What can I praise RDR2 for that countless others haven't already? The world is so alive in so many big and small ways it just makes me in awe of it. For goodness sake the balls on your horse can shrink in cold weather!! Even beyond that the story is such an amazing one and of course I was a sobbing mess during the last mission. While it might not have the same replayability as say Minecraft or SDV, RDR2 will always hold a special place in my heart.
I still remember the first time I got a Fallout game! I was in a pawn shop with my father and Fallout 3 GoTY edition was on display near the checkout. I think I picked it up and looked read it over while my father checked out, interest thoroughly peaked though I didn't ask for it. I must have been side eyeing it hard though, as my father asked me if I wanted it on the drive home. I admitted I did and he swung back around and got it.
I remember him sitting there silently as I booted it up, lingering a little too long on the boy option for the character creator before switching my character to a girl. Then immediately getting called a bitch by Butch from the Tunnel Snakes lol! I flipped it off pretty quickly just to squash the awkwardness before immediately pulling it up after he left and playing it for hours!
I'd played some games when I was younger, mostly things like Pokemon or Tony Hawk Underground, but those had been my sister's games on their own devices. Skyrim in 7th or 8th grade changed that though as I got a taste for what games had to offer. Fallout only hooked me on harder! I loved the open world, the oldies soundtrack, the wackiness that came with the wasteland.
This love only grew with Fallout New Vegas. The Mojave felt like such a real place and I spent hours pouring over every inch it had to offer. I tried making bottle caps, NCR armor, and even once tried to make a power armor suit. Obviously as a teen I didn't get too far with that last one, but the love was there!
Hell, I'd even argue it saved my life. After a bad high school break up and my friends turning on me, I had pretty much no one. I wanted to end it but ended up putting it off as the Fallout 4 was coming out. I figured I could just keepp myself alive until it came out then off myself when I had had my fill. I played it plenty (and still do! The settlement builder is too addicting) and just found other reasons to stay around.
For that reason I got my first tattoo of the Railroad symbol and why Fallout will always be my favorite video game franchise.
Mass Effect was my first Bioware game! I think I picked up Mass Effect 2 at a Gamestop when I was probably 14-15. Imagine my shocked Pikachu face when I got home, started playing it, and immediately got jettisoned into space and died with my brand new Shepard gasping for breathe. I stuck with it though, entranced, and fell in love with the series! It took me years to figure out how to use cybernetics (I still am a tank player in every game I play and prefer getting up close and personal) but the whole world itself was one I loved getting immersed in.
Plenty of games have choices the player can make that don't really change anything but Mass Effect was different (ok, maybe not the major end decision...) and I loved it. Action RPGs will always be my favorite genre and Mass Effect played a big part in that. I spent way too many sleepless hours as I teen agonizing over what choices to make to make the best universe I possible could. It also made me love video game romances! Garrus Vakarian you will always be famous to me and I just realized I need to get a mod to make him romancable with a male shepard...brb
I don't think I'd be amiss in saying Minecraft is probably the most influencial game of all time. It has endless replayability that isn't just fueled by nostalgia. At least once a year since I was 15 I've hopped on and started a new world, either by myself or with my friends. I've built tiny dirt shacks and giant mansions for all my friends to live in, I've slowly but surely gotten better at braving caves (then they had to go and add the Warden!), and I've still never defeated the Ender Dragon. Which, in my defense, she's just a MILF living her life! She doesn't even threaten the overworld! No, I'm much more content making memories and making a billion breads so my friends don't kill any animals.
Did anyone else play Harvest Moon growing up? From the Gameboy to the DS I loved the game and it left a farm sized hole in my heart that took years to fill. But when the GOAT ConcernedApe came out with Stardew Valley all my wants were met and more! I got to live out my fantasies of suddenly inheriting a farm in a small town and leaving behind the city to get back to the basics (at the time I lived in Arlington, TX and was going to college). I got to be gay and live off the land and get involved in small town drama, what more could anyone ask for? To top it off it's one of the few games my husband is down to play with me, so I've spent tons of hours tiling, watering plants, and petting my farm animals. It inspired me to one day want to open my own farm, but I suppose I'll have to wait for my inheritance for that.
Dragon Age is admittedly a game I haven't gotten to pick up in ages (ba dum tss). As someone who just likes one thing and does no further digging on what else the creator has produced, it took me an embarassingly long time to be shown Dragon Age. My high school girlfriend showed me Origins after we played Mass Effect and...it took me forever to get into! By that time I was used to the fast pace games of the time and agonized over the turn based combat system. But mamma didn't raise a quitter so I persevered! I remember vividly of playing as a warrior, having Alistair, Oghren, and my trusty warhound in my party, and getting absolutely demolished by the Broodmother. I had to walk my happy ass all the way back so I could swap out my companions for an actually balanced party xD Lessons were learned but I still ended up loving the game and series! Though I haven't played the newest game in the franchise (I just can't get over the graphic change) I still love Dragon Age to this day!
Far Cry 5 is admittedly the only Far Cry game I've played (I know, I know, please don't throw anything at me!) but it is still one of my favorites of all time. I have a tattoo of it, have woodburned the symbol on my trusty axe, and plan to woodburn it on my rifle one day too! The menu song "When the Morning Light Shines In" is one of my favorite songs of all time and is the official national anthem of my fictional country, Osreton! I will always love the game and still even replay it. I don't know what to say, I fell in love with the gameplay style, the Montana setting, the cult themes, and of course the goofiness the game lets itself have often.
Life is Strange is...well...strange xD I absolutely love the game and it's such a core memory of my teen self. But it's also a product of its time with the dialogue and aesthetic! I can't help but love it for what it is, flaws and all. Being a little gay kid I was obsessed with Max and Chloe and their relationship and couldn't help but chose Bae over Bay. I am lacking in playing all the games, only having played the original, True Colors, and Before the Storm, but I hope to one day play them all! I'm also anxious and tentatively hopeful for the show that is apparently coming out! I'm ready for the mosh pit, shaka brah.