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Subtitled Silence is when a character remains silent in a section of dialogue and a subtitle box appears usually having an ellipsis (...) or nothing at all. Most common in J-RPGs and dating sims. The character can also make a small moan or grunt.
The wear and tear of a character's outfit as he or she receives damage. It can be done for realism, but often serves to titillate.
Floating Islands are land masses (anywhere from island size to continental size) that float either by the use of magic or some other force.
A scripted sequence or even an entire level where the player character is falling from a great height. Gameplay typically includes avoiding debris or battling enemies (or sometimes both).
When players must fight all of the bosses of the game at once. This can either be an optional mode, or a required sequence. Boss Rush can also mean a game where the player only fights bosses.
Some bosses transition through two or more forms during the course of a fight. Each form has its own abilities and health separate from those of other forms.
Also referred to as block damage, chipping takes place when characters take damage even when blocking. Most commonly associated with fighting games.
When the player character is a robot. This does any form of humans infused with robotics.
When a conscious character perceives something that either does not exist or is a contorted reality manifested by the character's unstable psyche.
Using gestures with the controller to control on-screen actions. Alternatively, these gestures can also be detected by motion-sensing cameras.
Character Creation refers to characters created by players themselves, rather than developers.
Sidekicks, different from partners, are less powerful, less important characters who support the main protagonist and generally stick by their side.
The third annual PAX East took place from April 6-8, 2012 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
An organized series of matches, ending with one victor.
A mechanic used mainly in Japanese RPGs of both the action and turn-based variety.
A type of primate with tails; often monkeys are depicted as causing havoc the moment they are encountered.
Like a critical hit, this is a special action invoked from certain attacks in games or caused randomly on attacks by a character's statistic. It causes opponents to lose the ability to attack back for a certain period of time, and usually invokes the hit character to go into a special animation.
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.
A boss fight in which the player must not only battle the actual boss, but must also defeat or defend against auxiliary enemies.
Graffiti is the practice of painting, etching, stickering, pasting, or in any way marking public or private property with lettering or images for a variety of different ends. Depending on one's perspective, graffiti can be considered either art or vandalism.
Device used by games with text boxes to show that a mysterious and/or unknown character is talking. Mostly used in games coming from Japan (at least nowadays).
Whether it's taking pictures of things for points or as part of a journal, photography is playing an ever increasing role in many of today's video games.
Women in Refrigerators (or "Fridging" for short) is an unfortunately popular plot device in storytelling where female characters are killed off or brutally harmed for the sole purpose of having an impact on a male character. The term was coined by comic book writer Gail Simone.
Any weapon that shoots laser and plasma beams or energy bolts rather than conventional bullets.
The disgusting process in which a character regurgitates the contents of their stomach back into the world, usually performed as a means of purging the body of poisons or intoxicants, but often (in videogames, anyway) used as a means of projectile attack by non-human enemies.
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.
Levels that progress forward by themselves at a fixed rate.
A concept in a game where the playable character can't run out of ammo, and doesn't need to pick up/buy ammo. In some cases, you still have to reload your weapon, but you will still have an endless amount of magazines.
Enemies that hide behind shields.
Usually refers to the end of the world.
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