Let's get silly
112 | ChefReactions.mp3
Voicemail Dump Truck
Game Mess Mornings 04/18/24
GrubbSnax
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.13
Community Endurance Run XIV - April 12-14
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.06
Game » consists of 4 releases. Released Nov 11, 2007
Sometimes one playable character just isn't enough.
Games that feature more than one storyline, each often paired with a different protagonist. The storylines may intersect, or they may be completely independent of one another.
A device by which a character's motivations or expectations are influenced by a suspiciously absent family member.
Myrmidons are a sword-wielding unit in the Fire Emblem franchise with skills geared toward a higher critical hit rate.
A character whose intentions seem to be to help the player character, but their motives are unclear.
Sequels that have the player controlling a different character than the preceding game(s).
Characters controlled by the game for players to interact with, as opposed to player characters which are controlled by whomever is playing the game.
In some games, the differences between the difficulty settings are more significant than tweaked health, damage and currency. This could be new or changed enemies, boss battles, mechanics or items
Characters that are initially portrayed as evil, but eventually turn out to be good or not as serious of a threat. This also includes villains who remain evil the entire game, but contain some sense of moral goodness or ambiguity.
Distinct from a battle between good and evil, the struggle between the natures of order and chaos carries greater complexity in which neither side is purely right or wrong.
Everyone that is born has parents. These games feature adults with children of their own.
Everyone else can keel over as much as necessary, but if the party leader falls, it's game over. Sometimes this makes logical sense, like with perma-death battle systems. But more often then not the main character is one Phoenix Down away from a game over.
A system in which the player is allowed to control multiple characters. Most commonly seen in role playing games. Can also be used to describe party systems in the MMORPG genre, which brings a group of players together to accomplish various tasks.
Pegasi are winged horses found in Greek Mythology.
A common character class that has appeared in every entry in the Fire Emblem series.
A concept where the game must be restarted if you are killed. It is a mechanic found in most arcade games, but the term is usually used in reference to the RPG genre where the mechanic is less common, particularly "roguelike" games as well as strategy games such as Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics where characters die if they are defeated in battle. Often used as a significant plot device.
The act of turning someone or something to stone, generally by a fantastic means.
Piercing weapons are designed primarily for stabbing and puncturing to cause damage rather than slicing or cutting. Examples include knives, daggers, spears, lances, needles, shivs or improvised weapons such as ice picks.
Any character you can control in a game is a Player Character (PC), as opposed to a non-player character (NPC), which is a character that can only be controlled by the game.
The political thriller is a story, often action-oriented, that tends to revolve around two or more nations struggling to gain power. Outcomes are usually found through military confrontations, covert wars, and back alley negotiating.
Who needs 2D when we've got 3D? 3D, or 3 dimensions, is what we're used to seeing in almost every game these days, letting us do all sorts of awesome stuff like run in circles!
Swearing, cursing, call it what you want. It is an expression of anger or frustration, in most cases.
A weighty real-world issue that some games comment on, often through allegory. Unfortunately, other games can offend players in their depiction of different ethnicities, whether intentionally or not, thus becoming part of the issue themselves.
A Random Number Generator (hence RNG) is a system designed to randomize a sequence of numbers. Most games technically use a table of 'random' numbers, simulating random chance.
Many games allow you to add characters to your playable group upon fulfilling certain conditions. This is a central mechanic of many RPG franchises, including Fire Emblem and Suikoden. These can be NPCs or even enemy characters that the player persuades to join their cause, through sidequests or dialogue options.
A gathering of people who believe in the same higher power(s), and follow the rules laid out by the mortals chosen to be their prophets. Video games generally try to shy away from negatively portraying real religions to avoid controversy, however they make ample use of fictional in-game religions.
One man's terrorist, another's freedom fighter.
Two or more factions, either with the same or completely different goals, that constantly try to one-up each other. The player is sometimes forced to pick a side to root or work for during the struggle. Other times the rivalry is only mentioned in the plot.
Mostly in games that involve strategy. It involves special attributes determining the strengths and weaknesses of each move, species, character or type. One attribute is strong against another attribute, and weak against another, often in a circular fashion.
Romance in video games can either be interactive, in which the player attempts to woo another character, or an unchangeable part of the story of a given game.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment
Log in to comment