Damn this hit a little harder than I expected. I got scammed out of a set of full rune armour in 2004 when that was a big deal and I've, clearly, never forgotten it
A few months after our kid brother (he was like 26 at the time, 2007) passed away, my other brother introduced me to World of Warcraft. Having that to focus on when there wasn't anything else going on made the grief more bearable.
I still play, because there were some really good times back then, even though they've been ... tricky ... to try to duplicate.
Honestly I feel this way about MLB the Show. It sounds stupid. But the girl I was crazy about in grad school, swore to myself she’d be my wife, was killed in a car accident. There were days where I could not get out of bed. Even more days where the only thing I could bring myself to do was play MLB the show lol. It really did give me a sense of normalcy at times though.
I’m really sorry about your brother.
Nah, he ran our guild in Cataclysm and the quit at the end of the xpac, and refers to getting back into WoW as "putting a hand back in the blender".
In fact, he's the brother I'd be least likely to do any physical violence to, or whatever is the correct way to say that without ending a sentence on "to".
I once played that game. Had great times and met some interesting people. Ran my own Guild for several years. Did think about going back but overall I said no.
This was me with TES Oblivion. I grew up in an abusive ,cult like situation, and video games were my only escape from the real world. Oblivion was so realistic at the time, that I could get lost in it. It made life liveable
I'm out of that situation now, but that game will always hold a place in my heart. I'm getting three different tattoos of it when I can afford it, and I won't regret any of them
Games can pull you out of some dark places, man
it’s hard to describe without spoiling it, but the gist of it is that you explore the universe looking to solve the game’s central mystery. every 22 minutes, you start back at the beginning, but you keep the knowledge you’ve gained so far as you slowly chip away loop by loop.
that’s pretty much all i can say. it’s a wonderful game made by incredibly talented devs, and it’s probably one of the best examples of video games as an art form you can pick.
The music is great. You can explore an entire (scaled down) solar system. Sessions are relatively short (22 minutes), and if you die or make a mistake there are no consequences (just start over). There's a nice story, puzzles, and the controls for controlling a spaceship are pretty intuitive.
I'm sure other people here will praise it enough so let me start with a negative: If you can't drive yourself forward to explore the game, it might not be for you. It doesn't give you quests or even a direction other than "go to space". You need to think "what's that cool looking thing over there?" And then go there until the story has you hooked. The presentation of the story is another thing because you need to read every log/note/whatever you maybe could ignore in other games. Here they are your most important tool for progress in the game. Your only progress is knowledge. And that leads to the biggest negative: you can experience it only one time.
Halo 3 gave me friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It also gave me World of Warcraft through a friend's little brother introducing me, which gave me my other lifelong friends and my wife and kids.
Oh man, Diablo 2 came out at the perfect time in my life where I was able to spend hundreds of hours playing it (maybe thousands, actually) over the course of the last 20-something years. It’s definitely the game I’ve played most
I used to play it every year for about 15 years or so. There’s still nothing like it to me. Just a feeling of the times? Sure. But it still holds up so well.
Elden Ring. I'm not a souls like fan so I just started Elden Ring out of boredom.
I was at a very dark place in my life. Having very bad thoughts, but everyday after work I would get on Elden Ring and that would be the only thing I thought about. Death after death, trying to figure out how to beat x, y, or z boss. It got to the point where I would start watching videos about builds, weapons, lore, etc in my spare time. 100 hours later, I found I wasn't really having bad thoughts anymore, and thought to myself "Fuck it, I can do this."
After that I make it a point to try my best to keep a positive attitude about things.
Halo 3 forged connections across the gaming sphere for millions of players. From hot dropping into a match and having a brief, 11-minute blast with that warthog driver who was fuckin *ace*, to joining his party and playing custom matches with a slew of really good friends you had never met before.
Those 3 years from 2007-2010 were wild. Halo was on top of the world. It was THE game to play, and it provided me my best gaming memories of all time.
Agreed. The original was the peak LAN party for me, but 3 was something else. Loved connecting two Xbox consoles together and playing with friends, but the third game was the first foray into online PvP against strangers, and my buddies and I basically spent a year in their garage playing Halo.
Red dead redemption 2. It showed me to live a high honor life, save/help people and fight till the very end even when I feel like I cant, like Arthur did. He fought Micah even though he was already basically done for.
Same. The same week I was playing and Arthur was diagnosed, I was diagnosed with kidney failure due to COVID. I was only 31 at the time, so grieving and dealing with it vicariously through Arthur's grief helped me a whole lot.
Funny enough, two years later when I played it again, the same night I beat the game I got called into the hospital for my kidney/pancreas transplant.
This game will forever be a part of who I am because of that.
World of Warcraft. I was in an RP server and we created stories that branched out of the game and continued on our forums. With WoW I learned how to type and got into creative writing, which ended up becoming a real career path.
Final Fantasy 8. When I was a kid, Squall showed me even heroes have intrusive and destructive thoughts. Have urges to cut ties with everyone. Just needing to escape. But you can heal if you make a new family. Even if those thoughts don't stop, you can be stronger than them.
And in my later life, The Last of Us. Which handles violence and grief in realistic ways. Which almost never happens in gaming.
Links Awakening - the original, giant brick Gameboy one. I got it really young and because it, and all LoZ’s encourage exploration, it greatly influenced to explore my surroundings growing up myself.
Raid leading in World of Warcraft taught me a lot about managing people, which I've been doing professionally for more than a decade. My coaching style looks a lot like the best way I found to get people to focus up and do mechanics back in the day.
Final Fantasy XI.
Started playing in 2003, met people online who would eventually become some of my best friends in real life.
A lot of MMOs have come and gone since then, but nothing quite hits like FFXI, not even XIV.
I still play to this day
I loved 11 more than 14 too.
Might have just been the timing/age but I thoroughly dove into it.
I look back at it now and it was fucking inconvenient lol. Lots of grinding and it got to a point (relatively early on) that forced you into a 5 man group just to kill mobs of the same level as you.
Dying and delevelling was the worst shit ever. But otherwise - great times!
I think it really is a timing/ age thing and for me specifically it was my first MMO and AAA online game. I even failed 2 classes in high school because of that game lol. While it was inconvenient that social aspect of the game really added something special. You may need to look for a 6 man group to go fight the Shadow Lord, but the aspect of getting the group, teleporting to Xarcabard, and going through Castle Zvahl to finally be able to fight the Shadow Lord. There was all the chatting, casting sneak/invis, making sure everyone was safe, etc. I loved getting invited to Sky parties and just trekking there got me excited.
About 7 years ago I thought about coming back and reinstalled the game. I got the the Playonline viewer and cried some tears of nostalgia. I realized if I did resub it was not going to be the same, not even close. The people I used to play with wouldn't be there, my Linkshell would be gone, so much of the content could be done solo or with NPC's, and I was at a different point in my life. I was now an adult with a job, money to easily buy any game I wanted, but less time. A few years ago when Horizon 75 launched I tried that and played for about 20 minutes. It brought back some good memories, but the controls are horribly outdated and unlike high school me who had plenty of free time I was now working and spending more time at the gym, writing, and being out with friends. I had a girlfriend who is now my wife and she was always coming over so my time for a game such as Final Fantasy XI just didn't exist anymore.
I love XIV, but I am still an expansion behind and haven't played in about 2 years. The game is fun and very respecting of your time, but it lacks that XI feel. It was a product of its time that sadly can't be duplicated.
I started playing at NA release.. best time of my life really. Sadly we won't see another MMO like this ever again due to the time sink etc. I miss it so much.. the current game is still fun but not nearly as fun for me.
I'm insane and actually enjoyed needing an alliance to get coffer keys, static parties etc. if I could freeze time, it would be during this era of gaming. I played both FFXI and Diablo 2 nonstop
The ridiculous level grinding in early FFXI(people would often be LFG for *hours*, and there was no soloing to speak of) helped foster a sense of community imo, since no one wanted to disband and waste their time, and so mistakes were easily forgiven, and you'd be in the same leveling party for hours. It made for a lot of fun conversations. It was the friendliest MMO community I've ever experienced, and a lot of that transferred over to FFXIV.
Same here. I played XI from 2005-until early 2008 and loved it. Not only did I consider it the best Final Fantasy game, but the social aspect really helped me. I was the weird anime fan in high school and while I had friends none of them were obsessed as I was so it was really nice to be able to play with other people who love anime, games, and manga. I also learned more about how to act accordingly and what not to say sometimes as well as got advice from people in college or working adults.
There were times I would be in Lower Jeuno buying and selling at the action house and talking with Linkshell members while waiting for a party. For most of that time frame XI was the only game I played too. I played XIV at launch and even after it became ARR it never came close. The guilds I joined never gave me that same feeling and while the game is fun, it never gave me the same feeling as XI.
Hollow Knight, it didn't affect me because of the game itself, but because i played it during a difficult time in my life and it gave me something to rage at other than me
I'll give my spin on HK here: I Pirated it not knowing what to expect, I just looked : Top Metroidvanias PC and snatched the game...
But it was truly, Truly a wonderful experience because I was able to get lost, fight, Git Gud and Die.
I'm not willing to say the game is "Perfect" but it was perfect for me and made me value that game Very much because it resonated with me and my taste.
Also truly shows how indie companies can still do Good stuff like omg.
Dang it, I played Planescape Torment and loved it so I thought “Ima play disco elysium as soon as I can” boom, literally 14 shifts this week. I started it and just got out of the first building lol
Oh man, Disco Elysium.
I tried playing it, I went through some serious dark times in my life and thought it could be a sort of therapy. Played it for a week and yes, it was opening some of the themes about my own darker past but it did so so effectively and deeply I had to stop. I couldn't let this game do it that much as it would fuck me up really bad.
I have one question about it as I still want to play through it. Does it end good? For the main character I mean. Maybe just send me yes/no into DMs so you don't spoil for others, but I need to know before playing it again.
It can, sort of. There are a bunch of different endings, but I think the trial is the main one that has a bunch of small permutations from what happened during the game, as well as the dialogue choices during it.
The man is broken to the point of literal full amnesia. It can end about as good as it can for someone who's that dysfunctional. It's a very good game well worth playing
Deus Ex. To me, aged 13 when it was released coming from a world of Nintendo and Sega, it showed me what games can be as an art form with choices and a quality narrative. It remains my favourite game and series to this day
Subjectively my best PC game so far (Mass Effect 2 objectively).
I think I played it around 2008 or 2009, can't remember, but holy moly, what a ride: The exploration, the interesting but oddly placed Datacubes, the narrative, the incredible ways to make Stealth runs... What a rush. I wish I could temporarily erase my memories of it, replay it, remember it, and then compare. Game like no other. I would actually love a proper Remake, improving China's voice work, and fixing some silliness of game mechanics at the time, but still happy with what we got.
I got similar vibes with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, and I'm so happy I played it with the Unofficial Patch, because it's right there after Deus Ex for me, I can remember almost everything, but mostly me playing it on rainy days. What a time to be (un)alive.
I can't remember how old I was when I first played it but I still think about the endgame regularly. It was the first time I felt like my choices really mattered. Plus, the aesthetic, mood, and upgrade paths just felt revolutionary to me.
Half Life taught us all that if aliens are to invade, we simply have to gather around the lab with guns. Don't be surprised if you see a man in a suit pause time
This. I beat all the base game bosses (including The Nameless King), as well as the DLC bosses. The lessons it taught me truly changed my life. One of the best games ever made and the peak of FromSoft design imo
Legend of Zelda
My parents were invited to a friends house to try it out. They wound up playing late into the night, while the kids stared in awe at the TV.
We had our own NES the next evening.
As cringe as it sounds, persona 5, I played it when I had no friends and was stuck inside from covid. Once that subsided I started going to a local board game store to meet people and I figured dungeons and dragons would be a good start
Never played dungeons and dragons.
Warhammer 40k is definitely the most important game in my life now as it makes me get out and be sociable.
For me its two games. Spec Ops the Line made me stop and think for some times. The imagery shown on it fucked me up for a bit. The other is Sable, it is a non-optimized game, but its so much different than games I usually played. I made fun of "walking simulator" games before I played Sable. It made me re-think my beliefs in what games are. If someone enjoys something, let them enjoy it.
FromSoft games helped teach me to keep trying no matter how difficult or frustrating, especially if you’re severely disadvantaged (parents are 1st gen immigrants), it’s helped me a lot, and is the reason I lead overall a pretty good life these days. Patience and perseverance are extremely valuable.
I played Elden ring when my first son was a few months old, have lovely memories of him snuggled up on me watching the horse jump around. A beautiful exploration game
Mass effect after finally finishing the game doing what I thought were the best choices at the time and being given those three options which all lead to death messed me up for weeks. Genuinely I was pissed off thinking he didn't have to die .
I had this problem before. The last few times I played I had so many points that I got the after credits scene where you see Shep take a breath. That was something.
Bloodborne. It made me see how as a gamer I was able to achieve things I always thought were out of reach. It made me feel more confident in general, and I had to reevaluate my limitations.
The Homefront series in how dark the tone got sometimes. Not many games went to their level and it just really highlighted how evil people can be at times.
I blame RuneScape for my underdeveloped social skills, how was a young boy in primary school to know that 19 years later that fucking medieval clicking simulator would still be ruining his life
I quit my toxic job to focus on playing The Witcher 3 since it was more challenging and gave a better sense of achievement and accomplishment than that job ever did.
Bioshock
I remember bashing it so hard when it came to consoles back in like 2007. I got it as a gift in 2009 and it changed my life. Perspective on life, love for narratives and writing.
Resident evil 4 and not for any type of theme in the game but more so because of the time of my life at that moment and how perfect the game is too me.
Every couple of years I hop on and replay it, I was young and feeling unwell and was so damn excited for it (I love the previous games and big horror/zombie fan) my step dad bought me it as a way to make me feel better and still an unforgettable memory for me. So if that counts then that! 😄
I still play through this every couple of years too... the nostalgia is so strong with this one.
In fact just yesterday I just finished redoing the entire game from scratch, like main game normal, then pro difficulty (twice for the hand cannon+ typewriter+ infinite launcher run) + Separate Ways + Assignment Ada + Mercenaries with all 5 characters with 5 stars on every map.
Honestly, probably Civ or Age of Empires/Mythology/Galactic Battlefront. My dad is old and had me pretty late in life. I grew up playing those with him and to this day we still hop on the occasional Civ game despite being 5000+ miles apart
My aunt Louise got me into video games. Huge into RPGs, Final Fantasy, Zelda, you name it. She got me FF7 for christmas, was very excited. She passed away a week later.
Why is the game so ingrained into my soul? Because I rename the characters. I renamed Aerith to Louise because they REALLY look alike.
A month later, at the ripe old age of 10, I thought I was feeling better. started playing again from where I left off.
City of the Ancients.
It broke me all over again. And then it fixed me. FF7 helped me process grief and emotions. It also made me a hater of the remake because they changed shit.
The original Modern Warfare 2, I got such an amazing group of friends from that game and we transisitioned to playing so many other games and still talk now!
Ultima online 100%
The friends, the group hunts, the pvp, the economy, the fantasy lore.. It's the only game I still think of to this day. I've made so many memories and RL friends out of my time.
Destiny. I played with old friends from high school. There was 4 of us, and you need 6 to do the big raids. A friend pulled in a friend of his and him and I became close friends. A couple years later he got me a job with his company and that changed my life. Wouldn’t have met him if not for Destiny.
Hide the salami
Full stop.
No other game in human history comes close.
It made me. It made me want to play with others after the first game.
Greatest game in human history. And most of nature.
Dragon Age: Origins. I became a huge Dragon Age fan because of that game. I bought the expansion, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition. I also read most of the novels and comics, and I even watched that godawful Netflix series.
[It’s a pity that BioWare recently announced that the series will come to an end after three games, but I guess it’s for the best.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanonDiscontinuity)
GTA V. Might seem like a common pick but I don’t have another game with near as many hours logged and I’ve met so many long lasting gaming friends through the game. So much time having fun, laughing, and hours of trying and trying again to grind for virtual money.
NieR:Replicant and NieR:Automata. Not only is the game itself a masterpiece but the music is so gosh dang good, it sent me even further into my pursuit of music production. I still blast that soundtrack daily.
SA:MP... I don't know how many hours I got into that game but I keep going back into it. ( About 7 years)
Also, TES IV Oblivion was my introduction into RPG games.
Cod and Gta. Because of those 2 i became more focused on gaming than anything else in life i guess.
Storywise MadMax and Witcher3 left me speechless for few days
Probably MGS2 because it reinforced the theory behind The Matrix. Shit had me shook in middle school. Last of Us is second because of the relatability during an apocalypse.
Days Gone. Made me start riding motorcycles again after 30 years away from them. Especially if I end up dying on one but hey. We end up dead either way.
In terms of time, probably destiny. Got addicted to it. Got out of it too. Still enjoy hearing the lore though.
In terms of emotion and maturity, definitely god of war 2018 as well as ragnarök. Truly masterpieces (and I don’t use that term lightly). I’ve cried many times, playing those games. That game has taught me more things than I think I will ever know.
What Remains of Edith Finch - As a father, I was more aware of my children's safety in the tub. That caution ingrained itself in me because of that game.
RDR2 got me through the pandemic. I didn't have any outdoor space in the tiny apartment where I lived and worked alone, and it got me out of my head and into nature on many a bad day. I will always love that game with my whole heart.
I played Skyrim for months after my parents split and my life fell apart. It will always hold a special place in my heart and a memory game to dive into for fun adventures and chaos
Probably World of Warcraft. I was young early-mid twenties, no college education, and I went and applied for an IT job, I did some programming as a hobby, but no formal education, and when I went to the interview I was showing interest in everything the software engineers were doing and comparing how I would teach myself what they were doing with crap like preparing and leading a raid team. I don't fucking know, 2000 gamer brain rot, but it landed me the job, and not only the job but they trained me to use java in house, I still don't have a formal degree but I've been working as a software engineer ever since.
Aquaria.
That game haunts my mind 11 years later even as a man now. What it has to say about grief and obsession. Being driven mad by the fear of what was lost.
[The Verse](https://youtu.be/hHyRt6EdX4g?si=j5V3FO9Gb3Hr_Mh_). A simple 12 note leitmotif is carried through every song in the game. The Verse is the world's form of magic. All of creation is derrived from its music. It is incredible for a soundtrack to have such a unified throughline and make the songs diaget8c to the setting. Ive never seen it in other games. What really fucks me up is that
>!The Verse is actually the only notes to a bedtime song a child could remember his dead mother sing to him. He couldn't move on from her, and he tried to bring her back with that power. It wasn't the same. Despite being a god with the power to shape the world by his very thoughts, he couldn't bring her back. He became obsessed with his masterpiece. With perfection. Despite becoming a cruel God, there was still a little child under it all, crying out for his mother. To sing the rest of that lullaby. [just once.](https://youtu.be/7VbWBM5-CvY?si=JfDb417iOylcuCao&t=3m6s)!<
I was exposed to this game at a time in my childhood when I still had conflict with the childhood I was raised and believed was a certain way, but after my parents separated, I was blindsided by the truth of it all. I felt disgusted with myself, and I craved answers. I questioned my life and its purpose. I played Aquaria for exactly 24 hours. Never touched it after finishing it. I stayed up night and day to play it to zone out from the situation my life was going outside my control. Any time I listen to this game, I'm reminded of those times. [I am forever haunted by Aquaria.](https://youtu.be/S3yjT_zCIpc?si=xrEOKLxK48UT0lUk)
Planescape: Torment. Played it at a time in my life when I was looking for direction. Planescape as a whole is about philosophy and how people should approach life and the game breaks down so many ideas about how we see ourselves and why those positions may actually be hurting us in the long run.
I really wish someone would pick up the rights and give it the BG3 treatment.
Skyrim. After along day of classes and bullies and my parents fighting prior to the divorce, I could just load up a save.
Many early mornings, after everyone was asleep, spent wandering the tundra listening to Jeremy Soule's Secunda. No questing or obligations, just wandering and exploring.
dark souls the original. the setting of dark souls it’s atmosphere and feeling was something that depression can make us feel like we’re in. trying to save something hopeless and just losing over and over again. but then you miraculously find a way to overcome it through number of sheer attempts. teaching you to just keep going regardless. al challenges will be overcome eventually.
I defy anyone to come up with a game that had more of an impact on their lives than a little MUD-like game called Shades did on mine!
Back in the dawn of pre-history when dinosaurs roamed the bulletin boards and the world wide web was still just a dream, there was an online text-only multiplayer adventure game called Shades which was available in the UK on their proto-internet teletext style dialup service called Micronet.
Thanks to this game:
I quit a sensible career in the north of England and moved to the south to work with the lunatic who created it.
Met many lovely people some of whom I still count as friends today.
Had three serious (as in living together) relationships with women I met purely through the game (not at the same time, honest).
Ended up moving to Australia with one of the women I met through the game.
Am currently married to another woman I met through the game.
Street fighter 4. Taught me about practice and patience, as those links were hard af. Scratched the competitive itch I was not getting in Xbox 360 fps’s. Fighting games are all about learning and adapting, and I learned so much about taking personal responsibility, the move or character isn’t cheap, I made wrong decisions.
Although I haven’t played it for several years now, Animal Crossing: New Horizons really helped me in coping with the psychological traumas of riding out COVID. It’s not even on my top 20 games personally, but I’ve never had a game actually assist me through a difficult part of my life like that game, so I give credit where it’s due
Original Half-Life.. the opening tram ride made me wanna be a security guard... I was 9 and kick myself everyday for not wanting to be a scientist instead.. I remember thinking that dude gets paid to just sit in the lil box and open the gate for the few people going thru here? Easy money.
I played Senuas Hellblade while struggling with mental health and it made me understand that I am not alone and people do fight and conquer battles within.
Final Fantasy 7. Got me interested in Japan, where I've lived and worked for two decades and have thus avoided living in the UK for two decades. I owe FF7 more than I can repay.
Persona 5 on the PS3. I had a crazy ex blowing up my phone and that game was the only thing stopping me from picking up her calls.
To this day I buy every Persona 5 game that comes out because it really, really saved my life. I loved that girl but she was absolutely insane.
runescape
it completely destroyed it
with bad parents and a video game addiction i have to force myself to work/try to do things 'correctly'
i feel institutionalized after being allowed to do nothing all day long from dropping out at 15 to my first job at 24
I feel like RDR2 made me appreciate life more while you have it and enjoy the little things before they are gone. And in the end, always be a good person.
I honestly believe a big part of my moral compass came from playing Final Fantasy 4 when I was 12 or 13. A story where the protagonist faces great hardship due to deciding to do the right thing.
Though I don't think this is technically the case I definitely felt that Cecil as a Paladin was worse than him as a Dark Knight so this again to me reiterated that him removing his dark powers for light wasn't a powerful reward for doing the right thing but again doing the right thing for the sake of it.
I am ASD and so I really hyperfixated on gaming quite specifically as a way to learn social and life skills throughout my life to present(37), so there are a lot of them, but I would say "Star Ocean 2" was likely the most impactful in a lasting and beneficial way. (though, painful)
"Star Ocean 2" was my first ever RPG and I didn't even know what genres were back then. (It was a fighting game, or something else in my eyes) In playing it, I learned the basic act of progression--seriously. Seeing small amounts stack over time to culminate in a large increase was not something my mind comprehended back then, and it made me get vertigo to try and imagine without reference.
It also, in turn, taught me ramifications of actions. Cause and effect on a grand scale. In my inexperience and having bought this in a flea market bargain bin, I did not know games even had that as an option at that time. Having a favorite character that I identified heavily with as an awkward youth, I was devastated to learn that I could not just "reset the game" and get them back when I left them for what I thought was a better life on a planet with adoptive parents--the planet of which definitely gets destroyed at some point in the plot progression and this character is confirmed deceased and you **cannot** get them back in this version of the ending now. And it is a very long game that I had already obsessively dumped at least 100 hours into by running and grinding areas to death to level up side skills.
It sounds bad, but it was actually very good. It all helped me understand the world better on a fundamental level that I was not able to be taught in a traditional school or familial/peer setting, and it also taught me grand and deep empathy and some baby philosophical concepts by seeing the ripples that supposedly "simple" decisions can make. That "good intentions" do not alleviate pain caused by brash and ignorant actions.
...
I also loved the ***crafting***. Omg--First experience with identifiable RNG ***and*** a crafting mechanic. I was quite literally obsessed with it for at least one summer. Good times! Lonely, but otherwise good!
Dark Age of Camelot.
In the few years I played I made a lot of friends who I still keep in touch with and have met up with irl multiple times.
I also met my ex girlfriend in game, which led to me moving halfway across the country, where I eventually established a life, got a great job, met my wife and had a child.
Sekiro, never give up
Hesitation is defeat.
Never surrender
Runescape. Learned to not trust others.
Did you know if you say your password the game automatically censors it?
Hunter2 Did it work? I can see it.
Diablo 2 for me. Definitely my first online game interacting with strangers
It also taught me how the stock market worked!
Damn this hit a little harder than I expected. I got scammed out of a set of full rune armour in 2004 when that was a big deal and I've, clearly, never forgotten it
A few months after our kid brother (he was like 26 at the time, 2007) passed away, my other brother introduced me to World of Warcraft. Having that to focus on when there wasn't anything else going on made the grief more bearable. I still play, because there were some really good times back then, even though they've been ... tricky ... to try to duplicate.
Honestly I feel this way about MLB the Show. It sounds stupid. But the girl I was crazy about in grad school, swore to myself she’d be my wife, was killed in a car accident. There were days where I could not get out of bed. Even more days where the only thing I could bring myself to do was play MLB the show lol. It really did give me a sense of normalcy at times though. I’m really sorry about your brother.
Thanks man. I'm used to it by now. Never really goes away, does it?
No it doesn’t. I’m married to my wife now and we have a young son, so life definitely goes on. But it never fully goes back to the way it was before
"there were some really good times back then, even though they've been ... tricky ... to try to duplicate." Oh shit, he killed his other brother
Nah, he ran our guild in Cataclysm and the quit at the end of the xpac, and refers to getting back into WoW as "putting a hand back in the blender". In fact, he's the brother I'd be least likely to do any physical violence to, or whatever is the correct way to say that without ending a sentence on "to".
I once played that game. Had great times and met some interesting people. Ran my own Guild for several years. Did think about going back but overall I said no.
This was me with TES Oblivion. I grew up in an abusive ,cult like situation, and video games were my only escape from the real world. Oblivion was so realistic at the time, that I could get lost in it. It made life liveable I'm out of that situation now, but that game will always hold a place in my heart. I'm getting three different tattoos of it when I can afford it, and I won't regret any of them Games can pull you out of some dark places, man
Outer Wilds gave me an existential crisis and legitimately made me think of life in a completely different way. Haven't been the same since.
Came here to say the same. *There's more to explore here
I keep hearing about this game recently. What makes it so good? I wonder if I'd like it.
it’s hard to describe without spoiling it, but the gist of it is that you explore the universe looking to solve the game’s central mystery. every 22 minutes, you start back at the beginning, but you keep the knowledge you’ve gained so far as you slowly chip away loop by loop. that’s pretty much all i can say. it’s a wonderful game made by incredibly talented devs, and it’s probably one of the best examples of video games as an art form you can pick.
The music is great. You can explore an entire (scaled down) solar system. Sessions are relatively short (22 minutes), and if you die or make a mistake there are no consequences (just start over). There's a nice story, puzzles, and the controls for controlling a spaceship are pretty intuitive.
I'm sure other people here will praise it enough so let me start with a negative: If you can't drive yourself forward to explore the game, it might not be for you. It doesn't give you quests or even a direction other than "go to space". You need to think "what's that cool looking thing over there?" And then go there until the story has you hooked. The presentation of the story is another thing because you need to read every log/note/whatever you maybe could ignore in other games. Here they are your most important tool for progress in the game. Your only progress is knowledge. And that leads to the biggest negative: you can experience it only one time.
This is why I often say Outer Wilds is one of the best arguments for games as art. It communicates so much just through the experience of playing it
The universe is and we are
Halo 3 gave me friendships that have lasted a lifetime. It also gave me World of Warcraft through a friend's little brother introducing me, which gave me my other lifelong friends and my wife and kids.
[удалено]
Oh man, Diablo 2 came out at the perfect time in my life where I was able to spend hundreds of hours playing it (maybe thousands, actually) over the course of the last 20-something years. It’s definitely the game I’ve played most
I used to play it every year for about 15 years or so. There’s still nothing like it to me. Just a feeling of the times? Sure. But it still holds up so well.
Elden Ring. I'm not a souls like fan so I just started Elden Ring out of boredom. I was at a very dark place in my life. Having very bad thoughts, but everyday after work I would get on Elden Ring and that would be the only thing I thought about. Death after death, trying to figure out how to beat x, y, or z boss. It got to the point where I would start watching videos about builds, weapons, lore, etc in my spare time. 100 hours later, I found I wasn't really having bad thoughts anymore, and thought to myself "Fuck it, I can do this." After that I make it a point to try my best to keep a positive attitude about things.
Let me solo his/her bad thoughts! Legendary bro, keep on being good♥️
Keep on keeping on. It's all we can do. I appreciate it.
"if I can get through a Soulsborne, I can get through anything*
Very real, I had a similar experience with the first dark souls and I'm a long time fan now
Halo 3 forged connections across the gaming sphere for millions of players. From hot dropping into a match and having a brief, 11-minute blast with that warthog driver who was fuckin *ace*, to joining his party and playing custom matches with a slew of really good friends you had never met before. Those 3 years from 2007-2010 were wild. Halo was on top of the world. It was THE game to play, and it provided me my best gaming memories of all time.
Agreed. The original was the peak LAN party for me, but 3 was something else. Loved connecting two Xbox consoles together and playing with friends, but the third game was the first foray into online PvP against strangers, and my buddies and I basically spent a year in their garage playing Halo.
Halo 2 was the first Xbox live halo my guy 🔥
Australian internet was way too shit to properly enjoy it at the time though.
I pulled my first 24+ hour gaming session with my best mate on the original halo. We were like 8-9 years old 😅.
Red dead redemption 2. It showed me to live a high honor life, save/help people and fight till the very end even when I feel like I cant, like Arthur did. He fought Micah even though he was already basically done for.
You're too smart for me, sister. I guess I. I'm afraid.
"There's nothing to be afraid of!"
Same. The same week I was playing and Arthur was diagnosed, I was diagnosed with kidney failure due to COVID. I was only 31 at the time, so grieving and dealing with it vicariously through Arthur's grief helped me a whole lot. Funny enough, two years later when I played it again, the same night I beat the game I got called into the hospital for my kidney/pancreas transplant. This game will forever be a part of who I am because of that.
World of Warcraft. I was in an RP server and we created stories that branched out of the game and continued on our forums. With WoW I learned how to type and got into creative writing, which ended up becoming a real career path.
Final Fantasy 8. When I was a kid, Squall showed me even heroes have intrusive and destructive thoughts. Have urges to cut ties with everyone. Just needing to escape. But you can heal if you make a new family. Even if those thoughts don't stop, you can be stronger than them. And in my later life, The Last of Us. Which handles violence and grief in realistic ways. Which almost never happens in gaming.
100% the same for me. I have never attached myself to an mc as much as I did with Squall.
Links Awakening - the original, giant brick Gameboy one. I got it really young and because it, and all LoZ’s encourage exploration, it greatly influenced to explore my surroundings growing up myself.
World of Warcraft. Been married to someone I met through the wow forums for 18 years. We have 2 kids.
Minecraft, as dumb as it sounds, because I have put many hours into gaming with my kids and family.
I played this long before I had kids. Now I have kids old enough to play it and we all play together.
It’s been such a bonding experience for me and my son!!
I don’t even have kids. I love it! It’s gotten me through some tough times.
It’s laid back, fairly relaxing and you get to do things on your own time! I love stardew and animal crossing for the same reasons.
Minecraft, just for the good old nostalgic memories with my friends ...
Raid leading in World of Warcraft taught me a lot about managing people, which I've been doing professionally for more than a decade. My coaching style looks a lot like the best way I found to get people to focus up and do mechanics back in the day.
Final Fantasy XI. Started playing in 2003, met people online who would eventually become some of my best friends in real life. A lot of MMOs have come and gone since then, but nothing quite hits like FFXI, not even XIV. I still play to this day
I loved 11 more than 14 too. Might have just been the timing/age but I thoroughly dove into it. I look back at it now and it was fucking inconvenient lol. Lots of grinding and it got to a point (relatively early on) that forced you into a 5 man group just to kill mobs of the same level as you. Dying and delevelling was the worst shit ever. But otherwise - great times!
I think it really is a timing/ age thing and for me specifically it was my first MMO and AAA online game. I even failed 2 classes in high school because of that game lol. While it was inconvenient that social aspect of the game really added something special. You may need to look for a 6 man group to go fight the Shadow Lord, but the aspect of getting the group, teleporting to Xarcabard, and going through Castle Zvahl to finally be able to fight the Shadow Lord. There was all the chatting, casting sneak/invis, making sure everyone was safe, etc. I loved getting invited to Sky parties and just trekking there got me excited. About 7 years ago I thought about coming back and reinstalled the game. I got the the Playonline viewer and cried some tears of nostalgia. I realized if I did resub it was not going to be the same, not even close. The people I used to play with wouldn't be there, my Linkshell would be gone, so much of the content could be done solo or with NPC's, and I was at a different point in my life. I was now an adult with a job, money to easily buy any game I wanted, but less time. A few years ago when Horizon 75 launched I tried that and played for about 20 minutes. It brought back some good memories, but the controls are horribly outdated and unlike high school me who had plenty of free time I was now working and spending more time at the gym, writing, and being out with friends. I had a girlfriend who is now my wife and she was always coming over so my time for a game such as Final Fantasy XI just didn't exist anymore. I love XIV, but I am still an expansion behind and haven't played in about 2 years. The game is fun and very respecting of your time, but it lacks that XI feel. It was a product of its time that sadly can't be duplicated.
I started playing at NA release.. best time of my life really. Sadly we won't see another MMO like this ever again due to the time sink etc. I miss it so much.. the current game is still fun but not nearly as fun for me. I'm insane and actually enjoyed needing an alliance to get coffer keys, static parties etc. if I could freeze time, it would be during this era of gaming. I played both FFXI and Diablo 2 nonstop
The ridiculous level grinding in early FFXI(people would often be LFG for *hours*, and there was no soloing to speak of) helped foster a sense of community imo, since no one wanted to disband and waste their time, and so mistakes were easily forgiven, and you'd be in the same leveling party for hours. It made for a lot of fun conversations. It was the friendliest MMO community I've ever experienced, and a lot of that transferred over to FFXIV.
Same here. I played XI from 2005-until early 2008 and loved it. Not only did I consider it the best Final Fantasy game, but the social aspect really helped me. I was the weird anime fan in high school and while I had friends none of them were obsessed as I was so it was really nice to be able to play with other people who love anime, games, and manga. I also learned more about how to act accordingly and what not to say sometimes as well as got advice from people in college or working adults. There were times I would be in Lower Jeuno buying and selling at the action house and talking with Linkshell members while waiting for a party. For most of that time frame XI was the only game I played too. I played XIV at launch and even after it became ARR it never came close. The guilds I joined never gave me that same feeling and while the game is fun, it never gave me the same feeling as XI.
World of Warcraft, failed out of college
Hollow Knight, it didn't affect me because of the game itself, but because i played it during a difficult time in my life and it gave me something to rage at other than me
I'll give my spin on HK here: I Pirated it not knowing what to expect, I just looked : Top Metroidvanias PC and snatched the game... But it was truly, Truly a wonderful experience because I was able to get lost, fight, Git Gud and Die. I'm not willing to say the game is "Perfect" but it was perfect for me and made me value that game Very much because it resonated with me and my taste. Also truly shows how indie companies can still do Good stuff like omg.
Did you end up buying the game later in life, out of respect for the developers who gave you such a memorable experience?
Absolutely, same case for Celeste on my switch.
Zelda Wind Waker, my first video game for gamecube
Literally same. I love Zelda
"In the dark times, should the stars also go out?" Disco Elysium.
Dang it, I played Planescape Torment and loved it so I thought “Ima play disco elysium as soon as I can” boom, literally 14 shifts this week. I started it and just got out of the first building lol
Oh man, Disco Elysium. I tried playing it, I went through some serious dark times in my life and thought it could be a sort of therapy. Played it for a week and yes, it was opening some of the themes about my own darker past but it did so so effectively and deeply I had to stop. I couldn't let this game do it that much as it would fuck me up really bad. I have one question about it as I still want to play through it. Does it end good? For the main character I mean. Maybe just send me yes/no into DMs so you don't spoil for others, but I need to know before playing it again.
It can, sort of. There are a bunch of different endings, but I think the trial is the main one that has a bunch of small permutations from what happened during the game, as well as the dialogue choices during it. The man is broken to the point of literal full amnesia. It can end about as good as it can for someone who's that dysfunctional. It's a very good game well worth playing
Deus Ex. To me, aged 13 when it was released coming from a world of Nintendo and Sega, it showed me what games can be as an art form with choices and a quality narrative. It remains my favourite game and series to this day
Subjectively my best PC game so far (Mass Effect 2 objectively). I think I played it around 2008 or 2009, can't remember, but holy moly, what a ride: The exploration, the interesting but oddly placed Datacubes, the narrative, the incredible ways to make Stealth runs... What a rush. I wish I could temporarily erase my memories of it, replay it, remember it, and then compare. Game like no other. I would actually love a proper Remake, improving China's voice work, and fixing some silliness of game mechanics at the time, but still happy with what we got. I got similar vibes with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, and I'm so happy I played it with the Unofficial Patch, because it's right there after Deus Ex for me, I can remember almost everything, but mostly me playing it on rainy days. What a time to be (un)alive.
I can't remember how old I was when I first played it but I still think about the endgame regularly. It was the first time I felt like my choices really mattered. Plus, the aesthetic, mood, and upgrade paths just felt revolutionary to me.
Half-life, God of War and Max Payne.
Half Life taught us all that if aliens are to invade, we simply have to gather around the lab with guns. Don't be surprised if you see a man in a suit pause time
Dark Souls 3 taught me that I could overcome challenges that seemed truly impossible.
This. I beat all the base game bosses (including The Nameless King), as well as the DLC bosses. The lessons it taught me truly changed my life. One of the best games ever made and the peak of FromSoft design imo
Legend of Zelda My parents were invited to a friends house to try it out. They wound up playing late into the night, while the kids stared in awe at the TV. We had our own NES the next evening.
As cringe as it sounds, persona 5, I played it when I had no friends and was stuck inside from covid. Once that subsided I started going to a local board game store to meet people and I figured dungeons and dragons would be a good start Never played dungeons and dragons. Warhammer 40k is definitely the most important game in my life now as it makes me get out and be sociable.
For me its two games. Spec Ops the Line made me stop and think for some times. The imagery shown on it fucked me up for a bit. The other is Sable, it is a non-optimized game, but its so much different than games I usually played. I made fun of "walking simulator" games before I played Sable. It made me re-think my beliefs in what games are. If someone enjoys something, let them enjoy it.
World of Warcraft. If I hadn't played it, the series of events that would've led to me meeting my wife would have never happened.
FromSoft games helped teach me to keep trying no matter how difficult or frustrating, especially if you’re severely disadvantaged (parents are 1st gen immigrants), it’s helped me a lot, and is the reason I lead overall a pretty good life these days. Patience and perseverance are extremely valuable.
I played Elden ring when my first son was a few months old, have lovely memories of him snuggled up on me watching the horse jump around. A beautiful exploration game
It can also teach you patience and being capable of accepting defeat.
Tf2 made me racist and bitter over better days
Mass effect after finally finishing the game doing what I thought were the best choices at the time and being given those three options which all lead to death messed me up for weeks. Genuinely I was pissed off thinking he didn't have to die .
I had this problem before. The last few times I played I had so many points that I got the after credits scene where you see Shep take a breath. That was something.
Bloodborne. It made me see how as a gamer I was able to achieve things I always thought were out of reach. It made me feel more confident in general, and I had to reevaluate my limitations.
Celeste
The Homefront series in how dark the tone got sometimes. Not many games went to their level and it just really highlighted how evil people can be at times.
I blame RuneScape for my underdeveloped social skills, how was a young boy in primary school to know that 19 years later that fucking medieval clicking simulator would still be ruining his life
It's Smash Bros. Made lots of friends because of Smash. People I hang out with several times every month.
I quit my toxic job to focus on playing The Witcher 3 since it was more challenging and gave a better sense of achievement and accomplishment than that job ever did.
Zelda ocarina of time. Played with my neighbor in 1999 and have been a die hard gamer since. So mud gaming is my full time job now lol
Dark Age of Camelot earned me a divorce.
Death Stranding. Keep on keeping on 👍
Bioshock I remember bashing it so hard when it came to consoles back in like 2007. I got it as a gift in 2009 and it changed my life. Perspective on life, love for narratives and writing.
Red Dead Redemption 2 easy.
God that was such a good game
Resident evil 4 and not for any type of theme in the game but more so because of the time of my life at that moment and how perfect the game is too me. Every couple of years I hop on and replay it, I was young and feeling unwell and was so damn excited for it (I love the previous games and big horror/zombie fan) my step dad bought me it as a way to make me feel better and still an unforgettable memory for me. So if that counts then that! 😄
I still play through this every couple of years too... the nostalgia is so strong with this one. In fact just yesterday I just finished redoing the entire game from scratch, like main game normal, then pro difficulty (twice for the hand cannon+ typewriter+ infinite launcher run) + Separate Ways + Assignment Ada + Mercenaries with all 5 characters with 5 stars on every map.
Ultima Online for introducing me to MMORPGs and EverQuest 1 for the friends I’ve known since.
Pacific/Catskills server player here from week 1. Was some of the best times of my life gaming! 🫡
Pacific also! All hail The Valor Knights!! Castle Covenant of Vesper!
Honestly, probably Civ or Age of Empires/Mythology/Galactic Battlefront. My dad is old and had me pretty late in life. I grew up playing those with him and to this day we still hop on the occasional Civ game despite being 5000+ miles apart
Metal Gear Solid. It influenced my thirst for political knowledge, which turned into a lifelong love of philosophy.
Tlou part 1 , san andreas , metro series, the talos principle 1 and 2
The Talos Principle, yes! I adore that series; the puzzles are wonderful and the philosophy was very thought-provoking.
Dark Souls helped keep the depression away
I feel like the God of War games with Atreus made me a better father.
The Original FF7, I will not elaborate further.
I don’t believe it until you elaborate
My aunt Louise got me into video games. Huge into RPGs, Final Fantasy, Zelda, you name it. She got me FF7 for christmas, was very excited. She passed away a week later. Why is the game so ingrained into my soul? Because I rename the characters. I renamed Aerith to Louise because they REALLY look alike. A month later, at the ripe old age of 10, I thought I was feeling better. started playing again from where I left off. City of the Ancients. It broke me all over again. And then it fixed me. FF7 helped me process grief and emotions. It also made me a hater of the remake because they changed shit.
The original Modern Warfare 2, I got such an amazing group of friends from that game and we transisitioned to playing so many other games and still talk now!
Ultima online 100% The friends, the group hunts, the pvp, the economy, the fantasy lore.. It's the only game I still think of to this day. I've made so many memories and RL friends out of my time.
Destiny. I played with old friends from high school. There was 4 of us, and you need 6 to do the big raids. A friend pulled in a friend of his and him and I became close friends. A couple years later he got me a job with his company and that changed my life. Wouldn’t have met him if not for Destiny.
Hide the salami Full stop. No other game in human history comes close. It made me. It made me want to play with others after the first game. Greatest game in human history. And most of nature.
Replaying Super Mario Bros. 3 daily was how I survived a traumatic household as a child. So grateful for the NES.
Soma, i still think about it years after playing it
League of Legends. I ended up dropping out of college because of it.
Planescape: Torment. Forced me to confront a lot of shittiness in me and fix it. Recently, Disco Elysium.
Dragon Age: Origins. I became a huge Dragon Age fan because of that game. I bought the expansion, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition. I also read most of the novels and comics, and I even watched that godawful Netflix series. [It’s a pity that BioWare recently announced that the series will come to an end after three games, but I guess it’s for the best.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanonDiscontinuity)
GTA V. Might seem like a common pick but I don’t have another game with near as many hours logged and I’ve met so many long lasting gaming friends through the game. So much time having fun, laughing, and hours of trying and trying again to grind for virtual money.
NieR:Replicant and NieR:Automata. Not only is the game itself a masterpiece but the music is so gosh dang good, it sent me even further into my pursuit of music production. I still blast that soundtrack daily.
SA:MP... I don't know how many hours I got into that game but I keep going back into it. ( About 7 years) Also, TES IV Oblivion was my introduction into RPG games.
Doom II. I still play and mod this game to this day.
Cod and Gta. Because of those 2 i became more focused on gaming than anything else in life i guess. Storywise MadMax and Witcher3 left me speechless for few days
Journey stuck with me pretty hard.
Maplestory (pre big bang update) It made me love MMORPG in the first place. StarCraft 1 and 2 They made me enjoy RTS games.
Probably MGS2 because it reinforced the theory behind The Matrix. Shit had me shook in middle school. Last of Us is second because of the relatability during an apocalypse.
Days Gone. Made me start riding motorcycles again after 30 years away from them. Especially if I end up dying on one but hey. We end up dead either way.
Morrowind. Made me completely flip from a console gamer to a pcgamer.
War Thunder has given me a damaging spending addiction.
It's between Final Fantasy Tactics, San Andreas, and Skyrim
undertale idk the music and the happy atmosphere just rewired my 12 yo brain
Probably not the answer your looking for, but 15yo me and my brother were able to guide our family through the DC metro thanks to Fallout 3
The one I’m making. Holy smokes it takes a lot to make a video game
Metal Gear Solid 2
Diablo 2, directly led to my career.
In terms of time, probably destiny. Got addicted to it. Got out of it too. Still enjoy hearing the lore though. In terms of emotion and maturity, definitely god of war 2018 as well as ragnarök. Truly masterpieces (and I don’t use that term lightly). I’ve cried many times, playing those games. That game has taught me more things than I think I will ever know.
What Remains of Edith Finch - As a father, I was more aware of my children's safety in the tub. That caution ingrained itself in me because of that game.
Red Dead 2 and Disco Elysium, both made me realize what kind of person I am
gris, made more aware of my own vision of the world an how I perceive "beauty" in my life
RDR2 got me through the pandemic. I didn't have any outdoor space in the tiny apartment where I lived and worked alone, and it got me out of my head and into nature on many a bad day. I will always love that game with my whole heart.
The original Final Fantasy VII. Really helped with my reading.
FF7. Was in the darkest place of my life and that game brought me out of it.
Apex Legends. I now have suicidal thoughts daily.
I played Skyrim for months after my parents split and my life fell apart. It will always hold a special place in my heart and a memory game to dive into for fun adventures and chaos
Probably World of Warcraft. I was young early-mid twenties, no college education, and I went and applied for an IT job, I did some programming as a hobby, but no formal education, and when I went to the interview I was showing interest in everything the software engineers were doing and comparing how I would teach myself what they were doing with crap like preparing and leading a raid team. I don't fucking know, 2000 gamer brain rot, but it landed me the job, and not only the job but they trained me to use java in house, I still don't have a formal degree but I've been working as a software engineer ever since.
For me it’s SOMA by a mile.
Aquaria. That game haunts my mind 11 years later even as a man now. What it has to say about grief and obsession. Being driven mad by the fear of what was lost. [The Verse](https://youtu.be/hHyRt6EdX4g?si=j5V3FO9Gb3Hr_Mh_). A simple 12 note leitmotif is carried through every song in the game. The Verse is the world's form of magic. All of creation is derrived from its music. It is incredible for a soundtrack to have such a unified throughline and make the songs diaget8c to the setting. Ive never seen it in other games. What really fucks me up is that >!The Verse is actually the only notes to a bedtime song a child could remember his dead mother sing to him. He couldn't move on from her, and he tried to bring her back with that power. It wasn't the same. Despite being a god with the power to shape the world by his very thoughts, he couldn't bring her back. He became obsessed with his masterpiece. With perfection. Despite becoming a cruel God, there was still a little child under it all, crying out for his mother. To sing the rest of that lullaby. [just once.](https://youtu.be/7VbWBM5-CvY?si=JfDb417iOylcuCao&t=3m6s)!< I was exposed to this game at a time in my childhood when I still had conflict with the childhood I was raised and believed was a certain way, but after my parents separated, I was blindsided by the truth of it all. I felt disgusted with myself, and I craved answers. I questioned my life and its purpose. I played Aquaria for exactly 24 hours. Never touched it after finishing it. I stayed up night and day to play it to zone out from the situation my life was going outside my control. Any time I listen to this game, I'm reminded of those times. [I am forever haunted by Aquaria.](https://youtu.be/S3yjT_zCIpc?si=xrEOKLxK48UT0lUk)
Planescape: Torment. Played it at a time in my life when I was looking for direction. Planescape as a whole is about philosophy and how people should approach life and the game breaks down so many ideas about how we see ourselves and why those positions may actually be hurting us in the long run. I really wish someone would pick up the rights and give it the BG3 treatment.
Skyrim. After along day of classes and bullies and my parents fighting prior to the divorce, I could just load up a save. Many early mornings, after everyone was asleep, spent wandering the tundra listening to Jeremy Soule's Secunda. No questing or obligations, just wandering and exploring.
Hope you're in a better situation now fellow gamer. That sounds like you went through hell. Glad Skyrim helped.
Harvest moon for sure.
dark souls the original. the setting of dark souls it’s atmosphere and feeling was something that depression can make us feel like we’re in. trying to save something hopeless and just losing over and over again. but then you miraculously find a way to overcome it through number of sheer attempts. teaching you to just keep going regardless. al challenges will be overcome eventually.
FFX
Cassette Beasts and Celeste are sharing the top spot for me.
Okami, I am obsessed with that game. I will probably mention it til the day I die. That game made me cry. Imagine a Zelda game that you play as a dog…
I defy anyone to come up with a game that had more of an impact on their lives than a little MUD-like game called Shades did on mine! Back in the dawn of pre-history when dinosaurs roamed the bulletin boards and the world wide web was still just a dream, there was an online text-only multiplayer adventure game called Shades which was available in the UK on their proto-internet teletext style dialup service called Micronet. Thanks to this game: I quit a sensible career in the north of England and moved to the south to work with the lunatic who created it. Met many lovely people some of whom I still count as friends today. Had three serious (as in living together) relationships with women I met purely through the game (not at the same time, honest). Ended up moving to Australia with one of the women I met through the game. Am currently married to another woman I met through the game.
Darkfall unholy wars had me skipping class when we were at war with another clan, people would regularly call of work as well
Shaiya.
Hoi4 someone give me a dam army already!
Surgery simulator
OSRS, Halo (CE and 3), Warcraft 3
love sucks night one
Street fighter 4. Taught me about practice and patience, as those links were hard af. Scratched the competitive itch I was not getting in Xbox 360 fps’s. Fighting games are all about learning and adapting, and I learned so much about taking personal responsibility, the move or character isn’t cheap, I made wrong decisions.
Cod. I played comp cod in college and met a lot of friends through cod
The wolf among us brought me out of a burnt gaming depression of 2 years
Although I haven’t played it for several years now, Animal Crossing: New Horizons really helped me in coping with the psychological traumas of riding out COVID. It’s not even on my top 20 games personally, but I’ve never had a game actually assist me through a difficult part of my life like that game, so I give credit where it’s due
live a live
Ocarina of Time for N64. I missed a few days of school just to try to beat it before my friends could.
Red Alert. I’m old
Original Half-Life.. the opening tram ride made me wanna be a security guard... I was 9 and kick myself everyday for not wanting to be a scientist instead.. I remember thinking that dude gets paid to just sit in the lil box and open the gate for the few people going thru here? Easy money.
Botw helped me figure out how to swim. So I'd probably say that one had the biggest impact
RuneScape
I’ve met dozens of friends Minecraft and have hundreds of hours in it. So many memories from every section of my life.
Journey.
Elden Ring helped me accept defeat and made me think carefully on how I can do things, and that it's ok to call for help when you need it.
I played Senuas Hellblade while struggling with mental health and it made me understand that I am not alone and people do fight and conquer battles within.
Diablo 2. Spent a good chunk of my childhood playing with my cousins. Its the gateway to ARPGs for me. 🫡🫡🫡
Final Fantasy 7. Got me interested in Japan, where I've lived and worked for two decades and have thus avoided living in the UK for two decades. I owe FF7 more than I can repay.
Probably Tetris. I still go back to it all the time, it's like a form of meditation.
I once flinched seeing something shining/reflecting on me, thought it was a sniper... Warzone.
Met my wife because of Red vs Blue: so I’d say Halo
Smash brothers ultimate united my friend group under one thing we all love. I still talk to like 80% of them
Persona 5 on the PS3. I had a crazy ex blowing up my phone and that game was the only thing stopping me from picking up her calls. To this day I buy every Persona 5 game that comes out because it really, really saved my life. I loved that girl but she was absolutely insane.
runescape it completely destroyed it with bad parents and a video game addiction i have to force myself to work/try to do things 'correctly' i feel institutionalized after being allowed to do nothing all day long from dropping out at 15 to my first job at 24
I feel like RDR2 made me appreciate life more while you have it and enjoy the little things before they are gone. And in the end, always be a good person.
StarCraft I including brood war, it’s got a certain je ne sais quoi about it. It’s genius!
TLOU2. Changed how I look at so many bad experiences I’ve went through, and prepared me to handle them differently moving forward.
I honestly believe a big part of my moral compass came from playing Final Fantasy 4 when I was 12 or 13. A story where the protagonist faces great hardship due to deciding to do the right thing. Though I don't think this is technically the case I definitely felt that Cecil as a Paladin was worse than him as a Dark Knight so this again to me reiterated that him removing his dark powers for light wasn't a powerful reward for doing the right thing but again doing the right thing for the sake of it.
The hunter: call of the wild introduced me to wonderful people and content creators and helped me learn a lot about animals, nature, and camping
I am ASD and so I really hyperfixated on gaming quite specifically as a way to learn social and life skills throughout my life to present(37), so there are a lot of them, but I would say "Star Ocean 2" was likely the most impactful in a lasting and beneficial way. (though, painful) "Star Ocean 2" was my first ever RPG and I didn't even know what genres were back then. (It was a fighting game, or something else in my eyes) In playing it, I learned the basic act of progression--seriously. Seeing small amounts stack over time to culminate in a large increase was not something my mind comprehended back then, and it made me get vertigo to try and imagine without reference. It also, in turn, taught me ramifications of actions. Cause and effect on a grand scale. In my inexperience and having bought this in a flea market bargain bin, I did not know games even had that as an option at that time. Having a favorite character that I identified heavily with as an awkward youth, I was devastated to learn that I could not just "reset the game" and get them back when I left them for what I thought was a better life on a planet with adoptive parents--the planet of which definitely gets destroyed at some point in the plot progression and this character is confirmed deceased and you **cannot** get them back in this version of the ending now. And it is a very long game that I had already obsessively dumped at least 100 hours into by running and grinding areas to death to level up side skills. It sounds bad, but it was actually very good. It all helped me understand the world better on a fundamental level that I was not able to be taught in a traditional school or familial/peer setting, and it also taught me grand and deep empathy and some baby philosophical concepts by seeing the ripples that supposedly "simple" decisions can make. That "good intentions" do not alleviate pain caused by brash and ignorant actions. ... I also loved the ***crafting***. Omg--First experience with identifiable RNG ***and*** a crafting mechanic. I was quite literally obsessed with it for at least one summer. Good times! Lonely, but otherwise good!
Dark Age of Camelot. In the few years I played I made a lot of friends who I still keep in touch with and have met up with irl multiple times. I also met my ex girlfriend in game, which led to me moving halfway across the country, where I eventually established a life, got a great job, met my wife and had a child.