Since the release of the newest game in The Legend of Zelda series, Breath of the Wild, I can barely open any of my social media without people raving about how great it is. Friends, online personalities, you name it. If they've been able to play it, they're raving about how much they like it, how much they can't put it down, and how much they can't wait to play it if they aren't currently doing so. Admittedly, this can get a little bit frustrating after a while, so I've been distracting myself with something a bit different.

Back in 2003, when the Nintendo Gamecube was cool and still somewhat new, a game was released for it by Namco called Tales of Symphonia. A few years later, a much younger and less depressed Makenzee was searching for a new game to play. I searched the GameStop website and happened to come across this game. It piqued my curiosity, so when I was able to go to the store, I looked for it and picked it up. It was only $20, so I figured it wouldn't be a terrible loss if I didn't enjoy it (although I wasn't planning on that at all).

I've always been fascinated and enamored with role-playing games, so it should come as no surprise that I was immediately hooked. A lot of my free time in the coming years was devoted to playing through Tales of Symphonia multiple times. Its story mode was incredibly long and in-depth, and there was always a lot to explore the vast world. This led to my playthroughs clocking a minimum of 60 hours each, with some of the longer ones hitting at least 80 hours. Clearly, this was a game that was near and dear to my young heart.

Fast forward to more recent years. Following the death of my mom, I haven't really played many video games because that was something that we always did together. That and the fact that my consoles were down at my aunt's house for a few years, so I couldn't play them even if I had wanted to. At any rate, to substitute my lack of consoles, I started looking into PC gaming, and I've been casually playing certain titles, like Undertale.

Tales of Symphonia had been released on Steam a while ago, and I knew this. I'd thought about picking it up every now and then, but I didn't think it'd be as enjoyable now as it was when I was younger. Plus, what was the point of paying $20 for a game that I already had? Using this thought process, I'd forget about it again for a while, but while browsing through Steam one day about a week ago however, I came across a most unexpected surprise. Not only was Tales of Symphonia on sale, but it was 75% off, making it only $5. I decided to abandon my previous thought process, purchased it, and started playing it despite the fact that it was about 3:00 a.m.

As soon as the opening sequence began, I felt like I was a kid all over again. The story was just as (if not more) amazing and hilarious as it was back then. I further amused myself by capturing some of my exploits on Snapchat. I only ended up playing for a few hours, but they were some of the better few hours that I had spent in quite a while. The same feelings that many people have toward Breath of the Wild are the same feelings that I have toward Tales of Symphonia. Once I get started, I find that it's difficult to stop playing on a whim, and when I'm not playing it, I think about it regularly. Even though I still remember many of the plot details, that only helps to make playing it more enjoyable since I can see the foreshadowing and other small details that are in the game. So for now, everyone else can keep their Breath of the Wild. I'm good here.