Not necessarily games you grew up with (though no doubt those are influential) but the games you think have had the biggest impact on your life as a gamer. I'll start:
1: Final Fantasy VII - First played it when I was maybe 9 or 10, it was the first game that had a deep narrative and characters I actually cared about. Sure, as a child my understanding was still not great, but growing older and realizing more and more has only made me love this game even more, despite the overall negative influence it had on games after.
2: Sonic 3 and Knuckles- (come on, it's one game) The other game that dominated my attention span as a child, I eventually had this game down to a science. I knew where every bonus world ring was, the exact layout of every bonus stage, the quickest method to get Super Sonic as early as possible, and I did multiple playthroughs with every combination of characters. No way I'm as a good as I once was, but this game truly made me into an everlasting Sonic fan.
3: Halo- A somewhat but not overly spooky story, insanely fun multiplayer, and the first really good console shooter after Goldeneye, and pretty much the only reason I bought an Xbox. LAN parties with friends were a highlight for me, and though I've never been one of the better players in my circle of friends, I continue to enjoy the series to this day. It also helped me realize that I prefer more slower-paced, methodical shooters over run and gun twitch shooters like CoD.
4: Mass Effect 3- This influenced me greatly, but not in a good way. It was setting up to be one of my favorite games of all time... all the way until the ending. Oh god, the ending. I literally felt deflated after I saw the ending for the first time, and it basically killed any special love I had for the series. Now I can only really see them as pretty good games with interesting characters, but I just can't care about the universe anymore. It made me put down most games for a long (for me) time. It was without a doubt the MOST disappointing game I had ever played in my life. Regardless of your own opinions, that's just how I feel about it.
5: Final Fantasy XI - I know I had fun playing this game, but to this day I can't say for sure why. I played around the time Treasures of Aht Urghan was new and quit before the level cap went past 75. My older brother introduced me to it, and I played mostly with a friend that I introduced to it. I may not be able to recall why I liked it, but I can say for sure that it really helped me figure out what kind of MMO player I am. I had only ever played Asheron's Call before it (and not that much), and most MMOs I've tried after haven't really held up (except for Final fantasy XIV so far).
1: Final Fantasy VII - First played it when I was maybe 9 or 10, it was the first game that had a deep narrative and characters I actually cared about. Sure, as a child my understanding was still not great, but growing older and realizing more and more has only made me love this game even more, despite the overall negative influence it had on games after.
2: Sonic 3 and Knuckles- (come on, it's one game) The other game that dominated my attention span as a child, I eventually had this game down to a science. I knew where every bonus world ring was, the exact layout of every bonus stage, the quickest method to get Super Sonic as early as possible, and I did multiple playthroughs with every combination of characters. No way I'm as a good as I once was, but this game truly made me into an everlasting Sonic fan.
3: Halo- A somewhat but not overly spooky story, insanely fun multiplayer, and the first really good console shooter after Goldeneye, and pretty much the only reason I bought an Xbox. LAN parties with friends were a highlight for me, and though I've never been one of the better players in my circle of friends, I continue to enjoy the series to this day. It also helped me realize that I prefer more slower-paced, methodical shooters over run and gun twitch shooters like CoD.
4: Mass Effect 3- This influenced me greatly, but not in a good way. It was setting up to be one of my favorite games of all time... all the way until the ending. Oh god, the ending. I literally felt deflated after I saw the ending for the first time, and it basically killed any special love I had for the series. Now I can only really see them as pretty good games with interesting characters, but I just can't care about the universe anymore. It made me put down most games for a long (for me) time. It was without a doubt the MOST disappointing game I had ever played in my life. Regardless of your own opinions, that's just how I feel about it.
5: Final Fantasy XI - I know I had fun playing this game, but to this day I can't say for sure why. I played around the time Treasures of Aht Urghan was new and quit before the level cap went past 75. My older brother introduced me to it, and I played mostly with a friend that I introduced to it. I may not be able to recall why I liked it, but I can say for sure that it really helped me figure out what kind of MMO player I am. I had only ever played Asheron's Call before it (and not that much), and most MMOs I've tried after haven't really held up (except for Final fantasy XIV so far).