Tag: rpg

  • Equipping Your Emotions in Crystar

    Equipping Your Emotions in Crystar

    Though action RPG Crystar is already available in its native Japan, it will be heading to North America and Europe later this month. Along with promising action-packed gameplay, Crystar carries its own philosophy on emotions. Published by Spike Chunsoft and FuRyu, and developed by Gemdrops, Crystar follows Rei Hatada’s efforts to revive her dead sister,…

  • 6 Upcoming & Recent Games That Aren’t Red Dead Redemption 2

    6 Upcoming & Recent Games That Aren’t Red Dead Redemption 2

    As you might well have heard, Red Dead Redemption 2 is releasing this week. The huge game from Rockstar has come at the cost of 100 hour weeks. It has provoked some interesting conversation about the ongoing state of working in the video games industry. Big releases in the last quarter of the year tend…

  • Art as an Evocative Tool: A Talk with Lucah Developer melessthanthree

    Art as an Evocative Tool: A Talk with Lucah Developer melessthanthree

    On Tuesday, August 21st, indie game developer melessthanthree released their new title, Lucah: Born of a Dream. A Kickstarter funded action-adventure game that combines the powerful aspects of storytelling, role-playing, and survival-horror, Lucah tells the story of the Marked Child, cursed to have their personal demons manifest as real demons wherever they go. Lucah must face…

  • Kids Game Too : Reliving Virtual Magic Kingdom

    Kids Game Too : Reliving Virtual Magic Kingdom

    It goes without saying that kids make up a massive portion of the people playing video games. In fact, people aged 18 and younger are the second largest age demographic that play video games; this demographic makes up about 28% of gamers in the United States. This is a pretty close second to the 29%…

  • Was Final Fantasy VII Indifferent to Class Struggle?

    Was Final Fantasy VII Indifferent to Class Struggle?

    After AVALANCHE’s destruction of the Sector 01 Mako reactor in Final Fantasy VII, Cloud analogizes the lives of the slum’s population to the controlled and limited mobility of a train on rails; unfortunately, this focus on class struggle is short lived. Conversations about class solidarity are often pushed to the side by the greater cause…

  • Super Lesbian Animal RPG Is A Treasure In The Making

    Super Lesbian Animal RPG Is A Treasure In The Making

    No, you read that right. Super Lesbian Animal RPG is an actual game in development. Now, this should be said straight away. If the title alone has triggered you with its promise of same sex relationships among anthropomorphic animals, you’re going to have a bad time. Seriously, stop reading right now and go back to…

  • Warframe Devs ask “What do you want?”

    Warframe Devs ask “What do you want?”

    In the face of the recent microtransaction controversies, one company looks to be dialing back one of their more annoying monetization practices. You might be surprised to hear that it’s a free to play game, Warframe, that is looking to change this practice. They plan to make changes to the Prime Vault system in the…

  • Don’t Trust Square Enix with Final Fantasy VII’s Remake

    Don’t Trust Square Enix with Final Fantasy VII’s Remake

    As I type this now, I’m listening to Valley of the Fallen Star – The Cosmo Canyon theme from Final Fantasy VII. Composer Nobou Uematsa‘s original arrangement is my favourite piece of music from a game I love. One of my favourite tracks from a videogame, in fact. Valley is perfect not only for what it is…

  • There’s No Escaping Stardew Valley’s Capitalist Hamster Wheel

    There’s No Escaping Stardew Valley’s Capitalist Hamster Wheel

    The premise of Stardew Valley is simple: quit your desk job at the soulless Joja Corp., move to the beautiful coast, take up a simple life as a farmer. Joja Corp. is the closest that Stardew gets to having an antagonist. Not only do they serve as a comparison for the idyllic life that the…

  • Stardew Valley’s Diversity Problem and the Mod I Used to Fix it

    Stardew Valley’s Diversity Problem and the Mod I Used to Fix it

    Early on in Stardew Valley’s development, longtime fans of farming simulators such as, Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, had a few hopes for the Western take on a genre, long dominated by the hyper heteronormative, mono-racial series that is, Harvest Moon. One of those hopes was that Stardew Valley would be racially diverse. And to…

  • One of Stardew Valley’s Bachelorettes is Emotionally Abusive and that’s not Okay

    One of Stardew Valley’s Bachelorettes is Emotionally Abusive and that’s not Okay

    Abigail’s plotline in Stardew Valley begins rather innocuously. Abigail is nice and quirky. As you befriend her you play video games together, and play instruments in the afternoon rain. She’s never written as mean or controlling in these scenes. She’s painted as the edgy 20-year-old at odds with her parents. She’s, initially, an interesting character…