Lilura1

This is an index to my cRPG retrospectives that are currently published on Medium.

cRPG Retrospectives

cRPG Design

cRPG Rules

As stated in my Medium introduction, my cRPG retrospectives are not based on maiden runs, and I don’t appraise games through a lens of current gen fads, trends and “sensibilities”. Instead, I treat my subject matter with respect, speak the language of the games I cover, and employ historical context as assessment criteria. I am able to do that because I was there, and I played the games when they came out.

A retrospective is a “looking back at something”. We are not looking back at something if we weren’t there in the first place. And we are not looking back at something if we’re basing our retrospective on current mods and remakes. That’s called an ad for something new, and a distortion.

Much of what I say in retrospectives is backed up by thoroughgoing technical write-ups that are well-known, and oft-cited by the communities relevant to my content. That these are self-cited in the retrospectives (where applicable) allows the reader to access in-depth info, if they need or want it. That I don’t need to cite externally also gives me a degree of credibility; it could be one reason why some of my write-ups are first-ranked in SERPS. I don’t need to conduct research outside of playing the game and extracting its data-files, unlike charlatans and dilletantes.

Sometimes my tone is critical, other times I employ a high-energy salespitch-like tone if I think the game isn’t getting enough recognition. For the most part, though, my retrospectives are formal and structured, with no current gen admixture, ads or donate-begging in sight. First and foremost, I write for myself and gamers of my era. We are not discovering the games for the first time but rather remembering them and expressing our fondness, erudition and mastery of them. If the infusion of pro-tips leads to newbies “getting good”, then that’s great. But it’s not the reason they were added.

Thank you for reading, commenting and following, and have a lovely day.