In the sprawling worlds of modern role-playing games (RPGs), combat isn’t the only battleground. Behind every sword swing and spell cast, many players are silently strategizing another outcome: Who can I romance? How do I unlock their story? Will they love me back? Romance systems—mechanics that allow players to form romantic or emotional relationships with…
Gaming 101
Beyond Poké-Emblem: Tactical RPG Crossovers and Genre-Bending Experiments
Welcome back, Gaming Graduates! In our last session, Poké-Emblem showed us how a fan’s wild “what if?”—what if Pokémon Red/Blue played like Fire Emblem?—became a full-fledged tactical RPG reality. That ROM-hack crossover turned Kanto into a grid-based battlefield, proving that tactical RPG combat can thrive in the most unexpected worlds. Today, we’re zooming out to…
Turn-Based Combat and the Aesthetics of Deliberation
What Turn-Based Systems Reveal About Player Cognition and Control In a gaming landscape dominated by real-time action and split-second reflexes, turn-based combat stands apart—not as a relic of the past, but as a deliberate design philosophy rooted in thoughtfulness, control, and intentionality. While some players deride turn-based games as slow or outdated, others find in…
The Role of Memory and Repetition in Soulslike Design
Exploring Memorization as a Form of Player Progression The “Soulslike” genre is notorious. Not simply for its difficulty, but for the way that difficulty is framed, delivered, and most crucially—learned. In games inspired by Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, progression rarely comes from character level alone. It’s not just your stats that increase—it’s your memory….
Spatial Storytelling in Isometric Strategy Games
Analyzing How Level Layout Functions as Narrative Delivery In isometric strategy games—where the camera looks down on meticulously arranged tiles and units like a god with a clipboard—storytelling is typically associated with dialogue trees, world lore, or faction politics. But beneath the surface text lies something more elemental, more embedded: the space itself. Level layout…
Games as Moral Simulators: The Illusion of Choice in RPGs
What ‘Player Choice’ Actually Offers in Complex Narrative Games Video games are often lauded for granting players what other narrative forms cannot: agency. Unlike books or films, games allow us to shape the story—or so we’re told. We can choose to spare or slay, to romance or reject, to obey or rebel. In the lexicon…
The Weapon Triangle as Ludic Language: A Semiotic Study
How Simple Mechanical Systems Convey Narrative Allegiances and Combat Logic In tactical RPGs, few systems are as deceptively simple—and as symbolically rich—as the weapon triangle. Popularized by the Fire Emblem franchise, this mechanic functions much like rock-paper-scissors: swords beat axes, axes beat lances, lances beat swords. A humble triangle. But behind this triad lies an…
Power Fantasy vs. Vulnerability: Designing Difficulty with Intent
Examining How Games Balance Empowerment and Struggle to Shape Player Experience Video games often promise players the extraordinary. Whether through lightning-infused swords, demon-slaying shotguns, or the ability to manipulate time, the fantasy of power—over enemies, systems, or fate itself—has always been central to gaming. But alongside this seductive empowerment lies an opposing and equally vital…
Permadeath and Grief: The Psychology of Loss in Tactical RPGs
A Study on Emotional Attachment Through Permanent Character Loss In the tactical RPG genre, few mechanics are as defining—or as psychologically complex—as permadeath. Unlike traditional RPGs, where defeat is a temporary setback and fallen characters can be revived with a phoenix down or reload, tactical RPGs with permadeath make mortality matter. Once a unit falls,…
Procedural Rhetoric in Indie Games: How Game Systems Themselves Communicate Meaning Beyond Narrative Text
In traditional media—novels, films, essays—rhetoric is the art of persuasion through language. A thesis is argued, a moral is presented, and meaning is delivered primarily through words and images. But in games, something profound occurs: the system speaks. This is the core premise of procedural rhetoric—a concept introduced by Ian Bogost in his 2007 book…