July Roundtable: Summer Barbecue (With Our Faves)

July Roundtable: Summer Barbecue (With Our Faves)

It’s summer here in the Northern Hemisphere! Time for lake swimming, marshmallow toasting, and the ever-important summer barbecue. Oh, and games. Don’t forget the games.

When we brainstormed this month’s topic, we came up with a few different ideas: astronomy, astrology, the dog days of summer, dogs… hot dogs… and barbecuing. Which leads to two important questions that will form the backbone—but not the entirety—of this month’s spicy, grilled discussion.

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Names and Narratives: Storytelling in the Dragon Quest Series

Names and Narratives: Storytelling in the Dragon Quest Series

Plot is Solyent Green, Chuck Wendig tells me. It’s made of people. As someone who reads and writes fanfiction fiction on a semi-regular basis, I can point out lists of books that lived (or died) based on their characters. Always, I find myself preferring a tired concept with great characters over a newer concept with dull characters.

But when I switch from the Kindle to the 3DS, I’m switching into a different format. The protagonist of a video game is often a blank slate with little direct dialogue, a vehicle designed to minimize the barrier between player and narrative. It’s hard to make a great character when it’s the player, not the game, determining what that character is. Can an RPG still make a great story when the protagonist is at the whims of the audience? One series in particular, Dragon Quest, wanted to do both: provide a great story and leave the characterization of the protagonist up to the player. It just took them nine games to get there. (more…)