RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Amidst the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo, BioWare unveiled a few more choice bits regarding Dragon Age 3: Inquisition. Particularly, the game has had a longer pre-production cycle than either Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, or Dragon Age: 2. One level in the game is supposedly as big as all of Dragon Age 2‘s levels, though it’s unclear what form of ‘big’ they meant.

In more specific news, party equipment customization is coming back, with armor tailored to whoever is wearing it. The main character is human again, but the origin stories of the first game will also be incorporated; not playable, but with a presumably similar impact on the overall game. Past choices may not involve save game imports, though details were not given on this. Regarding followers from previous games, the answer was “You may see what happened to some.”

Dragon Age 3: Inquisition has a release window of late autumn 2013.

Source: Eurogamer

Epic Games’ Infinity Blade Dungeons will not be released until next year. Part of the reason, according to the company, was due to the logistics of setting up the in-house studio behind the iOS dungeon crawler. Epic recruited many former Big Huge Games staff in the wake of Kindgoms of Amalur: Reckoning and the 38 Studios fallout, reforming them under the label Impossible Games.

Source: Eurogamer

Square Enix has signed a licensing agreement with Epic Games, who will allow the Final Fantasy developer to use Unreal Engine 3 and 4 for multiple games. It is not yet known which games, though Epic’s Japanese studio is reportedly working with Square Enix directly.

Source: Gematsu

Via Famitsu, RPG developer Experience has announced a dungeon crawler for the PS Vita. Titled Demon Gaze, the game is planned to launch in January 2013.

Source: Gematsu

With Bravely Default: Flying Fairy released just weeks ago in Japan, Square Enix revealed a free to play follow-up for the PC. Titled Bravely Default: Praying Brage, this sequel of a sort takes place 200 years after the 3DS game. Little is known at this time, though an open beta test will begin on November 1.

Source: Gematsu

Nippon Ichi has lifted the veil the next entry in the Disgaea series. Previously known as Project: D, the now-titled Disgaea D2 will bring Laharl back to center stage, alongside fellow series icons like Etna and Flonne.

D2 will hit the Playstation 3 in Japan on March 20, 2013. Standard pricing is 7140 yen, with limited editions throwing in an art book, Etna and Flonne figures, and the original soundtrack for 11,340 yen.

Source: Gematsu

With Project Eternity fully funded and production officially underway, Obsidian released the grand total for donations: $3,986,929 through Kickstarter itself, plus another $176,279 through Paypal. This puts funding above the game’s $4 million stretch goal and, more notably, makes it the highest amount yet for a videogame (Double Fine Adventure clocked in over $3.3 million and Wasteland 2 hit $2.9 million, both not counting Paypal). Said stretch goal for Project Eternity was broadly defined as “enhance the whole game,” with previous goals including extra cities, a deeper bonus dungeon, more classes, and so on, as for the online games to make bets and money online, there are sites specialized in this which you can find listed here.

Also per the terms of the $4 million mark, Chris Avellone will force himself to play Arcanum and stream the results. I humbly suggest getting all the popcorn and alcohol you can legally acquire.

Source: Eurogamer

Via BioWare’s official blog, the oft-hinted Omega DLC for Mass Effect 3 has finally been confirmed. As was expected, the content will involve Aria T’Loak and her attempt to reclaim Omega, which was seized off-camera by Cerberus during the game.

Enforce Omega’s One Rule starting November 27 for all platforms (28 for PS3 in Europe). The original post can be read here.

Final Fantasy XIV producer/savior Naoki Yoshida revealed that the alpha test for A Realm Reborn will take place in October, with an exact date to be revealed later. The current FFXIV will remain available at this time, however no character data after November 11 will be converted to the new version.

Source: Joystiq

XSEED Games has announced that Shinichi Suzuki is now President and CEO of the company, having stepped down from that same role at Atlus North America back in August. In a press release, Suzuki said that “This is an exciting time for the industry and our company, and I look forward to navigating a course of success through the exciting changes in store as we advance XSEED’s publishing efforts by bringing even more highly anticipated titles to market across multiple platforms.”

Source: Joystiq

In a recent Kotaku interview, Square Enix responded to criticism of their mobile games prices, which are markedly higher than most other titles on the platform. “Each game is priced individually and evaluated based on the type of game, depth and overall experience,” a spokesperson replied, suggesting the content – which is also substantially larger – justifies the price. They also noted that the iOS versions are still cheaper than those on the original console or handheld.

Aware that this still leaves them the odd man out, Square Enix acknowledged that the North American market is “accustomed to lower priced or free-to-play games.” They cite their attempt at F2P pricing with Guardian Cross and are pleased with the response to the title so far. “Moving forward, we’re looking forward to the challenge of utilizing our strengths in creativity, world-building, and gameplay mechanics and matching those with a pricing model that are consistent with the market and provides players with a sense of overall value.”

Source: Eurogamer

Sega announced this week that Phantasy Star Online 2 has crossed the one million player threshold in Japan. In celebration, Sega will be awarding special prizes to 100 random players who log in between October 17 and November 7, ranging from tickets to the series’ 25th Anniversary Concert, music CDs from same, signed posters, t-shirts, and so on. Two players will additionally score a customized Alienware M14x laptop.

Source: Joystiq

BioWare has revealed plans to update Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer, namely adding a challenge system: a series of MP-centric achievements, with players scored through the clearance thereof. An upcoming N7 HQ website will track progression through these challenges, with gold-level challenges granting exclusive titles and banners. Additionally, the weekly Operation events will be replaced by weekly Challenges, with prizes granted immediately on an individual basis rather than globally on a set delay.

Source: Joystiq

With the Project Eternity Kickstarter four days from completion – $2.7 million and climbing – Obsidian announced a tie-in with inXile and Wasteland 2, which Obsidian is helping to develop. At the $165 pledge tier, Project Eternity will include a digital copy of Wasteland 2 among the other rewards.

Source: Eurogamer

Level-5 will be adding a handful of minigames from the Guild01 collection as standalone apps for the 3DS in Europe. Among these are Suda51’s Liberation Maiden (available now), Yoot Saito’s Aero Porter (November), and Yasumi Matsuno’s Crimson Shroud (December).

North America will see the same apps, though the timeframe is less clear. NoA confirmed only that all three would be out by the end of 2012.

Source: Joystiq

Skyrim‘s build-a-home DLC, Hearthfire, has been released for the PC. As this re-raised the question of when PS3 owners will have the same access, Bethesda VP of sales/marketing Pete Hines could only comment that no new information is available. “We’re still on it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Will share update when I have one.”

Source: Joystiq

Still hot out of the oven, World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, didn’t quite meet the sales bar set by Cataclysm. Pandaria sold about 2.7 million copies during its first week – a significant amount, to be sure – but well short of Cataclysm‘s record of 3.3 million on the first day. These sales did, however, boost the game’s player base back above 10 million for the time being.

Source: Eurogamer

The latest Mass Effect 3 expansion will bring back the Collectors, currently the only enemy race to successfully kill Commander Shepard… mostly. She got better, of course. Anyway, this multiplayer DLC, titled Retaliation adds six new maps, sixteen new characters, and the insectoid Collectors as enemies. Existing maps and forces will also see various updates, such as maps with major environmental hazards.

The content goes live on October 9.

Source: Eurogamer

Also showing up on 3DS is Paper Mario: Sticker Star, as revealed by Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata. With the game already schedule to launch in North America on November 11, it will see its European release on December 6.

Source: Eurogamer

With the partial launch of the official site, Atlus has formally announced that Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan will see North American retailers in early 2013. The full site for the 3DS dungeon crawler will go live soon, and can be located here once it does.