The furnace going out meant we could see our breath in front of us. See, we lived in Iowa, and it was wintertime. And for a while, we blazed through it together, having an absolute blast as the magic system opened up and more characters joined our crew. As we both were RPG aficionados and loved beating multiplayer games together, we’d stay up late and see how far we could get. Those first moments of the RPG that played like a fighting game were unlike anything we’d played before. We latched onto the game almost immediately.
That is, until my mom went out of town, leaving me with the house to myself for a weekend, and my friend Chris came over to try out the multiplayer in this RPG I was trying to play. I’d owned the game for a hot minute, but never made it super far.
#LUNAR TOY STORE COLLEGE POINT SERIES#
It solidified the Tales series as the definitive multiplayer RPG. Tales of Eternia (or Tales of Destiny II, as it was named in its initial Western release) was a formative game for me. Tales of Eternia – One-Shotting the Game in a Freezing House This moment impressed upon me how much impact RPGs can have as a storytelling medium. It was the first time my actions in a game culminated in a different outcome. This ending resulted from earlier in-game actions, through the choice not to strike back even when Jowy implored us to. As those final ending scenes played, I remember simply being elated. At the time, we had no idea the outcome would be so different. So, we decided to see what would happen if Riou didn’t want to fight his friend anymore.īy defending the entire duel, all of our efforts throughout the game’s playtime paid off (like saving Nanami, or recruiting all 108 Stars of Destiny). The game makes it obvious that they still care about each other. He’d lost his sister and endured so much, only now to go against his friend-turned-adversary despite knowing that Jowy wasn’t a bad person. Then we decided to approach the fight differently, thinking about it from Riou’s perspective. We fought intending to win on our first attempt, and the ending broke our hearts. I remember Suikoden II’s final scenes before Riou’s fated duel with Jowy. My sister and I played together, and we have fond memories of huddling over a printed-out FAQ list, dutifully marking each new Star of Destiny recruit, and desperately trying to save Nanami when the appointed time came but having no clue if we were successful. I remember being drawn to its cover, intrigued by the idea of recruiting a massive cast of characters. Suikoden II is the first RPG I bought using my own money.
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