The Game That Got Me Into RPG's: Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy 7, the first RPG I ever played on the Playstation One

Oh boy, where do I even start with this game? Long before I ever got into PC gaming I was very much among the vast hordes of Playstation owners, I had the usual stuff like Gran Turismo and Resident Evil but this was my very first RPG of any description. 

Initially I wasn't too sure about it, it was a little weird as I moved a fairly blocky Cloud around in the opening train station and wondered what all the fuss was about. The first battle popped up and suddenly I was intrigued and I kept going. Five hours later I still hadn't put the game down, always pursuing that next spot in the story, seeing if that next shop had an upgrade or hunting each little area for secrets. 

That First Boss Battle

It wasn't until I hit that first boss battle of course that the battle system showed it's nuance to me and I got hooked fully. Of course I thought "Wow, this is pretty neat a whole city to explore" until disc one ended (ah the age where you had to change discs) and suddenly it wasn't just a city but an ENTIRE world.

Whilst I will keep this spoiler free (just in case) the story was epic, with twists and turns everywhere and a cast of characters that are all frankly interesting and fun though of course everyone had their favourites and a villain that was truly terrifying if you ask me.

It may no longer be my all time favourite and the JRPG style combat system may not be my thing anymore. If it were not for this game hooking me on RPG's I may never have even gotten into PC gaming at all though I'll go into that in my next post, hope you enjoyed this one!

Old Games I Still Love: Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Honestly I have a lot of old favourite games, games that pushed me toward different genres or whose story stuck with me for years afterward. This game definitely is the latter, the story and characters are in my opinion exceptional for this RTS.

The graphics and CGI cut-scenes hold up reasonably well to modern standards, largely due to it's colourful and cartoony art style. However I feel it's soundtrack is still exceptional something I still listen to to this day.

It was also one of the first games I really remember doing 'in-engine' cut-scenes or at least doing them well.

Compared to Blizzard's other RTS the sci-fi themed Starcraft, Warcraft 3 had much smaller unit counts but I personally found the battles no less epic (just much easier to handle!) The addition of hero units also gave it an RPG like feel as you leveled them up and scoured the map for shiny loot.

All in all, this was the game that ensured I was chomping at the bit at the announcement of World of Warcraft. The idea or roaming around at ground level in a strategy game I loved was something I couldn't pass up and it was one of the first games I actually pre-ordered (I still have the original box and manual too!)

Also a shameless self plug here but a link to my new and on-going let's play of Warcraft 3.

Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos Let's Play [No Commentary]

World of Tanks - My Thoughts on Japanese Heavies So Far

A Very Large Gold and Artillery Magnet!

I may only be so far along in the Japanese heavy tank line as tier 7 but since getting the first of the so called 'Super Heavy' tanks at tier 5 I have noticed two things that seem consistent.

First off, on anything but a city map you are usually priority target #1 for any and all artillery in place which is much more irritating as you go up the tiers.

Secondly rather than trying to flank you most people just load up premium ammunition and render their decent frontal armour almost irrelevant.

Do I think they are bad tanks? Not really but they are very much all or nothing machines. You either creep forwards blasting away and running up a cricket score or you get spotted and pulverised by artillery and end up doing almost no damage. Maps that feature lots of hills or open ground can be particularly trying when there are 2 or 3 artillery on the enemy team but city maps are a lot of fun.

I have never really agreed with premium ammunition on the whole and feel that it should do less damage than standard ammunition to compensate for the increased penetration (as I highly doubt wargaming will go removing it.) That however is an entirely other blog post.