It's Story Time (Part V)

This is the fifth and final part of my five part series about story telling!

Why I love VIDEOGAMES...
My early videogame experiences were from the original Nintendo, but only consisted of duck hunt, track and field (with the pre-DDR pads) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I couldn't get past the first two levels of TMNT because I was too young to try and get good enough to not die at an unreasonable fast rate. Videogames have come a long way since then. Many years after my Nintendo days, my sister and I decided to buy a new gaming console, debating between the original Playstation and the Nintendo 64. Everyone was buying the N64, so we decided to travel down the road less traveled and buy the PSX. This is when a new chapter in my life of story telling began and it consisted of Cloud Strife and his battle with Shinra in Final Fantasy VII.

I am a pretty big Final Fantasy fan, so my first little rant is just going to be about the series and what I love about it. If you've never played a Final Fantasy before it's slow and tedious, but the story line is usually absolutely fantastic (pun totally intended). More so for FFVII and onward the graphics have been absolutely astounding for the time period. I recently got Final Fantasy XIII and I just get blown away every time I play. There's also a lot of character development. The story usually brings players through the past of each of the playable characters and their stories. Bringing all those small stories together on top of the main story, which is usually very intriguing by itself, creates an experience of a life time. (I'm not going to lie, I didn't play FFXI or FFXII. They were kind of weird and mediocre, but FFXIII brings it back to the old school feel a little while adding a whole lot of new and innovative concepts.)

I'm also a big Playstation fan. I don't know what life would be like if my sister and I ended up buying the N64 instead. I eventually bought a PS2 and PS3. My first PS2 was a Japanese model, which meant I could only play Japanese games...yeah I know. Great idea Nathan. I'm also a big Metal Gear Solid fan. I played the first one on PSX and my godbrother bought me a Japanese MGS2 for my Japanese PS2. I still find it amazing that I played and finished the entire game entirely in Japanese. I eventually played it again in English so I can bask in the awesomness of its storyline which I missed the first time around. Later in the series, Metal Gear Solid 4 influenced one of the most impulsive purchases of my entire life.

Two years ago I was at work cruising on Facebook when I saw my friend's profile picture was of Naked Snake from MGS3/4. I realized that MGS4 just came out and I REALLY wanted to play it, but at that time I didn't have a PS3. Solution: buy a PS3 and MGS4. Later that day I went straight from work to Target (yay Target!) and bought a PS3 and MGS4. The PS3 was $400 at the time and games are $60 a pop. MGS4 was an AMAZING game if you can appreciate the decade long story, and to this day I absolutely rave about my PS3 and how it ranks as one of the best, and most impulsive, purchases of my entire life.

Back to story telling. There are a lot of different kinds of games. The good story games are usually open/closed world role playing games and certain first/third person shooters. Playing as a character in a videogame world gives you a sense of attachment. YOU are walking through the cities and towns in an virtual world. YOU decide how to equip yourself. YOU can even sometimes make decisions that shape your virtual world and can alter the storyline for better or worse. Maybe you don't exactly get to create your own world in your head, but it's still a great story telling medium where you can get attached to characters and delve into a world apart from our own.

If you hate movies, TV shows, radio and books you probably have a short attention span and would hopefully find videogaming a little more entertaining since they're interactive and can present a great story in the process. If you don't already play videogames, I believe there is at least one game out there you can enjoy. Also, if you don't already own a Playstation 3 I would highly suggest getting one. It's a great gaming console as well as the fastest Bluray player you can buy. What's not to like?

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So concludes my five part series on story telling. I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope that I have inspired you to experience story telling whether you watch, listen, read or play your way through a good plot. Thanks again, and until next time...