Your beloved gaming memory

[OsaX Nymloth]

Sit down with a cup of hot cocoa or anything that you enjoy drinking. Get comfy in your cozy chair or on sofa, relax and close your eyes. Think about gaming - your favourite, most warm and beautiful gaming memory you remember. Feeling all nice and fuzzy inside yet?

For me it would be early 2000 or maybe a little before that. Still being a normal student in high school, discovering what matters for me the most, realizing what my passions are. And there I am, sitting in a dark room with some cookies and tea next to me while I am lost inside the world of Baldur's Gate 2. I can almost smell the summer air, still hot even after dark and me trying to click as silently as possible to not wake up parents who would not appreciate me sitting at PC this late.

I remember how the "little me" loved the shyness of Aerie and how "vulgar but cool" Korgan seemed. Discovering this game for the first time, was a true joy that I still remember and absolutely adore.

What's your beloved memory?

 

[jpishgar]

Just picking one at random, it'd have to be during High School, my sophomore year.

I have a distinct memory of beating the ever-loving daylights out of three of my friends in Warcraft 2 during a LAN party in 1997. It was a 6 hour LAN party, roughly, and it there were some throw-down fights, each participant roughly equal in skill. And then the last fight of the day - it was one of those hour-long fights that was so epic, and it got to brutal stages at the end with farms as walls and peon-hunting. The fight ended just when twilight came down outside. It was such euphoria to have won in a protracted battle - the day was just perfect.

 

[Frindis]

Playing through Phantasmagoria with my older sister. We used a whole weekend playing the game and eating tons of candy. One of my fondest 90's gaming memories.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

The first time I played coop with my oldest son. It was Left 4 Dead, he was probably about 11, and though he was new at the game he was doing better the me and the other two players in the group. He got an friend invite from both of the other players and I didn't, lol.

When it was over he came to my room so excited, hugged me and called me the best dad ever, and proceeded to recap the entire session. How I saved one of the other guys from a smoker, how he killed most of the hunters, that the guy who startled the witch was dumb (cuz the witch was scary), etc. It felt like we played 100 straight hours of coop after that.

I swear I can't remember ever being as happy as he was at that moment.

 

[Grug]

Certainly the old LAN party from back in the day. We'd hire a hall out, have everyone tip in, lug our CRT monitors in to setup, order some pizza, and play to our hearts content.

Battlefield 1944 Desert Combat mod was the favourite for me, mastering the flight controls and pulling off stunts to make others remark in awe.
Good times.

 

[Frindis]

@Grug, I remember one of my first organized LAN parties. One day of nonstop playing Doom, Duke Nukem3D and Blood, straight to a 12-hour cinema watch. Amazingly enough, I managed to swap movies without too many intermissions. You know you have had a great LAN party when you look at your fingers and they have that computer dusty look. I can't really explain it any better, they just look like they are from some alien planet and not really a part of your body, lol

 

[Sarafan]

Beautiful gaming memories? There are a few. The first one is playing Need for Speed 4: Road Challenge (aka High Stakes) on a split-screen with my cousin. We spent at least a few dozens of hours doing so. I still have a smile on my face when I think about all of these police chases. Police was playable in this installment, so one of us was trying to escape while the other was chasing.

The next beautiful memories are from the times I got my first PC. I remember countless hours spent on playing demos from gaming magazines. Every title was a new and refreshing experience. I didn't have enough RAM to run every game flawlessly, so I had to wait a lot of time until they loaded and then play them in 15, sometimes 10 fps. But it didn't discourage me. I was so fascinated by games that this was only a minor problem for me. I miss these times...

Another noteworthy memory is playing Planescape Torment for the first time. It's quite a unique experience even these days. 17 years ago it was something absolutely incredible. A book which you can play. What more, it reacts to your decisions by modifying the alignment of main character! And what a wonderful world it presents! The game convinced me to fantasy RPGs.

I have some great memories from BG2 as well!

 

[Zloth]

So many... here's a somewhat recent one from Divinity: Original Sin 2

I played the game as Lohse, a musician that managed to get a demon inside her. The demon would take over her mind from time to time and made it impossible for her to perform anymore. There was a great scene early in the game where I found an old lute for her to play. She played it for a little but then the demon took over and smashed it... just cruel. Well, obviously there was nothing for it but to roam the countryside, right lots of wrongs, and slaughter legions of evil(ish) monsters. Finally, I made it to the end-game city.

Spoiler: Demon battle

The demon was actually posing as a doctor in town, with several nurses that had musical names. I knew a way to get in underneath the house but it involved doing something I didn't want to do so, instead, I just walked in to have it out with the thing of evil. I was badly out-classed and, a few turns in, the demon completely took over Lohse's mind which turned the battle into "game over." Oooohkay. Re-load and try to draw some nurses out. That worked on a few of them but that demon was HUGE, there was no way to even begin to hurt it before Lohse's mind was gone. Game over again. Tried just leaving Lohse on the other side of town - nope. Tried using the back entrance - just got killed on the other side of the room.

Finally I noticed an item in my inventory from who-knows-how-long ago that gave immunity to mind affecting spells. (Any item that gives "immunity" to something in an RPG is something you want to keep!) Could that protect against possession? Yes it can! The battle was still very hard but I was able to destroy the monster with everyone still standing at the end of it. Phew. The game went through some nice dialog to close the story off. Loot was pretty good and, what's this? Lohse's lute! That horrific demon was keeping her lute all that time? Was it some component to its black magic? Well, it's here, we've got to play it!

Not only did she play it, she sang! There were even some special effects! (Recording on YouTube) I've done many'a difficult boss fight but having a little concert at the end was just perfect!