I like this thread. May not get many posters, but I'll post my story.
My very first RPG on computer, which also happened to be a game that blew me away, was BG1. Before that I had played D&D and other TTRPGs quite a bit, but my video gaming was entirely limited to wargaming. Even that was very minimal because I had no money and couldn't afford my own computer, so I got to play video games only on friends' computers. In 1998 I was finishing up my grad school, and a good friend and fellow grad student was raving about this new cRPG that had just been released. As luck had it he needed me to house-sit for him, which allowed me the use of his computer while he was gone. I started playing around 7 pm, and did not stop until the sun was coming up the next morning. What especially hooked me was the beginning of BG1. Leaving the safe walls of Candlekeep and "venturing forth" with my father felt so very safe, and I was expecting things to start out nice and easy and happy. But as we all know, things went a very different direction, and that just set the mood and tone and my emotions for that game thereafter, because all I wanted to do was to hunt down you-know-who and pay him back.
BG1 introduced me to cRPGs, and that's why the BG franchise has a special place in my heart.
