[General Discussion] Your most memorable moments in gaming.

Look back on your gaming life. What events do you treasure most and feel will likely never happen again? Was it opening the box to a new system, completing game X on Y mode, did it totally shock you when character A killed character B? List your most exciting, memorable, or otherwise fun moments in gaming.

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1. My mom bought me my own Sega Genesis. I had been wanting one ever since I saw the commercial for Sonic the Hedgehog. Fortunately my aunt had the game but she lived out of town and I only got to play it once or twice a month when she visited. When I got the system and the game for myself thats when my video games became my favorite hobby.


2. About 5 years later I got a Sega Saturn. I was really excited, it felt like getting a Genesis all over again. This was before I knew anything about Playstation and I was such a big Sega fan I ignored Sony completely. When I realized there were no good games coming out for Saturn I returned it to the store to trade it in for a Playstation. But PSX was selling like hotcakes back in those days and everywhere was sold out for months.


3. One Christmas later I finally got my Playstation and Final Fantasy 7. This would be #1 on my list but I'm going chronologically here. FF7 was my first RPG and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This started a new addiction for me, I stopped playing regular 'games' and focused on nothing but RPGs. Until this day, thats still how I roll.. play. :P


4. Online Gaming. From Unreal to Starcraft to Phantasy Star Online (DC). Those games were the pioneers that got me even more addicted to games. Playing online was a whole new experience because it was so immersive, it felt like rediscovering the internet. Nothing like playing online with real people. I'd say playing Phantasy Star Online for the first time was the icing on the cake. For the few nights I got to play it at my friends house [before i got my own Dreamcast], the game was insanely fun.


5. Final Fantasy XI, the game I had been waiting for for five years. Yes five years, from the time it was announced in 1999 to the time it was released on PS2 in 2004. It was easily my most anticipated game of all time, it combined my two favorite things, Final Fantasy and Online gaming. It was well worth the 100$, I got a good two years of playtime out that game before tragedy struck.. My account was stolen and Square has such horrible customer service they could do nothing to help me get it back. Why? Because I couldn't provide the last four digits of the asshole's credit card who stole it. As if I would know that. Besides that, the game was a sweet, albeit often frustrating and challenging experience.


6. Last but not least, I finally got a new PC and was not only able to play loads of new PC games, but World of Warcraft as well. This made leaving FFXI behind so much easier because I knew for sure this was the ultimate MMORPG. And for a time it was, until my server got even worse after world transfers became available. Now I don't even play WoW anymore because it kind of sucks now. My main characters are alliance on a horde dominated server. I tried rerolling but honestly don't like playing neither horde nor alliance. And I REALLY don't have what it takes to level another job to 70 [Warlock was enough]. After getting three jobs to 75 on FFXI, I can't stand grinding anymore or any MMORPG.
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Thats my list of most memorable moments in gaming. That meaning things I'll look back on and remember when I'm 60 years old complaining about how games aint what they used to be as I watch my grandkids play Final Fantasy 77 International Substance Final Mix Special Edition on their Playwiibox 264.

Jam it back in, in the dark.