Video games are something I've pretty much grown up with. My first video game system was an old Atari with the game Tank, when I was around 5 or so. But my real journey into gaming started around age 9 or 10 when I got my NES and Zelda. It seemed everyone around me was a gamer then. During the 16-bit era, circa high school, I was somewhere between non-gamer and casual gamer.

I got back into gaming in a big way back in 1997-98 when I watched a friend play FF7. I had been getting deeper into anime then and the whole idea of 'interactive anime adventure' appealed to me. A new RPG fan was born. Since I only had my Sega Genesis at the time, the RPG series I cut my teeth on was Phantasy Star. Later on, I got a Sony Playstation and even more heavily into RPGs, including a cult title called Persona which sparked my respect for the Megami Tensei series. One thing led to another and I soon started posting on RPGFan's boards back in 1999 under the handle dezo penguin, which later changed to dezo, then Blademaster Dezo (which is what I'm most well known as), and now to Dincrest. I first started writing reader reviews for the 'fan in 2001 and now I'm here.

When it comes to games, I tend to play outside the "mainstream" sandbox, often preferring titles from smaller, more independent developers rather than the more prominent ones. I also love graphic adventures and my guilty pleasure is Japanese love adventures. I'm also not above playing the games no one else wants to play, because I have a semi-morbid fascination with bad gaming. Hey, someone has to take one for the team, right?

Outside of gaming, my other passions include playing bass guitar, doing voice impersonations, cycling and hiking. Professionally, I'm in the education field and cannot see myself anywhere else. Life is full of adventures and there's always a new one around every corner.