The Five games that define you as a gamer

[Sateru]

Sonic the Hedgehog
My first game ever... and my introduction into adventure gaming. I adore this game so much, and I enjoy playing it. I swear, this game really just makes me happy by just being near and me just hearing it's music.

Pokemon Red
I really have to add this since it is deeply ingrained into my childhood. So many hours devoted to capturing and leveling my Pokemon. It kind of awakened my need to gather and collect. It also established a level of nostalgia in me that I'm not used to. To this day, I still cannot recapture the joy I felt with the old-school games with today's generation of Pokemon. FireRed and LeafGreen does a decent job though, albeit I miss the large Pokeball icons for items since for some reason... it really made me feel a sense of nostalgia seeing them. I had to get a ROM for this game just so I can play it again.

Shadow Hearts
It's an unusual RPG that I got into because of a dear friend. There were times where it frustrated me, but I love this game. It taught me that you can give a delightful spin to any game and make it just so much more interesting. Especially with the occult references. The music was amazing, and the characters were all eclectic and amusing.

Silent Hill 3
I've gotta add this game instead of SH2 for one major reason... I played this before SH2, and this has to be one of the few games where I genuinely loved the protagonist for their faults and characteristics. I loved the voice acting of this game, the atmosphere, and the story. This introduced me into Psychological Horror, and it really influenced my interest into Silent Hill as a whole.

Runescape
My first MMORPG... it took many hours from my life and I devoted so much effort to grinding for money and experience. :T Not all of my memories are good, but I love this game and it did shape me in a way. Although, I still cannot mine to this day, not without remembering all of the hours I had wasted on it and remembering just how badly burned out I was at the end.

 

[Platypus540]

1. The Ace Combat Series (PS2 and newer)
Some of the first games I ever played (For some unfathomable reason Ace Combat 4 is rated E, so I got to play it back in third grade), and still my favorite game series with extraordinarily good stories, the best soundtracks ever, and really fun fighter-jet gameplay. They're definitive of my style as a gamer because this is where my love of any flying vehicles originated, and because of how early in my life I played them.

2. The Mass Effect Trilogy
My second favorite series, these games are great about two of my favorite things to see in games-- an excellent story and plenty of action.

3. Civilization IV (and now V!)
Another of my favorites, the Civilization games are some of the first strategy games I played and really set the stage for my love of strategy, both RTS and turn-based. I have over 200 hours invested in Civ V and no regrets. (Honorable mention to the Total War games here too.)

4. Star Wars: Battlefront (I and II)
True classics, and the first shooters I ever played, and I still play them now. These games instilled a love of team-based shooters that still persists, though now I mostly get that particular fix through Battlefield 3.

5. Pokemon
The first game I ever played has to be on this list, of course. The awesomeness of the Pokemon series was what got me into gaming, and I still enjoy Pokemon now.

 

[katsabas]

I will bite but change the title to 'titles that define me as a person', been gaming since I was 8 years old. Ok, let's get it on.

Crash Bandicoot 3 - Vigilance

After managing to actually beat the game without a memory card (which is something I did a long time ago since I didn't know memory cards existed), the game didn't end and I realised that there was more to it. From that point on, I try to be as prepared as possible for any situation I am getting in for the 1st time.

Burnout 3 Takedown and Wipeout HD - Perseverence

I put those two together for the simple fact that they are the same thing when it comes to learning something. Forget trial and error. Trying again becomes second nature with these game even if you have beaten them twice. You have to insist on quite a lot of races, zone modes and burning laps, epsecially the hot rod burning lap and the euro circuit racer burning lap.

Shadow Of The Colossus - Thinking outside the box

Back then when the internet was a heathen and strange place for me to be, I got up to a Colossi with a beard that I couldn't find a way climb on. I hid myself behind a pillar and when he started crouching and searching for me, I grabbed his beard and climbed on his head.

Tekken 3 - Seeing between the lines

The frame by frame sessions I had when I was little led me to believe that Tekken wasn't playing itself. The players weren't improvising and the moves were sometimes repeating themselves. I dug a little bit more and finally found my first command list.

God Of War II - Points Of View

When Kratos decided to go nuclear on the Greek pantheon, I was taken aback a bit. I had been learning for quite some time that the Gods were fair when they had to but also cruel when it suited them. Kratos' motive for revenge was still left a bit unexplained for the entirety of the game and his determination kept hiding something.

Kratos wasn't seeing the Gods from my point of view. Even without the prequels that expanded further on his character, Kratos wanted to destroy them not simply because of their empty promises (they said they were gonna rid him of his nightmares but they knew from the beginning that they couldn't) but also because they represented a part of his life that he couldn't control.

From that moment, I realised that one's opinion on something is not unique and not necesarily correct. He had a right to have one, though.

 

[Sh1nobu]

1. Warcraft III/FT

This is pretty much my childhood summarized with one word. I spent more hours fiddling in the World Editor than I have ever sunk into any game ever (Maybe with the exeption being the second one.) It's the game that has converted me into a Blizzard nut, and shaped my life in untold ways. It also gave me the basis of being a code monkey.

2. World of Warcraft

This is so much more than I game at this point. I started out in vanilla, and was playing actively up to WotLK. I have no idea where I'd be without this game, since pretty much all of my friends I currently have in real life, I've met trough WoW. The game also managed to cram tons of leadership & management skills into my skull.

3. Knights of the Old Republic

I'm not sure how many times I've played trough this game. I can probably complete Taris when I'm asleep. This game still retains the best combat system of any RPG ever. I've heard other players giving that aspect slack - I've got no idea why. The game also teached me that being a Min-maxer is cool.

4. No More Heroes

A whole summer with no PC and a Wii. This game is brilliant and has tons of replay value. The combat's much more than button smashing with self imposed limits and the game has an excellent sense of humor. I won't even start talking about the colorful characters or the best soundtrack EVER.

5. The Whole MOBA Genre

I can't exlude them, due to the massive amounts of manhours I've put into them.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

1. Maniac Mansion -
It was my first adventure and i almost played everything from Lucas Arts that came out after Monkey Island. I loved these adventures and today i`m glad that Telltale brought some of them and the concept back.

2. Commander Keen -
My first jump and run. In 94 i bought an snes from a classmate and started to play the nintendo games like the Mario and Donkey Kong franchise but Apogee started it.

3. Doom -
I had the chance to take a look at Wolfenstein at my cousins house but Doom was the first FPS i could lay my hands on and up until now i never got really sick of the genre.

4. Diablo -
This was my first experience with looting and setting skills (i know it`s not really setting skills if you just select a different class and D2 did this way better but it was new and enough for me at this time). I really like these mechanics and that they aren`t used just for rpg games only. It doesn`t really matter in which genre but looting and setting skills is a big good motivation and replayability factor.

5. GTA3 -
I`ve played the first and liked the concept of grabbing what you want and move freely. In GTA3 it really kicked of in 3d. I was blown away how different it felt to not beeing reduced to the top down view. Today i take a closer look at every open world game since they all have their flaws. The exploration factor, the feeling of beeing able to decide what to do/where to go next and the ability to create my own fun is it worth.

Argh, finished already? No, no, no.
Just two little short things.

5.1 Mario Kart -
Splitscreen, a good friend and enough beer. No need for further words.

5.2 Soldier of Fortune 2 -
My first epic online experience running around on self generated maps with 32 vs 32 players.

 

[Syzygy23]

1. Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

This will always be MY game, THE game, the one I use to judge all others. I will always lament the loss of Swingin' Ape Studios to Activision/Blizzard.

2. XCOM

Both the original and the reboot. Nothin' makes me feel like a Fractactical Genus like making it through a mission outgunned and outnumbered with no personnel losses.

3. Infinity Blade

This is the ONLY game I dread leveling up since it forced me to part with items I loved or else face a severe experience loss. That, and it was just a plain great take on the punch-out! formula.

4. Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War

This encompasses all of them, although my favorites will always be Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. Ever since I played them I CANNOT go back to RTS games that don't let me build entire squads of soldiers at a time. Being able to build squads and controlling them as a single unit just makes it so much easier to micromanage.

5. Powerstone and Powerstone 2.

The only fighting games I truly enjoy. None of that "frame-cancelling" bullshit that requires ninja-fingers, just balls-out bombastic fun with super powers and insane items. I lost so many hours to these as a child.

 

[Bvenged]

I really want to post a whole horde of games, or even groups of games like "Tom Clancy games pre-2007" but I'll be strict and post the 5 games I would say define me as a gamer, i.e. what they've done for me in a respectable skill-sense and how I find such games entertaining today. They'll be in no particular order as it's hard enough just picking 5


Unreal Tournament
Got me into multiplayer FPS and a good understanding of how multiplayer servers worked. At quite a young age it actually developed my reaction times IRL for throwing, catching, dodging tackles in sport, etc.


Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
Taught me that you can't take anything for granted and that good planning will likely pay off. Because of it I will spend as long as I need to work on a plan, strategy, whatever. I'm not the most organised person in the word but I sure as shit plan myself out, which is always a good fallback.


Halo 3 Introduced me to competitive multiplayer. Up to that point I preferred playing bots and co-op because the only multiplayer I knew up was on PC, where I didn't take it too seriously, and splitscreen Goldeneye or Timesplitters, where it was easy to get annoyed at your friends and vice versa. Developed my social skills by communicating with strangers nicely, or plain sternly when angry. Also gave me the confidence to call out on others faults. While I will call them out, I rarely insult someone online as I like to follow the "return fire only" rule of engagement with others. My comebacks are intelligent, not derogatory, because I have a reason to argue and not to just spout crap for trash talk.


Shogun: Total War Either this or Medieval 1: Total War. Gave me an interest in long-term games where you can invest a few hours a week over many months and still enjoy it. Casual and slow strategic games. I still enjoy playing them every now and then.


The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Sucked me into western RPG's, modding, character development, lore, further reading into a subject. Most people love it, some people hate it, but I'm not afraid to say it was the first RPG to really catch my interest.


<color=black>Honourable Mentions

The Sims
Building houses and stuff. I nearly followed a path for architecture because of this game.

World of Warcraft
Captured my interest in MMO's. I also ran 2 guilds on 2 separate occasions. The second was far better than the first, but both were crap regardless. roughly 150-odd people in the second guild with 120-odd mothballed alts in it.

Splinter Cell 1-3
Stealthy, whilst requiring patience and reconnaissance.

Swat 3 & 4
SWAT is one of my favourite games because the AI is really smart and the way you analyse a situation under heat that could lead to a favourable victory or the demise of an officer is just pure gold.

MoH Underground/CoD 1/CoD 4/BF1942/BF2142/BF3
Fast-paced shooters, real-time cutscenes, large-scale battles, small cog in a big machine effect.

NFS: Hot Pursuit (Original)
Countless hours of fun with my brother on the PS1. Got me into Racing games (kind of).

Time Splitters 2/Goldeneye
Glorious split screen fun on the Xbox and N64.


That raps it up. Some really good games there. I've missed a few such as RTS's, but I didn't want to make this post any bigger than it is.

 

[ledchicken]

1) Oblivion: First big open world game I played, first experience with downloading and installing mods, and probably most hours sunk into than any other game, I like skyrim better but I played Oblivion first, and they are very similar my only regret is after skyrim the combat in oblivion puts me to sleep

2) Bioshock: SUCH A GOOD STORY. SUCH GOOD CHARACTERS, brilliant art design great atmosphere, great music, interesting concepts and the first 'mature' game I played. Also lots of other stuff, pretty much my favorite game, definitely my favorite shooter.

3) Zeno Clash: Easily the weirdest game I've played (and enjoyed) and the only first-person-beat-'em-up I've ever seen (that wasn't shit) so memorable just for how different it was to any other game I'd ever played.

4)TF2!: Most time spent in an online game, all my friends have it, so many lols to be had

5) Mass Effect 1 and 2 (haven't got round to 3 yet ) ACTUALLY GOOD DIALOGUE AND CONVERSATIONS. WHY DON"T MORE (rpg) GAMES VOICE THE MAIN CHARACTER *GOHL*. But yeah, really entertaining story, great gameplay in the second game and you get really attached to good old Shep. I live in hope that a game will be made one day with the quality of narrative/main quest, characters and dialogue from mass effect and the game-structure of an elder scrolls title *sigh*

Also just cause 2, I have yet to play ANY missions on that game whatsoever after 40+ hours of playing

 

[babinro]

1) Ninja Gaiden (NES) - I originally wanted to put Super Mario Bros 1 or 3 but really this is a better fit. This game represents most elements of a game I'm drawn to today.
It's controls feel perfect. It's got a more adult themed story and draws you in with an amazing soundtrack. It's one of the key games that introduced me to the world instrumental music as well.

2) Rock Band (drums) - This is the ultimately example of the kind of difficulty I love in gaming. The challenge is gradual and extremely rewarding. More than that the challenge is customizable. I've long since grown out of the punishing difficulty found in games like Ninja Gaiden. These days I want a game that allows for a casual experience but can expand to add punishing difficulty of the game itself is something I want to master.
It also represents how I'm willing to try unique games. I've owned the wii, I've tried peripherals over the years. Gaming for me is not strictly limited to the controller or keyboard/mouse.

3) Final Fantasy 1 (NES) - This is the game that best exemplifies my love of RPG's. The mechanics of character building and watching that growth in action is THE main thing I love about D&D as well as like Magic: The Gathering (with decks of course). Final Fantasy is what brought this to life in video games. I lean towards tactical combat, choice in character building and great music in gaming. RPG's are my favorite genre's of all-time, and Final Fantasy's ability to choose your group from scratch makes it stand out even today.

4) KOTOR - This is the game that brought RPG's to the next level for me. I brought the element of choice and consequence to the character building in RPG's. While I'm not much of a 'role player' in tabletop, this type of game showed my that RP is fun in gaming. This element of choice brought a new level of replay value to the games I love, be they RPGs or other titles like inFamous.
I consider Dragon Age:Origins to be the pinnacle of these games.

5) Starcraft - This game highlights my love for strategy in gaming and really hooked me into the RTS genre. It emphasizes perfect controls, decision making and balance between choices in gaming. This game made me realize that I really do care about balance and diversity. It's why I care about balancing class skills in a PvE game like Diablo 3, Skyrim, or Dragon Age 2.
Warcraft 3 ended up becoming my all-time favorite RTS though.

 

[floppylobster]

1. Phoenix (Arcade) It wasn't my first game, nor even my favourite. But when I search my memory, this one keeps coming up. I think it was because I played it at a local takeaway and there was a social scene there of local gamers.

2. Lode Runner (Apple II / SG-1000) - It got me hooked on gaming. My parents gave it to me for my birthday (on SG-1000). But two weeks before that I had faked being sick several times, found where they hid it and played it many, many times.

3. Phantasy Star (Master System) - The weight of the cartridge, the challenge, the battery save. The first time I loved an RPG. The first time I couldn't explain to my friends what made it so good.

4. Sabre Wulf (Spectrum) - The first time I mapped a game. There's something in that skill that lead to my love of RTS games (that hadn't been developed yet).

3. Castle of Illusion (Master System) - I sold it to a lady who I trusted to pay me for it later but she never did. My first really bad experience with games. My first realization that not all gamers were nice people.

There are many more but I'll stick to the OP's suggestion and leave it at those five.

 

[The Last Parade]

Katawa Shoujo
Halo
Borderlands
TES
and Age of Empires

I still feel like there's more though... I think it should be like 15 or 20 games that define us

 

[legendp]

Halo 1 on the PC
(in about 2004), Before halo I didn't really care for any fps games, now it's one of my favourite genres (when done right)

Riven
One of the first games I played, it pushed me to think differently, and showed the story a game can have, the detail and imersion (I was born in 1994, so I was like 4-8 when I played this)

Age of empires 1 and 2
I am a huge lover of a good RTS (favourite is bfme2), and age of empires really introduced me to rts and indeed multiplayer.

Bournout takedown
The reason I bough a ps2 and got so invested in gaming, it was soo damn fun (favourite being revenge on 360)

Mass effect 2
I had played the first mass effect but up until then I didn't care for most RPG's, they felt cumberson and the task seemed menial (collect 12 of something), I had played mass effect 1 but that was only for the story, mass effect 2 showed me how imersive a game can be (building on riven)

Honorable mentions go to mirrors edge and the original crysis on pc, I have played each atleast 5x because I feel like they truly did innovate, crysis with it's huge AND destructible environments (yes ive played farcry) and mirrors edge whith it's unique challenging platforming (personally I liked the difficulty, too many modern 3rd person platformers feel sticky like you don't have much control and there too easy

Edit: O yeah, and I can't forget abes oddessay, probably the first game where I was that interested in the story AND gameplay (Riven gameplay was a bit boring, especially at my age)

 

[Rafe]

Final Fantasy VIII
Love the music, battle system and overall futuristic European feel of it. The moments with Laguna make me laugh out loud as well. I tear up a bit as well during the Garden battle where Squall stops being a little ***** and musters all the students into one final effort while it plays 'The Oath'.

Deadly Premonition
I love everything about the game, except those darn wall-crawling enemies. I found the plot genuinely compelling, the mystery fantastic and the pay-off doubly so. Music, humour again I love.

Wind Waker
In my view the best Zelda game. Never grew bored of the sea travelling, it felt like every trip was an adventure. Also I got it with the Gamecube on my birthday when I was young and it opened wishing me a happy birthday, blew my fucking mind at the time.

Lost Odyssey
Nobou Uematsu composing the music made the game feel fantastic. It was a great return to the turn based battle system, it was similar to FF X which worked well to me. Also features the best voice acting in any game I've experienced. Natural dialogue that cuts over itself is incredible. The funniest moments were the things Jansen would mutter in the background. Shame we don't see enough of that.

Silent Hill 3
Although I'd say 2 is objectively just better. I found 3 just terrifying. Most horror protagonists just have a blank face at all times but Heather looks like she might throw up at any second when all the creepy shit is going on. I liked having one sane person in the game as well, always loved seeing the detective to break things up. Shame it was attached to the cult stuff, but they managed to make something great out of it.

I'm not saying the not-as-popular iterations in the series like Silent Hill 3, Wind Waker and FF 8 to be unconventional and different. They really are the ones I love to play again at least once a year and I never get tired.

 

[Rai^3]

The game that got me into games, and most likely created the tastes I have today, favoring an open, player-oriented experience. This is the one that taught me that games can be more than idle entertainment- they can contain worlds. Open to exploration, always something new to see.

Although Soul Reaver is my favorite out of the series (particularly considering the sharp decline afterward), Blood Omen really covers why I feel so strongly about the "games as art" argument. I really can't explain the specifics of it nearly as well as this fella [http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=bo], though.

Again, with the whole player-driven world argument thing that Spyro kicked off, but this time with the additional encouragement of giving the player options on how to tackle the world. I had so much fun just experimenting with different character builds, the brevity of which no other Elder Scrolls game has really even neared. Nothing better than just making your character and jumping right in, fuck that Starting Dungeon shit.

One of only three games to date (the other two being Condemned 2 and Fatal Frame) to put real fright into me, proving that horror has to go beyond just aesthetic to be scary (looking at you, Dead Space).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Dead_Space_Box_Art.jpg
But fun, no matter how you slice it, is fun. Dead Space is one of the funnest shooters I've played in some time, and the emphasis on action is actually why I'm looking forward to Dead Space 3. They were never survival-horror to begin with. And it doesn't have that fuckstupid regenerating health model.

 

[psychguy57]

The five games that define myself as a gamer are probably:

1. Fallou 3 - I have spent somewhere around 700 hours into this game. Across 4 years, 3 consoles, 9 disks, and different interest levels. I love post apocalyptia, destroyed environments, and well done character. Fallout fills all of those need.

2. Hitman Series - I love stealth games, and this one came down to a cross between Hitman or Splinter Cell, but Splinter Cell has been a major disappointment lately. I think that the only game of recent memory that gave you so many option is Dishonored but even that is nothing compared to the Hitman games.

3.Minecraft - I love the ability to build my own content in games. That is the only explanation needed really.

4. Heavy Rain - I love games that have story. And that is all Heavy Rain was. And i loved it for that. I look forward to more games that are similar to this one.

5. ? - I always leave this spot open for any new games that come out. Like Dishonored hold this right now, but it could be the Splinter Cell, or Assassins Creed 3, or any other game that comes out or that i havent played yet.

 

[TecnoMonkey]

1. Deus Ex - I can safely say that this masterpiece of a game changed my life, on a small scale obviously but it's still a big part of my life. I usually do one playthrough a year and the game made me an avid fan of electronic music and made me prefer grittier and dark games for the rest of my life.

2. MediEvil - First game I played on a home console, it's great fun and it also contributed to my love for darker games.

3. Doom - First FPS I have ever played, pretty big deal since it's my preferred genre.

4. Journey - THIS GAME MADE ME FEEL LIKE I NEVER FELT BEFORE. Although I argue that it was Deus Ex that made me believe video games were art it was Journey that made me KNOW that they are art.

5. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - What can I say, it's GTA: San Andreas, it's spectacular.

 

[the doom cannon]

Battlefield series, minus bad company

My first shooter was 1942, and I've loved all of them since, except for bad company. Battlefield also got me into my current gaming clan

Guild Wars

Easily the most play time of a single game at 2100 hours. It got me into the online community and if GW2 wasn't out I would still be playing.

Super Mario World 3

My very first video game. I started playing this when I was like 3 years old, and it introduced me to gaming.

pokemon

red version. Soooo much fun and so much time spent. I still pick this one up diamond version when I go on road trips or other long distance travels.

I can't think of a 5. All other games I've played haven't been very impactual

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

1. Metal Gear solid (in particular 2). The metal gear series was at the time to complex for me a 9 year old to understand, but I didn't stop playing it, I learned and kept playing it over and over understanding more of the story every-time. By the time mgs3 came out I had played had a full grasp of the metal gear series before the age of 12, nothing more need to be said.

2.Fallout 3, this was a game that I bought on release day as a hunch not knowing wtf it was, and god was it the right choice. I played that game to near death and it began my love and understanding for rpg's, even though it was far from my first one it was the best.

3.Kotor, It was my fors introduction the company known as Bioware, and while I don't have quite the love affair with bioware that I used to Kotor still sits in my heart as my favorite game. Amazing interaction and story and combat that was cool to watch and not shit to play.

4.Halo 2, lan parties and friends.

5.DDR, it allowed me to play video games and exercise, I was good, no I was great at this game and at the time I was the my grades biggest(not fattest) kid. I could beat you up then beat you at DDR. luckily I just beat you at DDR.

 

[Adventurer2626]

Pokemon Red:
This was my "gateway drug" that started me on video games. Played it everyday to and from school and a couple hours each night. Also road trips.
C&C Tiberian Sun:
Even though I'd played games before, this beauty turned me into a "gamer." It also opened me up to PC gaming which became my core. It also started me on my favorite genre, the RTS.
Runescape:
It was free and introduced me to MMOs and social gaming culture. Because of it I'm a happy member of the LOTRO community.
Morrowind:
Started me on my other favorite genre, RPGs. The only plausible reason I can come up with for my addiction to Bethesda is that they managed to apply some alien technology to their software which flashes microseconds of kittens, rainbows, and chocolate that keeps gamers subconsciously coming back for more.
Call to Power:
This was a tough one to pick. I say this one because it got me into the more broad spectrum strategy games which focused on the city and nation level. I later picked up Rome: Total War which meshed well with my love of Risk.

I don't actually play any of them at the moment but they were integral to my development and, as I mentioned, segued me into other similar games.

 

[Pharsalus]

TIE Fighter: glad to see this one in the second post, used to play this late at night when i could get the damn DOS sound settings to work on my mom's desktop. Hardcore, complex, and effing immersive.

Rome: Total War: A military history student's wet dream made reality, I wanted this game so much that I scraped together money to get a desktop that could run it and literally got into a car crash the day I picked it up because i was so amped.

NBA Jam: Never been much for sports games but this fun interpretation and the types of games it spawned(Looney Toons Basketball, NFL Blitz, etc.) had a big impact on me.

Half-Life: I bought this used for like 12 bucks having no idea what was getting into. A world of great gameplay and a ton of community mods kept me hooked for years. I still don't see why people hate on the Zen sequences so much.

Sid Meyer's Civil War: Posting this more because no-one else will but goddamn was it good. I love the history of war, but wargames as a genre are fucking terrible, they just are. They hide behind the tradition of their genre to have terrible interfaces, no graphics, and dull turn-based gameplay. Sid Meyer's simple, quick, and fun to play effort made it clear that grand tactical level warfare can be a fun and kinetic experience, not just a terribly drawn out board game.