X3: Terran Conflict
Final Fantasy X
Portal 2
Gran Turismo 3
Aces High II

Wow, I forgot about Command & Conquer. That was pretty much how I spent my whole freshman year of college.

Would you consider Populous (1989) as a progenitor of the era, however? By my way of thinking, it was really the first mass-market RTS game, containing all of the elements of games that would follow it, including two-player support via dialup modem or RS232 null-modem cable.

Diablo 2
Morrowind
X-Wing Vs Tie Fighter
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
KOTOR

1. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - got me into racing games
2. Gran Turismo 2 - got me into racing simulators
3. Diablo - led me to Diablo 2, SC, Dota, LoL, AoE
4. Morrowind - most time time spent play one game in my life
5. Forza 3 - didn't know what I was missing in GT4 until I played this

Honorable mention: System Shock 2 and Half Life. System Shock 2 - probably the first scary game I ever played and the first game I ever bought (and from Blockbuster no doubt). My 4mb video card wouldn't support the amazing graphics of the game, so I had to wait until my parents upgraded to a PC with a 16mb video card. Many frightened hours spent with this unique game. Half Life was just awesome and led me to play HL2 and HL2 Ep1.

The only game I play now is Forza 4. Hence the 3 racing games being the most influential to me.

OH MAN! Populous: The Beginning was pretty cool. Although it was a totally different game from the original Populous.

I suppose so, in a way. I played it, but it never hooked me like later games. For one thing, it seemed like the damn thing never ended. Just went on and on, like simcity. No set-piece scenarios as became the norm; too open ended as I remember. I had completely forgotten about it.

One I forgot to mention that I had a lot of fun playing, but also loads of frustration was X-com. I think I punched my monitor over that game more than any 5 others combinded.

Hell, I played more games on 5-1/2" and 3-1/2" discs than after CDs came out. I used to spend 25 bucks every 6 weeks on a game back in the 90's. Very few were video games - mostly strategy stuff.

Anyone remember the Leisure Suit Larry series? Lots of laughs.

In no particular order.

Half Life series
Goldeneye 007
Halo: Combat Evolved
Final Fantasy 7
Metal Gear Solid
The first few Pokemon games were pretty addictive.
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946

I'm not sure precisely what a set-piece scenario is, and I never played any of the later versions, however I don't seem to recall a problem with open-endedness in the original. Granted, the degree of control which you exerted over your population was much less direct than in later works such as C&C, however I don't recall that stalemating was that serious a problem. Sooner or later, Armageddon would come.

Oh, and Lemmings. The original Amiga version. (The DOS port sucked.)



Yeah, same here. It's funny how many young'uns we seem to have here, judging by how many "modern" games I'm seeing on the list. I'll admit that Portal was pretty revolutionary in terms of gameplay (being that it's an amazingly entertaining and addictive title in which you kill absolutely nothing), but nothing in the Halo / GTA / HL / etc genre strikes me as particularly radical or revolutionary. I'm not saying that there aren't some good titles from this era (heaven knows I'm addicted to TF2), but none of them are really breaking new ground.


Oh, and Wing Commander. Gotta give an honorable mention to the first truly immersive, cinematic, consequentialist , story-based space combat simulator.

in no particular order

Diablo 2
Goldeneye 007
Zelda Ocarina of time
Zelda a link to the past
Final fantasy 5

This thread makes me miss the days of Halo 2 LAN partys and packing your xbox and strapping your TV down in the car with the seat belt, stopping to pick up a case of beer and being up till sunrise hearing random profanities being yelled from every room of the house.

Hmm...I'd probably have to name the games that got me started in gaming, both 1p and multiplayer, just because they hold a special place in my heart

Halo: Combat Evolved
Goldeneye 007
Dark Forces
Myst
Some old submarine game I can't think of
X-wing alliance

Yeah, sadly the good old days of social interaction are dead.

My vote in no order:
Back and White (both)
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Doom (the old one)
Portal's
mind went blank, it'll come to me later. A lot of games come to mind, but they have different merits.

Oh mang....I have a huge list. Top 5 will be hard.

Ultima...1 or 2, I forget which. At the time, it was jaw dropping. I doubt I could stand replaying it now though.
Final Fantasy 3/6 and 7
Street Fighter II, the original. Sooo much time mis-spent, especially at arcades on this.
The original Populous - I remember many, many mis-spent weeks on this evil game.
Favorite hands down is Xenogears. Inb4omgwtfbbq.

Honorable mention: Every Persona game. Especially the original, that was godly and very nearly trumped FF3/6.

5 is too short indeed. More like 50.

Wolfenstein 3D
Mike Tyson's Punch Out
007
Vice City
GT3

Nobody wants to read someone else's list of 50 favorite games. It's 5 for a reason.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328035309

I never quite reached "badass"... *sigh* opportunities lost...

1. Half-Life (CS, DoD, Natural Selection, They Hunger (so good zombies), Sven Co-op, HL2, CSS, etc.) This game(s) sucked so much of my life for so many years it's crazy.
2. Anarchy Online - My first MMORPG and the 2nd most life-sucking game I've ever played.
3. Quake III Arena - Mostly the Quake III Arena Test, Fun FUn.
4. Planetside - Played the ---- out of the beta, then retail was ghost town and quit.
5. Tie Fighter - SW nerd out.

In the order I experienced them.

1. Diablo - Started when I was 8 years old, thoroughly enjoyed Diablo2 as well, can't wait for D3

2. Unreal Tournament - My first FPS and it was so intense I didn't know what to do with myself, 2k3 and 2k4 were also great.

3. StarCraft - So many memories in this game along with D2 and WC3

4. iRacing - Best racing simulator and my g27 makes it that much more fun

5. Battlefield3 - It's beautiful, the sounds are amazing, vehicles are cool, and the game play is pretty cool.


Other mentions:

Counter-Strike, pre 1.6 mostly, lol
Warcraft 3/TFT, another great RTS and DOTA
World of Warcraft, months of playtime with this game and some great gaming memories
Forza series, I was oddly good at Forza2 from the start, I'm still not sure how I pull off times that I do in Forza4 today either, lol.
Gran Turismo 4, Another great racing game, hope to try out GT5 soon.
Call of Duty:MW, I quit BF2 and BF2142 cold turkey when this came out, mass chaos, reminded me of the UT series a little.
FFXI, everything took FOREVER, but the dynamic of the game was fun for some reason. Rewarding I suppose.

Live, thread! Live!

Choosing only 5 is hard. No order, except for number 1:party:
Not sure about everyone else, but I had about 20-30 other games I wanted to add to this list, haha.

5) Rocket Knight Adventures

4) Need 4 Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

3) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

2) Tekken Tag Tournament

1) Shadow of the Colossus