Gaming Resumé

I’ve been a gamer for about 23, maybe 24 years. And I’ve played a metric ton of titles in that near-quarter-century. So it occurred to me: “I should make a list of the games I’ve played, maybe say a little about them.” Now, I know you’re asking yourself, “Why in the world would anyone do something so incredibly boring and prosaic?” Yes, you can admit it – you use words like ‘prosaic’ on a daily basis. At least, if you’re the sort of person who’s even reading this blog, you do.

Well, it’s sort of like a score board: as a gamer, score means a lot. Score is how I keep track of progress, how I measure success, how I measure time itself. There are more ways to keep score than you could possibly imagine, and more meanings to those scores than I can even begin to describe without driving myself somewhat insane. Gibberingly.

This will be a growing-over-time list (comprehensive, but not all-inclusive), consisting of MMO (Massively Multi-player Online) and RPG (Role Playing Game) titles, as well as a few stray platformers. Some of them will also be ‘shooters’, but, technically speaking, a shooter that has a story is an RPG – after all, you’re ‘playing the role’ of the leading character. Or characters. Or horde of characters. Or machines. Or toasters. What? There could be toasters. You don’t know.

Paul’s Gaming Resumé (in mostly Chronological order)

Year	Title	Setting/Type	My Thoughts	Beta Tested
1989	Hero’s Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero	Fantasy / RPG	This quaint little game was the beginning of the end for me. My First RPG, and my first gaming love. It was a PC game, created by the nice folks over at Sierra, taking place in a fictional town of Spielburg. You could choose to be a Fighter, a Thief, or a Mage, and the game was full of comedy, puzzles, action, a little romance if you played your cards right. And in the end, if you lived, you got whisked away into the second game on a magic carpet.This title was eventually changed to “Quest for Glory” thanks to a law suit from Milton Bradley, who had a board game called “HeroQuest”. Asshats.
1989	Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar	Fantasy / RPG
1990	Eye of the Beholder	Fantasy / RPG	My first D&D game. I was hooked on this silly NWSE-traveling turn-by-turn game. Sad little me.
1990	Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire	Fantasy / RPG	Hero’s Quest sequel – at the end of QfG 1, you fly off into the sunset on a magic carpet… and at the start of this game you crash-land on that carpet in the desert.
1991	Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra	Fantasy / RPG
1992	Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (EN)	Fantasy / RPG	My introduction to bugs in a game. My friends and I had two ‘toons’ that gained experience almost exponentially. It was awesome.
1992	Quest for Glory III: Wages of War	Fantasy / RPG	An “insert” into the series (Originally, your character was meant to go from the desert to a Slavic region with vampires… This game got slapped into the middle of those, causing a renumber.), you wind up in an African area after leaving the Middle East, and do missions for genies and lions and such.
1993	Betrayal at Krondor	Fantasy / RPG	My introduction to Raymond Feist. The game was incredibly long, had a massive storyline, and tied directly into his books.
1993	Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness	Fantasy / RPG	Vampires, werewolves, and garlic, oh my!
1993	Syndicate	Cyberpunk / Top-Down Shooter RPG	One of the great classic shooters. This game incorporated missions and, for the first time, upgrade-able gear. You controlled 4 tiny agents who would do assassination and protection missions all over the world in a future where corporations ruled the earth.
1993	Wing Commander: Privateer	Space / RPG	The single greatest space flight game ever made, bar none. Missions, massive stories, epic battles, canny trading from planet to planet… This had it all.
1994	Ravenloft: Strahd’s Possession	Fantasy / RPG
1996	Realm Online, The	Fantasy / MMORPG	Blocky characters, not many mobs, but fun no less
1996	Syndicate Wars	Cyberpunk / Top-Down Shooter RPG	Syndicate sequel – ramped everything up, including the awesome.
1997	Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	Fantasy / RPG
1997	Diablo	Fantasy / RPG	My introduction to top-down fantasy RPG. (and many other peoples’ intro as well.) Diablo was a massive time-waster, and many of us blew a lot of money at internet cafés networked up in teams to defeat everything we met in Tristram.
1997	Final Fantasy VII	Sci-Fi / RPG	The most epic of the FF series. My roomies and I played this until passing out.
1997	Ultima Online	Fantasy / MMORPG	hailed as “the first”, but not enough to hold my attention
1998	Baldur’s Gate	Fantasy / RPG
1998	Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire	Fantasy / RPG	End of an era. Eventually some enterprising minds would take the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion engine and try to resurrect the QfG series as “QfG3D”, but it never was finished.
1999	Asheron’s Call	Fantasy / MMORPG	My first MMORPG love. Everything about this game was awesome.	Beta Tested
1999	Baldur’s Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast	Fantasy / RPG
1999	EverQuest	Fantasy / MMORPG	Crack. I left as fast as I could… after I maxed my level, and made my sword.
1999	Planescape: Torment	Fantasy / RPG
2000	Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn	Fantasy / RPG
2000	Deus Ex	Sci-Fi / FPS RPG	Picture a shooter… where you can upgrade your character’s skills, weapons, and abilities… but where the goal is to try to shoot at little as possible, and be stealthy. That’s this.
2000	Diablo II	Fantasy / RPG	The beast came back. So we killed it again.
2001	Anarchy Online	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	Everything about this game was incredible. Flawless execution – until they reached about the 5 or 6 month mark, and screwed it up.	Beta Tested
2001	Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal	Fantasy / RPG
2001	Dark Age of Camelot	Fantasy-Mythology (Arthurian) / MMORPG	Excellent. Customizable armor/clothing, with dyes. Great! Awesome RvR PvP. First player Housing. Met one of my longest – lasting gaming friends here.	Beta Tested
2001	RuneScape	Fantasy / RPG
2002	Arx Fatalis	Fantasy / RPG
2002	Asheron’s Call 2	Fantasy / MMORPG	Horrible. Seriously. What the hell were they thinking?	Beta Tested
2002	Dungeon Siege	Fantasy / RPG	Great story, amazing game play, and a first: “vanishing” ceilings – there were no more ‘loading zones’ – when you walked from the surface down into a crypt, the ceiling simply vanished, to provide a seamless experience.
2002	Elder Scrolls III, The: Morrowind – Collector’s Edition	Fantasy / RPG	My first Elder Scrolls game. It was by far the most massive landscape I’d ever seen for a single-player game. And it was dark, and thrilling, and fun, and the story was rich, the history massive, and the time to complete every last quest was all but unobtainable.
2002	Final Fantasy XI	Fantasy / MMORPG	Played because I could use my console… That ‘joy’ died fast.	Beta Tested
2002	Neverwinter Nights	Fantasy / RPG
2003	Lineage II	Fantasy / MMORPG	Jiggly. Seriously, that was all this game had – jiggly dark elf females. The ‘fun’ lasted all of about a half hour, and then I was just mad because apparently the dev team spent all their time making large breasted elves, and forgot to make a game.	Beta Tested
2003	Star Wars Galaxies	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	Awesome. Fully. Completely. For three months, two days. And then the Devs found out I liked it, and released horrific patches that altered things forever. Ick. Plus, when I went back about a year or so later, my toons were jedis. Wookie Jedis. Wow.	Beta Tested
2003	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	Sci-Fi / RPG	Fantastic game. Nothing that followed would ever be as good (in this ‘series’ that eventually led to SWG and SWTOR).
2003	X2: The Threat	Space / RPG	Great space fighter/flier/trader, but nowhere near as rich as Privateer.
2004	City of Heroes	Comics / MMORPG	Spandex and Leather awesome. My first ever ‘healer’ was in this game, and I was known across three servers for how well I could keep a team alive. Loved this game. I was actually sad to see it go. It was my first “go back to it when other games suck” game.	Beta Tested
2004	EverQuest II	Fantasy / MMORPG	Ick. Two days. That’s how long I lasted.
2004	Fable	Fantasy / RPG	Eating baby chickens is evil. And fattening. And will get magical doors to open for you. Remember that.
2004	Ryzom	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	I remember almost nothing except a nature theme.	Beta Tested
2004	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II—The Sith Lords	Sci-Fi / RPG	Not as good as the first, but still better than anything that followed.
2004	World of Warcraft	Fantasy / MMORPG	The beginning of “Online Domination” by a game company. I admit it: I played it. A lot. Not as much as some people, and not as devotedly. Many of my friends refuse to leave it and even try other games. They’re missing out.	Beta Tested
2005	City of Villains	Comics / MMORPG	Ninja! Yes! CoX becomes a thing, and I’m happy to leave WoW!	Beta Tested
2005	Dungeon Siege II	Fantasy / RPG
2005	Guild Wars	Fantasy / MMORPG	Ugh
2005	Matrix Online, The	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	I had massively high hopes for this one. It just… failed.	Beta Tested
2006	Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach	Fantasy / MMORPG	Played until I realized… I’m not into D&D.	Beta Tested
2006	Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	Fantasy / RPG	And I thought Morrowind was huge…
2006	Phantasy Star Universe	Fantasy / RPG
2007	Hellgate: London	Fantasy / Third Person Shooter RPG
2007	Jade Empire: Special Edition	Fantasy / RPG
2007	Lord of the Rings Online, The: Shadows of Angmar	Fantasy / MMORPG	OMG! YES! Childhood dreams realized, when I stood, as a hobbit, inside Bag End. And as an Elf inside Rivendell. If it had picked up more custom, it could have taken WoW apart.	Beta Tested
2007	Mass Effect	Sci-Fi / Third Person Shooter RPG	Amazingly well done, in every way. Sadly the two sequels would never fully recapture the joy that was this game. Except the elevators – those were awful.
2007	Tabula Rasa	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	FPS MMO RPG… Yeah… I wasn’t sure what to make of it, and I tried to make something of it… and failed.
2007	Two Worlds	Fantasy / RPG
2007	Witcher, The	Fantasy / RPG
2008	Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures	Fantasy / MMORPG	Another game that could have dethroned WoW… but again, failed.	Beta Tested
2008	Fable 2	Fantasy / RPG	Eat more baby chickens!
2008	Fallout 3	Post-Apocalyptic / RPG	Epic. Watch for mutants, and look for bobble heads in a world where bottle caps are currency!
2009	Champions Online	Comics / MMORPG	Would this replace CoX? Turns out, not. It had great potential, and failed utterly.	Beta Tested
2009	Dragon Age: Origins	Fantasy / RPG	Great game. Very long. Excellent story.
2010	Fallout: New Vegas	Post-Apocalyptic / RPG	Fallout 3… in Vegas.
2010	Mass Effect 2	Sci-Fi / Third Person Shooter RPG
2010	Star Trek Online	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	CO in space. In my humble opinion, an utter flop. Yes, you could fly your own ship. Yes, you could make your own crew. Yes, there were Away Missions. And space flight in combat made me ill. Not from the realism, but the utter lack thereof.	Beta Tested
2011	DC Universe Online	Comics / MMORPG	At last! A spandex wonderland with a basis in well – known titles! I actually still like this one, and revisit from time to time.	Beta Tested
2011	Dragon Age 2	Fantasy / RPG	Better, visually, but worse in story than the first. But it did have a character based on, and played by, Felicia Day – who eventually did a Live-Action ‘mini’ web-series about her character.
2011	Elder Scrolls V, The: Skyrim	Fantasy / RPG	I play it whenever I feel like taking an arrow to the knee.
2011	Fable III	Fantasy / RPG
2011	Rift	Fantasy / MMORPG	I tried it… I was unimpressed.
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	This… This was the title I thought, finally, irevocably, would dethrone the evil god that is WoW. I mean, who doesn’t like Star Wars? Who doesn’t want to swing a lightsaber, or ‘shoot first’? I love the game… now if they could just make the planets a bit more different for the classes, to introduce some replayability. Still, I love it.	Beta Tested
2012	Diablo III	Fantasy / RPG	You could call it an “MMO”, but you’d be kidding yourself. The most “massively” it gets is 4 people at a time.
2012	Guild Wars 2	Fantasy / MMORPG	This made up for a horrible GW. Good story, great character skills, fun classes, great all around. And less ‘anime’ feel than the first one.
2012	Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning	Fantasy / RPG
2012	Mass Effect 3	Sci-Fi / Third Person Shooter RPG	Ending of the 3-part story… massive let down.
2012	Secret World, The	Horror / MMORPG	Great idea. I’m still not entirely sure what I think of it. No real ‘classes’, ability to use any weapon, train any skill, move between weapon types at will. Dark storylines… Fun, but sometimes maddening game.	Beta Tested
2013	Defiance	Sci-Fi / MMORPG	FPS MMO RPG. So far, great game. And the “clincher” is that the story is told both in the game, and in an accompanying SyFy TV show.	Beta Tested
2013	Saints Row: The Third	Open-World Action / Shooter RPF	Great story, pretty graphics – think GTA but you’re not alone – you’ve got a gang.
2013	Tomb Raider	Adventure / RPG	Epic Tomb Raider. Best of the series, imo.
2013	Neverwinter	Fantasy/RPG	Return to D&D RPG computer gaming…	Beta Tested
2013	Kerbal Space Program	Space Flight	Space! Physics! Mindless destruction! Rockets! It’s all there, and then some!
2013	Tera Rising	MMORPG	Beautiful models, engaging story… Well done!
2014	The Elder Scrolls Online	MMORPG	It’s a work in progress.
2014	Wildstar Online	MMORPG	Very pretty. Strange game play, but interesting.
2014	ArcheAge	MMORPG	Beautiful, strange, epic… That about describes it.
2014	Thief	Action/RPG	One of my favorite games from my past… revived for the XBox One!
2014	Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag	Action/RPG	The best of the AC games so far.
2014	FIFA ’14	Sports	Very nicely done.
2014	Watchdogs	Action/RPG	Like GTA mixed with True Crime, and then some.
2015	Aion	MMORPG	I believe I can fly
2015	Final Fantasy XIV	MMORPG	Until Firefly Online comes out, this is kind of IT.

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