My Favorite Games of All Time

Dragon Age II is a phenomenal game. So much so that I contemplated whether or not I would consider it my favorite game of all time. Then I went on thinking and trying to decide what my top 20 games of all time would be.

My results are based off of a mixture of a lot of things, but it ultimately comes down to my emotional attachment to the game. After all, this is a list of my top 20 favorite games, not necessarily the "best" 20 games, but the games that I hold most dear.

The results are as follows. The top 10 are ranked, the tail 10 are alphabetical:

Goof Troop

Goof Troop is on here because of my cousin Mike. I loved playing this game when I was visiting him and we would always have a blast just goofing around in it (see what I did there?). It was a fun puzzle-action game in the vein of Zelda sans sword.

Kingdom Hearts 2

A sequel to one of my favorite games. There was simply something so enchanting about the series; but I'll get to that later.

Little Nemo

This game is the ultimate reminder of how awe inspiring a game was to me when I was younger. It was and still is an extremely difficult platformer. I remember how proud I would be to beat the first level, and even more so when I got to the second! I still don't think I've beaten the third...but I can't be certain. At least I couldn't the last time I tried.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

I can still vividly remember the opening sequence to this game and the music that accompanied it. It was phenomenal. Then the game started, and I was enchanted.

Mario 64

Nothing will ever be quite like the first time I ran around as a 3D polygonal Mario. Or shot him out of a cannon. Or used the winged hat. Or did a triple jump.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

The game that introduced me to the Warp Pipe online community. An online community that I still hold dear to this day long after its death.

Pokemon Blue

Gotta catch 'em all! Pokemon wasn't just a game. For 11 year old me it was a way of life! My cousin Michael and I would get together, play the card game, watch the cartoon, link our games up. The cards, the show, the game, thinking about them brings up warm fuzzies of childhood.

Punch Out!!

This game, like Little Nemo, seemed able to equate prowess at game playing to which boxer you eventually lost to. I personally have never beaten Mr. Dream (I never played the Mike Tyson version). I never even reached him until I grew up a bit and was more coordinated and skilled at gaming. Facing him for the first time was one of the most intense feelings of dread and fear I've felt in a video game. Not scary, obviously, but nerve-wracking as hell.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

KotOR changed what I knew about video games. Moral choices were introduced. Choices themselves were introduced. Linear story lines that have no baring to what you've done previously or how you've played now feel empty. Games, thanks to KotOR's example, became a medium that could tell a story in a way no other media could.

Super Smash Brothers: Melee

Just a fantastic, frenzied good time. So many characters and items that every match was a complete blast and with the right group of friends, this game simply never got old.

10. Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Origins re-introduced me to the world of video gaming. I had been on a lull, only playing games on very rare occasion, and not really being excited to play or looking forward to any on the horizon. Origins changed all that. I found a deep, engrossing storyline and game play replete with choices, characters, and narrative to spare.

9. Final Fantasy XI

Yes, an MMO. The time I spent playing this was exhilarating. I really felt like I was someone else in a different world while playing this, as lame and creepy as that sounds. I had fun exploring this new world and getting to know it. This is one that isn't on the list because it was groundbreaking or traditionally fantastic. It just gave me that happy feeling.

8. Super Mario Brothers 3

Nothing will compare to the times I've had playing SMB3 with my sister. Our countless attempts to beat the game have always been thwarted, but that doesn't mean we'll ever stop trying.

7. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003

Another game on here because of the memories I have of it playing with my sister. It was always fun to pick up a controller and spend the afternoon on the virtual links with the air conditioning on a hot summer day.

6. Heavy Rain

A video game that is truly an interactive movie. I mean those words as a compliment of the highest regard. I loved the story, the characters, and yes, the short play time. They made the most of those hours, nothing felt dragged out. Also the fact that you could essentially "act" in a scene--lean up against a dresser as someone is telling you something; perch on the bedpost, stand up again, pace--is fantastic and something I've not seen before.

5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

What can I say about Oblivion that's not already been said? It was the most engrossing virtual world I had ever come in contact with at the time, and it very well may still be so. You can spend hours, days, and not even touch the main storyline. Just talking and helping out random strangers with their problems and exploring the unknown was endlessly satisfying. The moment I started piecing together the fact that I had become a vampire--people were treating me differently, I was being hurt by the sunlight, then, horrified, I fed on a sleeping person--I knew that this game was something special.

4. Final Fantasy VII

My first real RPG, the first game I'd experienced with such a narrative, the fantastical worlds, characters, plot-twists, music, locations, and emotional resonance. The battle system was tight and exciting. The non-traditional fantasy setting was intriguing and new to me. Moral ambiguity came in full view. Three discs. This game was awe-inspiring, and I loved every moment of it--blocky graphics and all.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I almost don't think I need to write anything here about the game--just my experience with it. I had never played it until I received the demo disc that came from pre-ordering Wind Waker. I played it on a tiny television off to the side of the room where my family's television was, and played it while the rest of my family was watching TV. Yet the tiny screen, quiet sound, and playing it almost exclusively laying on my stomach with my head tilted back to see the screen did nothing to detract from the perfection that is this game.

2. Kingdom Hearts

Every once in a while a game will come along that just clicks for you. There's nothing you can necessarily put your finger on, but it digs a hole in your heart so deep that you will never tear it free and would never want to. Kingdom Hearts is this game for me. The theme of Traverse Town will still to this day make my stomach ache and long out of love for this game.

1. Dragon Age II

Yes, Dragon Age II tops this list. The game play was fun and slick, the characters were intensely deep and satisfying, the dialogue was fun and endearing, and the storyline was varied and unexpected as it was needed and daring. Dragon Age II took the series in a much-needed direction. After Origins, there wasn't much left to say. We defeated the blight--yay! But Dragon Age II created a change in the very world, something that many series don't dare to do. The moral choices you had to face in this game were beyond anything ever before. There was one moment where I stared horrified at the screen being forced to make an impossible decision. I refused. I stared at the screen a good five solid minutes hoping that one of my companions would swoop in and decide for me. They didn't, of course, and I was forced to make the decision for myself. And I didn't feel good about it afterward. It left an actual impression on me--one that followed me after the credits rolled and made me think about my decision afterward. Did I make the right choice? The fact that this game can even do that shows just how phenomenal it was. Hawke, a crowning achievement, is probably the deepest, most well-developed and believable protagonist in any game. Not to mention he's a complete bad-ass.

Dizzy

I'm feeling dizzy right now. If I stand up, I want to fall over. If I sit down I want to stand up, then want to fall over. If I lay down it's difficult to type, and if I can't type I can't be on the Internet. If I can't be on the Internet then why am I not standing up and making a sandwich or something? It's because I would want to fall down. Also, I just ate. I ate Chinese food. Chinese food is good, but it makes me feel a little wonky. A little tired. A little bloated. A little dizzy. I can't decide if the world is spinning around me or if my head is just spinning around with disregard to its tethered state. If I close my eyes and analyze it, I probably ave more typos because I can't see and correct them as I type. Opening my eyes now. I was right. Once again, I must stress as mentioned in a previous post, I am not British, though I used the semi-word "ave" which would be the cockney pronunciation of the word "have", and not in fact an abbreviation for the word "avenue". I'm not going to lie, I was impressed just now by my correct first-guess on how to spell abbreviation. It's not a word one uses often, and one that I wasn't sure one (I) could spell. I can. Huzzah! (I'm not a 14th century Brit.) I forgot to talk about what I was feeling when I closed my eyes to analyze the dizziness, and now I forgot the results of my analysis. I will close my eyes again. Wathch out for typos again. Okay. Eyes are now closed. Definitely the world spinning around me. Well...rotating. Clockwise. And not just twthe world, but also my body. My head is like the...what is it called...? The center point of a circle? The...I think it is just center point. Okay, so my head is the center pont of a circle and my body is like the second hand. So really my head is like the mechanical axis of a clock and my body is like the second hand. Remember, eyes closed. Tpos galore I'm sure. Opening my eyes again. Yup. Typos. Little red squiggly lines in four different places. "Ave" isn't one of those places. Must think I mean the abbreviation. Spelled it right again, without looking. I'm dizzy.

Clue

Wadsworth: This is getting serious.

I'm not Canadian.

No really. I'm not. I'm also not British. So why is there an extra "u" in the title of my blog? That's an interesting question, and one that I really have no idea how to answer.

Maybe I was just feeling particularly fancy that day. This "u" could in fact have been the literary equivalent of holding up one's pinky as one drinks one's ice cold Dr. Pepper.

Perhaps I am, in fact, just a horrible speller, and this particular mistake just made me look a little north-of-the-border rather than incompetent.

Possibly I just really like the letter. I am typically a little unselfish, so the letter "u" might naturally draw me to it.

The reality? No idea. I honestly didn't know that the spelling was alternative until about twenty minutes ago. Apparently I'm just ignorant.

Farewell My Friend

I intended to use today's post to talk about my new blog, The Heavyhearted Haikuist (http://www.sadhaiku.blogspot.com) but it will have to wait for tomorrow...because today, tragedy has struck.

A dear friend of mine died today. It's a pain that I'm having trouble coping with. I guess the easiest way to deal with it is just to explain how it all happened...

I was at work separating the transfers into each department when it happened.

He never even saw the battery acid...it came out of nowhere. I suppose he might have been screaming for help but I wasn't paying attention. I was too absorbed into my own shallow life I suppose. Maybe if I would have been more attentive...maybe if I would have acted quickly...I could have prevented it all.

The battery acid smeared across his face...and two hours later...he was disintegrating. His flesh began to tear with the slightest of ease and I could do nothing to save him.

Life goes on, as they say, but for me it will truly never be the same. He was the best damn shirt I've ever worn.

It's January

Dear people who wear shorts on January 18th: Go to hell. At least there you will be dressed weather-appropriately.

Aren't you cold? Isn't it breezy? Are you aware that you look like an idiot?

I understand that you want the snow to be gone and the weather to be warm...but dressing for the occasion isn't going to help. It's the weather; not a job interview. If clothes dictated the world, I would be wearing the t-shirt to my upcoming Hollywood film....and also some sort of...sandwich shoes. I don't know. I'm hungry.

The point is, every time I saw one of you people traipsing around the Home Depot today I would do one of two things. 1) I would comment on how stupid you looked to my boss Dave, or 2) If Dave wasn't around, I would comment on how stupid you looked to you, only very quietly and after I had passed you.

I would like to initiate a new law. Shorts shall not be worn before March 31st unless the temperature exceeds 62 degrees Fahrenheit lest I call you a dweeb.

Also I hate Crete. (It's a trucking company.)

Hah! Just in Time!

So I decided it would be extremely embarrassing to go an ENTIRE YEAR without a blog post, so here I am on the 22nd of December 2009 posting to save myself from such shame and general ridiculousness before the 23rd rolls around.

Let's talk about the Home Depot just for one second. This company is completely insane right now. The same company that had Christmas decorations up the first week of October and started playing Christmas music up the wazoo since November 1 decided this morning, December 22, to stop playing the sounds of the season over the speakers. Instead of the jolly holly Nat King Cole telling me to have myself a merry little Christmas, I had the Black Eyed Peas telling me that they had a feelin' that tonight's gonna be a good, good night. Well, that's all well and good, I suppose, except for the fact that I cannot stand that song even in the height of summer let alone so close to the 25th!

So now that that's out of the way, I can talk about how stupidly geeky and equally awesome I felt when I sent PDFs of a couple of my plays to my sister's Kindle. Hehe. Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, Kacey K. Spadafora...

Yeah, I know it could just as easily say McAwesomepants Von Supercool and bring up a random jumble of letters; all you have to do is send a PDF, Word document, whatever to the awesome little Kindle and it shows up...but still, I felt cool, dang it.

Maybe I'll actually start blogging more often. Maybe this "once a year" thing is a positive step toward me talking about myself on the internet for everyone to read more often. Maybe this is the start of something beautiful! Well...yeah...we'll see about that. A bientot! (That's right...I've learned French since I last posted!)