Fate (2005)

You hear a lot of gamers talk about this "nostalgia" feeling. "They don't make videogames like they used to" and "I can remember even now how good and fun games were back in my time" are some of the phrases used by those in a sort of nostalgia trance. For me it works a little bit backwards, in the sense that, I can go back to particular games and no matter how outdated, mechanically broken or illogical they might seem for what today's standards are, and I can still spend hours upon hours playing it and get a kick out of it.

One of those games for me, as you probably have already realized, is Fate. Now, to understand what is it about this game that makes me want and actually come back to it over and over again like a mother tempting it's child with candy if they eat all their vegetables, I will fuss and make faces at first but the end result is so sweet that I forgot all about how much I hate broccoli. And so I will talk about some of the aspects of this game that liked.

First of all I will talk about it's story ... or the lack of a consistent one. Fate is a randomly generated dungeon crawler RPG, emphasis on randomly generated. 90% of any part about this game will change from one playthrough to another, only things staying the same being the initial town with it's NPC's, your starting items/stats and the enemy creature's models ... that's it. Every quest will be random, every bosses you fight will be different, it goes to such an extent that ever getting the same end boss is like rolling a D20 and getting 21. Some people might be put off by such a thing but I absolutely loved it, it means that beyond the dungeons levels having the same names, the chores will always be different .. I mean dungeon crawling. Let's be honest here, dungeon crawlers can sometimes be dull when you have way too good gear for that level and a higher difficulty just makes you chug a potion once in a while, unless you chose the path of minions summoning in which case you just don't take damage. But it's not always the killing part of the game that makes it so fun, it can also be the things random things you find/do while in the game that makes it enjoyable, and can make you come back to it again and again.

Now let's talk about the mini-game that makes the game more fun and tedious, the fishing simulator. In no other game that I have played yet have I started every playthrough of it by thinking "Where do I wanna fish first?", and it makes perfect sense honestly. Think about it, you get 250g at the beginning and a fishing rod is 200g. The remaining 50g is spent depending on your choice, are you a man, buy another potion and go underground to fish or are you a baby and sit at home in the town and fish there. And there is no reason why no to fish, your fishing rod is as good as your weapon, both of them provide you with all the gold and items you need to blast trough any silly giant spider in your way. But on top of that fishing also gives you fish, I know, shocker right?. But they are more than just a slimy little creature, if you feed them to your pet it transforms them for a limited period of time into a different creature, such as a spider, a gargoyle or even a majestic unicorn, with improved stats of course.

Did I forget to mention the pets? You can start with either a cat or a dog which you can name them to whatever you want. These pets are not for show, they will fight 'til death for you, or until they flee, they have their own separate level and stats, they can wear jewelry and carry things for you and transform into all of the marvelous creatures in like a massive tarantula, or a giant lizard, and many other. But the best thing about them is that they can sell items for you while you are still in the dungeon. Think of all the times you were on your adventure slicing trough the hordes of minions that are in your way, but woops ... your inventory is full of all these amazing items you want to sell in town for a profit. You could go back, waste a scroll and time while doing it, or you could send your pet back to sell them for you. No more need to chit-chat with the local merchant, your pet has the same negotiation skills as you have and will bring you back a lofty pile of gold, unless all you sent him to sell where a bunch of scraps and unidentified pieces of gear. Less time selling items = more time killing things = ... = profit?

So to answer my initial question of where does my nostalgia begin? If I where to really thing about it, it might not be this game but since it's one of the oldest games that I can still enjoy playing to this day, it might as well start from here.

am afraid of touching it on the premise that I might get second degree burns on my wrists, I thanked the all mighty Gabe, father of all PC games, that I can actually run and play Fate on it. And as I was in my 4th hour slashing and fishing, I was on the hunt for a new gear and better gear for my character or to sell it to buy one in one of the lava pools in the dungeons (yes, you can fish in lava pools, but the fishes there are the same as anywhere, I'll let you think about that one for a moment) and at this point I thought I knew everything this game has to throw at me, but lo and behold, as I reel in my fresh prey, hopping for a new hot piece of armor, at the end of my hook was a giant piece of cheese. But not just any giant piece of cheese, but one that you can wear on your head. At this point I am rolling in pain from all the laughter. Perhaps it might have been an overreaction but at that time it was the funniest thing in the world, pulling a giant piece of cheese from a pool of lava and the first instinct is to place it on your head, and to make it even better it gave a health penalty. Maybe because it was so hot.