By RPS on December 29th, 2012 at 1:00 pm.
Diaries are our most requested feature, and by far the hardest to write. Not because the words are a struggle to find, but because it has to be the right game and the right person clicking at the right time. You can’t force them, they have to just happen. A game has to provide the longevity to let such accounts be relevant, and the writer has to feel the need to tell the story. But when all these stars align, the results are some of the most popular and entertaining content RPS produces. The best of 2012′s diaries are below.
Knowing almost nothing about the mystical sport of foot-to-ball, Alec set out to conquer the arcane spreadsheets of Football Manager 2012. Taking on Worcester City Football Club, Ian Football seeks to become the greatest at football managering the world has ever seen.
The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Samurai
With the release of Shogun 2 expansion Fall Of The Samurai, Dan Gril set out to restore a traditional Japan in the face of encroaching modernisation. This is well worth a read for a compelling history lesson as much as a gaming diary.
John’s dad is the reason John is a games journalist. Having invested in computers since they were a thing that could fit in a home, it meant John and Hugh spent two decades exploring the dungeons of gaming’s history, from text-only catacombs to the arrival of 3D corridors, the pair took on all underground threats. So when Dungeon Master/Eye Of The Beholder-alike Legend Of Grimrock came along, it only made sense to ask adventure-dentist Hugh Walker to return to the subterranean tunnels once more.
RPS’s main diarist, Alec, spied another place to tell a tale – spaceshipping sim FTL. With its roguelike ways, it makes for ideal diary fodder. It also makes for a chance for Alec to name a crew after cats he’s known, and then see which ones of them die. However, not choosing to name any of them Dexter, he sealed his certain fate.
Of course the final diary of 2012 had to be XCOM. And it could only be Alec at the pen. Naming his crew after RPS writers, it can only have been with suicidal intent that he made John the team’s main healer. Guess who dies first.
29/12/2012 at 13:19 mpk says:
Link to Dan’s diary disnae work.
29/12/2012 at 13:20 Stellar Duck says:
While not technically written by the Hivemind, I think A Dad in a Dungeon is perhaps the best you chaps have given me all year. Thank you for that (and Ian Football!)
29/12/2012 at 14:23 Dozer says:
I love the diaries. They are probably the RPS articles I enjoy the most, alongside John’s articles on social injustice related to gaming (not sure if ‘enjoy’ is the right word, ‘value’ or ‘find nourishing’ perhaps is better).
30/12/2012 at 10:41 Hikkikomori says:
Well put sir, I’ll second that.
29/12/2012 at 14:39 PopeRatzo says:
Dad in Dungeon rang the bell for me this year.
I think it was the reason I signed up to post a comment.
29/12/2012 at 14:39 Requize says:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/03/fall-of-the-samurai-diary for the shogun diary.
29/12/2012 at 15:07 McDan says:
A good year for diaries, XCOM, being one of the finest for many years. Though you know we’re all waiting for the rest of that AI war diary RPS.
30/12/2012 at 00:14 gnodab says:
A thousand times this!!!!
Sadly, nowadays we have no Kieron, no Quintin and no iron….
Well, at least we get the Electronic Wireless Show more regularly. Oh, I forgot. No we don’t.
Enough complaining for now though. RPS is still the best thing since the internet! And it was a very good year.
29/12/2012 at 16:09 woodsey says:
Jim’s accounts of an early DayZ led to it spreading from me to friends, IRL and on Steam alike. My game of the year.
29/12/2012 at 16:17 lowprices says:
These diaries usually wind up with my buying the game and Grimrock and FTL are no different. Keep it up.
29/12/2012 at 17:01 sinister agent says:
Diaries are so hard to maintain interest/interestingness in. You really can’t force it frowningsadface.
I would prefer that RPS err on the side of starting them and letting them peter out, rather than never starting them, though.
30/12/2012 at 13:10 Moth Bones says:
As with Ian Football? I assumed that he had been rendered unconscious by a mountain of paperwork and then the ground had been repossessed and locked up, leaving him to slowly rot in his office.
29/12/2012 at 20:51 Ryan Huggins says:
Considering I just started coming to RPS, I’ve not seen a single one of these posts. Haha.
30/12/2012 at 15:51 YogSo says:
Oh boy, do I have good news for you!
* Solium Infernum: The Complete Battle for Hell <— COMPULSORY READING.
* Neptune’s Pride: The Complete Epic <— A very close second.
30/12/2012 at 15:52 YogSo says:
* Not exactly a diary, but very worth reading: Butchering Pathologic.
* And another one of Quinns’ masterpieces: Planetside: The 1%.
30/12/2012 at 15:54 YogSo says:
Still more:
* A Farewell To Eve: The Complete 5 Year Spree.
* The Complete Fool In Morrowind.
30/12/2012 at 15:56 YogSo says:
* One of Adam’s finest series: With Fire & Sword – Captain Smith.
* Bored of reading about Minecraft? Not anymore: Minecraft: Mine The Gap.
30/12/2012 at 15:57 YogSo says:
* John’s The ‘Complete’ A Smurf In Terraria.
* The Complete Risen Report.
30/12/2012 at 15:58 YogSo says:
And lastly, unfinished, but unforgotten:
* Dwarf Fortress: The Song of Onionbog.
And:
* Officially Unintelligent: AI War Versus RPS Part 1.
02/01/2013 at 08:27 Shazbut says:
Bloody hell. Thanks
02/01/2013 at 12:50 Durkonkell says:
Thank you for this. I’ve seen these all before, but I’ve enjoyed reading them again while the RPSers are on holiday.
Where does a games journalism hivemind go on holiday, anyway? Space is my guess.
30/12/2012 at 10:20 MikoSquiz says:
“The Best of RPS: Diaries” indeed. I keep trying to find the submenu that lets you adjust the resource sliders so I can min-max everything to “100% diaries”.
30/12/2012 at 20:05 pertusaria says:
I love the diaries (Dad in a Dungeon was the best this year, but I also liked Reginald Samurai and Ian Football), but I would also love to see some more Idle Musing posts, or ones in a similar vein. Thanks for all the great posts on the site!
30/12/2012 at 23:22 jimangi says:
What about Day Z and the short-lived but very entertaining Crusader Kings diary?
07/01/2013 at 03:47 annjanet254 says:
If you think Barbara`s story is unimaginable…, 1 week ago my sis basically made the small fortune of $6706 workin a fourty hour month from there apartment and their classmate’s half-sister`s neighbour did this for 9-months and brought home more than $6706 parttime on there mac. the guide at this site… http://www.bit90.com