I started with Ultima and Dragon Warrior back in the blooming NES days. Then eventually got Final Fantasy. I would have been in 4th-6th grade at that point.
I didnt get into real RPG's until 7th grade. In junior high we had this thing called "Student Appreciation Day". It was a fun day but NOT a free day. If you sat at home on your butt you would get an ABSENT and serve detention.
They did come up with a crapload of fun activities each year, and they were all voluntary. You got to pick two things, one for morning and afternoon. A few of them were field trips and probably required the whole day. Some folks went golfing or to Valley Fair or Circus Circus.
I was lucky enough to spot a thing called "Introduction to Role Playing". It was hosted the manager of the local Great Goblin (he came to us, in one of the study hall rooms).
His introduction for us into RPG's was Middle Earth Role Playing, which is actually a tough one for beginners. But thats where I learned about real role-playing as opposed to video games, and it was a whole new world.
After that I got into the new edition of D&D (the Black Box starter kit had just come out) and I was hooked. Since then I have dabbled in AD&D 1st and 2nd, Palladium Fantasy and Rifts and Ninjas & Superspies and Heroes Unlimited and TMNT, and Twilight 2000, Shadowrun 1st through 3rd, and D6 Star Wars and D20 Star Wars and now finally regular fantasy D&D 3rd.
Console RPG's held little interest for me after that. I liked Final Fantasy 2 and 3, and even got a Playstation just for FF7. Didnt like 8 or any of the later games.
I like Grandia 2 and some others, but they are nothing compared to sitting down with a good gaming group and enjoying the fun.
I have to say with all my experience, Baldurs Gate was the closest thing I ever found to actually sitting down for a game of AD&D. It was like being with the perfect DM, who had a million and one ideas and could throw together a perfect mega-campaign and still deal with your desire to walk off the beaten path & explore totally random and pointless side quests, and still be able to weave it all together with brilliant storytelling.
KOTOR is also a lot of fun for the same reason, but its scope was not NEARLY as grand as BG2 + expansion.
If they could just convert NWN2 to 2D, and add a buttload of side quests, and let you have a little more freedom in the world, I think we would have something cool.
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