So, originally, this blog was meant to be mostly about little things I thought of that were interesting. Much later, it became my martial arts blog, which it still is--and I've got some interesting things cooking once I'm done with the final edits to my doctoral document. But, it's been a while since I've entertained a real "musing" in this blog. So, when I saw Sam Cook's top 5 games today, I thought--that looks like too much fun, and decided to post my own. Here they are:
5. Heavy Rain, PS3
This is the one game on this list that is fairly new. I was out of console games for roughly 10 years when I decided to buy a PS3 and try out some of the newer console games, and this game was recommended to me as an interesting experiment in storytelling. From the beginning, I was blown away. Now, this game has some definite flaws: occasionally, the game mechanics were extremely frustrating, and the voice acting was at times hilariously bad--plus, no two characters could agree on the pronunciation of the word "origami." Flaws aside, I was lost in the emotions of this world until the game was finished. And, I'm not a completionist, but this is one of the few games I've played to 100%.
4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, SNES
This is the one game on this list I never actually owned. Back in the heyday of Blockbuster Video, game rentals were easy to come by in great variety, and this is one I rented several times. Each time, I'd play it until I finished, trying to find a few more secret objects each time. To me, figuring out the puzzles between the light and dark overworlds were absolute magic, and the level of detail that went into the differences between those worlds hinted at much greater possibilities for gaming.
3. Metal Gear Solid, Playstation
MGS hooked me on stealth. Now, whenever there is a title that has stealth possibilities in gameplay (e.g. Far Cry 3, Dishonored), I usually will try to bring about the most destruction as possible without being noticed at all by the enemy. I had enjoyed the NES Metal Gear games when I was a bit younger, although I know now that they were simply weaker ports of the Japanese games. I've spent most of my gaming days into RPGs, Turn-based Strategy, and Real-time Strategy, so it took a very special game to get me into the Action-adventure genre. The sneaking challenge of this game combined with difficult boss fights and amazing puzzles have brought me back to this style of game again and again.
2. Civilization II, PC
Countless hours have been whiled-away playing this game, going for every different strategic angle I could think of. I played the original Civ as well, but Civ2 is really where they got it right to me. I've enjoyed the later titles in the series, but nothing beats this one to me. It's deceptively deep mechanics got me hooked on all kinds of complicated strategy games, like the Total War series, and since I'm very deliberate in my gameplay, it didn't give me quite the agitated experience that WarCraft or StarCraft games did(still favorites, but not quite top 5 material). I remember not being able to sleep at about 14 years old, so I got up, booted up Civ 2 and played a Roman campaign from about 1am to about 9am, finishing the game with a fairly high score and feeling very, very tired.
1. Final Fantasy VI (FF3, SNES)
Discussions of this game on Facebook as of late is what inspired me to write this top 5. Even when I was well-out of console gaming, I would still come back to this game once every 2 years or so. The overarching story, rich themes, beautiful world, and amazing party mixes have given me hundreds of hours of fun in this world. I've enjoyed playing later FF games, but this one (with FFIV as another high point) really sticks to me as the finest JRPG I have ever played. The musician in me also joys in the excellent score!
So, there you have it, 5 favorite games and a brief return to the musings that got this blog started. I'll be back soon with many more thoughts on the martial arts!
5. Heavy Rain, PS3
This is the one game on this list that is fairly new. I was out of console games for roughly 10 years when I decided to buy a PS3 and try out some of the newer console games, and this game was recommended to me as an interesting experiment in storytelling. From the beginning, I was blown away. Now, this game has some definite flaws: occasionally, the game mechanics were extremely frustrating, and the voice acting was at times hilariously bad--plus, no two characters could agree on the pronunciation of the word "origami." Flaws aside, I was lost in the emotions of this world until the game was finished. And, I'm not a completionist, but this is one of the few games I've played to 100%.
4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, SNES
This is the one game on this list I never actually owned. Back in the heyday of Blockbuster Video, game rentals were easy to come by in great variety, and this is one I rented several times. Each time, I'd play it until I finished, trying to find a few more secret objects each time. To me, figuring out the puzzles between the light and dark overworlds were absolute magic, and the level of detail that went into the differences between those worlds hinted at much greater possibilities for gaming.
3. Metal Gear Solid, Playstation
MGS hooked me on stealth. Now, whenever there is a title that has stealth possibilities in gameplay (e.g. Far Cry 3, Dishonored), I usually will try to bring about the most destruction as possible without being noticed at all by the enemy. I had enjoyed the NES Metal Gear games when I was a bit younger, although I know now that they were simply weaker ports of the Japanese games. I've spent most of my gaming days into RPGs, Turn-based Strategy, and Real-time Strategy, so it took a very special game to get me into the Action-adventure genre. The sneaking challenge of this game combined with difficult boss fights and amazing puzzles have brought me back to this style of game again and again.
2. Civilization II, PC
Countless hours have been whiled-away playing this game, going for every different strategic angle I could think of. I played the original Civ as well, but Civ2 is really where they got it right to me. I've enjoyed the later titles in the series, but nothing beats this one to me. It's deceptively deep mechanics got me hooked on all kinds of complicated strategy games, like the Total War series, and since I'm very deliberate in my gameplay, it didn't give me quite the agitated experience that WarCraft or StarCraft games did(still favorites, but not quite top 5 material). I remember not being able to sleep at about 14 years old, so I got up, booted up Civ 2 and played a Roman campaign from about 1am to about 9am, finishing the game with a fairly high score and feeling very, very tired.
1. Final Fantasy VI (FF3, SNES)
Discussions of this game on Facebook as of late is what inspired me to write this top 5. Even when I was well-out of console gaming, I would still come back to this game once every 2 years or so. The overarching story, rich themes, beautiful world, and amazing party mixes have given me hundreds of hours of fun in this world. I've enjoyed playing later FF games, but this one (with FFIV as another high point) really sticks to me as the finest JRPG I have ever played. The musician in me also joys in the excellent score!
So, there you have it, 5 favorite games and a brief return to the musings that got this blog started. I'll be back soon with many more thoughts on the martial arts!
