https://my9games.net
most of these i feel like are pretty obvious, but the two weird ones are osrs and myst.
osrs is a game i have tried going back to many times but i just can't do it anymore. i played it a SHIT ton as a kid though. it was my first online game, my first PC game too. i played a ton of it with my friends and family. it was such a novel thing to have a game where we could all play and run around and talk with each other. i don't really play it anymore but i love watching youtube stuff about it still. it was definitely a huge part of my formative childhood years.
myst is an even odder choice that i put here not because i particularly like the game, or have even played that much of it, but because i watched my dad play it a lot as a kid on our old as fuck macintosh. it was actually the catalyst that inspired me to make my own games. i would draw out adventures on paper that had things you could "click" on that would lead to other papers, like an adventure book. those were my own little myst copies. and then of course when our family got a computer with internet i would immediately start looking up how to make video games and stumbled on rpg maker. so yeah, i'd say myst was pretty fuckin impactful.
@beardalaxy I had to screenshot mine because LibreWolf doesn't play well with generating images.
Link's Awakening was my first Zelda game and is my favorite 2D Zelda. The idea of unlocking new areas opened up the possibilities for me in video games. It made me daydream about unlocking hidden areas in my house or finding secret places in my hometown.
Phantasy Star IV is my favorite of the original games and that series in general told me that sci-fi and fantasy tropes do go together. The fourth game in particular taught me that anger and hatred are natural emotions and even they have a purpose in this world.
Fallout 3 was my first truly open world game. I don't care what others say about it. It will always hold a special place in my heart for that.
Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario Kart DS were the two games that I played the most with friends because they were the games that everyone had. Unfortunately, I could never play online with friends because none of us could understand the friend-code system.
SimCity 4, while not my first simulation game, opened me up to the possibilities.
007 Nightfire is my first FPS and opened me up to possibilities. It also has a really fun multiplayer mode that I feel like hasn't been replicated.
Harvest Moon 64, while I don't think has aged well, showed me that video games can make you feel and relate to people and that hard work is rewarding. Also it taught me that both a successful career and a healthy social life is something that you should strive for.
And finally Cave Story taught me what one man can do in his free-time and that it is possible for one person to make a game that is on the levels of a classic Zelda or Final Fantasy.
Also honorable mentions go to Majora's Mask, which I didn't put on here because I want to keep it one game per franchise, but that game taught me that you can still have an engaging plot while prioritizing gameplay and having a smaller world.
@RehnyNytes256 @beardalaxy Thanks. Though I forgot to mention that Link's Awakening also taught me about coming to grips with the true nature of the world and sometimes you do need to make some very tragic sacrifices.
@xianc78@gameliberty.club @beardalaxy@gameliberty.club you have a thoughtful and meaningful reason for all your games. I could feel the impact.