RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

We recently sat down with Graham Markay, Vice President of Operations at Natsume and all around awesome guy about the upcoming PSP TRPG Adventures to Go. We had plenty of questions, and he had answers for all of them. Check it out after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Adventures to Go Interview’ »

Think that you will lose your saved data once you download the new patch Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice? Think again.

Even though previously NIS America released a statement saying that “your saved data will not be usable with this Trophy patch.” It turns out that everything seems to work fine after all.

So game on my fellow comrades!

Source: Siliconera

Famitsu recently revealed that a sequel to Valkyria Chronicles is in the works. Unlike its predecessor, which was for the PS3, Valkyria Chronicles 2: The Gallia Royal Military Academy will be for the PSP.

Set two years after the events of the first game, Valkyria Chronicles 2 follows the story of military cadets dispatched to suppress an insurrection in the southern part of the country. And you thought your final exams were rough! A release date hasn’t been announced, but the game will be out in Japan sometime this winter.

Sources: Famitsu, Kotaku

Atlus recently put up a strange teaser site with a standard-issue announcement-of-an-announcement and a scrambled image. Nosy little investigative reporters have delved into the site’s source code and discovered the text “Shin Megami Tensei: STRANGE JOURNEY 10.08.” Atlus will clarify this on July 24 when they officially announce what the game is.

Until then, you can pass the time by interacting with the scrambled image. You can click on each square and drag it to the side to reveal the picture beneath.

But if you don’t have time to fritter away with the site, you can simply click on the cut to find out what it is.

Continue reading ‘Atlus Posts Teaser Site, Announcement-of-an-announcement’ »

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy is due for an August 25 launch this year on Playstation 2, according to NIS America’s PR and Marketing Coordinator, Nao Zook. Fall of Alchemy takes place fifteen years following the original Mana Khemia, in a world where mana is on the decline and the prestigious Al-Revis Academy is forced to broaden its curriculum to balance the books. Players may choose one of two characters to follow: Raze, the orphaned combat student-slash-manaphobe; and Ulrika, the cheerful alchemist with a pet flying… furry thing.

Regardless of choice, the two characters will interact with the same cast and each other throughout the game. Additionally, items earned in one playthrough may be carried over to the next, even across characters. Fall of Alchemy will also come in a deluxe flavor, which includes a soundtrack and dual print poster.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord is slated for release in PAL countries this Friday, giving Europeans plenty of time to come up with a shorthand title before Americans. My Life as a Darklord follows the daughter of said Darklord as she builds her lair up to keep out nosy adventurers. Square Enix has also mentioned upcoming downloadable content, although no mention has been made of the potent “Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies” ability that every self-respecting dungeon master should have.

Source: Siliconera

The PS3 release of Tales of Vesperia now has a demo available on the Japanese Playstation store. A key difference from the 360 demo is a playable new character: Patty Fleur, a little pirate girl and/or HMS Pinafore extra. As she is not technically a ‘man’ of the sea, there will be no multiple camera angles accompanied by dramatic gong clashes.

Source: Siliconera

It should shock absolutely no one that the recently released Dragon Quest IX sold more than a few copies.  In fact, it sold 2,139,000 copies in its opening week, a fact bolstered by a few factors.  Primarily, it’s Dragon Quest.  Also, it’s on the DS, which has the largest installed user base of any current piece of hardware, and last but not least, it also garnered a perfect score from Famitsu, surpassing the 39 Dragon Quest VIII earned in its day.

Continue reading ‘Dragon Quest IX Sells Like Hotcakes, Earns Perfect Score, Plus Details’ »

Lots of people and companies are on Twitter these days, including Bioware, which recently revealed the contents of the upcoming Collector’s Edition of Dragon Age: Origins via a link to GameStop on its Twitter feed.

Continue reading ‘Bioware Sweetens the Deal with Dragon Age: Origins Collector’s Edition’ »

In a press release posted on its forums, Riot Games has announced that its upcoming multiplayer session-based online game League of Legends: Clash of Fates will be free-to-play. Advancing in the game is free too; players can earn points to spend on special bonuses for their characters through hard work and dedication in sessions. For those who truly want to spend real money on virtual items, the game has optional microtransactions for certain content enhancements.

Riot Games has also announced the League of Legends Collector’s Pack, which will retail for $29.99. It includes extra goodies like unique Champion skins, free character power-ups, and some free points for microtransactions. If you pre-order with the game’s official site, GameStop, or Best Buy, you’ll receive an additional Champion skin.

The company has also invited everyone who’s interested in League of Legends to join a live chat on their website on Friday, July 17 from 2-4PM PDT.

The Fallout 3 DLC screens for PS3 do nothing to make up for the fact that the content does not come out until September. Period.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 07/15/09’ »

Final Fantasy is the biggest-selling RPG franchise so it’s a foregone conclusion that when it branched out into other mediums it would be a huge success, right? Well I think we all remember one of its first attempts, the computer animated movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in 2001. It bombed at the box office, leaving Square (at the time) with a net loss of some 94 million dollars. Yeah… oops. It wasn’t that it was a terrible movie. I wouldn’t say that it was great either, but it wasn’t horrible; however Square failed spectacularly in two ways: a) they didn’t realize the limited appeal of the movie to the general population, and b) they made the movie different enough from the Final Fantasy games that it also had limited appeal to the core audience of the games. It might be fair to say that it tried to be all things to all people and in doing so managed to satisfy none. But what Square failed to do with The Sprits Within, .hack would manage one year later and thus become king of financially viable tie-ins.

Continue reading ‘Game Changers: Volume 15 – .hack’ »

Citizens of Earth, Bethesda has announced that the final Fallout 3 DLC pack, Mothership Zeta, is on its way to the Xbox 360 and PC.

In Mothership Zeta, an alien ship visits the Capital Wasteland and beams the player’s character on board. The objective is to explore the ship, test out strange alien technology, and team up with people from Earth’s past and present to welcome the space-faring visitors in true Fallout 3 style. The DLC will introduce new gear, such as the Alien Atomizer, the Drone Cannon, and the Gemini-Era spacesuit.

Mothership Zeta will land on the Xbox 360 and PC on August 3, and the experience of an alien abduction can be yours for only 800 points.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is a game whose ambitious concept tends to be dragged down by a bit of leaden reality. The game presents a highly unique storytelling method, full of branching sub-plots highly responsive to the choices players make, but it can become rather fractured by the time limit imposed on players. The combat system provides a wealth of options, letting players tweak each member’s moveset with a surprising level of control, but the focus on raw levels and the speed by which new demons become old makes it exceptionally difficult to have a consistent strategy. Overall, Devil Survivor is a solid game and a very engaging story, and although it has more than its share of issues, the sense of pressure and the degree to which a player can manipulate the story make Devil Survivor a surprisingly satisfying experience.

Continue reading ‘Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor – Staff Review’ »

Fallout 3‘s downloadable content had been scheduled for a release on the PS3 back in June, starting with the Operation: Anchorage pack. While Bethesda has given neither an explanation nor a revised release date, spokesman Pete Hines says via G4 that an update on that topic is to be expected “next week.” Whether this will mean the content itself, information about the content, or information about the information, is anyone’s guess.

Suggestions that Bethesda rename Operation: Anchorage to Operation: Rod Torfelson’s Anchorage Featuring Herman Menderchuck have been met with no reply.

Source: G4

The upcoming PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia is heating up like a sidewalk in the summer sun. The Japanese demo for the game will hit the PlayStation Store on July 13. It has also been announced that the full version of the game will include swimwear for the game’s characters.

Sources: Kotaku, Dengeki

Realizing that some of its fans may still have a spare hour or two that hasn’t gone towards Morrowind or Oblivion, Bethesda have re-released The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall from their website for free. Hardware requirements include 148mb of space, a DOS emulator (link available via Bethesda), and a computer with slightly more processing power than a cell phone.

Reports of players having to pay with their blood have been greatly exaggerated, says Bethesda, although they did mention seeing a mudcrab the other day.

A little over a week ago Square Enix announced Final Fantasy Gaiden: Four Warriors of Light, a brand new Final Fantasy game for the NDS.  Now they have decided to shine those warriors’ light on a few details for the game.

Firstly, the development team for the NDS versions of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV is the one to get the nod to work on the game.  Accordingly, the battle system for Final Fantasy Gaiden may look familiar to some, as it will be very similar to the one used for Final Fantasy III for the NDS, with players choosing commands from a grid on the bottom screen with their touch-pens.  Another familiar feature will be the “crown system,” a modified version of the job system common to the Final Fantasy series.

On 7/21, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years will set up shop on WiiWare in Japan.  According to Square Enix, the plan is to have the whole “main story” go up at once, followed thereafter by several chapters of downloadable content at a rate of one chapter per week.  So far there are 8 chapters of DLC set to be released, each one named after a character who will figure prominently in the chapter’s story; Rydia’s Chapter, Yang’s Chapter, Palom’s Chapter, Edge’s Chapter, Porom’s Chapter, Gilbert’s Chapter, the People of the Moon Chapter and finally the True Moon Chapter.

In Pokemon games, there are a few things you can always count on. There will always be eight Gyms, there will always be five trainers to face in the Elite Four, and the first two Pokemon you catch will always be a Normal/Flying bird, and a Normal-type beast. In most cases, these early Pokemon captures can safely be ignored – after all, in three generations, none of the very early Pokemon had ever been worth a second look. And if you only look at Bibarel’s stats, he would seem to continue this trend. However, by abusing Bibarel’s amazing abilities, the goofy looking beaver can actually be very useful, and surprisingly threatening for a creature who was clearly in another county while brains were being handed out.

Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon IX’ »