Post AlEILhDe4pWS3tjBHE by NaClKnight@c.im
(DIR) More posts by NaClKnight@c.im
(DIR) Post #AlEILhDe4pWS3tjBHE by NaClKnight@c.im
2024-08-22T06:02:15Z
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So in #TTRPGs there's this idea of a "gish" (https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_RPG/comments/999coq/where_did_the_term_gish_come_from/) which you can loosely understand as a warrior/caster hybrid. Battlemage or Red Mage or a bunch of other terms are near synonyms. Martial + Magic, and you can look up endless questions/discussions for several #RPG systems about the best most satisfying way to make on in that systemExtrapolating the concept past #RPGs though...Most characters in 2D #fightinggames fit the strict definition. Let's walk through the #FGC brieflyRyu/Ken/etc and their hadouken/hadou in #streetfighter, not to mention that Guile is canonically just... able to control air currents with his limbs. In #Kof #TheKingofFighters Kyo and Iori have their flames, and Terry Bogard is effectively a geomancer. Hell, #MortalKombat is based on elemental ninjas. SubZero is called a "Cryomancer" in official game profiles. If you want examples with weapons, try #GuiltyGear. Sol, Ky, I-No. Weapons, spells, melee proficiency. Right there in easy convenient packages for you.In this case, I'm just hella interested in how what is very very common in one genre of #videoGames is a special unicorn elsewhere, but the playerbases don't have much overlap.
(DIR) Post #AlEILi46vlUQgcH53Q by jendefer@dice.camp
2024-08-22T13:41:48Z
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@NaClKnight I wonder if it is because #videogames tend to be solitary, so putting more types of power into one character lets them all be used. Whereas the #ttrpgs that are class-based look to spread power across a handful of players and disincentive overlap (or at least don't encourage it).I hadn't encountered that word gish before, but my #ttrpg preferences are class-less, so maybe that's the reason.
(DIR) Post #AlEILipG6TCh2qKjXk by NaClKnight@c.im
2024-08-22T14:33:28Z
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@jendefer Thanks! I think the division of classes may have something to do with it for sure.Btw, what do you mean when you say that "video games tend to be more solitary?"I grew up with video games as a social hobby conducted with people in the same room as you, just like a TTRPG, and my favorite genres still carry that DNA in them (like fighting games, which evolved from crowded arcades). Many genres are social, either in competitive or collaborative contexts.As i understand it, "Gish" is originally a D&D term from one of their races' subclasses that stuck as a trope namer for other games, but I've only ever heard it used in that genre of TTRPG (Pathfinder, etc)
(DIR) Post #AlEILjalFrCXQAYfaK by lextenebris@social.vivaldi.net
2024-08-22T15:43:01Z
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@NaClKnight @jendefer I've never, ever heard it used outside of a very tiny slice of the Pathfinder fandom. Nobody outside of that refers to anything as a "gish," mainly because it's not really that big a deal. Battle mages or warriors with some magical abilities are part of a vast swath of literary precedence. This goes all the way back to the very beginnings of the RPG hobby, rooted in Chainmail and a host of other tabletop wargames.Consider the skirmisher, a unit which possesses both a short sword and a bow. Their intended deployment is to engage at range, be lightly armored in order to facilitate high speed, distract and harry other infantry, and then when closing happens, unleash hell with swordplay. All the concept does is swap out a bow for a spell, and it's the same thing. The ability to engage at range and enhance your abilities in close quarters.So they're not unicorns at all. They're all over the place, which explains why there's tons of little tiny community terms for them. Ultimately, though, they are just magical skirmishers and don't really require that much discussion in the field of RPGs.#TTRPG #warGames
(DIR) Post #AlEInJtgNgO9q2YvU8 by lextenebris@social.vivaldi.net
2024-08-22T15:48:01Z
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@NaClKnight @jendefer So that side of things handled, we then turn our gaze to video games. Obviously, this type of character is a very, very common element of almost any fantasy setting or RTS of the last ever. You have entire factions built around the idea that individual units combine magic for ranged and standard soldiery techniques for close range.I would be hard-pressed to name a single RTS or even TBS that doesn't incorporate that kind of character. Certainly not a unicorn in any way, shape, or form.So let's talk about fighting games in particular and in specific.Why do fighting games incorporate characters who have both close-range and long-range attacks and manipulations? Once you state the question aloud, it's really silly, isn't it? It's so you have a more interesting context within which to fight.We have to go back to your central axiom and invalidate it. Nowhere is this concept a special unicorn, particularly unusual. When magic is part of the setting, it's an inevitability, rather than unusual at any level.#fightinggames #videogames