1908: How to Paladin

Can’t think of much to write this evening, so since I was helping some people out in Final Fantasy XIV earlier, I thought I may as well share the things I helped them out with in a more coherent form. That way, if anyone asks in future, I can simply point them to this post. Wild, huh.

Okay. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to share what I’ve learned from playing Paladin and Black Mage in Final Fantasy XIV. Paladin is a tank class, while Black Mage is a DPS class. Both are very different and have nothing to do with each other; they are collected together here simply because they’re the two classes I have the most experience with.

I’m also not claiming to be the be-all, end-all authority on either of these classes; I’m simply sharing what I know in the hope that it will be of some use to other players like me who enjoy the game, enjoy challenging the higher-end content like Coil but who aren’t five-days-a-week, six-hours-a-night hardcore raiders.

All right then. Let’s begin with Paladin.

Note: The following information assumes a level 50 character with access to all its abilities at the time of writing, but is mostly applicable to lower-level play, too; you simply don’t have as many abilities to use.

Paladin

As a Paladin, your job is to get punched in the face in lieu of the rest of your party. This is what tanks do. Paladins differ from the other tanks — Warriors — in that they have a lower amount of overall HP and damage output, but a greater selection of defensive abilities. Warrior, conversely, relies on a combination of self-healing tied to damage output, much higher damage output overall and significantly higher base HP.

Remember, as a tank your job is to maintain “aggro” (also known as “threat” or “enmity” depending on who you’re talking to) rather than dealing a lot of damage. You can check aggro in two ways: the coloured gems in the target list on the left of the screen — ideally you want them to be red, indicating that those targets are targeting you and not others — or the little bars that appear over the job icons in the party list in the top-left corner. Know which abilities generate the most aggro: any damage will generate aggro, but Savage Blade and Rage of Halone are specifically designed to generate more than usual. Flash generates aggro over a circular area around you, as does Circle of Scorn. And Shield Lob generates aggro at range. Provoke does something a little different, which we’ll talk about later.

Paladin is arguably the “easier” of the two tank classes to play, so for those trying tanking for the first time — like me, when I started Paladin — it’s a good choice. Warrior is more complex, with lots to keep track of at once, so if you’re uneasy it’s a good idea to save that for later.

Getting Ready

In a four-player dungeon, make sure you are in Shield Oath. This makes you take less damage and also increases the amount of aggro you generate. In an eight-player trial or raid, agree with the other tank who will be “main tank” and who will be “off tank”. If you’re main, go with Shield Oath. If you’re off, go with Sword Oath unless you’ll both be picking up separate enemies at the same time, as in the Battle in the Big Keep trial, in which case you should both be on Shield Oath in most situations.

The Pull

As a tank, it’s usually your job to kick off an encounter. In a four-player dungeon where you are the only tank, you should do this by running towards the group of enemies and using Shield Lob on what you intend to be your initial main target — some tanks like to mark this target to make it clear to their party which target they should attack first. The reason you should use Shield Lob rather than just running in and using a close-range attack is that it allows you to get an immediate, ranged head-start on aggro generation, because once the DPS and healers get going, you’re going to need that head-start, particularly if there’s a gear disparity between you and them.

Run right through the group of enemies to the other side, then turn around so you are facing the rest of your party and the enemies are facing away from the party. (This is so any enemies with “cleave” attacks — cone-shaped attacks that hit multiple targets — won’t hit other party members.) As you do so, use Flash at least twice, and Circle of Scorn if it’s ready to use. This extends your head-start on aggro on your main target and also builds aggro on the surrounding enemies.

You Got ‘Em, Now Keep ‘Em

What you do next depends on how many enemies you’re dealing with.

If you’re fighting a single enemy — like a boss, for example — then go with Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone repeatedly. This is the simplest possible tanking situation, and you are unlikely to lose aggro like this. If you are, make sure you are using Shield Oath.

If you’re fighting a small group of enemies (two or three), go with Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone on the main target, drop in a Flash every couple of times around the combo and change targets every couple of times to make sure you generate aggro on the whole group. Healers generate aggro by healing, so making sure you hit each member of the group every so often — with your main focus being on the main target — means that enemies are less likely to peel away and clobber the healer.

If you’re fighting a large group of enemies (three or more), as you will probably be doing on a “big pull” or a speedrun of a dungeon, go with Fast Blade -> Riot Blade -> Flash. Although Riot Blade produces less aggro than Savage Blade and Rage of Halone, it has the convenient side-effect of regenerating MP, which you’ll be expending with every Flash. By doing this combo, you have effectively bottomless MP with which to keep using Flash and keep the attention of the group. Make sure you move so that Flash hits all the enemies, but try and keep all enemies in front of you and facing away from the party as usual.

Getting ‘Em Back and Tank-Swapping

Lost aggro on an enemy? This is where Provoke enters the picture. Provoke is notorious for having the worst tooltip in the whole game, so here is how it works: when you use Provoke, your aggro level on the target is set to the value of the person who currently has the highest amount of aggro, plus one. “One aggro” is not very much, so if you don’t follow up Provoke with something, you’ll lose the target again and have pretty much wasted the ability.

As such, good Provoke practice is to use Fast Blade -> Savage Blade, then Provoke, then Rage of Halone to secure your lead on aggro. Alternatively, you can Provoke then Shield Lob if you need to pull in an enemy that has moved away from you. In a pinch, so long as you follow Provoke with something, you’ll probably keep the enemy on you.

Tank-swapping is simply deliberately using Provoke as above — including the follow-up hits — to take another tank’s target off them. This mostly comes into play during Coil and Extreme Primal fights, when taking too many stacks of a debuff a boss gives you will cause you to die. You can also use this to switch places with a main tank that seems to be struggling to mitigate the incoming damage if you know you’ll be able to handle it better.

Cooldowns and You

Paladin’s basic combos are easy to learn and less complex than Warrior’s, so much of the skill is in knowing when to use your “cooldowns” — the abilities which have a persistent effect for a short period, then take a short while to “cool down” before they can be used again. Here’s what they do:

Fight or Flight increases damage and, consequently, aggro. This is good to use at the beginning of a fight and indeed whenever it’s up. You’re never going to be going toe-to-toe with a good DPS numbers-wise, but this will help.

Rampart decreases the damage you take by 20%. It has a fairly short cooldown so in most dungeons you can simply use it when it’s available. In trials, which tend to be more “scripted” fights, you’ll want to save it for when you know big hits are coming. The Triple -> Spark attack the boss in The Chrysalis does is a good example, as is Ravensbeak in Turn 9 (though if you’re doing Turn 9, you probably don’t need a guide like this); you’ll still take a chunk of damage, but your healers will thank you.

Sentinel decreases the damage you take by 40%. It has a shorter duration and a longer cooldown than Rampart, so it’s an ability to be used a little more carefully. Again, if you know a big hit is coming, Sentinel is a good ability to use. In long fights, use Rampart first, then Sentinel, then in most cases Rampart will have cooled down by the time you need to soak another big hit.

Convalescence increases the amount you are healed by for a short period. If you are getting low on HP and want to help your healers out, popping this will get you fighting fit in no time, so long as you do it quickly enough. It is worth setting up a short macro to announce when you are using this so that the healers know you need healing in case their attention has been on other party members. That macro looks something like this:

/p Using Convalescence! <se.1>
/ac “Convalescence” <me>

Awareness means you won’t take critical hits for a short period. This is most useful during large pulls where you are taking lots of hits in quick succession — an unlucky run of criticals could do significant damage. It’s also useful to pop before a big hit if you have time; an already damaging move critting could knock you to the floor if you’re not prepared.

Bulwark increases your likelihood to block with your shield, which reduces damage. Again, it’s particularly useful to use when lots of hits are coming in at once, but it’s also good to use if both Rampart and Sentinel are on cooldown. Unlike those two abilities, it’s not a guaranteed damage reduction as there’s a degree of randomness as to whether or not you’ll block each hit, but it’s better than nothing.

Tempered Will doesn’t reduce damage at all, but it has two important functions: it cures Bind and Heavy status, and also makes you temporarily immune to any abilities that would normally cause you to move against your will. Titan’s Landslide and Leviathan’s deck slams are good examples. By popping Tempered Will before these moves go off, you’ll be able to continue standing where you are without worrying about being knocked off, but don’t get too overconfident with it!

Hallowed Ground makes you temporarily invincible for a very short period. Note that there is a short “animation lock” between triggering the skill and it actually activating, so it’s not an immediate “don’t lose” button. This is good to use during large pulls if the healer isn’t keeping up with the incoming damage, or when you know a big hit is coming and you’re not at full HP or your mitigation cooldowns like Rampart and Sentinel aren’t available. It also has a very long cooldown, so in most situations you’ll get just the one chance to use it effectively. It’s also useful to macro this so the healers know they won’t have to heal you for a short period; follow the same format as for Convalescence above.

Good Places to Practice

If you’re new to tanking, it can be daunting to think about what to try doing — no-one likes to mess up, after all, and if the tank messes up it’s pretty obvious. Here are some good fights where you can get some solid practice:

Brayflox’s Longstop is a good low-level dungeon to familiarise yourself with tanking effectively. Its final boss Aiatar demands that you both move it out of the pools of poison it spits and keep it facing away from the party. As a low-level dungeon, though, you don’t have access to all of your abilities.

Wanderer’s Palace is probably the first level 50 dungeon you’ll unlock, and it’s very easy to outgear it. This is a good place to practice doing larger than normal pulls, though be sure to check with your party if they’re okay with this before charging in!

Wanderer’s Palace (Hard) has a final boss that is good practice for moving and positioning enemies. Keep it out of the swirly areas on the ground, otherwise he’ll be considerably buffed; move him effectively throughout the fight so you don’t cover too much of the arena with unsafe areas.

Labyrinth of the Ancients, the first of the 24-player Crystal Tower raids, has far too many tanks, but the first encounters in this dungeon are good for practicing picking up enemies and grouping them together for area-effect classes like Black Mage to kill as a group. The Atomos fight is also good practice if you volunteer to be the one who picks up the additional monsters that appear and bring them to your comrades standing on the pad.

The Chrysalis, a trial towards the end of the main storyline, is good practice at cooldown management. In particular, pay attention to when the boss casts Triple and Spark; that’s the time to use Rampart or Sentinel to mitigate the incoming damage.

The Howling Eye (Extreme) is a good fight to learn about how two tanks are used. Not only do you need to keep the two additional enemies Chirada and Suparna away from one another, you’ll also need to tank-swap the Spiny Plume enemy to prevent either of you taking too many stacks of the “Thermal Low” debuff and dying.

Thornmarch (Extreme) is another good fight to practice working together with another tank amid absolute chaos going on around you. You’ll need to Focus Target your partner, and tank-swap the boss at the appropriate time. At the same time, you’ll need to make sure you’re positioned somewhere that isn’t going to get other people hurt.

The Binding Coil of Bahamut, Turn 1 is pretty straightforward until the last boss. When it splits in half, one of the two tanks will have to Provoke it off the other and drag it elsewhere, positioning it so that neither its frontal cleaves or its tail swipes hit other players. With the enormous “Echo” buff on this content now, there’s not much to worry about here.

Good luck! Tomorrow, Black Mage.

1559: Life Walkthrough: How to Defeat the Big Breakfast

You’ll probably encounter the Big Breakfast on a weekend, particularly if you finish a Friday low on HP, MP or Sanity. If you want to guarantee an encounter with one, do one of two things: either ensure the fridge-freezer is stocked with Bacon, Eggs, Sausage, Hash Browns or Waffles and that you have at least one Beans in the cupboard; or alternatively, ensure that the fridge-freezer and cupboard have a complete lack of the aforementioned, in which case you’ll fight a Big Breakfast in the wild rather than at home. The latter case is slightly advantageous in that you have a little longer to shake off the Sleepy status effect before the confrontation begins, but the former gives you the Home Turf boost.

There are a number of ways to defeat the Big Breakfast, but following this strategy is one of the most effective and efficient. Prepare for battle!

As the battle begins use the SAUCE — either brown or ketchup according to the preference you set during character creation — on Big Breakfast. Using the wrong sauce will provide you with smaller benefits.

Next up, grab the BUTTER and apply it to the TOAST using the KNIFE. Don’t attack the TOAST yet, though; we’ll come back to that later.

Equip the KNIFE and FORK and attack the TOMATO. This is the weakest part of the breakfast, but also has the potential to do the biggest damage to your Sanity. Try and defeat it in two attacks at most.

Follow up by attacking the MUSHROOM. This is likewise weak, and its status effects can be mitigated if you applied the SAUCE correctly.

Once the TOMATO and MUSHROOM are down, you’ll need to begin attacking the SAUSAGES, but don’t jump straight in to pure attacking. Instead, use STAB on a SAUSAGE and then attack the EGG with it — you’ll be pleased that you did. After you’ve done this on both EGGS, you can commence normal attacks. Each attack will drain your MP significantly so don’t be afraid to take a turn or two to rest if you need to.

Follow up the assault on the SAUSAGES by attacking the EGGS. Weakening them with the SAUSAGES beforehand will make this part of the battle much easier.

Attack the BACON once the EGGS have been defeated. The bacon should quickly fall to a concerted assault, but keep a close eye on your MP. You should find that your HP is steadily increasing as you defeat each opponent.

Following the BACON it might be tempting to go for the next target in the list — the HASH BROWNS — but pass them by for the movement in favour of an attack on the BEANS. Characters with low agility will need to take a few turns to defeat these, but they’re nothing too much to worry about.

After the BEANS have been defeated, you’ll notice that they’ve left a pool of BEAN JUICE behind. This cannot be defeated with normal weapons, so instead you must use the STAB move on a HASH BROWN to attach it to either your KNIFE or FORK — preferably FORK, since using the KNIFE carries a risk of damaging your own HP — and only then attack the BEAN JUICE.

If the HASH BROWN attached to your weapon breaks, use STAB again on one of its remaining companions. Repeat the process until the BEAN JUICE has been defeated. If you fail to defeat it before the HASH BROWNS have been defeated, however, don’t worry, you still have a final weapon up your sleeve.

Unequip the KNIFE and FORK and pick up the TOAST. Equip it in either hand, then attack any remaining BEAN JUICE. If none is left, simply open your Item menu and USE the TOAST like any other item. If you find your MP are too low to be able to use the TOAST, rest for a turn or two until they restore. To restore them more quickly, either use the COFFEE or get up from the table and visit the TOILET. Note that if you pick the latter option you will need to be partied up with at least one other player, otherwise upon your return you will find that Big Breakfast has been taken away, and you will not receive full XP value since parts of it were left undefeated.

Once Big Breakfast has been defeated, sit back and enjoy the cutscene, then save your game. The true weekend begins here.

#oneaday Day 849: Jud’s Handy Guide to Video Game Terminology [UPDATED!]

This post is aimed at anyone who doesn’t know what all that crazy terminology we game geeks fling about actually means. Like any hobby, there’s a ton of specialist words, abbreviations and acronyms in there, and some are a little ambiguous, just to confuse matters.

So, then, here are some definitions, some of which you may know, some of which you may not.

2D — Usually used to refer to games in which the screen has no “depth”. Players can move up, down, left and right on screen, but not “in” and “out”. Also used to refer to visuals that are constructed using pixels (q.v.) rather than polygons (q.v.)

3D — Usually used to refer to games in which the player may move in a full three dimensions — up, down, left, right, in and out. Typically used to refer to games whose visuals are constructed using polygons. Nowadays also used to refer to games that use 3D technology to give visuals genuine, proper depth using either 3D glasses or glasses-free technology such as that seen on the Nintendo 3DS handheld (q.v.).

8-bit — Term usually used incorrectly to refer to pixel-art graphics designed to resemble those seen on older computers and consoles (q.v.), particularly from the “8-bit” era (NES, Master System, Commodore 64 etc.) Actually refers to either 256-colour graphics (“8-bit colour depth”) or a computer processor which can access 8 bits of data in a single instruction.

Achievement — An arbitrary objective set outside of the main structure of the game (in most cases) that rewards players with a virtual “award” saying they accomplished said arbitrary objective. Seen in Xbox 360, PC, mobile and social games. See also: Trophy (capital T), Achievement whore.

Achievement whore — A person who plays games specifically to get Achievements (or Trophies) rather than focusing on the game’s own inherent reward mechanisms.

Adventure game — A story-focused style of game in which the main barrier to progress is usually some form of puzzle integrated into the game world. These vary from “use x on y” object manipulation puzzles to more elaborate chains of events. Examples include the King’s Quest series, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Time Gentlemen, Please! Hidden Object games (q.v.) are a modern offshoot of the adventure genre.

Brawler — A game in which between one and four players cooperate to battle enemies. Often takes place in “urban” environments, and is usually presented from a 2 dimensional side-on perspective. Examples include Double Dragon, Streets of Rage and The Simpsons Arcade.

Bullet hell — (also: danmaku) A subgenre of shmup (q.v.) that involves avoiding intricate patterns of enemy fire as much as it does spraying the screen with hot laser death. In bullet hell games, the player’s hitbox (q.v.) is usually very tiny, meaning they can navigate through incredibly tight-looking bullet formations. Examples include DoDonPachi Resurrection, Jamestown and Deathsmiles.

Character action game — Any game in which the player controls a single, often visually distinctive character and battles their way through hordes of enemies and gigantic, physically improbable bosses. Has much in common with the brawler genre (q.v.). Examples include Devil May Cry, Bayonetta and God of War.

Computer — An electronic device onto which you can install software, connect peripherals, customise your experience and play games. The most common computers these days are Windows-based PCs and Apple’s Mac series, though you find the odd geek using Linux just to be different. Games that are specifically designed for computer alone tend to be referred to as “PC games” or “computer games”.

Console — An electronic entertainment device that is not a computer and is specifically designed for playing games (and, increasingly, consuming other digital media such as music and movies). Current-generation consoles include the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Games specifically designed for consoles tend to be referred to as “video games”.

Developer — Collective term for whoever actually creates the game. May be an individual person or a gigantic company.

Digital distribution — Term used to describe when you pay for something online and download it straight to your computer, console, mobile phone or other device without involving a physical product at any point in the process.

DLC — DownLoadable Content. Additional content which may be added to a game, usually for a fee. “Day-One DLC” is DLC which is available the same day the game is released. “On-Disc DLC” is DLC for which the actual content is stored on the game disc, with the only thing that gets downloaded being an “unlock code” to allow access to it. Neither are popular approaches, and often seen as a means of publishers trying to squeeze more money out of consumers. Good DLC does exist, however — good examples include the expansion packs for Borderlands and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, both of which added significant amounts of content to the game for reasonable prices. See also: Game of the Year Edition.

Driving game — A subdivision of the racing game (q.v.) genre that involves driving realistic vehicles. Examples include Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing.

DRM — Digital Rights Management. An anti-piracy technology intended to ensure that customers are using legitimate copies of their entertainment. Often very intrusive and usually easily circumvented by pirates, leading many to claim that games sporting DRM are punishing legitimate consumers more than pirates. Developers, publishers and digital distribution (q.v.) outlets who release titles that are “DRM-free” are often very popular.

Fighting game — A competitive game genre that usually involves one-on-one combat between two characters attacking each other with a variety of unlikely and/or physically improbable “special moves” until one or the other’s life bar is depleted. Known for its fiercely competitive community, gorgeous female characters and high barrier of entry. Not to be confused with the brawler genre (q.v.). Examples include the Street Fighter series, Marvel vs. Capcom and Soul Calibur. Sorry, Soulcalibur.

First-person perspective — Any game which unfolds from the perspective of the main character(s) viewpoints.

fps (lower case) — Frames Per Second. The number of times the screen updates every second. Higher numbers make movement look smoother. Film typically runs about 24fps. Anything higher than 60fps can’t really be distinguished, so 60fps is often seen as the “gold standard” — anything consistently running at 60fps moves incredibly smoothly. A higher fps is often the result of either more powerful hardware or more efficient programming. PC gamers get rather obsessive about this figure, particularly when buying a new system.

FPS (upper case) — First-person shooter. A game where the player’s perspective is from inside the head of the main character(s) and their main means of interacting with the world is by shooting seven shades of crap out of it with a variety of weaponry.

Free-to-play — A game which is free to download and play, but which requires the player to pay real money in order to access certain items. (This is known as “microtransactions”.) This may be additional game content, visual customisation options for the player’s character or timesaving “boost” items. Free-to-play games are often either MMOs (q.v.) or social games (q.v.). Contrast: freeware.

Freeware — A game that is completely free and features no microtransactions.

Friend-gating — A technique used in social games (q.v.) to encourage players to invite their friends to play. Progress is halted until the player convinces a certain number of friends to start playing the game, or pays money to bypass the restriction. A form of viral marketing (q.v.).

GameFAQs — The website gamefaqs.com, which includes an enormous repository of guides to almost every game you can possibly imagine. Used by people who can’t be bothered to figure things out for themselves, or those who simply want more information about a game. The “FAQs” part of the name comes from Internet slang acronym “FAQ”, meaning “Frequently Asked Questions”.

Games industry — Collective term used to refer to specialist press (online or print) about games, game developers and game publishers.

Game of the Year Edition — (also GotY Edition) A rerelease of a game that includes all (or most) of its DLC (q.v.). Usually has different packaging to the original release. No-one is quite sure where the “Game of the Year” bit comes from, but it’s usually something that only happens for popular games with a lot of DLC.

Gen4 — A term coined by Electronic Arts on its 2012 earnings call to refer to the upcoming new generation of consoles (q.v.) including Nintendo’s Wii U system and new, unannounced offerings from Sony and Microsoft. An inaccurate term, since we are actually currently on the seventh generation of hardware, not the third.

Handheld — A portable console (q.v.) that plays games. Current examples include the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PlayStation Vita. Some people get snobby if you throw smartphones (q.v.) into this category.

HD — High Definition. Used to describe televisions that run at a resolution (q.v.) of either 1024×720 pixels (aka 720p) or 1920×1080 (aka 1080i/1080p, but we won’t get into that now). HD displays provide clearer, crisper images than their SD (q.v.) cousins. Also used incorrectly by almost everyone in the world, particularly iPad developers.

Hitbox — The area of a player which detects collisions with other objects, usually bullets. In bullet hell (q.v.) games, the hitbox is considerably smaller than the player’s ship/character, meaning it’s possible to navigate through seemingly-impossible hails of incoming enemy fire.

HOG — Hidden Object Game. Used to refer to an offshoot of the adventure game genre (q.v.) that is usually story-focused, and in which the main barrier to progress is being confronted with an unnaturally untidy room and a laundry list of things to find as quickly as possible. A popular genre of social game (q.v.). Examples include Hidden Chronicles, Gardens of Time and anything on Facebook with the words “Hidden”, “Mysteries” or “Adventures” in its title.

Indie — Short for “independent”, and the opposite of “triple-A” (q.v.). Usually used to describe small developers that make more niche games and often aren’t attached to a particular publisher. There is some disagreement over the exact definition of the term among the community. Is Minecraft, an independently-developed game that has been a runaway, multi-million seller, truly still “indie”?

MMO — Massively Multiplayer Online. Catch-all term to describe games that hundreds, thousands or even millions of players can play online at the same time. The most common variant is the MMORPG, an RPG (q.v.) in which it’s possible to meet other players wandering around the same world and team up with or compete against them. Examples include World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online and Rusty Hearts.

Multiplayer — A game or mode you play with other people. Subdivided into local and online multiplayer, with the former being a game you play in the same room as other people (usually using multiple controllers) and the latter being a game you play via the Internet. Further subdivided into cooperative and competitive variants, which are hopefully self-explanatory.

Origin — A digital distribution (q.v.) platform run by Electronic Arts, notorious for not being very good yet still being forced upon PC and mobile gamers by EA.

Patch — A downloadable update to a game that adds features, fixes problems or sometimes both.

Pay to win — Pejorative term used in reference to free-to-play (q.v.) titles that include the option for players to pay real money for a significant in-game advantage.

Pixel — A tiny, single-coloured square that makes up the image you see on a monitor or TV.

Polygon — A closed, flat shape consisting of straight lines. Hundreds, thousands, millions of these may be connected together to construct three-dimensional models.

Premium currency — A virtual currency used in a game (usually a free-to-play (q.v.) title) that may not usually be earned through normal play, and usually requires the expenditure of real money to acquire. Used as a means of masking the true cost of microtransactions.

Publisher — The company who gets the game onto store shelves or digital distribution (q.v.) sites. The people who handle the money. Not necessarily the same company as the developer (q.v.).

Racing game — A genre of games that involves participating in vehicle races. Often used interchangeably with “driving game” (q.v.) but tends to refer to non-realistic games such as Mario Kart, or futuristic titles such as WipeOut and F-Zero.

Resolution — The number of pixels (q.v.) that make up the complete image on a screen, expressed as the number of pixels across by the number of pixels down, with the origin in the top left corner.

RPG — Role-Playing Game. A genre in which players control one or more characters who grow in strength over the course of the game. Variants include “action RPG”, in which players spend most of their time killing things, “open world RPG”, in which players have a large world to explore however they please, and “JRPG”, which is an RPG produced by or in the style of Far East-Asian developers. Often story-heavy. Examples include Xenoblade Chronicles, the Final Fantasy series and Diablo III.

RTS — Real-Time Strategy game. A genre of game in which players take on the role of an omniscient commander who commands their troops to (usually) wage war. The “real time” part comes from the fact that the game does not stop while the player makes their decisions — they must effectively prioritise and respond to situations in order to be successful. Examples include the Command & Conquer series and StarCraft.

SD — Standard Definition. A display technology for televisions in which the image is displayed at a resolution (q.v.) of (usually) 640×480 for NTSC-based televisions (seen in America and Japan) and 720×576 for PAL-based televisions (seen in Europe and Australia).

Share — A social networking term used to refer to making a post on a social network. In the case of games, this is usually some form of “brag” post boasting of a new high score. In actuality, it is usually a form of viral marketing (q.v.).

Shmup — Short for “shoot ’em up”, a term usually used to describe 2-dimensional games that involve shooting things. Most commonly used today to refer to the “bullet hell” genre (q.v.). FPS (q.v.) games are not shmups.

Single player — A game you play by yourself while you are not connected to the Internet.

Smartphone — A mobile phone (cellphone) which is more like a miniature computer. Usually has a touchscreen, the ability to connect to the Internet and the facility to install “apps” to extend its functionality, including games. Several types are available, including the iPhone series, Android phones, Windows Phones and BlackBerrys [sic]. The iPhone and Android ranges are the most popular and consequently have the most apps available.

Social game — A game designed to be played on a social network such as Facebook. Usually free-to-play (q.v.) and monetized through sales of premium currency (q.v.). Often accused of being “pay to win” (q.v.), using “friend gating” (q.v.) excessively or constantly bugging players to “share” (q.v.) everything.

Special move — A combination of button and directional presses that causes something awesome to happen, most commonly seen in fighting games (q.v.).

Steam — Arguably the most popular digital distribution (q.v.) store for PC and Mac games there is, run by Valve Corporation, developers of the popular Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and Portal series.

TBS — Turn-Based Strategy. A strategy game in which players can spend as long as they like thinking about the commands they would like to give their units under their control. Often compared to board games, and typically less combat-centric than RTS (q.v.) titles — though military conflict often plays a part. Examples include the Civilization series and Endless Space.

Third-person perspective — Any game where you can see the character that you are controlling. Most commonly used to specifically refer to games where the “camera” floats behind the character or is positioned just behind one of their shoulders.

Third-person shooter — A game that unfolds from a third-person perspective (q.v.) in which the player’s main means of interacting with the world is by shooting seven shades of crap out of it with a variety of weaponry. Examples include Gears of War and Binary Domain.

Triple-A — A big budget game, usually published by Electronic Arts, Ubisoft or Activision. Tends to have excellent graphics, famous voice actors and a marketing plan that will make you sick of it months before it’s even released. Just being published by one of these companies doesn’t necessarily make a game “triple-A” — rather, it is to do with the overall budget and marketing spend. Gaming’s equivalent of the “summer blockbuster”.

Trophy — The PlayStation 3’s equivalent of Achievements (q.v.). Trophies come in Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum variants to reflect their difficulty. Platinum Trophies are usually awarded simply for accomplishing all of the other Trophy requirements.

Viral marketing — A means of subtly promoting something by using people’s inherently social nature. In video games, this is usually achieved by allowing players to post things on their Facebook Timeline from within the game, thereby allowing the player to boast of their achievements and conveniently promote the game in the process.

At over 2,000 words, I think that’s enough for now. Feel free to post in the comments if I missed any “q.v.”s or if there are any things you still don’t know.

#oneaday Day 811: Some Handy Tips for Those of You who Wisely Picked Up Xenoblade Chronicles This Weekend

Bought a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles? Firstly, well done. Secondly, it’s rather good, isn’t it? Thirdly, you’ve probably noticed that it’s a massive, sprawling, deep game with lots of things to think about.

Being a grizzled old veteran who has played the game to death already, I thought I’d share a few tips to help you along the way. I’ll try and remain spoiler-free in the process, and I won’t be giving plot walkthroughs or anything like that — just general tips. Bulleted tips, even. Here we go.

(Note: If you’re not playing Xenoblade Chronicles, this will all mean nothing to you. I’ll be back in the normal world tomorrow.)

Pick a good, complementary party, but don’t be afraid to experiment. You can make most combos work — and in fact to max out Party Affinity you’ll probably have to — but a safe option is to have a tank (Reyn or Riki), damage dealer (Shulk, Dunban or Melia) and healer (Sharla or, to a lesser extent, Melia). Note that you don’t need to have Shulk in the party, but it’s easier to deal with visions if he is.
Don’t forget to level up your Arts. You gain AP with every successful combat and these can be used to power up each character’s Arts — the special abilities that they are able to use in combat. Don’t forget to drop into the menu regularly to spend these AP — which each character has their own individual bank of — on improving their abilities, because the game sure won’t remind you. On that subject…
Pick Arts that complement each other. Depending on your party lineup, ensure that you have Arts picked that work well together. Don’t worry about changing around Shulk’s Arts, since he has a fixed arsenal. But depending on who else is there and what they’re capable of, pick ones that work well together. A good combo is to ensure that between all three members, you have the ability to Break, Topple and Daze an opponent. By doing this to an enemy that isn’t immune, you buy yourself a good few seconds of uninterrupted beatdown time, which is very helpful on baddies with high HP. Note that most — but not all — bosses and Unique Monsters tend to be immune to Break and Topple.
In Chain Attacks, colour is everything. The other thing you should consider when preparing your party’s Arts is to make sure that you have appropriate colours covered to unleash a decent Chain. The colours typically correspond to what the Art does — red ones tend to deal direct damage, pink ones tend to inflict Break, green ones tend to Topple and blue ones tend to be restorative or supportive — so a good thing to do is to ensure your whole party has at least one red Art equipped in order to do a damaging Chain Attack. When you start the Chain, choose a red Art to kick off, then when it switches to the next character, choose one of their red Arts and so on. Bear in mind that according to both random chance and Party Affinity, you may have the opportunity to continue the chain after everyone has had one go, so it’s worth having more than one of the same colour if you can spare the slots.
Skills aren’t as complicated as they look. The tutorial for the Skill system makes it sound bewildering, but think of Skills as passive bonuses and you’ll be fine. Picking a character trait to focus on provides a bonus to a particular stat, then all SP earned (also after combat) will be applied to that particular skill branch. When sufficient SP have been earned, that bonus or passive ability starts to take effect automatically. Note that each character starts with three Skill paths, but has the opportunity to unlock up to two more through quests.
Skill Links let characters use each others’ Skills. This is the complicated bit. You’ve probably seen that killing bosses nets you Affinity Coins. These are used to let characters “borrow” each others’ Skills, thereby enabling them to get passive abilities they wouldn’t normally have access to. For example, if Reyn has learned the skill to equip heavy armour, another character who is normally limited to light armour can Skill Link with Reyn in order to also be able to equip heavy armour. The number of skills characters can borrow from each other is determined by the number of Affinity Coins you have and the Affinity between the characters attempting the Link. Speaking of which…
Build up Party Affinity as much as you can. Your characters fight better alongside each other if they actually like each other. They also say different things in battle or when they jump in to conversations. There are lots of ways to improve this. Firstly, put the characters you’re trying to develop the relationship between in your active party. Make the character you want to see the most gains the leader, since when party members jump into conversations, it improves Affinity with this person. Hit as many Burst Affinity button prompts in battle as you can. Encourage characters who are suffering from low Tension in battle (they’ll have a purple cloud behind their face in the interface — run up to them and press “b” to whisper some sweet nothings at them). Don’t forget to go and do Heart to Hearts when you have sufficient Affinity between two characters — these provide massive Affinity boosts even if you balls them up. And don’t forget that you can gift Collectibles to characters via the Inventory menu — the game forgets to mention how to do this. Select an item, choose a character to gift it to and you’ll see the affinity gain (or loss) it generates. For hints on what might be good items to give different characters, check the Achievements menu or think about the characters’ personalities.
When hunting, use the reload trick. Saving your game then immediately loading it causes the monsters in a zone to refresh, so if you’ve run out of mobs you need to bash over the head for a quest, save and reload to respawn them. If you’re hunting a Unique Monster and there’s no sign of it in the place where it’s supposed to be, do the same thing for a chance of respawning it.
If looking for specific weather, use the clock. Advance time from day to night (or vice versa) until you get the weather conditions you’re after. Note that “thunderstorm” is a different weather condition to “raining”.
Talk to everyone with a name. Speaking to a named NPC adds them to your Affinity Chart and sometimes improves your Area Affinity. When your Area Affinity levels up (it doesn’t tell you when this happens, so check the Affinity Chart regularly), new quests become available, and named NPCs also get new items to trade with you. It’s possible for every single person on the entire Affinity Chart to be joined to at least one other person by the end of the game, so consider that a challenge if you’re a completionist.
Collect collect collect! Collect every sparkly blue blob you see. Not only will it help you fill the Collectopaedia, there’s usually a questgiver somewhere nearby who will pay you good money for them. Or you can always gift them to characters.
Trading is usually a quicker way to fill the Collectopaedia. If you’re struggling to find a specific collectible item in the field — and some are considerably rarer than others — then try trading with named NPCs instead of talking to them. When trading, offer them goodies that are considerably higher in value than the thing you’re looking to grab — double is usually a safe bet — and they’ll often throw in an extra free gift, too. Note that NPCs’ inventories expand as Area Affinity improves. Their tradable items always come from the zone in which they are found.
Don’t forget about Gems! Equipping gems in slotted items can make the difference between triumphant victory and crushing defeat. Note that bonuses to stats have a cap — if the bonus turns green in the menu, equipping further gems won’t have any effect. Pick gems that help strengthen a character’s particular specialisms rather than compensate for weaknesses — e.g. apply Muscle Up gems to Reyn to increase his physical defense to make him a better tank, add Strength Up gems to Shulk to make him deal more damage. Remember that Unique items (the ones with “U” on their icon instead of “S”) have preset gems that cannot be removed.
Explore everywhere. Discovering new Locations, Landmarks and Secret Areas is a good non-combat way to gain experience points, plus it has the positive side-effect of filling in your map and providing you with places to fast-travel to. You might also be surprised where questgivers are hiding.
Do every quest you can. It may be time-consuming, but questing builds up Area Affinity and provides you with some good rewards that often negate the need to go equipment shopping. The stock “Monster”, “Collection”, “Search”, “Material” and “Challenge” quests you get in every zone also provide a good way to get to know an area. Be sure to talk to the questgiver for these questlines several times as you can normally pick them all up at once — and you don’t have to return to them to complete them. Never sell quest items — they’ll be marked in the menu — or items you’ve seen in visions. You can get them back, but it’ll be a waste of time, particularly if they end up being rare items. For quests with multiple outcomes, there are no “bad” consequences, just differing rewards.
Backtrack! When the story advances, that’s usually a good cue to wander around the areas you’ve already visited and see if any new quests have popped up — some appear based on story progress rather than Area Affinity. Fortunately, the skip travel feature makes this a painless process. If you’re not sure who to talk to, try looking for people on the Affinity Chart who don’t have any links yet. There are some quests you can miss — these are marked with a stopwatch in the quest log. There’s generally a pretty obvious mini “point of no return” before these expire, however, so be sure you’ve cleaned up your quest log before you answer “yes” to any important-sounding questions.
Don’t rush. Xenoblade Chronicles is a big-ass game and there’s a lot to see and do. Playing as a moderate completionist, it took me 101 hours to beat on my first playthrough, and I could have easily spent a lot longer. While it may be tempting to rush forward into the next plot beat, bear in mind that the quests, exploration and incidental combat is all there to provide a painless means to ensure you’re strong enough to tackle the challenges the story quests provide you with. You’ll be around the level 80 mark by the time you’re on the home straight if you’re doing it right — you’ll hit a wall and be forced to grind (or backtrack and do all the stuff you missed!) for a little while if you haven’t. That said…
Don’t feel you have to get everything. Beat the game and you can do a New Game+ with all your levels, equipment and Party Affinity intact, but quests, Area Affinity and everything else reset to normal. Now you can rampage through the world with impunity and concentrate on picking up as many quests and entries on the Affinity Chart as you can rather than running away from red monsters.

Above all, enjoy. This is one of the best RPGs of all time, and it’s wonderful to see so many people on my Twitter feed are playing and loving this at the moment. Stick it out to the end — it’s a long road, but it’s very much worth it.