Tomorrow I will start posting my TOP 20 of games I played this decade, but as a rule I decided to choose only games published from 2010 to 2019.
That’s why today I want to talk to you all about three games that were released before 2010, but that I played only during this decade. I finished all these games between 2014 and 2015, and I think that they heavily influenced what I look for in a videogame, becoming not only some of my favorites of all time, but also really meaningful for me and my journey as a videogamer and as a person.
3. Persona 3 FES
I actually started playing in 2011 the vanilla version of Persona 3, but never actually finished it because at the time I played very few RPGs and I sucked a lot. But I was really enjoying it, and buying Persona 3 FES three years later was the perfect excuse to replay it from the beginning! Between 2011 and 2014 RPGs became one of my favorite genres of all time, and I had played lots and lots of them, improving my gaming skills, so it was time to go back to Gekkoukan High School and finish what I started.
And then Persona 3 became the RPG of my life.
I was totally blown away by the evolution of the story (in 2011 I stopped in midsummer), and the main theme of the game, death, was always present, even in subtle ways. It certainly has its flaws, like not having direct control on all party members and it actually happened to me to have a game over just because a party member (Mitsuru I am looking at you) didn’t do what they were expected to do. Fortunately, this flaw was fixed in Persona 3 Portable and other installments of the series.
Actually, I’ve played only The Journey and not The Answer, the “sequel” included in Persona 3 FES. That was because I wasn’t really fond of the premise, and I didn’t want to ruin my experience with the game. Maybe one day I will play The Answer, but that day has yet to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqjln6Gy-Ak
2. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Unfortunately, I played 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors after Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, second game of the trilogy. That didn’t stop me from finishing the game in one night and crying like a baby during the ending (and I almost never cry for videogames, this happened only with 999, Persona 3 and two other games I will tell you about during my TOP 20 of the decade).
This game was everything I have ever wanted from a videogame that I didn’t even know I wished for.
The plot and the characters hooked me to the game like a magnet and my mind was totally blown by all the plot twists and the revelations during the unfolding of the story. During my playthrough I stopped many times, staring at the screen for minutes before starting to play again. This has never happened to me with any other game in my entire life, and I think it will never happen again like this.
Zero Escape is a marvelous trilogy in its entirety, but 999 has a special place in my heart and will always have one.
1. Max Payne
I had just moved to another house in 2015 and didn’t have an internet connection for almost two months, so I decided to play Max Payne, which was gifted to me by my then-boyfriend, since I was attracted to the noir vibe of the game. As an aspirant noir writer, I couldn’t not love the beautiful work by Remedy Entertainment.
I was hooked to the game since the very first minutes, and I followed Max’s journey towards vengeance enjoying every minute of it. This game didn’t age well only technically speaking: the plot, the protagonist, the gameplay and the art direction are still fantastic and way better than some games that are being released these years.
I have to admit that I am a bit scared to keep playing the franchise just because I am afraid I would not appreciate the sequels as much as I love Max Payne.
