Posts tagged rowan-kaiser 
How Mass Effect 3's roleplaying roots empower the multiplayer
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. "I just want to see how this integrates with the single-player campaign," I thought, clicking on the multiplayer ...
The surprising accessibility of older RPGs
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. One major problem with loving role-playing games is that old titles can be hard to accept due to difficulty. RPGs are particularly vulnerable to this ...
The delightful smoothness of classic Japanese role-playing games
This week, Rowan Kaiser and Kat Bailey have switched roles -- with Rowan taking lead in this week's column focusing on the wonderful world of Japanese role-playing games. I was only defeated once in Suikoden. Even that was an accident – I thought it was a fight I was supposed to lose. Calling ...
What makes role-playing game combat good?
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Last week's column on changes in role-playing combat systems through history ruffled a few feathers, so I thought it would be a good idea to discuss ...
(Don't) Give me that old time RPG combat
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. The Kickstarter success of Wasteland 2 may be one of the most important developments in Western role-playing games in years. It could re-open the ...
Diablo's Descendants
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. With Diablo 3's release date set, I decided to take a look back as the series' legacy --and play some of the better Western-style action/role-playing ...
The year role-playing games broke
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. The most important year in western role-playing history was also its worst. The late 1980s and early 1990s were an obvious Golden Age, as RPGs were ...
Lighten up!: On thematic consistency in role-playing games
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. One of my all-time favorite role-playing games features a militaristic, near-fascist race of rhinoceroses who walk on two legs and wear uniforms. When ...
East Is West: How Two Classic RPGs Prove the Stereotypes False
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," - Rudyard Kipling Conventional wisdom holds that role-playing games are easily ...
The Rhythm Of The Quest in Fallout 3 and New Vegas
This is a weekly column focusing on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. Have you ever been horribly frustrated by one part of a game, only to think of it as the best and most memorable section of that game in retrospect? ...
