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Times when you just "had to be there"
- Thread starter Reagan's BR
- Start date
TeddyShardik
Banned
Back when a lot of people migrated from the Ragnarok Online iRO servers to euRO.
Such crazy memories with stuff going horribly wrong and being great at the same time.
Such crazy memories with stuff going horribly wrong and being great at the same time.
UpperCaseN
Member
Mario Party on the N64. How everyone tore up the palm of their hand doing the game where you rotate the stick as fast as you can
Barnstorming
Neo Member
Mass Effect
I only say this because of the way, for better or worse, that Mass Effect 2 pushed the series. I really liked Mass Effect, in a way that had zero carryover to 2. Mako was fun, shooting was fun, lots of abilities w/ no global cooldown (only a feature after 2 had global cooldown). It felt wide, and you felt like an explorer or a pioneer.
If Mass Effect 2 had improved and iterated on the mechanics and features of 1, then this wouldn't be such a problem. But it cut all of the fun and interesting stuff, instead of fixing what needed to be fixed.
I know 2 people who are huge Mass Effect fans, and they both played Mass Effect 2 as their first ME game. They both think that original ME is trash. Help me.
I only say this because of the way, for better or worse, that Mass Effect 2 pushed the series. I really liked Mass Effect, in a way that had zero carryover to 2. Mako was fun, shooting was fun, lots of abilities w/ no global cooldown (only a feature after 2 had global cooldown). It felt wide, and you felt like an explorer or a pioneer.
If Mass Effect 2 had improved and iterated on the mechanics and features of 1, then this wouldn't be such a problem. But it cut all of the fun and interesting stuff, instead of fixing what needed to be fixed.
I know 2 people who are huge Mass Effect fans, and they both played Mass Effect 2 as their first ME game. They both think that original ME is trash. Help me.
Bright-Light
Member
Not a game as such but gaming related.
NEOGAF - 2013
From the ps4 announcement conference all the way to launch day. This place was phenomenal. New news everyday, leaks, bullshit leaks and fanboy meltdowns that will never be recreated.
NEOGAF - 2013
From the ps4 announcement conference all the way to launch day. This place was phenomenal. New news everyday, leaks, bullshit leaks and fanboy meltdowns that will never be recreated.
This. So much this.
And back in 2003 (?) it truly felt like a game from the future.
Worldshaker
Member
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast) launch week/month/year. It was fantastic.
Agreed, although I think even if someone gave it a first-time playthrough today they'd be floored by how amazing it. Best game of all time in my opinion.
- Super Mario 64
- GoldenEye 64
- Grand Theft Auto 3
Also this:
So.fucking.much.of.this!
- GoldenEye 64
- Grand Theft Auto 3
Also this:
So.fucking.much.of.this!
Succinct Verbosity
Member
Half Life 2 is still a fantastic game, but it certainly elevated how a story was delivered to the player like no other game before it. Before Half Life 2, story was less of a focus for most action games or it was typically delivered in cut-scenes.
Goldeneye is certainly a candidate, because it revolutionised consoles and four-way multiplayer on shooters, which arguably lead to the validity of Halo's development and expanded player counts on consoles in general.
Goldeneye is certainly a candidate, because it revolutionised consoles and four-way multiplayer on shooters, which arguably lead to the validity of Halo's development and expanded player counts on consoles in general.
dragonyeuw
Member
Being a hardcore gamer during the height of the 16-bit war
The move from 2d to 3d. Super Mario 64 blew my 18 year old mind back in 96.
Street Fighter II going to SNES in 92, taking the arcade experience home. Countless hours spent trashtalking with friends on that game.
Mortal Kombat in 92
The move from 2d to 3d. Super Mario 64 blew my 18 year old mind back in 96.
Street Fighter II going to SNES in 92, taking the arcade experience home. Countless hours spent trashtalking with friends on that game.
Mortal Kombat in 92
Skel1ingt0n
I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Yup.
This was right at the start of "some of your friends had a dial-up connection" and saw pictures of "Pikablu."
I was in... 4th grade... and my dad was stationed overseas; meaning I got a copy of Gold & Silver (that I had ZERO ability to read) before any of my friends, and I instantly became the coolest kid at school, bar none.
I mean - Gold & Silver was like... a revelation of kids on the playground. It took the most popular franchise possibly ever, and instantly doubled the world, the rumors, the stories, the games, etc.
When Salty Bet's MUGEN battles on Twitch were first made popular it was incredible. A giant clusterfuck of the most broken and the most useless MUGEN AI characters battling for our amusement. I spent many an hour in the salt mines while Duane supervised the action.
Always bet DBZ.
Always bet DBZ.
Never bet DBZ.
m_shortpants
Member
Agreed. I remember being so excited to play WoW coming hot off of Runescape.
I was blown away by the sheer scale of the world, the size and amount of content. I would often just get lost wandering around looking at everything.
It was honestly so damn magical as corny as that sounds. I don't know if anything will ever come close again to that experience.
I remember the first character I made was a night elf. And all my friends in high school said I had to go to ironforge to really see an active capital city. Making that trek from Teldrassil to Ironforge was amazing and took me a long long time on foot lol. But I was blown away by how many people I saw there.
jabberwocker
Banned
1. Being the first kid on my block to have a NES and probably selling 10 of those for Nintendo just by having my friends come over and play it.
2. Looking back at that being 30 years ago and being old =/
2. Looking back at that being 30 years ago and being old =/
Mr_Antimatter
Member
Vanilla wow and the AQ opening event.
Now that was an epic quest. Entire servers working together, and the tip of the top guilds coming to agreements on when exactly to finish the quests. Granted, it was total server collapse when they did.
But wow, the bragging rights the title and mount must be now.
Now that was an epic quest. Entire servers working together, and the tip of the top guilds coming to agreements on when exactly to finish the quests. Granted, it was total server collapse when they did.
But wow, the bragging rights the title and mount must be now.
High Fry Frow
Member
The massive backlash and period of unknowing that was the beginning of Steam and Counter Strike 1.6 in 2004(?)
The six months after GTA III was released. All of the mass media coverage and political coverage and controversies. Not to mention the insane hype there was for "GTA clones" and sequels in the 1-2 years following.
The six months after GTA III was released. All of the mass media coverage and political coverage and controversies. Not to mention the insane hype there was for "GTA clones" and sequels in the 1-2 years following.
I would nominate not a game, but a time. Specifically Fall 1998.
September 28 - Pokemon Red and Blue
September 30 - Fallout 2
October 20 - Xenogears
October 21 - Metal Gear Solid
October 30 - Grim Fandango
November 8 - Half-Life
November 23 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
November 27 - Sega Dreamcast Japanese Launch
November 30 - StarCraft: Brood War
November 30 - Baldur's Gate
And that's not even an exhaustive list. What a time to be 16.
September 28 - Pokemon Red and Blue
September 30 - Fallout 2
October 20 - Xenogears
October 21 - Metal Gear Solid
October 30 - Grim Fandango
November 8 - Half-Life
November 23 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
November 27 - Sega Dreamcast Japanese Launch
November 30 - StarCraft: Brood War
November 30 - Baldur's Gate
And that's not even an exhaustive list. What a time to be 16.
Grindlefly
Member
Ahhh true!
Renting games with just the boxart (or sometimes not (Hollywood video lol)) to go on
Melchiah
Member
Building my own tracks in Racing & Destruction Set, and driving through them with a friend.
Blazing through the rollercoaster roads of Stunt Car Racer at far too high speed.
Experiencing the real-time environmental morphing, and the streamed world in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
Being delighted and disturbed by the story and audiovisual elements in Silent Hill 2, that were unheard of at the time. It's amazing how awful a game can make you feel.
The awe of witnessing the crisp graphics and fluid framerate of WipEout HD, the joy of Journey with a companion, and the range of emotions throughout The Last of Us.
Blazing through the rollercoaster roads of Stunt Car Racer at far too high speed.
Experiencing the real-time environmental morphing, and the streamed world in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
Being delighted and disturbed by the story and audiovisual elements in Silent Hill 2, that were unheard of at the time. It's amazing how awful a game can make you feel.
The awe of witnessing the crisp graphics and fluid framerate of WipEout HD, the joy of Journey with a companion, and the range of emotions throughout The Last of Us.
I wish I were a bit older to know just how amazing that must've felt. SMB was my first game so it feels like the beginning of gaming to me. But I imagine seeing the screen scroll must've felt like the way moving in Super Mario 64 felt for the first time... totally magical.
Theanine3D
Member
Kids these days don't know what they're missing!
(I felt my palms tingle as I read your post, I remember the blisters quite vividly)
bigedole
Member
This is pretty amazing if true.
Half-Life 2 at E3 2003. Shit was mindblowing.
GTA: San Andreas and the Bigfoot rumours the first weeks after launch. There were big threads on every GTA forum with people speculating and organizing searches. I remember that I was afraid of exploring the countryside in the game because of it, lol.
GTA: San Andreas and the Bigfoot rumours the first weeks after launch. There were big threads on every GTA forum with people speculating and organizing searches. I remember that I was afraid of exploring the countryside in the game because of it, lol.
Oh, I thought they were talking about e3 in general.
Ryouji Gunblade
Member
The introduction of Pokemon was nuts. South Park easily parodies this.
hawkeyye293
Banned
Same. In fact I think there are thousands of us who continue to play in an effort to recapture that feeling from the first few months of playing WoW during 2005-2007 time frame. Never can capture it and no one has been able to make anything that comes close.
Not really. There were lots of similar games by that point
Huge Succeeded
Banned
Pokemon X/Y launch up until the online fix which prevented shiny values from being discerned
BulletBees
Member
When Duke Nukem Forever finally came out.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
It was truly epic.
Anyone not around back then should check the wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_in_video_gaming) and see just how many all-time great games came out that year.
Zelda:OoT was released on December 11th in Europe. I was living in London at the time and due to not taking any time off and not being able to hold holiday days over to the next year I ended up taking the whole of December off. I hadn't had an N64 for that long and was a bit new to console gaming so didn't know that you really had to book stuff.
It was a Friday and I decided just to head into Central London to see if I could find a copy. Everywhere was sold out. Everywhere. Eventually I went to Hamley's as at the time they had a tiny videogame section on the top floor. No one was there apart from a lone employee who confirmed that she had copies in the back. As she went to fetch me one a wave of people appeared asking me if they had a copy, eventually forming a large queue at the checkout. Eventually she asked "what is this game you all after" to which someone called out "it is the best game ever made".
On the way home it seemed like everyone I saw was carrying a copy. I'd never seen anything like it.
That felt like an event.
Orniletter
Banned
I agree with your point overall, but not with your examples.
Crash's mechanics held up remarkably well for a N64/PSX esque platformer. I was never the biggest Crash fan, but id say it's the only PSX game that can be named in the same sentence as Mario 64 and Banjo.
And Ocarina. Nah. There are still very, very few games that surpass it's puzzles (I'd only name Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword) in the 3D space.
Edit: Pokemon Blue, Red and Yellow are the perfect answer for this thread. Everyone loved Pokemon back then, the Internet was still in it's infancy and rumours were everywhere. Fun times.
Sparrowhawk
Member
The transition from 2D games to 3D games blew my mind as a kid.
Going to Blockbuster with your parents and renting a game, not knowing whether it'll be fantastic or terrible, choosing solely on the cover art or what a friend at school said. Redbox is just not the same.
Going to Blockbuster with your parents and renting a game, not knowing whether it'll be fantastic or terrible, choosing solely on the cover art or what a friend at school said. Redbox is just not the same.