Was there any Games that Ignited your Passion of Gaming?

Well, take it from me, sometimes I go on tilt with video games in general, and so, I jut leave them there untouched for a couple of days, which spirals into weeks, but then, there's always that one video game that I pick up again, replay it, and all of the epic feelings come rushing back in - waves of inspiration, and waves of memories picking up that game again, and thus, passions for playing more video games arises, y'know?

Do you ever had that feeling? Was there any video games that helped you revitalize your passion for gaming? What were those games, and how did they do so?

Don't be shy on sharing stories, and thoughts!

Gears of War. Besides the fact that I love all the characters, the story, the universe, and everything about the game's legacy and world, the multiplayer too is something that always felt so natural to me in a competitive sense. I actually went pro for about half a year with it, only to find out how much of the fun, passion, and joy major league competitions strip form playing. :I I still go back regularly, not even to the last title in the franchise, but the very first one form over 7 or so years ago, and all the titles since. Even the last one, which left the franchise hanging on a sour note with what a lot of fans consider a betrayal of the game's core. The main character is possibly my all time favorite video game character ever, Marcus Fenix.

*sheds single tear*

Yeah, yeah - Gears is a part of my childhood, adult life, and my identity as a gamer. I'll never forget the times I had in it. I just hope they take the franchise to a better place with the next title than they did with the last.

I had a huge gaming rut last year that was caused by not having the time to play games I got in 2012. I hated that rut, because it's unlike me to not be playing a lot of games haha. But I think Jak is what got me out of my rut this year. The first game I bought this year was Pocket Monsters Green, which kicked me more into collecting, but Jak put me back into playing. I went after them when I decided to work on my PS2 library some more and I wanted a new way to spend time with my boyfriend, who grew up on Jak, Sly, and R&C. Plus, I missed out on those when they were new, and I had always wanted to play Jak. So I picked up those games and we all know which one of the three I enjoyed the most, lol. I haven't felt this into gaming since the time I wrote my research paper on video game history. n__n

Oh, I've definitely had that sort of feeling before, in some way; I have a lot of games on my shelves, which I just leave there for weeks without playing. I'm not really sure what makes me stay away from them, but I suppose it's got to be entertainment value; I've played hundreds of video games before, and now whenever I do try something, it seems sort of repetitive to me--something that I've already played. Anyhow, what brings my interest back is when I decide to play something heart-pumping, which, for me, would be shooter games like Call of Duty.

I used to be terrible at CoD, personally, but over the years, I've gotten a lot better. When I first started, I had no idea how to stay away from being seen by enemies, dodge bullets, how to snipe, or anything strategic in general, and now, I'm actually sort of familiar with them. Before, I also used to stay in corners, wait for opponents to come by, and shoot when they do, which some people like to call camping, but nowadays, I don't necessarily have to do that at all; I'm able to run around wherever I please, and kill whoever I wish, without getting myself shot. All-in-all, I find this sort of thing to be pretty amusing, and thankfully, it does help bring my interest back into gaming.

Okay, well, I kinda took this a little differently. "Which game started it all?"

I wasn't that into video gaming outside of Pokemon until a couple years ago (2011). The game that started it all was Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. I never played any Zelda games before, or anything besides Pokemon really, especially as a kid. I honestly have no memory of how it ended up in my game case, but it did. I remember I was at my grandpa's house when I beat the first puzzle and realized that I actually liked this type of game. When I finished it, I was very.. I dunno how to describe. Wowed? Amazed? I realized that there was a whole entire franchise waiting for me, and it was a great feeling. That Christmas I got both Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword and began to expand outside of Pokemon. :)

Now on to more of what I think this thread was looking for. Last year I bought quite a few games but I never really had the time, energy, or motivation to really play any of them. Then one day I think I decided to pick up Devil Survivor 2 and I really struggled through it and I kept thinking "Why am I even bothering with this?!?!" because I suck at turnbased strategy with penalties (aka permadeaths!) so it was super hard for me and took like weeks and a lot of complaining to get through (lol, I would come on the server so mad sometimes). But you know what the first thing I did when I beat it was? I started a new file. I was even confused with myself. "Whitney, you literally swore you'd never touch this goddamn game again once you beat it, what are you DOING?" I guess I realized the struggle had been fun, because for some ungodly reason I also thought it would be a good idea to buy DS2's ugly predecessor, Devil Survivor Overclocked. After I beat DS2 I got the motivation to go on a game-beating streak. I beat SoulSilver and played through a good majority of Pokemon Y before I got bored and switched to Overclocked lol.

Basically any arcade game, NES, SNES, or PSX game. I've been playing games since before I could talk so I was raised to be a gamer. My grandma has a story about me that when I was like a little under 2 we were living in an apartment complex and I had snuck out one night butt naked with some gel filled flip flops to go play the arcade games that they had in the office and the only reason anyone knew where I was was because for one the gel shoes leaked out a trail of goop that they could follow and the office had called them and woke them up to tell them they had seen me.

Megaman X, without a doubt. I love that game and it is one of the few games from my childhood that to this day is still one of my favorites. It was the one game that really got me interested in games.

I really started loving gaming when I played Wind Waker for Game Gamecube. It was the first game I got super interested in.

I wasn't able to game much over the last two years due to busyness, but I bought a 3DS and ended up purchasing Fire Emblem: Awakening at the behest of Morkula. It is seriously one of the best games I've ever played. Just a fantastic way to get me back into gaming. I consumed that game for months doing everything I could in it. I still have yet to beat/unlock a few of the last characters, but I am excitedly waiting to replay it once it's not as fresh in my mind.

Sometimes I'll go through phases where I won't play games, but then one day, I'll randomly have a nostalgic moment with older games that were on the earlier PlayStation consoles in particular. Those games were probably the best in terms of popularizing the RPG genre, at least for myself. The recent one would be The Last of Us that threw me into the whole gaming world again and from then on, I've been hoarding every single game that I can get my hands on, haha.

Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn.

Also Counter Strike 1.6 briefly.

As a kid, I was never really lucky enough to have a lot of consoles and games. When I was 4, I got Pokémon Blue the same time it came out. That was my first real introduction to gaming and I instantly fell in love. So Pokémon has always followed me the whole way through. Pokémon actually helped me learn to read, I've been told.

That said, I think the Spyro series really brought me into gaming more than anything. Those games took me places in 3D I had never imagined possible. So I absolutely loved those games. Every few years there are those games that really drag you back into being an avid gamer. The Legend of Zelda series, specifically Minish Cap and Twilight Princess, really made me spend countless hours playing games again. I guess I've not really slowed down in recent years, so there hasn't been anything in awhile that has really drawn me in, since I've been hooked on games for many years now.