so, how did ya'll started liking this genre?

[anameforobsidian]

The first game I ever bought was Fallout 1 (along with Thief the Dark Project).  I was hooked to rpgs after that.

[ruzen]

Introduced with FRP -around 12- but I didnt like rpgs back then, more like platform, shooter or strategy guy. Started with Baldurs Gate and Silver in one summer around late 90's, after that just couldnt stop but playing but RPGs. My favorite rpg of all time is Vampire The Masqurade: Bloodlines and Arcanum for second place

Edited March 19, 2015 by ruzen

[R.Alexander]

I played the first Baldur's Gate somewhere around 2000 or 2001. I got past Candlekeep, it seemed too hard and I quit playing it. Sometime later, maybe a year, I got the Soulbringer/Planescape: Torment double pack. I figured I would just play Soulbringer and it was worth the price for just the one game, but then I tried Torment, and it changed my life from that point on. It was my first experience with a video game where it was more than just playing for fun, and the first game I played to the end credits. Before, I would just play Mario or Mega Man or whatever to pass the time, but Torment made me realize that games could tell a story and give you an experience like a book or a movie could. It kind of ruined games for me for a while, because I didn't want to play any game unless it was as moving as Torment was. I went back and played BG and appreciated it much more.

 

Planescape:Torment is still to this day my favorite game of all time. I am very happy with the little I have seen and heard so far with the new Torment game

[BruceVC]

 

 

snip

 

Those Fighting Fantasy books were really entertaining, I don't how many you completed. Remember Deathtrap Dungeon and Creature of Havoc 

 

Did you ever play the Lone Wolf series of books? Also a very exciting fantasy series 

 

Thanks for asking. I just had a trip down my memory lane lol.

I started reading FF when i was 11 or 12 (That's 30 years ago!) I read and completed about 15, that's how many that got translated to danish- I did complete Creature of Havoc (this was the absolute hardest) and Deathtrap Dungeon (you mentioned my two fave's)...

 

I also do remember Lone Wolf, but I only read one or two, and I couldn't really get into the lore and stuff... Then when i was 14-15, we started the Fighting Fantasy "tabletop", The Riddling Reaver" or something like that. It was cool, but then shortly after I got the red D&D box. Ohh the memories ....

 

 

You right about Creature of Havoc, it was very difficult. You had to learn how to break the "code " of how people spoke because in the beginning you were a monster but obviously didn't know it and couldn't understand what people meant. That book was genius

[LadyCrimson]

My memory is fuzzy at this point...there were brief Atari (kid) and Nintendo (late teen) and pc text attempts (20's), but I didn't get really into electronic gaming until Doom. So there was Myst, Diablo, Tombraider, DungeonKeeper, various others. Still, I hadn't played a whole ton of different games at the point when I saw BG1 in the store. I recall thinking it might be sorta like Diablo or something. Haha! I had no clue about D&D, just thought it might be fun to play.

 

Anyway, I installed it and got sucked into it for a long time. Pretty much had me playing other story-crpg's for many years after.

 

I do not miss the days of multiple disc swapping.

[Katarack21]

 

I still believe that might have remained true if EA hadn't ripped the heart and soul out of BioWare to feed their unholy legions. BioWare wasn't the only studio working in that genre, but they were a large part of the driving momentum behind it; when BioWare changed, much of my computer RPG gaming disappeared. Of course, NWN throws a wrench into this idea; I never have liked that game. Endless crappy fetch quests and fed ex quests; to this day that's all I think of about NWN.

well to be honest, the first NWN is kinda like MMO wannabe, instead of focusing on campaign and compelling plot and characters, it tries to focus on the online side, which i don't really dig either. glad obsidian fixed it with NWN2, and ultimately, Mask of The Betrayer, which is like the second best videogame story to plancescape.

 

also i feel like a kid here

 

you guys have like so much history with it, like a long-life marriage XD

 

That was exactly my problem! I don't really game online, I don't much care about it. Especially with my RPG's, I'm in it for the solo experience of story and characters, with exploration and fun combat as added bonuses. NWN really did nothing for me; it wasn't my style of game at all. Jade Empire I really enjoyed, on the other hand, but looking back I can see both of these games were sort of the writing on the wall for my times of really enjoying BioWare products.

 

And yeah, there is a long history there for a lot of us. I'm only 31 years old, but I've been playing video games since I was five; I played the original Doom shareware, I had Chrono Trigger, and I was in the right time and place to experience BG I and II when they were fresh. On the other hand, I can still just barely remember a time before household computers were common. By the time we had a computer, I was five years old and it was running an Intel 8088 chip, and I was one of the few who had access to one. My generation of gamers has *nothing* on the generation coming up; my little sister has computers and technology so integrated into her life that I can't really understand it. Thirty years from now I can't even imagine what things will be like.

[LadyCrimson]

^ I like the internet and I still like building a shiny new PC/playing games. But the idea of being super-integrated with tech/gadgets as a  lifestyle is still alien to me and probably always will be. I still don't even have a cellphone.

[BruceVC]

^ I like the internet and I still like building a shiny new PC/playing games. But the idea of being super-integrated with tech/gadgets as a  lifestyle is still alien to me and probably always will be. I still don't even have a cellphone.

 

Funny enough these massive advancements in technology aren't  always relevant to the global community because of the  gap in wealth and poverty levels

 

In Bill Gates book " The Road Ahead " in the 1980's his goal in life was " a Windows  PC in every house in the world "

 

But then he traveled to Africa with his wife and that objective changed, he then started believing " how can we expect a PC in every house when some people don't even know where there next meal is coming from  " 

 

So don't think you will necessarily be overwhelmed by technology or have to have be part of it on some levels 

[Faerunner]

My mom's boyfriend at the time introduced me to Neverwinter Nights back in 2004 (when I was in middle school)... and I've been hooked on the genre ever since. =)

[Fredward]

The first ever RPG I played was Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. It... was never exactly popular but I really liked it. It'll always have a special place in my heart. Primarily because nostalgia but still.

[Pidesco]

The first ever RPG I played was Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. It... was never exactly popular but I really liked it. It'll always have a special place in my heart. Primarily because nostalgia but still.

 

 

Barcelona is pretty great. It's after Barcelona that things go pear shaped for Lionheart.

[Fredward]

 

The first ever RPG I played was Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. It... was never exactly popular but I really liked it. It'll always have a special place in my heart. Primarily because nostalgia but still.

 

 

Barcelona is pretty great. It's after Barcelona that things go pear shaped for Lionheart.

 

And Montaillou, things are still pretty solid there. But yes, things degenerate quickly into hack-n-slash after that. Especially the war. BUT! It does get props for the ability to talk your way out of just about every major boss fight, including the last one. You don't see that a lot.

[mtroman85]

My first experience with the IE games came from playing the BG demo which I didn't play until right before BG2 launched.  I was 14 years old and had recently started reading Forgotten Realms books.  A friend of mine (who had also gotten me addicted to playing D&D) invited me over to play the demo.  I liked it immediately, but my friend told me how brutal the game was at first with level 1.  I then decided to buy the collectors edition of BG2 (the one with the gold painted CDs and the manual that was larger then some novels) and played it 10 hours straight in my first play session.

 

Played PS:T, BG, and IWD2 (never played IWD1)

[BigBripa]

I was like 10 the first time I played FF7 and that was such an amazing experience because it was like a movie or a book I wanted to play all night just to find out what happened. I know jrpgs are the devil around here or whatever. Played pretty much every jrpg to see a western release for 6-8 years probably. The Fire Emblems and Wild Arms and pretty much any Nippon Ichi title. Uh, when I was a kid I got Baldur's Gate and liked it. Playing it now I appreciate it a bit more.

 

Just have always been into swords and sorcery. Being the hero, epic scale, climactic battles, etc. Now I kind of just like fantasy settings for the face they can put on universal issues. Also monsters. I love monsters, monster pseudobiology, monster design, etc.

 

As an adult I just started hating the mostly boring conventions of jrpgs and played mostly 4X or StarCraft/War Craft 3 (like everyone else I had like a 2 year Dota phase when it first started). So Steam. Some witcher, aow3 definitely. I was big into Awesomenauts (and was league 1 tyvm!)

 

And then Divinity Original Sin came out. Blew my mind/devoured my life. So I Google upcoming rpgs after I was done with that. It sent me to this 10 RPGs to watch for in 2014 slideshow, Pillars of Eternity was #8, I googled it and here I am.

[dmhancock]

Hey, signed up just so I could contribute to this thread!

My first RPG type game was Warriors of the Eternal Sun, on the Megadrive when I was around 6-7 in the 90's. I asked my dad to get more games like it, and he phones up whatever gaming magazine it was called back then who told him the Megadrive wouldnt be supporting games like it again. What he wanted to do was get Baldur's Gate. 

Baldur's Gate is my favourite thing of all time. That thing grabbed my by the eyeballs, changing my entire outlook of playing. It drove my mum nuts! With that, i've always wanted to play RPG's, and I eagerly await the arrival of this game. 

David

[Michael_Galt]

Great games, all of those.  I had a neighbor that loved computer games and built computers in his spare time.  He preferred Warcraft and Starcraft, Age of Empires, and Diablo.  I played all those and they were fun.  One day he had BG 2.  He tried it and didn't really like it.  I decided to give it a try, and was immediately hooked.  Growing up, I had read lots of Forgotten Realms books, and so, immediately recognized all sorts of things in the game.  The learning curve was steep- it took me a while to wrap my head around the D&D ruleset and to actually figure out how to play it right, but, after spending nights reading through the manual, and experimenting with different things, I got it.  I loved the party interactions, the different strengths of the different classes, the difficulty of the battles, where you really had to think carefully about what you were going to do to be successful. 

 

I loved the art and the music.  The story was great.  I loved that party members could betray and leave you.  I loved that it really felt epic.  I didn't go from being weak to powerful in a couple of hours.  Every time I leveled up, I felt like I had really accomplished something and looked forward to using those new skills.  As it went further into the game, that became slower and more difficult, which was fine, because it allowed me to master the use of the skills I currently had.  And Jon Irenicus.  What an awesome adversary.  Intelligent, interesting voice, always evasive, but not from fear.  I loved it. 

 

I still haven't played another RPG that I have enjoyed equally.  I love Arcanum, Kotor and Fallout: New Vegas.  But, they just aren't as epic as BG 2.  The party isn't as interesting in Arcanum, though I loved the sheer number of options for gameplay and how you built your character had so many repercussions in quests and even basic interactions- I felt it was the most permitting of real role-playing (even if the combat wasn't that great and the party interaction basically didn't exist).  Fallout NV only lets you have 1 follower, though I love it's versatility of game play options as well.  Kotor had great party interactions, the story was great, and I liked the influence system (even though it wasn't perfect), but it was a little too linear.  There just weren't that many NPCs to interact with.  It was a little too short, and you became a little too powerful too quickly.  I didn't feel the same degree of accomplishment with it.

 

I miss BG 2.  I've played through it so many times, that it just isn't that enjoyable anymore, because I really know where just about everything is, and how to do everything.  Arcanum's story just isn't compelling enough to keep playing through.  There really are only so many options for KOTOR, which is essentially, good, bad, or neutral. 

 

We'll see if I ultimately put Pillars of Eternity above those other games, but I still sincerely doubt it will supplant BG.  It doesn't have the backdrop of Faerun.  It doesn't have decades of the ruleset being tested and improved.  It doesn't have the sheer variety of spells and creatures and skills that are in D&D....  It will be a difficult task to accomplish.

[Stun]

Like most hard core RPG fans, I first fell in love with the genre back in March of 2011, when I bought Dragon Age 2. All my life I've been a gamer, but I never imagined that any RPG could ever offer such a deep, complex gameplay experience. Since then I've been hooked on RPGs.

 

I have high hopes for PoE, but I'm also a realist. And I know that due to budget restraints, it will likely not be able to capture the beauty, the drama, and the deeply immersive qualities of a good cinematic, Hollywood presentation that defines a True RPG. Still, PoE has 2 giant plusses going for it: 1) RPGs in general have improved drastically over the years and this game is being released in 2015! and, 2) Obsidian has always released remarkably bug-free games. So maybe we'll end up getting something almost as good as DA2.

Edited March 20, 2015 by Stun

[Nonek]

Bruce stop hacking Stun's account!

[Leferd]

Like most hard core RPG fans, I first fell in love with the genre back in March of 2011, when I bought Dragon Age 2. All my life I've been a gamer, but I never imagined that any RPG could ever offer such a deep, complex gameplay experience. Since then I've been hooked on RPGs.

 

I have high hopes for PoE, but I'm also a realist. And I know that due to budget restraints, it will likely not be able to capture the beauty, the drama, and the deeply immersive qualities of a good cinematic, Hollywood presentation that defines a True RPG. Still, PoE has 2 giant plusses going for it: 1) RPGs in general have improved drastically over the years and this game is being released in 2015! and, 2) Obsidian has always released remarkably bug-free games. So maybe we'll end up getting something almost as good as DA2.

My Gods. He's gone Native!

[Luckmann]

Like most hard core RPG fans, I first fell in love with the genre back in March of 2011, when I bought Dragon Age 2. All my life I've been a gamer, but I never imagined that any RPG could ever offer such a deep, complex gameplay experience. Since then I've been hooked on RPGs.

 

I have high hopes for PoE, but I'm also a realist. And I know that due to budget restraints, it will likely not be able to capture the beauty, the drama, and the deeply immersive qualities of a good cinematic, Hollywood presentation that defines a True RPG. Still, PoE has 2 giant plusses going for it: 1) RPGs in general have improved drastically over the years and this game is being released in 2015! and, 2) Obsidian has always released remarkably bug-free games. So maybe we'll end up getting something almost as good as DA2.

 

Stop it Stun, stop it! You're scaring me! Q_Q

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I started with a math and physics teacher of mine in 7th grade who introduced me to pools of radiance which was on an old apple 2e computer lol. holy cow how times have changed. he gave me a copy of the floppy disks and he somehow managed to recreate this odd cypher wheel that acted as a key you input the certain glyphs in order and you could continue your game. I remember we had a 50 min lunch break and it took like 30 min to load the game, so i might get in about 20 minutes of game time if I was lucky. To this day, I love that cypher wheel idea, and I'm going to use it in my kickstarter project later this yr. 

I also started playing final Fantasy 1 and loved it. from there, I just loved the idea of exploring worlds and finding loot. I would make my own mazes on graph paper, create scavenger hunts and treasure maps, and realized I loved creating those types of things ever since I was about 8. I still do even though I'm all grown up now.

[Sedrefilos]

It all began in February 2015 when I fisrt played Pacman. It just blew my mind! The reactivity and the sence of survival! Should I turn left or right? I must eat so to survive! All that immersed me in a world full of choice and consequences with no return. Then came Bubble Bobble which took those aspects ever further. There you had not only to manage the stick, but laso two buttons! The graphics were way better and you can also play co-op. The sense of survival and reactivity was even greater and the variety of food just made my eyes bleed.

Also no save! What a great game!

I tried several other games after that but nothing was not even close. Tetris, Super Mario, Street Fighter... nah. Blockbusters.

 

I backed this game because I saw it had a huge variety of consumables that, not only help you stay alive but they replenish your life and give you buffs too!!! Looking forward to try them out!

[Cantousent]

What put me here at this time and place?

 

"West of House," it said.

"Funny," I replied.  "That was my first wish."

[Horrorscope]

Working on visicalc in the mid 80's. This was a more fun way to cruch numbers.

[middydj]

Moving to the suburbs in the early 80s and seeing the guys in my classroom play DnD PnP. Although never allowed to participate with them,  it peaked my interest.

 

Then around 84 seeing Kings Quest on a IBM..  Legend of Zelda 87 or so. Then EQ(mmo) sold me totally on these type of games around 2001. Been buying them since then.