I remember the days of beta where the guards only had 100HP and could be killed by monsters or regular players. In specific I remember finding a blade spirits scroll and casting it (when scrolls could be cast by anyone) on the border of Vesper towards Cove. Many many guards and players died quickly. I managed to escape and hide until it went away.

I then took a dead guard's plate, cape and halberd equipped it. Looking exactly like an NPC guard I wandered around the city tricking other players. You could enter combat stance and everyone would flee.

Funny to think I can still vividly remember this 18-19 years later but can hardly remember the plot of many of the recent AAA titles.

> Funny to think I can still vividly remember this 18-19 years later but can hardly remember the plot of many of the recent AAA titles.

Might also be age related ;).

Joke aside, I recently spent some time partially replaying the two games I most vividly remember (Baldurs Gate II, FF7 PC version), and it's by far not as memorable now as it was back then. And I haven't played at all the last 12-15 years, so it's not that I got used to different types of games.

I collect old games on GOG.com and from humble bundles that I owned in the past, or remember wanting to play but never got a chance to. Rarely do I actually have the time to play them, and rarer still do they capture that same feeling. I still collect them though, as it makes me feel good to think at some point I'll end up with a bunch of free time and a bunch of games to play, even if when I'm honest with myself I don't see that happening any time soon. Just knowing it's there ready for me if I want is a good feeling (if it was cheap enough, so I don't feel guilty).

I think the age thing is relevant, but more as "everyone has a few early experiences they anchor and way future experiences against". I'll always compare games to pirates, UO, EQ, privateer, d2 and qwctf because they were my seminal games in various categories. Other people will have other games they measure against, whether that be wow, Starcraft, cs, myth, monkey island, syndicate, fallout or whatever you first were captured by.

> Funny to think I can still vividly remember this 18-19 years later but can hardly remember the plot of many of the recent AAA titles.

That's because the "plot" in most AAA titles is relayed to you in a series of cutscenes, not something you actively participate in.