Games that hit you like a ton of bricks.

[Nihlex]

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

This, but with better hardware. My first thought was: "How the fuck do they do that?", in reference to the portals. I then spent the next two days trying to work out how you could possibly program portal technology in a game.

If object player collides with portal X then destroy object and set variable portal to 1

If variable portal is equal to 1 create object player at portal Y and set variable portal to 0

Just a guess off the top of my head from my games lol

Or instead of destroying just if object collides with portal X move position of object to portal Y

 

[Ultra_Caboose]

The story of the Legacy of Kain games have always amazed me. I've watched the cutscenes on youtube more times than I can count, and I still don't get tired of seeing them.

 

[ultrachicken]

deus ex: invisible war.
I currently have no idea where to go, but before that it's been an awesome game!

 

[Fappy]

When I was five years old Mario RPG changed my life. I would, from that point on, forever be an RPG gamer.

 

[Robin_Lyon]

Diablo & Diablo 2 hit me like a ton of bricks;

No matter how many times I started those games I could neeever paved my way through the arduous task of ACTUALLY finishing them.

 

[vviki]

Well, it does sound a bit nostalgic, but my choice is Diablo 2. I was 6th grade (12-13years old) and gaming was still done in gaming clubs only. We played counter-strike and starcraft and I noticed 2 of my classmates playing diablo. It looked silly to me, till I actually sat down and played it. I never stopped till now. Got a 100% on the diablo addiction test including the "Yuo don't know your own 10digit social security number but you know Diablo 2 CD keys." (back then hdd's were a bit small so to have new stuff, you had to first delete old stuff). Also remained a standard answer to that standard question "What did you do last night?" me: "Hammering mobs in diablo.". Perfect to replay over and over, perfect to vent off frustration of everyday life. Also pretty good if you can imagine Andariel looking like your history teacher and killing her over and over and over .

For added variety I recommend the ES (eastern sun) mode, what adds tons of new stuff, if all the original things are not enough anymore.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.

At first, I actually did not appreciate it, because I was very young when I got it, and had never played a proper RPG game before so I just ran around fighting things for an hour and got bored. However, by the time I got Oblivion, I was older, and Oblivion was more accessible, so I learned the basics of the game. I later went back to play Morrowind and was absolutely stunned at the amazing game that I had written off as a big world filled with average graphics and broken combat.

 

[The Madman]

Thief: The Dark Project

I remember I saw a trailer for the game on one of those bonus demo disks that used to come with various games. Pretty sure it was Tomb Raider. Eventually I got my hands on a copy of the demo and it just completely changed what I thought a first-person game meant! Up until then it'd all been rocket launchers and kill counts, then here came this game which played the exact opposite and was just so. damn. cool!

Must have played that demo so many time. Hell, I've still got the entire layout of Lord Bafford's Manor memorized from the hidden passageway behind the curtains in the gardens to the patrol routs of the guards watching the throne room!

Don't think I've ever really been struck by a game like that since. Thief isn't even what I'd call my favorite game, although it's certainly in the top ten, but it just blew my mind when I first played it more than anything else had before or has since.

 

[GamingAwesome1]

The Earthbound series.

All fantastic games.

 

[Yureina]

Warcraft 1, Shogun: Total War, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout 3.

Those were the big ones for me. I remember the first time I saw them I was immediately sucked it, and I would remain so for a very, VERY, long time to come.

 

[ManaKnightX]

The Monkey Island Games as well anything done by Tim Schaffer really. The guy's my idol, creating original games that you can't even imagine with a nice sense of humor to boot. (Yes, I know Brutal Legends had a few flaws)

 

[Firetaffer]

Thief/Thief 2
Ultima Online
Deus Ex
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Those are the games that had the greatest influence on me.

+1 for Thief lovers.

Bioshock as well for me, was blown away.

Thief: The Dark Project

I remember I saw a trailer for the game on one of those bonus demo disks that used to come with various games. Pretty sure it was Tomb Raider. Eventually I got my hands on a copy of the demo and it just completely changed what I thought a first-person game meant! Up until then it'd all been rocket launchers and kill counts, then here came this game which played the exact opposite and was just so. damn. cool!

Must have played that demo so many time. Hell, I've still got the entire layout of Lord Bafford's Manor memorized from the hidden passageway behind the curtains in the gardens to the patrol routs of the guards watching the throne room!

Don't think I've ever really been struck by a game like that since. Thief isn't even what I'd call my favorite game, although it's certainly in the top ten, but it just blew my mind when I first played it more than anything else had before or has since.

And again. Thief ftw.

 

[pSY'oniK]

Condemned Criminal Origins, Half-Life, F.E.A.R., Diablo II, Starcraft, Warcraft III but the god of single player imho is Gothic (1 that is)... huge world to explore, tons of ways for building your char, so really the constraints on that were removed, and most of all the sense of accomplishment you get when advancing through it... seeing all those bastards who earlier in the game were like "Gimme a babyowl or i will stab you in the face" and now you get the chance to stab them it does get a tad bit imba when you get to be a necro O_O

 

[hawkeye52]

battlefield 2142 (although not a great game it was the first that i played and enjoyed seriously)
max payne 2
oblivion (with lots of mods )
and thief

 

[EradiusLore]

all i can think of off the top of my head, played like 1000 games since 1992 so i cant remember all of them

Uplink: hacker elite
Tie fighter
Elderscrolls 2-4 (daggerfall, morrowind, oblivion)
Knights of the old republic (if u have not played this then shame on you)
Team Fortress 2
mount & blade
Max payne
Company of heroes
Dawn of war
Borderlands
dragon age
mass effect
evil genius
gangsters 2
the guild 2
empire at war
star trek armada 2
x3 terran conflict
shogun total war