I grew up having two brothers who liked to play video games. When my father brought home a PlayStation, well, I probably guessed that my brothers were ecstatic. For me, when I saw that gray rectangular box, I just looked at it curiously and wondered what it does. But since then, I hung around in my brothers' bedroom more often. I saw my brothers playing the PS1 and of course, as a kid I had that "I wanna play too" feeling. I always pester my brothers to let me play and my mother would scold them if I didn't get to play. Eventually, they let me play and I was happy. I was their Player 2 in any game whether it was an RPG, fighting games, etc. Though, of course we wouldn't forget the PC games. My brothers were in to DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) during the early 2000's while I was in to other games in the PC.
Let me tell you my four favorite video games growing up.
1. Legend of Mana
This game was my all time favorite PS1 game to play. The story is set in a fictional world of Fa'Diel. The Mana Tree burnt down before the time of the game, and since then a war broke out between humans, faeries, and others who are seeking for any scarce resource of the Mana Tree. In this game, you control a silent protagonist which can be a male and female. You set out on an adventure to restore Fa'Diel and the Mana Tree to it's former self. You get to meet different characters as you play the game. You will trigger events of different stories that are like quests that will help you move forward.
The reason why it's my favorite childhood game of all time is because, firstly, I love RPGs. Secondly is that I love the stories that this game holds. I personally like all of the Jumi (jewel-hearted race) events. The characters here are lovable with their own personality and story. I also liked that you can party with them for their story and you can party with your pets that you capture. I'm also a sucker for concept art such so it's another point to add.
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| Cover art of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature |
2. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Another one of my favorites is Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. It's about a young man that inherited his grandfather's rundown farm and restore it to make it livable and resourceful. You control the young man and it is in your hands on what you can do with the farm. You will also meet the villagers that you befriend with, and you can court and marry the ladies there.
When I saw my brother play this, I was like in my mind, "I wanna play that too." So whenever my brothers are at school or not at home, I would play it for hours until my brother would come home. I just love simulation games such as farm games like these. I enjoyed hours of taking care the farm and animals, giving gifts to people, and wooing the girl that I like to marry... for my character, of course. I remember that I would name the farm animals with funny names, and sometimes I would name them after the characters from other games or anime.
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| Current logo of the Sims |
3. The Sims Series
Like I said before, I love simulation games, and The Sims Series is one of them. The Sims was one of those games back then that was so new to the public, that it was a big hit. What makes it unique is that you get to tell your Sim whatever they should do, whether it's to fulfill their need, go to work, or go improve skills. I played the first Sims game and I didn't even know that it had almost all of the expansion pack in our old PC, I just thought that those additional things was part of the game.
Then I got to play Sims 2 though it was only for a short while, it was better because you can actually zoom in to your Sims and see their reactions and facial expressions. I still don't know about expansion pack back then so... yeah.
Then came Sims 3. It was more diverse with the open world and the traits. This was probably the game that I played the most. It is actually installed in my boyfriend's laptop so that if ever that I can't play online games, I will just play Sims 3. And since Sims 3 came out I finally knew those expansion packs and I have 4 EPs in my laptop. I also played the stand alone game The Sims Medieval. I just love the RPG aspect of that game. I haven't played Sims 4 yet because I was quite skeptical about it. But I am thinking of trying it one day.
4. Ragnarok Online
This game was the first online game that I played. My brothers were playing it and of course, being the bunso that I am, I told them I wanna play. The first class that I made was a cleric or acolyte. I didn't play that much because my brothers were always occupying the PC. And when I got a chance to play the first thing I did was get a pet Poring, the cute little pink slime. I would make the Poring wear a pet accessory which is the Poring backpack. Years later, I felt that I wanna play Ragnarok Online again. So I told my boyfriend, who played RO back then, that I wanna play it. We played in a private server and we played for a month. But then we stopped playing again ever since we lost our internet connection.
I love games like these that you don't need to queue to enter a dungeon for a dungeon run. That you get to interact with other players outside the town. This is why I played the spiritual successor of Ragnarok Online, Tree of Savior. But I'll tell you about that game soon.
Well these are the games that I loved playing when I was a kid. These are the games that I would play again when I feel like it. These are the games that made me a game-loving fan that I am.
How about you? What's your favorite childhood video games? I hope you enjoyed reading, and I'll write again soon. :)
