Games you might not have played if not for the Escapist.

[neonsword13-ops]

Definitely Persona 4.

Being on the forums since 2011, I was bound to hear some praise of the Persona games at one point or another.

When I made a thread asking for PS2 game suggestions, I was flooded with responses saying that I should play the Persona games, but to make sure I start with 3 and then move to 4.

So I beat 3. It was a magical experience. And then I played the second coming of video game Christ: Persona 4.

And now it's my favorite game evar in teh universe.

And then Daystar told me 'bout Journey and I played that and that was awesome.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Well, Daystar's constant praise is what eventually made me buy Okami, (I'll never admit that again), so I guess chock one up for that? Otherwise, I can't really think of a game that these forums made me grab. Constant internet praise led me to picking up The Walking Dead, and some fairly poignant reviews made me check out Spec Ops: The Line. It's not that you guys don't have good opinions, I just don't tend to read them here first, is all.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Another The Walking Dead here. I was sick of zombies and didn't enjoy Sam & Max, so I probably would have never gotten it otherwise. Actually, now that I think about it the big one is Demon's Souls, while I was a lurker. Once I was done with that I had to play Dark Souls, and to say I wasn't disappointed would make me look a bit ridiculous. I don't remember who it was or if they're still here, but thank you, person who redeemed this entire video game generation for me : )

Edit: Ooh, I just remembered that Caramel Frappe's review of Dead Space made me finally sit down and give it a fair shake. It was like...what RE5 should have been if it went into space, and I totally loved it.

 

[Dead Seerius]

The Walking Dead (surprise, surprise) and most recently Depression Quest.

And I am wholeheartedly appreciative of my experiences with both.

 

[Carlston]

No more Heroes, because it was the only game to that point Yatzee liked.

Oddly enough on it's own merits i liked it to, buy never would have bought it on it's box art or game reviews.

 

[BartyMae]

None, I don't think...in fact, it's only made me get closer to NOT purchasing/playing games, even ones I liked, (i.e. Mirror's Edge).

 

[144_v1legacy]

This depends on what you mean by "the Escapist."
For me, replacing the words "the Escapist" with "Zero Punctuation" would yield exactly the same answers.

That said,

Portal, TF2, No More Heroes, Limbo.

 

[Nazulu]

That's the main reason I stay on these forums, because of the great recommendations I get and I'm not sure if I ever would have found a lot of them without this community. Some games were even hyped up so much here that I eventually became interested when I didn't give a shit about them initially.

The best example is the Orange Box. I ended up buying it at the time I was absolutely sick of FPS games, and not a single regret was given. I'm still amazed with Half-Life 2, Portal and Team Fortress. Also, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Persona series, Spec Ops The Line, Journey, X-COM, etc. etc.

 

[Full]

Lone Survivor. I heard about it, but wrote it off as a slow indie game that I probably wouldn't be able to get into.

Yeah it was freaking great.

Pretty much every game that I played which came out last year was mentioned here before I touched it, actually. So thanks, because I don't think I didn't like any 2012 game that I played.

 

[DanielBrown]

None that I can think of right now, but I ended up replaying Final Fantasy IX due to a recomendation. Played the first disc tons of times, though I never finished it since I kept starting over whenever I took a longer break from the game.
Blazed through in three days and it has gotten me to replay other old games of mine that I never finished when I was a kid. The nostalgia factor is huge!

 

[Yopaz]

Okami.
Saints Row 2.
Driver San Francisco.
Bastion.

 

[Voulan]

Katawa Shoujo, and I don't regret it at all. Another one was Driver: San Francisco, after watching a surprisingly good review on Zero Punctuation.

Otherwise, the Escapist tends to lead me away from games than towards them....

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Spec Ops: The Line. Would never have played it had I not seen Yahtzee and a bunch of people here on the forums go on about it.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The Walking Dead, Katawa Shoujo and Fallout: New Vegas.

I'm not big into visual novels so I never would've thought to check out Katawa Shoujo if I hadn't seen so many people praise it(alongside the amount of praise I saw it get on other sites like Funnyjunk, of all places. That place has a huge Hanako cult).

When it came to The Walking Dead, I was pretty much in the same boat as Casual Shinji. But I eventually caved and tried it out.

Not gonna lie, I do not regret a thing. If a game is going to use feels against the player, I want it to punch me in the feels with my feels. And both Katawa Shoujo and The Walking Dead handily deliver.

As for Fallout: New Vegas, I've never been much of a Fallout fan. I greatly disliked Fallout 3 and truth be told, the very first time I saw Fallout: New Vegas, I thought it was another expansion to Fallout 3. But listening to several people gush about it constantly I finally tried it when the price dropped. Bought the normal game for a tiny $20 at GameStop pre-owned. Discovered that I actually really liked it and proceeded to return it for a full refund and turn right the hell around with a brand new copy of the GotY edition with all the dlc.

 

[Euphbug]

Recently their was The Walking Dead and To The Moon. With TWD it was during one of the steam sales that people kept posting about it. I was on the fence for the longest time but I finally caved and enjoyed the ever loving hell out of it.

With TTM, it was during a very recent daily deal where someone made a long post about it. It got me to go in on that game too, though I must say I have been dragging my feet on playing it.

 

[sethisjimmy]

Spec Ops: The Line. I'd heard of it, but didn't remember anything about it due to its terrible title and generic look. I played it after the ZP review and much praise but to me it's still just a generic shooter.

I'd also say because of Yahtzee I played Psychonauts and Silent Hill 2. One of which was a charming if a bit functionally boring platformer with great characters and a good story, and the other was the best horror game I've played so far that just so happens to also have a great story.

 

[Smeggs]

Wouldn't have played Fallout 3 without listening to Yahtzee's review, and I saw a written review for Spec Ops: The Line on here as well.

To the Moon, because people kept mentioning it on the forums.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

 

[NightmareExpress]

None yet. I'm just too knowledgeable about what's out there (for better or worse, having access to gaming news at work doesn't help). I've already played a tonne of stuff or at least read up on them before making the ultimate consumer choice.
So chances are I've already experienced or formed a view on most titles before seeing them mentioned on The Escapist.

Well...except for Depression Quest. Found it through a thread here a few days ago. Though it probably wouldn't fall into the typical purview of what a game is. It's a visual novel (from the looks of it, made with that Twine story software) that for the most part skimps out on the bit about being visual and "gamey". Just some sound, with a picture on the top of the page (animated in degrees of complexity) and a wall 'o text below it for the most part. But hey, I've already been through Katawa Shoujo (all the routes) so why not? This game's kind of the opposite of that anyway.

And personally, I hope that me praising Hotline Miami and Lone Survivor every chance I got paid off somewhere, somehow. Those were among the games I most enjoyed for one reason or another.

 

[lacktheknack]

The Walking Dead, Spec Ops: The Line, Lone Survivor and soon X:COM-EU. Ironically I felt compelled to buy it after reading a thread on why it was broken.

Was that the thread that I managed to get shut down with pure unrequited fury?

OT: You guys convinced me to try Katawa Shoujo. Thank you, Escapists. Thank you.

 

[Mikejames]

Well, I saw more about indie titles, like Limbo and Bastion in reviews and forum discussion.
I picked up a lot of my love for Silent Hill and psychological horror here.

The only reason I looked at older games like Psychonauts, Dreamfall, and Beyond Good and Evil, was because of some of the cult classic styled recommendations and discussion.
I also probably wouldn't have thought there was any depth to titles like Spec Ops: The Line or The Walking Dead if not for Yahtzee's reviews and people tearing up in the forums.

So yeah, this site really helped expand my horizons in retrospect, and turned me towards a lot of favorites.