Thank you for this opportunity, foxworks! +1

I'm in for the Tesla Effect!

My most memorable gaming experience happened a long time ago when I discovered Transport Tycoon, after playing exclusively countless action platforming games on Atari 2600 NES and PC. It has the most appropriate music for a management game. I still occasionally install it, generate a random map and play it until there's nothing left to build. I play the original not OpenTTD, and the original has a limited number of transporting units you can build.

I am so in, for the Tex Murphy! Many thanks, and +1. I'm about to step out of the house, but I'll edit in a gaming experience when I get home.

Edit to Add: I began gaming before there was an Internet, and since I did not work in the tech field, I had at max only a couple of people in my circles who even knew what computer gaming was. It's hard to imagine now, but back in the 90s - only 20 years ago! - most people did not have email accounts even if they had computers, and the World Wide Web, in its early open incarnations, existed as a skeletal framework, because most modems were far too slow to download even rudimentary graphics, so web sites did not use them.

As a result, it was hard to find any kind of gaming community, so my early gaming years happened in a vacuum. My first ever game, King's Quest III, was a shared purchase with a roommate, and we played that together; we also shared our love of Rogue/Nethack. Beyond that, I was on my own.

I explain this because this is a story about expanding the mind. I lived in Berlin for a couple of years in the early 90s, after the Wall came down. I wasn't working much and had a lot of free time while my girlfriend was at University. Her Dad bought her a reliable Win3.11 machine (cutting edge!), and when the first winter came, I decided I needed a game to tide me through the dark season. We consulted the Zweite Hand (second-hand ad magazine), and I found a guy selling Ultima VI and Lemmings at a reasonable price. Perfect immaculate condition, with manuals and maps.

My GF was very much not a gamer, though we managed to connect over Lemmings - I'm not very good at it, but it was wonderful to play it with her. She found everything about Ultima VI to be ridiculous; I thought it was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen.

I had never played an Ultima game, or an RPG of any kind, and I came to it a blank slate. Everything about it was a delightful discovery. I knew flexible characters from Nethack, but this one lived in a lush graphic world! The story was scripted, and dense, and full of quests that had resolutions! It wasn't a world that required quests to unlock areas: I could go anywhere, as long as I could get there! NPCs would do their thing whether or not I was there to see it! And the world was so BIG! Seriously, coming without introduction to Ultima VI from Nethack and King's Quest was a life-changing experience. Like the first time I had a good beer, or the first time I heard music that moved my heart, or the first time I understood that a book could make you laugh or cry or feel great or feel terrible.

So. I played Ultima VI for months, mapping it and making a journal and never finishing it because I was too busy exploring (this is also why I suck at MMOs). It was some time before I ventured underground, because I got caught up in trying to figure out how to do something with, I dunno, bread or fishermen or somesuch. No one I knew had heard of this game, there were no gaming stores that might sell a guide, there was no accessible Internet (we didn't even have a phone in East Berlin), and my journeys were solitary - it was cold and wet outside, and warmer in, so gaming was a good way to stay comfy.

The caves under the main land were terribly exciting. (I knew dungeons from Nethack, but they were random things.) I got graph paper and began mapping the caverns. At some point I came upon a stairway up that was not the entrance I came down. Wow, I thought, secret levels. I went up it, and came out in the world above.

Nowadays, that's a common thing in games; of course a dungeon level will let out on the upper world, and more than once is standard. But I had never seen this technology before - remember I started with monochrome monitors - and it astounded me. The whole complex open world had another whole complex open world right under it, and they connected together in a rational way! In 1992, this was one of the most astonishing things I had ever seen, partly because I never imagined it was possible. Immediately, and I think this is why game design was so fertile in that period, I began to wonder how far you could push a computer world. How many levels down could you hide a secret? Could you put the whole world in there? Why not? Couldn't a sufficiently complex alogorithm mimic normal daily life? And couldn't intersecting algorithms create meaningful interactions, if they were written to respond with complex behaviors?

And then my GF came home. I showed her how I could - look - go down here, and walk this way, and then if I come up here, look! I'm on an island, roughly the same distance away in the right direction! Predictably, she thought I was a loon and found the whole thing completely uninteresting (she really hated that game). I think this is where my love of detailed RPGs comes from, and also my habit of not finishing them.

Thank you and +1

I'm in!

Most beautiful moment and most memorable moment. That is not actually a hard one.

I've had Might and Magic 7 on my HDD installed and just started to play. On the Emerald Isle, i've almost finished every little thing to do, except one. The island had a bloody dragon on it, in a cave, near the lord's mansion. My party, you can imagine, low level, Emerald Isle being kind of a tutorial island. I'm a stubborn guy, i can't take "can't be done" for an answer. So i've put what was left from my gray matter to use. And i've managed to come up with a plan to beat the bastard. It involved a bit of luck and a lot of strategy. I've learned every little thing about the island. Every little place that could boost my fire resistance and my physical resistance. I've farmed dragonflies to boost levels and gather some money to train everyone to use bows in 4 levels of bow. Bought the mentioned bows and whatever armor, jewelery and weaponry was available. All, best quality that you could find on the island. Made a deal with a certain character for a powerful fireball wand. Bought all the magic wands from the stores. Buffed the resistances with potions, beacons, wells and barrels. And went to have that fight. Which was bloody epic. over half hour of playing a cat and mouse game until i've managed to kill the damn creature. P.S.: strategy works best in real time combat. Mage spells, wands equipped one everyone at first. Once the wands are gone, switch at bows. Keep running around the dragon all the time and make sure that every wand spell and every arrow are hitting the dragon. Never engage in melee.

Everyone told me that i can't be done. But i've managed. Was an epic feeling. Even more priceless was demonstrating the strategy to my friends live. Their faces in disbelief worth a lot. The loot bug, i've discovered it there, at the dragon from Emerald Isle. I always save when i know that the drop is random. Imagine my surprise seeing the dragon's body still there after looting. Saved again, looted again, bad drop ( a potion ), dragon disappeared, reloaded my save. Looted the dragon again, good loot, body still there, rince and repeat. Killing that dragon was one of a hell gaming moment.

Wow! I'd love to give Tex Murphy a chance to return to my PC. In for the Tesla Effect and thank you!

My most memorable gaming experience was Ultima 7. I was lured by the Guardian to buy it (saw the intro in a gaming shop) and 'fell' right into the world. It all seemed so vivid and magical and led, without me noticing, to my first played-through night. When my mother called for me to get up to go to school I was very surprised that the night was already over (and very, very tired in school that day...).

I'm in for the Tesla Effect! Thanks, foxworks!

I have a horrible memory, but I do remember playing the original X-Wing with a friend of mine. We were really into the game, playing all hours of the night. We played through all the tours, eventually reaching the Death Star Trench Run -- blew my mind! Never experienced anything like it before. Neither of us were Star Wars geeks, more like casual fans, but we both agreed that was the coolest thing ever.

X-Wing was fantastic and a nice change up from the first two Wing Commander games. Never did get to try Tie Fighter. :/
I lost quite a bit of time exploring the vast world of Ultima 7. I think I only completed about 80% of the main story line. That's another game I'll need to revisit :)
That's one game I haven't tried yet. My buddy and I would spend the weekends playing Railroad Tycoon. The hours would fly by!

I already have all the old Tex Murphy games and I kickstarted the new one, so count me in for Wizardry 8 and BloodRayne.

Major SPOILERS for Dark Souls ahead.

There are lots of memorable moments to choose from. I could talk about the impression that Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis left me when I was playing though its funny and colourful intro. I could talk about the creepiness of Silent Hill 2 and the dark twisted story of its protagonist. I could talk about how Dark Souls forced me to kill my favourite characters just after seeing their hopes and dreams crushed. I could talk about the funny scenes that had me laugh out loud in Giants: Citizen Kabuto and Psychonauts. I could talk about how immersive Thief and Morrowind were.

However, there's one moment that managed to leave a comparable impression despite the game having Atari 2600 graphics and almost no story to speak of -- the ending of Don't Look Back. It's simple, it's powerful, and it works because it's a game, not because of dialogue, setting or cutscenes. You need to experience it through playing the game or its impact is vastly diminished. It's a step towards what Warren Spector is talking about in this very short video: http://criticalpathproject.com/?v=51092370

I am really enjoying reading about the great gaming experiences everyone has had! Thank you for the thread! :D

What is it about The Banner Saga that you loved? I'm intrigued!

Please count me in for a combination of $9.99 and $5.99 GOG games, and please let me know if I have to choose the exact games right now. Thank you for creating this giveaway! +1

A very fond gaming memory from my childhood is dying repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly!) in the lava in Bowser's castle in Super Mario Bros. and then months later actually getting past all the lava and thinking, "Wait a minute! How did I just do that?" I don't think I did anything differently. It was almost like muscle memory at that point.

I'm in for the new Tex Murphy game.
The first time beating the flagship in FTL after hours and hours of attempts was very satisfying. I expect the same feeling when I beat Hard mode for the first time. Playing it this weekend now that my desktop is back up and running after hard drive death.

I found it a very immersive. There wasn't ever a "transition" between levels that you often get with games. The music fit the theme perfectly and really drew me in. It has sort of a desperate feel to it and I always felt like time was of the essence. All of your decisions have very real consequences and there is not one simple "good" or "bad" path. There is a lot of moral ambiguity and there will be suffering regardless of which paths you choose. Finally, the artwork is breathtaking. A chunk of the game is traveling, where you just watch your party move accross the landscape. There is so much detail involved sometimes, I liked those moments better than the dialogue or combat.

The combat became a little repetitive, and the ending was somewhat abrupt, but overall an extremely enjoyable experience. I think one of the greatest praises I have for it is that I want to play it again to experience what different decisions are like.

Hope this helped!

You're free to choose which games at the end of the giveaway. :)

It absolutely did! Thank you, I'll add it to my wishlist!

I'm in
and i'm in for Tesla Effect

I have lots of interesting, interesting for me at least, memories of gaming. I was very immersed in the story of System Shock 2 when i first played through the game or how i used to dungeon crawl in Eye of the beholder 1 when i was like 10 and i was at home because i was ill but the fever didn't stop me from running around the caves even though i had very little idea of where to go. Fun times.
Oh yeah and everytime i ran through the cave in Ducktales without the mummy catching me, that was pretty memorable, because it was much much later that i found out that the mummy doesn't apper in the rooms with the green slime.
Also playing through the first Kyrandia, running back and forth to my friend's place because the floppies with Dune 2 were broken, getting beat up by nazis in Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis because i didn't know how to punch back...

and so on, lots of good fun with games