Old school game you think influences your current playstyle?

[TehKnuck]

I know a lot of folks have that one game from their childhood that defines their style of play today. For instance, hardcore fighting game fans probably started with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, or something a little more obscure (at the time) like Soul Edge or something. I have a varied taste, but the third-person adventure is probably my favorite gametype, influenced by my pre-adolescent love for the original Tomb Raider.

Take a walk down memory lane with me and see if you can pinpoint that game that fascinated you in your younger days, when you started walking down the path of a gamer, and defined who you are on that road today!

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Hmmm, I think you meant "tastes" than "playstyle"... I'll answer both.

As for my tastes, Baldur's Gate was a HUGE influence on me. I already had several years of playing various game genera, but that one sold me completely on RPGs. Over a decade later, I still replay the BG saga every now and then, and most of the games I enjoy are RPGs. It's just a pity we have a decline in wRPGs recently.

As for playstyle, the first Command & Conquer. Whenever I play an RTS, I tend to do strategy the C&C way. My standard tactics still work brilliantly for other games in the franchise, less so on others...

 

[silentx3ro]

Tekken 1.

Whenever I pick up any fighting game I always find myself discarding any instructions in lieu of mashing A,B,X,Y/Circle,Square,Triangle,X with the palm of my hand while wildly pointing the stick/d-pad in every imaginable direction.

I usually takes about 3 rounds of getting stomped before I remember that it has never been as effective as it was in tekken 1, 2 and 3 on the playstation

Alot of older rpgs (mainly FFVII) have influenced me as well.
I find my self automatically searching every possible area of a map and opening every box/chest/crate I can find before I can allow my self to move on, usually finding nothing but trash (Im looking at you !). On more than one occasion I've seen a little outcrop or alley or something shown on my mini-map that, in most cases, is just there as scenery and is therefor inaccessable. I have lost hours of my life to things like that under the conviction that the designers must have hidden something good in there if its so hard to get to. The Devil May Cry series is a particular culprit of this.

 

[Tharwen]

I think Doom 3 created my obsessive reloading habits. Before that, I would walk around with a half-empty clip. Then I learnt the true horror of meeting a hellknight with only half a SMG clip left.

 

[distortedreality]

Deus Ex.

I always try and take the stealth or subversion approach to a game if possible. Is amazing how many games you can fit this into that you wouldn't think of.

 

[imperialus]

Might and Magic Isles of Terra. Sold me on the Roleplaying Genre. My love of Strategy games probably comes from Civilization 2 or X-Com.

 

[Wayneguard]

Unreal Tournament for sure. I cut my fps teeth on that game and it shows in my playstyle.

 

[Daggedawg]

Final Fantasy IX

After that, I was completely hooked on JRPGS.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Crash Bandicoot 2 has seen to it that I will forever call hubs Warp Rooms.

 

[TehKnuck]

Hmmm, I think you meant "tastes" than "playstyle"... I'll answer both.

As for my tastes, Baldur's Gate was a HUGE influence on me. I already had several years of playing various game genera, but that one sold me completely on RPGs. Over a decade later, I still replay the BG saga every now and then, and most of the games I enjoy are RPGs. It's just a pity we have a decline in wRPGs recently.

As for playstyle, the first Command & Conquer. Whenever I play an RTS, I tend to do strategy the C&C way. My standard tactics still work brilliantly for other games in the franchise, less so on others...

Yes, that's definitely a better word than the one I chose But! It looks like that might branch this thing off in a bit of a better direction than I'd intended, so let's amend that. Tastes AND playstyles. Go!

 

[VincentR]

Most certainly, without a doubt: Marathon (FPS), Starcraft (RTS), Myst (..Adventure?), and the Myth series (RTS - EXTREME). Oh god, I loves me some Bungie goodness, with a nice side of Myst. ...Not that I had any idea what the hell was going on in Myst, Myth, or Marathon. But darnit, I could shoot mah gun until I made progress, and I could click things in Myst until the same happened!

 

[poppabaggins]

Mega Man 2 + Mega Man X

This explains why I like games that punish me in a fair manner.

 

[Biosophilogical]

I'm assuming you meant good things, but I feel like saying a bad things. Banjo Ka-f***ing-zooie. That game and its stupid shark-beach-level thing really messed me up. I could barelt tolerate water in games for fear of insta-kill enemies sneaking up on me from any direction (Ratchet and Clank 3 didn't help, but in that one you didn't see them coming and chasing you down with that evil toothy grin). It took MH3 to cure me of this (nothing is as empowering as brutally murdering the worst-of-the-worst lightning-lapras-gone-wrong for spare parts to wear as a hat). Honestly, if it hadn't been for MH3, I'd probably have a heart attack at the first mention of videogame swimming.