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Very rarely am I drawn into a game to the point where it takes over my life, but when it happens, it is a very special feeling indeed.
By the time a console's life draws to a natural end, I always find myself being able to count on the fingers of one hand my favourite and most treasured games.
For instance, at the end of the PSone's natural life I only had four games in my collection: Tomb Raider 1&2, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid - the rest I owned I either sold or part-exchanged, deeming them unworthy of keeping.
With the N64 there was only the two Zelda games.
And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2.
So what is it about certain games that capture your heart and enchant you to the point where you just can play them over and over again?
At the moment there is only one game on the PS2 which has affected me in this way: ICO.
The simple and effective gameplay, the beautiful and mysterious locations, the ambient sound, the touching storyline - it feels like it was programmed especially for me.
So what is it about certain games that enchant us so much that we almost love them?
Is it the gameplay, the graphical style, the story, the characters?
Well I guess it's all of these things.
Just like we are attracted (romantically) to certain people for a mixture of obvious and less obvious reasons, it is the same with certain games.
When it happens, it just happens - you can't really find clear and rational reasons why it is so.
If only I could be enchanted by more games, but the slightly disturbing fact is that by the time the natural life of a console draws to an end, I will only be able to say that if I was to do it all over again, there would only be a handful of titles out of hundreds that I would rank as personal classics.
All that time and money for just a handful of titles which I could hand-on-heart say that I truly enjoyed.
So does gaming justify all this personal and financial investment when "most" games don't really hit the mark?
By the time a console's life draws to a natural end, I always find myself being able to count on the fingers of one hand my favourite and most treasured games.
For instance, at the end of the PSone's natural life I only had four games in my collection: Tomb Raider 1&2, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid - the rest I owned I either sold or part-exchanged, deeming them unworthy of keeping.
With the N64 there was only the two Zelda games.
And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2.
So what is it about certain games that capture your heart and enchant you to the point where you just can play them over and over again?
At the moment there is only one game on the PS2 which has affected me in this way: ICO.
The simple and effective gameplay, the beautiful and mysterious locations, the ambient sound, the touching storyline - it feels like it was programmed especially for me.
So what is it about certain games that enchant us so much that we almost love them?
Is it the gameplay, the graphical style, the story, the characters?
Well I guess it's all of these things.
Just like we are attracted (romantically) to certain people for a mixture of obvious and less obvious reasons, it is the same with certain games.
When it happens, it just happens - you can't really find clear and rational reasons why it is so.
If only I could be enchanted by more games, but the slightly disturbing fact is that by the time the natural life of a console draws to an end, I will only be able to say that if I was to do it all over again, there would only be a handful of titles out of hundreds that I would rank as personal classics.
All that time and money for just a handful of titles which I could hand-on-heart say that I truly enjoyed.
So does gaming justify all this personal and financial investment when "most" games don't really hit the mark?
It's a question of how emotionally involved you get with specific games.
Very rarely do games provoke an emotion in the player, but some have with me.
Long adventure games like Secret of Mana and Shenmue draw you into amazing and enormous stories, with such themes as love, hate, friendship and death.
When I first played through Secret of Mana: I didn’t just play it, I lived it.
The characters were fantastic, each having their own deeply emotional backgrounds. As the quest unfolds, they overcome their fears fight with their emotions and win the day as a strongly bonded team.
I defy anyone to play through Secret of Mana, totally immerse yourself in the story, and not shed a small tear at the end sequence and credits.
Although the graphics maybe fairly crude by today’s standards, if I played it again today, I would still enjoy the emotional roller coaster.
Although Shenmue has very poor voice acting, it is a very atmospheric adventure, with the hero setting off on an epic quest to avenge the death of his father. On the way, he finds love, death and friendship.
The same could be said for games like Zelda OoT, Broken Sword 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 7 & 8 and Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2. Great games with huge amounts of emotion and brilliant characters.
All of them totally enchanted me, and i think the brilliant musical scores srirred up a lot of emotion in me as well.
Games developers can make the most amazing looking game, but if it’s not populated with strong characters and well told story it turns out very shallow.
However, some people may regard many of these videogame stories and plots as pure cheese, with clichéd characters avenging dead parents or defeating their sworn nemesis.
But I like ‘em.
Very rarely do games provoke an emotion in the player, but some have with me.
Long adventure games like Secret of Mana and Shenmue draw you into amazing and enormous stories, with such themes as love, hate, friendship and death.
When I first played through Secret of Mana: I didn’t just play it, I lived it.
The characters were fantastic, each having their own deeply emotional backgrounds. As the quest unfolds, they overcome their fears fight with their emotions and win the day as a strongly bonded team.
I defy anyone to play through Secret of Mana, totally immerse yourself in the story, and not shed a small tear at the end sequence and credits.
Although the graphics maybe fairly crude by today’s standards, if I played it again today, I would still enjoy the emotional roller coaster.
Although Shenmue has very poor voice acting, it is a very atmospheric adventure, with the hero setting off on an epic quest to avenge the death of his father. On the way, he finds love, death and friendship.
The same could be said for games like Zelda OoT, Broken Sword 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 7 & 8 and Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2. Great games with huge amounts of emotion and brilliant characters.
All of them totally enchanted me, and i think the brilliant musical scores srirred up a lot of emotion in me as well.
Games developers can make the most amazing looking game, but if it’s not populated with strong characters and well told story it turns out very shallow.
However, some people may regard many of these videogame stories and plots as pure cheese, with clichéd characters avenging dead parents or defeating their sworn nemesis.
But I like ‘em.
V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V Wrote:
"And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2."
*SLAP!*
I know what you mean about enchanting games. For me, Mario 64 is one. I could honestly just mess about in the front 'garden' for ages. Climbing trees, long-jumping, wall-kicking, swimming... I could do any of these things all day and not get bored.
The common denominator in the high majority of these games is the genre. Most of them are either Platformers, RPG's, or Action Adventure games - they bore down to something with a decent storyline!
An epic title I recently played... well, this time last year, was Skies of Arcadia from Sega. This game honestly has it all - an epic storyline, a decent engine, it's quite lengthy but never boring, it's got loads of core RPG elements in the game - in a word, it's 'phenomenal'! (Anyone getting a 'Cube or PS2 should definitely pick it up, ask Grix for his opinion!)
But like I said earlier, you can't just have any storyline to make the game enchanting. You have to direct it in such a way that people feel absorbed by the game and personally close to the characters. In RPG's, you can spend about 50 hours leveling up and editing your character. You change the type of person he or she is, the clothes, the weapon, the spells they perform,, their attitude and you balance their strengths and weaknesses according to you liking. It's like having a virtual pet, in a sense... and this is why it's so personal.
In my view, enchanting games are the best... they're what games should be, fun, exciting, epic and of high quality.
Great Post, I'm with you on this one...
Game
"And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2."
*SLAP!*
I know what you mean about enchanting games. For me, Mario 64 is one. I could honestly just mess about in the front 'garden' for ages. Climbing trees, long-jumping, wall-kicking, swimming... I could do any of these things all day and not get bored.
The common denominator in the high majority of these games is the genre. Most of them are either Platformers, RPG's, or Action Adventure games - they bore down to something with a decent storyline!
An epic title I recently played... well, this time last year, was Skies of Arcadia from Sega. This game honestly has it all - an epic storyline, a decent engine, it's quite lengthy but never boring, it's got loads of core RPG elements in the game - in a word, it's 'phenomenal'! (Anyone getting a 'Cube or PS2 should definitely pick it up, ask Grix for his opinion!)
But like I said earlier, you can't just have any storyline to make the game enchanting. You have to direct it in such a way that people feel absorbed by the game and personally close to the characters. In RPG's, you can spend about 50 hours leveling up and editing your character. You change the type of person he or she is, the clothes, the weapon, the spells they perform,, their attitude and you balance their strengths and weaknesses according to you liking. It's like having a virtual pet, in a sense... and this is why it's so personal.
In my view, enchanting games are the best... they're what games should be, fun, exciting, epic and of high quality.
Great Post, I'm with you on this one...
Game
Very rarely am I drawn into a game to the point where it takes over my life, but when it happens, it is a very special feeling indeed.
By the time a console's life draws to a natural end, I always find myself being able to count on the fingers of one hand my favourite and most treasured games.
For instance, at the end of the PSone's natural life I only had four games in my collection: Tomb Raider 1&2, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid - the rest I owned I either sold or part-exchanged, deeming them unworthy of keeping.
With the N64 there was only the two Zelda games.
And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2.
So what is it about certain games that capture your heart and enchant you to the point where you just can play them over and over again?
At the moment there is only one game on the PS2 which has affected me in this way: ICO.
The simple and effective gameplay, the beautiful and mysterious locations, the ambient sound, the touching storyline - it feels like it was programmed especially for me.
So what is it about certain games that enchant us so much that we almost love them?
Is it the gameplay, the graphical style, the story, the characters?
Well I guess it's all of these things.
Just like we are attracted (romantically) to certain people for a mixture of obvious and less obvious reasons, it is the same with certain games.
When it happens, it just happens - you can't really find clear and rational reasons why it is so.
If only I could be enchanted by more games, but the slightly disturbing fact is that by the time the natural life of a console draws to an end, I will only be able to say that if I was to do it all over again, there would only be a handful of titles out of hundreds that I would rank as personal classics.
All that time and money for just a handful of titles which I could hand-on-heart say that I truly enjoyed.
So does gaming justify all this personal and financial investment when "most" games don't really hit the mark?
By the time a console's life draws to a natural end, I always find myself being able to count on the fingers of one hand my favourite and most treasured games.
For instance, at the end of the PSone's natural life I only had four games in my collection: Tomb Raider 1&2, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid - the rest I owned I either sold or part-exchanged, deeming them unworthy of keeping.
With the N64 there was only the two Zelda games.
And when the sun finally set on the Dreamcast, I only had three games: Jet Set Radio, Shenmue 1&2 and Crazy Taxi 2.
So what is it about certain games that capture your heart and enchant you to the point where you just can play them over and over again?
At the moment there is only one game on the PS2 which has affected me in this way: ICO.
The simple and effective gameplay, the beautiful and mysterious locations, the ambient sound, the touching storyline - it feels like it was programmed especially for me.
So what is it about certain games that enchant us so much that we almost love them?
Is it the gameplay, the graphical style, the story, the characters?
Well I guess it's all of these things.
Just like we are attracted (romantically) to certain people for a mixture of obvious and less obvious reasons, it is the same with certain games.
When it happens, it just happens - you can't really find clear and rational reasons why it is so.
If only I could be enchanted by more games, but the slightly disturbing fact is that by the time the natural life of a console draws to an end, I will only be able to say that if I was to do it all over again, there would only be a handful of titles out of hundreds that I would rank as personal classics.
All that time and money for just a handful of titles which I could hand-on-heart say that I truly enjoyed.
So does gaming justify all this personal and financial investment when "most" games don't really hit the mark?