Grind Quest: Objective

Ten of my favourite games and their objectives:

Final Fantasy 7 : To stop Sphiroth from destroying the planet with meteor

MidEvil: To stop the evil wizard Zarock and save the land of Gallowmere

uncharted : To stop the evil rich guy from taking the treasure of El Dorado

Bastion: To find the core crystals of the land so the bastion can reset the world

Metroid Prime: to stop the space pirates based on tallow IV

Mike Tyson's Punchout: To become boxing champion of the world

God of War: To seek revenge on Aries the god of war

kingdom Hearts: to find and save kiari

Fallout New Vegas : To regain your memories and find out why you were shot

Bioshock: To kill Fontane

It is striking to see an almost identical objective for many of the games I have listed here. Though this is no surprise since these games and many other games, books and other media draw from the hero's journey narrative. The hero's journey being a pattern or narrative created by Joseph Campbell who analyzed many of the myths and legends that exist throughout the world and found that many of them were similar if not completely identical in their structure. Many games and other media tend to draw from this structure since it seems to make the most sense to us, that it is the most easiest to understand, due to its strong and widespread presence in our cultures.

Looking at my videogames collection, I find that my interests seem to be quite varied as it includes many games from different genres such as horror, adventure, shooter, RPG, and many others. I think this is because I am not necessarily drawn to any one genre but to the games themselves and what they “bring to the table” so to speak. I am interested in the stories they tell, the mechanics they put into play and, overall, the experiences they provide. I think that, above all else, is what I am most interested in, the experience.

That may be why the one genre that I dislike is the sports genre because to me it doesn’t provide a good experience. Some people could argue that you can feel like the players being cheered on by the crowd. But sports games tend to put the camera high up, allowing the player to have full view of the court or field so that they can properly take control of an entire team which does not give me the feeling being the players. Maybe if the game was played from a first person perspective where the player is in control of a single player then maybe it would give a much more compelling experience.

That being said, I can see why I seem to have more action/adventure games than any other genre.

This genre can be defined as, obviously, a combination of both the action and adventure genres combining the high paced, exciting elements of the action genre and the wonder and exploration elements of the adventure genre. Such examples of this genre include the Uncharted series, Metroid Prime, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus just to name a few. These game sweep you up in their fast paced action as you shoot and explode and rip things apart and once they get you going they draw you deep into the world of the game with their awe inspiring landscapes and stories. Although it can be said that a good number of the games in this genre draw heavily from the Hero’s Journey pattern, it is this great combination of genre that provide the most intuitive and compelling experiences. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth