Blog Banter: Get To Know Me
This month’s Blog Banter asks:
What games would you suggest someone play if they wanted to get to know you better?
RPGs are easily my favorite gaming genre, so anyone wanting to get to know me better would definitely need to play a few of them. Here are four of my all-time favorite RPGs and a brief section on how they would help you (yes, you) get to know me better.
Final Fantasy 7
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FF7 (Hey, I know it’s supposed to be FFVII, but that takes too long to type each time, OK? OK.) ahem…. FF7 was the first real RPG that I ever played. One of my college roommates had a PS2 and got FF7 a couple years after it came out. I started playing it because I was bored (and had no other video games to occupy my time), and was hooked in just a few hours.
FF7 was an excellent RPG that appealed to my funny, silly, laugh-out-loud side. Although not every moment in the game is light-hearted*, it definitely has a great sense of humor. You play as Cloud Strife, a mercenary working with a group called AVALANCHE to fight an evil mega-corporation called Shinra. As the game progresses, you meet more adventurers to fight with you, including (and I kid you not): a huge, burly man with a machine gun for a hand; an intelligent, talking, man-sized cat named Red XIII; an undead man(?) that can transform into demons; and motion-sickness prone, kleptomaniac ninja.
How’s that for style?
*One scene in particular was incredibly poignant. If you’ve played it, you know what I’m talking about.
The Summoner
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The next great RPG I played after FF7 was also on the PS2. In The Summoner, you play the part of a young man named Joseph, who has the ability to summon demons. As the game opens, Joseph summons a demon to try and save his village, only to lose his control over it. He watches helplessly as the demon destroys his entire village, and kills his family and all of his friends.
Years later, as a much more pensive and cautious man, Joseph is once again faced with a crisis that he may be able to help prevent: evil forces are invading his homeland, and Joseph resolves to find the scattered four rings of summoning to bring forth the ultimate creature, defeat the evil emperor, and save his homeland.
The Summoner appeals to my more serious, emotionally-driven side. The game’s story was just tremendous. I thoroughly enjoyed the background and side stories, and I really found myself rooting for the characters to come through and triumph. The game did go a bit long, but I stayed there till the end just to see Joseph save his people.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
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Morrowind was the next RPG that I got my hands on. I played it on the XBox a couple of years after I got out of college, and it’s probably my second favorite RPG ever. As Morrowind opens, your character - an unnamed criminal, imprisoned for some ignominious act - is released from jail due to the vague demands of an obscure, unknown emperor. As the game progresses, you find that a demigod, Dagoth Ur, has stolen a valuable artifact and used it to make himself nearly omnipotent. In doing so, he blighted the land of Vvardenfell and you begin a quest to set things right.
The first time I picked up Morrowind, I got about an hour into it and then stopped. The game was confusing to start out, I didn’t know what exactly I was supposed to be doing, the combat system was funky and I just couldn’t get into the game at all. So I put it down and didn’t touch it for months. I think I even remarked to a friend later that I hated Morrowind and it was a terrible game.
As the months went by, I kept hearing and reading great reviews of the game, so I eventually decided to give it another shot. This time around I read a couple walkthroughs online to familiarize myself with the game beforehand. Armed with my new knowledge, I plugged the game back in and proceeded to fall in love with Vvardenfell. If you’ve played Morrowind, you know how incredibly huge the game is, and I probably played at least 95% of the content available.
What does this tell you about me? It’s entirely possible to get the wrong impression about me the first time, too. I’m a generally quiet, laid back and unemotional person. This has led people at various times to think that I’m bored, unhappy, uninterested or unenthusiastic about the current situation, when just the opposite may be true.
World of Warcraft
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Lastly we come to the World of Warcraft, easily my most favorite RPG of all time. I started playing WoW roughly two years ago, and essentially have not touched any other video game in that time.
When I started playing WoW, I was looking for a world to explore. I wasn’t interested in raiding, or PvP, or the minutia of theorycrafting. I was intrigued by the mythos and lore of the game, and so I chose a Hunter as my first character. The idea of being a loner, Ranger-type Survivalist, living in the wild, with nothing to rely on but my wits and my Pets was an incredibly awesome idea. Even though my tastes have moved on since that time, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Hunters.
What’s that tell you about me? Well first off, I’m an introvert and often prefer to be off on my own in RL as well. Second, I love animals, and can’t even begin to imagine the fun I would have if I could actually take an animal from the wild and tame it. Seriously, how awesome would that be?
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Well, there you have it: Me in a four part video game nutshell. I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here 
Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about anything and everything video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the exact same topic! If you are interested in participating, contact bs angel for more information. Enjoy all of our articles.
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Final Fantasy VII?
I love that game!
I played it when I was a kid, and when Aeris died I cried my heart out. (spoiler for poignant memory, lol) Did not pick up the game until 7 years later. Yeah.
I loved VIII as well.
Morrowind is a great game as well, just very confusing.
RPGs are awesome.
Excellent article : )
I don’t play any games in the RPG genre (I think my personality is too addictive for them) so I really enjoyed reading about all of those games. The Morrowind one in particular was fascinating, partly because of how you shelved it but gave it another try and also the insight it provided into your personality.
Good stuff!
Wow… angel really knows how to make people analyze themselves. I had no idea a topic like this would make people look so deeply into who they are. Great post!
FF7 was a great game (yes even on the bugged PC version), I thought that had one of the best stories in a game - that for me is always an important factor for a game, it has to draw me in.
I’ve only just started playing WoW in the last 6 months and am currently Lvl 60, but I can understand what you mean!
I remember playing FF on a PS2 some years back, and to be honest I never really got it. Guess I didn’t give it enough time. Then again, I have a hard time enjoy Japanese games. (I can hear Minmei cringe at that).
Elder Scroll is a game that I’ve been told is quite open ended and so vast it almost feels like an MMO (except the missing other players).
A true RPGer you are!
Not to sound harsh, but you’re only batting %50 IMHO. FF7 was the worst game of the Final Fantasy Series, barring perhaps only the lackluster sequels that followed it. Want a good Final Fantasy? Go back to the original. As for Summoner… (shudder) gods, I don’t know how you could even play that shovel-ware.
On the flip side tho, Morrowind was, IMHO, one of, if not THE, best RPG of all time, bar none. The sheer number of things you could do in that game (And if you were lucky enough to have the PC version, the sheer number of fan made mods) would keep you busy for YEARS. It’s a tough game to get into, as it doesn’t really explain itself, but once you come to grips with the “go anywhere/do anything” approach, it suddenly feels like every other RPG is just forcing you into a role. Maybe that’s why MMOs are so good. They embody that same feeling (I’ve described Morrowind and it’s sequel, Oblivion, as an MMO without the Multiplayer & Online parts. It’s basically the same sort of game…)
Either way, I’ll humbly suggest you try some pre-playstation games to see how RPGs were done RIGHT. The leap to 3-d really hurt RPGs for a while (Which they recovered from, thankfully. Tho Square never has, they keep piling on stinker after stinker. Their only game to come close was 10, and even that was terrible), but if you must stay in the realm of 3-d, go check out Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or it’s sequel. Hell, even check out Jade Empire, at least they got the formula right (No surprise from the makers of Neverwinter Nights tho, ne?).
- Polecat (Please no flames, these are my honest opinions as a gamer since the early 80’s from playing on the Atari 2600 and through to current gen systems… well almost. I still have to get a Wii and a 360 due to some financial troubles. I’m really looking forward to trying Mass Effect tho.)
@ Silvercube - Yeah, Aeris dying was a terrible scene. I think I was too shocked to be sad. I kept thinking, “She’s coming back, right…. right?”
@ bs angel - RPG addiction is a real and serious problem among gamers. You may be wise in avoiding them altogether =)
@ BSB belpers - It’s funny you say that. When I first got the topic, I had no idea at all what to write. I was thinking about just throwing in the towel and trying again next month, but finally on Monday evening some ideas started flowing. Glad you enjoyed it =)
@ Zath - I enjoyed what I could understand of the FF7 story =) Parts of it were just too strange for me to get into, but overall it was very enjoyable. Glad you’re liking WoW too.
@ Crazykinux - The Japanese influence on FF7 was definitely strong. Like I told Zath, there were parts that were just too weird for me too. And yeah, Morrowind was a hugely open-ended game and I think that lack of direction contributed to my not liking it the first time. Once you got out of prison, you could literally do anything at all you wanted. It was easy to get overwhelmed.
@ Polecat - I’ve played KOTOR and Jade Empire and loved them both. I wanted to put KOTOR on this list but couldn’t come up with any personal insights that it gave, so I ended up leaving it off. I enjoyed Jade Empire too, but thought it was a bit short and too narrow. I ran out of content in it long before I was ready to stop playing it.
Ahha, as you talk about the esteems of FF7, I posted a blog dissing it. I am going to be hated
Ah Morrowind. I love that game so much
I have the battle music on my mp3 player and on the rare occasions that it starts playing, I’ve caught myself getting extra alert and a little apprehensive. It takes a couple more bars before I remember that no, that was the combat warning for a GAME. Even years later the association between the music and needing to be alert is surprisingly strong.
Polecat: You forgot to mention, it’s like an MMO but without the tedious GRIND.
Nice article. I enjoyed FFVII but I’ve not played any FF games since. I think I had a similar experience as yourself with Morrowind but I never persevered with it. In hindsight I wish I had especially as I loved Oblivion and I’ve been meaning to go back and try it again.
@ Monique - Your article was a good read. Although I thoroughly enjoyed FF7, it definitely wasn’t the “greatest game ever”.
@ Weefz - I lol’ed at your MP3 story. The music in Morrowind was definitely great.
@ QD - If you haven’t played Morrowind yet, you should. It’s probably a bit dated by now, but I bet it would still be enjoyable.