My games of choice

Since yesterday, when I wrote about 剧本杀, I've been thinking about which games I have chosen to play (or follow) over the years and probably will continue play or follow in the years ahead. You could think of these as my recommendations if you ever were to ask me what games I think are good.

Card game: Magic

The granddaddy of trading card games, it's one of perhaps just two that have survived and remained popular to this day (I think Pokemon is the other one). Magic: the Gathering, as it's officially called, first appeared in 1993. I was introduced to the game near the very beginning, but never got into it because it was way too expensive. Even back then, a copy of the iconic Black Lotus card sold for over $100. At the time, I was befuddled by why a card could be worth so much.

The passage of time has revealed my shortsightedness - earlier this year, a copy of a Black Lotus in mint condition sold for over half a million dollars. Clearly, the game has only gotten more popular as the years went by.

To explain the game to the uninitiated, imagine that you and your opponent both have a deck of cards, and each card represents a spell. Your deck represents your spellbook, and each game is a wizard duel where you play cards (ie. shoot spells) and respond to them.

The beauty of the game is that each player is typically limited to 60 cards (spells) in total, and we choose which cards to include in our deck. By now, there are tens of thousands of unique cards, meaning that there are almost an infinite number of combinations of 60 card decks that we could build. It allows for a game that's incredibly complex. Every game is unique, and with the uniqueness comes new strategic puzzles we must solve in order to win.

A couple years ago, I got into the game again because there is now a mobile version that doesn't cost any money to play. It's convenient to play alone and more strategically complex than alternatives such as Hearthstone.

Social game: Avalon

A former student introduced Avalon to me about two years ago, and I became deeply immersed in it last year when I was in Singapore during the beginning of the pandemic. There was a group of exchange students in student accommodations (where my wife and I stayed), and we would play a few games almost every evening.

The game is essentially a much-improved version of Werewolf/Mafia for two main reasons:

• There is no "judge" needed; this is amazing because usually no one wants to be the judge.
• Unlike in Werewolf, there are no deaths. You can keep playing and contribute to your team even if people discover your identity.

Like Werewolf (and 剧本杀), it's a great game to play when the participants don't know each other well because it allows for natural interactions without the awkwardness of having to force conversation.

Video game: Suikoden II

A role-playing game for the Playstation that's over 20 years old, it's the only video game that I have replayed from beginning to end. In fact, I think I've done so more than once - I've even watched parts of some playthroughs on YouTube.

I'm not sure how to describe why it's so good. It's some combination of the epic story, the interesting characters, and the well thought out battle system.

It's a game that I'd happily replay again if I had free time and access to a system that can run it. The dream would be if it were ported to iOS devices (like most of the old Final Fantasy games have been).

Multiplayer (team) game: Dota 2

This is a game that I would probably not play anymore (due to its complexity and the fact that each match takes up to one hour), but would avidly watch the highest-level matches. To me, matches of Dota 2 are much more interesting that basketball or football matches.

Imagine a 5v5 "capture the flag" game but with in-game heroes that have magical abilities or powers (if you've ever played 王者荣耀, it's based on Dota). The situations are more complex and there is potential for more intricate teamwork than "real-life" games, since each of the 100+ heroes has different abilities and each 5-hero team combination has different strengths and weaknesses.

Every year, I've watched The International, the biggest e-sports championship in the world, which had a prize pool of over $34 million USD for the 16 participating teams in 2019. It's basically the World Cup for geeks. After a year off due to the pandemic, the upcoming International will be held in Bucharest next month. Despite the fact that it'll be during the middle of my application peak season, I still plan on watching the most important matches.