My Top 10 All Time Favorite Video Games

I am thankful, that as a child living in a third world country, that I was still able to have things that most kids in my country never did. I am thankful to my father who bought us Nintendo super nes and Sony Playstation’s 1 & 2. My siblings and I were also able to fight over a PSP when it came out. It makes me nostalgic just looking at pictures of old games we were able to play in these consoles. And over the years, I of course had a few favorites, and I will name 10 of them. But let me warn you, these are pretty ancient games. I have refrained from buying a PS4 until I have passed the board exam this year. And my laptop’s specs are way below gaming standards so I can’t even play DOTA 2 and such. Emulators actually became my savior. I got to play a bunch of games I would’ve missed otherwise since old consoles have been discontinued. So here goes my top 10 all time favorite video games listed in no particular order.

10 – Mother & Earthbound (GBA)

Mother

 

Earthbound

This is a recent favorite. I found out and got interested in this game last year when I watched an LP on this game by NintendoCapriSun (https://www.youtube.com/user/NintendoCapriSun) on YouTube. It’s an amazing game. I have never played a game that gave me so much feels as this game did. And what’s really amazing about it is that this is a 32-bit game and all of the emotions it was able to elicit in me were shown through a 32-bit animation. The gameplay is familiar enough if you have been able to play RPG games before. You basically walk around, talk to people and buy things you need while you also try to save the world from destruction and fight bad guys. Mother and Earthbound are basically made to have a bit of real world elements in them. You would save a game by calling your family at home, they have ATM’s where you can withdraw money and weapons are usually everyday items such as baseball bats and toy guns. There is a difference in the battle mode with Mother and Earthbound. Mother uses random encounters while Earthbound uses physical contact with an enemy to enter into battle mode. I can honestly say that this games difficulty level is on point. When I say on point I mean the difficulty level is enough that I did not get too frustrated and just gave up on finishing the game. I was still able to find techniques to use to beat bosses and finish quests. I love this game series because of the story, which is very typical of RPG’s but somehow it’s more relatable. I don’t know how to explain it exactly but the real world elements this series have really worked for me and this game series will be my favorite for a really long time.

09 – Pokemon (GBA)

Who doesn’t love Pokemon? You would either have to be insane or haven’t been able to play Pokemon to be able to not love it. I basically just put Pokemon and not any specific version of Pokemon for GBA because I was able to play most of them and I loved all of them. But the most recent version I have played is the Sapphire. What I love the most about Pokemon is the fact that you collect various species of pokemon’s. I love collecting so much that when I found out that in Sapphire, there are specific species that I cannot collect because it is specifically for the Ruby version, I just stopped playing because I was too upset. I also love that there are various mini games in the game itself that I do not get bored easily. Although I gave up on the game because of the collecting issue, I am still thinking about finally finishing the Sapphire version.  I think the next time I pick up this game I should concentrate on beating the Elite Four before I start hunting for the other pokemon’s. That way I get to finish one of the main quests in the game before I succumbed to frustration.

08 – Final Fantasy XII (PS 2)

This game has one of the most amazing game graphics I have ever seen. Of course I haven’t played games for PC or PS3 so that makes my statement less convincing. But for someone like me who played NES up to PS2, the graphics in this game is just so visually stunning that I am in awe every time the opening scene plays on the TV when I put this game on. I love most of the Final Fantasy game series of course, but this one just really blew me away. The plot is wonderful, the side quests keeps you busy and everything in this game just pulls you in. In fact I was so obsess with the side quests that it’s all I ever really do when I played it. I think my game did not progress the main story line for a month because I just kept finishing quests.  Of course I regretted not finishing this game. I still am hoping someday that I get to finish it and see the ending, but as of now, it’s not possible since I don’t have a PS2 or a PS3 console. I really love the characters in this game, I think this is the first time that I actually loved all the characters in an RPG game. My favorites were Princess Ashe and Fran. I also love collecting the Espers in this game because the scene when a character calls an Esper is really fantastic that I really want to see all of them. I loved every aspect of this game, this is one of the best games I played and I sure hope I can play this game again.

07 – Legend of Legaia (PS 1)

Legend of Legaia is one of those games that made me love RPG the more. I feel nostalgic just talking about this game. Remembering how I would come home from school and play this until either my siblings want to have their turn on the PS 1 or my mom tells me to stop. The story is pretty basic for an RPG, but for me at that time everything was brilliant about that game. The story centers around 3 main characters that go on a quest to vanquish the mist that is engulfing all of Legaia through the help of entities called Ra-Seru. The battle mode in this game is activated by random encounters and attacks are called “Arts” which include a combination of ether Right, Left, High & Low attacks. The boss battles in this game are no joke. I would sometimes spend a day or two leveling up just to get to a comfortable level where I can beat a boss. Luckily, there is a point system in this game where every time you purchase something, it is added to a card and you can choose to spend the points in this card as damage points to an enemy.  But you can’t always depend on the point card so leveling up is still the best option. Mini games are also abundant in this game. I go fishing, play Baka fighter and my favorite mini game is the Sol Fever Disco mini game. My childhood would not have been half as fun as it was if I was not able to play this game, so thank you Contrail & Prokion for developing this game.

06 – Legend of Mana (PS 1)

This game is all about getting quests done. There is no main storyline here and you just basically do what quest you want until you get to that final quest. Some people will find this game too chaotic since it just lets you choose quests you want to finish and you have to actually create your own world through its unique “Land Make” system. But for me, who loves collecting anything and just checking off to do lists, this game seems like it was made for me. For me it wasn’t so chaotic since there are actually quests that are interrelated and I really love the graphics of this game, its very full of color and consists of adorable characters. And I am a sucker for adorable characters.  You can also do a lot of things in this game like creating armors & weapons. The game also has a pet system and your pets can also be used to assist you in battles. There is also a workshop that allows you to create instruments and build golems. All in all I think the fact that this game is just a bunch of quest put together works for me.

05 – The Legend of Heroes: Trails in The Sky (PSP)

 

Pic from- http://www.dualshockers.com/

This is another game that gave me so much feels. Just remembering the game makes me smile because of all the good banters and dialogues I am remembering in the game.  Playing this game is like reading a book for me, both literally and figuratively. I can barely put it down for the want of knowing what will happen next. The budding romance between the two main characters actually kept me going for the most part. I feel giddy whenever there is something sort of romantic in the way these two main characters interact. It’s just like watching a cheesy soap opera. And since I love old school graphics, I typically love the graphics of this game. Very traditional and the battle mode is although something I was not used to, it still was fairly easy to get the hang of. I actually cried during the ending of this game (so much feels), and I do not want to spoil it for anyone who wants to play this game in the future so I would just warn you, prepare for the tearjerker in the end. And this is actually the first chapter in the 3 part series of this game. It made me cry even more when I found out that the second chapters localization was still on going. Up until now, the English translation still hasn’t been finish. But I am still crossing my fingers because Xseed did not actually give up on this project yet, so why should I. According to Xseed, it would be release sometime this year.

04 – Resident Evil 3 (PS 1)

This game is the game of my childhood. I remember unboxing this game and just being so excited to play it. I played this game so much that I actually know most of the lines from the Jill and Carlos scenes. This is one of those games that I played so much that all there is to unlock has been unlock, even the infinite bullets I might add. I remember having a crush on Carlos and wanting to be Jill, Ha! But most of all I remember how wonderful this game is. The game is set in Raccoon City, a city that has been transformed into a zombie city with the help of Umbrella’s T-virus. You would have to battle zombies, zombie dogs, zombie crows, giant zombie worms, giant poisonous spiders and of course the infamous Nemesis. He is a creation of Umbrella and was made with the sole purpose of killing STARS members, which the main character is actually a member of. The graphics is mainly 2D with some 3D polygon graphics here and there. The gameplay is fairly easy to follow but what I love the most about this game is the action. There are scenes in the game where you actually have to choose between two critical choices that could result in a different game ending. Every time I play this game I get this rush and yes, Nemesis scares the living daylights out of me. The first few times I played this game, I was screaming and jumping up whenever the crows suddenly fly out of windows from a location I thought I already cleared up. I kept running away from Nemesis but gosh darn it, it feels good whenever I knock him out. If you want something that would keep you interested right to the end, then this is your game.

03 – Suikoden 2 (PS 1)

This is another one of those games that I have played over and over again because this is one of the hands down best RPG’s I have played ever. The story centers around two childhood friends that had to choose their own destinies. It has a really deep storyline that mostly focus on how these two friends will be able to get through the complexities of war. The gameplay is your basic RPG set up where there are 2 maps, the outside world and then the map when you enter a village, a dungeon or a specific area. The most fun thing to do in this game is building the Castle base for your army. It basically becomes bigger and bigger as you progress the storyline and get more of the 108 Stars of Destiny characters which is actually the key in determining the ending you will get. Get all of the 108 characters and the ending is good, not getting all of them will result in a bad ending. There are three battle modes in this game. The first one is when you encounter random enemies in a field or a dungeon. The second one is the army battle mode, where you have units you deploy in a grid like area and is more of a tactical battle mode. The third one is the duel battle mode, where the main character is challenged into a one on one combat and its up to the player to choose between Attack, Wild Attack and Defend. There are lots of mini games in the castle, and my favorite is the Hai Yo Cook-Off game, where Hai Yo is repeatedly being harassed for a super secret recipe and the only way to make them back off is by beating them in a cooking contest. The music in this game is also fantastic. Each city has different background music and all of them are wonderful and gives you an impression that they really worked hard in developing this game. If you haven’t been able to play this game yet then you better get going because you need to play this game and see for yourself how good it is.

02 – Monster Rancher 2 (PS 1)

If you are like me who just loves the idea of collecting pets or in this games case, monsters, then this is your game. This is a very enjoyable game where you get to raise a battle monster that would join tournaments to battle for the top rank and be considered the strongest monster in the land. Raising a monster in this game also means training them to gain strength, speed and other essential attributes that are needed to be able to join the tournament. My favorite monster to raise is the Hare. The Hare is a cute bunny with a big jiggly belly that throws punches at its enemies. I collected almost all of the breeds of this monster and I just find this monster so cute that I just can’t seem to take care of much else but this one. It’s actually quite sad whenever a monster die’s, my heart becomes heavy every single time a pet monster dies. The most interesting feature about this game is the CD-generated monsters you can have.  You basically put a CD, most type of CD’s are good, and then a monster is generated through that CD, which can either be unique or just a basic breed of monster. This is a game that has unlimited replay potential and the graphics are very lovely and for someone like me who is sucker for cute characters, this game just really went straight to my heart.

01 – Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (PSP)

I love almost all of the games in the Harvest Moon series, but this particular title is what I remember the most since I am currently replaying this one. Harvest Moon is basically a farming game, where you plant seeds, water the plants, feed the chickens, gather the eggs, feed the cows and also milk them. You also get to raise a horse that can be then registered to race on Race Day. The games story starts with the main character inheriting his diseased grandfathers farm. But the town where the farm is currently located is actually in danger of being torn down to make way for Funland, an amusement park. He was then force by a Goddess and her little sprites into saving the town from being torn down. You basically live a life of a farmer in this game. You also have the option to marry any of the eligible bachelorettes in this town. But before anything else you must find ways to save the town to be able to succeed in the game. In order to save the town, you either have to pay 50k to the Funland CEO or make the town into either a Nature Preserve or turn it into a desirable Tourist Destination. This game actually takes a lot of time to finish since you take one day at a time to play it. This is a game for people who just basically want to enjoy a game that is not too fast pace and play the role of a farmer/savior/bachelor.