The Five games that define you as a gamer

[Shadow flame master]

My top five in no apparent order:

1. Kingdom Hearts. I can't choose one for the life of me, but it was the first game that got me to actually give a damn about it's characters, and had villains (or should I say 'fucking bastard Xehanort') that I generally detested. Not to mention its amazing soundtrack.

2. Pokemon. Although I can't say anything for generations one and two, gen three (specifically Emerald) was my first and current favorite. The other games I own are Platinum and Heart Gold. The franchise is good for wasting time and procrastination which is why it is on my list. Also, yes, I like mudkips.

3. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. This was the first game that got me to think about how to kill my enemies. That still didn't save me from falling in lava for the up-tenth time. I love the sailing and overall art theme of the game as well.

4. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I've had other mario titles before this (Sunshine, Super Mario World SNES) but this one was my favorite by far for its art. It was also the first proper turn based rpg game that I've had (yes, before pokemon). The bosses were also the hardest I've ever fought before Kingdom Hearts.

5. Halo 3. The first fps I have ever played. I loved almost every minute of it (fuck the flood) and was equally pleased with the way the felt. I also just love sci-fi.

 

[AngloDoom]

In no particular order:

1: Kirby Super Star - One of my first games and the first co-op game I'd ever seen that I spent from my childhood to my teens playing with my closest friend. I guess it symbolises my love of silly, cute, fun games and sharing them with friends.

2: Pokemon Blue - My gateway drug into the world of obsession. Not only did I complete my Pokedex and quickly level my Pokemon to Lv. 100, eight year old Anglo got his own inflatable chair, covered it in Pokemon stickers, and declared himself Gym Leader of the street. When Pokemon Stadium came out I was the only child on my street to have it, and all the other children fought me on the game to try and earn their gym badge I made myself. Obsession was fun.

3: Kingdom Hearts - A game that made my fall in love with a strange fantastic setting and gave me daydreams of adventuring to other worlds to this very day. Also a game I introduced to a friend which got her into gaming and also my longest lasting relationship.

4: Bioshock - The first game I'd seen which had used the medium itself to deliver a (very poignant) message in a highly effective way. I don't think I've ever seen such a thing done as well in any game since, and Bioshcok was the game which makes me believe that games, can indeed, be art.


5. Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time - The first game to challenge me mentally and test my patience as well as probably the first 'serious' game I ever played. OoT scared me, excited me, puzzled me, and most of all made me feel like I'd completed a journey. It took me over a year to complete the game, despite playing it religiously, but no game had ever felt so big and never before had I felt like the destined hero. I travelled through vast distances and times to save that princess before realising I never once gave a flying fuck about her - I just enjoyed the journey. The first game I was sad to complete.

----------


This was actually a good little exercise. It's made me realise that if Nintendo went back to creating fun, colourful, adventurous platformers instead of gimmicky games I'd fall back in love with games all over again.
I didn't realise until now just how much I love Nintendo, despite what it's become.

 

[Jinx]

1. Spyro
One of the first games I have ever played. It hooked me up to the game world.

2. Gothic 1 & 2
This one influenced me the most. I think of it as the peak of open world RPGs and measure every new game with it. So far every single one is below "Gothic" standard. Really well made story with characters that actually have personalities (that includes main character, even though he has no name he's not just some soulless blob you can see in Elder scrolls and similar titles)

3. Morrowind
This is my second favourite game after Gothic. Hudge open world that actually feel nice and real. You can peek into the life of every NPC, find many caves to explore. Really nice atmosphere.

4. Thief 2 & 3
I like stealth, when I was a kid I used to pick locks and break into the schools or kindergartens. I remember meticulously collecting metal springs from the street cleaner and making pick locks from them, buying metal wire and crafting a super awesome bow. Because of this game, I have some real life skills right now

5. Team fortress 2
My most favourite FPS.

 

[NinjaSniperAssassin]

Wacky Races
An old PC kart racer, similar to Mario Kart. Until I was 10 the only game system I had was my parents' computer, and this was the game I played far more than any other. It was the game that got me into videogames.

NHL 99
The first sports game I'd ever played, but the reason this defines me is that it made me interested in more than just my team (go Canucks go!). Before this game came around I watched the hockey games on TV and cheered on my squad, but I never really cared about other teams or their players. Playing as other teams in the league made me interested in who these players were I was controlling and was really the first time I'd cared about the NHL when there wasn't a game on TV.

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
The first ever console game I owned, I've beaten it well over a dozen times. On top of that, an included demo for the third game caused me to buy my first issue of the Official US Playstation Magazine, which in turn caused me to start keeping up with video game news. Wacky Races may have gotten me into videogames but R&C:GC made me a gamer.

Devil May Cry 3
This was my first ever M-rated game. It kicked my ass. This was the first time I'd really been challenged by a videogame (remember, no pre-PS2 consoles), and I kinda liked it. I point to this game as the one that started my habit of playing everything on the hardest difficulty setting.

Persona 3
The game that kick-started my love affair with character-driven games, as well as introducing me to the first game story I'd ever cared about. Before playing this game I'd never really become emotionally invested in a game's story, but after completing it I realized how much I'd been missing out on by only caring about gameplay.

 

[Aeonknight]

Chrono Trigger

FFIV

.hack series

BF3

FFXI


... Yea, those games would probably be either my most heavily invested in or influential games.

 

[Omega Pirate]

The legend of Zelda Majoras Mask
This game is what started my obsession with the Zelda series. Also I love the dark undertones the game has. The first 3D game I ever played, influenced me a lot, for better or for worse.

Pokemon Crystal Version
The first Pokemon game I ever played. This was at a time where my family was at a low point in terms of money and sanity. I put quite a fee hours into it since it was my only game at the same. Even more I borrowed it and the gameboy color from a friend of mine.

Tales of Symphonia
I found final fantasy boring, tales of symphonia showed me what a JRPG could be. Needless to say its one of the foundations from which my love for anime came. The other being DBZ.

Monster Hunter Tri
What I found in hack and slash games is the amount of combos you can do is useless, the best way to win is to yu the most basic combo over and over again. Monster Hunters actions are limited in number, but the way you utilize them is up to you. This is the kind of game I want to play.

Those 4 games shaped me, they have influenced my personality, my likes, my dislikes, my goals, my dreams. They made me who I am.

As for the 5th spot, I honestly can't think of any game that has shaped me as much as those 4 have. I spent about a year playing runescape, I dont regret it. But the game has not influenced me at the same level as the above. I think I will give my 5th spot to...

Knights in the Nightmare
I always look for fun and interesting gameplay. Knight is the first one in years to have impressed me to the core. I loved everything about the game. I guess that one DS game restored my faith in game developers, if they can make such a masterpiece I will continue to look forward to what they will make in the future as an industry.

 

[Skeleon]

In no particular order:

System Shock 2
Atmosphere. This one has the thickest atmosphere I've ever experienced in gaming. The sound is amazing, be that ambient sounds, music, enemies, audiologs or transmissions. The graphics are (and always were, even back then) awful. But that doesn't matter, never did. Not when everything else about the game is done so well. It's also the first time I've really, strongly experienced an FPS/RPG hybrid, which is nowadays pretty much my favorite genre (Fallout 3 and NV, the STALKER games, Tron 2.0, Arx Fatalis, Skyrim, you name it).

Sacrifice
As seen above, I like games with hybrid genres. I also happen to like weird games and games with floating islands for some reason. There's quite an overlap between the two, funnily enough (I'm thinking of Project Nomads here). Sacrifice is a rare RTS that throws you right into the action. Not like the silly little hero units viewed from above in Warcraft 3 but as the actual protagonist of an epic story, leading his army on the battlefield and casting world-shattering magic from a third person perspective. Add to that some dry, dark humour, challenging enemies and tricky sidequests and you've got a perfect mixture.

Descent
Surprising how spooky a game with nothing but robots as enemies can get. Not only are some of these machines quite monstrous (with bloody claws even, although that might just be rust), but the game overall, an actual rare 3D game in terms of movement, is disorienting as hell. It's also one of the first games with dynamic lighting which they make great use of, especially in the later levels. Dark winding and twisting passages, flickering flares, stalking robotic hulks. This game is amazing.

Diablo 2
I love Diablo 1 because it is much more atmospheric and feels more dangerous, but Diablo 2 was more addictive to me. It was less about the story and immersion and more about running, gunning, looting and so on in various different settings. All parts that were there in Diablo 1 to a degree but much more in the background. Diablo 2 was pretty much my first trip into fast-paced hack and slash ARPG games with plenty of other games I love being in the same vein, like Torchlight 1 and 2 or Titan Quest. I've whiled away many hours with Diablo 2 and the various games like it.

Dawn of War
Warhammer 40K finally takes back its style, setting and strategy genre from Blizzard in this great RTS title and its follow-ups. I particularly loved the domination-style resource-gathering via control points always keeping the heat up and the front moving back and forth. While I was a big fan of Warcraft 2 and 3, this is an RTS I enjoy even better. Also, honorary mention for Chaos Gate which properly introduced me to the WH40K universe in the first place. Being turn-based, it's very different of course, and I decided not to use it here because I'm not really a player of such games apart from Chaos Gate and Incubation.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

1. All the early Lucas Arts Adventure Games

I grew up with them during the age of 4-10 or something. Played them together with my father. Probably one of the strongest influences on my person be it gaming or reallife.

You can't do that! It's unfair. (If I knew you could just dump the entire output of a company instead of writhing in agony over which one to choose...)

Hm, but it wasn't one game specifically that defined me back then. It was Lucas Arts that did.
But if i've had to chose it would be easy. Monkey Island 2 by a long shot.

 

[Aerduin]

Old geezer reply here

Elite (on Amstrad cpc) simply an awesome game in its time, wasted far too much time on it when at school and NEVER made Elite ;0( got to deadly before Witch space and the Thargoid legions did for me.

Baldurs Gate 1 +2 : Simply the best party based rpg I have played. Bioware doing what they do best.

Starwars Knights of the Old Republic: - See above . Bioware rocking again, amazing RPG story line this time with lightsabers.

Everquest : The grand-daddy of MMORPGS ? Certainly a game that although at times a terrible grind had that strange quality that you appreciated everything you got, as you had to earn it.
The game that had "Trains" and corpse runs engrained into its psyche. Great fun.

Elder Scrolls series. Played them all since Daggerfall, and to me they evolve hence not picking one individual game. The modding community makes these timeless.

 

[teebeeohh]

the games are more or less in chronological order

links awakening
i got a gameboy and two games when i was 5. i didn't like super mario land 2 and i wanted to play this one so i bugged my sister for a week to teach me how to read. yeah i learned reading a year early because i wanted to play a game.

there was starcraft here. it is gone now because it has to be replaced by
sacrifice
my god that game is great. it has still unique mechanics, still looks great because of the unique artstyle and had one of the first nice gaming twists i didn't see coming.
you also got to kill 3 or 4 gods per campaign and that's always nice

fallout 2
it's fallout, it offered greater freedom than the original fallout and was the first time i got to explore a huge world, something that still ranks as number 1 of reasons why i like games. and it had a battery powered car, something that the great baldurs gate 2 was clearly lacking
deus ex/system shock2
two great games that completely blew my mind at the time and while they did a lot of thing similar deus ex was very much on the talky, mans own cruelty end of the spectrum while system shock was very much on the survival end.
quake 3
if you have never play this, go check out quake live now. it's colorful, was absolutely beautiful at the time and is still one of the fastest, most "twitchy" games i ever played. and i suck at it now

 

[Bombchucker]

1. Oblivion: That game got me into the RPG genre and I wasted countless hours in exploring Cyrodil

2. Halo: My very first game and the one that got me into gaming in general. I finished the whole campaign when I went for a sleepover at my friends place and I got an Xbox the next month just to play it

3. Mass Effect 1-2: Introduced me to good and bad choice mechanics in gaming and how much power characterisation has in a story

4. Mass Effect 3: Made me realise that EA suck and showed me that you shouldn't introduce new characters at the end of a story

5. Assassins Creed 2/brotherhood/revelations: The stories in these three games are by far some of the best iv'e seen in gaming and so far I am loving AC3

 

[Casual Shinji]

I only have one real defining game, and that's Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee.

It was the first game that made me realize games could be more amazing and imaginative than movies, and it turned me into the gamer I am today. No other game has been able to make the same impact on me apart from maybe Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill 2, and Resident Evil 4. But even those games are still very much inspired by other fiction. Abe's Oddysee was a totally unique world unlike any other that came before or after.

 

[Godhead]

1. Dungeon Siege: I tried to play Diablo at a very young age but could never get very far in, then this game came along and was the first true game that I had ever experienced where I would not get bored playing for hours on end. Not to mention the time I would spend at Fortress Kroth and Glacern just to listen to the music.

Spoiler: Seriously

Spoiler: This shit is awesome

Fuckin' Oaf, that is a good soundtrack. Most people mention pretty average game music, but this shit is great. I'm going to have to check it out. Thanks mate.

Is there any sequels worth getting too?

There's an expansion to the first one called Legends of Aranna that is very similar to the first with some new locations and a new baddie. There were two "sequels" to it; Dungeon Siege 2 and Dungeon Siege 3. 2 was an ok game but it never drew me in as much because the beginning is very slow paced and the beginning is able to take a good one or two hours to get through. Also it has a big city that you can relax in where the first was just running through dungeons, finding a small town like Glacern, buying some equipment, and then head off for more dungeon crawling.

Dungeon Siege 3 is a good game but it was so buggy at launch and they handled the co-op so poorly I've only played about half an hour of it. You can buy Dungeon Siege 1, 2, and 3 with 3's expansion pack on Steam for $30. I don't believe it's on GOG.

Edit: There are also copies of Legends of Aranna on amazon for $25.

 

[prowll]

Wow, this is a damn near impossible task. I see a lot of good responses here... and I don't think I can narrow it down to 5.... OK, let's go for this.

E.T the Extra Terrestrial - OK, yes, the game that ends up on almost every 'worst game ever' list. I got given this as a christmas gift when it first came out (Thanks, Grandma! I can blame you for EVERYTHING past this point...) and was one of the first games that I definitively beat, and beat into the ground.

Warcraft 3 - OK, Blizzard, you got me hooked after the first act's cinematic. That 3 minute clip still makes me tear up, and got me hooked (again) on Diablo, and WoW.

Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall - Bethesda, you incredible harlot. This game was crap, why can I not quit you? You even made me come back four more times!

GTA: San Andreas - Got the first (hot coffee!) version, and played and played and played... and then realized there was a map in the case. Sweet! How much terrain have I covered? .... maybe 1/10th. AT BEST. Dear god that was what building a huge explorable world was all about, and should be the template for all sandbox games. If you're giving us a huge world, go all out.

Half-Life: Everything I know about first person shooters, I learned from Gordan Freeman. I love the gameplay, but cannot stand the CoD/Black Op/Medal genre. At all.

Honorable mention, the Mass Effect series. Not for playing it, but for not. I played for 3 hours on the first one, went 'holy crap, this is utter shite', and tossed it. I don't see the appeal...

 

[Uzi-Bazooka]

Age of Empires I've been playing this game series since I was a year old, and I still love them with all my heart. They introduced me to a love of RTSs, a love of strategy gaming in general, and a love of video games, since again, it was my first. Best game in the series, in my opinion, was actually the spinoff Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds.

Doom II: Hell on Earth AoE introduced me to games, Doom II introduced me to gaming. Still one of my favorite, fast-paced, actiontastic games ever, which also got me into FPSs in a BIG way.

The Curse of Monkey Island introduced me to my favorite genre of videogames ever - the graphic adventure game. Also introduced me to the Monkey Island series, which is fantastic. Still earns a place on my top games ever for its humor, art style, puzzles, and because MURRAY. Had a huge effect on my sense of humor as well as my sense of storytelling. Arrg, mateys.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl My first big non-PC games. I still remember going to friends' houses to play it before finally saving up to buy a copy of my own. A game that still stands up well today, and a game that connected me with one of the finest people I've ever met, my best friend.

Alien Swarm One of the most sadly underappreciated games in gaming. I have poured hours and hours into this with my friends, having discussions about strategy, loadouts, weapons that last long into the nights. Taught me that I didn't have to be alone as a gamer; that there's a community out there of people as obsessed as I am. I have still never won an actual campaign in this game, and it's quite possible that I never will. I don't even slightly care.

 

[prowll]

Yay, another post no one will ever read!

Okay, I already know a few of them, but I'll see what I can figure out about the others.

1. SimAnt
This is all I could think of to put here, but it's one of the first games I remember playing outside of school. It represents my interest in weird stuff that no one else has ever heard of, which makes me sad.

2. Riven
The first game to not only really grab me but also to make me interested in worldbuilding which, as a result, has been my favorite hobby for 15 years now. It's also now the #1 draw for me in most games, books, and movies.

3. Final Fantasy XI
My first MMO, and also the first game I played that wasn't adventure (the Myst series), educational (Oregon Trail and the like), or some bizarre indie thing I found for free online (Nelda Nockbladder's Anatomy Lesson). This is the game that opened me up to gaming as a whole, rather than just being interested in the occasional artsy game, and also created an MMO-shaped hole in my life when I gave it up. (GW2 has filled that hole nicely, though it doesn't define me like the other games on this list and so I won't put it here.) It also resulted in an annoying character that has lived in my head for over 5 years and comments on everything, but the less said about that the better.

4. Silent Hill 2
This is the game that made me realize the true potential of games to affect me in ways that movies and books never could. Not only that, it changed my life: it made me more introspective and careful about repressing anything. I'm still looking for something to make me feel the same way this game did.

5. Journey
Every aspect of this game is one flavor of my personal gaming catnip: a highly atmospheric game with an interesting and beautiful aesthetic, excellent animations, a creatively designed world, a sense of mystery, a minimalistic yet touching story, an endearing player character, intriguing interactions between characters, a focus on puzzles and exploration rather than combat, a fantastic soundtrack, and a lack of spoken dialogue (for some reason I always like that). This game perfectly encapsulates my taste in entertainment.

Read it. I was surprised by your lack of what I would call 'standard' conflict. Most of your conflict here is you against the world, not really you against 'someone else'. I may be mistaken on a couple though.

Captcha: Stand by me. Noted without comment...

 

[OblivionSoul]

No particular order here.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3. My favourite stealth game of all time. The story is definitely the best in the series, and the setting and gameplay are great.

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Another great stealth game. This one has probably my favourite futuristic setting of any game ever. Adam is a great character to play as.

3. Mario Kart 64. This one had to be on here. It was my very first game. I believe over the years I've probably sunk 500 hours into it.

4. Assassin's Creed 2. The best in the series (so far, I like three a lot from what I've played though), and I think Ezio is one of the best protagonists in gaming.

5. Fable 3. I love the setting (industrial revolution era Britain) and the feel of this game.

 

[bafrali]

Rayman Origins: It simply surpassed any other platformer i have played. It is like concentrated joy

Half Life: Still replaying this game and still find something new to marvel at

Red Alert 3: It barely managed to dethrone Age of Mythology with its tanks.

Bastion: Sniff...

DMC3: I have yet to find a game with weapons that are all fun to use other than this gem.

Honorable mention: Deus EX which is pure brilliance.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Read it. I was surprised by your lack of what I would call 'standard' conflict. Most of your conflict here is you against the world, not really you against 'someone else'. I may be mistaken on a couple though.

Captcha: Stand by me. Noted without comment...

Yep. MMOs are really my only exception to this, and even then I don't play them for the combat.

I've never been interested in fighting other people, in real life or in games, and I think the world (or yourself) being the challenge you overcome is a more interesting kind of conflict.

Orrrr I just really suck at fighting in games.

You know, one or the other.