Games that shaped who you are today?

[Havacross]

I wanna hear about how the games you've experienced during your life have affected you and changed who you are as a person, it could be from your childhood or even recently, even shows too, I'm just curious to see how the medium has moved people in different ways.

In a recent case for me, playing the yakuza games and doing those goofy side games made me think more on myself and how i really need to learn to cut back and actually have fun despite what others might think, be cringe be free, you get the idea, that's just a small one tho lol

 

[DunkeyKong]

Doom, it taught me to…rip and tear

 

[PaleFolklore]

OMORI is an easy pick, for me: it was released back when I was still considerably affected by the effects of the pandemic, so playing it — even though it dealt with some heavy themes — still felt like a breath of fresh air to me.

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Playing Diablo 1 as a child forever made me love fantasy and dark themes.

 

[BinaryMessiah]

Horror games mainly the first Silent Hill game. I had accidentally picked it up because I couldn't remember the name of Syphon Filter. I got to the alley with the dogs in between the garages and turned it off screaming. My mom sent that rental back the next day. My morbid curiosity got the best of me. Now horror games are my favorite genre. Especially the PS1 era. I love analog horror now and own nearly every survival horror game every made in physical form. It also steered me towards my love for HR Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński.

Post automatically merged: Mar 4, 2025

OMORI is an easy pick, for me: it was released back when I was still considerably affected by the effects of the pandemic, so playing it — even though it dealt with some heavy themes — still felt like a breath of fresh air to me.

Has it made you seek out Undertale or Earthbound, or have you already played those? Omori is heavily inspired by Earthbound (and so is Undertale).

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

If I wasn't going to sleep I would have wrote well people looks like we gonna have to wait few hours till I prew something worth pandering over

Sidenote: if you wanna sleep with me by that I mean beside me sure just tell me no more than 2 guys are allowed sorry no homo.

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

#1) I think I have certain Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros 2, and especially the Donkey Kong Country series, to thank for how much I love the aesthetic of warmer climates. The Mediterranean / Middle Eastern vibes of Subcon (helps that Doki Doki Panic starred this Arabian family), combined with the jungles of DK Island, were so cool to little kid me. Also helps I was a tot during the Disney Renaissance and had movies like Aladdin, The Lion King and Hercules to make me appreciate those settings more.

There's already a boatload of Western European medieval fantasy settings and, as much as they're fine, why not something a little further to the east? Which reminds me, I've been putting off Glory of Heracles 3...


#2) Final Fantasy 9 and Tactics, however, feel like they speak to the morals and ethics I have left these days. Zidane in FF9 cared about a bunch of people in spite of being imperfect, though it was hard for him to be kind to himself when carrying the weight of his friends and the world on his shoulders.

Meanwhile, I resonate with Ramza in FFT pretty closely. A sheltered kid with a good heart who gets his worldview shattered, has a mild fall from grace, but refuses to let cruelty and corruption slide in spite of a dark and crooked world around him. He goes out of his way to help people in spite of their personal affiliations, and doesn't get seduced into the plans for a new world order from the Glabados church. This is in spite of seeing firsthand just what kind of people the Ivalician monarchy produced, both the noble and the neglected.

Minor spoiler territory for a 20+ year old game, but I feel like meeting FFT's Cid in the late game must've been a sight for Ramza's sore eyes. A legendary warrior of the prior war who's still got it in his old age, who cares more for protecting the people than playing kingmaker. Cid was cut from the same heroic cloth of Ramza and his dad, and the lad thus carried on to be an unsung hero alongside him for the finale.

I really, truly need to replay both of these games. I beat Tactics for the first time a couple years ago, and I know I wanna do a character analysis of Ramza vs various (well-written!) villains in Tactics.


#3) Lastly, there's the fan concept of resilience from the Dark Souls series and its various clones. These games have a motif of enduring, getting your ass kicked, learning and eventually overcoming trials along your way. How in spite of everything, your fate isn't in your control... but you still have some choice in the matter anyway. And as much as the game allows you to be a loner, you don't ever have to be truly alone in order to strive and slay.

It's hard to not feel like I'm going Hollow, so to speak, but still I press on. Helps that I like the symbolism of pyromancy -- inner liberating power that could also destroy you if you let it. Anger in a nutshell. I wouldn't steal a quote about it for my signature if I didn't.

 

[stealthRUSH]

Mega Man series - starting with 2 the classic series gave me patience, and tested my focus. From memorizing enemy placements, boss interactions on top of reflexes. Super Mario Bros. series had a similar effect on me.

Street Fighter series - starting with 2 (again lol) gave me perseverance, and an eagerness to learn and discover new techniques. I always found solace in 1-on-1 fighting games since I wasn't into team sport games.

 

[SolemnlyDoc]

Some mental and emotional growth came from Detroit Become Human. Life is Strange made me question what was important to me, which was important. Watch_Dogs made me deal with the concept of crime and punishment, what it means to go too far.

 

[LaserMoose]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky left me thinking about what it means to truly live.

"Everything ends eventually. Even if history is not changed... Even if the world of darkness continues in its current state... Eventually the day will come when I won't be here anymore. Since that's the case, the timing of it doesn't matter. The important thing is not how long you live... It's what you accomplish with your life.

While I live, I want to shine. I want to prove that I exist. If I could do something really important... That would definitely carry on into the future. No... Not just into the future. In <Hero>'s and <Partner>'s future too... My spirit has become part of them, I believe. In them, my spirit is alive. And that spirit could be passed along to others. And so, if I were to disappear...I think all that I have accomplished will go on. That is... That would mean...that it's living, right?"

Hearing this as a kid was when I truly stopped to realize that games are more than just a fun hobby to do while you turn your brain off; I started to think of games as a form of art. PMD helped to shape my perspective on life, and for that, I'm grateful.

I, too, want to prove that I exist.

 

[Yousef's iconYousef]

Playing GTA has made me square shaped, then I played Yakuza and it made triangle shaped. I’ve been truly shaped by those games!

 

[gunsurvivor]

I have a mild obsession with knives and handguns because of OG Resident Evil 1.
Mortis Ghost OFF literally saved me from a 5+ years of isolation and gave me the strenght to leave my house once again, in a sense of "well I want to do something as cool as this game in my lifetime", still trying to sort this out but at least I'm a functional individual right now, heh.

 

[E0N]

Strategy games mainly (AoE, AoM, Civ, Rise of Nations etc.). Taught me a lot about the value of reasoning and planning. I would say every parent should give their child these types of games to play to improve their reasoning skills.

Yakuza 0. The hell Majima went through but still decided to say fuck it I'm gonna live my life to the fullest really resonated with me. I always worried about how other people viewed me but after playing Y0 I've stopped worrying about other people's perceptions and started to do what I like to do.

 

[WerewolfJones]

Xenogears/Saga are the games that helped fuel my blooming interest in Gnosticism and philosophy. Along with this, they were a big RPG series introduced to me by my older cousin, and act as a connection between us.

Mother/Earthbound Zero is, to me, one of the sweetest, melancholic, and beautiful games I’ve ever played and a fantastic encapsulation of childhood. I honestly like it better than either Earthbound or Mother 3.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was the first Metroidvania I ever played and still reigns supreme for me in that category.

Final Fantasy VI was a massive part of my tween/teen years. I adore that game and it’s a big pick me up for me.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Alright its story time

Silent hill: made me feel something else other than laughter this game made me feel human AGAIN ever since then I been getting better as a person.

Final fantasy 7: a bit of being humble is pretty good and validating others emotion like that scene at the bridge with aerith would I flex and say "oh you should be scared cuz u are with me?" Not the right moment eh? , also FF7 made me think about how practical things are with the whole oversoul/tiger fang knuckles for tifa the story goes that I had the tiger fang a good pair of knuckles but acquired the oversoul which decreases tifa damage but powers up when low on health I sat there and thought "hmmm but if she is low on health there is a good chance she gets knocked out and I don't even get any use out of the oversoul" with this mindset in mind or hand? I sold the oversoul and kept the tiger fang.

Metal gear solid: I will never forget the phrase "live snake live!" By Dr Naomi or otacon "I will no longer live life as a spectator"

Final Fantasy 4: cecil story of how he does a unspeakable crime that goes against his moral values and how he has to fight and get beaten up constantly and eventually redeem himself resonated with me , imagine you never think you are gonna do X thing but years later you are? You basically went against your morals and beliefs? And now you have to pay the price while constantly being bothered and looked down upon? Just like cecil I constantly kept getting slammed but refused to give up and it worked.

Final fantasy 6: the sudden realization that you are at terra age but you know nothing about life scares you heh? You have to uncomfortably navigate life but friends help keeps you going , you can feel the innocence of terra and how its shattered as time goes on , exactly what happened to me by being exposed to life , also never allow clowns near seats of power.

Final fantasy 5: there is always a positive thing a light at the end of the tunnel don't despair! , also be move adventurous and outgoing and positive.

Final Fantasy 8: squall is literally me XD "I need no friends I can do everything myself" mindset is something I also had when I was 17 , the game constantly proves you wrong that's why I see myself in squall , also I see myself in laguna awkward behavior and speaking from the heart , made me realize that I can be a bit of a goofball at times...Oh and I quit some bad habits by asking "what if rinoa sees me doing this?".

Final Fantasy 1: at the end of the game there is a sentence about your heart being a crystal that can do good really simple game but that sentence in the end made me smile.

Final Fantasy 2: don't wear brown armor you will be targeted by everyone , FF2 has a nice message about how the youth can bring change to the world and how its the youth who defeat evil well if we look at who won wars against bad regime's or evil governments it is indeed the youth.

Resident evil 1 2 3: be vegan , eating flesh turns you into zombie.

WarCraft 3: inspiration to workout , to use brain more

Age of mythology: same as WC3

You can say gayming played a big part of ma life and who I'm.

 

[Prism_Red]

Way too many to count honestly.
One thing I can say, I played video games since I was 3, and later on when I'm older I realized for few years onward since the first time I held a controller, that my uncle all this time actually taught me valuable life lessons through video games.

 

[Cu-Neo]

A lot of eurojank games, because I learned to not take things seriously and just enjoy them for what they are.

 

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

Racing games made me fall in love with cars and car modding. (And music)
And JRPGs, not only are they the reason why I'm obsessed with Fantasy settings, but they also taught me a lot of things, like the importance of kindness and Strength and standing up for others in need.

 

[Crabulon]

Sonic 2 and World of Illusion for teaching me player agency, appreciation of music, confronting fears (drowning), death/failure.

Quackshot for teaching me that returning to where you've been is sometimes necessary to progress

Tomb Raider and DOOM for teaching me to be thorough.

Metal Gear Solid in more ways than I can list.

Undertale, Final Fantasy X and a handful of RPG Maker games for making me interested in the process of game design.

A tonne of tough games for instilling patience.

And most recently Disco Elysium, again for more reasons than I can list.

 

[SwordBreaker40]

Honestly anime shaped me more on how I am today as a person that games did. The only thing games changed me with was my preferred type of games but they did not have any other form of impact.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Strife, Deus Ex and The Last Of Us taught me how to write engaging stories with unreal settings in which people still act like people, which is perhaps the most valuable lesson in all of storytelling.

A good story needs to be relatable to work.

 

[oxyhime]

Everyone's being so serious and introspective. All I have to say is "Jak from Jak II and Kurtis Trent from Tomb Raider 6 irremediably changed my taste in men".

As much as I hate to say it... It was/is the soul-patches. There, enough introspection for the day.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Everyone's being so serious and introspective. All I have to say is "Jak from Jak II and Kurtis Trent from Tomb Raider 6 irremediably changed my taste in men".

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As much as I hate to say it... It was/is the soul-patches. There, enough introspection for the day.

That's understandable, Jak was built different

 

[Justado]

snake xenzia

 

[kirihitsugi]

Pokèmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. And a bunch of other DS games.