Coffee Talk #257: What Was Your “Rubber Soul” Game?

Although my dad played The Beatles’ Rubber Soul for me hundreds of times, it didn’t “click” with me until I got older. I’ve always loved music, but Rubber Soul changed my perception of what music could be. Is there a game you’ve played that did the same thing for you?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Verve Roaster’s Guatemala La Maravilla, Taylor Swift dating the Prince of Persia, or Anne Hathaway acting topless, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Although my dad played The Beatles’ Rubber Soul for me hundreds of times, it didn’t “click” with me until I got older. I’ve always loved music, but Rubber Soul changed my perception of what music could be. Is there a game you’ve played that did the same thing for you? Is there a game that changed your perception of what videogames could be?

As for me, there are two that come to mind…and they happen to be in the same series. Similar to music, I’ve always loved games. Final Fantasy VI (FFIII in America) changed my perception of what games could be. Until then, I didn’t realize that games could offer an interactive experience that combined an epic story, outstanding music, and deep gameplay — an experience that rivaled or surpassed what movies and television offered.

As much as I loved FFVI, I didn’t think RPGs could be as popular as action games or sports games. Final Fantasy VII changed all that. The videogame genre I loved the most hit the mainstream! Although I have my problems with FFVII, I appreciate and love what it did for the genre.

Now it’s your turn! What games transformed the way you perceived the medium?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

17 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #257: What Was Your “Rubber Soul” Game?”

  1. My two "Rubber Soul" games happen to be FFVII and MGS. We all know about the former so I will stay on MGS. When I played that game the first time not only was it awesome because it had speech in it, but it also felt like I was watching a mini series/movie that I happened to be controlling. It was pure bliss and when I got the camo suit…….psh need I say more?

  2. Gaming as a whole , I have to say World of Warcraft. *vanilla at that*

    The range of things to do in the game is just huge. The story in the game is almost beyond scope. The social aspect is the best I have ever been a part of in gaming. I have played this game for 6 years now. Aside from puzzle games like Tetris no other game can come close to this. At first the $15 per month fee was a sticking point but after having the game for a week I didn't care. It's very well worth it. Back to rubber soul part….I didn't get the MMORPG thing..WoW solved that. I get it now. They are perhaps the best games to play on a computer and the only ones worth a subscription.

    For consoles I'd have to say MGS (PS1 and GC) and the ZOE series. Both were done in a top notch manner. ZoE really surprised me and the second in the series was by far one of the better games I have ever played. I'm also inclined to include the Legacy of Kain series as far as consoles go. Continuity was important in those games and it showed what a dedicated team not from Japan could do.

    Honorable mentions:

    Soul Calibur (Dreamcast) – what a next gen title should look and play like

  3. well….upon first hearing this question, i couldnt help but to think immediately of super mario brothers….as i am old enough to remember the atari 2600. Super mario wasnt just a game when i was 6, it showed me that video games were a legitimate medium, and not just a one button and a stick. . The earlier consoles (NES, Genesis, even 3do and n64) all blew my mind by raising the bar from the previous generation. Each console's early games all fall qualify as rubber soul games to me. Super mario, altered beast, Mario 64, road rash for 3do…all blew my mind.

    If i had to pin it down to two games it would be super mario and revenge of shinobi for the genesis. Shinobi may not seem like it should be on my list, but it was the first 16 bit game that truly blew my 10 year old mind. (strider for the genesis was pretty badass too) I forget how much i loved the games on the genesis…as i typed this i just remembered the games e swat and herzog zwei…good times

  4. Again I am showing how young I am, but SM64 was probably that game for me. I played it a ton (I still play it every once in a while) and it was such a jump from SMB3 and really showed off a new way for a game to set up levels, a main map area with fun stuff to do, and awesome 3D graphics at the time.

    If I was a little older I might say Wolfenstein 3D or Doom just because I know they changed games to FPS, but I started off with those games so nothing stood out as new or different- it was always normal for me.

  5. The album that completely changed my perspective on what music could be was actually King Crimson's "In The Court of the Crimson King". I just wanted to clarify that based on my stance toward the Beatles. It happened with the Doors too, but it was different circumstances.

    "The Very Best of Joe Tex" changed my stance toward music as well and opened me up to alot more music besides rock. "Enter the 36 Chambers" by Wu Tang did it too.

    As for gaming, the game that changed my perspective was GTA3. This game took gaming to a new plateau in my opinion. I'm generally a purist when it comes to most things, but when it comes to technology, I feel you need to kick the purist mentality to the side and explore the new hotness.

  6. Damn… I forgot another album that completely took everything I had learned from "In the Court of the Crimson King" and showed me the flip side of the coin.

    Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska".

    This album showed me that you can strip all the production down to just a dude and a guitar and still be amazing on many levels.

  8. Various Amazon Gold Box deals throughout the day, btw.

    <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2 Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fgoldbox%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dcs_top_nav_gb27&tag=rt0b3-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957″ target=”_blank”>Amazon Videogame Gold Box Deals<img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rt0b3-20&l=ur2&o=1&quot; width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

  9. I've been playing games for almost two decades now and the games that stick out the most as changing my perception on games are Tales of Symphonia, Halo CE, and Morrowind. Until I played Halo, the only shooter I liked was Metriod Prime. /end over used rant

    Tales of Symphonia is not the first good RPG I played. (KOTOR) However, it is the first one to make me question what makes a story good. Everyone thinks things like plot twist and epic battles when they think of good stories, but what if a game has none of that. What if the plot is not the focus of the story, can a game be carried by its characters alone? I'd have never said yes to that question if I had never played Symphonia. Watching Lloyd Irving go from a boy of little conviction to a man of self-certainty was an awesome experience. Plus all the random banter along the way made me laugh.

    When you think of open world games, the Elder Scrolls series is probably not the first game you think of. I for one hated all open world games thanks to the impression GTA left on me of them. I never wold have thought that one of my favorite RPG series would be an open world. To be honest I find open world games to be devoid of interest. There is nothing to motivate me to do anything in them. That's not what I found in Morrowind though. Every where you went there was a new story, a new character, and lots of places to explore. Not only that, but those stories and characters gave me a reason to care about what happened in that world. Something no open world game had done before.

  13. @ My kick in the ass for today

    So… I have to order a banner for work. After some shopping around online, we found a place selling 3×8 or 3×10 banner for $48. Hell of a deal, so I called them…

    Why would any business in a major American city hire a receptionist that only speaks Korean?

    She hung up on me twice because she couldn't understand me.

  14. That wikileaks stuff is getting quite interesting. I believe it is Bank of America stuff next week and then Russia and China stuff a few weeks afterward.

    Maybe it's just me that finds it interesting. My gf doesn't know a damn thing about it. She didn't take it well when I said she is living like an ostrich lol.

Comments are closed.