Games that changed your life

[SargentToughie]

For better or for worse, we all have one game that redefined both the way we play games, and us as a person. So I ask you, what is that game for you, and why or how did it change your life?

For me, that game is Star Ocean: the second story. It was the game that taught me what it was like to go an entire weekend without any sleep...

(Still waiting for #4... can't hold out much longer...)

 

[Amnestic]

Silent Hill 1, which I played when I was about 9. I didn't sleep for a week.

 

[aaron552]

Hmm... Awesome taste-defining games include: Beyond Good & Evil and Deus Ex. Nothing else comes close to their level of awesome

 

[LeChuck99]

The Monkey Island Series, prefably Monkey Island 2. It definatly had a big impact on my sense of humor and love of adventure games.

 

[King wiL]

Final Fantasy 7, had never played a proper RPG before, woke up one day intrigued by it for some reason, looked through back issues of OPSM magazine, found the review, went straight to the video store which i knew had it and rented it, ended up renting it for so long they told me to keep it as i'd spent the retail price in renting it! My life has never been the same again and ive still not finished it, even after several plays through! one day i will beat it 100% seeing everything. I hope.

 

[Melankolia]

Street Fighter 2 on the megadrive. First fighting game I played and I still love it to bits.

 

[Altorin]

Final Fantasy 7, had never played a proper RPG before, woke up one day intrigued by it for some reason, looked through back issues of OPSM magazine, found the review, went straight to the video store which i knew had it and rented it, ended up renting it for so long they told me to keep it as i'd spent the retail price in renting it! My life has never been the same again and ive still not finished it, even after several plays through! one day i will beat it 100% seeing everything. I hope.

I wish my rental places did that

I spent over 80 bucks renting Final Fantasy VI, and after that, they offered to sell it to me for 40 bucks.

 

[Lance Icarus]

I guess I've got two. First, Tales of Symphonia made turn based RPG games like Final Fantasy unplayable to me with it's exciting and intuitive battle system that actually requires a little skill to play, thus allowing you to develop your fighting skills right alongside your character.

The other would be Street Fighter 2 because it introduced Chun-Li to me. Love at first sight.

 

[asleep at the comp]

fire embalm such a awesome game

 

[NinjaSkills]

Super mario brothers/duck hunt because they were the first games that I played and changed my life to the escapist/gamer that I am today

 

[gigastrike]

Bioshock. After beating the crap out of Andrew Ryan, I became alot more skeptical.

 

[Copter400]

Bioshock. After beating the crap out of Andrew Ryan, I became alot more skeptical.

I say Bioshock too, because it led me tod discover Objectivism.

 

[Jonathan Hexley]

Silent Hill 2 changed my life.
I used to not have a care in the world.
Then I was stupid enough to watch my Dad play that game.
Then... Say hello to 2 years of painful nightmares. Closing my eyes and seeing those blood-stained hallways, with Pyramid Head ominously trudging towards me...
But yeah, Rock Band has made me and my brother get along better. We work well as a team.

 

[NeedAUserName]

GTA III, when your 8 and you and all your 14-25 cousins sit around a TV taking shots at missions, (or in my case running people over/shooting them) you really learn something, just who awesome mute guys called Claude are. But also it was the first game I played that wasn't either Croc, Spyro, or Bugs Life, and it showed me a gritty side of the world were bullets are better then words, i.e. Liberty City!!!!!

 

[Gxas]

Surprisingly, WoW has helped me a lot. I've actually become a bit more social because of it. (paradox/contradiction?) Another game is DDR. I'm really good at it and I can always impress my friends when I play it. In fact, its kind of an ice breaker when I meet someone new at a party that has it.

 

[Fightbulb]

Come to think of it, my love of Smash Bros. sparked a love of the game with a group of people who weren't really close friends at the time, but they are now, and I think it's partially because of SSBM.

 

[Sasha Janre]

Sonic 2! (I played them out of order, Sonic 2, 3 then we found a copy of 1) and it taught me that you CAN be too cool for school. (what!XD)

Okay, seriously, it was a wake-up call when I was little. I had been playing Mario and wah wah wah, tubes, plumbers, wtf. It was fun, but Sonic 2 was fun to play and it was so vibrant and even if I didn't get the themes of environmentalism and industrialization until much later, it was still well done. Sure, it's far easier than sonic 1 (who here has beaten that game, seriously? It's so hard!) but I think it's a step up and I really enjoyed it. Hell, I got Sonic Mega Collections + just to play it again.

A second would be, as someone further up in the thread mentioned, FF7. Criticisms aside, the game brought me into a changing-genre and I avidly followed the series from then on (despite FF8 being the first one I played, FF7 changed how I thought of story, for the better).

 

[Earthbound]

I'd have to say Medal of Honor: Frontline. It introduced me to first-person shooters, which remain one of my most played genres, for better or worse.

 

[Music]

I'd have to saw WoW changed my life. It seems like it was for the worst at times, being that it sucks up my days sometimes >_>. Other than the time consuming part, I meet cool people and have fun!