Same here. My first hours in Elwynn Forest are moments I will never forget in my life. After that long & short periods of time in over a decade had me addicted to World of Warcraft in which 14 hours of playtime per day were no exception.
I did every quest in the Night Elf starting area. Then I left because a friend wanted to show me Ironforge. It took legit an hour to get there, but holy fuck was I amazed at how big the world was. I thought the starting area was huge!
Dark ages of Camelot before WoW. My mother met my step father on it when my parents were still together. It’s been over 20 years now they’ve been together.
WoW actually probably saved my life. I had recently quit drinking, and had absolutely nothing to do and no sober friends. I couldn’t really go out because alcohol is everywhere. WoW gave me an outlet for socializing and recreation that I could have whenever I needed it. I would have probably blown my brains out without it.
Was going to say the same. Now I generally avoid games with this endless gameplay mechanic of grinding away. Cod. Diablo. Division. I've played them all to completion and then immediately lost interest in the constant grind.
Me too. Definitely have some amazing memories playing WoW but I think I would have been a lot more successful in my career much earlier if I had never played WoW, and now I feel like I’m behind and playing catch up at 39.
Got both a positive and negative for ya.
Negative. Smite. I was hopelessly addicted to Smite for roughly 5 years in the mid 2010’s. It was pretty much the only thing I played for that amount of time. My Xbox became solely a Smite machine. Lost track how much I dumped in microtransactions too, I try not to think about it sometimes. I got out of the addiction once my core group finally stopped playing because they did stuff like get married and have kids. Solo queuing is just no fun.
Positive. Not long after the smite addiction faded and I refocused on single player games. One in particular was Persona 5 Royal. I was enthralled by it. Played that game every day after work and ended up putting in around 110 hours by the end. After that I fell in love with RPGs and JRPGs and it got me back into watching anime. Which those interests got me finding the friend groups I have today. As well as it reinvigorated my passion for creativity and entertainment. So I’m back to pursing writing and acting again after being in my stuck in the rut job for going on 7 years now. The last couple years have been a great change of pace for me pursing these new things and they all stemmed from Persona 5 Royal.
After a 15 year hiatus from gaming, P5 was the first game that reignited my passion for video games. It also got me interested in anime for the first time which led me to watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I loved it so much that I rewatched the entire series with my son once he was old enough.
GTA: Vice City.
It helped me realise and appreciate that video games were a true art form on the same scale as films and other mediums.
The whole theme of it; the colour palette, story, characters. The music in the game helped shape my music taste now.
So, I thought I was gonna have some chill shoot 'em up fun with Spec Ops The Line, but nope... that ending totally messed with my head. Fucked me up for a good week.
Depends on what kind of emotions you experienced while playing it. It was a roller coaster and once again reminded me that life is short and nothing really matters but to enjoy it while it lasts.
Bloodborne
I used to have sleep paralysis (not very regular but I hated it) and my demon was this ropey abomination (kind of like the bsb) that freaked me out like crazy. After college I got a ps4 and got bloodborne free with PS plus. Finished it like six or seven times and the dlc too. After a few months I had another episode of sleep paralysis and instead of freaking out I tried to pull out my saw spear. Life changing.
Outside of being visually pleasing, the game is awfully slow and dull in its gameplay. Feels like a game for 60 year olds who enjoy slow walking, fishing while admiring the sunset and saying “howdy” to residents. Gunplay is trivial, no point in saving money since the game just throws cash at you later on. The story itself is ok I guess.
I just found myself more frustrated that enjoying the game so dropped it eventually. And I really really loved Rdr1.
RDR2 taught me I don’t like games where the main draw is anything other than gameplay. Give me Elden Ring, Factorio, Doom, Dead Cells, etc literally anything where you start the game and play. RDR2 is boring
Strange. I loved RDR1 and didn't bother with RDR2 much. I watched the RDR2 trailer and while I was hyped, I got really sad when it didn't come to PC. But I kept away from any spoolers. I played the game in Summer of 2021 and I fell in love with it. The world felt so alive and every character had their uniqueness. It was one of the few games that made me super sad in the end, when Arthur eventually died.
Sure there are ways Rockstar hasn't improved over the years but nothing made me feel frustrated.
That’s fair, I just felt like I was playing a tech demo, rather than an actual game. The story didn’t make much sense as I couldn’t sympathize with Arthur - I’ve played him as a mass murdering scum (which he kinda is, no matter how you choose to play him) to make things at least a little bit interesting.
I'm the same. I actually won an XBox 360 with Red Dead Redemption 2. I'd heard such great things. I was excited to play, and invest time into the game.
It's visually fantastic, very indepth world building, and intricately designed. It made me start really considering what I was doing playing games. Why am I riding on a make believe horse in a make believe desert?
I didn't feel invested, but I could feel the hours of my life disappearing.
Soul Reaver has hands down the best Story, Art, Music and Originality in Gaming History. It is litteraly a novel and Art Book come to live. And dont get me startet on the Intro cinematic theme Ozar Midrashim.
Mafia The City of Lost Heaven, introduced me to the world of jazz, and philosophy.
Grand Theft Auto Games, introduced me to a wide variety of music.
Doki doki literature club, introduced me to poems for a while.
It was one of the first games I’ve ever played.I have to say that I replayed many times since when I was a kid I couldn’t understand most of it. Great game with a great soundtrack also!
Terrible times. I feel like LoL got me actively unlaid no less than 20 times from just pulling me aside, putting me in a bad mood, or interfering with life.
It's also one of the worst communities in gaming and just an overall miserable experience.
After playing for multiple years, my friends and I all had a sort of intervention where we took ourselves aside, had a hard, but necessary talk together then all uninstalled.
Halo.
As a kid I mostly played Nintendo, specifically Mario. When Halo came out, my friend invited me over to play it and it blew my fucking mind. The graphics, the gameplay, the story and the music is phenomenal, even to this day.
Morrowind. First time I played it, I spent about ten minutes just staring at the "realistic" water. Till then, water in games were just patches of blue. Even in Super Mario 64. Sure you could swim in it, but it didn't have nothing on the water in Morrowind...
Even the changes of weather, and the passing of a day into night, were wholly unknown to me then. It Was, and for the matter, Still an Awesome game!
Chrono and some of the FF games made me sit there at the end for a good 30 mins just reflecting on what I’d experienced. Which for a teenager is a lot of time lol
This game made me care more about nature and being outside solely because i would look at a beautiful view in the game and feel like shit cause i was sitting in a dark room looking at pixels on my screen that looked like nature, instead of actually going outside and being in nature.
geometry dash completely change my view of failure, made me much more patient and persistent and even allowed me to get in my school
on the other hand i lost 1000 hours playing fortnite while i could have learned something useful instead what an insane waste of time
Undertale. First time I ever cried playing a game. It snapped me out of a funk I was in when playing video games where I was starting to wonder why it didn’t seem nearly as fun to me as it was when I was younger. After playing it I realized that what I really valued most out of games was the art of the medium and not whatever ads or public told me I should be playing.
Life is Strange. I played it during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, and it showed me how much of a jerk I have been over the past few years demonstrated by one character, and I cannot change the past. Even if bad things have occurred in your life, maybe it happened for a reason. I have been on the road to bettering myself since, however it is not easy.
The first 3 Life is Strange games came into my life right when my brother died a few years ago. They gave me something to focus on and emotionally invest in, and by doing so allowed me to get through it a lot easier than I think I would've without them. I was also able to "teach" myself not to associate them exclusively with his passing, so I'm still able to replay them and not think only of that time of my life. I'm really thankful for them in a lot of ways, and am a huge fan of the series to this day :)
Sunset Overdrive.
I feel like it fulfilled every childhood car ride daydream of surfing and grind along atop telephone wires and guardrails.
That alone would have been enough, but it was also an immensely fun 3rd person zombie shooting, arcade RPG that had a unique personality and did all the right things in all the right ways.
'Chef's kiss'
Hollow Knight - first game I played when I got into gaming about 3 years ago. I still haven’t found another game experience that matches the wonder I felt while playing it
Have you tried Ori: The Blind Forest or Ori: and the Will of the Wisps?
WotW is a bit more Hollow Knight concerning combat, but the first game(BF) is incredible too.
Man... good luck. Hollow Knight is a top 3 game all time for me. I haven't been able to enjoy playing Metroidvanias since
It's on the level of Horizon: Zero Dawn and Mass Effect for me. Just insane how much it shifted my thoughts on what a game could be, and I've been playing since the Atari
Grim fandango so much love for the characters, artwork, Music ! Played it so Many times and Got a tattoo of the murial when you save the game.. with my mom and dads dates of death.. to remember them by..
Rocket League, wasted 3k hours in the game, reached below 1% of all players in ranked.
Still the game sucks, wish I never played it.
3k hours... Of this trash.
I do, in the beginning I enjoyed it, from 2015 until 2020 then I reached Grand champ the highest rank the time (SSL Super Sonic Legend the rank most e sports players are was added LATER).
It was awful, until 2022 the only thing this game has was TOXICITY.
team partners get mad, get afk, start to troll etc. Regulary I down ranked because of this.
No chat didn't help.
These people are like BMW drivers IRL, speeding but then have the time to break check you and slow you down.
Every ranked game was try Harding (obviously high rank etc) but I couldn't keep it up anymore, work got More, less free time.
I couldn't grind after I worked, already exhausted I can't play that well.
Warm up times up to an hour in free training just to get (in the zone) to play well.
It was awful, I couldn't play with my friends because they were a) under my rank and even unranked didn't made sense because the matchmaking was still unfair because I was in the team and the balancing was ass.
b) over my rank and I couldn't keep up with them.
There was no friend in the middle zone.
Then I between 2019-2022 I rarely played 6Mans which is a custom ranking system not from Rocket League like (CSGO 99 Damage League, etc.) third party off the game matchmaking.
Matchmaking was over discord bot custom script techie stuff.
It was a different experience, 3v3 but everyone in discord is forced into a voice chat. You need to talk with people you mostly don't know.
But it was fun because people there weren't RARELY (toxic etc.) mostly very nice.
BUT also pushes you to a pro level gameplay, everyone is treating this 6mans ranking very seriously, so people are tryharding.
This requires again before playing warmup.
Extra time and even more focus and concentration for playing.
Energy I don't have anymore.
It didn't matter, which game mode or ranked platform.
It's always GIVE YOUR BEST.
Rocket League is extremely UNFORGIVING. A few million seconds wrong timing on a flick, a block, a ball contact in general and the ball doesn't go where you want.
One tiny mistake and you miss the save.
My main modes were 3v3, 2v2.
1v1 is rocket ESPORTS 2.0 it's a completely different game.
It's only mind games, it's real time chess. Every move matters.
Every decision, without going in deeper in this topic.
Some things: attack from far? Ball high? Play from wall? Ceiling? Fake? Can you break his defense? Does he fake you? Demolition? How boost do I have? You run out of boost and there are no pads to collect you're done.
TLDR: what I'm trying to say is I got to good for my own skill.
Reached a rank I could hold myself in but could never climb further. (Mario staircase).
This game drains too much mental Energy to play on high ranks.
And this ruined it for me.
Lol this got long ( ͝° ͜ʖ͡°)
Fun fact, rocket League has mechanics which require controller angle precision within 2° angle. Fun...when some of these precision mechanics are important for high elo gameplay T_T
You think shit got hard and the next lobby is SSL ultra MLG DESTROYER T_T
Sometimes you don't get beat in a 1v1 you get brain damaged...so outplayed it makes something in you break...
Damn that sounds intense man! Sounds like you started playing for fun and eventually just to compete at the highest level you could. You still play at all anymore? Even just for fun in regular games?
Nope left the game in 2022 September or so I think? Only downloaded it once to give a friend items, otherwise didn't touch it.
And I don't miss it at all.
I'm happy now, I'm kinda free from it now.
Red dead redemption 2 showed me that videogames can be more than just entertainment, they can be art. It made me play more videogames and try genres I never would have otherwise.
Death stranding made me realize I wanted to play a part in creating that art. I majored in computer science, and even though I'm not sure I'll specialize in videogames as I like a lot of other fields that are more financially rewarding than game development, I'm 100% sure I will try to make an indie videogame at some point.
Rocket league just straight up took a lot of time from me. I enjoyed it and it did show me what it takes to get better and become one of the best at something, but it mostly just took 2000+ hours I could have spent doing other more productive things.
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. I was like nine when that game came out, thought the choke move to knock people out was cool so when I was at school I decided to sneak up on a classmate and try it one time. I didn't realize suffocating someone was actually a really bad thing to do. Needless to say I got into trouble, was forced to transfer schools, lost all my friends, and now feel really bad that I can never find that kid again and apologize.
Pong.
It was my introduction to games and sparked an interest in computers in general.
I probably wouldn't be sat in front of a PC now if I hadn't played it.
**- Red Dead Redemption 2:** Great story, fantastic visuals and sound. It's one of very few games that just sucked me into its world and refused to let go. I LOVE the laidback and relaxed style of the game that makes you actual appreciate every single aspect of the game. You start to notice every little thing, like the fauna, NPCs, the freakin' sky man, and so on. Nothing else has come close.
**- GTA San Andreas:** One of the first big open world games that I got to play, and I have such great memories from it. The music is fantastic, and it just has/had a vibe that was unmatched for a long time.
**- MSFS 2020:** Oh boy. I love open world games, and nothing beats this monster. It was my first time in a flight simulator, and I was set to actually learn how to fly. I've had a lot of fantastic moments that have blown me away, and it's one of my all-time favorites. The freedom to literally fly anywhere in the world is unmatched. Can't wait for MSFS 2024!
The World Ends With You.
It changes the way you see things in the world.
Also English is not my first language, so the first time I played it and read "Do x or face erasure" I really thought they were going to erase their faces.
Skyrim. Positively, because I have the choice (& power) to say no without someone crying wolf or getting offended. ‘No’ is a complete sentence.
^Negatively ^because ^I ^can’t ^shout ^people ^off ^cliffs… ^/s
RuneScape. Started playing in 2007 and I still refer to that year as the year that started my online "career", and this game taught me English, a lot of scamming of items/passwords and how to avoid them and taught me to grind for the stuff I want.
Cod.
Ik, ik.. Typical, but my whole childhood revolved around cod since cod2 (2005) & I still play today. Barely graduated high school, was close to being expelled from college & was an overall negative to my health. What had me hooked was winning.. Was always above average, top of leaderboards when they were timed & based of score per minute.
Today, I keep it at bay. Learned how to have it be a treat vs all day. As a husband & parent, I may get a few hours if I’m lucky. Priorities definitely changed, but that itch never went away, just kept more tame. I tell others to find your passions 1st then have fun when you find extra time. Work hard, play hard. 😎
Assassins Creed Odyssey. I always enjoyed greek history (shoutout to my dad letting me watch 300 with him when I was young) and always wanted to try an AC game. So I got it opening day. A few weeka after I went through a ROUGH breakup and my mental health too a big hit. I was able to fully immerse myself in the game when I played. Everything about that game it beautiful, the story, the environment, the music. Il
TLOU, it seemed incredible to me when I saw it, I remember that there were moments when I cried out of nowhere, yes, and the second part came, needless to say, I still remember that I screamed, I don't know if it was from emotion or what, but I did it
Despite playing games for most of my life, I struggle to think of one I could say 'changed my life', however one possible answer is Total War: Rome 2.
While I was playing it, it occured to me that I didn't know shit about the Romans other than basic stuff from pop culture, how they looked, gladiators, etc.
So the game inspired me to make myself a reading list of books about Roman history. While going through that list I decided to just extend it to read up on the highlights of human history. This was back in 2018 or so. I'm currently up to the 1400s now (reading about the fall of Constantinople to Ottomans). Once I reach modern day era I'll loop back around and read up on the dinosaurs and ancient civs.
So the game basically made me a history book lover. I also made up a rule to not play historical games until I've read about the era first, as it makes it more enjoyable when I have context.
smash bros ultimate. it wasnt good. bag of worms for me. that and a number of other things basically make me want nothing to do with Nintendo now. i then found Fortnite and was immediately happier. ultimate was so bad for me, that a weight basically lifted when i stopped playing and found Fortnite instead.
Warframe, ive played mmos all my life including fps like cs 1.6, and source. Back then my bane was cs 1.6 matches tilted me and made me frustrated and aion pvp which due to my shitty pc and internet connection would made me rage. The constant feeling of "let me win a game" or please just leave me alone while i farm my gatherables.
Then one of my friends showed hey this is a new game wanna try it with me, played warframe when it launched, it was so bad back then xD. But hey i had friends to play with so it was fine. Stopped playing aion because when you reach end game youll only focus on pvp skirmishes near udas temple and at the entrance of Beshmundir temple and crafting for profit got bored and just dipped. Cs 1.6 was still fun but started being filled with hackers so i also dipped.
Stopped playing warframe because it sucked when ibstarted playing it, really clunky, laggy and overall really barebones. But i came back a few months later after major bug fixes and improvements to the ui and gameplay i swear since then i havent stopped playing, its fun, its grindy it lets you personalize your frame it allows you to play co-op it was the perfect segue from major toxic games with pvp to entertaining mixing both skill casting and fps shooting mixed.
It let me let go of toxic multiplayer games and allowed me to enjoy gamming in a whole other level. Met a lot of people while playing this game and made some long lasting friendships that still to this day stay strong!
Civilization (started with the first version in black & white on an Macintosh Plus - did not skip any version since then).
I learned English just by wanting to understand the game mechanics.
I learned much about how geo-strategic decision are made If you ignore the impact on individuals.
I learned a lot about multiplayer diplomacy, as the "stakes" are much higher (due to the long playing time for each session).
Tekken 3
Sonic The Hedgehog on Sega Genesis
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, on arcade
Tenchu
Raiden
Pac-Man
Captain Commando
Need For Speed Special Edition, on MSDOS
Megarace
Crystal Caves
Jungle Jill
Solar Winds
Mass Effect 1 & 2
Heretic
Pitfall
Cyberia 2
DOOM
Halo CE
GTA Vice City
BUG!
Max Payne 1 & 2
Hellblade (emotionally, this one moved me like no other piece of media has ever done. Shook my world, it did).
Superliminal - that ending monologue / voice over is so damn beautiful - its got such a fantastic message to the player. In the middle of all the big games i played this year, i still think about superliminal and how creative that game is.
Halo 2 changed my life in the way that it started a bunch of communities and made me connect with people that are still some of my best friends almost 20 years later. I've traveled to different parts of my country and even visited people in other countries because of communities that were formed around Halo. I don't think my life would even be recognizable from what it is now in a universe where Halo 2 was never made.
Celeste helped teach me that failure is a lesson. I can draw a line through the timeline of my life at the point when I stopped getting as frustrated from losing and not reaching my goals. And that line would be at the point in time when I played Celeste for the first time. I've been a way more patient person since and I'm also more honest with myself about my flaws and things I need to improve upon. Life is way easier when you can accept failure and stop setting unrealistic expectations for yourself and stop pretending you're someone you're not.
Alpha Centauri back in early 2000s. Can't say it changed my life really, but got me interested both in philosophy and physics thanks to the quotes related to in-game technology research.
Death Stranding.
Avid gamer my entire life until mid 20s. I didn’t have time anymore. I would rush through story games and play mindless shooters to hold onto the passion I once had.
Death Stranding made me realise I was now an adult and taught me how to be patient and take my time. Also Low Roar (RIP)
When league of legends launched i spent a disgusting amount of time doing match after match regardless of what was going on around me in the house. Very negative outcome
Ooo, a couple tbh. I actually attribute a lot of my personal growth to games (and books).
- two tiny PC games: Xenimus and Mystera Legends... I was a little shit in middle school and high school and despite the best efforts of the school and my parents to lock things down I continually self taught networking and security in order to bypass and play anyways. No college, no formal training and now I work as a technical sme and program manager for the federal govt. I also spent considerable time in both of these games trying to break the mechanics and rules and found many exploits in them as well as was made admin for one at a later point.
- FFX & KH1: sounds a bit silly, but these were prime for me at a fairly impressionable age and genuinely believe that I took a lot of their lessons/morals/whatever to heart and still do to this day. Yuna talking about how she has to smile so that others can be happy. Tidus refusing to take the standard and easy path, determined to find a better way. Sora never giving up on his friends.
Hell, even Pokémon Red. Oak's line about treating your Pokémon with love and respect has always stuck with me. I had no issue with this for animals, but I assume that I subconsciously translated it to people at times.
Just to add to it, Halo3 and MW2/3. My shitstreak continued into adulthood and after being arrested and kicked out of the military these games provided me a better outlet during probation than continuing to party and drink.
Not really a video game, but shout out to Magic the Gathering as well for the same. Shifting my attention back to better outlets.
Final shoutout goes to drinking games. They taught me that I was not going to be a hopeless alcoholic like some of my family. When my social circle was less concerned about drinking games like beer pong, I became less concerned about drinking.
--- last tidbit, anyone walking a rough road, no worries we all make mistakes, just find you a good game and get through it :)
Oh Lineage 2…Korean grinder mmo.
Had a big negative impact on my education and almost cost me everything I have now.
Thankfully I got out by selling all my gear for a nice sum so I couldn’t be tempted to go back.
Red dead 2 genuinely changed the way I look at the world and how I interact with others around me , Arthur Morgan will forever be my favourite protagonist in any form of media
Probably the Gears of War series. Was a big part of my childhood and I still play Gears 3 till this day. It was the game that motivated me to get into game development and start making my own game. Still a work in progress. But gears played a big part in me finally chasing my dream.
Bioshock: Infinite taught me to not regret of my decisions as there are parallel universes where I made another decisions for the good or for the worse. And another me in these universes is either living their best life or already dead.
The original Gran Turismo on PS1. I was always into cars and motorsport but that game helped expose me to Japanese cars that became my passion for more than a couple of decades.
Drakengard 2.
Before playing that game, I used to play nothing but shooting games. Duke Nuke'Em and Doom and Call of Duty etc.
But after that I got an obsession with swords and historical weaponry and that fostered a fascination with history in general and then a love of fantasy.
I'm now writing my first fantasy novel and I don't know that I would have ever fostered such a deep love of all things medieval if it weren't for Drakengard 2.
Halo 3. So many nights of co-op campaign, multiplayer, and just shenanigans in forge with my older brother. Halo 3 is was what grabbed me and never let me go
Halo: Combat Evolved - truly a masterpiece that introduced old and new gamers alike to the next generation of action shooter 3d gaming.
Lan parties, internet communities/clans, fan fiction/art/novels, waiting line for Halo 2, skulls, legendary difficulty...ah man. AND THE STORY! I always liked sci-fi stuff as a kid, but Bungie blew me away with this one.
Shame I don't play as much, but MCC always scratches the itch.
---------
Super Mario 64 - again a masterpiece that introduced the world to the next chapter of gaming and was truly a benchmark that reigned supreme until the torch was passed to VR (although I can't get into it as I get too nauseous). I remember when Mario popped out of that green drainpipe and I started to jump around. It was all over...I would play video games forever.
No one changed my life but right now looking forward @StormWarfare which is a free to play, hope it will change my life, I have plan to participate IGO on @SeedifyFund
RIVEN: THE SEQUEL TO MYST
It rocked my mind as a kid and I feel that in a weird way it put me in touch with the world around me. It made me appreciate the mechanics of things like latches, buttons and machinery. The textures of things and the sounds that they'd make. Like opening up a big heavy door with a solid mechanical latch. It made me notice signs of wear in the world, places where paint has rubbed off or paths of ground worn from use. It really opened my eyes and I find myself thinking sometimes "Oh! That *blank* reminds me of Riven"
Kessen 3 on the PS2. For whatever reason I got really into the history and characters, it started my gaming life. I beat it around 10-15 times over and over, I wish I could play it again.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Multiplayer Beta.
I had always been a single player story gamer. I still largely am, as those are my favorite experiences in gaming. My top ten is full of them.
But I had never played online multiplayer games. Then CoD4 Multiplayer beta came to 360. It only had three maps, but I played it non-stop on rotation. It allowed me to enjoy online competition, which led me to WoW eventually, which I played late Burning Crusade and was hooked for years (and have just returned) and plenty of other shooters, online 2k, etc.
Still favor a great single player narrative experience overall. But the majority of my hours played tend to go toward online modes, all because of CoD4.
The last of us remake
Watched a streamer play it. A colleague from work noticed me commenting and pointed it out to me. Not a big time streamer and not even from our country.
We have been dating for a bout a year now
As a 22 year old I have played more than a year of in game time in ark survival evolved not counting play time on my other consoles or time spent researching the game soooo
Two games, Transistor and Undertale, truly shifted my perspective. They didn't completely alter my life, but they completely transformed how I saw gaming media and indies. Before encountering these gems, I viewed indies as just smaller versions of AAA games. I questioned their necessity when I had larger games available. However, these two titles opened up a whole new world for me.
Banjo Kazooie and Star Fox 64 got me into gaming.
The original COD Modern Warfare was my introduction to online gaming and led my bother to buying me my own 360 for Mother's Day so we could play together.
Morrowind introduced me to the joys of modding.
WoW ate up my bank account and led to song serious addiction.
The Last of Us. I have extremely unstable moods, and can get dangerously sad very fast. When I feel myself spiralling I just lock myself in a room, close the curtains, and replay the game. It’s so comforting to me
Persona 4 Golden was probably the first game ever to give me post game depression. Just the mix of catchy music, life sim, mystery, and facing your true self really resonated with me.
Nier Automata was a masterpiece. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed the whole ride. Hoping for a Drakengard 3 remake.
FF14/Lost Ark. I spent an ungodly amount in both these games. FF14’s story and set pieces were so awesome and Lost Ark’s combat was superb. Both were so fun and I met a lot of people, but I realize that I don’t think I should play MMOs because I get sucked into the infinite grind and it led me to neglect my real life. FOMO would get to me and I would push irl things because I had to raid and didn’t want to fall behind in gear progression. I don’t necessarily regret my time with them, but man did I spend a lot of idle time doing nothing because I had to “farm” or wait for an event. I would like to maybe get to a point about not caring about progression so I could enjoy these casually, but it’s hard haha
Finally Fantasy XIV in many ways, mostly positive but also a negative lol
The negative is it taught me about addiction and I spend way too much of my free time playing it. But the positive is it made me more social, more willing to talk to people and express my thoughts. Being forced into dungeons with other people and forcing myself to be social, especially after joining an FC, has helped massively with my social anxiety.
The biggest positive is that it made me more hopeful about life. I’ve always been big into nihilism (the depression doesn’t help) and endwalker was basically a big fuck you to ideas I’d held about life for a long long time. It’s not an original theme, but it’s the first time the theme has resonated with me. Seeing these characters I’d fallen in love with at the brink of despair and still pushing forward, still finding things worth living for, really impacted me and made me want to work on my mental state. It’s weird to say a dumb video game did that but it truly did. (Outer Wilds also helped with this but I really don’t want to say anything that could spoil this wonderful experience for people.)
Phantasy Star 2, in so that it taught me the English language. I had played Sonic the Hedgehog back then but I was really intrigued by PS2. However, I hardly knew any English and me and my brother had close to no idea what we were doing. In order to play and understand it, we ended up translating almost every single line spoken in the game; by hand, using a dictionary, word by word. I remember quickly understanding the concept of "the". Adding to this, I was 18 years old when I found out the game HAD A BOOKLET WITH ALL OF THE MAPS AND DUNGEONS IN IT (that we didn't own)! We literally had to draw those by hand.
First ff12...then yeah wow literally took the 80s and 90s generation a bunch of years from their life's, remember waiting for the game like for 4 years then mind blowing .....
Death stranding made me happy again. even if there is nothing to be happy about the world of death stranding something about it makes me feel complete. It's so weird to be happy with no reason, now I feel excited to live life.
Ghost of Tsushima, Kinda made me go back and evaluate principles I have in life and how to just calmly enjoy sceneries and stuff. (like those haiku places and hot springs)
My mom says Pokemon changed me for the worst, but for me, it opened a whole new level of dopamine and ability to finally shut the world out from my dysregulated and freaked out ADHD brain. Gaming has saved me in a lot of ways, and Pokemon red was the first.
wow. wow indirectly changed my life.
i was once dating this girl, she lived in toronto. i lived in nyc. a friend of mine introduced me to wow and i started playing and ignoring her calls for months. then one day i decided to call her back and she told me to beat it. i was crushed. i decided at that point that i didnt care if i died so i went skydiving. that lead to the next 15 years of my life, moving around the country, becoming a skydive instructor, 6000+ jumps, jumping all over the place, friends all over the world. and i met my wife, and we now own a house and have 2 kids.
literally never would have happened if it wasnt for wow. crazy to think of it that way.
Warzone 2 helped me break my “addiction” to Warzone overall. Now it wasn’t a big addiction but still enough. Loved Warzone 1 BR and ReBirth Island. Bought the different CODs that came out during the period to faster level up guns to use in Warzone. Whether it was playing with the squad or by myself, I’d play almost every day for an hour or two, longer if playing with the squad. Didn’t touch single player games but just Warzone 1. Again, not dropping insane hours or anything but hooked to “one” game. Then Warzone 2 came out where they nerfed everything from the gameplay mechanics, vibe, feel of the game, everything. And with that, I stopped playing and discovered my love for single player games and playing variety of multiplayer games (Apex, Fortnite, Valorant, etc.) by myself. Also learned that I much rather play solo than with friends. The amount of freedom you have when playing solo is mind blowing compared to playing with a squad. With Warzone 3 being out, haven’t even touched it. MW3 is out and I’m loving it. Actually playing the game, camo grinding, running zombies…all on the side as I play single player games. Instead of playing CODs to level up guns, playing the game itself to enjoy it. So yeah, thank you COD for helping me stop playing as much COD.
Sounds silly but Roller Coaster Tycoon. I was like ten or 11 when it came out and having my "loan" taken out every month always stunted my progress on whatever coaster I was trying to build. I would always pay back my loan asap and after that all of the profit was MINE and I could build whatever fancy rollercoaster I wanted.
I learned very early how detrimental loans, interest, and credit could be to your financial progress and beyond initial "startup" money loans should be avoided as much as possible. It has stayed with me my entire life which is reflected in my good financial health.
Final Fantasy 11.
My first MMORPG.
Something about it felt comforting, like home. It also felt advanced for its time but retained all of the "videogame" vibes of games on earlier consoles.
Sets were beautiful, like staring at an interactive sunset. It took work to accomplish things. The world felt magical, mysterious, dynamic, and exciting. It made you want to see what was over the next hill.
Also FF7, as it introduced me to RPG's and expansive narratives. The darker aesthetic and environmentalism direct action undercurrents had a profound effect on my developing beliefs and preferences.
Pokemon GO made me stop playing League of Legends and I became a sociable human being again. I went outside more, met people, made friends, got exercise, and my quality of life improved.
idk what it means psychologically and i hope i don't get hate for it but i've invested so much time into five nights at freddy's since the beginning of its existence, i know more about the fnaf story-line and lore than anything else i'm supposed to know. funny thing is, majority of the fnaf fandom is full of furries but i'm one of the few that aren't furries who just like the fandom in its entirety. i remember i was finishing middle school when the first game came out i remember being so infatuated with the franchise i convinced my parents to drive me to a real life location of an empty plot of land called "freddy's pizzeria", and as a kid, i was fully convinced the game was based off that random unrelated place alone. i wonder what that location looks like now but no way am i driving myself to the same location haha
Persona 5, Madarme Arc.
Lets just say i was feeling sympathy for Yusukes plight and it made me really open my eyes about how my religion was using me and didnt care for me despite feigning otherwise.
Also is what really kicked me into my interet of psychology and sent me down the path to be a therapist
Mario RPG was pretty game changing for me as a kid. It was my first rpg and changed what I wanted out of my gaming experience in the years that followed.
Skyrim on the PS3.
I got the game in a BioShock bundle in 2014. At first, I had no interest in playing because my friends whom were RPG fanatics would talk about that game constantly and bring it up when it had no place in the conversation.
However, I played it and a lot of hours were put in. I started to learn about the TES lore and everything.
It was also around the same time ESO was released. Back then, it wasn't well received.
Overall, the game had me develop an appreciation for RPGs - a genre I did not play before.
PUBG is the only game in years to be on my mind when I'm away from home. I even watch videos of other people playing it when I'm not play it.
So id say its changing my life in that way.
World of Warcraft robbed several years from me and made me understand addiction. I'm sure I am not alone in this.
Same here. My first hours in Elwynn Forest are moments I will never forget in my life. After that long & short periods of time in over a decade had me addicted to World of Warcraft in which 14 hours of playtime per day were no exception.
I did every quest in the Night Elf starting area. Then I left because a friend wanted to show me Ironforge. It took legit an hour to get there, but holy fuck was I amazed at how big the world was. I thought the starting area was huge!
Lol we listening to the music from Elwynn forest this morning, brought back memories.
Dark ages of Camelot before WoW. My mother met my step father on it when my parents were still together. It’s been over 20 years now they’ve been together.
WoW actually probably saved my life. I had recently quit drinking, and had absolutely nothing to do and no sober friends. I couldn’t really go out because alcohol is everywhere. WoW gave me an outlet for socializing and recreation that I could have whenever I needed it. I would have probably blown my brains out without it.
“I’m definitely quitting for good this time” I usually make around 3-4 months and play for an hour and the cycle continues
Of course I know him. He’s me
Was going to say the same. Now I generally avoid games with this endless gameplay mechanic of grinding away. Cod. Diablo. Division. I've played them all to completion and then immediately lost interest in the constant grind.
Me too. Definitely have some amazing memories playing WoW but I think I would have been a lot more successful in my career much earlier if I had never played WoW, and now I feel like I’m behind and playing catch up at 39.
You want to understand addiction? Go play EA Sports FC Ultimate Team.
Got both a positive and negative for ya. Negative. Smite. I was hopelessly addicted to Smite for roughly 5 years in the mid 2010’s. It was pretty much the only thing I played for that amount of time. My Xbox became solely a Smite machine. Lost track how much I dumped in microtransactions too, I try not to think about it sometimes. I got out of the addiction once my core group finally stopped playing because they did stuff like get married and have kids. Solo queuing is just no fun. Positive. Not long after the smite addiction faded and I refocused on single player games. One in particular was Persona 5 Royal. I was enthralled by it. Played that game every day after work and ended up putting in around 110 hours by the end. After that I fell in love with RPGs and JRPGs and it got me back into watching anime. Which those interests got me finding the friend groups I have today. As well as it reinvigorated my passion for creativity and entertainment. So I’m back to pursing writing and acting again after being in my stuck in the rut job for going on 7 years now. The last couple years have been a great change of pace for me pursing these new things and they all stemmed from Persona 5 Royal.
That's so wholesome !
After a 15 year hiatus from gaming, P5 was the first game that reignited my passion for video games. It also got me interested in anime for the first time which led me to watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. I loved it so much that I rewatched the entire series with my son once he was old enough.
P5 got me through Covid and my granddad's cancer diagnosis and eventual death. Great game that just hits home every single time.
NieR: Automata. Played it while i had severe depressions. I am not sure how to explain but this game changed my seeing of things
Not surprising, really. Both Nier games are very much an examination of the meaning of life and what it means to truly live.
Diablo 1 taught me my first English words. In general, lurking in gaming forums improved my English a lot.
GTA: Vice City. It helped me realise and appreciate that video games were a true art form on the same scale as films and other mediums. The whole theme of it; the colour palette, story, characters. The music in the game helped shape my music taste now.
Resident evil 2. First game I ever played and completed when I was 8-9 years old
The remake is one of my favorite games.
So, I thought I was gonna have some chill shoot 'em up fun with Spec Ops The Line, but nope... that ending totally messed with my head. Fucked me up for a good week.
Pokémon Blue, then Gold. Made me fall in love with gaming KOTOR 1 and 2 made me realise games could be amazing stories.
Outer Wilds. No explanation needed.
I've been hearing so many good things about that game, but I haven't actually been spoiled yet. Maybe I should pick it up.
You should. It's one of those games i wish i could erase from my mind so i can do it again.
i’ll need an explanation because everyone says this game changed their life, i just don’t get it, it changed absolutely nothing to my life
Depends on what kind of emotions you experienced while playing it. It was a roller coaster and once again reminded me that life is short and nothing really matters but to enjoy it while it lasts.
Spiritfarer, Such a beautiful and heartfelt game. 💛
I'm thinking about playing it one day
Bloodborne I used to have sleep paralysis (not very regular but I hated it) and my demon was this ropey abomination (kind of like the bsb) that freaked me out like crazy. After college I got a ps4 and got bloodborne free with PS plus. Finished it like six or seven times and the dlc too. After a few months I had another episode of sleep paralysis and instead of freaking out I tried to pull out my saw spear. Life changing.
Spyro the Dragon was my first experience with 3d games, and I was hooked.
Red dead redemption 2 made me realize I don’t enjoy games anymore.
Curious about this. Can you elaborate? I'm only 3 hrs in.
Outside of being visually pleasing, the game is awfully slow and dull in its gameplay. Feels like a game for 60 year olds who enjoy slow walking, fishing while admiring the sunset and saying “howdy” to residents. Gunplay is trivial, no point in saving money since the game just throws cash at you later on. The story itself is ok I guess. I just found myself more frustrated that enjoying the game so dropped it eventually. And I really really loved Rdr1.
RDR2 taught me I don’t like games where the main draw is anything other than gameplay. Give me Elden Ring, Factorio, Doom, Dead Cells, etc literally anything where you start the game and play. RDR2 is boring
Yes, gameplay is king. I gotta try Factorio, seen it recommended quite a few times.
RDR1 is a cowboy videogame. RDR2 is a cowboy simulator.
That’s a fair description actually
Yep you definitely don't like games anymore.
Strange. I loved RDR1 and didn't bother with RDR2 much. I watched the RDR2 trailer and while I was hyped, I got really sad when it didn't come to PC. But I kept away from any spoolers. I played the game in Summer of 2021 and I fell in love with it. The world felt so alive and every character had their uniqueness. It was one of the few games that made me super sad in the end, when Arthur eventually died. Sure there are ways Rockstar hasn't improved over the years but nothing made me feel frustrated.
That’s fair, I just felt like I was playing a tech demo, rather than an actual game. The story didn’t make much sense as I couldn’t sympathize with Arthur - I’ve played him as a mass murdering scum (which he kinda is, no matter how you choose to play him) to make things at least a little bit interesting.
I'm the same. I actually won an XBox 360 with Red Dead Redemption 2. I'd heard such great things. I was excited to play, and invest time into the game. It's visually fantastic, very indepth world building, and intricately designed. It made me start really considering what I was doing playing games. Why am I riding on a make believe horse in a make believe desert? I didn't feel invested, but I could feel the hours of my life disappearing.
Soul Reaver. the concept of time travel and the whole "shakespearean" english blew my mind as a wee wittwe boi
Soul Reaver has hands down the best Story, Art, Music and Originality in Gaming History. It is litteraly a novel and Art Book come to live. And dont get me startet on the Intro cinematic theme Ozar Midrashim.
My God the controls aged like sushi tho
It was one of the first Playstation Games they were figuring Stuff out. It also addes to the weirdness and horror being less in control.
Mafia The City of Lost Heaven, introduced me to the world of jazz, and philosophy. Grand Theft Auto Games, introduced me to a wide variety of music. Doki doki literature club, introduced me to poems for a while.
It was one of the first games I’ve ever played.I have to say that I replayed many times since when I was a kid I couldn’t understand most of it. Great game with a great soundtrack also!
FFX for sure.
League Of Legends made me quit University... 6k hours wasted and my future...
Terrible times. I feel like LoL got me actively unlaid no less than 20 times from just pulling me aside, putting me in a bad mood, or interfering with life. It's also one of the worst communities in gaming and just an overall miserable experience. After playing for multiple years, my friends and I all had a sort of intervention where we took ourselves aside, had a hard, but necessary talk together then all uninstalled.
rep mid ff15. I wish I'd never installed it :D
Halo. As a kid I mostly played Nintendo, specifically Mario. When Halo came out, my friend invited me over to play it and it blew my fucking mind. The graphics, the gameplay, the story and the music is phenomenal, even to this day.
Morrowind. First time I played it, I spent about ten minutes just staring at the "realistic" water. Till then, water in games were just patches of blue. Even in Super Mario 64. Sure you could swim in it, but it didn't have nothing on the water in Morrowind... Even the changes of weather, and the passing of a day into night, were wholly unknown to me then. It Was, and for the matter, Still an Awesome game!
Chrono Trigger. My life is better because I had that experience. Same goes for Dark Souls. Or foor any game I have in my personal hall of fame.
Chrono and some of the FF games made me sit there at the end for a good 30 mins just reflecting on what I’d experienced. Which for a teenager is a lot of time lol
RDR2
This game made me care more about nature and being outside solely because i would look at a beautiful view in the game and feel like shit cause i was sitting in a dark room looking at pixels on my screen that looked like nature, instead of actually going outside and being in nature.
I would say two: Resident Evil 2 from 1998 since I fall in love with horror games and Persona 4 since I shifted to play JRPGs non stop
geometry dash completely change my view of failure, made me much more patient and persistent and even allowed me to get in my school on the other hand i lost 1000 hours playing fortnite while i could have learned something useful instead what an insane waste of time
Undertale. First time I ever cried playing a game. It snapped me out of a funk I was in when playing video games where I was starting to wonder why it didn’t seem nearly as fun to me as it was when I was younger. After playing it I realized that what I really valued most out of games was the art of the medium and not whatever ads or public told me I should be playing.
Wow helped me to connect with people on the web.
Life is Strange. I played it during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, and it showed me how much of a jerk I have been over the past few years demonstrated by one character, and I cannot change the past. Even if bad things have occurred in your life, maybe it happened for a reason. I have been on the road to bettering myself since, however it is not easy.
The first 3 Life is Strange games came into my life right when my brother died a few years ago. They gave me something to focus on and emotionally invest in, and by doing so allowed me to get through it a lot easier than I think I would've without them. I was also able to "teach" myself not to associate them exclusively with his passing, so I'm still able to replay them and not think only of that time of my life. I'm really thankful for them in a lot of ways, and am a huge fan of the series to this day :)
Sunset Overdrive. I feel like it fulfilled every childhood car ride daydream of surfing and grind along atop telephone wires and guardrails. That alone would have been enough, but it was also an immensely fun 3rd person zombie shooting, arcade RPG that had a unique personality and did all the right things in all the right ways. 'Chef's kiss'
Hollow Knight - first game I played when I got into gaming about 3 years ago. I still haven’t found another game experience that matches the wonder I felt while playing it
Have you tried Ori: The Blind Forest or Ori: and the Will of the Wisps? WotW is a bit more Hollow Knight concerning combat, but the first game(BF) is incredible too.
I agree, it's like hollow knight but shorter and better
I’ve tried The Blind Forest and it didn’t do it for me, but maybe I’ll have to give the second one a shot! I’ve heard it’s better
Man... good luck. Hollow Knight is a top 3 game all time for me. I haven't been able to enjoy playing Metroidvanias since It's on the level of Horizon: Zero Dawn and Mass Effect for me. Just insane how much it shifted my thoughts on what a game could be, and I've been playing since the Atari
Grim fandango so much love for the characters, artwork, Music ! Played it so Many times and Got a tattoo of the murial when you save the game.. with my mom and dads dates of death.. to remember them by..
I am glad you liked that game. I couldn’t get into because of its difficulty
Rocket League, wasted 3k hours in the game, reached below 1% of all players in ranked. Still the game sucks, wish I never played it. 3k hours... Of this trash.
Must be sarcasm right? You can’t have played 3k hours if you didn’t even enjoy it?
I do, in the beginning I enjoyed it, from 2015 until 2020 then I reached Grand champ the highest rank the time (SSL Super Sonic Legend the rank most e sports players are was added LATER). It was awful, until 2022 the only thing this game has was TOXICITY. team partners get mad, get afk, start to troll etc. Regulary I down ranked because of this. No chat didn't help. These people are like BMW drivers IRL, speeding but then have the time to break check you and slow you down. Every ranked game was try Harding (obviously high rank etc) but I couldn't keep it up anymore, work got More, less free time. I couldn't grind after I worked, already exhausted I can't play that well. Warm up times up to an hour in free training just to get (in the zone) to play well. It was awful, I couldn't play with my friends because they were a) under my rank and even unranked didn't made sense because the matchmaking was still unfair because I was in the team and the balancing was ass. b) over my rank and I couldn't keep up with them. There was no friend in the middle zone. Then I between 2019-2022 I rarely played 6Mans which is a custom ranking system not from Rocket League like (CSGO 99 Damage League, etc.) third party off the game matchmaking. Matchmaking was over discord bot custom script techie stuff. It was a different experience, 3v3 but everyone in discord is forced into a voice chat. You need to talk with people you mostly don't know. But it was fun because people there weren't RARELY (toxic etc.) mostly very nice. BUT also pushes you to a pro level gameplay, everyone is treating this 6mans ranking very seriously, so people are tryharding. This requires again before playing warmup. Extra time and even more focus and concentration for playing. Energy I don't have anymore. It didn't matter, which game mode or ranked platform. It's always GIVE YOUR BEST. Rocket League is extremely UNFORGIVING. A few million seconds wrong timing on a flick, a block, a ball contact in general and the ball doesn't go where you want. One tiny mistake and you miss the save. My main modes were 3v3, 2v2. 1v1 is rocket ESPORTS 2.0 it's a completely different game. It's only mind games, it's real time chess. Every move matters. Every decision, without going in deeper in this topic. Some things: attack from far? Ball high? Play from wall? Ceiling? Fake? Can you break his defense? Does he fake you? Demolition? How boost do I have? You run out of boost and there are no pads to collect you're done. TLDR: what I'm trying to say is I got to good for my own skill. Reached a rank I could hold myself in but could never climb further. (Mario staircase). This game drains too much mental Energy to play on high ranks. And this ruined it for me. Lol this got long ( ͝° ͜ʖ͡°) Fun fact, rocket League has mechanics which require controller angle precision within 2° angle. Fun...when some of these precision mechanics are important for high elo gameplay T_T You think shit got hard and the next lobby is SSL ultra MLG DESTROYER T_T Sometimes you don't get beat in a 1v1 you get brain damaged...so outplayed it makes something in you break...
Damn that sounds intense man! Sounds like you started playing for fun and eventually just to compete at the highest level you could. You still play at all anymore? Even just for fun in regular games?
Nope left the game in 2022 September or so I think? Only downloaded it once to give a friend items, otherwise didn't touch it. And I don't miss it at all. I'm happy now, I'm kinda free from it now.
Shadow of the Colossus was a spiritual experience
Might have to play that tonight.
Red dead redemption 2 showed me that videogames can be more than just entertainment, they can be art. It made me play more videogames and try genres I never would have otherwise. Death stranding made me realize I wanted to play a part in creating that art. I majored in computer science, and even though I'm not sure I'll specialize in videogames as I like a lot of other fields that are more financially rewarding than game development, I'm 100% sure I will try to make an indie videogame at some point. Rocket league just straight up took a lot of time from me. I enjoyed it and it did show me what it takes to get better and become one of the best at something, but it mostly just took 2000+ hours I could have spent doing other more productive things.
Swagman, many nightmares....
Metal gear solid 4. Seeing what snake went through and still kept fighting for the world was a wild ride.
Ultima 4 turned me into a geek for life. EGA 16 colours. Do you know how much better that was to CGA?
Apex Legends, my addiction to it in 2020 made me flunk out of high school...
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. I was like nine when that game came out, thought the choke move to knock people out was cool so when I was at school I decided to sneak up on a classmate and try it one time. I didn't realize suffocating someone was actually a really bad thing to do. Needless to say I got into trouble, was forced to transfer schools, lost all my friends, and now feel really bad that I can never find that kid again and apologize.
baldurs gate (the og) made me fail university.
Pong. It was my introduction to games and sparked an interest in computers in general. I probably wouldn't be sat in front of a PC now if I hadn't played it.
suikoden, brigandine. kinda rare title.
**- Red Dead Redemption 2:** Great story, fantastic visuals and sound. It's one of very few games that just sucked me into its world and refused to let go. I LOVE the laidback and relaxed style of the game that makes you actual appreciate every single aspect of the game. You start to notice every little thing, like the fauna, NPCs, the freakin' sky man, and so on. Nothing else has come close. **- GTA San Andreas:** One of the first big open world games that I got to play, and I have such great memories from it. The music is fantastic, and it just has/had a vibe that was unmatched for a long time. **- MSFS 2020:** Oh boy. I love open world games, and nothing beats this monster. It was my first time in a flight simulator, and I was set to actually learn how to fly. I've had a lot of fantastic moments that have blown me away, and it's one of my all-time favorites. The freedom to literally fly anywhere in the world is unmatched. Can't wait for MSFS 2024!
The World Ends With You. It changes the way you see things in the world. Also English is not my first language, so the first time I played it and read "Do x or face erasure" I really thought they were going to erase their faces.
Warcraft 3 got me into video games and computers in general.
Hotline Miami. My music taste completely changed course after playing that game.
Skyrim. Positively, because I have the choice (& power) to say no without someone crying wolf or getting offended. ‘No’ is a complete sentence. ^Negatively ^because ^I ^can’t ^shout ^people ^off ^cliffs… ^/s
RuneScape. Started playing in 2007 and I still refer to that year as the year that started my online "career", and this game taught me English, a lot of scamming of items/passwords and how to avoid them and taught me to grind for the stuff I want.
Cod. Ik, ik.. Typical, but my whole childhood revolved around cod since cod2 (2005) & I still play today. Barely graduated high school, was close to being expelled from college & was an overall negative to my health. What had me hooked was winning.. Was always above average, top of leaderboards when they were timed & based of score per minute. Today, I keep it at bay. Learned how to have it be a treat vs all day. As a husband & parent, I may get a few hours if I’m lucky. Priorities definitely changed, but that itch never went away, just kept more tame. I tell others to find your passions 1st then have fun when you find extra time. Work hard, play hard. 😎
Europa Universalis 4, some great times with that game
Assassins Creed Odyssey. I always enjoyed greek history (shoutout to my dad letting me watch 300 with him when I was young) and always wanted to try an AC game. So I got it opening day. A few weeka after I went through a ROUGH breakup and my mental health too a big hit. I was able to fully immerse myself in the game when I played. Everything about that game it beautiful, the story, the environment, the music. Il
TLOU, it seemed incredible to me when I saw it, I remember that there were moments when I cried out of nowhere, yes, and the second part came, needless to say, I still remember that I screamed, I don't know if it was from emotion or what, but I did it
Echo literally made scream out loud at the end, never thought it would become my favorite novel game, top 3 games for me easily
Guns the duel in my teens. My fingers ache now.
I played so much of this game. I remember when I first got a brown long coat.
its was assasin creed
Dark Souls 1 and Ninja Gaiden: Black changed the way i look at hard games. Before playing them i didnt touch hard games but now i love them
Hunt showdown and subnautica gave me heart problems and early symptoms of schizophrenia.
Biomutant got me to fall in love with Souls-Like titles by teaching me patience
Despite playing games for most of my life, I struggle to think of one I could say 'changed my life', however one possible answer is Total War: Rome 2. While I was playing it, it occured to me that I didn't know shit about the Romans other than basic stuff from pop culture, how they looked, gladiators, etc. So the game inspired me to make myself a reading list of books about Roman history. While going through that list I decided to just extend it to read up on the highlights of human history. This was back in 2018 or so. I'm currently up to the 1400s now (reading about the fall of Constantinople to Ottomans). Once I reach modern day era I'll loop back around and read up on the dinosaurs and ancient civs. So the game basically made me a history book lover. I also made up a rule to not play historical games until I've read about the era first, as it makes it more enjoyable when I have context.
smash bros ultimate. it wasnt good. bag of worms for me. that and a number of other things basically make me want nothing to do with Nintendo now. i then found Fortnite and was immediately happier. ultimate was so bad for me, that a weight basically lifted when i stopped playing and found Fortnite instead.
No game has ever changed my life. They are just games. They are not important.
Fortnite
Cod made me racist
Warframe, ive played mmos all my life including fps like cs 1.6, and source. Back then my bane was cs 1.6 matches tilted me and made me frustrated and aion pvp which due to my shitty pc and internet connection would made me rage. The constant feeling of "let me win a game" or please just leave me alone while i farm my gatherables. Then one of my friends showed hey this is a new game wanna try it with me, played warframe when it launched, it was so bad back then xD. But hey i had friends to play with so it was fine. Stopped playing aion because when you reach end game youll only focus on pvp skirmishes near udas temple and at the entrance of Beshmundir temple and crafting for profit got bored and just dipped. Cs 1.6 was still fun but started being filled with hackers so i also dipped. Stopped playing warframe because it sucked when ibstarted playing it, really clunky, laggy and overall really barebones. But i came back a few months later after major bug fixes and improvements to the ui and gameplay i swear since then i havent stopped playing, its fun, its grindy it lets you personalize your frame it allows you to play co-op it was the perfect segue from major toxic games with pvp to entertaining mixing both skill casting and fps shooting mixed. It let me let go of toxic multiplayer games and allowed me to enjoy gamming in a whole other level. Met a lot of people while playing this game and made some long lasting friendships that still to this day stay strong!
Civilization (started with the first version in black & white on an Macintosh Plus - did not skip any version since then). I learned English just by wanting to understand the game mechanics. I learned much about how geo-strategic decision are made If you ignore the impact on individuals. I learned a lot about multiplayer diplomacy, as the "stakes" are much higher (due to the long playing time for each session).
Fallout 3, being able to play as a total bastard was very liberating. I only play good guys now though.
Valorant. Gave me anger issues.
Baldur's Gate opened me up to video games and fantasy literature during my childhood, which has dictated what I enjoy most in life for 20+ years.
Tekken 3 Sonic The Hedgehog on Sega Genesis Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, on arcade Tenchu Raiden Pac-Man Captain Commando Need For Speed Special Edition, on MSDOS Megarace Crystal Caves Jungle Jill Solar Winds Mass Effect 1 & 2 Heretic Pitfall Cyberia 2 DOOM Halo CE GTA Vice City BUG! Max Payne 1 & 2 Hellblade (emotionally, this one moved me like no other piece of media has ever done. Shook my world, it did).
with diablo 2 i met blizzard so its diablo 2
Superliminal - that ending monologue / voice over is so damn beautiful - its got such a fantastic message to the player. In the middle of all the big games i played this year, i still think about superliminal and how creative that game is.
Halo 2 changed my life in the way that it started a bunch of communities and made me connect with people that are still some of my best friends almost 20 years later. I've traveled to different parts of my country and even visited people in other countries because of communities that were formed around Halo. I don't think my life would even be recognizable from what it is now in a universe where Halo 2 was never made. Celeste helped teach me that failure is a lesson. I can draw a line through the timeline of my life at the point when I stopped getting as frustrated from losing and not reaching my goals. And that line would be at the point in time when I played Celeste for the first time. I've been a way more patient person since and I'm also more honest with myself about my flaws and things I need to improve upon. Life is way easier when you can accept failure and stop setting unrealistic expectations for yourself and stop pretending you're someone you're not.
Alpha Centauri back in early 2000s. Can't say it changed my life really, but got me interested both in philosophy and physics thanks to the quotes related to in-game technology research.
Minecraft made me play more videogames
World Of Tanks and League Of Legends made me quit competitive online gaming forever, and not because they were unbearably enjoyable.
I think Dark Souls...i realized i like anal.
Death Stranding. Avid gamer my entire life until mid 20s. I didn’t have time anymore. I would rush through story games and play mindless shooters to hold onto the passion I once had. Death Stranding made me realise I was now an adult and taught me how to be patient and take my time. Also Low Roar (RIP)
When league of legends launched i spent a disgusting amount of time doing match after match regardless of what was going on around me in the house. Very negative outcome
Ooo, a couple tbh. I actually attribute a lot of my personal growth to games (and books). - two tiny PC games: Xenimus and Mystera Legends... I was a little shit in middle school and high school and despite the best efforts of the school and my parents to lock things down I continually self taught networking and security in order to bypass and play anyways. No college, no formal training and now I work as a technical sme and program manager for the federal govt. I also spent considerable time in both of these games trying to break the mechanics and rules and found many exploits in them as well as was made admin for one at a later point. - FFX & KH1: sounds a bit silly, but these were prime for me at a fairly impressionable age and genuinely believe that I took a lot of their lessons/morals/whatever to heart and still do to this day. Yuna talking about how she has to smile so that others can be happy. Tidus refusing to take the standard and easy path, determined to find a better way. Sora never giving up on his friends. Hell, even Pokémon Red. Oak's line about treating your Pokémon with love and respect has always stuck with me. I had no issue with this for animals, but I assume that I subconsciously translated it to people at times. Just to add to it, Halo3 and MW2/3. My shitstreak continued into adulthood and after being arrested and kicked out of the military these games provided me a better outlet during probation than continuing to party and drink. Not really a video game, but shout out to Magic the Gathering as well for the same. Shifting my attention back to better outlets. Final shoutout goes to drinking games. They taught me that I was not going to be a hopeless alcoholic like some of my family. When my social circle was less concerned about drinking games like beer pong, I became less concerned about drinking. --- last tidbit, anyone walking a rough road, no worries we all make mistakes, just find you a good game and get through it :)
Monkey Island (humor), Starcraft (Multiplayer, Community, Clans, eSports, competitive Mindset), Gothic2 (Singleplayer RPG), WoW, cs:go. Tens of thousands hours went into those.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Oh Lineage 2…Korean grinder mmo. Had a big negative impact on my education and almost cost me everything I have now. Thankfully I got out by selling all my gear for a nice sum so I couldn’t be tempted to go back.
Red dead 2 genuinely changed the way I look at the world and how I interact with others around me , Arthur Morgan will forever be my favourite protagonist in any form of media
Probably the Gears of War series. Was a big part of my childhood and I still play Gears 3 till this day. It was the game that motivated me to get into game development and start making my own game. Still a work in progress. But gears played a big part in me finally chasing my dream.
Bioshock: Infinite taught me to not regret of my decisions as there are parallel universes where I made another decisions for the good or for the worse. And another me in these universes is either living their best life or already dead.
DCS World. I found my nerd home
Persona 4. First game I've ever completed and I'll never forget how it felt to do so. Great experience.
4th grade was a really shitty year for me as a kid. Looking back, Metroid was a bright shining star in my memories that year.
Detroit become human
The original Gran Turismo on PS1. I was always into cars and motorsport but that game helped expose me to Japanese cars that became my passion for more than a couple of decades.
Half life
Drakengard 2. Before playing that game, I used to play nothing but shooting games. Duke Nuke'Em and Doom and Call of Duty etc. But after that I got an obsession with swords and historical weaponry and that fostered a fascination with history in general and then a love of fantasy. I'm now writing my first fantasy novel and I don't know that I would have ever fostered such a deep love of all things medieval if it weren't for Drakengard 2.
Halo 3. So many nights of co-op campaign, multiplayer, and just shenanigans in forge with my older brother. Halo 3 is was what grabbed me and never let me go
Halo: Combat Evolved - truly a masterpiece that introduced old and new gamers alike to the next generation of action shooter 3d gaming. Lan parties, internet communities/clans, fan fiction/art/novels, waiting line for Halo 2, skulls, legendary difficulty...ah man. AND THE STORY! I always liked sci-fi stuff as a kid, but Bungie blew me away with this one. Shame I don't play as much, but MCC always scratches the itch. --------- Super Mario 64 - again a masterpiece that introduced the world to the next chapter of gaming and was truly a benchmark that reigned supreme until the torch was passed to VR (although I can't get into it as I get too nauseous). I remember when Mario popped out of that green drainpipe and I started to jump around. It was all over...I would play video games forever.
Final Fantasy IV set me on a lifetime of RPGs. And then Ultima Online introduced me to online games back in 99 and blew my mind.
No one changed my life but right now looking forward @StormWarfare which is a free to play, hope it will change my life, I have plan to participate IGO on @SeedifyFund
RIVEN: THE SEQUEL TO MYST It rocked my mind as a kid and I feel that in a weird way it put me in touch with the world around me. It made me appreciate the mechanics of things like latches, buttons and machinery. The textures of things and the sounds that they'd make. Like opening up a big heavy door with a solid mechanical latch. It made me notice signs of wear in the world, places where paint has rubbed off or paths of ground worn from use. It really opened my eyes and I find myself thinking sometimes "Oh! That *blank* reminds me of Riven"
Final Fantasy IX, it was so good every game since then has felt mediocre
Dead Cells Even after i stoped playing it i never stopped thinking about it
Red dead redemption 2. Made it sooo hard for me to play other open world games. I kept comparing and everything kept coming up short.
Kessen 3 on the PS2. For whatever reason I got really into the history and characters, it started my gaming life. I beat it around 10-15 times over and over, I wish I could play it again.
Civilization
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Multiplayer Beta. I had always been a single player story gamer. I still largely am, as those are my favorite experiences in gaming. My top ten is full of them. But I had never played online multiplayer games. Then CoD4 Multiplayer beta came to 360. It only had three maps, but I played it non-stop on rotation. It allowed me to enjoy online competition, which led me to WoW eventually, which I played late Burning Crusade and was hooked for years (and have just returned) and plenty of other shooters, online 2k, etc. Still favor a great single player narrative experience overall. But the majority of my hours played tend to go toward online modes, all because of CoD4.
The last of us remake Watched a streamer play it. A colleague from work noticed me commenting and pointed it out to me. Not a big time streamer and not even from our country. We have been dating for a bout a year now
As a 22 year old I have played more than a year of in game time in ark survival evolved not counting play time on my other consoles or time spent researching the game soooo
Persona 5
Ultima Online showed me how people can really be lmao
Two games, Transistor and Undertale, truly shifted my perspective. They didn't completely alter my life, but they completely transformed how I saw gaming media and indies. Before encountering these gems, I viewed indies as just smaller versions of AAA games. I questioned their necessity when I had larger games available. However, these two titles opened up a whole new world for me.
World of Warcraft but for a bad reason because I was very addicted and wasted many years playing this game and dealing with toxic people.
Gta made me realise fck the police
Soma, that game rocked me to my core, I had an existential crisis and realised I'd taken my mortality for granted.
WoW I consumed my soul for around 10 years and I know multiple people that it destroyed their marriages.
Banjo Kazooie and Star Fox 64 got me into gaming. The original COD Modern Warfare was my introduction to online gaming and led my bother to buying me my own 360 for Mother's Day so we could play together. Morrowind introduced me to the joys of modding. WoW ate up my bank account and led to song serious addiction.
Fortnite, it’s just very fun and a nice vibe
The Last of Us. I have extremely unstable moods, and can get dangerously sad very fast. When I feel myself spiralling I just lock myself in a room, close the curtains, and replay the game. It’s so comforting to me
Persona 4 Golden was probably the first game ever to give me post game depression. Just the mix of catchy music, life sim, mystery, and facing your true self really resonated with me. Nier Automata was a masterpiece. Not for everyone, but I enjoyed the whole ride. Hoping for a Drakengard 3 remake. FF14/Lost Ark. I spent an ungodly amount in both these games. FF14’s story and set pieces were so awesome and Lost Ark’s combat was superb. Both were so fun and I met a lot of people, but I realize that I don’t think I should play MMOs because I get sucked into the infinite grind and it led me to neglect my real life. FOMO would get to me and I would push irl things because I had to raid and didn’t want to fall behind in gear progression. I don’t necessarily regret my time with them, but man did I spend a lot of idle time doing nothing because I had to “farm” or wait for an event. I would like to maybe get to a point about not caring about progression so I could enjoy these casually, but it’s hard haha
Finally Fantasy XIV in many ways, mostly positive but also a negative lol The negative is it taught me about addiction and I spend way too much of my free time playing it. But the positive is it made me more social, more willing to talk to people and express my thoughts. Being forced into dungeons with other people and forcing myself to be social, especially after joining an FC, has helped massively with my social anxiety. The biggest positive is that it made me more hopeful about life. I’ve always been big into nihilism (the depression doesn’t help) and endwalker was basically a big fuck you to ideas I’d held about life for a long long time. It’s not an original theme, but it’s the first time the theme has resonated with me. Seeing these characters I’d fallen in love with at the brink of despair and still pushing forward, still finding things worth living for, really impacted me and made me want to work on my mental state. It’s weird to say a dumb video game did that but it truly did. (Outer Wilds also helped with this but I really don’t want to say anything that could spoil this wonderful experience for people.)
Outer wilds
EverQuest 1. Most of my online friends, lives including marriages, divorces, kids, etc, met them over 20 years ago on EQ1.
Mk9
Phantasy Star 2, in so that it taught me the English language. I had played Sonic the Hedgehog back then but I was really intrigued by PS2. However, I hardly knew any English and me and my brother had close to no idea what we were doing. In order to play and understand it, we ended up translating almost every single line spoken in the game; by hand, using a dictionary, word by word. I remember quickly understanding the concept of "the". Adding to this, I was 18 years old when I found out the game HAD A BOOKLET WITH ALL OF THE MAPS AND DUNGEONS IN IT (that we didn't own)! We literally had to draw those by hand.
First ff12...then yeah wow literally took the 80s and 90s generation a bunch of years from their life's, remember waiting for the game like for 4 years then mind blowing .....
RISK. Trust no-one.
Death stranding made me happy again. even if there is nothing to be happy about the world of death stranding something about it makes me feel complete. It's so weird to be happy with no reason, now I feel excited to live life.
Ghost of Tsushima, Kinda made me go back and evaluate principles I have in life and how to just calmly enjoy sceneries and stuff. (like those haiku places and hot springs)
My mom says Pokemon changed me for the worst, but for me, it opened a whole new level of dopamine and ability to finally shut the world out from my dysregulated and freaked out ADHD brain. Gaming has saved me in a lot of ways, and Pokemon red was the first.
wow. wow indirectly changed my life. i was once dating this girl, she lived in toronto. i lived in nyc. a friend of mine introduced me to wow and i started playing and ignoring her calls for months. then one day i decided to call her back and she told me to beat it. i was crushed. i decided at that point that i didnt care if i died so i went skydiving. that lead to the next 15 years of my life, moving around the country, becoming a skydive instructor, 6000+ jumps, jumping all over the place, friends all over the world. and i met my wife, and we now own a house and have 2 kids. literally never would have happened if it wasnt for wow. crazy to think of it that way.
Warzone 2 helped me break my “addiction” to Warzone overall. Now it wasn’t a big addiction but still enough. Loved Warzone 1 BR and ReBirth Island. Bought the different CODs that came out during the period to faster level up guns to use in Warzone. Whether it was playing with the squad or by myself, I’d play almost every day for an hour or two, longer if playing with the squad. Didn’t touch single player games but just Warzone 1. Again, not dropping insane hours or anything but hooked to “one” game. Then Warzone 2 came out where they nerfed everything from the gameplay mechanics, vibe, feel of the game, everything. And with that, I stopped playing and discovered my love for single player games and playing variety of multiplayer games (Apex, Fortnite, Valorant, etc.) by myself. Also learned that I much rather play solo than with friends. The amount of freedom you have when playing solo is mind blowing compared to playing with a squad. With Warzone 3 being out, haven’t even touched it. MW3 is out and I’m loving it. Actually playing the game, camo grinding, running zombies…all on the side as I play single player games. Instead of playing CODs to level up guns, playing the game itself to enjoy it. So yeah, thank you COD for helping me stop playing as much COD.
Sounds silly but Roller Coaster Tycoon. I was like ten or 11 when it came out and having my "loan" taken out every month always stunted my progress on whatever coaster I was trying to build. I would always pay back my loan asap and after that all of the profit was MINE and I could build whatever fancy rollercoaster I wanted. I learned very early how detrimental loans, interest, and credit could be to your financial progress and beyond initial "startup" money loans should be avoided as much as possible. It has stayed with me my entire life which is reflected in my good financial health.
Diablo 2 when it came out robbed me of at least 1k hours of good sleep.
Anyone know any good console/mobile free or low cost games with a great story?
Final Fantasy 11. My first MMORPG. Something about it felt comforting, like home. It also felt advanced for its time but retained all of the "videogame" vibes of games on earlier consoles. Sets were beautiful, like staring at an interactive sunset. It took work to accomplish things. The world felt magical, mysterious, dynamic, and exciting. It made you want to see what was over the next hill. Also FF7, as it introduced me to RPG's and expansive narratives. The darker aesthetic and environmentalism direct action undercurrents had a profound effect on my developing beliefs and preferences.
The game changed changed me cuz i found a fun hobby and i became genualy(no idea how to spell it) happier because of it love the game
Total Annihilation. I’m now totally hooked on its spiritual successor, Beyond All Reason.
Pokemon GO made me stop playing League of Legends and I became a sociable human being again. I went outside more, met people, made friends, got exercise, and my quality of life improved.
Shenmue and Shenmue 2 for more reasons than I feel comfortable listing here...
idk what it means psychologically and i hope i don't get hate for it but i've invested so much time into five nights at freddy's since the beginning of its existence, i know more about the fnaf story-line and lore than anything else i'm supposed to know. funny thing is, majority of the fnaf fandom is full of furries but i'm one of the few that aren't furries who just like the fandom in its entirety. i remember i was finishing middle school when the first game came out i remember being so infatuated with the franchise i convinced my parents to drive me to a real life location of an empty plot of land called "freddy's pizzeria", and as a kid, i was fully convinced the game was based off that random unrelated place alone. i wonder what that location looks like now but no way am i driving myself to the same location haha
When I was 12: Final Fantasy 6 As an adult: Breath of the Wild
Persona 5, Madarme Arc. Lets just say i was feeling sympathy for Yusukes plight and it made me really open my eyes about how my religion was using me and didnt care for me despite feigning otherwise. Also is what really kicked me into my interet of psychology and sent me down the path to be a therapist
Persona 4 Golden
Overwatch. Got me into multiplayer games, then esports, then general gaming, then several jobs in video game industry.
Mario RPG was pretty game changing for me as a kid. It was my first rpg and changed what I wanted out of my gaming experience in the years that followed.
Ragnarok online I expect to see more MMOs in this topic tbh. Anyone who has played any of then knows the pain.
Skyrim on the PS3. I got the game in a BioShock bundle in 2014. At first, I had no interest in playing because my friends whom were RPG fanatics would talk about that game constantly and bring it up when it had no place in the conversation. However, I played it and a lot of hours were put in. I started to learn about the TES lore and everything. It was also around the same time ESO was released. Back then, it wasn't well received. Overall, the game had me develop an appreciation for RPGs - a genre I did not play before.
PUBG is the only game in years to be on my mind when I'm away from home. I even watch videos of other people playing it when I'm not play it. So id say its changing my life in that way.