To be very honest I had no plans to participate in this last contest, as I have not played many games covering the years 2010-2019 and for the few who know me know that my blog is entirely devoted mostly to retro games, however I have been lucky enough to have played a few titles corresponding to those dates, even one of them has become one of my favorite games and holding a good position in the list of my favorite games.
My love for retro games is very great and that is demonstrated in my blog and in the effort I make when doing the reviews, many of these retro games that I talk about remind me of great moments of my childhood and adolescence and even make me remember very specific moments that I would really like to live again. Although I must clarify that I only don't play retro games for the simple fact of nostalgia, there is also an economic factor, due to my situation I have been deprived to play many current games or games that cover the date stipulated for this contest, but those games that I have been able to play, are really good and are those games that I am going to talk about now.
I think I'm going to start with the most obvious game that has now returned to fame: Minecraft. I remember playing Minecraft for the first time in 2014 and it was a title that I really liked at that time, I remember that I always played with some friends from Argentina and we only went to servers to cause all kinds of disaster until we were banned, we didn't really take the game seriously, but if we had a lot of fun. The special thing about Minecraft is the amount of mods that can be installed, mods of all kinds, that's why when I found out that there was a Pokemon mod for Minecraft, I didn't hesitate a minute to play it. Pixelmon was called the mod, between playing with those same friends from Argentina and the truth, I got too addicted to this game mode, so much so that I woke up early to be able to play it and I stayed up late at night, was a very big vice, so much so that I became one of the players with more Pokemons of the entire server, was really crazy, but my vice towards this game mode wouldn't last long and after 1 month I stopped playing it, even since that day I didn't play Minecraft again, however I must admit that I had a lot of fun playing, not only playing with the Pokemon mod, also on normal survival servers and on dedicated minigame servers, that's why although it's quite cliché, I must mention Minecraft in this.
The games I'm going to mention below I already talked about them a few months ago, but I must mention them again because they mean a lot to me. Dragon Ball is one of the most loved animes by many, was part of the childhood of many people around the world and although it is not the perfect anime, nor with the perfect story, nor perfect characters, is due to his great charisma that still remains in the hearts of his fans today. When in 2012 I found out that there was an MMORPG based on the Dragon Ball universe my emotion was so great that at that very moment I set out to play it and when I entered the game and be able to visit emblematic places of the series and even meet anime characters, was a really indescribable sensation, at least for me, I was really excited to be playing Dragon Ball Online, in fact, in this game was that I met my friends from Argentina, who until today, after almost 8 years we still keep in touch. Unfortunately I could not play much Dragon Ball Online, because the following year (2013), would close completely the servers of the game, was really a very hard blow, because I still had many things to do, but unfortunately the game could not continue, however I still have some memories of excellent game.
I'm really a person with very little patience, that's why games like Dark Souls bring out the worst in me, that's why I've rarely played this title even though I know it's an excellent game. Because of this I avoid playing excessively difficult games, although I have managed to complete some games of similar difficulty, however, I needed a title that really relax me and feel comfortable, that's why I chose to play Stardew Valley. Many months ago I did a small review about this game, in fact, I think it's one of the first reviews I did in my blog, in that review I mentioned how relaxing and really good that game is, but I don't think I mentioned that one of the reasons why I was encouraged to play Stardew Valley was its artistic style. This game has a very retro artistic style, in fact, it takes a lot of inspiration from Harvest Moon, you could say it's an indirect sequel, but even so, Stardew Valley is a quite unique game with its own personality. It draws a lot of inspiration from the artistic style of retro games and adds some current mechanics, so it makes a game, not only visually very good, but in terms of game mechanics it's really a title with a high level of addiction, I spent a lot of hours playing it and they were really relaxed and fun hours. I can say quite easily that Stardew Valley is one of the best farm management, adventure and relaxation (so to speak) games I've ever played.
I think it's fair that I should mention GTA V, it's certainly one of the titles I expected to play the most, that's why when I bought my PS3, it was one of the first games I bought and it wasn't really a buy in vain. After playing GTA San Andreas (the most beloved GTA in the entire saga), I was looking forward to returning to Los Santos and this time with a graphic improvement, and returning to the streets I had previously visited in San Andreas was a hard blow to childhood (in the good sense). GTA V brought with you totally new game mechanics, now we could control 3 characters (I already reviewed this game some months ago), a bigger map, more secrets and above all totally crazy moments, of the funniest games and with very funny situations.
Now, I'm going to mention the "current" game and the one that today holds a place in my list of favorite video games and that video game is: The Last Of Us. I've completed this game many, many times and the feeling that its ending leaves me is really crude, full of powerful feelings like melancholy and loneliness. The first 10 minutes of the game are really tense and with the death of our protagonist's daughter, something really hit me very hard and I could feel the sadness through Joel's character. The Last Of Us, at certain times reminds me of Shadow Of The Collosus, maybe it's a little exaggerated, but I talk about the silent moments in these two games, especially in Shadow Of The Collosus, but in The Last Of Us there are moments where you feel the loneliness of a society totally destroyed and that our only company (in this case) is Ellie and the music that we can listen to during almost all our journey. It is really powerful the melodies of this game and in them fall great feelings that perfectly describe certain situations or moods. Beacuse those great moments, is that The Last Of Us has become one of my favorites.
But the question is: Do I prefer today's games or retro games? I think the answer is obvious, but even so, a lot of today's games are masterpieces, both musically and artistically. Games like Bloodborne present a spectacular artistic style, full of terror and mystery, just like their soundtrack, the games have really improved an enormity and the advancement of technology is becoming so fast that it may be impossible to guess what video games will be like in 10 years. However, in spite of this, retro games continue to rule, as recently there have been remakes of great titles of yesteryear such as: Crash Bandicoot, Zelda Link's Awakening, Legend Of Mana, Spyro, Resident Evil and future remakes such as: Final Fantasy VII, Medievil and perhaps many more to be developed in coming years, but I have another question: How many years will have to pass for current games to be considered "retro video games"?
