So, I should play MOO III?

**BRAAAHHHH**, I want to play MOO III for no reason now. Well, not really.

I'm gonna go with Adam on this one. I played the Dead space series in reverse and I liked it a lot. It felt like one and two were all prequels to three. I also agree with Adam because he has a notch vibe going for him and I dig it.

As long as they're available, I'm all for going back to the beginning and starting from there. Except for FF, there's just too much beginning considering I started with 13.

Is this debate thing new? I don't feel like I've ever seen one on here before. I like it. There are lots of other topics this would be cool for, too.

I like Tim's point when he mentions that playing a older game in a franchise makes you appreciate certain titles more than other. I completely agree with that!

Is Tim Turi related to Woody Harrelson?

I agree with Adam and Tim but I agree with Adam wayyy more.

I think it really depends on the game in question. One of my favorite games from 2011 was Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and my love for the game caused me to download the original Deus Ex on Steam and play through (most of) that; and I loved that game too. Another good example is the original Half-Life and the expansions. GI's Super Replay convinced me to buy the Half-Life pack on steam, without playing through H-L and the expansions I wouldn't appreciate what's happening with the characters in H-L 2. On the flip side however, The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim are two games that I've lost at least 500 hours to. Yet when I went and tried to play Morrowind, I just couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried. It isn't always worth it to replay older games in a series, but some definitely are..

It's always worth it to go back and play older games--and for a wide variety of reasons. For instance, playing Metroid 1 and II will do well to remind players that the side-scrolling titles are not magically guaranteed to be good as many modern players seem to think when they talk Metroid. The only really good 2-D Metroid games are Super and Zero Mission, and that's because Zero Mission largely copied Super. Fusion was the first downfall of the series since it was the first to introduce starkly linear gameplay and a light atmosphere. The Prime games are easily the best in overall consistent quality. It's also worth it because far too many modern gamers actually have no idea of the roots of modern gaming, don't know what it was like, and even more have never actually played TRULY BAD games--which is evident whenever you see some buffoon proclaim "Portal 2 is the worst game ever" or "Mass Effect 3 is crap.' This doesn't include emulators. No one takes emulated gameplay seriously and it is not authentic. Since it takes no money or effort to acquire emulated games, there is no reason for many gamers to seriously play them, or to allow themselves to truly experience them. Emulation on PC is also far from an authentic experience. Sonic the Hedgehog was meant to be played with the Genesis controller. Without an N64 controller, Turok and the original Goldeneye 007 are not the authentic experiences. You aren't truly experiencing an Intellivision game unless you're mashing on that number pad and spinning the control disk. It's a hollow, fake experience. Old games are totally worth playing and experiencing, but the only proper way to do it is they way they were meant to be played, originally. Even emulations on the Wii are not quite authentic.

While I agree with Tim that minute percentage is fairly important to fully immerse yourself to a game.. I have to side on Adam because just recently I played Planescape Torment which is considered one of the greatest rpgs ever made and it was a little tedious for me.. I immensly enjoyed these types of rpgs on thes era (Baldur's Gate, Icewind, Fallout 1 & 2) and it played until my eyes hurt. I think I have been just spoiled with modern games where the characters and environment are more rich and immersive because of voice acting and modern graphics.. I find it hard to focus in playing torment and get easily distracted and divert my attention to other games..

If I encounter such games I just consider my self lucky if played the earlier titles of the game. l won't force myself to play the DOS wasteland just so i can enjoy the upcoming wasteland 2 more..

Im kinda on tim´s side, I dont want to play games unless I have played the earlier ones before, that is one reason I havent played max payne 3, but if the series has been rebooted like the prince of persia then I dont have that much of an issue.

I'm the type of gamer that will only play games in chronological order if it's a significant series (like the Metal Gear Solid series), but other than that, I'll play whatever game I want without feeling bad about it. I'm going to be playing Tomb Raider soon, and it'll be the first one that I've ever played; and I feel great about it.

Great article.

Personally I fall a little bit on both sides of the debate.

If there is an over-arching narrative like Metal Gear, or as Tim pointed out, an evolution in gameplay like in the GTA or Super Mario series then it is totally worth your time to go back to old games.

If the series has undergone a significant reinvention; Prince of Persia for example, then I don't feel it's very important. That isn't to say one shouldn't play older games in a such a series at all though. While the '08 PoP game is quite different than the Sands of Time games and you don't need to play them to get full enjoyment out of it, Sands of Time and its sequels are still excellent games that should be enjoyed by all.

In the still shot of the video it looks like Tim wants to get the hell outta there.

I see Tim's point where having a breadth of knowledge of a game series allows you to appreciate everything that particular game/series has to to offer, but I still think you have to pick and chose what series you can have that level of fandom with. My heart chose Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. I've really dug in deep with both of those series. And am probably a better person for it. Also, there's nothing wrong with spending time with a novelization. I absolutely loved S.D. Perry's Resident Evil novels!

I think playing early games is important for certain franchises, but not necessarily important for others. For example, I'm glad to have played all the earlier Final Fantasies, and that helps me appreciate different aspects of later entries. For a series like Mass Effect, you do not need to play precursor series. But, within a franchise itself, I like to play older version before tackling the near ones. As Tim said, it bring about different appreciation.

Haha, great debate guys.