Games I Play

I've always been a big fan of board games, and was rather serious about chess in high school. But though I've been heavily involved with computers since the early 1970's, I avoided video games because they take so much time. Now that I'm retired from the day job thing, I've turned into a big console gamer.

Some of these video games take 100 hours or more to play, and are next to impossible to master without a strategy guide or access to online FAQs and walk-throughs. Most of the RPG-style games have multiple story paths and endings, which leave me wanting to play through again. At their best, it's very much like an interactive movie or novel. (I also have some Japanese visual novels, but my Japanese needs to improve a bit before I can work my way through those.)

These are games I have played (#), am playing (*) or own but have not begun playing. Some of these (+) I have for my kids to play when they're here. (My 'kids' are 18 and 20 years old.) If there's a link, it's to my comments about the game. Other favorite things.

• PSP 2000/2001 — I have two; region one and two
  • Air [visual novel]
  • Daxter
  • Final Fantasy I & II #
  • Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
  • Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
  • Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure *
  • Harvest Moon: Back to Nature for Girl *
  • Kanon [visual novel]
  • Jeanne D'Arc
  • Lemmings +
  • Patapon
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (pre-ordered)
  • Star Ocean: First Departure #
  • Star Ocean: Second Evolution #
  • 涼宮ハルヒの約束 [visual novel]
  • TMNT +
  • Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
• PS2 79001 with multitap and Dragon Quest Blue Slime controller
  • Adventures of Lomax +
  • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance +
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds
  • Champions of Norrath [play with my kids when chez moi] *
  • Final Fantasy VIII, X, X-2
  • Dragon Quest VIII *
  • Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (pre-ordered)
  • Star Ocean: Till the End of Time #

These are the board games I have at my place.

• Board games — I play these with my kids
  • 221B Baker Street [both versions]
  • Chess
  • Dread Pirate
  • Garage Band (trivia)
  • Go
  • Goth (horror trivia)
  • Mahjong [want to learn]
  • Mental Floss
  • Metro
  • Munchkin [we have all of them]
  • Risky Business
  • Settlers of Catan
  • Stonehenge (anthology)
  • TMNT Pizza Power Game
  • TMNT Movie Game
  • Trivial Pursuit [various decks]
  • WFFN Proof

I have bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome from decades of using lousy keyboards, so some video games are a challenge for me. I tend to prefer RPG-style to FPS-style games for that reason. Gurumin is an FPS, with many devilish puzzles and challenges, some of which I simply cannot do because of my hands. Harvest Moon is a farming / dating sim that is very easy on the hands and mind. Gurumin was my first console game, and in terms of the number of times I've played it, is my favorite game. I've played it on 'beginner' and 'normal' and now am playing on the 'hard' level. I think there's one more level to go. It's a really cute game that I foresee playing pretty much forever, in spite of the pain. I like the Star Ocean games enough that I will probably buy a PS3 so I can play Star Ocean: The Last Hope. They are very complex RPG games, heavy on story and character development, which is what I like. My favorite Star Ocean is Second Evolution, playing as Rena. Dragon Quest is quite different from the other games I've played. It has a very large world map and relatively small dungeons, the opposite of the Star Ocean and Final Fantasy games I've played. Although there is constant fighting, I never feel like the point of the game is the fighting; it's exploration and helping people with their problems.

My fan art of Rena from Star Ocean: Second Evolution.

OOPT cosplay inspired by Dragon Quest VIII.