Gaming FTW!

I agree with deftoned: people need to blog more about their current gaming exploits. One of the main reasons I never specified HvO as an anime blog (rather a more generalised 'Japanese stuff' blog) was so I could just do that. There hasn't been much recently because I bagged a review job at a legitimate games review site (Gamers Europe), so everything I've written about games has been posted there and about stuff I probably wouldn't buy myself (none of which have been Japanese, either). 

I'd consider myself more a gamer than an anime fan, and I'm a pretty big anime fan. My current console artillery consists of a DS Phat, PS2 and Xbox 360 (include PSX and Xbox via backwards compatibility) and I have a morbid addiction to buying games. If I were to list the games I want and the games I've completed, the former would dwarf the latter in a pretty disgraceful fashion. Every visit to a games shop is a test of endurance as the little devil (Mario with horns and a tail) on my shoulder attempts rationalise this purchase of Yakuza while the angel (a somewhat dishevelled Aerith) launches a barrage of questions on how far I am in GTA: San Andreas.

The fact I'm in fairly dire student poverty until the loan comes through means it's easier to listen to Aerith lately, though I'm not beyond flashing a pocket-sized Masamune when she pisses me off. However, that doesn't mean I'm not playing loads of awesome games at the moment. Here's a run down:

Dead Rising (360, Capcom)
As fun as it looks. You're trapped in a mall full of zombies and you can utilise any liftable object to beat the shite out of them. The driving force of the game comes from the non-zombie encounters (terrorists, psychopaths, journalists) but you could easily spend the bulk of your playtime having fun with the giant toy box that is the Mall of the Undead. A lot of people curse the one save-slot system in place, but personally I respect the challenge it creates. Plus, restarting the game with all your stats and skills isn't as soul-destroying as it sounds. Everything, give or take, is immediately available from the get-go anyhow.

New Super Mario Bros (DS, Nintendo)
Unlike Dead Rising, the bizarre save setup in NSMB is irritating. The main principle behind systems like the DS is that you can pick up and play to kill a few minutes of boredom, only NSMB makes you play three or so levels before you can save. Apart from that, however, it's a damn fine game. Solid Mario 2D (with 3D sprites~) platforming at it's most Nintendo-ist, and therefore most awesome. Expect massive timewarps when playing this game. The Nintendo Life Consuming Effect is working at full power. Loves it.

Dragon Quest VII (PS2, Level 5 & Squarenix)
I'm still picking away at this game, albeit with very small chunks of play spread out over incredibly long gaps of time. I really enjoy it for a couple of hours but then it gets rather tiresome. I've decided that it's my long-term quick fix for when I need a comprehensive RPG experience, though I never really desperately want to play it these days. Maybe it should've ended when you-know-who got defeated.

Half-Life 2 (Xbox, Valve)
If I had to name the most satisfying, entertaining gaming experience I've ever had, it would be Half Life 2 (and God of War). On the list of favourites it probably wouldn't even chart, but as a legitimate gaming experience I haven't had much better. I have to tactically decide what times to play it because I will not stop until I hit a brick wall in-game. They should really put a warning on the box. Can't wait for the 360 version with Episodes one & two, Team Fortress 2 (!!!) and Portals.

Actually, while we're only the subject of all time favourites here's a tentative list of mine:

10) Ultima Online (the 1997 - 2000 period and private servers thereafter)
Still the best online gaming experience I've had, even after World of Warcraft. Nothing has beaten the community of this game, which is continuing quite strongly with the private servers. I'd still be playing if I had a PC.

9) Shadow of the Colossus
The art design for this game is enough for me to feverously adore it, but the gameplay is pretty fantastic, too. Will there ever be a game to match the animation of Agro the horse, or the sheer exhilaration you get from riding him?

8)  Final Fantasy VIII
I don't understand why people are so critical of the emo of this game. Personally, I see it as a selling point; as well as the aesthetic originality of its world/characters. It may have been too easy and its main character too much of a prick, but I had such a fun time playing it. And quite frankly that's all that matters. We shan't talk of the dubious plot.

7) Vagrant Story
The reason why Final Fantasy XII will be the best Final Fantasy so far. I adore this game, even it brutalises you at every opportunity.

6) Final Fantasy VII
My first real JRPG experience yada yada etc etc. You know the drill. Any RPG fan who doesn't list this in their top ten is a lying fool and should stop trying to be cool. The fact that I rhymed in that last sentence means I'm right.

5) Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
One of the most beautiful 16 bit games ever created and one of the most consistently entertaining platformers around. I practically creamed myself when Ninty re-released on the GBA.

4) Sonic & Knuckles 3
I, like most young Brits, was a Sonic fan before I was a Mario fan. You can't get much better than the Sonic 3 and Knuckles combination, even if Knuckles seriously needed to be nerfed. Shame Sega can't seem to get their shit together with the recent incarnations, eh. Sonic Adventure was pretty fun, but still, maybe let the franchise RIP?

3) Knights of the Old Republic II
I'm not even much of a Star Wars fan, but the story of this game literally astounded me. One of the best ever made. And the lightsabers were almost too cool to function.

2) Fallout 1 & 2
Fantastic sense of humour, great premise and a brilliant graphical design. I think I've used enough gushy adjectives to make my point. Have some superlatives: two of my mostest favourest games everest. So pleased Bethesda are handling the third in the series.

1) The Longest Journey
One of the strongest female characerisations in anything ever written. No melonous tits, no guns, just an intelligent human in a rather surreal situation. I wrote the most shamelessly fanboy review ever here and I still stand by it. The sequel, Dreamfall, was fairly disappointing for many different reasons, but it had the characters and there's going to be a third. I love this games to bits, either way!

Comments

[DiGiKerot]

I've been playing Yakuza - it's seriously impressed me a lot more than I thought it would. Its seriously badass.

Also agree in regards to FFVIII - I really like it myself. I possibly wouldn't list FFVII in my top ten RPGs though, or at least not top five - I like the game a whole lot, but it kind of meanders along without enough focus for a long period after leaving Midgar, completely destroying the huge amount of momentum it had gathered, and doesn't pick it back up until close to the end of the game. If the game was all as good as the Midgar parts, I'd definately rate it as possibly the best genre game ever.

I'm refusing to do one of these meme game posts, myself ^^;

[Michael]

I wish you'd put Suikoden II up there. While I agree with many of the RPG's you chose to list, you really can't overlook the contributions that Suikoden made to the genre. And Suikoden II in particular has a great, moving story (the relationship between the Hero and Jowy is one of the better "best-friend" relationships in a game).

Kudos for putting an adventure game on the list. That genre is so overlooked it's scary. After all, wasn't Myst one of the best selling games of all time, and wasn't it an adventure game (in the end, I think it might technically be "puzzle")?

[reslez]

I have an innate distrust of anyone who lists KOTOR2 among their favorite games without mentioning its predecessor. Sorry, KOTOR2 was just too buggy and incomplete to merit a mention on a top 10 of anything, unless the category is "Top 10 Depressing Time-fillers in which the NPCs berate and insult the PC for how crappy he is in between crashes". I guess opinions differ, though, since I'd happily swap Planescape in its stead :)

[Garten]

I wish I have time to play game like I used to but lately I'm often too tired to even write a post. I think I still haven't finished a couple of games but I can't remember at the top of my head what they are. Your post makes me want to go back playing some of those games again.

I am not sure if I have a top 10 games that I like but I can certainly list 5 games that I've enjoyed in the past few years. These are: Silent Hill 1, MGS3, FFVII, Resident Evil 1 remake, ICO.

[Hige]

DiGiKerot: Man, I really want to give Yakuza a go-through but I just can't afford it at the moment. It took seeing the pre-order boxes for Kingdom Hearts 2 to cement my not buying it. Maybe when the loan comes through!

Michael: I'm sorry to say I've never played a Suikoden game. Not through want of trying, mind, just the PAL release of 1 & 2 are like gold dust these days and 3 never got a release here. 4 got too much of a critical panning for me to bother (plus it looks terribly bland), but 5 is definitely on my To Buy list. I'd love to give the first two a try, though. People love them as much as any PSX era Square game. And the Adventure genre is/was one of the pillars of Western gaming. Its popularity has waned considerably in recent years, but its history is still insanely important. The Longest Journey was one of the last hoorahs and pretty much mastered the story-telling/characterisation that makes Adventures games so endearing.

reslez: I've only played KOTOR2 and that was on the Xbox, so I didn't suffer any technical problems with it (bar the shitty 360 emulation, which wasn't majorly unplayable). If I can ever find the first game I'll buy/play it without a second thought, but as it stands I only have my experience of the sequel and it was a pretty fucking amazing experience. I could list numerous faults, like with anything ever made in the world, but I was horrendously addicted to it for its entirety, and considering my poor attention span with games that's a reasonable compliment. Planescape is another game I kick myself for not buying and playing at the time.

Garten: Excellent choice with ICO. The atmosphere in that game is gorgeous, as well as everything else in it. I had a great time with Metal Gear Solid 3, too, though there's something about the series that bothers me. It's probably the convoluted military aspects of the storyline, but technically speaking they're unmatched. MGS4 looks to be continuing the tradition nicely. I hope they release a 360 version at some point :3

[Lupus]

I'm not much of a Japanese RPG gamer. The only J-RPG that would fit in my top ten list is Chrono Trigger, with Starcraft taking first place and featuring probably every Blizzard game made since 1997 (excepting WoW... I value my life and university degree too much to jump into that hole). Heroes of Might and Magic III definitely deserves a spot on there somewhere too.

The best Computer-RPG I've played has to be Planescape: Torment, followed by Baldur's Gate I and II, all of which you should try. I haven't played Oblivion or the KotORs though... my laptop is far too incapable. I haven't played the Fallouts for a completely different reason.

I wish I had more money so I can afford a 360 and a new computer. As it stands though, the game I play most often is Guilty Gear XX on the PS2... (barring Diablo II which has taken away the last four days of my life).