Blog:Grust's Top 10 Games That Made Him The Gamer He Is Today

Note: Made in honor of davidvinc who's made several video on the RPGs that made him the RPG gamer he is.

I've been a gamer since I was 3 years old and despite some issues in the current age like SJW pandering, lootboxes, micro-transactions, pandering to the Chinese government, and greed, my love is still as strong, even if I go retro to do so. But there were games that helped to make my love gaming so strong so this is my top 10 list of games that made me the gamer I am today. Onto the countdown.

10. World of Warcraft: This is my first MMORPG and I played it for 8 years. I enjoyed the customizable characters, the PvP arenas, the massive lore, the boss strategies, the crafting, the quests, and working with other players. I played this for eight years working on my classes, helping my guilds, and doing dungeons. While I quit around the end of Warlords of Draenor, it stuck in my brain until I discovered Neverwinter on PS4. Since then I really enjoyed playing some MMOs. It's 10 though since I lost a ton of respect for Blizzard and my feelings towards MMOs are actually love/hate since they have some flaws as well.

9. Resident Evil 4: While I liked Resident Evil, I hated the tank controls at the time (though I kind of see the charm now having beaten a few classic styles since then) so I was blown away when I saw trailers for this and once I saw it at Target, I bought right away along with Inuyasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask (Inuyasha is my all time favorite anime) and once I began playing I had fun killing enemies and fighting terrifying monsters. After beating it, I experienced New Game + for the first time and saw the many different side stories and missions like Project Ada or Separate Ways to unlock new weapons like the Chicago Typewriter. This helped me discover great unlockables for easier playthroughs and it's become one of my favorite games.

8. Karnov: This is arguably the first game I ever beat and I beat it when I was five years old on my old NES. Today it's considered a tough game so adult me was impressed five year old me beat it. But it was likely because I played the hell out of it. So when I beat it, it felt great so it probably played a role in my determination to beat a game to get that satisfaction. Look at the Games I've Beaten Blog to see how that worked out.

7. Superman 64: Before I explain take a look at my Game Collection and see how few shitty games I actually have. Back when this piece of shit came out I was around 12 to 13 years old and had no comprehension of a bad game so when I first played it I though it was me sucking so I rented over and over and soon developed headaches, my memories refuse to let me forget. When I heard this was considered one of the worst games of all time, I knew bad games existed and took time to research most of my games before purchase at retro game stores. Congratulations Superman 64, you had a reason to exist after all.

6. Final Fantasy X HD Remaster: A pretty modern one but Final Fantasy X happens to be my all time favorite 3D JRPG so naturally I got this when it came out. It's a fairly good port for my Vita aside from some poor soundtracks, and that radio drama (which is thankfully non-canon as far I'm concerned and think Tidus and Yuna are married) so why is this version on this list? Because of my love for FFX, I wanted the Platinum Trophy to prove my love for the game. With hard work and determination I was successful (yes I beat Penance and dodged 200 lightning) and seeing that got me so excited I tried to do that with other games and now I have 10 platinum trophies. All because I love Final Fantasy X.

5. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion: While I stand by my opinion that every Elder Scrolls aged poorly because of Skyrim, Oblivion is what made me want to get Skyrim since I loved it. I loved the character creation, the classes including customizable classes and all the choices for your character build. I enjoyed the endless questing and getting stronger abilities and of course.... THE THIEF CLASS. This made really love open world RPGs and it played a role in me getting 7 Days to Die and even Days Gone has this.

4. Super Mario 64: Grust, isn't this your second favorite game of all time? Grust: Yes but this this blog isn't about that. This was my first 3D platformer when the Nintendo 64 came out. While I didn't actually own this at the time, I rented it a lot at my rental shop (R.I.P. Total Entertainment Center) and just enjoyed the fluent controls and Mario's abilities and the worlds within the paintings and walls. It was my first 3D game and it performed way beyond what even 10 year old me was excited for. It's why it'll always be my favorite 3D Mario game even if Odyssey and Galaxy 1 and 2 are superior.

3. Final Fantasy 8: My first actual Final Fantasy game experience because at the time, my experience with 7 was slim like maybe a few minutes at a friend's house. But it sowed my desire to play this and I was blown by the gameplay. While was starting to get into JRPGs because of see below, I was still fairly young and thought of Final Fantasy as more adult and sophisticated and felt unready. But once I played I was ready and soon I became a JRPG nut (For any other game I'll have a beer, but for an RPG, I'll have a fine wine) and have a huge collection, but I gotta give credit to my love of JRPGs also to....

2. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars: This is what made me fall in love with the RPG genre and is still one of my favorite games of all time. Unlike Mystic Quest, Lot7S didn't hold my hand, treat me like an idiot, had lots of side quests, and overall fun gameplay. Even after 24 years, I still think it's the definitive gateway game for anyone who's never played a JRPG. Even though I can play more complicated JRPGs, I like to come back to this one both for fun and appreciation.

One Dishonorable Mention
Depression Quest: It's why I prefer user reviews over "professional" game journalists now.

And the biggest game that made me the gamer I am is...

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: While my two favorite genres are RPGS and survival horror, my favorite franchise is Zelda and this game is why. I played a litte of A Link to the Past at a friend's house but not much. It wasn't until I played this that I learned to love Zelda, the secondary items, the exploration, Hyrule, the boss fights, and the lore. After this, I became a huge Zelda fan that I got some posters from my brother and I own the Zelda Manga boxset. I hope to buy more Zelda merchandise in the future. I practically live for Zelda and it's because of this one game alone and I make it a rule to play it every November. And that's why it's my pic for my the number 1 game that made me the gamer I am.

Can you think of any game that made you fall in love with gaming? Let me know in the comments.

