25 replies to this topic

[kisrael]

Interesting decent Slashdot discussion, What Games Have Actually Affected You? The poster asked: "What games have affected you simply by playing them? What games immersed you so well into its environment that you actually felt different after playing it? For me, I'd have to go with System Shock 2. Basically the predecessor to Deus Ex, it was the only game that made me so afraid that the minute I heard a matron mother, I turned the other way and ran. What game scared you to death, or made you think after playing it?"

I thought it might be fun to see what this crowd said.

My answers:

Starcraft lately; also more intensely than I previously remember. I tend to look at things in terms of opposing units and resource gathering, and its entered my presleep more frequently than other games I've played.

GTA:VC ... I had to stop my self from thinking of pedestrians as ignorable potential targets. GTA3 came up a lot on slashdot.

Tetris Attack / Pokemon Puzzle League I saw the blocks as I drifted off to sleep...

DK64 a 3 day marathon session made me see things differently. Literally. Walking outside was weird, cars seemed to shrink to much as the receded down the street, buildings along the side of the road seemed a little too tall...I've had recreational chemicals that have had less effect. Gone in a day or so though.

I don't remember games having that kind of effect on me when I was younger, not sure if I don't remember, or if I'm mor succeptible...

Other interesting answers on slashdot were SimCity (one guy realized his entire argument for recycling and solar power was based on that game) and Civ, which tend to be more thought provoking.

[Happy_Dude]

Off the top of my head I'd have to say Resident Evil 2.
Scared the crap outta' me. Whan the licker jumped through the 1 way mirror
my heart almost jumped out of my chest and I ran screaming for the door.
I loved playing RE2 at night which could have been the problem but the imersion
feels so real... I can't wait to get a Gamecube just to play RE1 and RE0

Also Final Fantasy 7 was great. The first RPG I ever played. Really takes you
into the story and imerses you in another world......

Another World: I played this game for hours on end. And I should really put it
in my top 20 list Only game I can claim to have played for more
than 10 hours straight.

Dune 2: I would actually dream of stratergies for this game. only game to ever invade my sleep

[MegaManFan]

Games I found that drew me into the story (a short list):

* Adventure Construction Set (the pre-loaded adventure), Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4 6 7 9 and 10, Mega Man 2-4, X, X4, Metroid (any edition), Oddworld Abe's Oddysee and Exxodus, Phantasie, Super Mario Bros. 2 + 3, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Zelda (any edition)

[Ze_ro]

Back when I used to play a lot of Crazy Taxi, I used to have a hard time restraining myself while driving... especially when a punk song came on the radio and I had the urge to drive like a madman.

Unfortunately, it turns out that it's hard to do a crazy dash in a Metro...

--Zero

[eric_ruck]

I remember the 3D sound in Heretic...playing at 3am, dark and quiet, and I could swear I heard things behind me.

That and the first time I encountered the Mutant Pilot in Behind Jaggi Lines I fell out of my chair.

Eric

[JagMX]

DOOM

[JagMX]

[b]actually since ghostly kinda shit happens in my house already, i recently got Fatal Frame for xbox, and i started playing it this weekend circa 2am in the complete dark - and the game is fukin erie and somewhat chilling and it had me looking to my right and lookin around several times
gave me the chills

[shep]

The first Silent Hill

[Sauron]

Ultima VII: The Black Gate probably affected my outlook on real life much more than any other game I've ever played. A game which actually focused on real virtues, coupled with a story line that I could actually somewhat relate to had a pretty significant impact on a dumb teenage kid.

[Han]

System Shock 2 Scared the living daylight outta me to. I still remember finding the doctor in the medbay, hanging in a rope, swaying gently with blank staring eyes and at the same time hearing the zombies walking around outside. Man, that freaked me out completely. Or when a midwife would jump out at you from the darkness. Man, I threw the mouse 2m up in the air ...

Silent Hill 2 The game had its flaws, but the atmosphere was just amazing sometimes. The evil hospital or the Jail ... Great use of sound FXs, to bad they never really connected the sound to the story.

Project Zero This is probably the scariest game I have played. Has its flaws, but when played at night and a ghost jumps up in your face your heart just stops...

Half Life Not really that scary, but with a really engaging storyline... Still the best "film" like game in my opinion.

[AtariDude]

Ultima IV. No longer could you go raiding towns and killing everything in sight to get money. Now everything you did have an overall effect on your Karma. You had to learn how to really be the Avatar not only in name but in deed.

[PaulEMoz]

Fatal Frame is quite possibly the creepiest and scariest game ever.

[cryptik76]

System Shock 2 - One of the greatest and creepiest PC games ever.

Thief: The Dark Project - Even greater and creepier than System Shock 2. The mission where you are in an abandoned, haunted cathedral is the most frightening experience I've ever had.

Half-Life - This whole game is a roller-coaster ride. Excellent, excellent game.

[Han]

Yeah Thief, I had forgot about that one. It had amazing atmosphere and brilliant cut scenes. I still haven't played Thief II, but it's on my to do list .

Fatal frame sounds interesting...

[Han]

And now I came to think of Alien for the Spectrum and 64, based on the Alien 1 film. If played in a dark room it was really scarry. Pretty awfull graphics and terrible sound, but that didnt matter. Still among the best Alien/Aliens games...

[shep]

My Silent Hill answer was because of how scary it was, But Mario 1-3 and Mega Man 1-5 got me interested in drawing, and Zelda got me into thinking of original, creative places and creatures.

[kisrael]

shep said:

My Silent Hill answer was because of how scary it was, But Mario 1-3 and Mega Man 1-5 got me interested in drawing, and Zelda got me into thinking of original, creative places and creatures.

For some reason Zelda didn't inspire me much, but yeah, Mega Man had an awesome design sense that I tried to emulate, goofy but not too goofy robot bosses...

[shep]

Yea, when I was about 6 or so, I would trace them with trace them through my even then vast collection of videogame magazines. Then I would hang them on my bedroom door. My parents worried about me, I cared more about videogames then than anything else. Instead of going outside to play baseball or football, I was drawing and playing Mega Man

[cryptik76]

Han said:

Yeah Thief, I had forgot about that one. It had amazing atmosphere and brilliant cut scenes. I still haven't played Thief II, but it's on my to do list   .

Fatal frame sounds interesting...

I'm a big fan of both Thief games. I lean towards Thief II because of the mission design and the fact that there's isn't as much undead or anything to evade. They don't even give you holy water in Thief II, because most likely you won't need it. Most of Thief II focuses on sneaking through mansions, over rooftops, in a large bank, lighthouses, etc. so if you're into that part of the Thief design more than fighting the undead, you'll probably dig it.

[Nukey Shay]

Han said:

And now I came to think of Alien for the Spectrum and 64, based on the Alien 1 film. If played in a dark room it was really scarry. Pretty awfull graphics and terrible sound, but that didnt matter. Still among the best Alien/Aliens games...

I was an Alien nut back in '79 A year or so later, a text-only adventure of the story for the AppleII was around. It was pretty detailed as well (it spanned two disks)...but I've never seen it since. Searching for a disk image turned up nothing Anybody ever seen that one??

I'd say that Star Raiders totally blew me away for 1st person perspective, Rescue On Fractalus for being truely unnerving (at least the first time meeting up with an alien), Ultima V for finally having an enemy that does real harm to your character, Wolfenstein 3d for total immersion in a realistic environment, Tetris for being so brilliantly simple in design, Leisure Suit Larry and Farmer's Daughter for fueling my fantasies at the "shake hands with Mr.Happy" age

[ElectricTroy]

Seeing Rikku stripping out of her wet clothes "affected" me.



But seriously... Final Fantasy 10 affected me, because the story was so great, and I played it constantly from 6am to midnight for five days until I beat it. Never has a game so enthralled me.

Eternal Darkness: Gave me nightmares.

[Happy_Dude]

ElectricTroy said:

Eternal Darkness: Gave me nightmares.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!
I played that yesterday. Crazy shit.
I was playing along, Killing things, etc... when the game cuts to a screen that says:

"Eternal Darkness coming August 2002"

WTF???? A Demo??????
then it cuts back to the game...
SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA ME!!!!!!!!1!11!

[Han]

Nukey Shay said:

I was an Alien nut back in '79  A year or so later, a text-only adventure of the story for the AppleII was around.  It was pretty detailed as well (it spanned two disks)...but I've never seen it since.  Searching for a disk image turned up nothing  Anybody ever seen that one??

Cool, tell me more, I still love the first Alien film! The great thing about the 8-bit Alien version was the freedom of the game (well.. considering it was release early 80 ). You could fry the Alien in quite a few different ways. You could even ignore it and just put the crew in hyper sleep. But that would end the game saying that the Alien had been unleashed upon the earth

[Han]

cryptik76 said:

I'm a big fan of both Thief games.  I lean towards Thief II because of the mission design and the fact that there's isn't as much undead or anything to evade.  They don't even give you holy water in Thief II, because most likely you won't need it.  Most of Thief II focuses on sneaking through mansions, over rooftops, in a large bank, lighthouses, etc. so if you're into that part of the Thief design more than fighting the undead, you'll probably dig it.

Ahh ok, too bad, I really "liked" the undead in Thief I.. really scary stuff . But the sneaking around thing is really good fun too..

BTW apparently Fatal Frame and Project Zero is the same game ... American and European release I suppose...