The games that got you into another genre.

[Nomanslander]

I believe one of the best games are the ones that broaden your appeal in gaming. For instance most of us got into platformers by Mario. The general shooter will always be Contra for me. But those are games that introduced you into games in general. Games that broaden your appeal are ones that take it to another level. For instance Warcraft 3 will always be my RTS, Metal Gear Solid was the game that really made me realize how great a game's narrative could be. Final Fantasy 10 got me into RPGs, and I wasn't into FPS until I played Half-Life 1, and I didn't play that till 2007.

So what are your picks?

 

[Darknacht]

Knights of Honor got me to buy Europa Universalis 3 which got be to buy Victoria 2 which is now by far my favorite strategy game.
Also Fallout 1 led to Fallout 2 which led to Planescape: Torment and Arcanum which are the 2 best RPGs ever made.

 

[Agent Cross]

Damn OP, so much nostalgia. I never liked RPGs growing up, but the mass marketing for FF7 pulled me in. Loved it. Never looked back after that. As for the first FPS that got me hooked, Goldeneye.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I always thought that RTS games would be really boring and not fun at all...until I played Dawn of War.

Now it is my favourite PC game with all of the expansions and I still play it with friends.

 

[Bob_Dobb]

Supreme Commander gave me a mild interest in RTS and I ended up enjoying some older RTS games for a while and I have never played any again.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well Unreal Tournament got me into FPS and C&C Red Alert got me into RTS.

 

[MidnightSt]

Metal Gear Solid was my first (console-style) action game and also first stealth game, and it didn't technically "got me" into action/stealth games, because i didn't play any since then, but if/when i had/will have chance (good enough HW), i'll definitely go for Splinter Cell and the likes.

Planescape Torment was my introduction to RPGs, and i tried many others despite being repeatedly dissapointed (yes, even by Baldur's Gate), just because i remember how awesome it was. Regardless, I've never since found an RPG i'd really like, so after every disappointment i install PT again and play it for a while.

(Watching my cousin play) Red Alert 1 got me into RTSes, and the genre was my huge passion for a long time.

(Also watching my cousin play) Civilization 2 got me into 4X+turn-based games, but i've kind of always had trouble finding ones that would really suit me, except all the Civilizations and GalCiv. (I think i may have a problem with too high expectations, as i tend to enter the genre thanks to what is regarded the best game in it, so i'm then usually at least a little disappointed by any other game in the genre i try/play)

Dwarf Fortress (adventure mode) got me into (trying out huge amounts of) rougelikes, and even thinking about making my own one, and again, i was kind of disappointed with most of others i've tried. (Not that they were bad or i didn't enjoy them, but not so much, i just always miss something that would make me feel it is a complete experience).

Doom got me into FPS, and Tomb Raider 1 into action/adventure/platformers.
(Btw, interesting kind of offtopic fact, i never really enjoyed or played too much of Half-Life, i LOVED the intro sequence and the way it was made, but i never felt like i understand/know how to play the game properly, no idea why)

System Shock 2 got me into FPS/RPG hybrids, or generally the kind of games where you spend a lot of time in one level, backtrack trough areas multiple times, but there's always something to do, you feel like you're in a consistent world despite it being divided into relatively small, clearly separated levels, and i'd definitely love to see more of those, despite Thief 1&2 and Deus Ex not really being my cup of tea (Though i love Thief 3... i think the former are a little too hardcore for me? not sure). Yeah, i know this is not officially a genre, but i feel it should be kind of recognized as such, in a way.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Hard to really remember.

I will say this: Metal Arms: Glitch In The System opened up the world of FPS's for me. Odd, because it's not an FPS, but it controls like one. Before this game, I'd had a ton of trouble with FPS controls, specifically the whole strafing thing (I guess I was used to the old ones where Left=left turn, not left strafe), but after I finished I was very comfortable with them.

 

[arrapippol]

Was always big on RTS, since I got Age of Empires 1 free in a Nutri-Grain box... but Call of Duty 1 and its expansion, playing it at all the brother's LAN parties, got me into First Person Shooters. then i got out of them again, not sure why. Lord of the Rings got me into RPG/adventure games.

 

[Fishyash]

Super Smash bros. got me into fighting games (mainly street fighter)

...Runescape got me into MMORPGs...

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

Let's see. What I can remember is...

Tales of Symphonia for JRPGs.

Goldeneye (N64) for FPSs.

And Super Smash Bros. for fighting games.

I still love every single one of these games, too.

 

[Wuggy]

Well, I'm pretty sure WoW was more or less my first RPG, or atleast the one that got me into RPG's. After starting playing that, it has became my favourite genre.

 

[Lagzlot]

Final Fantasy 4 (well, it was called 2 back then) was my very first RPG, but I had no idea what I was doing (no concept of things like "equipping" "resting" or for a few weeks, "saving"). Super Mario RPG was the one that got me into the genre, and it was a huge jump after Super Mario World, Super Mario All Stars, and Super Star Wars being the only games I played for ages. Chrono Trigger is where things took off for me. Not just for RPGs, but also for video game music, something I take just as much interest as gaming itself but I fear that's off-topic so moving on...

It's kind of weird that my first RTS and the game that got me interested in the genre was Jurassic Park Chaos Island. It's even more bizarre because I never really played much of it. All I had was a demo disc.

Bahamut Lagoon was my first exposure to the turn based strategy rpg, but it was during the stone age of emulation so the first TBSRPG I got to play in english was Shining Force during the late 90s.

 

[Mr Thin]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory got me into the stealth genre, though at the time I just thought it was an awesomeness all unto itself.

Imagine my happiness when I found out there were quite a few other games like it, and quite a few of them were good.

 

[Ldude893]

Call of Duty 4 was honestly the first "real" FPS shooter I every played after Battlefield 1942 and Star Wars Battlefront. Up until then, I never actually experienced a shooter with an actual single-player storyline, and the only thing I got about shooter games was control points and the concept of 'respawning'.

Several memorable characters, intense firefights set in awesomely rendered parts of Russia, the Middle East and a cargo ship, random quotes from political figures and generals, scripted events and one nuclear explosion was enough to permanently impact my gaming tastes.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Titan Quest is what convinced me I actually like Diablo-style ARPGs. I tried playing Diablo and a tiny bit of Diablo 2 when they came out, and I really couldn't get into them at all or understand what anyone saw in them. Several years later, I ended up downloading the demo for TQ while the game was on sale, had a ton of fun, and bought it immediately as soon as I finished the demo. I've spent over 300 hours on the game since then, along with playing and enjoying other stuff like Torchlight. Still don't like Diablo, though. Go figure.