Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Issue 36
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Games that let you choose the path you take through the story-line.
Typically found in fighting games, combos are a series of strung-together moves.
A non-interactive sequence within a game most often used for plot advancement.
Environments cycle between day and night, often with effects on other aspects of the game.
Dialogue trees are a feature through which the player selects responses from a list of choices, eliciting reactions from NPCs and determining the path of the conversation and story.
Experience Points are part of a character advancement system commonly found in RPGs. These points are generally gained by defeating an enemy or completing a task.
This concept is for games where at least one of the main characters is female.
These games were popular enough to warrant an anime, whether it was a full television series, an OVA (original video animation), or a feature-length movie.
Games that have been used as the basis for motion pictures.
Grid-based movement limits players, and other entities in a game, to moving through the game world in increments of whole squares on a grid. It has been a common staple of turn-based strategy games since the earliest board games of antiquity. It was also used by early RPGs.
In some games, health can be regenerated or bonus health acquired through romance of some kind, from flirting to kissing to sexual intercourse.
An numeral indication of how much damage a character can sustain. The loss of all hit points results in the death of the character or another penalty.
Horse riding is mostly used in games to get around from one place to another quicker than you could on foot. They can also sometimes be used in combat or racing.
A parallel projection technique used in 2D sprite-based games to fake the appearance of 3D depth.
These games are based off of established licenses, such as movies, comics, or TV shows. Examples are the James Bond 007 and Spider-Man franchises.
The single most important thing in the world, love is a powerful story telling element that can connect characters or drive a story. There are many video game characters who have fallen in love with someone or something.
A love triangle is when three (or more) people are in some kind of romantic relationship with each other. They can become messy and complicated. It may or may not be competitive.
The concept of affecting the universe through supernatural methods, breaking the fundamental laws of science.
This concept is for games in which at least one of the main characters is male.
Moral dilemmas presented to the player that often have a significant effect on the story or other characters.
Sometimes one playable character just isn't enough.
Characters controlled by the game for players to interact with, as opposed to player characters which are controlled by whomever is playing the game.
These are the characters who may or may not wind up in a relationship with the protagonist of the game. Sometimes the player gets to choose if this relationship will develop, while in other instances it is just left up to your imagination at the end of the game.
A cutscene that is viewed through the eyes of the protagonist or some other character. POV stands for "point of view".
In a number of games, characters often talk about friendship and the importance of friends, some sacrificing themselves for one another.
Quick Time Events show up in all sorts of games as an attempt to make cutscenes interactive. Press the buttons displayed on-screen before time runs out, or else.
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.
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.
The use of separating portions of a games story into separate chapters that have definitive beginings and ends, similiar to a serial dramas on television.
When a musical performance happens in a game, often this is used for comedic purposes.
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