The Five games that define you as a gamer

[Kikosemmek]

I'm gonna cheat and put way more than 6 games on here. Instead, I'll be discussing 6 game styles that developed my predilections as a gamer.

Baldur's Gate 2

My favorite game to date, and it gets its own category for that reason. When I first started playing it, at about age 15, it shook my world and gave me something I never had before. The best RPG story I've ever played through and the most fun I've had in an RPG then and now, just beating out Skyrim and Fallout 3 (Bethesda RPG's are their own world). Apart from its impact on me as a gamer, it impacted my imagination in ways I can't even account right now. It introduced me to table-top DnD and, as a result, a whole clique of friends, and an appreciation for high fantasy.

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Age of Empires 2, Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Starcraft

My first strategy game was AoE 1, but I never really got into the genre till Starcraft rolled around. It blew me away, just like Baldur's Gate 2 did, with it's immense story and the emotional connection I formed to the characters in singleplayer. AoE2 and CnC:TS were the games that took me from an amateur RTS player to a slightly better amateur RTS player. Out of them was born a appreciation for medieval adventure, history, sci-fi, 1337 micro, the English language (these games positively taught me English, no bs), and one of my favorite books, Dune, which I would not have been exposed to if I wasn't already in love with CnC style RTS games and bought Emperor: Battle for Dune.

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Doom, Half-Life, Soldat

These formed the basis of my FPS education. Doom was probably the first game I played regularly enough to call myself a gamer, even though I was often frightened by it (I was 9 or something) and cheated to get through it. Half-Life took basic FPS principles I had learned from Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Wolfenstein and baked a fucking cake with them. I never realized an FPS could have a compelling story and action to rival blockbuster movies until HL. That game not only made me realize that FPS is a legit genre, but it later gave me such gems as Counter Strike later. Soldat was a side-scrolling FPS and was my first experience in really competitive gaming. I was a prominent player in the small game community and frequently played (and founded) some of the most successful clans to challenge for the grand prize in the SCTFL (Soldat Capture the Flag League). If anyone here played that as an oldie (2004-2006), I was TFS, that fucking sniper. Soldat taught me that I love winning and that with dedication and passion, you can become one of the best players in any video game.

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Commandos 2, Hitman 2

The basis of stealth gameplay as far as I'm concerned is these two games. The rush of walking without being seen, killing without being heard, taking on disguises, hell yes. Commandos 2, for its part, is one of the most challenging games I've beat, because damn that final mission. If you like puzzle games where the puzzles are "how do I kill all these Nazis without sounding out the alarm," play Commandos 2. Hitman 2 is a lot like Commandos 2, but with no Nazis, and you only have one person, but that one person has a shitload of guns. I judge stealth mechanics by the standards of these two games.

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Rome: Total War, Medieval II: Total War, Empire: Total War

I'm a huge Total War fan and this series gives me a boner every time a new game comes out. They are technically RTS games, but they're so unique that they get their own category. God is it fun to start out with some silly backwater somewhere and steadily conquer your way towards a continent-spanning empire. On top of that, the game teaches you history and geography like nobody's business. I was so in love with R:TW, in fact, that I joined the Europa Barbarorum team and spent years working with them on Punic translations/transliterations for Carthage. It stoked the flames that AoE2 had lit about history and the ancient and medieval periods, and let me kill a lot of barbarians, which is a great thing on its own. For me, there are now RTS games, and Total War games, and I prefer Total War games; that's how good these 3 games are (Shogun is good too, but I wouldn't call it formative in my case)

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Diablo 2 and Borderlands 2

These are the best loot hunt games I've ever played, short and simple. D2 was a very well-made and balanced hack'n'slash (although my favorite class, the Necro, was shafted until patch 1.10), while Borderlands 2 sports a very cool art style and a sense of humor that fails much less often that most games'.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

I like this question! Hmm... let me think...

1.) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: I was about seven or eight when I got this game, and by then, I'd been playing games for a long time. Having to use DOS to play Hugo's House of Horrors (props to any and all who know what those two are because they remember them, not because they looked them up later on. ) is what taught me to read and write. But the game that really got me hooked on gaming was OoT. It's the first game I can remember playing every day, day after day, for a couple of years. It's the game that taught me to search the corners for secrets (remember picking up rocks to reveal holes?), to solve puzzles, to be patient when I got stuck, (I can't tell you how long it took me to figure out where the Kokiri Sword was, or how to get Lord Jabu-Jabu to open his mouth), and, most importantly, it's the first game I can remember going back to complete more than once (I beat it quite literally close to thirty times. Twenty-seven or twenty-eight, as I recall). Ocarina of Time is the game that made me decide that I was a gamer, before I ever knew that you could classify yourself as such. It's still my favourite game of all time, still occupies the same special place in my heart that it did when it was new, and still fills me with unbridled nostalgia when I see gameplay footage from the original version. (I was close to buying a 3DS just for the remake, but that would honestly have been the only game I ever purchased for it).

2.) Super Mario 64: The Nintendo 64 wasn't my first console, but it's where all of my favourite gaming memories lie. Super Mario 64 is the first game I ever completed 100% when it wasn't completely necessary, (and, let me tell you, opening that cannon outside Peach's castle and shooting onto the roof to see Yoshi is still one of my favourite childhood memories. It's just a shame that he wasn't playable or anything), and still stands as one of the few that I've actually 100%'d. This was also the first Mario game that I completed, so it's the first time I ever put that bastard Bowser in his place. It's also one of the first games that I can remember playing because I had to beat it, not because it was fun, (around the time I got to the room with the Tick-Tock Clock stage, I suddenly didn't care about seeing the levels anymore: I just wanted to destroy Bowser. I don't know what caused the shift, but it was alarming). This is also the last game I can remember playing on my Nintendo 64 before it broke. (Not the last one I purchased, but actually the last cartridge I put in the machine).

3.) Perfect Dark: This is the game that introduced me to first-person shooters, a sliding difficulty scale (I had always played games on the easiest setting before this, but the extra missions you could unlock based on the difficulty you played the rest of the game at made me change my mind for this game). This is also the game that made me thing that, just maybe, I didn't like first-person shooters all that much (some of the missions frustrated me to no end, especially on higher difficulties). This is the game that really introduced me to multiplayer: a couple of my friends and I played this game to death, trying to complete all of the challenges, unlock every map, best each others records, and so on. My one friend and I still go back to this game occasionally on his N64, but it's nowhere near as fun as it used to be. She hasn't aged well, Joanna Dark.

4.) Paper Mario: Paper Mario was my introduction to turn-based RPGs, (I would say RPGs in general, but I've never been sure if OoT qualifies, so I say turn-based, just to be safe). Turn-based RPGs are still one of my favourite kinds of games, so I guess you can say that Paper Mario introduced me to one of my favourite genres. It's also the first turn-based RPG I played to completion, the first Mario RPG I ever played, and the game that introduced me to the concept of 'parties' in RPGs (which stands to reason, as it was my first turn-based one). It was also the game that started me wondering just why Peach could be so ditzy: exactly how many times have you been kidnapped, Peach? Uh-huh, and you don't think that maybe beefing up security, or, you know, sending a tactical strike team to get rid of Bowser once and for all might be viable ideas?

5.) Final Fantasy X: As a hardcore RPG fan, my first Final Fantasy game was always going to be a big moment. Because it was my first, FFX is also my favourite. I've gone back to play each game, but none of them can compare to X, in my eyes. This is the game that made me realize that RPG bosses had to be considered strategically at times, introduced me to many of the cliches that plague RPGs, and is the first game I can remember that I played quite literally all day. (when I first got it, I played it from the time I woke up 'til the time I went to bed for nearly two weeks straight, with a brief break for food around dinner time). It was also the first game I got for my PlayStation 2, which made it an even bigger deal for me. It's the first RPG that convinced me that sidequests were worth the time, (I spent many an hour searching for how to unlock the extra aeons, and getting each Celestial weapon). Next to OoT, Final Fantasy X is my favourite game. When I learned there was supposed to be an HD remake, I was tremendously excited, but now I rather fear that that has fallen by the wayside. Now, I'm just waiting for a PSN release. Come on, Sony, if you can get Persona 3 up there, you can convince Square to let you put FFX on it.

In case you couldn't guess from that, the Nintendo 64 was absolutely vital to my becoming a gamer. It's also the last Nintendo system I owned. I really tried to come up with some games that weren't on the N64, but it was a lot harder than I figured it would be. In the end, I guess it just goes to show how much the system meant to me. If I could pick a point in my life to go back to, it would be to when the N64 was still in its prime. Those were the days...

 

[Not Matt]

1. team fortress 2. for being the shooter i need. it is fun, pure and silly. it can entertain me for hours and i don't know how many combinations i go through when it comes to guns and apparel every time i get a new item. it is just fun. the game i go to to shoot stuff. yay.

2. the Simpsons hit and run. we all owned this game didn't we. or our friend had it. either way we played it. this was the first sandbox i ever played. i't let me drive around, it made me be characters i love and i got to mess around in Springfield. it was as funny as the cartoon and it is still the game i pull out to have some fun. it is in my head a gta. only better

3. the saboutur. nazi killing game. yeah yeah. i heard it before. it's a stupid game but i like it. i think the characters are compelling and the story is well written. not great but still pretty good even it if is a cliche filled glitch party it is still fun.

4. star wars empire at war. a game in a genera (rts) i had real problems giving a flying sh*t about. but this game was just fun. i have caught myself creating a million tanks and troops and the send them all out at once looking for enemies. then click the cinematic button and lean back and watch the game make a movie for me

5. monsters. a game by two companys that no longer exist and nobody have ever heard of. but it was the first game i owned (my first console was gameboy advanced) and i still whip this one out too and try to beat my high score from when i was five (which i somehow can't beat, clearly i have grown stupider over the years. i i choose blame education)

 

[Speedosheep]

1. Pokemon
The game series that pretty much defined my childhood. I don't quite know why I still love it so - the repetetive grind is frustrating, and the stats annoy me(seriously, what are "EV"s or whatever they're called) but it still remains the single series that I have spent most time playing.
2. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
This game gets on the list for three reasons. Firstly, it is pretty much the only reason I still own an original PsP. Secondly, I have spent SO MUCH time playing it that the play time actually rivals pokemon. Finally, this is the first game where I experienced real, painfull diffculty. When I first played, much to my everlasting shame in admitting it, I could not get past killing the Yian Kutku, and stopped playing. And yet, it remains the only game that I have ever kept returning to after I threw it down in disgust. There are other games, where, faced with what seemed to be an impossible foe, or an incompletable challenge, I have lost interest with the game. But this has never happenned to Monster Hunter. It's just too good.
3. Black & White 2
This game is one of my favourites that I have ever played, if only because the idea of being a God appeals to me. Not only do I love the concept, but this was such a vast step forward from Black & White 1, which I had also experienced feelings of fondness. I have lost so many afternoons playing this game, I believe it has become one of the defining games of my gaming history.
4. Call of duty (2/Modern Warfare)
I couldn't decide which one to put here, so I put both.
On the one hand, Call of Duty 2 is the first game that truly interested me with FPS's, and without it I may never have gone on to experience all the other FPS's that I have today. Also, it remains as one of my favourite games to play with friends, if only because you can have a sniper battle in Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates ftw!)
However, Modern Warfare was the first game that got me involved with online multiplayer. Before this, I had tried a couple of MMORPG's, such as Runescape, and been driven off the online community. But Modern Warfare was the game that got me interested in playing online, and I have had a lot of fun thanks to it. It also gets the prize for, in my opinion, making me a much better gamer. I used to play it with my brother and his friends, splitscreen, and get thrashed. However, after playing a game with people vastly better than me, I got VERY good, and have got better at most other video games since. I now wipe the floor with my brother when he plays with me.
5. Assassins Creed
This game defines me, simply because it embodies how I act in pretty much all games I play. I am the sneaky bastard who stabs people in the back. I play as rogue, thief, sniper, and, of course assassin.

Honourable Mentions:
Rome Total War/ Age of mythology/ Dawn of War - The combination of these three games is what got me hooked on strategy games
James Bond Agent Under Fire - The first console game I ever played
Starwars Battlefront - I really want another one of these, really, really badly.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

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.

 

[tehroc]

Nethack - My introduction to the roguelike genre. Despite ASCII graphics I still find it more complex then any mainstream RPG. The replay value is insane due to this depth and it's brutal (and sometime completely unfair) challenge.

Icewind Dale 2 - Ive played all the infinity engine games beforehand, but this was the first 3rd edition game. I preferred the Icewind Dale series just due to its focus on tactical combat. The format is still in use today with SWTOR.

Binding of Isaac - Best twin stick shooter ever made.

Civilization 4 Beyond The Sword - My favorite version of the Civ franchise. I've been playing turn-based strategy games since Colonization.

Mega Man series - Platforming action.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Here goes,

- Resident Evil.
I think playing Resident Evil as a child (much, much younger than the huge 18 sticker said I should have been) helped cement my predisposition against horror games. Ever since playing it I haven't been able to enjoy horror - no matter what it I'm playing, I just get flashbacks to 10-ish year old me trying to explore than mansion and getting shit-scared at pretty much everything.

- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.
I reckon it's this game's fault I'm a massive sucker for both very passive and quiet exploration as well as cell-shaded graphics. I know it got some flack for being kind of dull, but I genuinely loved having to sail around the Great Sea and map everything out and now whenever I'm playing a game with that sort of exploration in it I tend to get completely lost in it.

- Pokemon: Red Version.
This game is the reason I love handheld gaming, and will always turn to handheld consoles before ever looking to home consoles for great games. I had a GameBoy Color and this game years and years before every getting my first home console and it was wonderful. So, now, I'm an utter handheld fan, happy to go out and play on the move more than sitting down.

- Cave Story.
Got me hooked on and in love with indie gaming. Before this, I had no real clue about indie games. After playing this, I began to actively search for tiny companies who put together these incredible little games with minimal resources available to them and to support them as much as I possibly could. Even now, I go to indie games before the big studio creations.

- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Thanks to this, I properly discovered PC gaming. Now, I'm not a fan of any one way of playing games above another - I have no stake in the console wars, and neither a stake in the console vs PC war. What I do have is a love of both, but if it weren't for Oblivion, being one of the very first PC games I played (alongside Morrowind funnily enough, and as well as being a rich, humongous RPG to boot) I wouldn't have gotten into gaming on a PC at all.

 

[C F]

Pokémon Crystal: MAN does this take me back. It is the inception of my gamer experience; my very first regularly played video game. The journey to be the master was a long one, but I shall never forget the time I spent climbing Mt. Silver and challenging Red.

Age of Empires II: The infantile brain and spinal cord of tactics, unit direction, and command of a collective system to achieve progress against foes. In retrospect, I can't even remember why I was so fascinated with it as a kid; I hardly ever made it past the Feudal Age back then. But I suppose childhood is the best time to field all your amateur strategies and conceptions while learning how to handle various facets of an operation at a nice easygoing pace.
By which I mean I was a massive noob who knew jack squat.

Halo 3: The first time this gamer started putting on a gamer's muscles. At age 14, Halo 3 was my first regularly played FPS and competitive multiplayer experience. Now if you've (understandably) got gripes about a 14 year old playing a Rated-M shooter on Xbox LIVE, this was also the age I started college. Suffice to say, I was more mature than half the adults playing it. And in time, I became more skilled than them too.

Runescape: First MMO. Also, still my favorite MMO. It was (maybe still is?) practically the textbook example of a generic MMO.
The people I've met who played Runescape regularly a few years back have an understanding and respect for their time spent on it. I could glance across a room, lock eyes with an individual, and say "Runescape" with a solemn nod. He'll return the favor and quietly sigh "Yeah..." before we go our separate ways. I would never know who he is, nor he I. But the mutual understanding would be there. Everyone else in the room would wonder what the heck happened. But it's the most precious and inclusive tale buried beneath many felled trees and mined rocks, perhaps never to be told again.

Metroid Prime: The lore for the gamer. The immersion, and the piecing together of a story shattered and spilled across a solitary shooter/puzzle/platforming environment. The tale is on the flesh and in the bones; the narrative and I are one.
I prep my arm cannon.
I know what must be done.

These are five of the most prominent experiences that made me the gamer I am today.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

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...)

 

[MrMixelPixel]

1. Kirby64: The Crystal Shards

This was the first game I ever beat. I had really fun time too, I loved the idea of fusing powers together and stuff. Made me awfully dissapointed when I played other Kirby games and found out I couldn't do that.

2. Spyro the Dragon

Another fun game, that I played constantly when I was a child. Made my PlayStation completely worth it by itself. The first gaming series I was hooked on.

3. World of Warcraft

This was the game that got me into pc gaming and rpgs. It also was the game that taught me how to type. When I started playing, I had a typing speed of a about 17 words a minute? Now I'm upwards of 80+ and it's all thanks to that game.

4. Pokemon Emerald]

My first actual Pokemon game. It would ignite a burning passion for grinding, collecting, and slue of other healthy hobbies. The Pokemon series is also my favorite series of games, so I have to thank the game that got me hooked.

5. Super Smash Bros Melee

I had never been a competitive as a child. I was happy with 2nd, 5th, or even last place, as long as I had fun. That all changed when a group my friends got together to play this beast. I would play it by myself for hours, so that when my friends came over to play, I'd mop the floor with them. I became... that guy.

EDITED.

EDIT 2:

Fuck.

Currently Editing:

May your final post shine with the glory of a million suns.

Meh, I kind of rushed it. Didn't want people to see the post you quoted for very long!

I hope it shines with the glory at least a a thousand suns though.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Chrono Trigger- The big one, my favorite game to this day. It showed me I could actually CARE about game characters, no matter how predictable, clichéd, even badly written they could be at times. It gave me solid mechanics and an enthralling story in a beautiful world with the perfect atmosphere.

Bastion- Similar reasons as above, the best game narrative I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. The only game where I thought both endings equally valid choices (IE: not just 'good' or 'bad', or even faction-based (fallout NV)). Some of the best game writing ever and a fabulous soundtrack married to excellent game play.

Pokémon (series)- Most game hours I've spent in anything, practically taught me to read and has been a staple of my life ever since, not to mention I enjoy the addictive collect em up gameplay and the deceptively simple-yet-deep battle system. Seriously, competitive pokémon is an INSANE rabbit hole once you start.

CoD4- My favorite FPS, reintroduced me to the genre in a big way and gave me the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever had in a game, still does to this day. Actually had an engrossing story and fun run-and-gun gameplay.

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon- An odd one, but it's more about the memories from that time in my life than actual gameplay. Not to downplay the game itself, a vibrant world with more things to explore and find than I'll ever do. The platforming and combat aren't honestly up to much, but the presentation and sense of humour make me happily replay it every now and then.

Honorable mentions go to Ocarina of Time (of course) and WoW, along with Portal, half life 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 (Chao= basically pokémon).

 

[Ninjat_126]

1. Spyro the Dragon: The first game I remember playing. Awesome little platformer, last time I played it was a month or two ago and I enjoyed it just as much as I used to.

2. Tekken (3/5): The other first game I remember playing. To this day, its still my favourite fighting game franchise. Even though I don't really play fighting games, and Tekken 6 was shit.

3. Metal Gear Solid: The other, other first game I remember playing. I was about 4. I've only played MGS1 and MGS4, but without a doubt they're two of my favourites.

4. Mirror's Edge: I'm not particularly good at this, but the aesthetics, the quality of the writing and the original mechanics got me hooked, despite the awful level design.

5. Dark Souls: My favourite game of all time, and the one RPG that actually got me RPing and planning my character instead of just mashing ATTACK.

Honourable Mention: Siren. I've never played Siren, I just remember the trailers giving me nightmares when I was a kid. Since then, I've heard what they're actually all about, and despite criticisms they sound like the sort of horror game I'd like to play.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Yay, another post no one will ever read!

Oh, people read them, just there are so many opinions you never know how to respond. Except to say that you just reminded me of Journey and made me rethink my whole list.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

Fuck.

Currently Editing:

May your final post shine with the glory of a million suns.

 

[Frankster]

Xcom: enemy unknown (the original): Still one of the most satisfying free form strategy games i know, its remake only made me appreciate how even now its still in a class of its own.

Xcom apocalypse: Rather then defending the earth from flying saucers, you're in the future keeping the peace in a futuristic megacity from dimension warping aliens whose speciality is biological weaponry and technology.

Dragon ball Z budokai 3: Most fun i ever had with a fighting game and got plenty of great memories associated with it.

Medievil/Gex enter the gecko/Spyro series: I found it impossible to determine which of these platform games i prefered so grouping them together as ps1 platformers i loved.

Mount and blade series: Hits the sweetspot for me in term of having dynasty warriors style battlefields where you play 1 guy killing loads of others+leading your own army you grew from mere peasants and farmers to affecting the gameworld drastically.
I dont really play the vanilla game so much as i play the many awesome mods for it.

Honorable mention to Medievil:total war, Hearts of iron series and dawn of war+company of heroes.
As you can tell i do like my strategy games.

 

[Joos]

I'm going to break your rule by posting more than five, but I'm sure you all can live with it. Here is my list, chronologically and by impact:

The Legend of Zelda and Zelda: a Link to the Past
These were the defining games for me on the NES. No game had previously gripped me so hard in the digital world as these. The semi sandboxy setup with a sprinkling of prehistoric action RPG had me glued in from of the TV for weeks on end after school. I did play a bit of Zelda on the SNES as well, but the games had faded for me a bit by then and it never really gripped me to the same extent as the previous ones had.

Moonstone and Eye of the Beholder 2
Moonstone takes the open world exploration to a new level and added the super cool dueling fight screen. I spent so much time master each type of monster as well as other players since it was a perfect multiplayer game on the Amiga. I never actually finished the game since it was notoriously buggy, but I still had so much fun with it.
As for Eye of the Beholder 2, this was the experience that first opened me up to "first person" games and D&D. The second game in the series is by far the best. I never managed to finish it since I accidentally used up one of the fireball spheres in a difficult fight at one stage and you needed the spheres later on to get past a puzzle. Ah, so was the gaming experience in the past. Still fond memories though, and I always planned to start it again...

TIE fighter
I always loved action oriented flight sims (I spent heaps of time in Wings on the Amiga) and while X-wing had a difficulty curve similar to a brick wall, TIE-fighter had a more progressive learning curve, fantastic story and side missions and interesting fighters and varied missions. I would have put wing commander here as well, but I feel TIE fighter is a step above it.

Master of Orion 2
I can't say enough praise of this game. It's the perfect balance between micro-management complexity and gameplay accessibility. Several different races to play, excellent politics system, fun multi player, excellent tech tree, good battle system etc etc. I'm always looking for good 4X games to replace this ancient game, but I keep loading MoO2 up rather than anything else when the feeling grabs me. Btw, if you got an iPad or iPhone, look up Starbase Orion. It's the closest thing to it I've found so far and it is really, really good.

Baldurs Gate
What can I say? I love strategy games. I love RPG's; particularly D&D RPG's I love plot driven games. I love sandbox games with lots of freedom for the player. I love games with strong characters in them. Go for the eyes Boo! Also, check my avatar.

Mass Effect Trilogy
This is seriously the best series of games I've had the pleasure to spend time with in my gaming career. Each sequel has been story and character wise better than the previous one, even though I missed the Mako exploration in the 2nd and 3rd one. Nothing short of an epic achievement for Bioware. I'm very interested to see where the plot will go next. I'm pretty sure that the 'Destroy' ending will be canon going forward and I'm very interested to see how (if) they will be able to weave in choices made throughout the series going forward.

 

[Something Amyss]

This isn't fanning flames or anything.

Since you are literally the only responder to this, I would say that yes, it isn't fanning the flames or anything.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

Aaight I'll take a shot (hic)

Killer7
Metal Gear Solid
Monkey Island
Sonic the Hedgehog
Shadow of the Colossus

I probably should mention FFVIII, but(t) fuk dat. I washed my hands. 213.987 times, to be exact.

 

[evilengine]

Rollercoaster Tycoon
I adore this game, and one of the few I still remember getting for a birthday years ago. Hell, I still own the original disks of the first game and it's immediate add-ons. Not perfect, but it's fun, addicting and far more enjoyable then alot of the clones that have sprung up over the years.

Thief 1 & 2
Another one I played back in the day. Again, I loved these games, even though as a 9 year old I was too impatient for the stealth and usually blundered through the missions hacking and slashing. Now, a 'mature' adult I appreciate the games and play them properly as intended. Though my fingers constantly hovering over the quickload key.

Skullmonkeys
A funny story, I read about this game in one of my dad's computer magazines. I had played the demo of the previous game (The Neverhood, which I loved, all 2 minutes of it), and Skullmonkeys looked awesome, an angry clay man who towered over skull faced apes. Since I didn't own a playstation there was no chance I'd get to play it. Fast forward about 10 years later, I finally bought a copy while at Uni and played the ever loving hell out of it, my flatmates becoming very sick of me hogging the PS2 and constantly playing it over and over. A fairly mediocre platformer with tons of style and charm, and a kickass soundtrack.

Super Castlevania IV
Probably the game I talk about the most with one of my old Uni friends, both of us were hugely into retro games and began collecting consoles and cartridges. Since he had a SNES from back in the day, he kept telling me Castlevania 4 was a must-have for my SNES I had with me. To be honest it's not even a fantastic 5-star game, but it was damn fun and pretty much encapsulates both my friendship with the guy and my love for retro games.

Half-Life
Yeah, what else needs to be said? Half-Life is the shit, loved it back then, love it now. Black Mesa did a great job too, despite being pretty ball-busting in some areas, and that's just on normal difficulty. Haven't even attempted it on hard mode.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I'll go with games that I played extensively, and beat many many times over many years.

Chrono Trigger: This game really captured my imagination, its full of many many different stories and most of them are affected by your actions in various time lines. The art was great, though I'm not a fan of Toriyama's style, but as a kid I had no exposure to DB so I didn't go through the games pointing out which DB character's various parts each npc is patched from. Its also not quite as bad as every DQ game, in SoM and CT they seemed to have some artistic variation.

Final Fantasy 6: I had been a huge fan of 1 and 4 which had previously made it to America, but 6 was exponentially better to me at the time. It was the game that finally, mostly through all the guide books I got for it, cemented my love for Amano's artwork. I loved the music, the characters, the amazing story, and I don't think there is a part of that game I don't like. I have a friend that HATED the game until after everyone regroups in Narshe. The 3 scenarios just didn't do it for him. I'm not that partial to the mages tower, but Moogle Charm negates that issue. Also Kefka is awesome. This and CT both had a similar magitek, fantasy/sctfi, post apocalyptic theme that I totally grooved on.

Super Metroid: The perfection of the series, and progenitor of games like Symphony of the night et. al. I may love every game in the series, MP1&2 in particular, but this was the game that dominated my days for months after I got it. First it was finding all the secrets, then I would mentally map various routes through the planet and how best to run them for maximum efficiency. I managed to get 100% in 1:13 ish, but could never replicate it. Now its like 1:28.

Crystalis: Zelda games weren't quite the games they are now, so this was one of my first and best experiences with ARPGS. I enjoyed the story, and the bosses were challenging at the time. I could have easily said the same for Soul Blazer, but Crystalis came first. Alundra would be the pinnacle or the genre so far.

Silent Hill: It showed me that games can be scary, and not in the cartoonish RE way. This game was so unlike ANYTHING I had ever seen before, and honestly SH2 and 3 aside, since. It opened my up to the Siren games, and Fatal Frame. It made me interested in seeing movies like Jacob's Ladder and Re-Cycle, and The Cell.