What's a gaming experience you wish you could do for the first time again?

[gunnar hendershow]

I watched my cousin boot this game up in 1994 for the first time; it was a big genie leaving the bottle moment. I can't experience that feeling again, though of course many things come close.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

as good as blatant fanservice gets

[Colly]

7 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

I get annoyed when people act as though there's a statue of limitations on spoilers. Someone on Twitch casually spoiled the ending of The Last of Us and, when called out on it, smugly responded that anyone who hadn't played it yet was never going to. Plenty of people get round to playing games years, and even decades, after they first launch, so to throw out spoilers without warning is just inconsiderate.

Even worse is when people assume that, because they've seen, read or played something, everyone else has, making spoilers fair game. It's something that fuels the "FOMO" factor that companies have latched onto as a way to entice people to pay ever-increasing prices to consume their stories on day one.

This is me, so thank you. Haven't played Last of Us, am planning to soon, still working through God of War (not Ragnarok, I'm a decade off that...).

Anyway, mine is Monkey Island 2. I'm nearly finished the new one which is lovely, but I don't think anything in point and click will compare to parts 1 and 2 of that game, the perfectly contained Scabb Island bit then the Island hopping after.

[Liam]

Taking this more as a moment than a game, there was something really special about the moment you left the vault in Fallout 3 and got a sense of just how vast the world you were walking into felt. 

[TheGrandAvatar]

20 minutes ago, Tall Boi Byrne said:

Taking this more as a moment than a game, there was something really special about the moment you left the vault in Fallout 3 and got a sense of just how vast the world you were walking into felt. 

Yes. The way the screen is too bright as you exit the vault with the sun. Then once it settles. You then see how vast it all is around the world. 

First time doing this a random enemy dog attacked me. That was such a fun game to get lost into at the time. 

[Lint]

Super Mario Bros.   Just hearing that iconic music for the first time...figuring out what you can and can't stomp.  I still remember playing SMB for the first time today.  My great aunt and uncles house in Ohio.  Was there for a wedding, and my cousins had a NES.

Wolfenstein 3D.  This is another one I remember playing for the first time.  My friend Grant in my neighborhood had a dad who was super into computers (This was unusual in 1991) and Grant said "My dad has this game, lets play it!"  We then spent the next few hours engaged in this game.  We really didn't care we were killing Nazis (Hey, we were 11...) but the blood in the game was just amazing.

Myst.  Do I really need to say anything more about Myst?  Just such an amazing game visually when it came out

CoD 4: Modern Warfare.  Seriously, nothing in a game shocked me more then this did.  Granted, this is from the remaster, but it still applies

 

[Skummy]

1 hour ago, Colly said:

Anyway, mine is Monkey Island 2. I'm nearly finished the new one which is lovely, but I don't think anything in point and click will compare to parts 1 and 2 of that game, the perfectly contained Scabb Island bit then the Island hopping after.

It's probably Monkey Island 1 for me. It's an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a big fan of 2 - my girlfriend is intermittently playing through it now, and I want her to finish it before I start on Return, and some of the puzzles are just too overly complicated; there's about five steps to winning the spitting contest, including one that relies on timing your response to a visual cue, which you pretty much never need to do at any other point in the game (a timing-based puzzle in Broken Sword is routinely heralded as one of the worst puzzles in gaming for that reason, yet MI2 gets away with it somehow), and the less said about the "monkey wrench" puzzle the better. There are times when I've given her clues about what you have to do at certain points, that puzzle is the only time I've gone, "look, there's literally no way you would ever figure this out, this is what you have to do".

Monkey Island 1, though, that was a revelation. When I was a kid, this family moved into the village that had quite a lot more money than we did, and I became good friends with their two kids, and spent a lot of time round their place, and they had a PC back when everyone else I knew, if they had a computer at all, were still on one of the old British home computing things; we had an Amstrad CPC. Monkey Island was one of the first games I'd ever played with them, and I'd never played a PC game before, never played a point-and-click adventure, and never played a game that was genuinely funny before. Everything from the Dial-A-Pirate copyright protection right through to the end of the game had me absolutely enthralled. I could probably say similar about later games that I obsessed over - Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Starcraft, Dungeon Keeper, a weird PC game called Little Big Adventure 2 - but Monkey Island was pretty special. 

Early PS1 and PS2 games in general, too, just for the sense of something new and exciting. The jump in graphical ability from one console to another, the sense of endless possibility that comes with it, just can't be replicated any more. I've played a PS5 once, and had no real sense that it was any different to the PS4, and I'm in no hurry to buy one. Progress feels a lot more granular now, there's not that "holy shit, I can't believe this machine is capable of this" feeling of the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo for the first time, or being excited for the first Gran Turismo. 

[RazorsEdge]

Fallout, Fallout 3, Final Fantasy VIII, Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires were all pretty big whoa moments for me. Also Sonic the Hedgehog because that's one of my earliest gaming memories.

[Your Mom]

16 hours ago, Dang117 said:

It's probably cliche at this point as its been remastered so many times but The Last Of Us. 

This is probably my favorite game of all time! I think I play it like once a year and am still awed by it every time. They can remaster it until I die and I will buy it every time

[Benji]

13 hours ago, damhausen said:

I watched my cousin boot this game up in 1994 for the first time; it was a big genie leaving the bottle moment. I can't experience that feeling again, though of course many things come close.

 

Similarly for me and my cousin playing FF7. He was in the Corel Desert from the start of that section and did the Dyne fight and I was hooked.

38 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

This is probably my favorite game of all time! I think I play it like once a year and am still awed by it every time. They can remaster it until I die and I will buy it every time

Ditto on this. Though I don't want to play it again for the first time because there's so much I've picked up on during replays that adds to the experience. That first run on grounded though? Absolutely would do that for the first time again. Brutal stuff.

[Bobfoc]

I thought The Last of Us was just OK the first time round, but I preferred it the second time.

[RPS]

Beating the first four shrines and seeing how the world of BOTW opens up. 

[Ace-hole Rimmer]

There's a few that spring to mind for me. Playing through Knights of the Old Republic for the first time, experiencing that story.

Same goes for Disco Elysium. I had such an amazing experience with Harry in that game, a beautiful experience all round.

As for a specific moment, Oblivion, when you leave the cave at the start, and step out into the open world for the first time. I remember being blown away by that.

 

[tristy]

I'm a sucker for when video games have gameplay with actual songs, so stuff like the Mausoleum battle in Halo 2 with Breaking Benjamin and riding into Mexico for the first time in Red Dead Redemption with a Jose Gonzales song playing.

My #1 is probably playing the Last Of Us Part II for the first time, though. I already knew about the big death that happens, and didn't care because I don't like that character anyway tbh, but the entire journey was just... I don't know. Beautiful? Sad? It stirred up a lot of emotions in me. I'd have to really sit down and think about if I've ever played a more cinematic game before this. Just feels like the perfect game in a lot of ways, from start to finish.

Of course, it probably helped that a few months prior to this game coming out, I only had an Xbox and really only used it for wrestling games and as a way to watch Netflix. Buying a PS4 in 2019 was my pathway back into gaming after a long time, and TLOU2 (and the first Horizon and God of War) all touched me in different ways and made me love gaming again like I did when I was in high school.

[Kaney]

38 minutes ago, tristy said:

I'm a sucker for when video games have gameplay with actual songs, so stuff like the Mausoleum battle in Halo 2 with Breaking Benjamin and riding into Mexico for the first time in Red Dead Redemption with a Jose Gonzales song playing.

For the sake of an experience that hadn't already been brought up, in the same vein as Tristys post: when you finally get into the cigarette maze in Control, starting to feel very powerful with the abilities and starting to turn the tide...and the Old Gods of Asgard song Take Control kicks in is one of the most epic badass moments I've had.

[Your Mom]

1 hour ago, tristy said:

I'm a sucker for when video games have gameplay with actual songs, so stuff like the Mausoleum battle in Halo 2 with Breaking Benjamin and riding into Mexico for the first time in Red Dead Redemption with a Jose Gonzales song playing.

My #1 is probably playing the Last Of Us Part II for the first time, though. I already knew about the big death that happens, and didn't care because I don't like that character anyway tbh, but the entire journey was just... I don't know. Beautiful? Sad? It stirred up a lot of emotions in me. I'd have to really sit down and think about if I've ever played a more cinematic game before this. Just feels like the perfect game in a lot of ways, from start to finish.

Of course, it probably helped that a few months prior to this game coming out, I only had an Xbox and really only used it for wrestling games and as a way to watch Netflix. Buying a PS4 in 2019 was my pathway back into gaming after a long time, and TLOU2 (and the first Horizon and God of War) all touched me in different ways and made me love gaming again like I did when I was in high school.

Totally agree about TLOU2. That game actually hit me so hard I haven't been able to revisit it yet. It was almost too much for me but I wouldn't change a thing about it

[BuddyAwesome]

Ocarina of Time. I was always a few years behind on gaming so by the time I got to this one, I remember feeling blown away by the open worldness of it. 

Uncharted for me later on because I'd taken a long break from gaming and skipped the PS2 console. I'd never seen anything like that.Just absolutely beautiful. I had also picked up whatever Madden and WWE game were out at the time and those were fun but Uncharted really felt special. 

[lanky316]

I've struggled to think of any particular games without having a list of about 300 so I'll simplify it. I'd like to be able to experience each "generation"/system for the first time as I grew up around games. It doesn't work with a more modern outlook but to relive the years and going through it. The idea of loading up a Spectrum tape and seeing (reasonable) renditions of Postman Pat or Thomas the Tank Engine for the first time. To loading up a C64 and hearing the improvement in music and general graphics. Picking up a Game Boy and being able to play games while out and about. Then I'd have been able to load up an Amiga and suddenly seen the sheer scale of strategy games like Civ or Premier/Championship manager, I've got my first real console of the speed and colours of a mega drive game through Sonic the Hedgehog. Then my mind could really be blown by picking up a Playstation and... Metal Gear Solid, the scale of some of those Amiga and pc games (as I'm not going to go through suddenly picking up "well I got another pc here and it booted up a bit quicker at first and could handle more recent games") but being even bigger across two discs something new as far as the "simple" world of consoles and just opening up so much more. The progressive jump to the PS2 which while not being as stand out moment the jump over the time still has enough of a wow as GTA matures and the "Realistic graphics" actually start to look a lot closer than I'd previously believed. Finally a PS3. Being able to set up Rock Band, download a continuously expanded set list and play in a "band" in real time with a couple of friends from all over the world. I'd been able to play online before this era of course but it was so quick and easy and a sense of growth on a console and it's availability feels on another level.

I could have detoured and picked up other things like some of the consoles/handhelds I had (PSP and watching films on my handheld gaming console!) or spent more time around PC but for brevity and a general overview I've tried to keep it as simple to avoid too many tangents, for me the jump to PS3/4/5 doesn't *feel* as huge to me looking back. To be able to have those experiences across systems and seeing the growth of things without the "cloud" of nostalgia and being able to experience them without any vision of what was to follow is something that is just something totally impossible now. I can't wait to rage at the weird control system of Alien Resurrection... before near every game borrowed the basic control scheme!

Edited February 21, 2023 by lanky316

[The Buscher]

So I have one that jumps to mind but unfortunately can't even remember the name of the game.  It was your classic side-scrolling beat em up arcade game, installed at a local restaurant.  My dad and his girlfriend were still eating and had given me some quarters to go keep myself entertained with the game.  A few other kids came over and played too.  We made a nice run of it until they'd run out of money, I was the only one still going and almost out of quarters myself.  The audience grew as pretty much every kid in that place around the same age as me gathered to watch the run.  Made it to the final boss level and we all figured I was doomed doing it solo.  Somehow ended up overcoming the odds, finishing off the bad guy and beating the game.

Everyone rejoiced.  "YOU BEAT THE GAME DUDE!"  There were probably like a dozen onlookers by the end and all of us were likely around 7-10 years old, so let's be real, at that age beating a game feels like heroic shit.  If it were a movie I'd have been hoisted and paraded through the establishment.

Anyway, was cool to feel like "the man" by beating the game in front of everyone.  Still can't remember what game it was and not sure I'd even want to know, lest I look it up and find it's not as hard as it seemed at the time.

[Dan B.]

Some of these have already come up, but...

Astrosmash on Intellivision.  I'm more of the NES generation, but my first system was my dad's hand-me-down Intellivision.  I'd played at least a couple of arcade games before - I definitely remember playing a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet at a pizza place in the mall when I was around 3 or 4 - but I'll never forget when my dad hooked up the Intellivision for me, with Astrosmash (his favorite of the games he had for it) and taught me how to play.  So this one's more for personal reasons than anything from the game itself.

Super Mario Bros.  Coming from the world of largely simple, largely single-screen Intellivision era games, playing SMB the first time was mind-blowing for just how *open* it felt.  The feeling of exploration and possibility, showing just what games could be, was unforgettable and probably unmatched.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (US).  Largely the same reasoning as SMB1, if not quite as intense.  I'll never forget the first time, being stuck at the beginning of 1-2, and finally coming to the realization that hey, I can jump on the magic carpet, throw the Pidgit off and then fly the carpet myself across the gap!

Super Mario Bros. 3.  Same reasoning again as SMB1.  The sheer amount of content was amazing at the time.

Mega Man 2-4.  I loved and still love them, but I've played them so many times that there isn't much challenge left.  I remember it being an accomplishment in, say, 3, to have a password that had one or two of the Robot Masters defeated.  I left off 1 because due to its design, that one still gives me a good challenge, and 5-6 - while still great games - didn't quite have that same feel of accomplishment (5 especially was pretty easy overall - plus I was a bit older when they came out, and already a veteran of the first four).

Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger.  Two of my favorite - and, for my money, two of the greatest - game stories ever created.  It would be great to go through them for the first time again; not knowing what will happen and exploring them with fresh eyes.  

ToeJam & Earl.  My all-time favorite two-player game.  I first completed it with one of my oldest friends and we still play it when the rare opportunity comes up, but it'd be fun to get to Funkotron for the first time again.

Shadowgate and Deja Vu.  I love the MacVentures but have played through these two so many times I can pretty much just walk through them every time.  It'd be cool to do it without knowing the solution again.  At least I still haven't finished Uninvited or Deja Vu II (via the Casebooks of Ace Harding cart on GBC), so there's that.

Maniac Mansion.  Same reasoning as the MacVentures, though this one does at least hold up better to replays due to the different character and ending possibilities.  

I don't know if I would've thought of it unless it had already been brought up, but I'll throw Myst in too.  Looking back on it now, it's hard to see it as much more than a CGI slide show, but it was pretty remarkable at the time - a point & click game, but stripped down of almost everything unessential including the kinds of UIs the MacVentures and Maniac Mansions and Kings Quests and such used, and starting you with nearly no context so that you had to discover even your purpose as you went.  The combination of its images and music also gave it atmosphere for days.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Dan B.