PC Game that got you hooked

S

Shepard

Enthusiast
Hi guys,

I had a trip down memory lane and played the very first pc game again, that got me hooked to gaming when I was younger.
Commander Keen!!! I just loved the series and still play them from time to time. Does anyone remember the dopefish!?? :D :tt1:

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So, curious as I am, what series did you play as a kid? Which one set you on the path of being a gamer?
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Magic mushrooms was the first game I think I played:
[video=youtube;-gcMFrOHfEE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gcMFrOHfEE[/video]

This may show my age.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Sonic series of games.

Though before I had a console, I'm pretty sure my dad got me doing space invaders and some other things on the Spectrum he had. I vaguely recall an Atari and something about a flight simulator. Point being if I hadn't moderately taken to that, I doubt the console would have followed.

Sonic was the big franchise I recall from being a kid though, esp Sonic 2. I remember thinking Sonic 3 was a bit of a sell-out with the introduction of Knuckles... :/

Warcraft 2 on the PS for getting me into RTS.

Civ 2. Played so much of that. I suck at gaming, but Deity and getting every wonder in the game became trivial.

Shogun Total War (the first one, and then every total war title after) at secondary school.

I think it was the demo of Gothic 2 that got me into RPGs, which I didn't encounter until undergrad. Although actually Neverwinter Nights was wonderful - I think I didn't play it until longer after it came out though. But even having played NWN, I wasn't really into RPGs until finding Gothic II, and I think they're now my main genre.

This thread is basically "post your age" :p
 
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polycrac

polycrac

Super Star
I played on the ZX81 first, but one day I cycled all the way to the software shop in Long Eaton to buy this, for the spectrum +2, I think - I dread to think how many hours I clocked up:

zx_Samantha_Fox_Strip_Poker_1986_Martech_Games.gif
 
Stappa

Stappa

Enthusiast
Manic Miner on the ZX81 in 1983 ish............and Defender of the Crown a few years later....My first true PC game was Baldur's Gate in 1999 ish lol
 
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J

jerpers

Master
Ah yes, commander Keen was amazing. That and Duke Nukem. I do have fond memories of Grannies Garden on the BBC micro.
 
smallkube

smallkube

Silver Level Poster
Ooh, that's a tough on. I remember being obsessed by stunt car racer for it's three dimensions and sense of flying over jumps. That was on either a 286-20 or 386.
scr.jpeg
 
T

Tony1044

Prolific Poster
ubuysa said:
I've never been a gamer, though I do remember 'playing' the (text only) Colossal Cave on a Research Machines 380Z running MS-DOS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure). Does that count?
Click to expand...

Ahh Colossal Cave. Another classic.

I do like a bit of occasional FPS action - I ejoyed DooM (the original) but it was Duke Nukem 3D that got me hooked to them. I remember myself and my friend with two desktop PC's hooked up via serial cable at opposite ends of the dining room table having death matches.

Portal 2 and the user-created maps keep me going back even now. When I stumbled onto Portal 1 as part of the Orange Box, I was immediately taken.
 
S

Shepard

Enthusiast
Oussebon said:
I think it was the demo of Gothic 2 that got me into RPGs, which I didn't encounter until undergrad. Although actually Neverwinter Nights was wonderful - I think I didn't play it until longer after it came out though. But even having played NWN, I wasn't really into RPGs until finding Gothic II, and I think they're now my main genre.
Click to expand...

I remember buying Gothic I in 2001 just because you got to see a concert of the band "In Extremo" once you got accepted into the old camp ^^ and you got XP from smoking, which was very funny to my teenage self :D
 
T

Tony1044

Prolific Poster
No...no....no....

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-eternal-release-window-gameplay-and-what-we-k/1100-6461012/

I played DooM 2016 through on Ultra Nightmare. If you died, it deleted your save game - i.e. permadeath. It took more attempts than I care to remember as well as weeks and weeks of my time. At one point I almost gave up on PC gaming after battling through about 75% of the game only to fall off of a ledge.

And, although I am quite proud of that achievement it did somewhat colour my experience to the point of "not touching that again with a bargepole".

And now those sons of guns are releasing a sequel.

Just...no.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I played DooM 2016 through on Ultra Nightmare. If you died, it deleted your save game
Click to expand...
Tbh that just sounds like the next Bethesda game, where bugs are features.

You could go play some Fallout 76.

You'll never touch video games again.
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Never really been a gamer, although am about to try a few with my new PC but did like Bad Day on the Midway because of a band I like, The Residents.
Bad_Day_on_the_Midway_Coverart.png
 
T

Tony1044

Prolific Poster
Oussebon said:
Tbh that just sounds like the next Bethesda game, where bugs are features.

You could go play some Fallout 76.

You'll never touch video games again.
Click to expand...

Haha...never ever managed to get into Fallout.

In this case, it's a genuine feature - from memory you unlock Nightmare by playing through the earlier difficulties.

Once you've done that and played it through, you unlock the ultra nightmare. It is the same difficulty as nightmare but with permadeath. If you lose, or quit at any time other than between the level loads, it deletes your progress.

One nice feature of it is as you progress, there are (or were) little spinning icons with gamertags. It marked where people died.

There are a lot of them early on and very very few later. It's a bit eerie seeing your own name there. :)
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The permadeath / survival mode thing isn't uncommon these days as a final layer of difficulty in games that otherwise don't play in that style. Far Cry Primal has it. Fallout 4 does actually have it too, kidding about borked games aside. Though actually completing it is pretty uncommon and I'm pretty impressed by anyone that did tbh.

Showing you where other players have snuffed it in a single player game also seems to be a thing. Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor and Assassin's Creed Origins have that, with little side quests to avenge them. Though Doom's sounds much more spooky. :)

I find being asked to go avenge "kill33rsxyFa1cLOL!!!" as the ranger or Gondor Talion, or as Bayek of Siwa to kill my immerse a bit.
 
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