A few months ago, I posted my paean to space games (in particular Escape Velocity and Star Control 2) and at some point I'll round it out by adding one more - Master of Orion 2. But for now, I would like to take the time to tell a tale about my other great love in gaming: Role-playing games.Earlier posts may have hinted at it - my articles mentioning Mass Effect 3, The Old Republic, and Dragon Age: Origins to name a few - but the truth is I have loved RPGs since I was a young boy. Though a lot of people in my generation would point to Final Fantasy VII or some other SquareSoft classic as the first RPG they played and enjoyed, my story is a bit different. I'll have to set the plate, though, and go back in time with a brief story.The year was 1996. I had just met someone who would go on to become a very good friend of mine that year - we'll call him Jason. At that time, video game consoles were beginning to enter the next generation heralded by the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, and the Sony Playstation so relics like the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were still around (and still quite popular). Towards the end of the Genesis' lifecycle, there was a weird little thing called the Sega Channel - basically a modem that looked like a game cartridge that allowed you to play whatever games were available on the Sega Channel. That and the X-Band were fairly forward-thinking peripherals at the time, being that they were essentially digitally distributing games through the internet. I can't quite remember properly, but I think it blew hole when it came to saving games as the cartridge either didn't have the capacity and they certainly didn't have anything resembling a cloud save back then.Nevertheless, the point remains - you could play lots of different games on the Sega Channel, just not for very long. My friend Jason was the only person I knew who had Sega Channel (just as I was the only person I knew until college who had a Virtual Boy - whoops!) and I had the pleasure of using it once when I went over to see him. Two games in particular caught my eye. Now, I am obliged to mention an important point - up until then, I had successfully gone through the Genesis-SNES generation without playing a single RPG. Most of my time was taken up by the Sonics, the Contras, and Toejam and Earl. Some may argue that Toejam and Earl is an RPG - and it may very well be, what with having levels, loot, and more or less being an interestingly-themed roguelike for that day and age - but back then, I never really thought of it as much. In those days, all Toejam and Earl was to me was 1) Incredibly fun and 2) An exercise in futility, since my sister and I could never finish a game together. One of us would get the randomizer present, blame the other one furiously, and stop playing the game.I digress. At any rate, I'm at Jason's house on the Sega Channel and I notice a particular game - Shining Force 2. Now, I had my eye on SF2 for a while - back in those days, FuncoLand was the used game store that wasn't Babbage's and would later go on to become the titanic GameStop that we all know/love/despise. Also, since we didn't have a FuncoLand near us we had to mail-order the games and SF2 was always one of the most expensive used games in their catalogue. Anyways, there it is: Shining Force 2, the game I had long wanted to play. I started it up on the Sega Channel, watched the introduction, and excitedly started a new game! At last! I am playing my first RPG!The first thing that confronted me was the classic 'name your hero' screen. I find it necessary, however, to remind you of a critical point. At this time, I was just barely into the double-digits in terms of my age. Looking closely at the naming screen, I searched my brain for a long time as to what I should name my hero. Noticing Jason next to me, I decided to give into peer pressure and give him a most amusing name.I gave the main character, with his innocent looking face (you can see it here) a mighty name suitable for a hero.I named him ASSHOLE. In all caps. Grade school humor for the win.Jason and I, of course, continued to chuckle every time someone said "Hey ASSHOLE!" and this prevented us from progressing too far in the game (laughing during every conversation does not help you to finish said conversations quickly), but I remember how distinctly impressed I was with everything. The battle system, the presence of a story, the many unique characters - needless to say, SF2 was everything I thought it would be and more! After playing enough of that game (we called it after we got Kazin the Mage and made it to Galam Castle), we decided to play another RPG. This time, my eye came across Phantasy Star III. And while I will tell you to this day that it wasn't the greatest RPG in the world (I mean, I thought Phantasy Star II was slow but PS3 manages to feel just a little slower), it made an impression on me. To this day, I will never forget that opening theme to the game and I still believe that it is one of the best themes in a video game ever. Both of these games were extraordinarily influential in attracting and cementing my interest in RPGs. An interest that would later extend to all corners of my life when I was introduced to Dungeons and Dragons that very same year through the AD&D Fast-Play books (Wrath of the Minotaur and Eye of the Wyvern, if I remember correctly). From there I bought an AD&D Dungeon Master's guide, read the crap out of it, bought Return to the Tomb of Horrors, read the crap out of it, and then I would finally come to the world of PC RPGs with what could be considered an eerily natural progression.That's right. After all of this came Baldur's Gate. And so began my PC RPG binge, but that is a story for the next post.Also, if you haven't already I highly recommend that you Kickstart Dead State. If you, like me, love the PC RPG then you would do well to help super-fund it to make it an even better, stronger game that will be released sooner.-Mike