Five games I tell my potential significant other to play to get a feel of who I am

Originally posted in my WordPress blog

So a couple of months ago there was a thing going on where you tweet "Five games you tell your potential significant other to play to get a feel of who you are?" I tweeted this in response to that question,

And today I thought, heck, why not elaborate? It's not like I'm going to get a significant other so soon that he'll read this post, heh. My Game of the Year list isn't until January either.

So let's begin with the most unquestionable part of the list,

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

The Persona series has been a major part of my life since I first discovered Persona 4 back in 2009. I was 12. I'm 20 now. It filled all my teenage years. You know how they say the music you listen in your teenagehood is the music you listen to all your life? Well, I suppose I'd be following this series, and everything that picks up after it, for the rest of my life.

But despite being more involved in the Persona fandom, I'm actually more inclined towards its darker, more no-nonsense parent series, Shin Megami Tensei. Its eschewing of the good and evil axis, its doomsday discussion, the many friendly (and not so friendly) conversations with elder gods. I like its darker, cosmic tone.

Persona 2 sits tightly between the two series, having been made before the social/dating sim flair and the "normal life by day, fighting monster by night" split that begin with Persona 3. It's a darker game, doubling down on the "shits are happening" aspect, but it still has that light-hearted tone that's a staple of the series. Sure, you're being constantly chased by demons and trying to figure out a mystery that might bring the end of the world, but that won't stop your friends from bantering with each other.

Innocent Sin in particular also has the best cast in the series to me. There's Eikichi, a tough punk guy who is also Fabulous (tm). There's Lisa, a white girl raised in Japan who is sweet as sugar but can kick your ass. Compared to these, the characters from the later games almost feel like basic archetypes. It's wild what they're willing to pull off here.

BioShock (the original game)

So fun fact about BioShock. I play it approximately once a year. I don't mean like I beat the entire game once a year. I mean I play it in maybe one or two sittings, and then just never touch it until the next year. This has been going on for five years, at least, and I haven't even beaten it yet.

BioShock, for me, is the quintessential first-person AAA game. Whenever I think of what a AAA game is supposed to feel, I think about BioShock. That perfect opening, the slick way in which you move around, the laser-focused attention on its chosen aesthetic (art deco, closed-space, eerie af), and all this before talking about its narrative theme, which has been thinkpieced to shit in the many years since its release. It's an interesting discussion, but I don't have anything more to say on the subject.

There's also that twist. That twist, man. You'll think for a game that I only pay attention to approximately four hours a year, the memory will become so hazy nothing in it will affect me much. But that twist, though! It's good.

For those wondering why I didn't put in BioShock Infinite instead, I haven't played that one, so there.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Okay, fun fact about this one. I bought it in a humble bundle as an extra (as in, you can buy the bundle for cheaper if you don't buy this game with it). Before buying it, I wondered out loud on Twitter if I should get this extra, noting that I have a love-hate relationship with the series. One of the game's dev, Kevin Maloney, replied that I totally should play it. So I did, then. And, damn, it was so worth it.

I played Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Did Not Like It. Or rather, I didn't like it as much as I thought I should. To me Dragonfall's setting, cyberpunk Berlin, is just another boring metropolis with buildings, buildings, buildings. It has approximately one interesting character (the old shaman who was formerly a punk-rocker), and everyone else just kind of breeze through me. It's a shame, because cyberpunk ends up being one of my favourite genres.

Hong Kong, though. Maybe it's because of its close proximity to my homeland (Indonesia is just south of there, hi!), or maybe just because its digital lights are more interesting than Berlin's hologram, I like cyberpunk Hong Kong much more than cyberpunk Berlin. I talked a lot about their contrast (and the three games in the series in general) in another post from last year.  Basically, I took my time sightseeing in Hong Kong, while in Dragonfall I was just too focused on getting from one point of the game to the next.  I get to know more of Hong Kong's characters, and they're all precious. I will protect Heoi with my life.

Aquaria

I got Aquaria from the first Humble Indie Bundle, back in 2010. It was the first indie game I played, and it blew my mind. Two friends work together for two years to create this little masterpiece? Damn.

It's hard to say why my love for it persisted to this day, despite the fact that I haven't touched it in ages. It's the first metroidvania I played. It's the first game I played that feels like an actual open world (okay, not strictly true. That'll be Pokemon). It is a Hard Game, and it's the first game that told me I have a taste for Hard Games? I don't know. It's a good game. And it has that Atmosphere, you know. And its soundtrack is what pushed me to learn how to play the piano.

I play the guitar more than the piano now (not that I'm good at either), but the taste is still there.

Overwatch

I didn't expect this. Unlike the other games in this list, Overwatch doesn't have the advantage of time. All the others I know I can put in the list because I still remember them after years (or in Persona's case, part of a series I grew up with). I started playing Overwatch in July or so.

What's not to love about Overwatch? It's cheerful, relentlessly positive, filled with a colourful cast. It's silly, it takes itself seriously by not taking itself seriously. It's fun to play. It's pretty to look at. The entire game is built around the desire to make a fun game, and it's so well optimized for that.

I don't usually play FPS (nevermind that one other game in this list is an FPS, ok). I don't like the pointlessly bloody narrative around most FPSes. I don't like the pointlessly edgy aesthetic around most FPSes. And I can't aim for shit. Overwatch eschew all those. It has lots of non-shooting-centric characters. Its tone is light-hearted and it rolls with it. And whatever dark rituals the devs did, it made it fun to team-up with absolute strangers.

I don't touch the competitive scene, though. That's a can of salt I'm not willing to open.

Honourable Mentions

"Five games you tell your potential significant other to play to get a feel of who you are" is probably a list that constantly change over time, because "who you are" is also a constantly changing idea. I put the list up on a whim, which is probably how it should be. Thinking too much about it would give you too much opportunity to lie to yourself, or to remember a past you that's not even true anymore.

But if you do let me think about it too much, here's some runner up to that list (that I can remember at the moment I'm writing this).

Okami, which I don't remember much anymore, but I know I have very fond feelings towards.

The World Ends with You, which, if it was a series, might topple Persona for the Games that Define My Teenagehood throne. As it is, it's only one game, which I love but eventually had to leave behind.

The Ace Attorney series, which, unlike TWEWY, is actually a series. Unfortunately, it's also a series I binge played in like, two months. After they switched to the new console, and changed the game's director, I stopped following it. The fandom's still nice, but it's on my periphery vision at best.

Pokemon is an obvious choice, seeing as it's the game series I grew up with. A couple of years ago, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon would have made it to the list. The first game in the series is what taught me determination and perseverance. I died? Try again. And again. And again. I booted it up again maybe last year or so, and realised the charm is gone. It's in the past now.

Assassin's Creed II. Oh, dear God, this game is wonderful. That revelation that I can just climb to the rooftop and jump around above the streets of Florence? That revelation that I can ride a horse? Best. Game. Unfortunately, the later games in the series kind of soured it for me. It used to be a spectacle. Now it's just boring.

Portal 2, with its Objectively Best Video Game Character Wheatley. I loved Portal, but Portal 2 is a much bigger wonder. Those puzzles are glorious, but Wheatley and GlaDOS (and Cave Johnson) are what really stuck with me.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is probably not the first game that made me cry, but it's the one game I remember whenever people ask "has a game made you cry?", so there you go.