At LAST! A Vox question of the day at which I'll actually be good!
What's on your top 5 video games list?
In no particular order other than how they occurred to me:
(1) Katamari Damacy and its sequel. Never has a video game that was so hard to explain, so simplistic and so absurd been so very, very captivating. Even people who aren't interested in video games (Alan, Nancy, I mean you) enjoy this game.
(2) Final Fantasy (series). I've played these since back when the Japanese version of Final Fantasy II was released in America as Final Fantasy IV. Disparage the franchise all you want, but Square/Square Enix always delivers originality and fun. And chocobos. Special shout-out to Bo for generously giving me his FF6 discs. (That's all. Just a shout-out. No sarcasm or smack-talk or anything. No, really, I feel okay.)
(3) Kingdom Hearts. I wouldn't believe Jazz, the manager at my local Electronics Boutique, who kept telling me how awesome this game was. I kept thinking Disney = kiddie game. Finally he gave me a copy for free and dared me not to love it. I did. I totally loved nearly every aspect of this game, from characters to storyline to battles and puzzles. Saddest day in my life was Jazz transferring to Cumberland Mall. Sniff.
(4) Silent Hill series, but particularly SH2 - most captivating storyline ever. Liked 3 quite a bit too and the movie recently made of Silent Hill 1 is truly spoookeh. One of my favorite things about these games is that amid the fighting there are some truly challenging logic puzzles. My favorite puzzle was one in SH3 where you found a scrap of paper with quotes from various Shakespearean plays; you had to know which play each quote was from in order to arrange a set of volumes of plays properly on a shelf, which if you got the order correct revealed a keypad combination that enabled you to escape a locked room and continue the game. (And people think video games are just violence and carnage! Well, actually, the carnage in this game is damned good too.)
(5) Xenosaga (another series). I was playing X-1 when I first started talking to Alan, and on our first "dating anniversary" he surprised me with the sequel. And it didn't make the list for sentimental reasons; it's an innovative franchise with a complex story. It's a little heavy on the cutscenes and has its irritating, bogged-down-in-stupid moments, but is much fun overall. Sure, part of my enjoyment is derived from making fun of the characters, but hey, you take your fun where you can find it.
Special Bonus Mention: GUITAR HERO. I have been totally enthralled with this game for 6 - 8 weeks now. I thought it sounded kinda dumb when Bo first told me about it: why buy a game that enables me to play virtual guitar when there are 3 in my closet and if I want to play guitar I can just go get one, amp up and play guitar? Well, because it's totally awesome fun! It really has little to do with your ability to play guitar but the musical appeal is undeniable. Great covers, songs that are fun to play, songs that are challenging, great player characters...I even got Alan and Mark to play it. I intend on getting Guitar Hero 2 eventually (if Santa doesn't bring it to me for Christmas, *pitiful sniff*) and I highly recommend this game. Even if you think you don't like video games, c'mon over and give it a try. You'll have fun, I promise.
What's on your top 5 video games list?
In no particular order other than how they occurred to me:
(1) Katamari Damacy and its sequel. Never has a video game that was so hard to explain, so simplistic and so absurd been so very, very captivating. Even people who aren't interested in video games (Alan, Nancy, I mean you) enjoy this game.
(2) Final Fantasy (series). I've played these since back when the Japanese version of Final Fantasy II was released in America as Final Fantasy IV. Disparage the franchise all you want, but Square/Square Enix always delivers originality and fun. And chocobos. Special shout-out to Bo for generously giving me his FF6 discs. (That's all. Just a shout-out. No sarcasm or smack-talk or anything. No, really, I feel okay.)
(3) Kingdom Hearts. I wouldn't believe Jazz, the manager at my local Electronics Boutique, who kept telling me how awesome this game was. I kept thinking Disney = kiddie game. Finally he gave me a copy for free and dared me not to love it. I did. I totally loved nearly every aspect of this game, from characters to storyline to battles and puzzles. Saddest day in my life was Jazz transferring to Cumberland Mall. Sniff.
(4) Silent Hill series, but particularly SH2 - most captivating storyline ever. Liked 3 quite a bit too and the movie recently made of Silent Hill 1 is truly spoookeh. One of my favorite things about these games is that amid the fighting there are some truly challenging logic puzzles. My favorite puzzle was one in SH3 where you found a scrap of paper with quotes from various Shakespearean plays; you had to know which play each quote was from in order to arrange a set of volumes of plays properly on a shelf, which if you got the order correct revealed a keypad combination that enabled you to escape a locked room and continue the game. (And people think video games are just violence and carnage! Well, actually, the carnage in this game is damned good too.)
(5) Xenosaga (another series). I was playing X-1 when I first started talking to Alan, and on our first "dating anniversary" he surprised me with the sequel. And it didn't make the list for sentimental reasons; it's an innovative franchise with a complex story. It's a little heavy on the cutscenes and has its irritating, bogged-down-in-stupid moments, but is much fun overall. Sure, part of my enjoyment is derived from making fun of the characters, but hey, you take your fun where you can find it.
Special Bonus Mention: GUITAR HERO. I have been totally enthralled with this game for 6 - 8 weeks now. I thought it sounded kinda dumb when Bo first told me about it: why buy a game that enables me to play virtual guitar when there are 3 in my closet and if I want to play guitar I can just go get one, amp up and play guitar? Well, because it's totally awesome fun! It really has little to do with your ability to play guitar but the musical appeal is undeniable. Great covers, songs that are fun to play, songs that are challenging, great player characters...I even got Alan and Mark to play it. I intend on getting Guitar Hero 2 eventually (if Santa doesn't bring it to me for Christmas, *pitiful sniff*) and I highly recommend this game. Even if you think you don't like video games, c'mon over and give it a try. You'll have fun, I promise.
5 Comments:
What great reviews! We love the games around here...Kev and I were just talking today about getting ready for the Xmas break from school so we can sit around the house and play video games. Faves from last year were: Crazy Taxi, Animal Crossing (kid game, but kinda addictive), World Series of Poker, one of the Final Fantasy games and more I can't think of right now! I used to love the Shining Force series (I think it was on our old Sega). I am asking for Guitar Hero - that sounds like so much fun!!
Lisa
By
Anonymous, at 9:42 PM
Thanks, Lisa! You & Kev would love it! I didn't mention in the post, but Lachele played it too - she knelt on the floor before the TV with that Lachele look of concentration, and TOTALLY aced a song. That wasn't as funny or noteworthy (oooh, a pun!) to me as Alan playing, because I've come to expect 'open to new things' and 'total success' from her. :-)
P.S. I still have my Sega. And working game cartridges. I is a game geek.
By
Helly, at 10:04 PM
Oh, yes, Game Geeks unite!! We have our lil' Sega here in the living room. Ally still plays 'Aladdin' at times, and I loved Zombies Ate My Neighbors and of course 'Sonic'!
Go Lachele!! :) A new game system would look great in her new house! :)
Lisa
By
Anonymous, at 9:08 PM
Yay, someone else (with whom I have never lived nor dated) has played Zombies Ate My Neighbors! Thank you, Lisa.
When the GameCube and XBox consoles came out, we thought to ourselves, "Selves, we haven't played video games in a while, let's get these. It'll be fun!" While yes, it was fun, we also found out that Leigh-Ann does have carpal tunnel and yes, it makes my carpal tunnel worse. That made us sad. I still want the latest version of Mario Kart. I think it's less finger poking intensive. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
I also bought an old Sega console from eBay and a copy of Zombies, so I could relive the joy of killing zombies with squirt guns. I bought it probably two years ago, and haven't hooked it up yet. I hope it works.
I love video games, but I need to play the really simple ones. I don't want to have to hit five different buttons to shoot something. I'm old and it's too hard for me to learn those now.
By
Anonymous, at 11:47 PM
It's not carpal tunnel - you just need to build up more strength in your Gamin' Hand! Sometimes if I'm trying a particularly difficult bit that I've failed at many times before, I'll stick out my hand and Alan will give it a semi-massage, kind of like a manager gives to a boxer's shoulders between rounds. I say stuff like, "Loosen up my Gamin' Hand!", he says things like, "Work it out, work it out!"
Yeah, I know.
By
Helly, at 10:17 PM
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