Gaming experiences that have had a lasting effect on you

[ballcap]

Final Fantasy VII got me started on the Final Fantasy series. Ever since, I've been a huge fan of JRPGs, made by Squaresoft of course

[Elmdor Rizer]

I call good bump.

Suikoden II and Destiny of an Emperor (aswell as DoaE II) for the NES. Why? Because these games taught me that - almost - every non-generic enemy you encounter should be recruitable. I can't really explain why, but as a kid I always found myself wanting to play as the enemy. Preferably to fight against the good guys after I beat the game, but since I couldn't find a proper game that would let you do that, though no doubt they exist, (other than Suikoden III and its showcase ending) I would totally settle. Suikoden II actually broke me in some ways. I don't know why I thought it was that good; since the broken dialogue pisses me off a lot nowadays, but it made me a sucker for RPGs with strategy fights. Not that they were, like, important or even losable for that matter, with it's a pretty cool feature, I think. That and the whole city-building aspect; which actually made me play legend of the stars or whatever it's called, for the SNES, despite the fact that it's a pretty awful game.

The Destiny of an Emperor game for some reason made me very interested in the whole RotTK era/story. How a NES game that barely has a story and doesn't follow neither history or the novel did this is beyond me; but the names seemed fun and stuff. People are called Wang. So, yeah, I realized Koei existed and never looked back. Man, is this a cheesy post? Anyhow, I'm almost done reading the fourth and final Kingdom volume, meaning a NES game I played, like, 10 years ago actually made me read a 2000+ book. That's a pretty lasting effect, I'd say.

Finally I'd like to mention Rush'n'attack. How is this not the most beloved co-op classic ever? Lovable enemies, cool weapon upgrades, silly controls; it has everything! Other than Contra I-III I've yet to find a co-op game that gives me the same kind of awesome experience. Still looking though... :O

[Aeolus Aeneas]

I can honestly say that no game has had a lasting effect on me.

You're all just weirdos.

[Chocobolicious]

A game that has actually had an effect on me?

To the Moon. If you have not played this game, do so. It's a PC game, came out a few months ago I think. Basically just a graphic novel with a SNES paint job. Fantastic, though. If this game doesn't somehow get you thinking (Also alternatively tearing up/crying like a baby.) then you are probably dead. You should go see a doctor.

[Silverflash]

The last game I played that left a strong impression on me was Mother 3 for the GBA. Two of the moments that stand out in my memory are...

Spoiler warning:

When you return to Tazmily later in the game, after all of its inhabitants have moved away. The music changes to a slower, more melancholy version of itself, and the whole place feels deserted and lonely.

For reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc_VB...eature=related

The second part is the ending... What a great game.

[Dreyle]

Max Payne 2 - a Masterpiece of dark impressions. I still like to quote Max.

There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask 'Why me?' and 'What if?'. When you look back and see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn't be you. It would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions.

[Stoneskinsnake]

Swear to god, I thought I was the only one who was scarred for like by the first encounter with a zombie on Resident Evil 1. I mean, I still see that clip and get the creeps.

[asasas318]

for resident evil it was not seeing the enemy, it was running around with the zombie on my back trying to get far enough away to shoot or seeing a zombie laying on the ground and walking past and seeing it stand up and going "holy shit!"

[Englebert3rd]

Well it would be one of the first games I've ever played, which is The Secret Of Monkey Island. It inspired me to be a game designer (a dream that I left, I'd never accomplish it really), and really changed my life. Doom 1 & 2 made me love FPS and big guns as well as Duke Nukem 3D. The first game that I've bought (Rayman 1) made me realize that games can be cute and damn difficult. To this day I've never finished the game.

Then there's Resident Evil 2, which made me love killing zombies and loving big city zombie scenarios, and this game made me love the Desert Eagle. But I have to mention Blade Runner (the '97 game) which introduced me to the movie and while doing that, it showed me that it was an innovative game. Now it is one of my most favourite movies.

Silent Hill 2 really made me love the series, more than Silent Hill 1, because of it's depressing, melancholy atmosphere and the characters are very well developed. Max Payne 1 & 2 had a good story and awesome gameplay, with quite good dialogue. And I've been following the first game when it was announced in 1998 and loved the bullet-time, then Matrix came and everyone though Max Payne 1 copied it. Sorry, but it came up with it before.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a remarkable game, it's a completely different experience. Yeah, you have Fallout 3 and New Vegas. But this game fascinated me so much, I want to go to Chernobyl and Pripyat now and look for Artifacts now. Also: "GET OUT OF HERE STALKER!".
Mirror's Edge charmed me with its art and parkour shenanigans. Fact is like, Max Payne and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I've been wanting to play this game ever since I read about it the first time (ME was announced in early 2007, I think) in a small magazine article. There wasn't much info and just two concept arts, one showing the Police uniform and how the game would look like. I knew I had to play this game and it's one of my favourites.

That's about it for now.

[saadred]

batman arkham city made me a huge batman fan

[NightTerror666]

Nier, the Alternate stories after you beat the game the first time really show the fuck-uppedness of war.

Spoiler warning:

for instance, theres a part where a desert tribe is getting attacked by tigers, in the first storyline, you think the tigers are just blood-thristy monsters. But, you dont find out til the 2nd storyline that the tigers are just acting through vengeance. The Desert was once a vibrant forest where the tigers used to live. But, the tribe turned the forest into a desert, killing off the tigers and their homeland.

[Zaladane]

Resident evil still sticks in my mind too. I was 17 or 18 and brought it over to a buddies place along with my playstation. This is back in my hard drug use days, so you can imagine seeing a game like that for the first time really messing you up. We had a blast, everyone jumping when the dogs popped in. My buddy getting squished by the falling ceiling because he didn't think to go back through the door. (another buddies girlfriend who was whacked out of her mind started crying when she saw the giant spiders, I think that's what did it anyways) We actually all got stumped somewhere in the guard house for awhile too. None of us had ever seen anything like it on a console before. Good times.

[Dinophobia]

When I was still young, I got hooked on playing pokemon games. Especially, Silver Version. They say that pokemon is only for boys, my classmates don't even wanna share their games with me. So, when I got my own nintendo GB, I asked my parents to buy me pokemon game. And, was really addicted into it, I even play almost everyday the whole day!! When I finished playing it, feels a bit sad. =/

i played silver back when i still in high school i play it through NGAGE with Java GBA emulator id like it better since we can save game even when in battle so i can get all my pokemon only with my cheap pokeball even the legendary lugia with only one cheap poke ball its a good game,thou i like diamond and pearl more cuz we can play it online so we wont get bored playing alone

[Milady]

Nier, the Alternate stories after you beat the game the first time really show the fuck-uppedness of war.

Spoiler warning:

for instance, theres a part where a desert tribe is getting attacked by tigers, in the first storyline, you think the tigers are just blood-thristy monsters. But, you dont find out til the 2nd storyline that the tigers are just acting through vengeance. The Desert was once a vibrant forest where the tigers used to live. But, the tribe turned the forest into a desert, killing off the tigers and their homeland.

They were wolves, not tigers, unless something is crazy weird in the Japanese version. And the pack leader was originally a dog, who was well loved by his master, and who had known friendship with humans. He had fond memories of his former life and held the wolves in check, making an effort to avoid bloodshed until he sees that the humans are murdering their pack mates without mercy.

I really loved the way that Nier's writers added little bits of story for your second play through. I had originally planned on going for the platinum trophy, which of course required multiple playthroughs, and I enjoyed that bit of replay value. And despite the fact that the story only got more and more depressing, the more you learned about it.

And it's always exciting to play through a story that you just want to learn more about. I spent ages reading the translation of the Grimoire Nier to learn everything I could about the game's universe.

[ZuNinja]

Thanks to Grand theft auto 4, I can now speak with a heavy jamaican accent after observing speech patterns from Lil' Jacob.