RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

With E3 winding down, it tends to be the tradition of gaming news outlets to look back at the show, to reflect on megaton announcements and deride the goof ups and failings. Though this year had its share of both — like many, I fear I may be seeing Mr. Caffeine in my nightmares for a long time to come — it displayed a disturbing lack of the one thing our readers had been most anticipating: Role-playing games.

Continue reading ‘Editorial – E3: Where Are the RPGs?’ »

Square-Enix announced in a press release today that a demo of Dungeon Siege 3 is currently available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows via Steam. The full version of the upcoming action RPG will be available on June 21st, 2011.

George Kamitani, director of the upcoming PS3/PSV RPG brawler Dragon’s Crown, spoke with Famitsu Magazine this week and laid bare a few new details about the game. Amongst the gameplay details and design notes comes the unexpected tidbit that Dragon’s Crown was in fact initially slated to appear on the Dreamcast, but that the developer could not find a publisher for the title.

Continue reading ‘Dragon’s Crown Details Emerge’ »

After causing some surprise by appearing in the Playstation Vita’s coming attractions reel, Vanillaware has announced a new title called Dragon’s Crown. A 2D brawler RPG for both the PSV and the Playstation 3, Dragon’s Crown supports cross-platform multiplayer for up to four people. The game’s official site opened earlier today, and there’s a fancy trailer available for viewing on YouTube.

Close on the heels of Devil Survivor Overclocked, a remake of the first Devil Survivor game for the 3DS, comes the revelation that its sequel, Devil Survivor 2, will be seeing the light of day in North America in 2012. Further details about the game’s plot and characters have also been released, as well as some info about the creative team behind the title.

Continue reading ‘Atlus Announces Devil Survivor Release Date, Details’ »

Square-Enix announced a general release date for Final Fantasy XIII-2 today, saying it will see the light of day in December 2011. This coincided with the opening of the game’s official site, which sports info on the game’s characters, music, and numerous other goodies.

Alongside this, Square-Enix also announced that the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII would see an update. This update will add the Easy Mode that the Xbox 360 version of the game received last year, and will be free of charge.

At Nintendo’s E3 conference today, Shigeru Miyamoto outlined the company’s future plans for The Legend of Zelda series. Alongside the release of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening through the 3DS e-shop, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will hit stores  worldwide next weekend. Nintendo will also be releasing a free download version of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure over DSi Ware. Finally, Mr. Miyamoto announced that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be available worldwide this holiday season, along with a golden Zelda-themed Wii Remote.

Continue reading ‘Legend of Zelda Gets a Birthday Party’ »

Speaking at Sony’s press conference, Ken Levine, creative director of Irrational Games, announced that an unnamed title in the Bioshock universe will appear on the NGP/PS Vita.  Levine indicated that this would be a new story, although little else was revealed.

During its press conference earlier today, Electronic Arts spilled the beans on Mass Effect 3‘s release date. Previously scheduled for a release during the 2011 holiday season, the final entry in the space shooter/RPG series will now see the light of day on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 6, 2012.

Lionhead Studios gave gamers a glimpse of Fable:The Journey, starting off with an impressive video showing how the new game begins. Of course, the game runs using Kinect. The controls appear smoother than some of the other games featuring motion controls, but it will be up to gamers to decide if they prefer standard or motion controls. The short demo showed off a little of the combat before ending with a release date of 2012.

At Microsoft’s press conference today, it was announced that Mass Effect 3 will have voice recognition support via Kinect. Players will be able to call out strategic moves to teammates, such as directing movement and telling them to use skills.

Mandatory viewing for all Deus Ex fans.

Howdy folks!  Getting busy around here before E3, but we still have time to wrap up the news. Let’s break it down:

• Groupon joins Zynga, PopCap, etc. in preparing to go public, despite not actually making a profit.  We should make a drinking game out of this.
• A huge preview build for Deus Ex: Human Revolution got leaked to the internet.  To everyone’s surprise, nobody minds.  File that under “did not see coming.”
• Interplay teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, as they seemingly have for years now.  But don’t worry, Fallout Online is gonna be here any day now!
• Dueling digital distribution services: Gamestop automatically charges for re-downloading “insurance,” which its competitors give away for free…
• …while EA launches its own DD network coincidentally named after one of the studios it absorbed.  Oooh, awk~waaard.
• E3 pre-conference projections: Nintendo’s new hardware, Sony’s image problem, and Microsoft’s Kinect… stuff.

In addition we have some late-breaking news that didn’t make it into the recording: NPR and NECN.com reported that not only was Nintendo hacked, but they were hacked by the same group that’s been plaguing Sony recently.  No data was stolen in the Nintendo hack, but the group, calling itself Lulz Security, has claimed responsibility for an attack on Sony Pictures that resulted in a million more users’ personal information.

From where I sit there’s actually a fairly clear line between exposing a company’s lackluster security procedures – which Sony is clearly guilty of – and releasing sensitive information for all to see.  The second Robin Hood starts shooting random people and telling them to blame the authorities for failing to protect them, he’s lost the argument.  I don’t see the Nintendo hack changing the game much, although I’d put money down that these ongoing hacks are going to draw more attention than LulzSec might like.  Much as it pains me to admit, life isn’t Shadowrun, and when the feds come knocking the game’s pretty much over.

And now, on with the actual episode.  Enjoy!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Pre-E3 Warmup With Electronic Old Men’ »

Final Fantasy is a series well known for its ports and remakes, but out of the series, one game stands above them all as one of the most frequently remade games of all time.  Final Fantasy IV has seen six iterations over the years appearing on the SNES, PlayStation, WonderSwan Color, GameBoy Advance, the Nintendo DS, and finally the PSP as Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection.  Along with an updated Final Fantasy IV, players will also get Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and a new mini-story titled Final Fantasy IV: Interlude which helps slightly to tie the two main games together.  It’s a lot of game in a very small package, so the question becomes is there still life in Final Fantasy IV?

Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection — Staff Review’ »

Evening, people! No fanfare this time around, just the media. Here’s what we have today: Atelier Meruru, Dai 2 Ji Super Robot Taisen OG, Growlanser 4: Overload, Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Nero Climax, and Tales of the Abyss 3DS.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 06/01/11’ »

With at least one MMO – actually two – already on its plate, Square Enix has revealed that a new online property is in the works. Little is known, though CEO Yoichi Wada has mentioned the company plans to run another MMO alongside Final Fantasy XIV. This title is already in development, and Wada hinted that a proper announcement will take place sometime before the end of the fiscal year.

Commenting on FFXIV, Wada says more work is needed but the company is “at the point where they can see the target.”

Source: 1UP

Namco Bandai announced this week that Tales of Xillia will see a September 8 release in Japan. Retailing separately at ¥8,379, Xillia will also be packaged in a special PS3 bundle that includes the game and a custom-colored system for ¥37,980.

Source: Andriasang

The latest trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution was released today, showing a bit more gameplay and hinting at Adam’s personal stake in the proceedings. Check the full thing out care of IGN or YouTube. And now, back to my media blackout so I can go into this game with as little hype as possible.

Square Enix has announced Heroes of Ruin for the Nintendo 3DS, a multiplayer adventure centering on four heroes – hence the first part of the title – brought together to do what RPG protagonists do best. Apart from the expected drop-in/drop-out coop play, the game will use the 3DS’ StreetPass and SpotPass functions to create an in-game trading network. This network will update based on other players passed in public, allowing players to access items in each others’ games.

Heroes of Ruin will launch sometime in early 2012, and will be playable at Square Enix’s E3 booth. For the curious, the official site is located hereabouts.

Goooooooood evening!  Hope all of you are braving the latest storm of the century, seems like we get one of those every five minutes.  And then the sun comes out at the end of it just to spite us, that’s just unfair.  But I digress.  It’s time for What Happened This Week, and all the unusual merriment the topic brings.  In tonight’s topics:

• China was revealed to have used prisoners for goldfarming in an unusual twist on forced labor.  Well, at least nobody can opt out of raid night.
• Zynga prepares for an IPO in two weeks.  Gamers and financial experts look at each other and shrug, gamers with financial knowledge (or vice versa) start panicking.
• Sony plans its bone-crushing five hour E3 event.  Someone’s compensating for something, like an unexpected loss even before the hack took place.
• On the other hand, the PS4 won’t see the Big McLargehuge development costs of the PS3.  So, hey, they learned something.  I hope.
• On BioWare looking for artists.  Yes, Dragon Age 2 dropped the ball in several areas.  Yes, Dragon Age III is still a day one pickup for me.  Yes, I am a consumer whore.
• Speaking of which, CD Projekt patches out DRM from retail copies of The Witcher 2.  Oh CDP, you had me at hello!
• President Obama gets strange (and awesome) gifts, GRIN blames Square for its bankruptcy, and more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Trading the Weird for the Insolvent’ »

Between what’s in the Fallout bible and what made it to the games, it’s easy to forget how much of Fallout‘s established world remains unexplored. Enter Honest Hearts, a slice of post-war tribal politics aimed at filling in a few of New Vegas‘ blanks. The content doesn’t quite have a strong narrative thrust, and Zion National Park, though pretty, is lacking for environmental diversity. Still, it’s backed by some very interesting elements that tie smartly into the larger picture, and, more importantly, is more of what New Vegas did right: room to explore, people to deal with, and choices to make.

Continue reading ‘Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts – Staff Review’ »