The RPG that hooked you.

areteus said:

Dragon Warriors. It came in the form of 6 paperback books, each costing about £1.75 each from Woolworths. First ever time playing an RPG.

Oh wait, you mean computer games with fantasy elements that claim to be roleplaying? Nope... never done one o' them new fangled thingamebobs... unless you count Bards Tale on the ZX Spectrum...

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Dragon Warriors was great, if I'm remembering it right. I had the first four books. Wish I still had them.

I do still have them... and last year I discovered that a friend of mine was responsible for bringing the game back in print, though this time as a single book in the style of other games...

It was refreshingly simpler than most other games, which let you get on with the story rather than worrying about tables

And Bards Tale is possibly the oldest RPG on computer that I can think of, anyone think of an older one?

Tunnels and Trolls & Bards Tales were the first, if you don't count the OPEN DOOR. GO LEFT. text based RPGs. I have fond memories of playing Chrono Trigger all day in my boyfriend's apartment while he was at work, Final Fantasy 7 (american version) hooked me and I bought whatever console was playing the latest version, I bought a new computer so I could play the latest expansion of World of Warcraft, Dragon Age . . .

Sadly, I hated the new Final Fantasy. Lighting didn't have much of a personality and the game didn't seem like an RPG. I also hated Skyrim -- the graphics weren't Warcraft and I couldn't get into how the controls worked.

So I'm a sad little gamer. Hoping that Bioware doesn't fuck up Inquisition.

Jamiekswriter said:

Hoping that Bioware doesn't fuck up Inquisition.

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You and me both, sister.

Tabletop? I played D&D and AD&D on and off in middle and high school, and did some GURPS in college. But it was the Amber Diceless RPG that hooked me. Went to conventions. Ran a convention. GM'd, and passed my scenarios on to other GMs (I hear they're still running Family Resemblance).

And then, one day, I realized that I never wanted to hear another clever scheme to get blood on the Pattern and place the universe in jeopardy. Poof. Gone.

On computers? Wind Waker. I could go sailing for hours in that game, the same way that I can wander the world forever in Minecraft these days.

I've already mentioned that Final Fantasy IV lives forever in a corner of my brain, pulling my strings like some kind of bodysnatching alien, only way more cool. Final Fantasy VI, too, has had a lot of influence. I've lost whole afternoons to The Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Quest/Warrior, especially the first one, gave me a lot to daydream about.

Action RPGs? Zelda, definitely, and shout-out to Adventures of Alundra.

I got shot at by an RPG in 1969 in Vietnam. Let me tell you, it gets your attention right quick.

caw

Computer game-wise?

Wizardry and later A Bard's Tale, no doubt. Never really like the Ultima series.

Zork was cool, but I never really got hooked on it.

blacbird said:

I got shot at by an RPG in 1969 in Vietnam. Let me tell you, it gets your attention right quick.

caw

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Well yeah, but these RPGs just make you lose social life.

Tabletop D&D convinced me I liked RPGs

Eye pf The Beholder was my first computer RPG and had me searching for more.

Everquest got me completely hooked to the point of near addiction for a while.

The Mass Effect series is my favourite though.

Kaiser-Kun said:

I dream for a game with Mass Effect 3 characters, Skyrim's beauty, Bioware story and Fallout New Vegas mission variety.

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That's a tall order! It's probably lost some where in Development Hell.

To answer the OP, FF7 hands down kept me from sleeping for like a week.

AD&D and White Wolf's Werewolf: The Apocalypse for the tabletop. Played some Traveller but really couldn't much get into it. Never could find someone to take me through Shadowrun but that intrigued me.

I'm late coming to cRPGs. Bioware's Dragon Age was the first that really set the hook deep in my mouth. That's the game that has launched my search for more.

I got into RPGs entirely by accident. When I was a wee lad, I played Double Dragon at my cousin's house and loved it, so when I finally got an NES, that was the first game I asked my parents for. They ended up confusing the names and brought home Dragon Warrior instead. I've been hooked ever since, though at some point my love for J-RPGs waned and I became more entranced with the Western variety.

Gynn said:

For you RPG players, what was the game that hooked you into the genre? What is your favorite series?

For me, it was Phantasy Star for the Sega Master System (I was 12ish). I had never played a game like it: cool characters, great music and graphics and the cartridge actually saved your progress! You didn't have to start over every time you played. After that game, I tried every RPG I could find.

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Hardcore Phantasy Star fan over here! While my pen name is inspired by PSIII, the original will always be my favorite. I was 6 years old when I first watched my neighbors play it (they're responsible for getting me into gaming) and I fell in love. Over 20 years and a bunch of other games later, it's still one of my all-time favorite games.

Chrono Trigger and Tales of Phantasia were the RPGs that got me hooked on the genre. Right now my favourite is Final Fantasy XIII (can't wait for XIII-3 to be released).

Vampire: the Masquerade tabletop, and then online (chatrooms, not the video game), that did it for me. I've branched out and played other RPGs since then, both MMOs and tabletop, but VtM will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind hooked me so hard, what an amazing game. Free to do whatever you want in a huge land saturated with rich lore and history.
Then the two sequels Oblivion and Skyrim, also amazing games.

Neverwinter Nights was pretty fantastic.
Lord of the Rings Onlne

I have a huge weakness for D&D. I love the pen and paper game, so PC games based on D&D usually hook me. Most recently, that was Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2. The main campaigns that come with the game are quite generic and cliched, but there's a whole lot of fan made modules out there that are really good, and I've been wasting a lot of my time lately downloading all of the best reviewed ones and playing them.

I absolutely love Western RPGs -- something about being able to create my character's story and legend really excites me. Half of the fun is seeing what choices I can make and seeing my character develop.

That said, I'm also quite partial to the old console RPGs like Final Fantasy -- two of the games I've developed during my time as an indie developer have been tributes to those kinds of games (Legionwood: Tale of the Two Swords and Legionwood 2).

roseangel said:

Chrono Trigger for me.

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Agree! And Earthbound.

Gynn said:

I loved PSIII! Most of my friends thought the monsters were too weird, but it had great music and multiple storylines/endings:

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Well, when you remind everyone how downright shitty the battle animations were.... Seriously, though. Everything's either wiggling its fingers or its ears. PSIII is sort of the black sheep of the original quadrology, but it does have some redeeming qualities.* Some of the music is wonderful, and I also liked the different generations/alternate endings aspect.

(*But NOT the battle animations.)

Gynn said:

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I'm going to be totally honest and admit that when I first looked at this, I thought the guy was repeatedly giving the middle finger over and over and over again.

7th Sea! I weep openly the way AEG/Alderac is sitting on the property doing nothing with it now.