SIM Anime and Gaming Club

random Q and A about pretty much anything

this episode: "Gaming shit"

"Anthony, how long have you been playing video games?"

Hahahaha! Since I was 3 years old! My first video game was a DOS side-scrolling game similar to Ghosts n Ghouls.
If you count snakes and tetris as video games, then probably I was exposed much earlier lol.


"So how about telling us your video gaming history?"

I'm pretty much a normal gamer like most of other gamers out there, Playstation inclined.

Our family had a NES when I was in preschool's playgroup. Then my uncle bought a SEGA Genesis and I played with him often.
My parents bought me a SNES when I was in kindergarten and soon thereafter, I got myself acquainted with classic games like Mortal Kombat and Final Fight series, Mario bros, Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Dragon Ball butouden series, etc.
Not too long afer that, SEGA Genesis 2 comes in and being the tech geek my uncle was, he bought that too.
At this time, my gaming knowledge increased with games like the sonic series, Bare Knuckles, Street Fighter II, etc.

For Playstation, I got it near the end of primary 4. Tekken 3, Crash Bandicoot trilogy, KOF 98, Pepsiman, Fisherman's Bait, Gran Turismo. Those were few of my first PS games.

A year later, I got more familiar with some of the legendary games like the Super Robot Wars series, Brave Fencer Musashi, Digimon series, Monster Rancher series, Brigandine, FF series, and of course the ever famous Harvest Moon.
My repertoire grew bigger in my sec school days, with the likes of WWE SmackDown series, Star Ocean 2, Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and everyone's favorite soccer game, Winning Eleven series.

Near the end of my 8th grade, I got my PS2, and from there onwards, I have been playing innumerable PS and PS2 games from various genres.
Fighting, RPGs, Racing, Sports, Action-Adventure, Beat-em-up, Strategy, Dating-sims, Dance-rhythm, et cetera.
I bought games on impulse (back then, PS games were about 50 cents, and PS2 games were about 1 dollar) I even have shit like Fisher Price Rescue Heroes and Detective Barbie hahahah!

To put it short, I might have played every PS2 games that you have played before.

I got an XBOX at the end of my 10th grade, and finally a PSP last year.

I'm poor as shit so I can't afford a next gen console hahaha!


"What genre of games do you like?"

Everything really. I like to play RPGs, shooter, beat-em-up, fighting, platformer, sandboxes, TBS, RTS, dating-sims, hentai games, pretty much everything.
The most exciting games would be those that has a mix of them genres inside.
For example, RPG + strategy elements like the Super Robot Wars franchise, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Nippon Ichi trademark games (Disgaea, Phantom Brave, La Pucelle, etc.)
RPG + action-fighting like Star Ocean, Tales, and Mana series.
et cetera, et cetera.

But if I have to name a genre that I really like, then my answer would be a simulation mix with multiple endings.
Star Ocean for example. An RPG with action, fighting, strategy, dating sim, and a multiple ending to boot.


"How about your gaming life in highschool?"

Console gaming is still strong in my highschool life, but around 11th grade, I got hooked to Arcades, LAN, and online gaming.
You can say that my highschool life was spiced with tons of gaming variety. As you know, DotA was like the official game of every highschool kids in the world, almost every boy in my highschool played it.
Each class has their own strings of teams and we pit them against each other based on their ability. We organized monthly inter-class matches to determine the best class in the school.
We played it after school for almost everyday, even in exam periods. There was a time when we completely abandon our studies to focus on a local DotA tournament hahaha!


"Tournament?"

Yes, Dota tournaments. Me and a bunch friends formed a few teams and participated in local tournaments (hosted by a local net cafe I frequented). Usually we entered just for fun under the team name "Fun Fun Profitable" or "Bonus Round", and pretty much got thrashed haha.
In Jakarta, local DotA tournaments are full of representative from various net cafes, and those teams are insanely powerful. Once we got thrashed badly since our first match was against the representatives of "BIG" (Indonesian national DotA team 2005-2006, now goes under the name XCN-BIG), which cafe we frequented.
The leader (now goes by the name "XCN-Ritter") was AFKing half of the game to buy lunch and still managed to get an insane amount of kills. I would never forget that day hahahah!


"How about your Dota exploits now?"

I haven't touched Dota for 2 years, I really don't know shit now hahaha. The latest version I played have the pretty solid Clockwerk Goblin as its newest hero. Now I've seen new heroes like helicopters and shit lol.


"Are you well versed in PC games?"

If you are talking about hentai games, then yes hahahahah!
For normal offline games, not really. I only play The Sims and Neverwinter Nights series, some of the Ages series and Rise of Nations. Of course Warcraft is included.


"You mentioned arcade gaming before, how about telling us your experience with arcades?"

Mmm.... for arcades, I can talk all day about how I got hooked to DDR, PIU, and arcade rhythm games in general, and talk about nerdy dancing stuffs, but let's save it for another episode of Anthony's corner.


"You also mentioned online games. So are you into MMORPGs and the likes of that?"

Of fucking course! I've played dozens of MMOs since my junior high days starting from the ever famous RO.
I still play lots of them, but it depends on my mood mosly. Nowadays I play numerous MMOs in their CBTs. If I found a CB game to be interesting, I'll prepare to jump start in its OB with fellow CB forum members.


"How about telling us your MMORPG exploits?"

First, let's talk about my online identity.
My IGN is LovePhantom, and I have been using that name in numerous MMORPGs since 2009. So if you play an MMO and found this name on the player list, spouting nonsense on the game chat, or trolling on the game forums, don't forget to say hi.
other alt character names would be LoveTyphoon, LoveMachine, and many others starting with Love hahaha.

Currently the games I constantly play are Freejack and Cosmic Break (IGN: Oyaji). I'm waiting for Lucent Heart's OB and is also trying out Eden Eternal's CBT. I'm always ready if you want to have a match, just holler :D
My laptop's health, however, is not that good and it often crashes mid-game. It needs a few services before I can enjoy playing MMOs to my heart's content.

For further details...... Let's save them for another episode of Anthony's corner hahaha, I also have a long history with MMOs.


"Can you make a top 10 list for games, separated by their genre?"

It's impossible to make a top 10 list separated by genre.
You see, besides the RPG genre, every single game in existance (no matter what genre they are, given that they operate based on the same dynamics) keeps on getting better with each new sequel.
For example, Street Fighter IV is better than Street Fighter III (even if you love SFIII's parrying system, you have to admit that overall, SFIV is the better game).
WE 2010 is better than WE 9. Soul Calibur IV is better than III. Tony Hawk Underground 2 is better than Tony Hawk Underground. DMC 3 is better than DMC 2. SD Gundam G Generation WARS is better than SPIRITS. Tenchu 4 is better than Tenchu 3. RE 3 is better than RE 2. SRW Alpha3 is better than Alpha2. et cetera, et cetera.

Harvest Moon "Save the Homeland" is however, is arguably worse than Harvest Moon "Back to Nature" since they operate under different dynamics.
The same goes for Final Fantasy series, in which VII has the materias, VIII operates with the fucking complicated (at its time) junction system, IX goes back to FF classics (VI and before) with Job and ability system, X have the unnecessary grinding based spheres.
You can't say that the sequels are better than the previous games, since they operate on different dynamics.
This is why you can only make a consolidated top 10 list from various genres, or top 10 just from RPGs.


"Okay, how about your top 10 RPGs then?"

Well I can't really decide hahaha! Mostly since most of my favorite games are Strategy based in nature, not RPGs. Also, there are so many good RPGs they confuse me lol.
This is just an approximation though, from 1 to 10, with all of them coming from different series.

1. Star Ocean 3
2. Legend of Mana
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Radiata Stories
5. Legend of Legaia
6. Suikoden V / Suikoden II (tied, imo two best of the Suiko series including gaiden and tactics)
7. Xenogears
8. Persona 4
9. Steambot Chronicles
10. Shining Tears (Tony Taka's illustrations ftmfw)

Valkyrie Profile, .hack, and Metal Saga were nominated for my 10th place, but Shining Tears has that upper hand with Tony Taka's illustrations, yum!
Honorable mention goes to Odin's Sphere, Chrono Cross, Tales of Legendia, and Disgaea 2. They are pretty solid and can pass as my top 10, but I just couldn't find the factors that can get me hooked to them (excluding Disgaea's item world, which is a waste of life).
Also, as the owner of a complete SD Gundam G Generation series, and an avid fan of the Super Robot Wars franchise, I couldn't find the RPG factors inside those games so yeah.

Note that all of the games above are RPGs in nature, before anyone complains that "This list is so fucked up! Why is there no Kingdom Hearts?! It's an Action-RPG!"
BTW, Kingdom Hearts is overrated, nuff said.


"That's all. See you in the next episode of Anthony's corner"

I might talk about either arcade or MMORPG in the next episode. See you!


Anthony, peace and out.