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FF7 was awesome. My first entry in the series like many others. 
A great game from start to finish but far from perfect for me. Boss battles were the biggest bullet sponges I had encountered so far and the random encounters already got on my nerves back then. The special animations in battles were great but got very repetitive. However the story, quests and pre-rendered cut scenes were awesome. Exploring the environment was just as awesome. (minus the random encounters) A long game too on 3 discs!
Another game that got my interest on Playstation was Gran Turismo
I saw it playing in a nightclub we used to visit frequently back then. Brilliant marketing. It was playing in the lounge area on several machines. Got tired of dancing, take a break, a beer and race around against a friend. Which quickly became a tradition. After clubbing we used to go back to one of our friend's houses to drink some more after the clubs closed and play Gran Turismo until the morning. This continued with GT2. Basically most of my early time with Gran Turismo was spend drunk, stoned or coming down on xtc playing between the hours of 4AM and 6AM. And always slow down before the last corner not to be the one that gets punted off right before the finish!
However VRally got a lot more love from us back then
The game that got me into rally racing. It was fast, fluid with instant restarts. The best instant restarts in fact, no pause, no count down, no getting back up to speed, it simply instantly teleported you back to just before the finish line on your best lap so far, already at full speed. This made hot seat lap attack battles great fun. Pass the controller to beat each other's best lap over and over until resulting lap in the game was one death defying max risk ultimate lap :)
Another great game to get stoned with was Riven
It was so relaxing to walk around the island exploring. Amazing ambience, great music and sound, just beautiful. Of course actually solving the game required focus, making notes and deciphering a numerical system. I think it was a 5 based number system if I remember correctly. Puzzles were tough and ultimately I needed help from a FaQ to get through some of the more elaborate puzzles. The story was intriguing and I lapped up every document I could find. Riven wasn't just a game, it was a full experience. I still feels like going on holiday.
Monkey Island was still going strong and Curse of Monkey island had me laughing all the way through this
Brilliantly made. So much humor in that game, a joy to play.
Another mind blowing adventure was Blade Runner
A police detective story with so much ambience that the game actually got me to watch the movie which quickly became one of my all time favorites. People are still hankering for a remake with many fan recreations around
Maybe one day, or a game for Blade Runner 2049
I also very much enjoyed Zork: Grand Inquisitor "I am the boss of you"
An adventure full of humor and fun puzzles from start to finish and such a great memorable intro.
1997 saw the start of the Fallout series as well.
However I never played the first one. Fallout 3 was my first entry in that series. It still looks good today and is still on my back log.
That year I also ended up playing Total Annihilation, great RTS with massive scale battles
This one introduced recycling. Metal was a valuable resource and after a big battle the battlefield was littered with valuable scrap metal. Clean up crew following the battles to regain resources and take them from the enemies that way.
Another RTS that year was Myth The fallen lords
Its draw were the very bloody battles. You literally painted the world red in its big scale battles. It was also a fully realized 3D world. You could tilt and zoom the camera anyway you wanted but not all the way horizontal. (Basically like BG3 handles the camera)
1997 also saw MMORPG gain popularity with Ultima online. Not the first MMORPG but definitely one that put the genre on the map
It also became known for in game weddings which you can still do
https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/items/wedding-packages/
Of course no guarantee it wouldn't turn into a 'red wedding' lol. I never played the game but did read a lot about it and got me interested in the MMORPG genre.
Instead I played a lot of Dungeon Keeper
Putting the RTS/RPG fantasy game on its head by playing as the 'bad guy', creating an undefeatable dungeon. The enemies were heroes trying to raid your dungeon, besides keeping your monsters in line that is. Very addictive game with plenty humor. Also very cool you could zoom out and build in a more isometric view, then zoom in to walk through your own creations.
1997 also had MDK, Murder Death Kill. A mysterious tps with incredable art style
I don't remember if I ever completed it. I played it on PC and I think it crashed at some point. The art style and totally alien levels left a big impression.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee also came out in 1997
I didn't play this until the remake "New 'n Tasty" hit ps+ on PS4 andI instantly fell in love. 
What a fun game, and still so much fun decades later. Very charming cinematic platformer.
Of course can't forget Age of Empires, the start of a great franchise with many expansions and sequels
Another game we ended up playing while stoned after clubbing. But also a game we later (AoE2) got together for on a Sunday at work one time. To play with 6 people in LAN. It ended in a stale mate as the game slowed down so much we eventually gave up. It took an army half an hour to walk across the map, 200 units on the move times 6 players, the netcode wasn't up to that. (It was meant for 75 unit max, 200 was more fun!)
Yet the game that intrigued me the most, got the most play time and replays in 1997 was Diablo which gets my vote for 1997
Such an addictive and satisfying game play loop. So much to discover, so thrilling to go deeper and deeper underground. It made Diablo II one of my most anticipated games of all time and it delivered. Hype still was rewarding back then lol.
Great year!
