Get in touch with my geek side (part 2)…

Apart from reading comic books I’ve also spent lots of hours playing video games this weekend. I used to love playing PC games when I was younger. I could spent hours doing it and also lose sleep thinking about it. I never really liked first person shooters, simulations, racing or sports games. I’ve spent some time playing adventure games like ‘Monkey Island’ but I can’t say that I’m an expert of the genre.
What I’ve always had a soft spot for strategy games (Starcraft, SimCity, Civilisation, Heroes of Might and Magic, Red Alert etc), platform / action games (Pirates, Wing Commander, Doom) and most of all Role Playing Games.


I believe that one of the very first RPG games I’ve played was Dungeon Master. I really loved it and I do believe I’ve spent ages playing it. Thinking back, there are some fantasy RPG games that come into my mind first like: Eye of the Beholder, Anvil of Dawn, StoneKeep, Baldur’s Gate, the Elder Scrolls series, Lands of Lore (the first one), Gothic, Neverwinter Nights and Might & Magic (especially 6 and 7).



I’ve also enjoyed playing games not falling entirely in that category like Fallout (loved it), Diablo (loved it as well), Knights of the Old Republic, Vampire: the masquerade, Fable, Titan Quest or Sacred. I’m a bit old fashioned when it comes to rpg games but I don’t believe that games like ‘Zelda’ or ‘Final Fantasy’ or even ‘Diablo’ are entirely rpg games. They are very linear and too action oriented. Ok, you may select and develop a character but it’s not the same. Would you ever think that 'The Sims' is RPG?

I’ve also never liked online RPG games like ‘World of Warcraft’. I’ve tried it for a couple of months but it didn’t have the same effect and I didn’t get hooked. I found it a bit weird having to depend so much on other players to do stuff and I did run into some very annoying (probably younger) players. Also, there is a philosophy of using cheats, reaching your goal of increasing levels by any means necessary that I didn’t like. I can see though why it would be appealing to other people (but not me)

Unfortunately, lately (it’s been almost two years) I stopped playing PC games. Working in an IT company makes me stay in front of a PC screen for way too long and I now spend many hours outdoors. Also, my latest laptop that I purchased in a hurry, after my old one was stolen, doesn’t support new games because I got it quite cheap. That means that the latest game that I did enjoy was Oblivion in my old laptop.

This weekend however, I stayed and played a bit on my PSP I got for the many hours I spend travelling. I didn’t use it at home either. I played a silly manga look-alike RPG game called Popolocrois (that I finished this weekend). I must say that it was enjoyable, quite big and cute. I don’t think you can find proper RPG games in PSP and that was close enough.

That got me thinking that I might need to get a new desktop because I really want to check Fallout 3 and with Diablo 3 and Startcraft 2 (eventually) coming…

Many may disagree with what I’m saying and I’m probably forgetting lots of amazing games, but these are the games that come into my mind at the moment and the things I believe on that matter.