Gaming gems you almost didn't play

[michael87cn]

EverQuest. I imagine I'm not the only one this little gem surprised. *coughwe'restillfeelingtheeffectsofthisgreatgametodayasitopenedthewayforanentirenewgenre*

*cough* I really need to get a cough drop.

Anyway, this game CHANGED ME as a person. I was like 12-14 years old at the mall with my Dad. We ate lunch together and he decided to treat me to something. I asked if I could have a game, we went to EB and looked for like 30 minutes. I couldn't find anything I liked, but I was in the mood for a new RPG. I kept walking past this game with a half naked chick with long blonde hair (heh) because I didn't think much of it. My Dad starting getting impatient so I grabbed it, thinking it might be at best a cheesy RPG with crappy graphics.

Get home and it requires a credit card to play. What the?!?!? My Dad had no problem with that though, and away I went into Norrath... here I am now 23 years old, still playing that genre and loving it.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

I had to be -introduced- to KotOR by a friend, didn't even know it or Bioware existed until that point. I'm so glad he did.

 

[Neverhoodian]

This may sound weird considering my username, but I almost missed out on The Neverhood Chronicles. If it wasn't for my aunt who had a copy at her house, I wouldn't have even heard of it, much less played it.

Also, the first Dawn of War game was a straight-up impulse buy. I was looking for a new RTS game and I was choosing between it and Rise of Legends. I knew nothing about Warhammer 40k at that point, I just thought that army of Darth Vader-esque soldiers on the box looked pretty cool. I was going to go with Rise of Legends at first, but then I remembered a blurb from a gaming magazine recommending Dawn of War.

I gave a proverbial shrug and bought Dawn of War, hoping I would like it. Good thing I did, as it's still my favorite RTS game. Not only that, but I've been an avid fan of the "so ludicrous it's awesome" Warhammer 40,000 universe ever since.

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

I almost didn't try Vice City, once i gave it a try on the PS2 at a friends house i was HOOKED.

 

[KingKamor]

Really glad to see other Tales of fans out there, it's such a shame we may never see Tales of Graces or Tales of Xillia on this side of the pacific.
Xillia looks absolutely GORGEOUS, everything in that trailer is in game footage too. Ah well, I'll just have to wait til I can speak Japanese well enough to play it.

Also UncleUlty, I freakin' love your avatar, Teddy rocks! One of the funniest characters ever created.

Indeed. I haven't had the time to finish Vesperia yet, but I plan on getting around to it... sometime. As for Xillia, I'm glad that they're finally getting into their groove on current gen systems, but the character graphics in Xillia look a bit rough around the edges. They aren't as SD-looking as Vesperia's character models, but they don't look as crisp to me.

And yes, Teddy is amazing.

 

[NaramSuen]

My brother sent me a copy of Knights of the Old Republic, I had long since given up on Star Wars so I wouldn't of given it a second glance if I saw it in a store. Also Fatal Frame, I wanted to buy Silent Hill 4, but the store only had the Japanese version so I took the clerk's suggestion and gave it a shot.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Paradroid. Found it as a budget item with really bland cover art, bought it because it was dirt cheap. Found an amazing game.

(How's that for old school?)

 

[Sux2bu]

Armoured core: FA

I thought it was a Wad of gore game (god of war) And almost passed it until i saw what was on the back, Epic mecha combat. Loved that game.

 

[ShoryukenDude]

Viewtiful Joe.

I'd seen reviews and videos of it, all of them saying it was awesome. But I never really was interested in it. It might have been my reluctance to accept cel-shaded graphics at the time or the fact that Joe's scarf was pink.

Then I had to wait for my sister to fly in for Christmas. Her flight ended up being delayed, so my parents and I decided to kill time at a local Wal-Mart. I saw the game there for nine bucks, so I decided to pick it up.

And from then on I realized I was a Capcom fanboy.

 

[Yoh3333]

Star Ocean: Till the end of time i believe was the name. It was a few years back and i saw that game and bought it thinking it looked promiseing. I spent more time with that game than any other on the Playstation 2... Except for Timesplitters, that beats it.

Fallout 3, i didn't realise that it had been made (or published?) by bethesda who had made my favorite game of all time TES: Oblivion so i saw it on steam and bought it the second i saw they made it... that was 2 or 3 years after the original release...

Mount and Blade, OMG i love this game, i've played it incredibily much and it is still amazingly addictive. I love every bit of that game and continue to do so. Best part about this was that i saw it randomly on steams holiday sale and decided to give it a go. I would easily suggest this game to anyone who ever wondered how it would be like to live in the medieval times of war.

I've propably missed something but these were the most memorable ones.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Bioshock and Mass Effect. I'm not sure why, I think it was the fact that I used to frequent ign at the time, and ign was starting to irk me some fierce, and anything they said was good I would instantly reject, cause, there are also the same people that gave MW2 one of the best scores ever, and to this day compare games and even stuff not game related to MW2.

 

[Brad Shepard]

SotC and Okami are the main ones that come to mind, my old PS2 still gets quite a lot of use.

 

[Cursed Frogurt]

I just played Silent Hill 2 for the first time a few months ago on my brother's BC PS3. I moved out to my own place and got a PS3 slim for myself. If I didn't rent SH2 then, I probably never would've gotten around to playing it.

It's now one of my favorite games of all time and a true testimate to how interactive entertainment can be emotional.

 

[Chibz]

I almost didn't play Perfect Dark, because it was on the N64.

 

[GodofDisaster]

Bioshock, I ignored any advice from my friends and showed no interest for the game.

Until one day I bought the game pre owned purely on a whim. It was fantastic, I loved the characters, the scenery and the immersive storyline.

 

[adderseal]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander. I saw it once in a shop years ago, but given the massive amounts of Star Trek Shovelware I didn't buy it. Then a couple years ago I looked up all the Star Trek games to see how many awful ones there were. I read the Wiki article on BC and was intregued. A couple months later I found a copy in a bargain bin (I love small games retailers) and it is now up there with "Birth of the Federation" as my favourite Star Trek game, and I still play it all the time. Thanks mainly to the strong modding community that keeps on adding awesome new features and ships.

Is it like Freespace 2, just seen from the Commander's viewpoint instead of an individual pilot's? Cos if it is then that's reason enough for me to buy it.

I haven't played Freespace so I'm not sure what you mean by that.

It's probably the best space combat sim every made, basically you take part in enormous fleet battles with dozens of fighters and several huge capital ships.
Actually a better idea would have been to ask if it's like Homeworld instead.

 

[SFMB]

Almost passed Deus Ex, appalled by it's dated graphics. But once I got over them, goddamned, it was GREAT! Updated it with some great mods and never looked back since. Sadly, there won't be anything new like it in the near future: the new installation on the franchise looks nice but I really doubt it will be anything more than a Mass Effect 2 copy. Sadly.

 

[Teixas]

the armored core series(ignoring the ps3 games)
found the 1st one i played of them on a sale (Armored core Silent line on the PS2)
liked the game so much i got most of the series

 

[Scarim Coral]

I remember that I keep refusing to play Red Alert when my bro offer me to play it. Back then I though I would get too attach to my unit and get upset when the unit is destroy. Years later I had nothing to do and though I would get it a go. I suppose it thanks to Red Alert that I started to play more RTS games.

 

[Kursura]

Sky Odyssey for the PS2, my brother got it in a 4 games for £20 deal (so much shovel ware from thoughs deals).