If You Could Play One Game for the Rest of Your Life…

Written by Dan Booth on 4th April 2016. Posted in Gaming

A very interesting yet slightly deep (in a nerdy way) question was asked to me by my friend Shaun Lloyd (consider yourself Boo Tube Famous! :D) whilst we were talking about life asked me, “If you could play one game for the rest of your life, what game would it be and why?” This question really stumped me so we put in some establishing rules, you can’t choose a series of games like the Halo games it must just be one, like Halo: Combat Evolved and the Master Chief Collection doesn’t count as it is a collection of games (same goes for Rare Replay). As this is very much a situational and impossible question the rule is that you can start the game over without knowledge of playing the game before, otherwise it would have forced the choice of a multilayer game and that would have been boring!

So some of the choices that went through my head immediately were some of the more classic games I remember in my early gaming days, , Banjo Kazooie, Gran Turismo 2, Spyro, Pokemon, theres so many great classic games that would be fun to play over and over again! When most people talk games they are the ones that come up for a reason, they are fun to play and they carry a decent challenge, they carry great reward in the harder areas and seemed to take a long time to complete (at the time). The other options that came to mind were newer games that included multiplayer, like the first Call of Duty Modern Warfare! Everyone looks back on that game with the greatest appreciation! It had a great singleplayer and the best online experience at the time, it was definitely my top FPS game on my list! I considered the Halo games as well, Halo 3 at the time of released had me hooked the most but I really enjoyed Halo 2  and Combat evolved as well, I felt that lack of online multiplayer on Halo 1 took it down a peg and in the fairness of the question I wouldn’t have knowledge of Halo 1 so 2 and 3 would suffer in my opinion. Games like Destiny can be fun in bursts but the idea of grinding a lot of the time is dull to me, its OK is small doses but it gets boring fast! Other games that came to mind were Counter Strike, but that gets too frustrating at times. Portal 2 is a good one too, especially as its game with steam workshop so the levels are near infinite (sorta).

So which game would I pick… well I would pick Final Fantasy IX and I know other people will have different opinions on choosing Final Fantasy and then which Final Fantasy I should have chosen, BUT! Final Fantasy IX has consistently made me happy through multiple playthroughs. I absolutely love the story, the setting, the characters, the soundtrack, I could go on and on about it, the game gives me such joy with the romance and comedy, it all works so well and I have a great attachment to the characters, I would be happy to play that game over and over and in fairness I wouldn’t even care too much about forgetting about previous playthroughs! I just hope its steam release comes soon as the android version is seeming very appealing right now!

The message of Final Fantasy IX: Humans are small and helpless in an uncaring universe so we strive to give our lives meaning because, without some record of us, we’re akin to never existing in the first place. So, we create all kinds of crap out of fear. When we transcend all of that, we can finally grow and create the meaning we desire. We die, yes, but, without being remembered, we cease to exist. The most nihilistic and existential Final Fantasy. Every character is so beautifully written and covers every aspect of humanity so perfectly, I can’t help but LOVE this game for what it is!

What game would you pick? Would it be one that teaches or maybe one that you are really good at, there are no wrong answers really.

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Final Fantasy IX: A Long Completion

Written by Dan Booth on 22nd February 2015. Posted in Gaming

Final Fantasy IX has been a bane in my gaming life since its initial release way back in February 2001 (European release).  Its not a bane in my life due to it being a bad game though, its been a bane in my life due to the fact that I have never ever completed it, despite it being one of my favourite all time games.

What a classic Final Fantasy IX was, a 4 disc monster of a game that carries a good 40 hours of game play if you rush the game, and it offers so much more if you go for 100% completion (you would need a guide to do this though, there is a lot of miss-able stuff). There was so much to do, mini games would take a long time to complete, things like Chocobo Hot and Cold easily become a primary objective for you as its both a challenging grind, yet fun at the same time, and ultimately rewarding.

The characters in Final Fantasy IX are possibly my favourite of any game ever, I always loved Final Fantasy IX more than any other of the Final Fantasy series, thats just my opinion. One of the reasons for this is because of the how the characters felt, the small yet wonderful touch of being able to name them whatever you want does help (I was never a fan of calling the main character Zidane, it was the footballers name and he was my hero at the time). Each character holds their own views, from virtue to sorrow to devotion, this creates a great story of which you grow with the characters.

The game play was classic Final fantasy turn based game, but it had depth due to the variation of attacks available like all Final Fantasy games. You could never just hit attack for all characters, use of magic and abilities become necessary to win battles, yes it does get tedious at times with the random battle starts but the tactics needed was something quite fun to learn and use effectively.

The game landscape was always good, places like Lindblum to Gargan Roo to the Village of Deli gave the game complete variance, You had vast cities, tiny villages and pretty strange cave systems to get around, and sometimes the puzzles that went along, made them frustratingly brilliant and extremely rewarding when completed. What made these places great was the music that went with them, possibly the best part of Final Fantasy IX was the soundtrack, I could tell you where you were or what you were doing just by listening to the music, its amazing, and some of it makes me giddy just hearing it (village of Deli is the best for this)

Something that seemed ahead of its time at the time in Final Fantasy IX was the cinematic cut scenes. The cinematics really brought the game to life showing really high quality cut scenes that gave the story that bit more depth and made the game that little bit better. They really were brilliant for the time!

The massive amounts of game that Final Fantasy IX offers has not been the reason I haven’t completed the game though, I have had my PS1 break AND my PS2 break, memory cards lost, the final disc was scratched on one occasion and now I am tackling the game one more time using the PS Vita. It will take a while to complete as I don’t use my Vita very often, but every time I play Final Fantasy IX, a blast of nostalgia hits me. One of the best stories I have played, I truly feel immersed with the characters, its wonderful.

Thanks for reading
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