What's THE game you were totally captivated by?

[DeadnightWarrior]

I played a lot of PC games in the last 25 years and of course I have my favourites.

 

There are a couple that were able to fill my entire free time for weeks, sometimes months.

One is "Lords Of The Realm II" from 1996: a classic strategy game, it blended a turn based micro management section with a real time combat section. I would spend hours upon hours on the micro management section alone, not realizing that the evening had turned to night and the night was turning to dawn! I bought it again on GOG lately and I'm still very much enjoying it, despite its age and complete lack of remasters or optimizations.

The other one, maybe THE one I got involved with more than any other game, is "Might And Magic VI: The Mandate Of Heaven" from 1998: a party based first person RPG, with crude pixellated graphics and extremely basic keyboard only controls, but with seemingly endless quests and a HUGE free-to-explore map. It took me several months to finish it. I was so obsessed with it that at one point I had it installed on four different computers (yes, back then there was no DRM, no activations, no Steam...): at home, at work, at my mum's house and at my holiday house. I would carry a floppy disk with the latest savegame in my pocket so that I could be able to continue playing wherever I wanted!

There are many games I loved even more, but none has ever managed to make me lose track of time like these two.

It's your turn now: what's your "one and only" game?

 

[King of Memes]

I would have to say Minecraft

[GuiltySpark_]

Subnautica. 

[Downkey]

valorant lmao

[gloop]

Might and Magic is available on GOG, works through DOS Box and is completely DRM free. Pretty cheap as well in the trilogies. 

[General_Narwhal33]

Satisfactory and Astroneer

[Krosis]

6 minutes ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

I played a lot of PC games in the last 25 years and of course I have my favourites.

 

There are a couple that were able to fill my entire free time for weeks, sometimes months.

One is "Lords Of The Realm II" from 1996: a classic strategy game, it blended a turn based micro management section with a real time combat section. I would spend hours upon hours on the micro management section alone, not realizing that the evening had turned to night and the night was turning to dawn! I bought it again on GOG lately and I'm still very much enjoying it, despite its age and complete lack of remasters or optimizations.

The other one, maybe THE one I got involved with more than any other game, is "Might And Magic VI: The Mandate Of Heaven" from 1998: a party based first person RPG, with crude pixellated graphics and extremely basic keyboard only controls, but with seemingly endless quests and a HUGE free-to-explore map. It took me several months to finish it. I was so obsessed with it that at one point I had it installed on four different computers (yes, back then there was no DRM, no activations, no Steam...): at home, at work, at my mum's house and at my holiday house. I would carry a floppy disk with the latest savegame in my pocket so that I could be able to continue playing wherever I wanted!

There are many games I loved even more, but none has ever managed to make me lose track of time like these two.

It's your turn now: what's your "one and only" game?

 

There's only few for me: WoW, Divinity Original Sin 2, Civ VI, and right now, Valheim

[minibois]

The game I can say I was truly captivated by, was Skyrim.

I played the game when I got a PS3 for a bit, then turned it off for probably a month. After that I picked it up again and just didn't stop playing until I explored the entire region.

With hindsight and the knowledge I have today, I can see how the game isn't what I thought it was at the start, but nothing can ever take those memories away from me.

 

Another game I just played soooo much was Pokemon Platinum and HeartGold. Two games, but it was just the world of both games and everything I could do in the game (like WiFi Plaza, trading online, etc.) that held my attention for very long.

[DeadnightWarrior]

Just now, gloop said:

Might and Magic is available on GOG, works through DOS Box and is completely DRM free. Pretty cheap as well in the trilogies. 

I have them all, including the crappy IX and the latest unexpected "X: Legacy".
For whatever reason, VI and VII to me are the series' pinnacle.

[Giganthrax]

There were many, so I'll just list the recent ones from the past 5 years or so that made a joke of my ability to track time.

 

Dark Souls 3

Nioh 2

Age of Wonders Planetfall

Mortal Kombat 11

Prey

Subnautica

Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun

Darkest Dungeon

[DeadnightWarrior]

1 minute ago, minibois said:

The game I can say I was truly captivated by, was Skyrim.

I played the game when I got a PS3 for a bit, then turned it off for probably a month. After that I picked it up again and just didn't stop playing until I explored the entire region.

Totally agree on Skyrim (and Oblivion for what matters), I spent 200+ hours on it and loved every minute!

[gloop]

1 minute ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

I have them all, including the crappy IX and the latest unexpected "X: Legacy".
For whatever reason, VI and VII to me are the series' pinnacle.

I’ve wanted to go back to the original trilogy for a long time, but I’m unsure if I am too suited to modern conveniences as they came out well before I was born. 

[AbydosOne]

1 minute ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

It's your turn now: what's your "one and only" game?

Kerbal Space Program.

 

Literally, I had envisioned so many aspects of the game as a kid (going back to kindergarten "computer" class, where there was a game where you could piece together a rocket and "launch it"... hey, I was 5 and it was the late '90s). I had tried finding something similar through the years (I think "Orbiter" was the closest I could find, but that was still just tossing pre-made launch vehicles around) but never came close to what I really was looking for (I wanted to build!).

 

Then, one day in my freshman year of college, I poked my head into my dorm-neighbor's room and found him playing the KSP demo (this wasn't long after it was launched) and I knew I needed to have it.

 

I immediately went back to my room, downloaded it, and pretty quickly put a rocket into stable orbit. Turns out my aerospace engineer neighbor had been trying all morning to do what took my electrical engineering brain about 35 minutes to do.

 

KSP is currently my highest logged game in Steam (~250 hours, I think, which isn't a ton, but I don't play many games to begin with). Tossing spaceplanes into orbit (or burning up trying) is one of my pass-times. You can't be disappointed by the plot of a game that has no plot  .

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

Totally agree on Skyrim (and Oblivion for what matters), I spent 200+ hours on it and loved every minute!

I uhhh may have spent a little bit more time on Skyrim (and this is not even counting my PS3 time):

 

A lot of this has been modding too, but indeed have loved every hour of my playthrough!

I haven't gotten into Oblivion and Morrowind though, just the mechanics are what kind of held me back from fully enjoying those, so I am sort of waiting for Skyblivion/Skywind (even though those are probably years away).

[kelvinhall05]

Minecraft, BeamNG, and TF2.

[DeadnightWarrior]

13 minutes ago, gloop said:

I’ve wanted to go back to the original trilogy for a long time, but I’m unsure if I am too suited to modern conveniences as they came out well before I was born. 

Well, the first two chapters are VERY old style and quite difficult to get into. Graphics are nearly non-existent, there's no automap, everything is controlled by single keys only... it's a bit frustrating and very time consuming.

III: Isles Of Terra, IV: Clouds Of Xeen and V: Darkside Of Xeen are a bit more "modern" in the sense that they have VGA graphics and feel a little less clunky and difficult.

Then the one I mentioned, VI: The Mandate Of Heaven, shares the same graphic engine with VII: For Blood And Honor and VIII: Day Of The Destroyer: no more tile based movement but a sort of DooM-ish "2.5D" freedom. You still have to rely on keyboard for movement and attacks.

Finally, IX: Writ Of Fate is the only game in the series to feature real 3D... the bad thing is that it's a grossly unfinished game (the developers went bankrupt around that time) and it was a big disappointment.

All in all, I'd try VI and VII first, they're worth hundreds of hours!

[TVwazhere]

Kingdom Hearts 2

[Soag]

Most captivated by: Bioshock Infinite, ABZU
Lost track of time: HoMM 3, Darkest Dungeon

Still haven't played so many games that, I believe, have the potential (e.g. Subnautica, Outer Wilds, Ethan Carter)

[jones177]

Right now I am playing Xcom Apocalypse, the GOG version since the Steam version kept asking me to insert a disk. It is a 1997 game and I probably have done 1000s of hours on it in the past. Surprisingly it looks great on an OLED considering that it is a 640x480 game.  

[HollowSavant]

Played control last weekend. Despite the controversy,  it is a very good game imo. If you like ware house 13, the lost room mini series(key opens a door to a motel room), and SCP. This game is for you.
Make sure you read and listen to as many lore objects you can find.

[xAcid9]

Ragnarok Online -
My very 1st MMORPG back in 2003, spent thousand of hours combined in official and private servers. Made a lot of friends and memories.

 

Played since open beta , there was no guide/tip for beginner other than the guide book that came with the CD.

Went in blind af, exploring the beautiful and dangerous kingdom of Rune-Midgarts alone, and then with new friends that I made along the way.

Willing to trade a fragment of my soul for that kind of experience again. 

 

Honorable mention:
- Skyrim
- Guild Wars 2

- Grandia 2

- Dawn Of War
- Richard Burn Rally

[Worstcaster]

Final Fantasy 6 (3 in the US when I played it) was the first game I thought of as art.  It had a great story and drew me in.  I had it as a rental so I had to return it before beating it.  I rented it again and determined to beat it.  I powered though all weekend and fought the emperor on the floating island shortly before it had to be returned.  Then Kefka blew up the world and I suddenly realized I was only half way through.  I finally beat the whole thing a few years later when I had my own income to buy games.

[-rascal-]

Growing up as a kid form the early 90's...

• OG DOOM .... like Sega Genesis 16-bit / 32-bit DOOM
• Mortal Kombat I and II (Sega Genesis)
• Street Fighter II (SNES)
• Starcraft / Starcraft Broodwar

During my middle school / high school times..

• Crossfire (literally free online knock-off of CS: Source)
• Conquer Online 2.0 (kind of like a Diablo II like MMORPG)

Spoiler

 

• and r00nscape. 

 

These days?

• The Division 2
• Vallheim

[DeadnightWarrior]

On 3/13/2021 at 2:55 AM, -rascal- said:

Vallheim

I never heard about this one but reading a few reviews on Steam, it looks promising!
What kind of game is it?

[PaleschiVII]

1 hour ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

I never heard about this one but reading a few reviews on Steam, it looks promising!
What kind of game is it?

Survival builder - think Viking Rust, but without death-by-starvation / death-by-dehydration. The food and drink buffs you, but not using it doesn't kill you off. Still in development but gawd it's fun!