The Five games that define you as a gamer

[Marik2]

3. Katawa Shoujo
Showed me that games based on anime school girls don't have to revolve around fetishes, sex, and some odd ball stuff I won't bother mentioning.
4. Mass Effect (1-3)
Got me to acknowledge just how important a game's plot really was.

Alternative has both of those in spades

OT: Super Mario World and Mega Man X

They are both one of my first games which got me into gaming and showed me how fun and challenging games can truly be.

Halo 1 and 2

Halo 1 got me immersed in the world and was my first shooter I cared about the people in it. Halo 2 showed me just how fun FPS multiplayer can be and can bring together friends at a party.

Call of Duty 4

My first call of duty game and the one that I have enjoyed the most. Showed me how a game can have a great campaign and a very fun multiplayer.

Katawa Shoujo

My first visual novel and the game that made me cry in so many ways. It is in a special place for introducing me to this genre.

Muv Luv Alternative

This game is just wow, does so many things differently and that I did not expect. Takes the harem genre and turns it upside down. One of the few mechas I have enjoyed immensely and the one to make me cry a lot. Even with some of the criticism I have for it, it is still a game worth playing.

 

[dstryfe]

Alrighty...let's give this one a shot. In no particular order:

Pokemon Gold - The best Pokemon game of all time. Alright, fine, the remake, Pokemon Heart Gold, is better. That said, Gold was truly a sequel to Red, and the assortment of Pokemon you *could* get was pretty boss. Fighting Red was also bloody awesome.

Final Fantasy VII - The game has my vote for best Final Fantasy, and is easily the defining game of the genre. The characters each had enough personality (or a reason to mope as a flimsy replacement), and I felt the magic system was the best iteration the series has seen. The story, while noodly and complex, was moving at times, and I managed to follow enough to keep interest in it.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - By far the best Sonic game ever made, and the defining game of my childhood. I played in a tournament (yes, a Sonic tournament) just before I turned four, and placed third (from what little I remember, it was awesome). I wound up getting the game on my birthday, and still dust off the cartridge to play fairly regularily.

Neverwinter Nights - My introduction to D&D, actually. An awesome game, which very closely approximates the D&D 3.0 ruleset it was based on. Dad and I played that thing for years, and it's still something I regularily play over LAN with a few friends.

Knights of the Old Republic - This...actually got me playing western RPGs, and officially put BioWare on my list of favourite developers (that list currently is...BioWare). You'd think Neverwinter Nights would've done that...

 

[distortedreality]

Deus Ex

First (and one of the only) games that I've played that combined all my favourite elements from other games. Shooting, stealth, great story, consequences for actions, good characters, hilarious voice acting, great soundtrack, rpg elements, meaningful upgrade paths, great world, etc etc. Still haven't played a game that i've loved as much.

Chrono Trigger

Simply the best party based RPG i've played. The sheer scope of the story is still something that you don't see these days, and didn't see very often when CT was released. All the party characters are great, with deep personalities and diverse upgrade paths and stories, the world itself is very cool, and the gameplay mechanics are without fault imo.

Counter Strike : Source

The first shooter I truly put some effort into playing competitively. Had played plenty of shooters previously semi-competitively, but CSS was just so perfect, with a great competitive scene, that I couldn't resist. Great tactical play, well balanced maps, at the time easy on the eye without crazy system requirements, and great little glitch spots that were left in the game that make for much lols. Had so much fun with that game, even while being terribly serious about it.

Monkey Island 1+2

Pinnacle of point and click adventures imo. There were plenty of brilliant ones around at the time (Legend of Kyrandia, Simon the Sorcerer, Amazon Queen etc etc) but the MI games captured the humour perfectly, the interface was perfect (with slight improvements over others in the genre), the settings beautiful and mysterious, and the puzzles ridiculously obtuse a lot of the time while still making some sort of sense. A hell of a lot of fun.

Hitman 1+2

Epic, epic amounts of fun. A great idea fully realized, the first two Hitman games told an engaging story which was never just an excuse to go out and kill people in as many different ways as possible. While the later games looked prettier, had more weapons and more ways to kill people, I still think these two got the balance spot on between the seriousness of killing people and the coolness factor of planning out the killings. I think the later games have gone a little overboard in the "funny ways to die" factor. Not a bad thing at all, but I enjoy the more serious tone of the first two games.

 

[Ieyke]

Megaman X & Megaman X4 -
They are sort of jointly my favorite game. Megaman X introduced me to Megaman and something a lot more....dynamic....than Mario. Megaman X4 is that game evolved to perfection. Just absolute, rock-solid, perfectly tuned, perfection.

Assassin's Creed II -
I am a Renaissance Man of sorts. My interests and skills occupy a vast list. Leonardo da Vinci is sort of a personal hero, and his entire era is one of the most amazing times in all of history. I'm the sort of person with a deep respect for Renaissance art, classical music, and that sort of thing. I'm also a very basically trained ninja (as in I have trained in ninjutsu and have spent a bit of time in gatherings of the deadliest people in the world.
To be able to have a game that gives proper respect to all that history, makes it something action packed, and then makes that action in a vein sort of resonant to my own training..... Yea, for me that's an INCREDIBLY compelling setting, and Ezio's first game is still EASILY the best in the series (unless AC3 suddenly becomes utterly epic whenever it is that I finally get to play as Connor...)
Hell, Assassin's Creed II's soundtrack is even one of my favorite soundtracks of all time (pretty much tied with Tron Legacy).

Left 4 Dead 2 -
I, like so very many people, perpetually have the Zombie Apocalypse on my mind. I want one.
L4D2 is pretty much the best zombies game ever made.
Incidentally, you know how people will always randomly have that one game that they're just some sort of crazy super prodigy at for no apparent reason? For me that's Left 4 Dead 2. Maybe it's practice. I've played this game a lot. I can solo (as in I kill off the 3 bots) No Mercy on Advanced. I very routinely kill more zombies than the rest of my team combined. I've literally only ever run into ONE guy who could routinely get a higher score than me.
Dunno if I like this game so much because I'm good at it, or if I'm so good at it because of how much I like it.
Also, it now contains all of Left 4 Dead 1.
Just awesome.
Can't wait for Left 4 Dead 3.

Super Mario RPG:Legend Of The Seven Stars -
Fantastic RPG. Super fun.

Arcanum:Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura -
Like Fallout, except steampunk fantasy, and therefore 1000x more awesome.

---------------------------------
Beyond this point it gets murky.
---------------------------------

I have a vague cloud of "favorite" games -
*Assassin's Creed 1/Brotherhood/Revelations/3
*Okami
*Castlevania:Symphony Of The Night
*Final Fantasy Tactics(AKA War Of The Lions)
*Suikoden II
*Fallout 3
*Portal 1&2
*Batman:Arkham City
*Mario platformers
*the other Megaman/Megaman X/Megaman Legends games
*Age Of Empires 2/Age Of Mythology
*Battlefield 2142(when it worked properly...)

And then a vague cloud of games that I like a ton, and played insane amounts of -
*Diablo II
*Team Fortress 2
*Pokemon Blue/Gold/Sapphire
*Minecraft
*Transformers:War For/Fall Of Cybertron
*God Of War series

 

[Jak23]

Jazz Jack-rabbit.
First game my dad bought *cough cough* me, and first game I ever played.

Yes! Someone else who's played Jazz Jackrabbit! I was playing that and Commander Keen when I was little under 2 years old, so I've been a gamer since before I can remember. It's weird because I always consider myself a retro gamer because I played all the old games, even though I'm only 16...

 

[Frezzato]

Lets see:

Star Wars: Rouge Squadron. The first game that I replayed multiple times, and one of the first games I ever played.

I'm sorry. So very, very, very sorry.

But it's Rogue. "Rouge" is a French word for the colour red, or alternately, what women tend to slap on their lips to look pretty in some occasions. "Rouge" is not an epithet that designates people going against an established authority.

Rouges Cinq ordres en attente!

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Metal Gear Solid 3

Well designed and challenging with multiple ways to complete any aspect of the games. You know, the kind of game Peter Molyneux wishes he could make. It was humourous at the right times but had an amazing story. It was the canonical Metal Gear story.

The enemies were weak alone, but powerful when just 2 or 3 caught you off guard. The boss fights were works of art (The End still goes down as the best boss fight I've played in a video game next to killing Liquid Ocelot in MGS4).

The features that this game brought to the table were amazing. I'm sorry Theif fans, but this is a game that lets me sneak through almost all of it using nothing but CQC, a cardboard box and a banana to dispatch guards and therefore is a better stealth game.

Bushido Blade 2

Also known as the best weapon based fighting game of all time in my opinion. Screw Soul Calibur to be honest. Balance in that series fluctuates and is always leaning towards whatever "special" characters they decide to jam in.

Bushido Blade 2 is a fighting game with no health bars or OP special combo hyper whatever moves. If you get your arm cut, you can't use that arm(which means for a 2 handed weapon, your life just got twice as hard). Legs get cut? no sprinting in the 3d terrain for you. Head cut? Dead. Heart stabbed? Dead.

A bunch of different weapons to choose from each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

A bunch of characters that handle different weapons in their own way, better with some than others. And great for multiplayer fights.

Tekken 3
The game that got me into fighting games, and the reason why I will always hate anything Street Fighter. The fights may leads towards a combo juggling fighter, but this game is a 3D fighter, so it makes doing long combos hard. No characters were too powerful (maybe True Ogre but what boss character isn't?) and super moves left you extremely open.

Tales of the Abyss
Because screw Symphonia. It wasn't as good no matter what Tales fans say. Abyss had a much more serious story and its typical JRPG humour wasn't as crammed in as it was in Symphonia.

This game also has one of the more original twists out of any games story ever. A few of them actually. Its battle system still goes down as the best one in the Tales series.


Total War Shogun 2
This game is the only game to do any justice as a realistic portrayal of Sengoku Period Japan's wars. I'm very happy to have played this game and very happy to say that if it were not for this game, I would not have discovered the Total War series. Each clan was researched very well to add to the authenticity of the warfare in this game. Every battle is hell, but enthralling at the same time.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Rouges Cinq ordres en attente!

"Rouges Cinq - Rouge à lèvres - Tirez!" *insert mouth laser sounds and whatever sound comes up when you crush a lipstick tube directly against a solid surface*

"Rogue Five responding to call, I repeat, Rogue Five responding to call...
- Too late, Rogue Five, the Rouge Squad already took care of it!
- Those damn lipstick fanatics, always stealing our kills!"

Bushido Blade 2

Also known as the best weapon based fighting game of all time in my opinion. Screw Soul Calibur to be honest. Balance in that series fluctuates and is always leaning towards whatever "special" characters they decide to jam in.

Bushido Blade 2 is a fighting game with no health bars or OP special combo hyper whatever moves. If you get your arm cut, you can't use that arm(which means for a 2 handed weapon, your life just got twice as hard). Legs get cut? no sprinting in the 3d terrain for you. Head cut? Dead. Heart stabbed? Dead.

A bunch of different weapons to choose from each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

A bunch of characters that handle different weapons in their own way, better with some than others. And great for multiplayer fights.

Oh God, this game. I was a big fan of just pulling out my katana, running up to my opponent, and trying to kill them in one slash. I wanted to keep running past them for a couple steps and then see if I couldn't just stop and watch 'em die, Yoshiaki Kawajiri style.

It worked on occasion. Right up until you meet the cowboy douchebag. Then your character's damage model goes nuts. I couldn't beat the last fight in the story mode without looking like there was more gauze on me than skin.

 

[Fatmanjj]

Well let's see it's hard to narrow it down to just five games, but I'll give it a try

In no particular order.

Super Mario world/Kirby superstar. can't really decide which as I played both of them as a child around the same time
and they truly instilled in me a deep love of gaming playing these games with my sister was some of the most fun I ever had

Tactics ogre the knight of lodis. This game introduced me to tactical RPG's I was absolutely blown away when I first played it
I had never played a game that required me to strategize so much before I instantly became completely immersed in commanding my troops and played for 24 hours straight The day I got it

Age of empires 2. Had basically the same effect on me as Tactics ogre but on a much grander scale as all of my friends played as well. Organizing epic battles with each other was ridiculously thrilling
and coming out victorious after a two-hour siege was amazing

Final Fantasy VIII. My first real introduction to JRPG's and games that actually told a story it was the first time I really cared about the characters in a game

BioShock. The most atmospheric and immersive game I've ever played everything about this game from the sound to the graphics gameplay and story completely blew me away when I played it

 

[Jaeke]

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
My first real gaming experience that immersed me in gaming when I was about 5. It is responsible for my convertion into the gaming lifestyle. It set in scope how I feel about games and planted the idea that the game's environment make the most important contribution to their success.(Followed closely by Metroid Fusion, talk about atmosphere...)

Civilization II
I remember watching my dad play this game for HOURS. As soon as I was old enough (around 7) I finally got my hands on it and could not let go. I played the game for days until I could finally rival his score. I think my deeply-rooted love for strategies is because of it.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
That game. The game.
The game that I will be buried with. Oblivion is the game that set me in stone as the kind of gamer I am today: an RPG lover of open-world environment where I make the choices that matter.

Dragon Age: Origins
Basicly the game opened me to appreciating real stories in games after I had stopped gaming for a couple years. I instantly fell in love with it. I had played KOTOR 1 and ME 1 long before this game was released and liked both of them but it was only until I played DA:O that I came to really understand the beauty and art of their design.

That fith one is kind of a tie between Halo:Combat Evolved and Unreal Tournament 2003:
Both of these games are keystones for my FPS preferences. Obviously they are on pretty different ends of the FPS spectrum but that's kind of the point, they are both different kinds of FPS and I love them both. I think modern-day FPS should borrow from them in terms of single-player and multiplayer, respectively. (Metroid Prime was my precursor to finding these kind of games interesting). I remember playing a few FPS before these though, such as Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Battlefield 1942, both of which I have very fond memories of but never thought of them as much more than fun games to play on your off time.

Very honorable mentions:
Earthworm Jim (ealiest game I can remember)
Super Smash Bros. (got me into Fighers, my favorite being Soul Caliber 2)
Half-Life (my FIRST FPS)
Fable (first time I remember liking an RPG)
Chromehounds (how squad-based multiplayer should be)
Tenchu Z (my first love of Stealth games)

 

[Dr.Panties]

I going with current games that define me as a gamer.

(1) Vanquish- Simply the best, most hardcore 3rd person shooter yet released. It's forced me to really improve my game, so to speak. My game of the generation.

(2) Hotline Miami- A brutal retro-stylised psychedelic top-down massacre action puzzle, with the best soundtrack in recent years. On-the-fly strategy meets twitch. Love at first byte, and a contender for my game of the year.

(3) Frozen Synapse- I love a good tactical squad TBS, and Frozen Synapse takes it to a new level. Tense, and totally engaging.

(4) Dishonored- My fascination with the stealth genre began with Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. Dishonored is a shining example of why I continue to love the genre.

(5) Left4Dead 2- Tight mechanics, good characters, zombies, randomisation, co-op, versus. This is what I look for in a FPS.

Honorable mentions: Bulletstorm, Demon's and Dark Souls.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

Huh. This looks fun. Here we go, then. The five games that define me.

1. Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo was one of the first games I played that wasn't on a Nintendo console. It was also what got me into more "serious" gaming. My mom had encouraged me to stop playing as many video games as I got older... they were a "boy thing," as I was told... but the thrill of playing Halo against my brother's friends (and kicking their asses) made me take another look at that "boy thing" that I was being encouraged to dismiss. Years and years later, I'm still gaming. And, of course, this FPS was what eventually led me to...

2. Bioshock
I loved, loved, loved this game. Its atmosphere was unparalleled. It had some weak points, and it went downhill after... a certain point (avoiding spoilers, ahoy!)... but it was still an incredible game. And the English major in me loves the Ayn Rand parallels and themes. It really challenged my perception of what a game could be.

3. The Mass Effect series
I like my RPGs medieval, with magic and swords and shields and all that. Mass Effect was what really challenged that preconception for me. I got absorbed in its world, its lore, its characters... everything. It wasn't perfect, but nothing is. Is it cheating to pick a series? Maybe. But I'm doing it anyways.

4. Soul Calibur II
This game got me into fighting games, a genre I now adore. For me, it's still the epitome of the Soul Calibur series, and I'll still pop it in at parties to have a 8 vs. 8 match with my friends. Good times.

5. Tales of Symphonia
This game got me into JRPGs, yet another genre that I'm quite addicted to nowadays. I still replay it every once in a while, and I've never gotten tired of it. The graphics may be dated, the gameplay may have improved in later titles, but the incredible story and (yeah, I'll admit it) my nostalgia carry it through.

Honorable mentions: Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros., the Dragon Age series, Final Fantasy X.

 

[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)