Dice Temple: Nerdrealm Review - Faster Than Light

Ever since I was young I’ve been what most would consider a nerd. Playing Magic into twilight hours at sleepovers, setting my alarm early enough to get in a Diablo II fix before school, and most of all spending ten years of my youth bent over a gameboy color, then a gameboy advance, then an SP, and a DS, and a DS lite…this has all been an overwhelming part of my life. But even as I steep myself in thousands of hours of gaming memory and nostalgia, I have a hard time identifying as a gamer.

I was never allowed a console as a child, or a teenager for that matter. Even to this day I only own a PS2 I picked up a couple summers ago used and abused. My computer access was highly restricted (at least in theory, luckily my frustrated parents couldn’t watch me every second of the day). And as a result of these facts my gaming experience has always been stunted a bit. Sure, I grew up playing Golden Eye, some Ocarina of Time, Bomberman, Mario, and so many other classic titles that define gaming for my generation. But always in stolen desperate moments while visiting friends, or during Christmas with my older cousins.

Now I don’t mean to sound overly disappointed with all of this. Even now, reading over this introduction, I wonder if this compartmentalism I am attempting is absurd, and if anyone at all will find this subject the slightest bit intriguing in any way, but I do have a point; And that point is that I don’t experience video games in the way gamers do. Real gamers. The guys that drool over Dark Souls for its difficulty, laugh hysterically at esoteric game references, and were grinding every night for months on some unheard of Japanese MMORPG while I was busy trying to evolve my Squirtle.

And this is why Faster Than Light intrigues me.

Every one of my friends that has raved about Faster Than Light is someone who fits the above description. It was introduced to me as a game that will almost never be beaten even with 100% player accuracy. Its just that hard. And frankly I’ve never really played a game where the object wasn’t to win, but just simply to play. And it turns out this concept makes for a damn fun game. 

In FTL you control a small crew aboard a space ship. This ship and its crew is loyal to the reigning federation in the region which is now threatened by a strong rebel uprising. Your particular ship has information vital to putting down the rebellion and must survive a long journey with rebels in hot pursuit to deliver this information. You will fight pirates, trade with merchants, upgrade your ship and crew, and make your way past suns, nebulae, asteroid belts, and countless other obstacles, until either your crew is dead, your ship is vaporized, or your crew dies while your ship is vaporized. And this is how most run-throughs of this game will proceed.

You’ll upgrade your vessel, strengthening its shields, powering its engines, upgrading its missiles. And through your journey you will become sure that this is the time. FTL has finally met its match. You’re going all the way today. But your wrong. And soon you find yourself obliterated in moments. Left to float in pieces throughout the universe for all of eternity.

And what’s strange is that this is in some ways almost as rewarding as beating the game. Because you managed to creep that much closer to victory. And when you finally grasp that victory, and wring it into submission, stomp it into the ground, and leave its crew floating in that silent, beautiful vacuum, it will feel all the better.

Maybe what I am describing here is well known to seasoned gamers. Those mystical folk who decry the cinematic, effortless trajectory mainstream games have taken. But regardless, this is new to me. And whether or not its new to you, you should check out this game. Either way its a winner…well, you know what I mean.

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Thanks for reading Dice Temple! More reviews at dicetemple.tumblr.com. Questions, concerns, comments, and possible board game review inquiries (much appreciated!) can be sent to maloney_andrew_t(at)yahoo.com