Any action/fighting/shmup franchise because the stories are typically nonexistent/shit anyway:

1. Bayonetta: I recommend the original as a starting point for an authentic action experience, but Bayonetta 2 is more beginner-friendly.

2. Devil May Cry: either 3, or 5 will work—3 if you're after a challenging experience, and 5 if you're looking for an insane combo simulator. 1 could work as an entry point, but it's too old and will not appeal to everyone.

3. Ninja Gaiden: I recommend the original Ninja Gaiden 2 on XBOX (not Sigma) if you're after nonstop action, and Ninja Gaiden Black if you're more of a souls-like fan.

4. Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion is the superior game.

5. Under Night In-Birth: I recommend Sys:Celes because it's the only one with functional netcode.

6. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax because it's the only Persona Arena game, they just started at Persona 4, and the story has tie-ins for Persona 3 and 4.

7. Guilty Gear: start with XX Accent Core Plus R if you need the "the most Guilty Gear" because every character has the most moves they've ever had throughout the series. -STRIVE- for beginners, and Xrd if you find XX inaccessible. OG Guilty Gear is a broken artifact, maybe to be admired, but not taken seriously.

8. DoDonPachi: DaiOuJou: widely regarded as a shmup goat and the best DoDonPachi game. I recommend the Black Label release.

So many nice recommendations here but here are some of my recommendations in genres (in top 5 form). All of them have PC ports (but not all of the series may be available on PC)

Platformers:

1. Rayman
2. Sonic
3. Wonder boy
4. Shantae
5. Trine

RPGs

1. Final Fantasy
2. Tales of Series
3. Star Ocean
4. Elder Scrolls
5. Pathfinder

Some noteworthy mentions for RPGs

1. YS
2. Mana

Shooters:

1. Medal of Honor
2. Shadow Warrior
3. Doom
4. Call of Duty
5. Wolfenstein

Puzzles, point and click: Note: This was very hard to list since most of them are standalone and those that are not have interesting plot lines that you will not appreciate unless you play in order such as Syberia, Gabriel Knight, Secret Files. Walking Dead)

1. Myst (You can play in any order but it would be nice to play the sequels or prequels)
2. Broken Sword (Don't touch 4 and 5 but you can play in any order and it would be nice to play the sequels or prequels)
3. Life is Strange (1 and 2 are standalone stories)
4. of Loathing series (It has turned based combat but very fun)
5. Nancy Drew

I would say I prefer them in the chronological order of their release date. Some of the series I have listed completely have either loosely, small references or completely standalone only sharing a "franchise name"

You'll miss out on some spider-lore, but it's possible to jump into Spider Solitaire for the Windows XP home computor system without having played its predecessor, Spider Solitaire for the Windows 98 home computor system

I wouldn't recommend starting with Daggerfall over, say, Skyrim or Oblivion, for example.

I think the better question might be what series should you start from game 1, brcause thats a much tougher question. Just about all the long running ones you can hop in wherever and be fine. Where you wanna start with Mario? Don't matter. Whats the play for Final Fantasy? Probably whatever the recommenders first one was. Megaman? X, 0, or basic its nbd.

Yakuza is one I'd say you either start from the beginning (Technically Kiwami, but 0 is fine) or start at Like a Dragon (7, as it has a new protagonist)

With Grand Theft Auto I would say you could start anywhere. Each game features a different protagonist and they play quite different to each other.

I would say playing 4 before 5 is probably a good idea because it doesn't feel like as much of a tremendous leap compared to going from Vice City to San Andreas. Going from 5 back to 4 would probably make things like the car physics stand out even more.

For final fantasy, quite literally just pick whichever one has a theme and/or gameplay style that looks interesting to you. As long as it's not a sequel to a previous game you can pick any.

The only ones with sequels (some prequels) are VII, X, XII and XIII.

Although some could argue with XIII you can also start anywhere.

Zelda does a good job of this. You don't usually "miss out" on the lore, because they tend to explain a bit as things go on. Sure, you'd miss the easter eggs placed in the game for fans of older titles, but you also wouldn't know any different. For example, in Breath of the Wild, a dilapidated farm is present in the main field, and this is a reference to the farm in Ocarina of Time where you find Epona, your horse. If you didn't play that earlier game, it would just seem like scenery to you. But you wouldn't actually miss out on anything. So the makers of the Zelda titles do a good job striking a balance between providing nods to earlier titles while also being welcoming to new players.

Forza Horizon lol

Also Far Cry. No story connection between the games although there is one minor recurring character.

Very few game sequels are that tied in to it's predecessor narratively that this is an issue. I would say the vast majority of games are designed to be picked up from anywhere in the series.

Even Mass Effect, where you play as the same character throughout a multi game story arc, still has each game giving the player an on ramp, and each game having it's own miniature arc to play through.

The Witcher. The first 2 games are real bad.

The witcher 3 can be played with a great experience even with no background on the series!

Xcom 2: War of the Chosen

This is, I believe, the last entry in the series. DLC is confusing, but I feel like WotC fundamentally changed things in ways I enjoyed. It added a captain system similar to Shadow of Mordor and has half the main characters from ST:TNG doing the voice acting. I started this series at the very beginning (90's? Early 2000's?) and can recommend only the first and second games. However, consider their age and thus I probably enjoy those old ones out of nostalgia.

Yeah I was gonna hop in here and say Fallout. New Vegas has all the themes of the classic series with the easier to play gameplay of the 3D era. That said though, I really don't think you can start wherever with that series - IF you want a clear picture of what it's about. I started with Fallout 3, and that definitely muddies the series themes a bit. Fallout 4 comes around and the realistic themes of humanity's repetitive follies are all but thrown out the window to focus on the scifi, retrofuturism, and apocalyptic aspects of the series. Fallout 1, 2, and NV are the continued story of society rebuilding and making the same mistakes we always make as a species. Only the first one is a post apocalyptic game, 2 and NV are post-post apocalyptic with large communities and states starting to form.

No hate on the fun there is to be had exploring bombed out ruins, I still love Fallout 3 and I put in a good bit of time with Fallout 4. But while the West Coast tells the story of society rebuilding, with people making adobe houses reasonably soon after the bombs fell and eventually manufacturing concrete, the East Coast is full of convoluted reasons for why society hasn't rebuilt yet in 200 years and everyone still lives in scrap metal shacks. Not that Fallout games are all realism, but I think the Bethesda games sacrifice the realism of how humanity functions to add more scifi components - and that's just not what Fallout's all about.

I should probably say an actual game series I think you can pick up at any game though, and I'll have to go with Metal Gear Solid. Fantastic story that's convoluted and told out of order. It doesn't matter where you start, you're always going to have fun! I recommend MGS1 for anybody with a day job, and MGS5 for anyone who wants to sink some hours into a sandbox.

I've heard you can pick and choose where to start with any sport franchise.

Counter Strike

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Hooked me and then I explored lots of the rest of the series!

Monster Hunter. There's tons of recurring stuff between games due to the nature of the series, but other than being able to go "hey, I recognize that from this other game!" there's no reason to play the games in any particular order. I'd normally recommend World or Rise to new players, but with Wilds coming out in a month I'd say that's the best option if you have the hardware for it. Wilds is a thematic sequel to World though, so starting with World before Wilds is something you might consider, though it's not really necessary.

Spelunky, for co-op. I definitely prefer the first game for solo but it only has local co-op. Spelunky 2 has both local and network play but the difference between having a single camera follow the one flag carrier and everybody having their own screens is like playing a different game. Single screen is total mayhem.

Uncharted

You can pick up any game in the series and you get a complete story.

Plus imho, one of the best series in recent memory

This is mainly a FF focused comment. I might come back later and ramble about other franchises though.

A lot of JRPG franchises generally only have themes in common. So you can play Final Fantasy 6, 7, 10, 11 or 15 and have a self contained story. I donno if it's been confirmed by Square but I do subscribe to the theory that Final Fantasy Tactics and 12 take place on the same continent, just a few hundred years apart. But even then, both titles are standalone and have nothing in common other than the same Ivalice.

There are a few franchises that have continuity like Breath of Fire(iirc) and XenoSaga.

As for where to start with Final Fantasy, 6 is a really good standout retro one, 7 is always a favorite, and so is 10. I don't think you can go wrong with any of those. If you really like politics in games, 12 has all that and more. It's my favorite of the bunch but that makes me an outlier. I also don't recommend starting with it because it's a huge deviation from the main game mechanics.

Favourite Series - Recommended Entry Point

1. Final Fantasy - VI
2. Atelier - Sophie
3. Dead or Alive - 5 Last Round
4. Senran Kagura - Burst Renewal
5. Romancing Saga - 2 Revenge of the Seven