RPGs’ & Me.. Solid conclusion of childhood meeting adulthood

Greetings everyone! I am writing about today my personal favorite RPGs’ (Role Playing Games) and what I think at the best ones out of that genre of gaming. Some of them I would place in the top 5 of the greatest video games ever made. This was not easy for me since I owned the original Nintendo (Yes with R.O.B), Sega Genesis (32x & Sega Genesis CD), Nintendo 64 & Game Cube, PlayStation 1 & 3 along with Xbox and Xbox 360. I also had a collection of games on the computer as well so narrowing down this list was challenging at best but…

 

HERE I GO SO SEE BELOW—

 

 

Final Fantasy VII

An energy manufacturing mega-company known as Shinra, Inc. is harvesting the sheer life energy of the Planet (known as the Lifestream) as a simple fossil fuel. The Lifestream is processed and made into products ranging from electricity and heat to Mako and Materia. The latter two materials can work miracles, granting the wisdom of the Ancients to the user. However, the Lifestream, like most other fuels, is finite in supply, and the Planet’s lifeforce is being malevolently drained by the constant exploitation of Mako by Shinra. Though aware of the harmful effects, they function without remorse.

However, the real battle lies not with a corporation, but a force much more competent from the distant past. A long-thought dead warrior bent on becoming a god by draining all of the Lifestream from the Planet has risen again and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.

Now a small rebel group emanating from the slums must quell the various dangers toward the innocent, and one mercenary for hire must look amidst the lies and deception and find the man he is within.

To me this was one of the greatest role-playing game I ever played. This came out in the late 90s’ on PlayStation 1 console. I remember I was in college and before I went to classes, after classes and cross country/track practices I was playing this game (yes it took me almost a year to beat which should explain the time differences of cross country and track seasons). This was one of the first games that when you input a personal name for a character it was completely absorbed into the game. I gave people names of my close friends and potential girlfriends (yea lol, I know and I won’t list any of those names either) which gave me a more “closeness” to the game. The plot of a band of would-be-heroes battling against a corrupt government was right on point with me during my early years in school. I totally placed myself in the storyline and made it my own. For that reason it was the best role-playing game I ever played!

 

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The plot begins six years after the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 3E 433. Emperor Uriel Septim VII is assassinated as he attempts to flee from the Imperial City after learning that assassins have killed his sons. However, before his death, he hands the Amulet of Kings over to the person who would become the Hero of Kvatch, a lowly prisoner which Uriel had seen in his dreams, with instructions to ‘close shut the jaws of Oblivion’.
The adventure begins after a prison escape and with a quest to find a man named Jauffre – and eventually the long lost illegitimate son of Uriel, the last surviving heir to the Septim throne, hidden away for protection since his birth. Ultimately, the Hero must stop the invasion from Oblivion and stand between the future of Tamriel and the Prince of Destruction himself.

This was such a marvelous game. I played it after it was out for over a year, more so with me buying a PlayStation 3 late. I was always had an affection with the world of fantasy. Through my love of fantasy it inspired me and my friend Everett to create knights called the Avenging Knights in grade school by drawing pictures and creating comic and pick-a-path books (to which I wrote a full length novel called Avenging Knights Rebirth of Lost Honor). This was the first Elder Scrolls I played and it did not disappoint at all. I was drawn into the game; played easily over 100 hours. I beat every aspect of the game, well close to it. I played all the guild mission and other side quests. I found every place on the map and left none unexplored. The storyline, how it all ties in with you as the main character was masterly done. Oh, Patrick Stewart voiced the Emperor Uriel Septim VII, yep icing on the mutherF$%#ing CAKE!!

Opening crawl of Knights of the Old Republic

Four thousand years before
the rise of the Galactic
Empire, the Republic verges
on collapse. DARTH MALAK,
last surviving apprentice of
the DARK LORD REVAN, has
unleashed an invincible
Sith armada upon an
unsuspecting galaxy.

Crushing all resistance,
Malak’s war of conquest
has left the Jedi Order
scattered and vulnerable
as countless Knights fall in
battle, and many more
swear allegiance to the new
Sith Master.

In the skies above the Outer
Rim world of Taris, a Jedi
battle fleet engages the
forces of Darth Malak in a
desperate effort to halt the
Sith’s galactic domination…

This game came out later; in the mid 2000s’ I believe but it recapture my love for role-playing games. I was drawn into it but not like a Final Fantasy VII because of the storyline and how it loosely related to me. This was indeed the first game that the outcome changes bases on choices you made as the gamer. This was like the old school “pick a path” books on steroid, and as a video game too :-). When I played I the first time I wanted to bad. This was the first time in a game in which you could ultimately be a “bad guy!” Bad ass, and I was a bad ass Sith Lord. The second game in the KOTOR series was a great game as well; more with the ability to transform you companions into Jedi or Sith depending on your—-AHEM—CHOICES!! This game was truly an innovator.

 

Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2

The game is set in the year 2183 CE, 35 years after humans discovered the ruins of an ancient spacefaring race called the Protheans on Mars. With the technology from these ruins, humanity learned the secrets of mass effect physics and element zero, unlocking faster-than-light travel. Humans also discovered the mass relay network that threaded the galaxy, permitting instantaneous passage across thousands of light-years. Humanity began its journey among the stars, encountering various alien races and establishing itself on the galactic stage.

–Part 2

Two years after Commander Shepard repelled invading Reapers bent on the destruction of organic life, a mysterious new enemy has emerged. On the fringes of known space, something is silently abducting entire human colonies. Now Shepard must work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization devoted to human survival at any cost, to stop the most terrifying threat mankind has ever faced.
To even attempt this perilous mission, Shepard must assemble the galaxy’s most elite team and command the most powerful ship ever built. Even then, they say it would be suicide. Commander Shepard intends to prove them wrong.

Mass Effect was a great game; a modern-day Sci-Fi with a strong role play element. Again the choices you make in this game will affect the outcome in the end. This game however those choices, outcomes, your relationship with your companions can all be carried over to the next game!! No other game that I can remember had the capability of doing that! The personal connection you develop with your main character along with others is unimaginable fulfilling to which is the aim of this series. Mass Effect 3 although was a good game was more of an “action shooter” rather than a role-playing game. It tied in the series but certain elements like the story and the more focus action shooter left a sour taste for me. Nevertheless Mass Effect is a great series that I had a lot of fun playing. This game made me buy an Xbox 360 because it was only exclusive for them at that time (PS3 came out later with Mass Effect—much later).

 

Fallout 3

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic Washington, D.C. following the Great War between the U.S., China, the Soviet Union and other countries. The Great War occurred on October 23, 2077 which caused immense damage and destruction despite lasting less than two hours. Before the Great War, there were the Resource Wars that nearly crippled the world and brought riots to the streets, during which the United Nations disbanded, and an F.E.V. plague coupled with global terrorism rendered the United States paranoid of both real and imagined communist plots. Canada was annexed by the United States in order to help the U.S. war effort against the Chinese in Alaska. The fact that Canada had the plentiful resources of nearly untouched wilderness made America’s effort well worth the protection the U.S.A. promised to provide.
I came very late, much like Elder Scrolls to the Fallout series. I never played the computer games but was quickly pulled in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout. I had always been fascinated with that type of fiction and movies. The Mad Max, Terminator, etc.., scares me and makes me as a person to strive for peace than the standards of war. Fallout 3 gave me the gratification of at least playing my worst fears in a fantasy world and trust me–the video game was enough. The destruction of social order, the murder of innocents in an antipathetic world of cold menacing murderers. The relationship your main character had with (him or her) Dad was very touching and makes me personally think of the past so strongly. This is another game that is base on your choices and they will affect the outcome of the game and during the course of it too. The visuals are amazing much like Elder Scrolls IV. Fallout is a wonderful gem that was advance on the next generation (gen) systems.

 

 

Honorable mentions:

1. Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
2. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II
3. Zelda & Zelda Ocarina of Time
4. Diablo I & II
5. Fallout New Vegas
6. Dragon Warrior
7. Beyond Good & Evil