Games

River of Sorrow in Metal Gear Solid 3. First regular then as "no kills" run. It's something that made me genuinely question everything while playing a video game. Everything.

I think nfsu2, we got it for christmas and played it for 2 full days in a row.

But tbh i still remember my playlist (flyleaf - i'm so sick/ fully alive, hinder - wings of an angel, Marilyn Manson - the beautiful people, a perfect circle, Korn and a couple others) i used while playing wow for the first time when you could get to lvl30 within a certain trial period. Definitely been hooked for some time but never made it to lvl cap nor did i get sny good gear.

Skyrim gobbled up the most hours of any game.

But i think wow really offered the best escape of real life back then for me, which is my main drive for playing games.

Being able to do the right thing and actually getting rewarded for it is a thing that keeps me coming back to videk games.

Real life isn't really like that most of the time. It will drain you completely, eat all your good intentions and shit you out the other end completely drained and empty handed.

I don't know if these are the most joy but some good memories.

When I first saw Mario 64 in Toys R Us I was awestruck. Just unbelievable. Mario in 3D.

When I was playing Ocarina of Time I was hunting Poes in Hyrule field on Epona. I fell asleep because it was late. When I woke up the game was still running. Nothing overheated. Nothing killed me in game. No loud jarring noises. I wasnt late for anything. I just woke up and started hunting Poes again.

A friend and I were staying up late playing one of the early Kings Quest games where you can dial a 900 number to help you if you got stuck. This was back when save points were maybe once every 10 minutes if you're lucky. We had gotten to a really verbose riddle that we were supposed to have found a clue for earlier in the game but missed it. We just figured out the riddle and guessed it on the first try. It was an unbelievable triumph.

Killing Malenia. Finally.

Once when I was 8, a friend brought over his PS1 and Metal Gear Solid. We played pranks on the guards in the zone that has a bathroom using claymores and Nikita missiles and called snake the Toilet Stalker. Peak 8 year old humor, I couldn't breathe from laughing.

Another in High school, visited my older sister in the dorms and the boy floors were having a massive halo Lan party since all the rooms were connected. I had never played a console shooter before but the guys were really welcoming and wanted me to join anyways. One match came down to a 1v1 with me and one of the good players, I almost got him with the sniper but lost. I wasn't too bummed but afterwards everyone on the floor cheered me up. I stomped the same guy later that night in warcraft 3 and that one felt good.

I've probably played an uncomfortable amount of FF7 to most. During covid, I recently became single so I decided to find some like-minded discord communities to pass that time. I met someone who was streaming FF7. I hopped into the stream and kicked it off with explaining how to get a golden chocobo to reach the final red materia. We're married now and have a dog :D

When I beat Grim Fandango.

It was bitter-sweet, because you ::: spoiler have to leave one of your companions behind, him being a spirit of the land; while you ride off to the land of eternal rest with your new love interest spoiler :::

I once stole 20 billion Isk from a guy in Eve Online. I was hard for days.

KOTOR. just existing in a Star Wars world and becoming a Jedi. really have no idea why we can't have another Jedi RPG, do you not like money Disney?

There are too many. Completing Lode Runner on my C64. Playing the Oregon Trail as a kid and making silly names 'Tit face has died of dysentery'. The first time I played Sonic on my megadrive on Christmas day 1991. Playing Wonder Boy on my game gear for hours with my little bro. Crash Team Racing or FIFA tournaments (any FIFA after 16 is rubbish) on PS1 with my mates. Playing Echochrome on the PS3 on LSD. When the nuke exploded in Modern Warfare 2. Playing through Inside in one go in the dark by myself. Winning a PS5 in a raffle the day after my xbox1 died.

Staying up all night playing GoldenEye.

24 hour Civ 5 marathon with beer and the boys in my college days.

One day a couple of months after World of Warcraft Burning Crusade came out I was woken up by my friends playing the game. I had left on either Teamspeak or Ventrilo the night before and about 3-4 friends jumped on the following morning. I signed on soon after that and played for hours.

I think that's the last time I've been woken up by people whom I like and immediately began the day with a group activity that involved joy.

Kerbal Space Program: progression from being unable to get a rocket into orbit, to collecting a surface sample from all 5 of Jool's moons in a single launch

Finishing Mass Effect 3. Multiple times :)

Smashing and being smashed with my mates at worms with couch-coop

Multiplayer halo 2 across the LAN in my house

LAN party instagib ctf 1 hour 0-0 and winning it in overtime

Rocking a battlefield 2/3/4 server online with a squad of mates all using voice comms, and nobody playing a sniper

I love gaming

Riding a snake in Getting Over It With Benett Foddy.

The Second Dream quest from Warframe

Meeting my wife on Elder Scrolls Online has got to be number one, but we didn't even play the game very long to be honest lol.