Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (the first one). This one was my complete entrance to the RPG games and i was so soaked into the atmosphere and the characters. And well of course Witcher 3. For me the best game ever. Setting, characters, story, choises…
I actually found Lemmings to be a game that changed my life. I played it just before I became a professional programmer. Solving Lemmings puzzles is not exactly like programming, but it does teach you that there is a solution and if you just keep persistently trying different shit, you will eventually solve the problem. Also, it actually helps to be high as a kite all the time.
A Plague Tale: Requiem.
I wouldn’t say it changed my life, but I couldn’t get myself to play another game for some time after both Plague Tale games back-to-back.
Tale of a brother, and sister l, barely surviving in a dangerous world. You’re using stealth to avoid the infected, to avoid the people taking advantage of the plague and those who are scared and lashing out.
And then you got a giant mechanical spider in a western magic rat powers by the pope.
I don’t even mind the second disk because without it, it was shaping up to be 300 hours long and tedious. As it is, I think it wraps things up nicely without leaving too many threads hanging. What a fantastic game! It’s the only PSX game I still have a physical copy of.
Same… Just totally crushed me. Also chose bay when I first played this game last year. Now life’s sad again, so I’m replaying this gem, this time I’ll take a look on bae ending.
Well, this game is apparently becoming my “comfort game” for replaying when I wanna escape from stress, a more recent addition to Dragon Age Origins and Persona 3
Magic: The Gathering - Arena, but in a different sense. I have played it a decent amount ever since I moved away from the city and have been unable to play with people over the table. I learned that it wasn’t really the game itself which made me interested in Magic, but the interactions with people.
I have since quit the game and haven’t really paid attention to its direction since.
It is one of the most addictive games I’ve played, and yet, I have learned more from it than almost any other.
Programming has been a core part of my career for about 20 years, and I can’t think of any other time I’ve had such leaps forward as I did in the first few months playing factory.
It really is a great visual representation of large scale systems management.
KSP really is top tier Edutainment. I finally understood, why we don’t shoot all garbage into the sun 😅. Turns out, rocket science really is some rocket science
KSP definitely. I was literally doing astrophysics at uni when I started playing. It got me a much better sense for orbital mechanics and trajectories than any class ever did.
It wasn’t the story of the game that was life-changing, but I met people on PSO that encouraged me to pursue a different career. Without them, I don’t think I’d be the person I am today.
Reaching Room 46 the first time is the first of like three or four natural jumping-off points, I’d say. You can totally stop playing there if you’re satisfied, but if you want to keep digging you can go so much deeper.
It’s the same thing as saying a good book can ruin your day when it’s over. Just because someone has an emotional attachment to a really good story, whether game, movie, or book, doesn’t mean they have a boring life.
It’s like saying “if artistic work/expression changes you, you’re a rube.” What changes you, if not expressive works? Who cares if games mostly describe tropes and isms. I’d argue almost the opposite of what you wrote, but this is the internet, and it’s a boring discussion. Bless up your house. Your experience of reality is constantly being shaped by the by your participation in sensation and your faculties of knowing.
A massage can change you, just as much as a really good meal, or a particular smell, or an advertisement. What is wrong (for lack of a better word) with being changed by an immersive experience in a video game? I guess my questions are: what allows us to validate certain types of experiences that others have, and invalidate others? It’s the prerogative of other minds, no? Do you or I dictate what is of vivifying value? Maybe not. My knowing of words, pictures, sounds, so on, is not yours. Dumb things exist that shape people’s personhood, from time to time. Peace out - I’m compelled to respond by my rejection of this kind of anti-experiential nihilism. I just drank like four beers. They are changing me, as a person.
I’m surprised you’re downvoted like this, but I had a similar thought. I understand the meme, that it is about the feeling when you finished a game with a story that made you involved. But calling it a “lifechanger” feels like exaggeration.
I have played a game that touched me deeply, leaving me emotionally out of my socket for about a week. But I wouldn’t say it “changed my life”. I can feel the echo of that experience when I remember, but that’s all.
Every single thing we do changes our lives, including posting throwaway comments on the internet. Games just tend to do it in ways people actually remember.
For pure entertainment or passive turn-brain-off type games I’m inclined to agree with you. Mario Party isn’t exactly changing lives out here.
Games that tell a story though, they can be extremely impactful just like any form of story. Through stories I myself have changed my world views, taken new perspectives in life. Star Trek The Next Generation’s season 6 episode Tapestry changed my outlook on risk taking especially in my professional life, my username reference to the Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask got me to overcome my extreme fear and anxiety of being rejected by friends. Was I much younger when I experienced those stories, sure, but they still changed the course of my life.
My day job is working on satellites, I’m a hobbyist carpenter, been teaching myself to play piano, frequently go camping/hiking into Colorado’s mountains, work on a project car, and sure this evening I’ve been playing Factorio but I’ve been doing so while sipping wine that I made myself.
You could call me many things, but I don’t think boring fits.
I understand that it sounds kind of hyperbolic, but I’ve played a few games that changed my life, and I consider myself to have normal emotional depth. I’ve played some games that simply affected me on a core level in ways I hadn’t felt since childhood.
I was thinking about the ending for days. I wish someone else could experience it for the first time so I can finally talk about it with someone. This game is so good, audio, graphics and story wise, it’s a shame it’s not widely known.
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