to this date the best strategy game I've played. limitless replayability.

[Merlin]

You make us date ourselves Q_Q

That being said, the series that I love(d) are pokemon blue, Halo 1, Zelda:Link's Awakening, starcraft 1 & Brood War, Super Smash Bros., Xenoblade Chronicles 1, Bravely Default

There is a lot of stuff I've played, but those are the series I've been passionate about to some level or other. I'd like to see a return to form for many games, but we will see how that goes.

[Biotik Charge]

Mass Effect 2. When i found out i could migrate the story from the previous game, i stopped playing ME2 and went to play ME1 first.
The ME trilogy still to this day my favorite games of all time.

GTA Vice City got me into the GTA franchise. San Andreas was my favorite game until i played ME.

[Sylentmoogle]

Super Mario Bros for the NES introduced me to video games. My cousin had one and let me play it and I was instantly hooked. I asked my parents for one for Christmas and they got me a SNES with Super Mario World, Yoshi's Safari, and Super Mario Kart.

[Matias]

Usually the first game of the series, Call of duty, doom, Mafia.
But some others
Grand Theft Auto Vice City (still my favorite gta game)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Saints Row 2 , Even tho i played first saints row few hours on my uncles xbox360 saints2 was the one i got myself after that and it really made me appreciate the series with all it's craziness and it's my most played x360 game ever

[Morax]

Mass Effect 2 was what I began with for the ME trilogy, which I got in 2010; then got ME3 when it came out in 2012, followed by ME1 when I realised that I couldn't manage to get the right outcome (mainly the Quarians and Geth making peace). While it was a bit confusing starting with ME2 as I had no idea who any of the characters were supposed to be, I'd say ME2 is probably the best of the trilogy.

On the strategy game front, my first RTS was Dawn of War (the original from 2004) which I played sometime around 2006, which also got me hooked on Warhammer 40,000 tabletop (much to the chagrin of my bank account). I also remember playing Starcraft around this time, so not sure if I played that before or after DoW.

Civilization III was my first TBS which I remember playing late 2006. I've gotten Civ IV, Civ V, Civ BE and Civ VI since then.

[TelperionST]

I have always loved the more tightly focused scope and more manageable size of Shogun and Shogun 2, but Rome: Total War is also a really great game. If you are interested in trying out a proper grand strategy game, then Imperator: Rome is supposed to release "early" this year. Probably during Q2, if I would have to guess, but might slide into Q3. The developer diaries are talking about an internal beta that's currently on-going.

[SckizoBoy]

Total War: first game was Medieval: Total War... it was a good game and I remember sinking loads of hours into it 'cos it was the first strategy game I got that I actually enjoyed, and my library was really tiny back then. It was enjoyable, but dear lord has it aged badly. The graphics were almost a generation too old when it first came out and newer games really overshadowed its gameplay. That said, the game that really got me into the TW franchise was the very next title, Rome: Total War. Awesome mods, solid gameplay and loads of replayability with silly roleplay possible if you do like LoTW and be the Senate's bitch!

BioWare: not a franchise per se, but eh... just so happens the game that got me into it and the first one I played are the same - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. No need to say anything about this.

[isturbo1984]

If I'm reading the original post right... I believe it was Super Mario that got me into any vg franchise.

[aileron]

Wolfenstein (3D) got me into FPS and I followed id software and id engine based games. I'm going to mess up the order of these but: Spear of Destiny, Rise of the Triad, Doom, Heretic, Doom 2, Hexen, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Quake 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom 3, Wolfenstein (2009), Rage. Looking at Wikipedia I see some of those are technically not id software, but rather Apogee software and Raven software.

Although I played Arena and Daggerfall, they didn't stick out in my mind, and I rediscovered TES with Morrowind, leading to Oblivion and Skyrim.

Civilization 2 through 5. Don't forget the offshoot/rival Call to Power 1 and 2.

Ultima 4 through 8. Don't forget the first person Ultima Underworld 1 and 2.

Do Warcraft 1 to 3 and StarCraft count?

There were those D&D video games from SSI starting with Pool of Radiance, but my interest waned pretty quickly into that series. Hillsfar was unique.

[TelperionST]

Really started Tomb Raider with the 2013 reboot. Once again, I had tried playing the earlier games but I couldn't deal with the mechanics - though this time it was about getting motion sick from the camera. The reboot was one of the best origin stories I've ever played, so it was a good place to jump in.

I forgot about that one. I started playing with the original (1996) and I particularly enjoyed Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light. I played through the 2013 reboot once and completely lost interest in the franchise. I was never particularly interested in Uncharted and this was more of the same.

Finally finished the Thief reboot this year. I started it in '14, when it was released, but there were too many changes, too many things missing or done in a strikingly different manner, even changing voice actors - it was all too much. Thus I, and most of the other fans, lambasted the game for all the things it should have been. When I replayed it this year, enough time had passed since the originals, that I was able to move on a bit and overlook what it wasn't in order to appreciate it for what it was. It will never be the classic that the originals were (off of which I played several times) but it's a solid entry in the franchise - especially when you realize it's also something of a prequel/reboot and you appreciate all the little easter eggs pointing to the originals.

I tried to enjoy my time with the reboot several times, but I was bored out of my skull. Sure, the game was buggy, but I could live with that. It was the world that was so banal that I couldn't finish that game. The angsty, black, teenager eye-liner that should have been a big red flashing warning sight that I shouldn't even bother with the game, but nostalgia got me to buy it. sigh

My first Elder Scrolls game was Daggerfall, which offered a heck of a lot but was so full of problems that I couldn't get into it. I tried again in Morrowind and it was okay, but I didn't play it long. I did spend a lot of time in Oblivion, so by the time Skyrim was released I had finally developed a love for the game style.

I also got on board with Daggerfall, but after Morrowind and Oblivion I just lost interest. Never played Skyrim, because I get super bored with that style of game play.

[JackofTears]

I'd followed Bioware since Baldur's Gate, so I guess that was the first game to get me into the company. Since then I have played each of their series from start to finish. I almost didn't play Jade Empire but the guy in Fred Meyer's computer department told me it was made by the people who did Kotor so I gave it a chance and was instantly taken. It didn't hurt that I had read Barry Hughart's 'Bridge of Birds' just a few months before and it became one of my favorite books - so a game inspired by that world was sure to be a hit with me (I loved that they made a character from the novel - Henpecked Hou - a party member).

I got into the Witcher series with the first game, also buying the story dlc which followed. While the 3rd game is certainly the best of the series, all three games are worth playing. They did some amazing things with the Baldur's Gate engine.

I tried the Assassin's Creed series early on, but I hated the controls, so I only got back into it again with AC: Origin.

I got into Fallout with #3, and while I had tried the earlier games, I hated the combat and exploration system.

I got into Deus Ex with "Human Revolution", though I never managed to finish "Mankind Divided".

Really started Tomb Raider with the 2013 reboot. Once again, I had tried playing the earlier games but I couldn't deal with the mechanics - though this time it was about getting motion sick from the camera. The reboot was one of the best origin stories I've ever played, so it was a good place to jump in.

Final Fantasy first sucked me in with #8; prior to that I had barely even looked at the series and haven't gone back to play the older games because I don't care for the graphics style. I went on to enjoy FF9, didn't care for #10, tried the first MMO but lost interest quickly; tried the second MMO and it was so bad they basically remade it - I haven't gone back to see if it's any good. Tried playing XIII but it was too heavily on rails, really enjoyed XV, however, even if the ending was rushed.

Finally finished the Thief reboot this year. I started it in '14, when it was released, but there were too many changes, too many things missing or done in a strikingly different manner, even changing voice actors - it was all too much. Thus I, and most of the other fans, lambasted the game for all the things it should have been. When I replayed it this year, enough time had passed since the originals, that I was able to move on a bit and overlook what it wasn't in order to appreciate it for what it was. It will never be the classic that the originals were (off of which I played several times) but it's a solid entry in the franchise - especially when you realize it's also something of a prequel/reboot and you appreciate all the little easter eggs pointing to the originals.

As for Borderlands, I've been a fan of the series since the original title, though my favorite is actually the Telltale Games production of "Tales from the Borderlands", which captured the fantastic feel of the setting and combined it with enjoyable and engaging storytelling that didn't rely on guns.

I've been a fan of every episode of "Bioshock", enjoying each game for what it was. Elizabeth, from Infinite, is one of my favorite NPCs in gaming.

My first Elder Scrolls game was Daggerfall, which offered a heck of a lot but was so full of problems that I couldn't get into it. I tried again in Morrowind and it was okay, but I didn't play it long. I did spend a lot of time in Oblivion, so by the time Skyrim was released I had finally developed a love for the game style. I have also played the MMO fairly extensively and found it to be one of the best mmos on the market.

It's funny, as I go through these lists I realize just how many of the games I play are part of ongoing franchises.

[TelperionST]

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1987)
UFO: Terror from the Deep (1995)
Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996)
Deus Ex (2000)
Battlefield 1942 (2002)
Far Cry 2 (2008)


There are a bunch of others, but those are the ones that I have played decade after decade in one format or another. I didn't include any games or franchises from the last 10 years, because those haven't had the opportunity to "get me" yet, but might prove to be long lasting franchises in the years to come.