Your host Ian McRae, alias FM, explores video and sometimes tabletop gaming as an art form and celebrates the things that make us love our controllers and dice.
The main column will be posted once a week, with other content posted whenever.
I dabble in tabletop game design sometimes, too. It's an RPG heavily inspired by Armored Core.
Aeon Genesis deserves more love for all the great work they've brought us. Go visit them, won't you?
Curse, Megadrive / Genesis
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2). Atlus, 2006.
You and You Alone
How many times have you heard this one: “Mankind is being threatened by a massive fleet of enemy invaders! Traditional tactics are impossible - our only chance is to send our best pilot in the most advanced starfighter ever built!”
I’m willing to bet it’s a lot of times, in any number of variations, because this is the plot of every space shooter ever made! More to the point, however, the core essence of that synopsis - ‘one man against the world’ - is the plot of a good chunk of all the video games ever made.
Alien invasions. Ancient evils. Covert operations. No matter the task, it falls to one person above all others. Even after decades of gaming, with technology that allows AI-controlled allies and massive battles, player characters are most often sent into situations far above and beyond what any single person would be capable of in reality.
Shall we take a look? After all, you’re the only one who can read this post!
l2d:
Rockman Zero Official Complete Works - Boss Concept Art (Toru Nakayama)
Dragon Age (Multiplatform) - I Am The One - DJ Killa Jewel Remix
Off the Collector’s Edition soundtrack. It’s much better than one would expect, turning the song completely on its head while retaining all its best qualities.
Still moving. Being surrounded by crates, I need to push them all, without pulling, to discrete positions in the room, which is still really time consuming. Regular service will resume next week, so, in the meantime, here’s an old classic from everyone’s favorite Valve employees about crates and their place in gaming history.
Even in the worst possible light, Hepler said the same thing Final Fantasy fangirls have been saying for years. I’ll leave the rest to your own judgement, but this is basically why I don’t do multiplayer.
