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MikeLemmer

Recovering from GotY

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Games Dad Played

I recently read a post about whether or not midcore gamers exist that got me thinking about cases that aren't easily classified.

My dad's a farmer. He normally spends 10-14 hours a day farming, tending to cattle, or hunting. He's also an avid reader of military, sci-fi, and fantasy novels that, despite mocking tabletop gamers regularly, has finished more Warhammer 40k & Forgotten Realms books than I have. His interests skew hardcore, but his time skews casual, and the list of games he's played over the years is evidence that even a "casual" gamer can have some unexpected favorite games.

List items

  • The date-interrupter. Mom used to tell me how often he would spend time playing this game on their dates, much to her annoyance. Luckily it didn't grate on her too much, else I wouldn't be here. This is the game Dad beelined for whenever we visited the arcades when I was younger.

  • Dad likes the Zelda series, although not enough to buy them on his own. When I got this game, he began playing, too. I don't remember if he finished it, though.

  • Dad doesn't like RPGs, but Secret of Mana struck a chord with him. Maybe it was the action-RPG aspect, or maybe it was the multiplayer that let me or my brother help him with the tough bosses. Regardless, he managed to beat the game, something I lost interest in it too fast to do. Or perhaps I didn't feel the need to finish the game myself, once I had helped him reach the ending.

  • Puzzles & plot are nectar to Dad; I still remember the yellow notepad he wrote down everything on, and the countless nights he stayed up trying to figure out what to do next.

  • Dad got the Marathon collection as a Christmas gift from my uncle. For the next 2 months, he would play it any chance he got, constantly dying and swearing (clean swearing around me, of course, but now I know what he wanted to say).

    "I'm not a fan of shooters," he'd say, "but I want to see what happens next."

    Marathon's plot, conveyed entirely through text & images on in-game terminals, is still the high-water mark of FPS plots to me. Part objectives, part snark, and part hallucinatory ramblings by the various rogue AIs you dealt with, they covered plot, background, and abstract thoughts with a depth that's unfeasible with cinematics. It's the reason this game isn't just good, it's a classic.

  • The 4 controller slots on the N64 was a godsend for our family, letting my dad, my brother, and me all play simultaneously. Every day we were all together for lunch, we would spend a half-hour before we ate playing the N64. Mario Kart 64 was a constant favorite. It still holds up as one of the best in the series to me.

  • Dad's love for this game can be summarized thusly: "I like siege tanks."

    *BOOM*

    "Really like siege tanks. As long as I can create two dozen of them and slowly move them across the map, rendering anything in my way into a fine paste, I'm happy."

    Dad never got into multiplayer; the closest he ever got was Coop games vs the AI. Multiplayer was too fast-paced for him, as he couldn't turtle up and build up his siege tanks in peace. But he played through the campaign at least twice just to enjoy an Unstoppable Siege Tank Juggernaut of Death.

    Just goes to show what type of impression a well-made unit can make.

  • We got Metal Arms on a whim. Dad got hooked on it thanks to its sense of humor & hacking mechanic, although we still needed to help him with the tough parts. The multiplayer was horribly imbalanced, but after we got tired of Mario Kart 64, this became our go-to multiplayer game on Dad's insistance, even though we constantly beat him into the ground on it.

    It wasn't the best game ever, but it was fun, and I was honestly looking forward to its developer's work on Starcraft: Ghost before it got canned.

  • Ever since my brother & I left for college, Dad's gameplaying has dropped dramatically. Sometimes he plays this when he wants to unwind...

  • ...and other times he plays this.

    "Siege tanks forever." *BOOM*

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