In Final Fantasy VII Remake’s first chapter, a black feather drifts through the air and lands on the floor. This is a beautiful way to foreshadow the appearance of the final boss: Sephiroth, a war hero with a single black wing. Unfortunately, the rest of the game’s hints aren’t so subtle.

Sephiroth frequently appears before the final clash, blunting his mysterious aura and tarnishing his shock value. This is not a suggestion that FF7 Remake is a bad game. In fact, it’s my favorite game right now. …

How do video games keep their towns from getting repetitive? The same formula always plays out: arrive, side quests, boss battle, leave.

To keep things from getting boring, some make dramatic location changes. For example, a switch from a sandy sea side to a green valley. Others alter the nature of side quests — You could go from protecting families from monsters to getting swindled by crafty gamblers.

Final Fantasy VII Remake takes inspiration from the above, but it also does something more satisfying. The towns aren’t just stages for the plot to move forward or filler before the next boss fight. Each of the environments intentionally makes the player feel something. Not basic emotions like “fear” in a horror game’s spooky abandoned house. …

I recall one particular scene in Fable II: A woman’s child is taken by Balverines, and the hero chases after them.

The atmosphere is perfect: dark woods, tense music, wolf monsters lying in ambush. And then you hear a high-pitched Scottish accent:

“Hey! You’re that mighty adventurer, aren’t you? Well, I’ve got a quest for you: Kiss my stony arse!”

Dig spots, dive spots, chests, silver keys, silver chests, Demon Doors, gargoyles, gnomes… the Fable series has a lot of treasure. Normally, hidden items encourage exploration, but let’s examine their effect in the Fable video games.

The gargoyles in Fable II ruined the above chase scene and an abundance of others. The concept is that fifty gargoyle statues have somehow gotten scattered around the world, and until they’re destroyed, they’ll verbally mock nearby players. The more gargoyles you crush, the more loot you get. …

Not long ago, I was critiquing a short story and came across a passage like this:

The gravel parking lot had six spaces. Two were filled by Ford F-150 pickup trucks, and the rest were empty. There was a convenience store on the west side of the lot with printer-paper signs in the window. The signs were written in black marker and read, “50% off your second $2.99 donut,” “$0.99 black coffee,” and “Bathroom for customers.” Detective Walker gazed into the twenty-three pine trees clumped together at the north edge of the parking lot that formed the entrance to the forest. Cicadas hummed, and there was no sign of human activity around him. The victim had entered the woods from this position last Tuesday at approximately 8:30 pm. …

The lessons here are generalized from an eight year career in competitive Model UN. You won’t have to know anything about MUN beyond the fact that it involves making friends as fast as humanly possible in a room of one hundred strangers.

Let’s define networking as “making meaningful connections with other people.” We’ll discuss three types: one-on-one, groups, and crowds. Unfortunately, TCP/IP is not covered.

One-On-One

Commonalities

Everyone knows that having commonalities with the person you’re speaking to is helpful for making friends. Before we get to the lesser-known material, I’ll add one piece of advice regarding commonalities: don’t force them.

For example, if someone…

I hesitate to write this.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the funniest book I’ve ever read. I remember laughing aloud during silent reading period in middle school. I don’t recall if only my classmates glared at me or if the teacher also told me to shut up.

My concern is that reverse engineering Adams’s humor will ruin it. As explained by E. B. White, “Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.”

Nonetheless, having just read HGG a fourth time, I’ve identified the categories of humor Adams employs. These techniques can all be found in the first three chapters, but I draw quotes from other areas as well. …

I have twice represented the DPRK in Model UN conferences. I don’t know how this reflects on my personality, but I won awards both times.

Having graduated the circuit, I leave behind this guide for all who dare walk the same path.

Attacks

Here are phrases for use on your opponents, inspired by actual North Korean communications. The list is arranged in ascending order of spiciness.

• “Dotard.”
• “Cesspool of evils.”
• “Illegal counter-revolutionaries”
• “Their incessant and foolish conduct.”
• “They live in tents and make coffee from the snow.”
• “Reckless military confrontation racket of the Yankees.”
• “We will not hesitate to slap them.”
• “We will turn their territory into a sea of fire.” …

Rhetorical devices are public speaking techniques that have historically made speeches more compelling. By “historically,” I mean:

Still used today, we’ll examine three simple rhetorical devices to advance your public speaking: anaphora, antithesis, and concessio.

Anaphora

To quote Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs, Anaphora is: “A figure that repeats the first word in succeeding phrases or clauses (Heinrichs 385).”

Here are some examples:

“…we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. …