The Five games that define you as a gamer

[conmag9]

1. The Neverwinter Series.
Not without its faults by any stretch of the imagination, but at the end of the day, when I want to get my dose of DnD, that's where I'll go. I've played many campaigns and a few mods, and I have a huge amount of positive experience. There are certainly other DnD games out there, but the only other one I ever found myself enjoying was Planescape: Torment, and that was because I couldn't stop thinking "om nom nom delicious dialogue nom nom". It was like reading an awesome book.

2. The Assasin's Creed Series:
Moreso as time went on. The first one was certainly enjoyable, but I like the latter more than the first, for both plot reasons and the introduction of what is likely the only multiplayer I've ever really liked.

3. Final Fantasy X
After all these years, this is still my favorite game of all time. This is likely because of loads of nostalgia, but nonetheless. I'd be hard pressed to say what exactly I love about it. It's just a deep rooted appreciation that I haven't shaken since I first played it.

4. The Golden Sun series:
Elementally aspected psychics on a mission to save the world? Check. Interesting characters (and villains with surprising motivations)? Check. Great soundtrack? Check. Lots of other things too, but those come to mind as good reasons. Also, Alex. I love Alex, he is my favorite villain in fiction. I have a thing for ultra-powerful antagonists with a certain polite style. His actions in the last game in particular had me paying rapt attention.

5. Borderlands 2.
The single FPS (albeit with RPG elements, proving I'll never stray far from it) I've ever truly enjoyed. Ironically, this includes the original Borderlands, which I despised. Characters were fun, fights were great, the huge selection of weaponry was enjoyable, and it was designed to appeal to a primal sense of greed and enjoyment of opening pressents. The sole complaint I have compared to the original was its lack of funny boss introductions ("PS: You guys aren't friends"), but oh well.

 

[Korzack]

1: Doom 2 - the first game I got seriously hooked on, aged 10. Still haven't beaten it properly, can never time the rockets on the final level right.
2: Total Annihilation - a wonderful RTS that still looks good today. Nothing wrong with big-ass stompy robots!
3: Medieval: Total War - one of the few franchises I'm a huge fan of, and this is the one that got me into them. Sadly can't get it to work on newer computers, but there was always something deeply satisfying about taking charge of Aragon and making them into an empire to rival Rome...
4: Diablo 2 - my god, I must've sunk hours into this game and again, never got close to beating it (Got to Mephisto once, but he kept handing my arse to me before I could land a blow)
5: Football Manager 2012 - only mentioning this because I've wracked up at present 389 hours on it according to Steam, and all I will say is, there is no greater generator of Rage when it goes wrong, and oddly enough, no greater source of joy when it works out beautifully (You try getting Doncaster Rovers in the premier league!)
Captcha - i love you.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

1: Super Mario 64 The First Game I ever played in my life was this bad boy in the late 90's. With it's colorful environments, fun gameplay, creative enemies, epic boss battles, and that feeling of doing whatever you want that this game has, is incredible.

2: Banjo Tooie Banjo Kazooie was a fun game, but it had it's problems: Note Doors and the feeling you had to get 95% of them to finish the game. Banjo Tooie not only got rid of the accursed Note Doors, but they also added fun boss fights in every level, a sense of connecting all the worlds together, a bigger cast, higher stakes, more moves, and so much more that this is easily my favorite game of all time.

3: Team Fortress 2 This game is amazing. Not just because I can kill people by shooting them with my hand, or because I can build level 3 turrets, or because I can stab people in the back with an icicle while my mouth is sown shut and my eyes having buttons in them, it's the whole expanded universe to it that really makes it click. All the "Meet The" videos are amazingly fun, the comics are enjoyable, and the fan community is great. TF2 is the best shooter out there in this modern day.

4: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door This game has a nice back story, and while the lack of Shy Guys makes me sad, it has one thing that is much better then Shy Guys: The Ultimate Boss, Doopliss. He is awesome; His character design, his special power, his segment in the game, his role further down the story (Won't spoil it). Doopliss alone makes PM:TYD better then PM, even though PM has Shy Guys and General Guy in it.

5: WarCraft III A Nice Story combined with interesting units and a rather difficult game play style (To me). I like making Custom Campaigns on it. That is why I put WarCraft III on here.

 

[Auron]

Kotor - I've replayed it at least once per year for like 5 years, Baldur's Gate was awesome but kotor has a special place, Mass Effect is almost there as well but not quite.

Doom 2 - Reminds me of my childhood(my father was awesome, yes.)

Warcraft 2/Starcraft - On the one side Wc2 was my first rts ever, on the other hand Starcraft's where I actually learned how to play, if not for SC I'd still be an utter rts nub damned for all eternity.

Ultima Online - first MMORPG, I like wow but seriously those were the days and the game had way more freedom than your average modern mmo. I still laugh when someone says they'd like an mmo with freedom to do whatever you liked, housing, no class restriction or artificial limitations and other stuff, they're unknowingly describing Ultima Online, truly a forgotten classic which sadly gave place to it's more "easy" relatives.

Sonic 2 - The soundtrack, the speed, the awesome, the blue, and the smart stages. It was a blast. It marked my childhood and defined my taste for years. The first platformer I remember playing (Atari's pitfall almost doesn't count.) and the first one I finished for sure. To this day the intro makes me smile. I've played other Sonic games and have been mostly disappointed since the 3d era but Sonic generations kinda brings the feeling back.


And seriously I can't go off without mentioning the Batman Arkham series, The first comic game that got it goddamn right! Fantastic favourite which I still play again from time to time.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Runescape
This game got me into MMOs, and maybe RPGs. Many experiences I had with others in RS have effected my ideas quite a bit.

Dark Souls
Dark Souls is very important to me. It has both immersed me by its gameplay and profoundly inspired me by its world. I would be lying if I said that most things I have written since have not had inspiration from Dark Souls' style.

Civilization III
Civilization began my love for strategy games and my desire to rule a group of people with an iron fist.

Assassin's Creed II
Assassin's Creed II evolved my expectations for storytelling and overall aesthetic unity in games.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The expansive world of Morrowind inspired, continues to inspire me, and caused me to dislike all future TES games after it do to their lack of such a world.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

Here's my five (In a particular Order):

1. Crash Bandicoot: Only the PS one games though. They were the first games I played so, technically, they got me into Gaming.

2. Okami: Brilliantly written and it executes everything it set out to do perfectly.

3. Minecraft: When left with A PC that can run it and basically no other video games for 4 months, what do you think a Gamer would do? Regardless, it's as addicting as Crack.

4. Team Fortress 2: Fun multiplayer. Addicting basically.

5. Pokemon: Bottom because it's begin to feel drab for me. Regardless, the quality is spread out nicely, but it's running out. Like my Jar of Nutella. They kept spreading too much and now it's at the bottom.

Those are basically the games that have shaped me into the gamer that I am today.

Hon Mentions:
TES:Oblivion (Amazing RPG)
The Walking Dead (First Point and Click Adventure with amazing Story)
Half-Life 2 (Amazing Story)
Portal (Charming from start to finish)

 

[Rule Britannia]

More so game series that define me as a gamer so here are my 4...I don't play many games other than games within these seriessssss

Call of Duty
Battlefield
Elder Scrolls
Borderlands

 

[deathzero021]

Mega Man
Castlevania
Sonic The Hedgehog
Legend of Dragoon (PS1)
Doom

These are the games that have had the biggest impact on me as a gamer. I still love these games and they'll always be my favorites. i can still enjoy them even now (though i don't play them often anymore, beat them too many times)

 

[Nazulu]

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.

Beautiful, thank you. I looked at some game play vids and I can't wait to get it, the DS1 and the expansion first.

 

[Pebkio]

Ha! You said "games" not "video games" in the OP. Don't worry, video games are included, but my choices are more expanded.

Yay.

---

#5 Dark Souls

Still playing. Still beating my head against the unfairness of it all. This game represents my unwillingness to give up easily.

#4 Golf

One of the least social "social activities" out there, and I'm good at it. It's indicative of how I treat the world: Out there with everyone, but only participating with a small amount of people or even just by myself.

#3 Fallout 3

I played that so often, that my sister, who had been working at an old-folks resort, found that she was seeing the VATS aiming system on her customers whenever the radio was playing. It represents me because I was nailing all the best paths without having to look anything up.

#2 Final Fantasy Tactics

Alright, time to stop being subtle real quick: There is a parallel drawn between the Church of Glabados and Christianity. Controversial as it is, the whole "you're really worshiping a demon" thing is just an analogy for the pitfalls of being told what to believe. This game represents me well because the main character didn't want to follow any of his corrupt leaders and I don't want to follow any of mine.

#1 Mage the Awakening

No matter what kind of power and skill I think I have, I know I'm a part of something bigger that I can't even fathom. Mage the Awakening embodies that pretty well. They give you fantastic magic powers but with the trade-off of having to deal with a larger scarier world. Suddenly, you're "stronger" than most people out there, but can still get smacked down like an upstart child.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Hmmm... Now this is rather tough, to be honest. After some thought, here happens to be my five:

(1): Starsiege

An old, probably very obscure mech piloting game that I fell in love with. I loved the fact that you could customize your mech to the extent of choosing the innards, and the mechanics of actually piloting them were fun. And yes, it is part of the Tribes series, though I still think today that it was a crime to go into a First-Person Shooter aspect instead of the mech piloting itself.

(2): Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

The first game I ever finished, and my favorite Zelda game to date, though I left off on Twilight Princess, before moving to the Xbox. It was lighthearted in its visuals, colorful in setting, and very interesting in terms of story to me. I loved the way it played, the characters, the story, it was just generally very fun.

(3): Halo 2

I got into the Halo franchise late, and before I got into Halo 2, I avoided First-Person Shooters like the plague. Then, I started playing friendly multiplayer with some buddies of mine, got addicted, then got the original Halo for the PC. I have been a Halo fan ever since, and while my favorites so far are the original, Reach, and ODST, Halo 2 has a special place, simply because it was what got me into the series in the first place, and started the trend where I get into a series with the second installment.

(4): Mass Effect 2

Like Halo, I got into Mass Effect a wee bit late. In fact, while the first Mass Effect interested me somewhat, I didn't see how it would be fun with the various skills and powers, along with the strange (to me at the time) guns. Oh, how wrong I am when it comes to game judgement. I fell in love with Mass Effect, and by extension, its characters, Garrus and Tali specifically. They were the two I instantly liked, and really, have continued to like even now. And like Halo, after getting Mass Effect 2 and loving it, I had to get the original too.

(5): Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

My first jaunt into a Modern Military Shooter, one that I also normally wouldn't have gotten at first, and while part of me wishes I didn't get it, I know that it refined my tastes, though a bit too late: I hate Modern Military Shooters that treat multiplayer like it does. Put simply, I think there's too much bullshit that takes away from the two things that ought to be in a multiplayer shooter: Skill, and dumb luck. Too bad I had to go through Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, and all of the collective frustration involved thereof to get the damn picture.

 

[The_Scrivener]

Final Fantasy VII - Still the greatest gaming experience of my time.
Earthbound - Introduced me to story-driven RPG style gameplay.
Counter-Strike - The first (and really only) online multiplayer I enjoyed.
Super Mario Bros. - My first video game.
Silent Hill 2 - Gaming in an artful, meaningful, beautiful light.

 

[ShaqLevick]

It seems to me that the most defining games we play are during our developmental stages, at least those are the things I look back on with my nostalgia goggles.

1. The game I will always have the fondest memories of are Mario 3, and I would have to say I was just fortunate to have such a stellar platformer as my first video game. It's just that I'll never know how I would have taken a really terrible NES game at 4 years old.

2. My second selection is another NES title I played Friday the XIII I believe it was called, and while I am willing to concede this was an awful game looking back, I must say it was the scariest thing I've ever played. I simply could not figure this game out and the near invincible Jason coming to kill me had 6 year old me so unnerved, that I've been chasing that feeling with every Silent Hill and Slender Man nonsense out there.

3. In the 90s I played this game Final Fantasy 6 and it totally blew my mind, and to think coming from the console ages of little to no story and I was eating this shit with a spoon. I had never played Final Fantasy before this and now I've played every Final Fantasy to date, and I didn't like any of them as much as this one!

4. I think top honors need to go to Goldeneye 64 for being the most fun I've ever had gaming. Not only do I consider it to be the greatest shooter of all "time" given its competition at the time. But it was a fantastic multiplayer game, and that may be why I dislike online multiplayer. I always find it's better to play games with other people.

5. I will forever look back on the Ocarina of Time as fondly as my first love, or maybe just that perfect day. I put this baby into my N64 the day after Christmas and everything was just right in the world.
Of course everybody says it's one of the greatest games of all time but they are often fanboys, and I'm more often then not pretty cynical about everything. All that I am certain about is the feeling I get when I have a need to game, or I'm anticipating something I've preordered. That feeling is the exact same as when I look back on a 13 year old boy on Christmas. Not a care in the world, comfortable, happy, and optimistic.

There you have it, what shapes me as a gamer is basically growing up with games. A common trend is also pretty obvious that I've been chasing one high or another with every game I play. And I know I'll never catch it again because I'm not young anymore. The perfect example is that I'm playing Pokemon Black 2 right now, which is without a doubt the finest Pokemon game to date. However, I enjoyed Pokemon Red on my crappy GB color a hell of a lot more because I actually cared about Pokemon when I was 10.

 

[xshadowscreamx]

fallout
future wasteland stuck in the 50's, open world RPG..one of my modern fav games.

grand theft auto
''open world self aware crime drama'', Rockstar can do no wrong.

resident evil
where i found survival horror (and see it die), horror is my fav genre of film.

super mario 64
almost like an open world mario game, spent many hours on this classic.

the warriors
grity coop beat-em up and the greatest film game ever, period.

worthy mentions:
assassins creed
elder scrolls
halo/COD
mass effect
uncharted

 

[The_Lost_King]

1. Warcraft 3: I played this game for years. I think it may have been one of the games tht really made me a gamer. I could not get enough of this game. I loved every single second of it(other than the undead campaign in frozen throne). The custom map ability was amazing. I can't tell you how many maps I made.

2. Dragon Age: Origns: This is my first M rated game and the game that got me into rpgs. I loved this game. The only part of this game that was bad was the fade after playing it once or twice. This game will always be in my memory.

3. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: When I got this game I sat down in front of my ps3 and played this for hours and hours and hours. If you told me I spent 500 hours on this game I would be the least bit surprised. I will never see the hate for this game and will always remember it.

4. World of Warcraft: Well I mostly played this because of number 1 on my list. I love WoW and will never think of the time or money spent on it a waste. I still play it and still love it and I will be very sad when it eventually shuts down.

5. Super Smash Bros: I remember whenever me and my friend would hang out we would go up stairs, turn on the Super Nintendo(or was it the n64? I can't remember) pop in SSB and play and play and play. I will always remember that

 

[OManoghue]

While classic games are all well and good I have a strong love of newer games who's art made it through even though the technology for gritty brown realism was there.

Half-Life 2:
Possibly my favorite game of all time, there's just so much to love. The mix of human and alien architecture is one of my favorite things to look at as, sure, chunks of the game qualify as gritty brown realism, the fact that there's usually some dark blue Combine tech jammed in there still gives it a unique feel. Not to mention the writing and the weapons.

Fallout 3:
Fun to explore and fun to play. Another on my list of nearly gritty brown realism, the difference being it's all so 1950's what-if charming is what sets it apart. All this impossible tech powered by the atom.

Dragon Age: Origins:
Just fantastic. As far as I knew this game came out of nowhere and blew me away. Mostly for the writing, some of the best moments are spent in camp talking to characters like Shale and Lelianna.

Morrowind:
One of the few games where you never feel like you were meant to be the hero, but somehow managed to save the province just by following the steps. Made you feel like you had control instead of just being the chosen one.

BioShock:
A masterpiece of writing, bought it because I liked the TV-spot and now I have Jack's chains on my wrists. Andrew Ryan may also be my favorite character in existence, he's totally insane, yet (nearly) always so calm.

Honorable mention to Dishonored as well. I am truly enjoying even my second play through of this game, it's refreshing to see publishers send out a new single player IP set in a bizarre world and let people have so much freedom in each mission in an age of way points and health regen.