My history as a videogamer can not be summed into one specific event or video game but several. As I tried to sort it out I realized that different games got me into different genres and so I present to you two genres that made my cut and the game that pushed me from casual to hardcore gamer.

Role-Playing

Lands of Lore III



Now if you are surprised by this pick you and I are in the same boat. Trying to think which game got me into RPG's this was the only game that I could think of, sure people had their Final Fantasies and the Elder Scroll series but Lands of Lore III was made for people like me. People who proudly shop the 9.99 top rack in Wal-Mart looking for a game with a half decent cover because if it didn't have good cover art I wasn't going to buy it. Now that I look back on it I realize that if that was the best cover art I could find I should of just called it a day.

The thing about that game that got me hooked was the first person perspective which I was used to since I had played a number of FPS games before that so it was an easy transition for me. It also involved the same type of leveling that Oblivion does; use a skill a lot and you progress in it. That made the process seem more natural to me as I never truly understood how if I leveled up solely on physical combat how I could spend points on my magic and spells and why I would want to.

RPG's are my bread and butter when it comes to video games and while they have taken a back seat due to the fact that there aren't any decent RPG's for the 360 that I haven't played and/or beaten. That leads me to my next genre which is...

First Person Shooters

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II


This was an obvious choice for me as it was a progression from helping my Dad shoot in the first Dark Forces to actually playing Jedi Knight by myself. I literally would hold my finger down on the Control button and shoot the guys when I saw enemies; my Dad and I were an unstoppable force in the world that was Dark Forces.

As a child I was attuned to FPS's from the start, I learned from my father who learned from the instruction manual. I played this game so often that my dad had to give me his work laptop for that sole purpose so that he could actually do work on the home computer. It was gaming bliss; I felt as if I was Kyle Katarn and it was my mission to rid the galaxy of evil. It taught me my most important rule about video games; story and gameplay will trump graphics every time. This single game set the foundation of my natural ability to beat people in FPS games.

The Transition

Shenmue


Shenmue. How I love thee. I will never forget the fateful day that I walked into Blockbuster and walked out with Shenmue, ready to be a changed man (or boy at the time). I literally played this game through twice in a day or two because I couldn't put it down; I don't know what it was about it but everytime I closed my eyes I saw scenes from Shenmue in my mind. It was one of my first games on the Dreamcast and until then I played games a lot but I wasn't a hardcore gamer I just enjoyed the the few hours I would play during a week. Shenmue changed that. I owe all I am to Shenmue; now you might thinking to yourself that I am crazy to do that because it's just Shenmue and it wasn't that great. Well at that point in my life, I wasn't doing too well and it provided a way out and I realized that games provide hope where there is none.

As a gamer I like to think of myself as well-rounded in the games I play; I originally planned to do three more genres but I realized by then I would of lost your attention so I gave you my two favorite genres. I also have to owe my sense of sarcasm (albeit not shown in this C-Blog) to Giants: Citizen Kabuto. I don't know why but my sarcasm definitely shot up after that game.