Which did you prefer?

Oooh, that's a toughy. The conspiracy did tend to get overwhelming. Some of the most classic episodes are stand-alones. However, I will admit that I was a relationshipper and that the shipper moments made me happy. There are a lot of great shipper moments in both the conspiracy and monster-of-the-week episodes, so it's difficult to choose. Don't feel bad about stopping around seven. I stopped after 8. I have all seasons and movies on DVD, of course, but it just wasn't the same without Mulder and Scully as a team.

I did not like the last year of Xfiles. I loved the idea that Mulder and Scully had a little boy, but I really hated it (because it seems then that baby boys are unpopular unless they are black) when they had to give the baby away to be raised by foster parents or give him up for adoption. I did not mind the conspiracy, but I was expecting more aliens and I was hoping that years later, there would be a new series, "Return to the XFiles' when Mulder and Scully's son finds some tapes about his parent's adventures and decides to investigate.

Well I loved Krycek- and he was part of the conspiracy... sooooo I am gonna lead a little more toward that.. but it's about 60/40... lol

The conspiracy bits pushed the entire show and the motives of characters across the seasons and it can't be discounted even if the writers eventually confused themselves and everyone else, and the plot was tired by season 7 (painful to watch!). The interesting episodes in episode 7 are those standalone ones, but too much comedy and superstardom I thought. Season 8 was dark and the absence of Mulder pushed the story even further, except the writers got too caught up in the angst and it got boring. My favourite episodes are the standalone ones from mainly season 4-6.