Most influential games?

[Dashe]

Not counting Mega Man Legends, are there any games out there, from any generation, that have really influenced your gaming preferences, design sense, vocabulary, or life in general? If so, which ones, and why?

Wolfenstein 3D was a big one for me, in the weirdest way possible...its manual. It was a pretty large manual with maps of every level in it, and it was perhaps one of the most well-written I've ever read. It taught the kids some stellar vocabulary words including "pandemonium," "cache," "chagrin," and "irate." It also taught them some other vocabulary words that I'd rather not mention here. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I get a lot of my writing style from that manual, especially in regards to the crappy design docs I tried to pump out as a small child. They even made MechaHitler into a Cards Against Humanity card, which was pretty fabulous.

I've also had strange off and on urges to adapt the beginning on Final Fantasy IX into a stage play, but still can't get past how to get scenery that would either be structurally sound, or require minimal changes throughout the show, or both. Perhaps a rotating stage is in order.

[Rockxas]

I know we're not counting Legends, but I'd still like to mention that Legends was a pretty big thing for me, it was my first game in 3D, with an open world to boot, with lots of text in English which made me learn English by myself through books.

That one aside it's definitely Chrono Cross. Back when I just got the game I must have replayed it at least 20 times, and it's a pretty long JRPG too! It just had great music and art, lots of characters to use, lots of magical attacks to find, lots of little hidden conversations and items, a convoluted story, New Game+, lots of English for me to learn along with lots of accents, and it's pretty much the game that got me into JRPGs (I had played Chrono Trigger before it, but back then I didn't know English so I just made my way through that game once by going to places I hadn't been). I still play it about once every two years, and the conversation with Leena where she wonders what kind of life she'll be leading in 10 years hits me right in the feels as I get older while the game's still the same (much like the sea).

I tend to use "bloody" and "I haven't the foggiest idea" in my English because of that game.

[Buster Cannon]

I know you said "no Mega Man Legends", but honestly the Mega Man franchise did a number in shaping my tastes in other games/media. The futuristic, robot-centered setting has always captured my attention, same goes with my fascination with armor designs and unique weapons.

Aside from that, my love for fighting games has definitely manifested itself in my vocabulary. I'll often use terms related to competitive play for everyday life situations...at least in my head. It'd throw everyone else off otherwise.

[Rockman Striker]

One of the games that influenced my life is Maniac Mansion from Lucas Arts, I used to play it on my cousin's house when I was like 10 years old, it really helped me learn English because the game mechanic is to click on some verbs such as walk, open and use to actually do that action.
I played it again a couple years ago and finally beat it.

[Loken]

I think I can speak for a few members here on the boards when I say Metal Gear Solid is a big influence. It was one of the very first games that focused on story, put effort into voice work, and did in-engine cutscenes. Not to mention redefining the stealth genre after the original games created it. Its alot legends in the former 3 ways.

[Bean]

I wanted an NES when I was a wee Bean. It was fun, but I wasn't into many of the games on there because "they were too hard". I finally started to get it when Super Mario Bros. 3 came out. That game introduced a lot of elements that I look back on fondly with platformers, and Mario games even today borrow quite a bit from that one. SMB3 was the game that made sure I stayed around for what would be my favorite 2D one in Super Mario World the next year. Without it, I might not have bothered asking for a Super Nintendo.

[Aiyumi]

Super Mario Bros. 3 was my first game ever! I got it along with my NES for Christmas in 1995 (what! Nearly 20 years ago already! ). I was horrible at it but I loved it nonetheless! One of the most memorable things that happened was one day that I was collecting extra lives by turning all bricks into coins in that World 7 fortress. I was with 99 lives, and when I got the next one, instead of reaching 100 or stopping at 99, the game crashed and reset! Everything from the beginning once again... It was so frustrating. It had taken me the whole day to get to World 7 without using the warp shortcuts...

Mario 3 is my favorite Mario game even today. I actually don't like the newer Mario games much. I still prefer the SMB3 sound effects over the new ones anytime! The only complaint with Mario 3 (besides the 100 lives overflowing bug) is that it couldn't save.

Besides Mario 3, many other games had an important part in my life.

I actually learned the alphabet thanks to an NES game called "Mickey's Safari in Letterland" (I couldn't remember the name, looked it up just now ), a little educational game where the player must collect all the letters of the alphabet.

Then I got Kirby's Adventure for the NES, and I was surprised that the cartridge could save .

Two years later, I got a Super Nintendo and Kirby's Super Star, my favorite Kirby game of all time (I still prefer it over the remake).

When I was learning English (which is not my primary language) at school, once, I was asked to write a list of words in English. My vocabulary was very limited. I began with those basic things they teach at the beginning, like book, table, house, teacher, lesson, English , dog, cat, apple, ... Then I ran out of words and decided to fill the list with Kirby's abilities! Fire, ice, sword, laser, beam, spark, stone, freeze, crash... Well, now that I think about it, I see that I've come a long way. But I had to take private English lessons, because what they teach at the public schools over here is too limited.

Later came Pokemon. I got a Nintendo 64, and Pokemon Stadium, which came with an accessory called Transfer Pack to be attached onto the N64 controller, and was for inserting a Game Boy cartridge to be played on the big television instead of a Game Boy (which I didn't have). Normally, the Stadium game would provide some pokemon to battle with, but what I liked about it was the possibility of using the pokemon raised in the Game Boy cartridges (transferred via the Transfer Pack). I got Pokemon Yellow, and was surprised that it had a talking Pikachu . And guess the name of my trainer character. Yes, it was Kirby . Later I got Stadium 2, as well as Pokemon Silver and Crystal (my character from Crystal was named Ribbon, after the fairy from Kirby 64). I had two friends who also had Pokemon and we traded a lot in order to complete our collections. I could never beat any of the Stadium games, mainly because I didn't know what I was doing at the time (my English was so limited that I couldn't even understand move descriptions! ). I wish I could play them again, now that I know more about how Pokemon stats work.

Then, there was Mega Man. The whole Mega Man franchise was what made me look into Japanese voice actors, made me consider learning to play a musical instrument, among other things. It was what inspired me to create a site and introduced me to programming, which is my job now, so it was very important. Mega Man Legends helped me learn a lot of English, too (and is still helping, since I'm learning many things in this Legends-themed forum ).

[Mikéy]

Jan 9, 2015 20:36:29 GMT -5 Aiyumi said:

Later came Pokemon.

I feel stupid. I did own an NES once, but none of the games really stuck out to me due to their difficulty, which was mentioned earlier. Super Mario Bros 3 was noteable, but it also didn't have a big impact.

Pokemon is what was my first big impact game. I don't know what it was, but it just really -stuck- with me. Straight from generations 1 to 4, I was happy with how they did things, and it was always fun and felt natural. I would go into more detail if I could put my finger on it, but it was just fun, and Pokemon Stadium + Pokemon Stadium 2 only added onto it, bringing everything to life in the process. In both Stadium 1 and 2, there are features that you can only use if you save inside of a Pokemon Center on your Gameboy cartridge games, and it made making sure that I end my game inside of one feel worthwhile and just good in general. That's just one of the examples out of many that felt fun and like I was achieving something as I played as a younger kid. The save-batteries in all of my cartridges are bound to be dead by now though, so I'm a little glad I outgrew it.

I almost wish I could go back at times. Generation V is where it began falling apart to me, and I still am struggling with bringing myself about to actually play Omega Ruby, although it's a lot more friendly for me to return to due to all of the familiarity and fond memories of generation 3.

I feel bad that someone else had to make what I was trying to think of for this thread "click" in my head, but at the same time, thanks Aiyumi.

E: I forgot, Donkey Kong Country is another big one. I sometimes "carry / drag" people through it via netplay (ask Santa Melty) like a baws simply because I've never lost my touch at being able to play it, and I enjoy the tar out of it. Donky Kong Country 3 turned out being stale though.

[If anybody's ever up for that, they can PM me about it. Lol]

[Dashe]

And I completely forgot about games with educational value! I can credit The Incredible Machine for teaching me about additive color mixing with their lasers, and Gizmos and Gadgets for lessons on what kinds of parts make for the fastest vehicles. I was probably the only kid on the block who knew what a differential did, but since my town had a distinct lack of vehicle parts in brightly colored crates, it wasn't something I could really apply.

[Aiyumi]

Jan 9, 2015 22:30:37 GMT -5 Mikéy said:

Pokemon is what was my first big impact game. I don't know what it was, but it just really -stuck- with me. Straight from generations 1 to 4, I was happy with how they did things, and it was always fun and felt natural. I would go into more detail if I could put my finger on it, but it was just fun, and Pokemon Stadium + Pokemon Stadium 2 only added onto it, bringing everything to life in the process.
[...]
I almost wish I could go back at times. Generation V is where it began falling apart to me, and I still am struggling with bringing myself about to actually play Omega Ruby, although it's a lot more friendly for me to return to due to all of the familiarity and fond memories of generation 3.

For each new Pokemon generation that came out (from Gen III onward), I had thoughts like, "Even more new creatures? Aren't the existing ones enough already!?" but I usually end up liking the games after I play them. I had some trouble getting used to the Generation III pokemon, but I still enjoyed Emerald a lot. What I didn't like was that the only way to obtain past Gen pokemon (which were my favorites) was through trades with Fire Red/Leaf Green/Collosseum/XD. In Gen IV, I loved Heart Gold because GSC were my favorites since the time I played Stadium 2 (because, among other things, having day and night "synchronized" to a realtime clock was awesome and it was amazing for a Game Boy color game, they had lots of dayly events, and up until now, GSC and their remakes are the only games that allow you to explore two regions and collect more than eight badges!). In Gen V, in BW, I mostly liked the plot with that whole thing about Team Plasma and N. Despite the plot not being one of the Pokemon games' strong points, I thought they would come up with more interesting plots after BW, but they didn't. I didn't enjoy BW2 that much. XY's plot was very dull in my opinion (including the lack of character development for the Champion). Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire's plots are the original ones with some changes and additions, though I like some new parts where they talk about "alternate worlds" referencing the opposite version, or "a world exactly like this one, but where pokemon evolution took a different path and things like Mega Evolution don't exist," probably referencing the original GBA games.

What I most like about the newest generations are the new features, like pokemon hidden abilities, new ways to find pokemon like shaking grass and (more recently) DexNav, the fact that TMs became infinite use items, the new breeding mechanics from Gen VI that make things much easier, Wonder Trade (I already got some interesting things from it), the ability to have more than one item shortcut registered, and also the little new convenience feature from when you use a Repel and when it wears off, the game asks if you'd like to use another one, instead of forcing you to go through the bag menu again.

In the end, the only Pokemon game I didn't get to really like was Platinum, I don't know why. I began playing it again to see if I changed my mind, but then XY came out and pulled me away from it.

End of my ramblings about Pokemon... Hopefully . Sorry if this was off-topic.

[Kyle]

Jan 6, 2015 20:18:26 GMT -5 Loken said:

I think I can speak for a few members here on the boards when I say Metal Gear Solid is a big influence. 

I concur! For me, it's a tie between Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario 64, Silent Hill and Half-Life. It's hard to say which one influenced me the most, seeing as they're all entirely different genres. MGS taught me that patience is (sometimes) a virtue in the face of insurmountable odds. Silent Hill showed that any fear or anxiety can be beaten by not giving into the adversity they present. Half-Life made me fall in love with first-person shooters, and as for Mario 64... nothing needs to be said. The game is legendary. xD  

All that being said, the PSX-duo really helped my overall language skills at age five. Plus, what kid didn't try to be king of playground by imitating Snake's voice at one stage in their life? 

[Traingham]

I'd say "Final Fantasy Tactics" played a large influence on me, what with its political conspiracies, talks of the class divide, and just all around cast of cunning bastards playing the grand chessboard of war with the lives of their fellow countrymen as their pawns.

Playing through the game got me into reading up about different political views, common methods of influencing groups of people and taking charge, picking up "The Art of War", fighting for a seat in psychology class with all the other students on campus because I heard that particular professor was damn good at her teaching methodology and wanting her to pass on her wisdom so that I too can work my way up to becoming magnificent bastard.

Yeah...that game messed me up in the head.
I love it though.

[yui]

Revolutionary? Well, EarthBound of course! I used to play rpgs a lot, and I thought I liked them back then. But when my friend introduced eb to me, I haven't been able to play most rpgs since! The witty writing and non-serious attitude had me finally understanding what I love in most media.

So for that, I think it's revolutionary. It redefined my perception of how things should be presented.