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Bizarre video game terminology
Not quite sure where to go with this thread, so I guess I'll put all these weird terms in a list or something, and why they weird me out. Rolling Updates possible.
Player Miss: In other words, losing a life or dying in a game, though it could just mean just plain failing something.
origin: Japanese? From games with lives systems.
what bugs me about it: Just the word Miss. Its odd somehow and kind of kills your immersion in a game if you see a youtube comment of it somewhere. Plus in soundtrack stuff, this is what its often referred to if the failure or death BGM has a name. It's also used quite liberally in the Super Mario series overseas.
Free Man: An extra life.
origin: Western
what bugs me: In all the games I've played where these things were referred to as a free man, it took you a bit of effort to score one, whether its out in the open on the playing field, or from building up your score. If I could misattribute an MLK quote: "Free men are not free."
Just Block/ Just Defense/ Blocking: Deflecting an attack while taking no damage whatsoever. Requires trigger finger accuracy, as there's about under 5 frames of grace if you're lucky.
origin: Japanese. Mostly fighting games and brawlers:
What bugs me: Street Fighter III refers to the mechanic as Parrying overseas and as Blocking in Japan.
Just Frame: Essentially for fighting games and brawlers what timed hits were for Super Mario RPG, only a fuckton harder to do.
origin: Namco fighting games, though I explicitly remember the first instance of it coming from Ehrgeiz.
Game Start: The very beginning of a game. I've seen this terminology used in youtube videos to mean "not a new game +", particularly one japanese Devil May Cry 1 video that played Dante Must Die with a fresh file.
Campaign Mode: Single Player mode
origin: Western, thanks to most modern day FPSes, now used in almost every game ever.
what bugs me about it: Single player mode doesn't sound as stupid.
Item Get/ Item Catch: Acquiring an item, with fanfare to go with it.
What bugs me about it: Engrishy as shit
Death Blow/ Mega Crush/ Smart Bomb: Desperation Move or Panic button where you need the game to back the fuck off for a while.
Origin: All over the goddamn place.
what bugs me: A playthrough of Final Fight referred to the attack as Smart Bomb at one point.
Comments
i think "Campaign Mode" originated from RTS', where you would, y'know; actually run a campaign.
"rank" for "scaling difficulty" is one that stumped me for a good while.
"Power up" always sort of made intuitive sense to me but then it more recently dawned on me how actually Engrishy it is (and indeed, it is actually engrish). And yeah I still have no idea what "1-up" is even supposed to derive from.
...I never until now even thought about how little sense "1-Up" makes.
I guess that's what happens when you first hear a term at like age seven.
Your lives go up by 1.
So one green mushroom + two moons = one can of lemon-lime soda?
AOE: In otherwords, Area Of Effect.
origin: Western
what bugs me: The fact that it's mostly missused now. Whereas in MOBAs and MMOs, it means "this little highlighted circle here is effected", most people jumping from Warcraft into console JRPGs use it interchangeably with "Target Fucking Everyone"
Ukemi/ Teching/ Tech Hit: When knocked down, knocked back, or thrown, avoiding being sent into a prone position by catching yourself and standing back up on your feet, quickly.
origin: Ukemi is an actual martial arts term. Tech Hit, aside from it being used in Capcom fighters, i have no fucking clue
what bugs me: Its the ultimate way to start a flamewar amongst tourneyfag gamers (ok, not really, but I do remember Gamefaqs' Brawl board throwing a week long shitfit over whether they should refer to "recovery" as either Teching or Ukemi. I think the Smash Dojo itself actually used "Ukemi" on the site, too, and the term was used in Tekken 3's manual.
Okay, I have heard virtually none of these, which is quite surprising because I am really into gaming.
The ones I have heard:
Campaign mode and single-player mode aren't necessarily the same thing. Co-op campaign modes are quite common.
I get what you mean, but I'm pretty sure this one isn't supposed to be serious.
A, that's a perfectly valid use of the term, the target area just being "the entire map." B, even if that weren't the case, I'm not sure why one would hate the term just because some people aren't using it right.
AOE gets used like that because even though it's not strictly accurate, it's a hell of a lot quicker to type than "hits everything".
I usually call that "all". I use "area" for spells that actually hit a limited area, such as Napalm in Chrono Trigger.
I would count "Only the enemy" as a limited area, as opposed to personal areas of effect (which originate from the caster, hitting everything except them) and true field attacks, which hit everyone.
"All" would make me thing the latter.
Should be Single, Area, Ray, Cone, Splittable, All (targeted), and All (non-targeted). And for less common patterns, Line, Segment, Cross, etc..
Speaking of which, Triad Thunder would be a really awesome tactical RPG spell.
So, basically, let's load up on the terminology instead of making things simple. Sweet.
"only the enemy" isn't really a limited area in traditional DQ/FF/etc.-style RPGs though (since it's the expected range of offensive abilities), which is where Schitzo is saying it's misused.
^^ How is this terminology not simplifying?
It's just that for the standard JRPG you only usually use three types: single, splittable, and all (targeted). Single means the ability only targets one character. Splittable means you can choose whether to target one or target more than one (usually this just means all enemies). All (targeted) means it hits all enemies.
In FFVI you add attacks that hit All (non-targeted), meaning they hit your party as well.
In Chrono Trigger you have Single, Area, Ray, All (targeted), and even one Line attack.
In tactical RPGs you usually have Single, Area, All (targeted), All (non-targeted), and maybe a few more patterns.
This one terminology system fits all.
Because you've gone from one term to ten.
I tend to think of "hits all enemies" as "all", and with few exceptions "hits all enemies and allies" as "BAD". :P
TACTICS
Well, there is Final Fantasy Tactics where "hits all enemies and allies" typically means "nearly kills all enemies and fully heals your party because you made sure to equip holy absorbing equipment."
Okay, fine, change "All (targeted)" to "All" and "All (non-targeted)" to "Nuke".
Not to be confused with the FFII (US) spell "Nuke", which is a renamed Flare.
Though you could if you really wanted to design a high-order poison-element spell called Nuke that's actually distinct from Flare.
Why are we creating new terms? It's not like anyone's going to accept it.
I always assumed the "Just" in "Just Defense" etc. meant "Just in time".
A "Free Man" is just an extra life. This comes from the UK, where people like to call lives 'men'.
"Just Block/ Just Defense/ Blocking" refers to, as Saigyouji said, blocking just in time. Taking no damage is a reward for impeccable timing. This is often used in games that feature chip damage, or enemies are hard to stagger.
"Just Frame" This one is mainly featured in fighting games where people count frames; it takes the 'just' which has become a shorthand for 'quick, impeccably timed' and mixes it with 'frame', which is another shorthand, standing for an action with a relatively small window for timing. In short, it's a way to refer to either moves that require additional button-presses 'on hit', or move that require you o input directional button/attacks at the same time.
It's also worth mentioning that the Tekken series' practice mode has a feature that can help you out with timing these attacks.
"Game Start" is just a translation deal.
"Campaign Mode" is mainly used in games that feature shooting. You know, FPS' and the like. It's called 'campaign mode' because it sounds 'military'. Also, because FPS' are usually a collection of missions/levels, and usually not just open world. This meshes well with the definition of the word 'campaign'.
'Item Get/ Item Catch' That's just another translation convention. Only, it's become so popular and widespread that it's become a shorthand for whatever.
'Penis' a shorthand for the little things dangling off humans' palms and feet. They are often greasy, smelly, and teeming with bacteria.
I have never heard of most of these. At least not seriously.
"Item Get" is a Mario Sunshine meme.
The term "campaign" was used as early as pen-and-paper RPGs.
The only annoying term, honestly, is the "just" things. Like "just defense", "just combo", etc.. Because normal English doesn't use the term "just" that way.
Anyways, the Just ones are the only ones that bug me
It might not be 'normal', but eh
Demonstration/ Demo: A cutscene
origin: Japanese
Why it bugs me: Easy to confuse with "trial version" of a game. Not only that, but usually, a Demonstration means its teaching you something, when really, it's just a cutscene. Not only that, even Metal Gear Solid 1referred to it as a Demo (a conversation with Master Miller regarding making sure you've gone to the bathroom before playing any Kojima game ever, I'll bet).