Games that hit you like a ton of bricks.

[Yeager942]

To start this off, I'm a console-player turned PC-elitist. It was a trying time, but eventually, I found the light at the end of tunnel. To kick start my evolution, I resolved myself to purchase/borrow any of the "classics" I could find. One of my older friends in college graciously mailed me Planescape: Torment and....wow

So, I ask you, the Escapist community, what game/s has hit you like a ton of bricks. This generation or older.

Note: I don't mean to exclude this thread to PC games only. There are many kick-ass console games!

 

[Thelonesun]

The original Mother game was amazingly well made for an RPG for its' time. In fact, I still like it better than the original Final Fantasy.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Probably Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

 

[Cody211282]

Chrono Trigger, Mass Effect, Halo, and Alpha Protocol(no idea why on this one, must be my love of spys).

 

[Gigaguy64]

Fire Emblem.

Before i played it i wasn't much for strategy games but.......HOLY ****.
It was absolutely amazing.
The Fun Gameplay, the Awesome Classes and their Pros and Cons, the Weapon System, the Characters with development so thick it could fill 3 English Novels, the Character Supports, the Music, the Art Work, the Bitter sweet Final Boss, the Generals and Druids....

Its one of my favorite games of All Time.
ALL TIME.

 

[Chamale]

Portal, on a crappy laptop, in the dark, with bad earphones and a sticky mousepad. Absolutely incredibly good game.

Also, Fallout 3. Walking out into the Capital Wasteland after 18 years underground in a Vault. Ebert, and anyone who agrees with him, has clearly never experienced that moment.

 

[Pearwood]

Dead Space. I played the first chapter, thought that it was ok, completed the second, wondered how they made thermite burn horizontally, completed the third... completed the game in the next few days, it just had me completely hooked.

 

[Ye Olde Hobo]

Mother 3.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED

The main character's mother dies in about the first 30 minutes, your brother goes off to kill what killed his mother, a town gets completely reworked by some kind of empire, and you trip on shrooms on an island, revealing some extremely disturbing things about the characters.

 

[Chamale]

Mother 3.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED

Spoiler

The main character's mother dies in about the first 30 minutes, your brother goes off to kill what killed his mother, a town gets completely reworked by some kind of empire, and you trip on shrooms on an island, revealing some extremely disturbing things about the characters.

Make spoiler tags with [ spoiler]text here[ /spoiler], without the spaces between the [square brackets].

 

[ottenni]

Company of Heroes. That game blew me off my feet.

Mother 3.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED

The main character's mother dies in about the first 30 minutes, your brother goes off to kill what killed his mother, a town gets completely reworked by some kind of empire, and you trip on shrooms on an island, revealing some extremely disturbing things about the characters.

Welcome to the Escapist!

Heres a nice tip for you, if you want to put a spoiler in you can put it in a box so to speak like so

Spoiler

blah blah blah
[/spoiler*]

Just without the *.
I hope you enjoy your time here.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Tales of Symphonia. I picked it up used because the art style intrigued me, it was an RPG, and it seemed to get mostly positive reviews that I'd seen. It drew me in almost immediately, hooked on, and never let go.

For that matter, at least two of my visual novels, Tsukihime and A Drug That Makes You Dream (and possibly Kanon, since I had no idea what to expect with that one, either).

 

[Tieranus]

Homeworld.

Holy fuck.

The music is still my favorite music, the cold hearted way the destruction of the planet is depicted, the utter brutality and hostility you face. It should be rated one of the best games in history and I would argue that the opening could easily classify as Art.

Now heres something which will make all you homeworld fans start staring into space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450

Ah, god. That brings back memories, sir. Fond, amazing, tear-filled memories. Thank you.

Homeworld hit me like a metric tonne of cinderblocks. Homeworld 2 was a slightly smaller amount of cinderblock, but nonetheless epic.

 

[Sven_Untgaarde]

Fallout 3.
Why? Because i had NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS UNTIL I PLAYED IT!

 

[Lust]

Shadow of the Colossus blew me away. A game that huge for the PS2 made my head implode and neck pulse.

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

Ocarina of Time.

I wonder how many times I have replied to a thread with those three words. I'm guessing at least 20.

EDIT: Actually, Shadow of the Colossus too.

 

[Najos]

Ultima Online, for sure. I remember just buying it on a whim because it was super cheap compared to other games (I didn't realize I needed a sub). When I got home and I couldn't play it I was confused. I think I was about 10 or 11 at the time, so I didn't really understand the concept. I finally talked my mom or dad into letting me use their card for it and...well, it totally changed the way I look at games. I didn't even know what the hell was going on half of the time, but it was still awesome.

Edit: I just realized I was probably closer to 13.

 

[Carlston]

Mother 3.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED

The main character's mother dies in about the first 30 minutes, your brother goes off to kill what killed his mother, a town gets completely reworked by some kind of empire, and you trip on shrooms on an island, revealing some extremely disturbing things about the characters.

Not much of a spoiler how old the game was and yes it did have great story to slam into a player so quickly it gave purpose for your character...many games try for this effect but fall short. Mother was a great game.

(BTW People games more than 6 months old...it's not a spoiler anymore. And for the guy who demanded to use Spoiler tags about shooting Bunnies as the tutorial in Red Dead Redeption, a tutorial is not a spoiler as a spoiler is normally something that, surprise spoils the PLOT. Shooting bunnies is not it.)

 

[Void(null)]

Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit.
Dreamweb
Silent Hill 1 & 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R
F.E.A.R
SystemShock 1 & 2
BioShock 1