Growth as a gamer

[white_salad]

Every gamer is different. We have preferences, dislikes, and outright hates. So what has made you into the gamer you are? Important characters? Specific games? Experiences with games?


My major ones are as follows

The first video game I really got into was The original age of empires. I was really young at the time, so when I first played it it blew my tiny little mind. It was like my first steps, but they were virtual

Another game that affected me largely was sly cooper. The games I played definitely weren't about funny and developed characters, or interesting plot arches. This game, and the entire franchise, showed that video games can be more than just simple time wasters, or mindless fun.

I guess the final and probably most major development was brought out by mass effect. I always enjoyed the plots and dialogue in games, but never really found anything that was very plot and dialogue heavy. In rolls mass effect, got it opening week, and loved the holy high hell out of it. It was easily my favorite game of this generation, and is easily in my top three. And it has greatly influenced what type of games I like.

So tell me escapist, how have you developed?

 

[Miumaru]

I think one thing that helped me with gaming...was how I used to buy them when I was young. I never knew what was coming until I was about 13 or 14 and started getting EGM. Before then, I would go to Toys R Us (or anywhere else if not in home town) and just browse till a game caught my eye. I also rented tons of games from Blockbuster. This methods got me Dragon Warrior Monsters, Crystalis, Mystical Ninja, Ogre Battle 64, and tons other amazing games.
This is why I think I am so varied in what I play, or part of. I can never play just one game, but it keeps me above average in most games I think.

 

[masseyguy911]

Well originally, I played games like starfox, and mario, basically the big names in nintendo. Well after that, I played my first FPS that I really liked, Medal of Honor allied assault. Pretty much after that game, I played a lot of FPS. Then came Halo: CE, that game was the reason I bought a xbox. Yes, I loved the first Halo game, but all the other ones... not so much. I eventually got tired of the FPS genre and tried out KoTOR, and that game got me hooked on RPGs. Thats about it, nothing to big happened after that.

 

[Tspoon]

The first real game I played was GTA. Ah, good times.
And came Halo CE, Runescape, Diablo II, Half+life, and now Resistance2, and Killzone 2.

And more I cant remember.

 

[MrShowerHead]

Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis has chanced me the most. After playing that, I want my FPS games realistic or at least tactical.

Oh and my first game I played.... I think it was the original Colin McRae Rally.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

...i've kinda been into games as a whole since i was a kid. It's really hard to nail down specific games that influnced me as gamer today. Well i can say that FF7 and Persona are the games that got me into RPG's and that since then i've yet to play an Final Fantasy game that doesn't make me want to punch my self in the face.

Also i've always been bored with sports and thus with sports games.

 

[stiborge]

Hmmm... interesting topic... Ok. So the first game I got into was Pokemon Blue. I couldn't really read but my grandma helped me out and I hated grinding to level up my Pokemon.

Then I started playing Spyro the Dragon on the Playstation original. I loved that game and from that I started getting more console platformers about talking animals going on adventures ( I was like 7).

The next big one was Final Fantasy X. I had played other Final Fantasy's before but I couldn't really read and I didn't really play them. I do remember enjoying FFIV though. Not sure why. But FFX was the first Final Fantasy game that I was really into and got really close to beating (still haven't, because I was still to young to understand the concept that grinding was necessary to beat things, perhaps I should go back and do that)

Perhaps my final growth was playing Bioshock where I learned to expand my game palate (before that I only played RPG's and Platformers). REally, it's where I learned that an FPS game could be really good.

 

[Manji187]

Although I started gaming on the NES (Castlevania, Batman, Ninja Turtles, Super Mario 3, Megaman 4, DuckTales)...I consider myself to be of the 5th generation (PSX, N64). For my eleventh birthday I got a PSX...what followed were some of the best years of my life:

Metal Gear Solid
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Medievil
Vagrant Story
Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX
Chrono Cross
Xenogears
Suikoden 2
Crash Bandicoot 1, 2 and 3
Crash Team Racing
Tekken 3

I remember these games to this day. They hold a special place in my heart.

Other games (6th gen) that have earned a place in my "hall of fame":

Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Remake (GC)
Metal Gear Solid 3
Metroid Prime 1 and 2

And then I more or less became a PC gamer cuz frankly the 7th generation has been a huge disappointment for me.

I'm not that old (23) and (I admit) no stranger to nostalgia...still though...what's up with the FPS/ TPS (in general: shooter) overload nowadays?

 

[philosophicalbastard]

I started out with simple educational games, and pinball. Sometime when I was 4 I got a PS1 with only a demo desk, years later I got a PS2 and then the fun really started. My two most memberable PS2 games were Katamari Damaci and Jak 2, Katamari had the usual mind warping japanesness on me as anyone else, and Jak 2 pissed me off because I couldn't complete the third level because I had no camera control. At 9 I got an Xbox with one of the most influencial games of my life, Halo:CE. The Halo franchise led me to the internet in search of information pretaining to it, this showed me many of the other games out there along with a subscription to Gameinformer. I kept up with all the latest releases and technology, and here I am today.

 

[ReaperzXIII]

Zelda, Mario, Banjo-Kazooie, Body Harvest, Bomberman 64 Pokemon, Sonic and that Star Wars game on the N64 (can't remember the name but it isn't the racing one).

Then I got an Xbox and since I was still young and couldn't buy games myself: Blinx and Blinx 2, JSRF, Max Payne (Dad got it), Soul Calibur 2, Kung Fu Chaos, Sudeki, Spyro

Gamecube: Sonic, Super Mario Sunshine, P.N.03, Billy Hatcher

Then I moved onto my JRPG period of: Summon Night, Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Kingdom Hearts

Then I got a 360 and finally started liking shooting games

 

[TerribleAssassin]

The game that got me into games was Victory Boxing 2 for the PS1.

Then Vice City (that game was beast..)

Then my first ever console game was Lord of The Rings: Two Towers.

Sonic Adventure, followed by Half-Life and Deus Ex.



These games define me as a gamer..

 

[Alex Cowan]

I came to it pretty late. Apart from the odd cartoony game the first real game I got was Jedi Academy for PC. Loved that game, and tbh I still do.

When I first played KotOR was a pretty big moment as well - that was my first experience of an RPG, and now I'm hooked on them.

 

[Emphasis]

Ha the title gave me the wrong idea.. Yes Im a sick person

I started out with spyro the dragon, which I actually played recently (10 years later) and still VERY much enjoyed.. The first one is the best :]

 

[yankeefan19]

My first game that I really got into was Starcraft when I was about 7, however, even though it was fun, I barely understood the plot as I "cow leveled" the whole game. Later on a friend of mine introduced me to Halo, the one reason I bought an X-Box. Somewhere in there, I got introduced to RPG's and my three favorite Genres where defined.

 

[Audio]

A mixture of Unreal Tournament on the PC and Phantasy Star online for the dream cast.

The FPS view in unreal was a great taste of how immersed you can get. Phantasy star tought me how to behave when in a group or in general chat when online.
As for console gaming, i feel i have played just about every genre so....meeh.

 

[wooty]

Started out with the old Sonic, Final fantasy, Mario and Zelda games (Mega Drive and NES respectively). Didn't really start to think clearly about stories and characters until around FFVI & VII, maybe because it was that I was too young to fully understand what was going on other than "oooooo, flashing lights and music"

I guess it was once I realised the quite large number of Japanese games that were on the market that changed me, the FF series, DMC and Zelda mostly made me go out and look for the unusual and break away from the tedium of normal life. I kind of became the Haruhi Suzumiya of my own world, and I plan to stay that way, always looking for the unusual.

 

[Hstgonzo]

Christ this makes me feel old.

I started with Alex Kidd in Miracle world on the Master System. And from then....
I've tried every genre, every fad (The Virtual Boy-what were they thinking?)and I've learned to ove genre's hat I didn't think I would-the JRPG, the Strategy, Survival Horror.
I love it all.

 

[Hiphophippo]

As I've grown older I find myself less interested in games filled with explosions and manliness. In fact, if I enjoy a game like that I tend to do so ironically now. I'm more into things that make me think. Even smaller release indie games tend to hold a higher appeal to me because I know they aren't in it for the money. They make games because they love it. It usually shows.

For instance, Crayon Physics is probably still one of the best games I've ever played.

Cut back to me as a teenager though and if it didn't have blood and explosions in it I was barely interested.

 

[Zaik]

To be totally honest with you, I wonder if i'm not going in the opposite direction.

When i look back at games i've played I thought were easy that kick the crap out of me now, i wonder if i'm not actually getting worse at gaming in general.