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THE GAMES THAT SHAPED WHO I AM
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CloseWhen I was a kid I remember getting a Nintendo for Christmas. I once talked about this with my cousin a couple of years ago. He said that he couldn't remember what he got, but he remembered me getting a Nintendo. (For those yougins, a Nintendo is not a Switch, it's a NES or a Nintendo Entertainment System.)
I've played a lot of games, and these are necessarily not the best, but they are the most important games I've probably ever played. They shaped my gaming experience and probably changed me as a person.
The Trifecta
I didn't really have any good NES games and didn't really play games at home. My grandparents lived not too far away. They had a Super Nintendo (Also not to be confused with a Switch for the youngins...) And I would play games at their house when I went over there. And these 3 games really, really shaped me as a young child. That of course would be: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, and The Secret of Mana. My childhood centered around beating these games. And I certainly beat them, more than once. I actually remember cheering when I beat The Secret of Mana. I had to use Nintendo Power magazine, but it was still an achievement. Actually, I think the other 2 games I knew how to beat because I watched my relatives play them countless times as well. You gotta be fair. I wasn't that old when I played these. Is it okay that I got help?
Fan Boy
So I went over to my cousins house in Vancouver. He has A Playstation (No, not a Switch, a Playstation, like the very first one ever made.) He was renting Final Fantasy 7. I watched him play. I made my own file and started a game. When I got home I went to the store and bought a Playstation and Final Fantasy 7. That's how easily I was convinced to buy a whole system; playing Final Fantasy 7 at my cousins house for a couple of hours. I got so obsessed with it, that I went on to buy every Final Fantasy game on the Playstation and Playstation 2. Ohhh... And it made me cry like a baby. I was a teenager. And Final Fantasy 7 made me cry. For years onwards I would defend Final Fantasy 7 to be the best game ever made. And I beat it by myself. I didn't use my dial up internet to look up a large text only strategy guide.
The Last Big Thing
So, what would put an end to me being a fanboy forever of just one gaming series? Well after my Playstation 2 broke -old model had disk tray problems- I decided to give the Xbox a chance (The original Xbox, not a Switch, stop bringing up the Switch, I don't have one.) Anyways, I played The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. I had never been so engrossed by a game or pulled into a world to that point before. And really, this has lead me to being the gamer I am today. I will seriously give anything a chance if I can just get the feeling I had in this game again. I chase this feeling. I crave it. But in reality, I couldn't be much of a gamer without the earlier stuff either. So, together, these 5 games shaped the person I am still today.
My 5 most important games:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
The Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy 7
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
I got a copy of Dragon Warrior with a subscription to Nintendo Power. I'd daresay that was rather influential. I fell in love with a brand new genre at 8 years old (or thereabouts). This naturally lead me to Dragon Warrior III and IV (II was too hard!). And also me getting really confused over the spell system in the original Final Fantasy (where's my MP??)
I remember being blown away by Super Mario Bros 3 (both playing the game and by the movie The Wizard).
Final Fantasy III (IV) for the SNES absolutely solidified my love of the RPG genre. In fact, me thinking I could make a better game than FFIII lead me into designing my own RPGs when I was a 13(ish) year old. I mean, I also played SimCity and F-Zero and SMW and a bunch of other really fun games, but FFIII was a standout for me.
Then there's PC games that I got into when I was 14/15 - particularly the RTS and action RPG genres. For RTSes, Command & Conquer especially, but also StarCraft. And Diablo (and later Diablo 2 and eventually Diablo 3 .... though Diablo 3 isn't an RPG - it's just an action game). I used to spend hours making mods for Red Alert. I also had fun playing FPSes like Unreal, Quake and DOOM. And SimCity 2000.
My interest in RPGs was rekindled with 2003's Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic.... and the translations of RPG Maker 2000 (and 2003 shortly thereafter).
...and now that I'm rutted into these genres from when I was an impressionable youth, and haven't tried much outside of them, or much anything newer, either.
And here I am today.
so for my list I'd say:
Dragon Warrior (for kicking off my interest in RPGs) + solidified with DW3+DW4
Final Fantasy III (for inspiring me to CREATE RPGs)
Diablo (for action RPGs) + solidified with D2
Command & Conquer (for RTSes) + solidified with C&C: Red Alert/StarCraft (+ solidifying my enjoyment of modding/game making)
RPG Maker 2000/2003
I remember being blown away by Super Mario Bros 3 (both playing the game and by the movie The Wizard).
Final Fantasy III (IV) for the SNES absolutely solidified my love of the RPG genre. In fact, me thinking I could make a better game than FFIII lead me into designing my own RPGs when I was a 13(ish) year old. I mean, I also played SimCity and F-Zero and SMW and a bunch of other really fun games, but FFIII was a standout for me.
Then there's PC games that I got into when I was 14/15 - particularly the RTS and action RPG genres. For RTSes, Command & Conquer especially, but also StarCraft. And Diablo (and later Diablo 2 and eventually Diablo 3 .... though Diablo 3 isn't an RPG - it's just an action game). I used to spend hours making mods for Red Alert. I also had fun playing FPSes like Unreal, Quake and DOOM. And SimCity 2000.
My interest in RPGs was rekindled with 2003's Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic.... and the translations of RPG Maker 2000 (and 2003 shortly thereafter).
...and now that I'm rutted into these genres from when I was an impressionable youth, and haven't tried much outside of them, or much anything newer, either.
And here I am today.
so for my list I'd say:
Dragon Warrior (for kicking off my interest in RPGs) + solidified with DW3+DW4
Final Fantasy III (for inspiring me to CREATE RPGs)
Diablo (for action RPGs) + solidified with D2
Command & Conquer (for RTSes) + solidified with C&C: Red Alert/StarCraft (+ solidifying my enjoyment of modding/game making)
RPG Maker 2000/2003
The first console I ever played was an NES, I think with Spiderman: Revenge of the Sinister Six or something on it. But it must have been borrowed or something cause it's only a vague memory and really left no impact on me.
The first one I owned was a Nintendo 64. No idea what my first games were other than the obligatory SM64, though I was never huge on that. The big renaissance for me as a kid was whenever I got my hands on Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie and Paper Mario.
Banjo-Tooie and Paper Mario were the games that made me want to get into game making. I was in love with how expansive and creative their worlds and characters were, how things were segmented up into story chapters and easier to digest as a kid, how every "piece" of the game had its own unique flavour and how every zone was just big enough to make me want to probe it and explore more and more.
Sometime around then I began hanging out with an older cousin, who had a PS1, and loved Final Fantasy games. So I got a lot of second hand experience watching him play Final Fantasy 7 and 8, and later 10 (I guess he never had 9, idk). Also watched him playing a lot of Legend of Dragoon and Nocturne/Digital Devil Saga games around this time. He really shaped my mind into wanting to make RPGs specifically, probably due to both the games themselves seeming so alluring and mysterious, as well as the classic effect of the older cousin/sibling always seeming "cooler" by default, so of course everything he was into was JUST AS COOL. lol.
Later on I got to borrow FF7/Legend of Dragoon from him and play them for myself for the first time.
After that the only thing that stands out is getting a good PC of my own and transitioning to PC gaming more and more. The big one was getting The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion for christmas on its launch year. I played the absolute SHIT out of that game. I logged hundreds and hundreds of hours, and probably doubled it in the years since. It was my first experience with a more "malleable" game where I could download mods, access the console, perform duplication bugs and even make my own content with the Construction Set. So it got me further into the background elements of games.
Around the same time I discovered the cracked version of RPG Maker 2003, after running out of the free trial on RM XP. I've been here ever since so obviously those did their job.
There's obviously been a lot of games since then that had their impact on me, but I can't go into every single thing.
The big 5 for me are probably:
Paper Mario
Banjo-Tooie
Final Fantasy 7
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
RPG Maker 2003
The first one I owned was a Nintendo 64. No idea what my first games were other than the obligatory SM64, though I was never huge on that. The big renaissance for me as a kid was whenever I got my hands on Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie and Paper Mario.
Banjo-Tooie and Paper Mario were the games that made me want to get into game making. I was in love with how expansive and creative their worlds and characters were, how things were segmented up into story chapters and easier to digest as a kid, how every "piece" of the game had its own unique flavour and how every zone was just big enough to make me want to probe it and explore more and more.
Sometime around then I began hanging out with an older cousin, who had a PS1, and loved Final Fantasy games. So I got a lot of second hand experience watching him play Final Fantasy 7 and 8, and later 10 (I guess he never had 9, idk). Also watched him playing a lot of Legend of Dragoon and Nocturne/Digital Devil Saga games around this time. He really shaped my mind into wanting to make RPGs specifically, probably due to both the games themselves seeming so alluring and mysterious, as well as the classic effect of the older cousin/sibling always seeming "cooler" by default, so of course everything he was into was JUST AS COOL. lol.
Later on I got to borrow FF7/Legend of Dragoon from him and play them for myself for the first time.
After that the only thing that stands out is getting a good PC of my own and transitioning to PC gaming more and more. The big one was getting The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion for christmas on its launch year. I played the absolute SHIT out of that game. I logged hundreds and hundreds of hours, and probably doubled it in the years since. It was my first experience with a more "malleable" game where I could download mods, access the console, perform duplication bugs and even make my own content with the Construction Set. So it got me further into the background elements of games.
Around the same time I discovered the cracked version of RPG Maker 2003, after running out of the free trial on RM XP. I've been here ever since so obviously those did their job.
There's obviously been a lot of games since then that had their impact on me, but I can't go into every single thing.
The big 5 for me are probably:
Paper Mario
Banjo-Tooie
Final Fantasy 7
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
RPG Maker 2003
It started with Dragon Quest, which was Dragon Warrior here and I still have the cartridge. From there, RPG became my favorite genre. The Legend of Zelda really just solidified that.
In my teens, I had gotten into Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. So I ended up being on the Sega Genesis side of history, playing the Phantasy Star series.
Playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition with my friends, I learned about an RPG series I'd completely missed out on, Final Fantasy. I've come to learn that that's just how it was back then. For the Nintendo RPGs, people either played Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Because of my friend group, I got Final Fantasy VII when it came out, and that became my favorite game for long time.
But thanks to rereleases and anthologies on the Playstation, I wound up playing a game I missed out on from not owning the SNES, and that has been my number one favorite game ever since: Chrono Trigger.
So, to list those succinctly before continuing:
Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest
The Legend of Zelda
Street Fighter II
Mortal Kombat
Phantasy Star series
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Ed.
Final Fantasy VII
Chrono Trigger
Other games on PS that played a major role in my gamer identity were Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Anthology (FFV and FFVI), and Star Ocean: The Second Story. And I think the one last game I absolutely must include is the first game I got on PS2; Final Fantasy X.
As for newer games, I certainly have my favorites, but I can't really say they shape any more of what I look for in games or what try to put into games.
In my teens, I had gotten into Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. So I ended up being on the Sega Genesis side of history, playing the Phantasy Star series.
Playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition with my friends, I learned about an RPG series I'd completely missed out on, Final Fantasy. I've come to learn that that's just how it was back then. For the Nintendo RPGs, people either played Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Because of my friend group, I got Final Fantasy VII when it came out, and that became my favorite game for long time.
But thanks to rereleases and anthologies on the Playstation, I wound up playing a game I missed out on from not owning the SNES, and that has been my number one favorite game ever since: Chrono Trigger.
So, to list those succinctly before continuing:
Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest
The Legend of Zelda
Street Fighter II
Mortal Kombat
Phantasy Star series
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Ed.
Final Fantasy VII
Chrono Trigger
Other games on PS that played a major role in my gamer identity were Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Anthology (FFV and FFVI), and Star Ocean: The Second Story. And I think the one last game I absolutely must include is the first game I got on PS2; Final Fantasy X.
As for newer games, I certainly have my favorites, but I can't really say they shape any more of what I look for in games or what try to put into games.
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