1. Final Fantasy X-2
To some readers this may be a controversial choice, but I proudly stand by it. Apart from the fact we haven’t had a mainline entry with both classic ATB and job systems since, Final Fantasy X-2 ties together multiple interests from my formative teenage years. As a blossoming fan of J-Pop in the ’00s, especially Ayumi Hamasaki, the intro alone had me sold. I have been a dancer my whole life, and one of my main influences is idol culture. These days it’s more from K-Pop than J-Pop, but the 13-year-old me who existed at Final Fantasy X-2‘s Japanese release dreamt of becoming one of Yuna’s backup dancers during her “Real Emotion” performance. I debated including Tokyo Mirage Sessions on my list for similar reasons but figured I’d give it a shout-out instead. Black Rain definitely changed my brain chemistry though.
2. Harvest Moon
The first Harvest Moon game I played was… the first one, which makes it perhaps the only series of its age I can say that for. I’m pretty sure its Nintendo 64 sequel had been released by then, but I played them chronologically in the late ’90s. I clearly remember thinking, “Wait, where’s the combat? I have an axe, but it’s for chopping trees?” so it took a while for the game to make sense to me. However, I also managed a few complete runs despite my angelic wee age, and the daily routine gameplay loop was magical to me. For a brief period through to the Back to Nature era, I even wanted to be a farmer when I grew up, thanks to my idyllic and incredibly incorrect perception of the profession. Spoiler: it never happened. [Editor’s Note: YET!]
3. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a strangely misremembered game. Maybe because fans were expecting a low-fantasy political tale akin to its predecessor, Final Fantasy Tactics, but Tactics Advance is known by some as a childish devolution. To me, it’s a narrative of overcoming loss and avoiding losing oneself to escapism, which our Ben Love wrote a fantastic feature about, and this is just one of the game’s strengths that made Past Sam realise how healing games can be. My own childhood had some pretty dark times, and I think by presenting its themes in a subversively protective manner, Tactics Advance unknowingly helped me process a few things. It’s also a very fun game, and was my first real taste of strategy RPGs.
4. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Whenever I think about the Shadow Hearts games, I tend to mentally lump most of them into one experience: Koudelka is a great standalone game but is best as a lead-in to its successors, Shadow Hearts lays the groundwork for some truly memorable characters, and Covenant ties everything together. The culmination of Alice and Yuri’s arc in Covenant will never fail to make me bawl, and the game’s endings were an extraordinary idea for the time. However, what left the strongest impression on me was the games’ music. Their soundtracks ranged from experimental, industrial synths to stunningly beautiful piano work. They were so inspirational that I used several pieces in choreographed dance work for my college and university assessments. The music spoke to me in a way that inspired my own art, and also led me to interview one of the series’ main composers, Yoshitaka Hirota. It seems games that resonate with my otherwise dissonant life pursuits leave a lasting impact.
5. Grandia
A sense of adventure and meaningful exploration are lauded features in modern games, and Grandia is the earliest game I can think of that spun a story around those concepts. In a time when we usually knew very few details about a game before playing it, Grandia’s first major story arc about reaching The End of the World was an exciting experience that’s never really been imitated. The buildup to reaching this enormous wall, knowing nothing about what lay in wait at the top or on the other side, was just the beginning. Delving into concepts like who built the wall, its purpose, and what happened to the culture it came from makes the adventure feel like you’re discovering remnants of a lost age. The soundtrack is also stellar, with “The Beautiful Women of Alent” being one of the most hauntingly memorable pieces of music I’ve ever heard in a game.
