Developing Your Gaming Interests: How I Came to Love RPGs

It’s never too late to try something new in gaming.

It took me almost 30 years to discover my favorite genre of role-playing games and boy, am I glad I did find this genre. What’s most interesting is my life experiences helped direct me to my newfound love.

Our gaming interests are largely personal and feature a variety of reasons why we gravitate one way or the other. What’s most important is we stay true to who we are and be unashamed of our passions.

Let The Adventure Begin

**Image Credit:** Nintendo (via What Culture)

I always used to lean into platformers in my early years.

Super Mario 64, Bomberman 64, and others that utilized platforming elements were top of the list. I also had an interest in action-adventure games such as The Legend of Zelda though my love for those developed more in my teenage years.

I had, however, limited exposure to role-playing games. I did play the first two generations of Pokémon vehemently as well as Paper Mario was one of my favorite games, but that was it.

I fell out of gaming in the mid 2000s and it would be several years before I returned. My return had me back to playing The Legend of Zelda games, helping me fall in love with fantasy titles as well as ones that have a narrative.

As my passion for games rekindled, I started to branch out in my interests. I tried new franchises such as Shantae, but many of those new franchises were still the same type of games. This never bothered me, however.

A Love for Storytelling

By 2018, I had achieved my master’s degree in sports journalism from Arizona State University. I had developed another passion throughout my collegiate years and that was for storytelling.

I am by no means a novelist. I enjoy journalistic writing, especially when it comes to long-form human interest and feature stories, the kind you might find in Sports Illustrated or The Athletic.

My love for storytelling continued to grow and I noticed it started to seep into my other interests.

I started to read again. I ventured into comic books. I watched movies and TV shows with a more critical eye to the storytelling aspects. I even fell in love with pro wrestling, eating up the unique storytelling inherent in sports entertainment.

My passion for gaming wasn’t immune to this either. I wanted games that wove stories through this interactive medium.

And then I found it: RPGs.

This was a genre I largely left alone over the years, but my interests had changed. I never could pinpoint the type of game I was looking for until one day, it finally clicked.

I had recently played RPGs prior to this realization. I played Xenoblade Chronicles on the 3DS and Fire Emblem Awakening, but I never finished it.

The gameplay was really foreign to me, but these games, as well as past Pokémon and Paper Mario, set the foundation for me to move forward in the genre. Xenoblade Chronicles helped me see what a game can do with a hefty story.

One of my first RPGs I completed was Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. This was a great transition title to help me understand elements of RPGs while keeping to live action combat.

While Ys VIII helped me fall in love with the genre, it was my first playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, which happened earlier this year, that solidified my love for RPGs.

I knew I was decades late to the party but I wanted to see what the praise was all about. This game showed me how a video game can tell a story to perfection and make you feel emotions in the process.

It’s been all downhill since

I’m still new to the genre and I have plenty to play to reach the levels of seasoned RPG fans. That said, the journey into a new genre has still been a lot of fun and an experience I highly recommend.

Developing Your Interests

**Image Credit:** Oliver Beer (via Unsplash)

We all move at different paces.

Some find their favorite genre when they are young while others don’t discover it until they are older. I think we all have a mixture of the two in our gaming careers.

My gaming interests I developed as a kid are still intact, but being open to trying a new genre made my gaming experience more fulfilling.

Trying something can always lead to more variety in your gaming preferences. There are many easy ways to try something new, such as Xbox Game Pass, and diversify your passions.

I didn’t know what I was missing when it came to RPGs. The many factors that led to this development helped me to take the chance on a new genre.

Your experience will likely be different.

Our differences are what help make this community a great one, allowing us to be more welcoming to newcomers and experienced gamers alike.

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