The Games of My Past and Present

I grew up in a household that loves playing games.

Board games, video games, computer games. Anything that has great objectives or a good storyline.

As a child, I would watch my parents battle it out on our now-ancient Playstation 1. They loved Space Invaders in particular. My dad, however, enjoys other games such as Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, Crash Bandicoot, and Tomb Raider.

I loved watching him play, but would hide behind his back whenever jump scares or boss levels came up. “Talawit!” he’d exclaim, laughing.

My dad encouraged us to play games. I remember how he’d persist with our search across the city for a second copy of Pokémon Blue when it broke due to a sudden fall.

There were afternoons and evenings when we’d play games like Pandemonium and Frogger on the PS1 together. If my dad wasn’t around, my sisters and I would play competitive games like Soul Edge (a.k.a. Soul Blade in the US), Tekken 3, and Bust-a-Groove.

Fast forward to 2017, and I’m still playing games after work hours or during the weekends.

I mostly play games on the computer hosted by Steam and Origin, but I’m always up for a board game or two with friends, or a fun night on the PlayStation 4.

Right now, I play these three games during my spare time:

1. The Sims 2 and The Sims 4 – I started playing The Sims 2 back in high school (that’s more than a decade ago) and continue to enjoy it despite its old school graphics and limited gameplay. My husband got me The Sims 4 for my birthday last year, yet I’d sometimes prefer to play Sims 2 because there weren’t a lot of bells and whistles to distract me from building my family tree.
2. Dota 2 (7.x) – Otherwise known as “Defense of the Ancients,” Dota is an online MOBA that my husband and his friends got me into when I first moved to Cagayan de Oro. From a pool of 113 heroes (as of this writing, ‘coz who knows they might introduce new ones later), you have to choose a hero and battle it out with four other players until you destroy the enemy throne or ancient.
3. Pokémon – yes, I still am a huge fan of the Pokémon franchise. I recently played Pokémon Sun on the Nintendo DS and enjoy how the storylines and challenges have evolved over the years. My favorite Pokémon continues to be Ninetales, while my favorite type still is, and will always be, the Dragon type.

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Other games I love playing are music/rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Dance Central, both of which were games my sisters introduced me to whenever I’d come home from Manila during uni term breaks. I also love decision-based games heavily dependent on good storylines, like South Park: Stick of Truth, The Wolf Among Us, Broken Age (this one was funded through Kickstarter), and Life is Strange.

Both Jayson and I love playing games, though our preferences differ in various ways. It wouldn’t surprise me if my two boys end up playing Dota, or if my little girl ends up playing Sims or Dance Central like a pro.

At least they’ll have something to look back and talk about when they’re older. ❤️