If you could experience one game for the first time again...

Persona 4

Mario 3

Alien: Isolation. The only video game experience I can remember having a comparable impact on me is playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the first time when I was a kid. But I'm not six years old anymore and we're way past the 16-bit era, so I don't think I'd be nearly as impressed playing A Link to the Past for the first time today. Isolation, on the other hand...

Hard topic

Goldeneye or Rome: Total War

Goldeneye for me was the first FPS I really got in to and it blew my mind. Trying to play it now though it's not as fantastic. I'd played Total War before the first Rome but when it came out it changed everything. I'm tempted to say Civ II or Transport Tycoon Deluxe but the difference is that each time I play them now I'm still amazed, so forgetting them wouldn't be too revelatory.

Story wise I'd like to first time experience Bioshock again

For story reasons: 999/Virtue's Last Reward. Anyone who's played those games knows that there are some crazy goddamn plot twists in those stories. When I got to some of them for the first time, I actually had to put down my DS/3DS and digest what just happened; others, I would audibly voice surprise and a mix of other emotions, which would concern my then-roommate as I suddenly shouted at my 3DS. I wish I could experience those stories for the first time again, because I can never unlearn the things I understand about that universe.

For a more sentimental reason: Persona 4. When I was in 11th grade, my best friend bought Persona 3 and Persona 4 for 5 dollars out of a bargain bin at GameStop. He called me and said that he'd heard decent things about these games, and that he would play through 3 while I played 4, and then we would switch. He came over my house and dropped off the game, and we played it for 2 hours. Anyone who played Persona 4 knows that the first 2 hours of 4 are fucking rough, as they're nothing but dialogue and copious infodumps to establish the world around Inaba, the characters in it, the murder mystery plotline, the world in the TV, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting. We turned off the game disappointed, and I didn't touch it again for 3 months. I made it through the first dungeon, and thought, "This is alright, I guess..." And then, midway through the second dungeon, I had an "Aha!" moment, where the game made sense to me. All the S. Linking, time management, dungeon-crawling, etc. clicked with me, and I started enjoying the game. Pair that with an iconic cast of diverse, well-written characters who are more than just anime archetypes whose inner struggles are the real focus of the game, and I found myself falling in love with that game. I wanted it to go on forever and was truly sad when I hit the end, because there was no more Persona 4 (until Golden, which I just bought last week and am playing through now (I'm not counting the spin-offs, even though I played them all)). It's my favorite game of all time and truly the greatest surprise in my entire life as far as gaming is concerned. I wish I could experience that again for the first time, or at the very least find another game that surprises me just as much as Persona 4 did.

Minecraft and Kingdom Hearts 2, both games were magical in it's own way.

The obvious answer for me is WoW by a landslide so my second answer is Kingdom Hearts. The combat/bosses and where the first game went was such an adventure.

Fallout 2. Fuck the new shit.

tomba 2

The Zero Escape games

@boom_goes_the_dynamite: that's how I played leaf green last year. I didn't grind a single glenford time, only fought trainers and not even every wild Pokemon I came across. Worked perfectly fine example right until the legendary 4. There the game is a dick and decides that you need to grind out 20 levels. So I stopped.

My favourite games ever like Oblivion and Super Mario World I can go back to and enjoy even now.

If I could experience any game as if I had never seen it before I would immediately choose FEZ. It's really not a game you can go back to once you already know all (most of?) its secrets, but I'd love to have that feeling again. That said, I'd need the whole internet to also be experiencing it for the first time again, as the community aspect around the game really made it something special.

Skyrim but with all the mods I have now and Halo CE-Reach minus ODST

Lots of Mass Effect in here. I haven't played the first game, so I guess I'm a personification of those wishing they could forget the franchise entirely to replay it anew. I kept see-sawing over whether or not to buy 1 recently, and eventually decided against it, because from what I watched, the combat seemed wooden, the graphics dated, and the black and white hero/villain conversation wheel antiquated. I love it in theory, but perhaps the genre has moved onwards and upwards since 2007?

Basically, what I'm trying to say is: don't offer to sacrifice the amazing experiences you've had, because who knows what pairs of eyes you'd cast upon the game in question in the present day!

Dota, no wait Persona 4

@newfangled:As someone that went back and played the entire mass effect trilogy fairly recently, I can confirm the combat in the first game has not aged well at all.

FEZ... Persona 3... Dark Souls...?

Edit: And... of course Bioshock Infinite

Haha, well, I'm glad it wasn't just me being overcritical. I love everything about Mass Effect apart from the part where I'd actually have to play it.

Dark souls. Super easy answer because you can only have 1 first Souls game.

@newfangled: 2 and 3 are still totally fine, but there is very much a reason why those diceroll shooters went way.

Skies of Arcadia (Gamecube)

@bayernbomb: was exactly what i was going to say

Mass Effect 2, Gears of War 3 and Red Dead Redemption are my top 3!

Final Fantasy Tactics. Favorite game of all time. I would love to see that story or experiment with the classes again for the first time.

Persona 4

KOTOR

Perhaps World of Warcraft? So sick of the game since I stopped about 5-6 years ago I can't play it or any other MMO for more then about an hour, but the sheer quantity of time it was able to take off me speaks to how much I did once like it.

Sonic Dream Collection

World of Warcraft, 100%. I've been hungering for that sense of wonder and exploration and "whooaoaaaaaaoooow... this world is..wonderful.. I must live here now.." kind of feel ever since then. Got it back to a certain extent in Wrath of the Lich King, but after that I've felt homeless.

God damn I love that world.

Mass Effect Trilogy.

I played the games on the PS3 so, while entertaining, means I got spoiled of many mayor plot point before I even touched a controller...

For the most part, games I really enjoy I tend to enjoy multiple times. I don't feel like I'm reliving the first time but diminished, I'm just finding more ways to play a game I love.

So for this question I think I would have to think of a game I enjoyed where the experience is inherently worse a second time, like a mystery, twist or novelty mechanic. Instead of looking at my actual favorite games.

Not much immediately comes to mind. Persona 4 isn't a bad pick. Though Dark Souls might be the real answer. It took me hundreds and hundreds of hours in the franchise, but I've hit diminishing returns on the gameplay loop HARD recently, and all things considered that first playthrough is one of my most defining experiences in any game. That thing was made exactly for me. Tailored even. I would love to truly feel like I could say that about a game again.

From relatively recent-ish games (3D graphics), I'd probably end up choosing between Halo:CE and Dishonored. Playing co-op through the campaign of the first Halo with family/friends, is one of my favorite gaming memories. Dishonored came out at a time when I had a hankering for some stealth/action and I took a deep dive into the game.

However, I'd probably end up choosing Pokemon Red/Blue since the sense of wonder and discovering Pokemon would be an awesome thing to experience again.

Yup, this would do.

I guess it will have to be between FF7 and Xenogears......I have some others like Metal gear solid 2 and 4, Kotor, Mass Effect 2 etc but i would probably have to mark those 2 as my favorites since I was brand new to rpg's and had never been drawn into a game world like that before.

There's to many but I guess it would be medal of honor allied assault I started playing it in 2005 even though it came out in 02.But the best whole part of it was the MP game and joining a clan I had so much fun back in those days great sniper battles and just messing around.

Portal.

@nime: Can't agree with you enough, Id love to be new at wow again.

This a weird one for me, but Oddworld: Strangers Wrath would be my game.

That game made a big impact on me in the "fun factor" area. I couldn't have enjoyed it more, and I've always been a little afraid to go play the version I downloaded on my Vita. Maybe one of these days I'll play Persona 3 as @bulletproofmonk says above..

FEZ immediately comes to mind. The slow dawning realisation of what that game really was is an unparalleled experience for me. It offered both childlike wonder and intellectual stimulation, and while I've enjoyed returning to the game it can never be the same again.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the game that brought me back from several years away from games, and the presentation blew my fucking mind. It marks the point that I started following the industry again and henceforth became immune to surprise on that scale, so I'd love to feel that again.

Super Mario 64 is a game I've still never played, but I'd love to experience the absolute awe child me felt seeing the demo reel playing in the game shop on the 64's launch. The range of motion and sense of freedom on display was, again, mind blowing to see for the first time.

The Ace Attorney franchise. I would probably binge play it for a long weekend and would love every second.

Persona 4. Still think I was a bit too young to appreciate how good of a game and story it is.

Dark Souls. It wasn't as good as Demon's Souls for me but I think it would be a better soul game to start at.

Red Dead Redemption.

WoW.

My old stand-by is Planescape Torment(but only if I can start when you get out of the sewers). But of more modern, actually well-playing games, I'd have to go with Guild Wars. Man, I loved every damn thing about that game. Even the memory of the early beta events fills me with such sharp nostalgia for the time and the place.

Monkey Island 2 or Monster World 2-3.

FEZ.

Metal Gear Solid 1. I did sort of experience that by watching Drew play for the first time. Such a great series that means a lot to me.

Uncharted 2, no game has done a better job demonstrating everything I want in games.

Braid

and maybe Fallou 3.

Pokemon. I remember playing that as a kid and my mind being blown. It was my first experience with rpg's of any type (or any game that wasn't arcade like in nature).

either bioshock or kotor; two best games I have ever played

Well, I would have to forget about a LOT of things related to games, but Morrowind would be amazing to experience again for the first time.

I would also like to have a better PC than I did back then and more time with the game. That would be amazing!!

hands down, Shadow of The Colossus.

what a crazy ride that game was...

and either ocarina or majoras mask but thats asking to relive my childhood again

Deus Ex. Thought about FF7 but that was such a time and place thing. Remove the nostalgia and I probably wouldn't get to much out of it today.

Probably jump in my time machine and go back to 1996 for Tomb Raider.

That thought depresses me given how much Square Enix has allowed Crystal Dynamics to SCREWED up Tomb Raider. Might as well call the next game, "Female Serial Killer 2"