RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Over a decade ago, Konami introduced a new look to the Castlevania series.  Gone was the notion of lives and linear stages, and in their place was a giant castle to explore, twice in fact.  The game was widely acclaimed, and soon others like it began to appear on Nintendo’s handheld systems.  Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is third game to appear on the DS and the seventh game in the genre, and with some interesting departures, it is the best so far. (more…)

CD Projekt has announced that The Witcher has passed the million sold milestone.

Source: IGN

Thanks to a patch that is awaiting certification, Fable II will have online co-op when it launches.

Shining Force II is now available for download for the Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points. This TRPG was originally released for the Sega Genesis way back in October of 1994 and has since become quite rare.

Natsume is targeting the niche squirrel-plush-loving demographic by offering one as the pre-order bonus for those ordering Rune Factory 2 from Amazon.com.  The game is currently listed for $27.99 and ships out November 18. Click the link to see it in all its huggable glory. (more…)

These days, remakes are all the rage, and many of them are finding their way onto Nintendo’s dual-screened portable juggernaut.  These transitions typically mean new features as well as the expected boosts in graphics and sound, but they also mean comparisons to games that have been released years and sometimes even a decade after the initial release of the source material.  In this light, remakes are unique in that they must compete with games of the past, present, and future in a modern day setting, yet Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen for the DS manages to hold its own. (more…)

The good news is Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest IX will begin flying off Japanese shelves in March. The bad news is gamers hoping to get their hands on it at TGS will be disappointed.  It will not be playable at the show.

Nintendo held a press conference today and announced some pretty big news.  For starters, the newest iteration of the DS has been revealed.  It’s slightly thinner and features a camera, a 17% bigger screen, and an SD card slot.  These improvements do not come without a cost; it will not have a GBA slot.  Japan gets it Nov 1 of this year, and we here in the Americas will be waiting until sometime “late next year.”  (more…)

D3 Publishing announced that Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords will be hitting the iTunes App Store this fall.  With the addition of the iPhone and iPod Touch, the game will now be on pretty much every device possible up to and including toaster ovens.  If you’ve been meaning to get the game but have yet to commit, there will soon be few excuses.

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is now available for download from the on the PSP section of the PlayStation Store. It’s 14.99 and takes 65MB.

Sega has revealed a few more details for its upcoming DS game 7th Dragon, which is due out in Japan next spring.  It will be a traditional RPG and feature four-member parties that can be filled by characters in one of seven classes: Rogue, Mage, Fighter, Princess, Knight, Samurai, and Healer.  Each class will have four different appearances and three skill trees. If this sounds similar to Etrian Odyssey, it’s probably because Kazuya Niinou produced both games.  (more…)

For fans of mecha anime, there are few series that lend themselves better to an RPG than Zoids. With such a broad assortment of Zoid frames and equipment, it seems a natural choice for a TRPG. With Zoids Assault, the net result is a mixed bag that does some things extremely well, and some things not as well as a fan might hope. (more…)

Stories of a North American release of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the PlayStation 2 have been floating around the web, but they were confirmed today via a press release. Originally packaged as one of the bonuses in the Japanese Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, the remake features full 3D and voice acting. The game fits between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, and it shows the beginning of Sora’s dealings with the shadowy Organization XIII. This version will also feature four mini-games not present in the original GBA game. No date has been set, but the price will be $29.99 when it eventually ships.

Xseed Games revealed via an interview that it will be co-publishing three more as-of-yet unannounced games in its partnership with Marvelous Entertainment USA.  The first one is Muramasa: The Demon Blade from Vanillaware for the Wii. The other two games will be announced at the Tokyo Game Show next month.  So far, only the only thing known about them is that one will be for the DS and the other will be a Wii game.

RPGO

Nearly five years ago, gamers first got a crack at Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, a quirky TRPG set in the Netherworld. This game mixed a unique blend of humor with tactical combat and defied many of the common conventions of RPGs and of games in general. There really isn’t anything quite like a Disgaea game, and now the series makes its debut on the PlayStation 3 with Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice and improves on the formula in nearly every way. (more…)

We had a chance to sit in with a conference call with  Glenn Stotz, product specialist at TOMY, and  Nobby Matsuo, producer at TOMY, to chat about D3 Publisher’s upcoming Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 for the DS.
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A while back, news surfaced that the Australian version of Fallout 3 would have a few minor edits. Bethesda has just announced that the changes are now universal. All versions of the game will have the references to real-world drugs removed. No more special treatments for Aussies. Isn’t it enough that they get all the world’s kangaroos?

Source: Kotaku

With Disgaea 3 on shelves, we thought we’d drop in and chat with the fine folks behind the game. We were fortunate enough to have some of our questions answered by Jack Niida, Marketing Manager for NISA; Souhei Niikawa, Producer and writer for the Disgaea series; and Steve Carlton, Disgaea series editor with some extra input from the Disgaea 3 dev team. (more…)

Not content to merely lower the price of the Xbox 360 to as little as $199.99, with the fall comes a special discount on Xbox Live Marketplace downloadable content. Until the end of October, several RPGs will see reduced prices for extras.

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With Fallout 3 looming on the horizon, some small details have been circulating about what the 360 version will have that the PS3 will lack. (more…)