TBT - Dumbfounded Epiphanies

You know that moment when you're playing a game, and you just sort of get it? You've been playing a game for a number of hours and sure you like it, but then it hits you, and you start loving the game.  Maybe that is a bit vague, but I'm sure you have an idea what I'm talking about.

I don't really have those moments anymore. Maybe when I was younger I just didn't think about what I was doing in a game as much, and it took a while for me to come around. Maybe newer games have become too simplified nowadays, never leaving enough to be discovered on your own. In any case, I want to share a couple of Eureka moments I've had.

Everything Is Better With Monster Breeding

I used to play a ton of Monster Rancher 2 on the PS1 and this was partly due to the anime that was on TV at the time. It was a fun show to watch, almost like Pokémon but the creatures in the show actually had personalities in it—unlike Pokémon where they just annoyingly say their name over and over again, only in a different tone. 

The game itself was so unique because in order to get new Monsters, you had to put physical CDs into your Playstation and each disc was different, just like in the show! I remember spending hours looking for any manner of CD I could find in my house to see what it would generate in the game. Once you had the Monster of your choosing you had to train it and enter it into tournaments. The training was okay, little mini game type things, but the fighting was pretty sick. Combat was sort of set up like a fencing match. You would control your creature and move them up and down a straight combat area. Monsters could have up to 4 different abilities each with different attack ranges, which makes the ability to move around the ring actually meaningful. 

Now the Eureka moment I had in this game was when I learned how to give my Monsters better longevity. Prior to figuring this out, my Monsters would sadly only live to the age of about 2 or 3, which is abysmal. See, there were these items you could buy from the shop that sort of boosted the Monsters physique, but they don't really explain it properly anywhere in the game. Anyway, feeding this item to your Monsters on a monthly basis doubled their lifespan, minimum, which was amazing because being able to train a Monster for that much longer was super fun. Higher levels, new abilities, harder training regimens, stronger competitions, it was all good fun.

Into The Abyss 

I have played every single game in the Disgaea series, but none as much as the very first one. I loved it so much, I've also pretty much played every single game that the developers have pumped out. 

Aside from being your typical turned based strategy game, Disgaea has ridiculousness out the Yin-Yang: you can get your characters up to level 9,999; you can do millions upon millions of damage; lift and throw units; even go inside your weapons to make them stronger. At first I was playing this game like any other, going through the motions taking it one chapter at a time.

As I mentioned you can go inside your equipment, this is done through the item world, and that is where my Eureka moment happened. In essence the entire item world is one giant grind, but instead of just walking around a world map getting into random encounters like in a JRPG, this felt like it had a bit more to it. You weren't just grinding levels, you were making your equipment stronger at the same time. Part of the allure to it as well was capturing residents—which were creatures that lived inside the weapons that increased its attributes depending on its type—once captured, you could move them into different pieces of equipment, it was a pretty flexible, if not time consuming, system.

Times Are Changing

So yeah, I don't really have moments like this anymore, but I'm curious if any of you do? What game was it, and what part of it did you just get that made the whole experience that much more enjoyable? Leave a comment at the bottom!