What are some games series with a deliberate, cohesive universe?

coltyhuxx

coltyhuxx

CAGiversary!
Just like reading a book or watching a film it can be a pretty awesome experience when you run into elements from a prior piece in the canon/series; ranging from throw-away appearances, to nostalgic moments to key plot-relevant "blow your mind" surprises.

What are some games you've played where you revisit locations/characters, or cleverly utilized musical motiffs?

One seires that does this very well is the Ultima series... both parts 1-3 and 4-6. There were some cool moments in Arc the Lad (PS1) series, as well. An awesome moment in Windwaker too.

It's hard to think of a lot of examples - do you have any?
 
Silent Hill games do a pretty good job with this.

Motifs like the wheelchairs and nurse demons are repeated.

There are sly references to silent hill's history (you know - the resort town built on an indian burial site, creepy European cult campground and civil war hospital graveyard - great planning guys!) and events from past games in the newspaper clippings you find.

The coolest part for me is how different characters view the mist and hell worlds.

The ending to SH1 is also my favorite ending
When I found out that they had integrated the act of playing SH1 several times into the storyline (this makes more sense once you see all of the endings), I thought that was the coolest.
 
Warcraft.

Especially going in order from Warcraft - WC 2 - Dark Portal - WC 3 - Frozen Throne - WoW.

It's all pretty cohesive and the story is pretty intricate.
 
The Castlevania series does this, as well as the Metroid series. Though, these are obvious examples. I always liked that the Final Fantasy series had little things like this, such as Cid (almost) always being an engineer/pilot and turning up in each game. The King's Quest series on PC did this, as well.

Unfortunately, few games actually focus on creating a real universe, as much as they focus on (blow all that stuff up). The new Prince of Persia Trilogy did this, as well.
 
The Half-Life universe is very well fleshed out, although it might catch Lost syndrome if they don't give us some answers in Episode 2.
 
Suikoden II did it extremely well with returning stars of destiny.

Also, the Filgaia worlds in Wild ARMS are not the same worlds.
 
Yes, Metroid.. great one. Super Metroid even includes snippets from the GB version! Very cool. Love that "quiet" intro level!!!! I believe even the layout makes sense, map wise, and then, of course, everything is blocked off in rubble, but still awesome!
 
Xenosaga series
Resident Evil series
Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins
Shadow hearts series
 
[quote name='The Crotch']I'm still waiting for one Zelda to "tie everything together".

...

Keep fucking waiting, man...[/quote]

Yea, the one that incorporates Zelda ][ - Adventures of Link!!

For instance, why can't I fly through key-holes in Twilight Princess... fairy mode?!!!
 
Mega Man? at least, that's what some guy on xbl tried to convince me of...for like 10 minutes straight.
 
The Suikoden series, considering the depth of the lore, the characters themselves (although a good portion only see minor development), and their interactions.

Simply put, the world ~is~ a gigantic world. The writing staff not only holds onto whatever doesn't make it into the games but disseminates the extra info in various forms, from newsletters to different publications (holds up copy of "Suikoden Encyclopaedia"), and tends to answer questions from fans about things that were left out. Characters not only appear in several games but usually receive extra depth in each iteration, sometimes minor sometimes major. The notion that over the course of five major games, one SRPG, and two side-story adventure titles that around 50% of the world has been covered or so even though each game goes through entirely new territories is a bit disturbing in scope.

It's not for everyone, to be fair, but it's interesting to see what can be done. I particularly enjoy that the series has a fair amount of lore, a staggering amount of history not yet seen in the games themselves, and further development of a number of characters. When a horrifically minor character from Suikoden II comes off as a stupendous badass major character in V...well, it makes me smile, at least.
 
The Tales of series. You will find characters from previous games very often. The problem is Namco couldnt be consistence with the names so they are different in each game.
 
[quote name='Apossum']Mega Man? at least, that's what some guy on xbl tried to convince me of...for like 10 minutes straight.[/QUOTE]

It was like 30 minutes. And he was a moron.
 
Like people mentioned earlier the entire Suikoden series is very good about returning characters, themes, and music. Very rarely do you re-visit areas. However Suikoden Tactics is the exception as it ties very closly to Suikoden IV. Too bad Suikoden IV was the worst of the series.

I think one of the most intresting themes that can been seen throughout the entire series is "Sometimes you have to fight people important to you in order to accomplish your own goals & dreams."
 
[quote name='Rodimus Donut']Too bad Suikoden IV was the worst of the series.[/quote]

I think the developers forgot the important point that having a massive world does not mean that it's a whole lot of fun navigating a blank map for hours in order to find out where you have to go.

That and massive ships are cool, yes, but building up a castle/city was more fun in Suikoden I through III because you watched it change and grow the entire time. Having people just hop on your ship in IV was...disappointing.
 
No one's mentioned Metal Gear yet? What's up with that? Also, Jak is a great example of a cohesive universe in between games.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']The Wild Arms games have all been set in Filgaia, if that matters to anyone at all.[/QUOTE]

Not to mention that WA3 is some what connected to WA1, much like how SH3 is a direct successor to SH1.

And it was heavily believed that all the Mega Man series were tied into one another, with a decent argument. However, an interview with the creators pretty much shot the whole thing down. If you ask me, that was an absurd decision, since it was so easy to say "yeah, your ideas were right, they connected", than rebuking the claims and pissing off a (rather small) percentage of the Mega Man fanatics.
 
I'm still waiting for a series that has an "impressive storyline".

I had some hopes for FFXII's "dark new story", only to find it was nowhere near as dark as I wanted. Vayne betrays? ZOMG.
 
[quote name='Cow_tipper']No one's mentioned Metal Gear yet? What's up with that? Also, Jak is a great example of a cohesive universe in between games.[/QUOTE]

Beat me to it. Was reading through the responses and wondering why MGS had not come up.
 
[quote name='yukine']I haven't played any of the Suikoden games, is it a good RPG for a newbie.[/QUOTE]

You can play each game independently without prior knowledge of the others, but you only get a true appreciation for the series if you play them all. Since referances to other characters and events from previous games are included.

I'm always a big believer in playing the games the way they were ment to be played from I-V. Even though the storyline skips around a bit. However you can pass on Suikoden IV, IMHO. But if you really want to see if you like the series try either Suikoden II (good luck finding one of those) or Suikoden V (The first 15 hours might be a bit boring so watch out.) Both have a great story and characters.
 
Rodimus is correct. It's a pretty easy series, since the leveling system essentially always puts you at a certain range of levels unless you grind hardcore. Just play it, any of them will do, though the 4th is, as you've surely heard, the worst one, and sort of the hardest.
 
Good lord. No Legacy of Kain mention yet. Well consider that corrected as of now. Legacy of Kain is one of the best and (arguably) the most cohesive storyline a game has ever had.
 
Final Fantasy




Haha, just kidding.
Any way, what about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater?

j/k


There should really be a definition of "series" becuase I think that a game with only 1 or two games following it is not really a series. At least to a series where continuity can be compared. The continuity between Diablo 1 and 2+expansion is great but it is a very small series, and so nobody mentions it I am ignoring the Hellfire expansion for D1.

I like the continuity of the Quest for Glory series, but I haven't played number 5 so I can't comment on that one. The best thing about them is that you can carry over you character from the first all the way down to the last. The story and setting are different becuase you travel around after you solve the problems in the prvious game. So even though the story changes your character still stays, which is a feature that is also present in Baldur's Gate.

Baldur's Gate is also a good example. The storyline follows your rise to from a lowley whatever(BG1) to dragon summoning double sword weilding demigod/god(BG2 expansion). I really cannot play any of the series without starting from the beginning, you just have to. You can't start the story in the middle, you have to trudge through the beginning and experience the whole thing.
 
[quote name='furyk']Good lord. No Legacy of Kain mention yet. Well consider that corrected as of now. Legacy of Kain is one of the best and (arguably) the most cohesive storyline a game has ever had.[/QUOTE]

True That I was to see Blood Omen : Legacy of Kain on XBOX live arcade so bad.(Will never happen)
 
Dragon Quest is split into trilogies which each take place within one cohesive universe. 1 through 3 are thoroughly intertwined. 4 through 6 less so, more thematically than in terms of locations, though they still arguably take place in the same world. Not sure yet if this will continue with 7 through 9.
 
[quote name='Moxio']I'm still waiting for a series that has an "impressive storyline".

I had some hopes for FFXII's "dark new story", only to find it was nowhere near as dark as I wanted. Vayne betrays? ZOMG.[/QUOTE]

Spoiler Tag?
 
Somewhat obscurities can be found easily in fighters... mostly notable is the Street fighter and Namco universes:

Street Fighter Connections (missing some I know):
Rival Schools (Sakura is a key character)
Final Fight ( parallel with alpha characters)
Captain Commando (Ninja Commando is a direct lineage of Guy from final fight/SF)
Red Earth (I think... or another game... via SFIII)
Fighter Maker (yeah right, but skullomania)
... and alot more... I'm missing a ton.


also the Tekken Universe is great:
Soul Calibur is directly linked to Tekken, being the past in the same world... Yoshi is the giveaway
Urban Reign resides in the same universe for some good reasons (paul/law)
 
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