this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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(Saw this question asked on another popular link aggregation website and it got me thinking)

If you could play one game for the first time all over again, what would you choose? This might be because you want to do it all again, or because you don't think you got enough out of it the first time. It could be experiencing the game exactly as you were back then, or experiencing a game with what you know now.

For me, it's Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, experienced exactly as I was back in 1991.

Nothing comes close to how jaw-droppingly amazed I was by that opening sequence. The epic orchestral score, the cinematic rainstorm, creeping around in the dark... it was a generational leap above anything I'd played on 8-bit computers and consoles, and even the Megadrive. I'd love to play it again without thirty plus years of Nintendo/Zelda knowledge, or without knowing about the dark world.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Inscryption. One of my favorite games to come out in years, but the secondary playthroughs don't have anywhere near the appeal without the mystery/intrigue sadly. The first time for me was magical though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Chrono Trigger, Castlevania SOTN, Pokemon BW and B2W2, Dead Cells

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Definitely Dragon Age Origins. Loved it all, from the weird combat mechanic to the relationship scores. I only wish Varric had been available to romance.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ultima Online. It was my first MMO. I could own a friggin house that other people could visit! I've been chasing that high for 20+ years now.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Halo reach. Such a masterpiece.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Half Life 2, New Vegas and MGS all blew my young mind and would be great to relive.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Stardew Valley or Terraria.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Easily Metal Gear Solid 3 for me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Oh man.... I would love to experience Zork again for the first time. 😊

"West of House

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.

There is a small mailbox here."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Runescape, 2006 sort of era

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Final fantasy tactics, or 7.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I loved Bioshock, so probably that.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Picking one is quite hard, but since it's retro only, my vote goes to Super Metroid. That game is a rare gem.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Portal or Minecraft.

I've played so much Minecraft that I have everything down to a science.

Like quickly making a wooden pickaxe, mining exactly how much cobble I need for a furnace and a stone pickaxe, and how to find coal and iron in less than 5 minutes.

Wood and stone tools, outside the two pickaxes, are skipped entirely.

Before the end of the first night I am almost entirely decked out in iron stuff.

Farming cows for bookshelves for enchanting is quick and easy, and then getting fortune 3 and looting 3 pretty much makes the game easy mode. You print ores and food.

Not to mention you can get mending from a villager easily. Just pick up and put down the job station until they give you mending. It's not skill, it's just luck. You can get it in less than 2 minutes if you're lucky. Now you'll never have to worry about anything ever breaking again. You can also get fortune and looting this way as well, removing the need to waste time and materials on the enchanting table.

It's sad. I wish I could erase my knowledge of it, and play Minecraft how I used to. By savoring my enchanted items, creaming my pants at the sight of diamonds, and grinding hard for food.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you haven't already, try some modpacks. For extra difficulty, the packs based on GregTech are pretty amazing, like GregTech: New Horizons or Nomifactory. They make it so complicated to produce items that you're kind of forced to automate things, and then you keep expanding what your automation can do.

GTNH takes like 2 years to build a pair of star gates if you're playing alone, and they keep making it harder. It's a massive amount of content.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Wing Commander 3 and Black & White.

Played both of them when i was a kid and it'll be nice to be able to play them again as an adult.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I actually bought LTTP before I bought a SNES.. The game itself wasn't easy to get in my area and I happened to be out of town and ran across a copy, so it was an easy decision

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Wow OP it's like we had the same childhood. That opening sequence and the early parts of LTTP are seared into my memory. +1

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A link to the past is my top Zelda game for sure.

... Have you ever tried the randomizer for it? It will give you a rom where all the items are randomly distributed around the map, making you do the whole sequence out of order.

I will play though a random Rom one a year or so and it's a blast.

https://alttpr.com/en

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nier Automata

A game I will never forget

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

There are many games that I loved and would enjoy playing for the first time, but I'm going to pick Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. My reason being that I spent the vast majority of the game waiting for it to morph into a spiritual successor of Super Mario RPG back when I first played it, rather than giving it a chance to stand on its own as a unique and hilarious game. My preconceived idea of what I hoped the game would be really hurt my initial enjoyment of it.

For a runner up, I'll mention Kirby's Dream Land 3. In the days of Blockbuster rentals, I'd rented Kirby Super Star first, so it took me a while to get used to the more traditional Kirby powerup system where copied abilities only do one type of action each.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The return of the Obra Dinn. Really fun unique game

I feel its been so long since i last played it might feel new to me, but still it wont be the same as first playthrough.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Learning Team Fortress 2 for the first time as a teenager was such a crazy fun experience.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you tried a link to the past randomizer . It makes it very fun and you can find different ways to progress through the game . Sometimes you have to do some of the dark world first or find clever ways to get into areas .

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[–] washbasin 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

StarCraft's campaign was a masterpiece. I get to include Brood War here too.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Portal 2 and Undertale the true pacifist run

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That Zelda is on my list for sure. I'd add super Mario world as well, just like Zelda did, it introduced so many new mechanics and the maps were so HUGE you could spend absolute weeks trying to unlock all of certain areas.

NBA Jam on SNES.

Wolfenstein or Doom first time really seeing a 3d game. Being absolutely terrified of the ambient noises in Doom.

Half-Life for sure. Relatively intelligent soldier opponent tactics, puzzling real puzzles in 3d for the first time not just point and shoot.

Goldeneye 007. Trying to figure out how to aim, so slowly and ineptly. Then one of your friends says let's try multiplayer and 4 years later...

Warcraft 2 on dial-up with your friend across town.

GTA 2. Discovered almost by accident and the top down view was so great. Never cared much for the rest of the series.

Super Bomberman.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Grandia on ps1. I refuse to replay it out of a morbid certainty that it's basic as all hell. But it was my first jrpg and it blew my mind.

I swear it took me weeks to make it to the wall, but searching my memory it's the first scene after your hometown.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Minecraft, specifically Beta 1.7.3.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

its not exact but LTTP rando gives that sense of new game feel each and every time. The races are great.

Then I double teamed it with https://samus.link/ which is SMZ3 crossover. Races are even better again.

Course all the wonderful hacks for both games. Parallel Worlds for LTTP is wickedly hard but a lot of fun.

Getting in to SM arcade mode recently too.

Both Super Metroid and Zelda are phenomenal.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I've got two candidates for that:

  • Uncharted 4
  • GTA 5

Ubcharted is visually stunning and I really like the story it tells.

GTA 5 STILL is a game where I find new things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Are you aware of the Zelda: ALLTTP randomizer? https://alttpr.com/en

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Portal or Arkham Asylum, something that surprised me in unexpected ways.

Portal because I thought I was getting a neat puzzle game (I was), but GLADoS blew me out of the water.

Arkham Asylum because of how effectively some of the Scarecrow sequences messed with me specifically (making me think my game had glitched, etc.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Shadow of the Colossus and some Silent Hill stuff

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