Games you wish you could play again for the first time

[Ady]

There are certain games that really leave an impression on your mind. Games that do something special for you the first time you play them.

Unfortunately, you can replay the games all you like and whilst you'll enjoy yourself, that initial intangible buzz you got will never return.

So, what games out there do you wish you could play again for the first time ever? One that springs to my mind is Silent Hill.

Silent Hill was my first experience of psychological horror in game form. It looks very dated now, but back then the whole package seemed amazing. I rushed home from work every evening, switched off the lights, turned the stereo up loud and immersed myself in its compelling nastiness, driven by the desire to find out what the hell was actually going on.

Certain moments will always stay with me like that bit in the room in the alternate school with the phone (yeah that bit)... the bit where alternate Silent Hill sneaked up on me unawares in the hospital, making me think "Oh ****, not again!"... the bit with the cat in the school... the harsh, percussive noise that made up the soundtrack, the strange noises in certain rooms, the final corridoor of the second sewer... the constant feeling of impending dread, of disorientation, and helplessness.

I could go on, but Silent Hill was the first video game I'd ever played in all my years of gaming that actually made me feel afraid, yet at the same time, I was fascinated by the fact that it was just a game that was doing this to me.

Like Concept with Ico, I could write essays on this game and how it affected me, but I won't (not now, anyway ). It's a feeling that none of its sequels (as good as they are) have quite been able to recapture, and replaying the first game only dulls its impact (especially now).

Anyway, what about you? What is that ONE game you wish you could erase from your mind, just so you could experience it afresh? Over to you...

Oh, and please no lists. If you're too lazy to explain your choices (the whole point of this thread is discussion), then don't bother hitting the reply button.

[djjimbob]

SM64 every time. Getting to play it for the first time at HMV in Newcastle.

[nips]

FFVII was my first Playstation game, and watching the FMV just blew me away. I felt very emotionally attached to that game. It was also a very good time in school and I was generally very happy. I'd love to experience that all over again It was brilliant. I'd love to do that over and over and over!

Equally, I would love to re-live Pokemon Blue. That game blew me away, and to re-play that from scratch would be brilliant. Perhaps the re-makes will make me happy

[Bleeders]

Ocarina of Time for me personally.

I remember taking a week off work especially, just to play it.

[YOUWIN]

yeah silent hill was great, after finishing the game i remember reading the plot guide , and being totally dumbstruck as to how deep it was, even after finishing the game i had no real idea wtf was going on - reading that plot guide was a very memorable gaming moment.

I'd love to play tomb raider for the first time again, i was so addicted to that game at the time and could not imagine anything better - lol 8)

[pscl227]

well it would have to be sonic 1 on the mega drive, very first game and games console i had, i was stuck to it 24/7 for weeks! and it has left a lasting love for all things sonic

[Concept]

I'm racking my brains and what comes to mind are six games over the past decade that I would love to play through first time again. There are others further back, although these are the specific titles still fresh in the memory where I can clearly recall the first-play experience.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Super Mario 64 - I remember seeing the first import videos and what at the time appeared a revolutionary control mechanism. In fact, everything about this game felt revolutionary, and the buzz surrounding the N64 during 1996/97 was probably one of the most exciting moments in my videogaming history... Before I began pseudo-importing, I remember me and a bunch of friends hogging one of the machine pods at a supermarket for what seemed like hours. I can still vividly recall one person spending quite literally a whole hour to themselves in the castle gardens while we all watched on enviously.

Final Fantasy VII - This is one of the big ones for me, probably only topped by ICO in terms of the sheer impact it had at the time. Again, one of my neighbours had bought a Playstation, and brought it over to show me this hyped game called 'Final Fantasy' all the magazines had been raving about. Even though I owned an N64 by that point in time, I was still very much an Amiga/PC gamer, so naviely assumed it was going to be a fluffy RPG-lite experience... When the game first kicked up, we sat there watching the credit sequence for five minutes asking ourselves: is this it? When the intro for the game finally started we were indeed wowed by the fantastic FMV, but this was almost spoilt by what I at first thought to be awfully animated blocky characters. The further FFVII got played during our initial try, the more I dismissed it... After we'd got out of the Mako reactor and into the slums, my friend was already talking about returning the game for Time Crisis... I didn't say anything... The next day, despite writing FFVII off, something kept bugging me at the back of my mind... What was going to happen next? The question kept knawing at me, so I called up my friend and asked him to bring the Playstation around again, and also not to trade in FFVII quite so soon. This pattern continued for the next few days... And I remember being gutted when there were parts I'd missed that he'd played at home... Eventually, we were just getting ready to leave Midgar when he traded in the game for Time Crisis... For several weeks I was left anxiously wondering how the narrative was going to unfold, and if the hints of a whole world to explore outside of this mysterious city were going to prove correct... Eventually, I persuaded myself into picking up a Playstation for this one game, and played up to where we'd left off by myself, and became totally enthralled and amazed as both an epic scale and atmosphere ramped up notch by notch the more I dived in. For the duration I played that game, I lived, breathed and ate FFVII's world. For many years to come, I couldn't remember a more compelling title that had quite sucked me in like that. Oh, and it's music is never going to leave my head, especially One Winged Angel...

Metal Gear Solid - This was hyped up something rotten in the press, and after a six month wait (I still had a PAL machine at that point), I remember picking it up and just shutting myself away over the weekend. At first I wasn't expecting much... I'd played the Japanese language/English subtitle demo of MGS that got bundled with the first European PS version of ISS and didn't think all that much of it... But as soon as I got past the DARPA chief I found myself hooked into a world of espionage and intrigue... MGS ended up being another one of those games that had me living it's world from beginning to end.

Silent Hill - Less than a year later, never did I think Konami would be able to replicate such a feat of immersion... Like Ady, Silent Hill had a profound effect on me... I wouldn't necessarily say I was scared, (although it did have it's moments).... Rather the game's atmosphere imprinted itself on my perspective... And on an emotional level I felt quite strange and sickened as I continued to play... I could sense something had got under my skin, but I also felt compelled to dive in further to unravel exactly why this was. All the more amazing, such impact was achieved both through night and day as I played non-stop. By the end, I can say Silent Hill (in hindsight) had just as much potentency as MGS, although it's effect was built on less with intrigue on it's narrative, and more as to my thoughts on how exactly a game could so powerfully 'infect' my sense of perception.

Shenmue - I remember reading my first preview of this in Edge and Total Control, hearing things such as how changes in the weather would obscure clues, stop ships from sailing, how there would be a 24 hour clock and you'd have to eat to survive... After reading all this and looking at the exquiste screens, I was salivating. Shenmue seemed like it was going to revolutionise everything within the adventure/RPG genre... I'd only just fully got onto the net by this point... It was late '99 and I was avidly keeping tabs on the original through IGN (when it used to be okay, or rather better than it is now)... In the end, after it came out in Japan, I buckled and by April the following year I decided to import the game, even though I knew I wouldn't understand a thing... Actually, this impenetration proved to be compelling, because I ended up approaching Shenmue like a tourist flung into a land without a language book. The detail and wealth of realism at the time... The structure of the game's progression was unlike anything I'd witnessed, even though it didn't live up to media pre-release claims... Quite honestly, I felt like a stranger in a stranger's land, and the atmosphere and uniqueness of Shenmue had me gripped quite literally for months. Like all the other titles I've previously mentioned, there was that intangible quality which imprinted onto me the importance of what a first play-through can do to a person.

ICO - I don't need to say much about this to reveal the overwhelming effect it had on me, but I suppose a quick history lesson might clear things up. Before I even heard of ICO, I had been looking forward to MGS 2 for over a year... After the PSOne prequel, this ended up being the one big game I was anticipating... I kept track of it on the net day after day... Then Konami did the unthinkable - It put in another six month European wait again, and I owned a PAL PS2... I couldn't help but stumble upon plot spoiler after plot spoiler for MGS 2 after it's US/Japanese release even though I wasn't specifically looking for them. At the time I just wanted to discuss the game with other likeminded individuals who -hadn't- played it... And so my enthusiasm wained... I felt deflated until I entered a competiton to go to the ICA and attend a media pre-release European event where it would be possible to pose some questions to Hideo Kojima... I jumped at the chance and ended up winning a place... After I got there I understood there was going to be a 'making of' documentary and when I saw it, everything about the game (all the important plot elements) got revealed... Despite being honoured in getting the chance to pose questions at Hideo Kojima in the flesh, I also felt secretly gutted that the game I'd so long been waiting for got ruined... When MGS 2 eventually came around early March of 2002, it proved to be a crushing anti-climax, and I found I didn't enjoy the gameplay or the plot... So, by that point, and after focusing on one single game for so long, I felt somewhat disillusioned with videogaming... Then later that month I heard a title I knew little of, a title that some people on the net had been whispering about, was approaching it's European debut... So I picked ICO up, not knowing what to expect, and after loading it found myself completely floored. In hindsight, and considering what ICO means to me now, I don't think my disappointment in MGS2 altered what I thought of it at the time... Even if every expectation had been fulfiled by that very game, it was evident ICO was simply in a class of it's own, wielding a certain ambience and power that felt quite unlike anything I'd experienced in any other media. To this day it's the only game that's managed to generate an emotional connection which hasn't degraded over age... From my point of view, ICO is timeless in that it's world functions in a separate state away from other fiction... To be blunt, every single time I interact with that game, even if it's just to play a small slice... I find the escapism and atmosphere overwhelmingly powerful. It only took me two nightly sessions to originally complete, but those sessions were something I'll always saviour. And the thing which gets me about ICO is that after multiple play-throughs, I've always felt the exact same way come completion. It really is magical stuff... To see media as rich as this is rare, and I believe it only happens a couple of times every generation (our generation that is), so again, I'm privledged to have been around at a time when perhaps the pinnacle of videogaming atmospherics, characterisation and emotion was first truly fleshed out to the degree to which it's potential so often aspires.

ICO is a game that's forever burned on me I guess.

[Adam Stone]

edit: Concept, as always, your posts are filled with a sense of expressive love you no doubt have for the hobby and the games you hold dear. Always a pleasure to read your thoughts

Im another for Ocarina Of Time?

The sheer awe-inspiring sense of ?wow? is one that I believe will be very hard to feel again. Playing Mario 64 for the first time had a similar feeling, yet? not quite. M64 had a feeling of witnessing a game that was going to add another dimension to future projects. While playing M64 I felt excited, amazed and intrigued ? not only about the experience in front of me but what was yet to come...

Yet? while playing OOT, there was a sense that this was what I was waiting for while playing Mario 64. Indeed Mario was a revolution for gaming? but OOT was exactly what I had felt excited for. I can remember being completely and utterly engrossed in it all. I was fascinated and amazed by every slight detail, every character I came to love and the perfect-ness of the camera, controls and movement. Finally, here was a game that I felt there was a true connection between the player and the character on screen (hadnt felt that since Super Mario World). Indeed Mario 64 kinda had this feeling, but OOT was just a step ahead and felt all the better for it?

So? yeh. I loved and still love OOT and would welcome the chance to re-play with a sense of unknowing

*edit 2* On reflection I think my thoughts concerning M64 and OOT could largely be due to the build ups surrounding them. For some bizarre reason ? I wasn?t too excited or even aware of the buzz surrounding the release of Mario 64. Probably largely due to my age then I suppose? I think if I were to choose a game that could be re-released now within the same circumstances as back then, it would be Mario 64 without a doubt.

Yet, I was overwhelmed by the whole OOT release. I remember the news alerts about the store shortages near Christmas, the radio sharing its praise and me wanting nothing else but to finally experience the game I had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity in my hands?

The whole build up to the release really added something else imo

[dragz]

Good topic.

When I saw the title I immediately thought of 3 games. Super Mario 64, Pok?mon Red/Blue and Ocarina Of Time. Just so happens they have been talked about above. However, my vote has to go to Pok?mon. I got caught up in the craze at the time and I have to say, when I look back it was a pretty good feeling. The enjoyment of finding new creatures and watching them evolve, not knowing what to expect was great. I have tried to play the game again and whilst it was good, that feeling of seeing it all for the first time just wasnt there. I too look forward to the remakes though.

[Ady]

Silent Hill - Less than a year later, never did I think Konami would be able to replicate such a feat of immersion... Like Ady, Silent Hill had a profound effect on me... I wouldn't necessarily say I was scared, (although it did have it's moments).... Rather the game's atmosphere imprinted itself on my perspective... And on an emotional level I felt quite strange and sickened as I continued to play... I could sense something had got under my skin, but I also felt compelled to dive in further to unravel exactly why this was. All the more amazing, such impact was achieved both through night and day as I played non-stop. By the end, I can say Silent Hill (in hindsight) had just as much potentency as MGS, although it's effect was built on less with intrigue on it's narrative, and more as to my thoughts on how exactly a game could so powerfully 'infect' my sense of perception..

Aha, yes, I forgot to mention that... I also had this real sense of disgust at some of the locales within the Silent Hill world.

Mario 64 would've been my second choice, too but I was after only one game that stood out.

Still, now you've started, my first experience of SM64 was similar to yours. It started when a friend was trying to persuade me to upgrade from my 16 bit consoles to one of those 'new PlayStation things'. He showed me Tekken, Die Hard Trilogy, Destruction Derby 2 and Crash Bandicoot(!), all of which (I thought) were quite fun (I liked CB's old-school twitch feel - I know I'll burn in hell for this...).

Anyway, as cool as the PlayStation seemed, I saw nothing that made me feel the need to upgrade. When I went home over Christmas (I was a student at the time), I saw Mario 64 running in an import game shop and my jaw hit the floor. I'd never seen ANYTHING like it before. I decided then that I was going to get one of those N64s and that game instead.

Obviously, I got a PS1 as well eventually, but that first sighting of Mario in true 3D was an incredibly special gaming moment. When I got the N64, my housemate and I played Mario solid from 2PM in the afternoon to 5 in the morning!

[Moodmon]

Depressing I know, but another one for OoT. I bought it when the N64 was dying, and after being underwhelmed by SM64 wasn't expecting much. It blew me away. The sheer scope of the game, the immense playing field you were given, the atmosphere and most importantly the puzzles were completely different to anything I had ever played. Nothing can replace the memories of becoming adult Link, or getting Epona, or playing around with the beautiful lock-on system. One of the few games to keep be hooked, and I was even happy with the ending.

[Adam Stone]

The ending, though some complain, was so satisfyingly perfect imo. Seeing the characters together at the end, Link and Zelda having their heart to heart, Navi escaping into the distance of the Temple Of Time and the past lost re-found. Aww? loved it. Though was equally sad to see it due to knowing that entire first experience with the title would never be felt again? never?

Kinda makes you question how anyone could not enjoy and appreciate videogames really. So many great memories and moments being expressed here in this thread alone? Moments of genuine happiness and wonder ?

Apologies? went a little off topic then.

But yeh, it is a little sad to think those moments of past are long gone now

[Ady]

^^

You don't appear to have understood the thread, mate.

I wasn't asking for a list of your all-time favourite games, but ONE game whose experience left such an impression on you that you wish you could erase the memory from your mind and re-live it afresh.

It's all in the first post.

[dataDave]

Probably my 3rd fave game of all time - NiGHTS.

Similar to nips, I was playing through the game at a very happy time during my life - so obviously that pimps out my memories of the game. Looking back, NiGHTS was probably the closest I ever got to videogame euphoria.

I remember, it was NiGHTS that kept me from going insane during my 12 month anticipation run for SM64.

[darkangel]

A game I wish I could play again for the very first time?

Has to be OOT, I mean F'ing wow, the whole sheer immense-ness of the game world blew me away. And then the first time Fighting Phantom Ganon... It was unbeliavble, I was shaking I really thought I was fighting the real Ganon... The way you had to watch him thourgh the paintings... The music... The story... the first time escaping with epona... All of it was magical.

I will put more to this post later, I have to eat now