So, what are your favourite, most memorable games?
First, for a specific title. Final Fantasy, the first and original for NES. This was the first action/command RPG I ever saw, and I was terrible at it. My video game experience up to that point had been all arcade, action, and puzzle games, so an open world, with a quest plot, was entirely alien to me. I worked, and worked, and played 'til my fingers bleed (okay, not literally) and could not complete it. During the rockiest time of my parents' marriage, I have very fond memories of packing up my Nintendo and spending the weekend with my father at his best friend's house. They would play wargames, and I would play my Final Fantasy. I lucked into finding the Nintendo Power strategy guide for the game, and finally was able to beat it! The game solely responsible for my interest in RPGs and fantasy in general.
Magic: The Gathering also holds a very special place in my heart. I haven't played in years, the game has changed SO much, and it feels perverse to me now. I started playing right as 5th Edition came out. Back when there was a turn structure, a stack. The game was so methodical and mechanical, and and that point, there was very little power creep. I cofounded a Magic Club at my intermediate school (5th and 6th grade) and taught many people the game, including teachers. One classmate went on to open a game and hobby shop as an adult, and credits me directly for teaching him the love of the hobby. Over the years I played many CCGs, including Pokémon, Star Wars, and Dragonball Z. None ever came close to the class and sophistication I felt with MTG.
Starcraft was the first computer game I got very serious about. Introduced to me by the same friend that later went on to open Game On Chattanooga, I loved the animations, the sounds, and the story. I burned through seemingly countless America Online free trials (each disk of the software came with usually 80 free hours of connectivity) just playing on B.Net. I eventually played BroodWars and enjoyed the story, but competitively it was an entirely different game, and went on to become quite the player. Never to the level of the Koreans playing professionally, but I was able to deploy several micro and macro strategies. I lived on B.Net. Met my first love on StarCraft. Moved to California, got engaged, bought a house, the whole nine. That's about the time I found the SPF...
Diablo actually deserves more of a memorable mention than D2 for me. I installed the shareware version (came with StarCraft I think?) on my computer one day, and I became hooked. I swear I must have made it to level 12 clearing out those first two dungeon levels. When I heard about Diablo II (a friend's little brother was playing it) I burned copies and went to town. I wasn't able to play on B.Net because using his CD-keys, but I remember feeling like I beat the game when I bested Andariel for the first time. Then, what's this? Another level?! ZOMGS!!!! That's when D2 took over.
I played many MMOs as well, but the best for me was always Final Fantasy XI. World of Warcraft felt very childish and gamey to me; where FFXI felt like chess. The combat reminded me of MTG quite a lot. Slow paced, and methodical. Mages starting spells that come at the end of a combo before the combo even started, because the spell charge time was so long. The subjob system was phenomenal to me, I loved the flexibility to mix and match, even if a handful of combinations were more meta than others. I did spend the better part of a decade active on Entropia Universe (started when it was known as Project Entropia) and eventually had a slew of people essentially employed under me. Had I not moved out to the country a few years ago (remember? I told logette the only way we could move was if there was high speed internet, the cable company said they serviced the address, but were mistaken...) I'm certain I would be able to generate a full time, livable income from playing that game alone.
There are several extremely memorable titles from my childhood and young adult life, Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG(can you tell I fell in love with JRPGs?). I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas one year, and pretty much the only RPG worth playing in my book was Phantasy Star IV. I surely spent a lot of time with Sonic the Hedgehog, then sort of re-discovered Megaman. So many IPs and games have come and gone, but these are most of the memorable ones I can think of.
IRL: More decorating, cleaning, and working on a special gift for a friend.
D2: My poor Randoms probably feel like I've abandoned them...
O/NVG: Probably not.