RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

When I was a young boy in kindergarten, my parents bought me a brand new Nintendo Entertainment System. I used to sit in bed thinking about what games would look like in the future. I imagined that games would take your picture, and instead of Mario’s head, you’d see your own. With games like the arcade version of Mario Kart, that became a reality. I also thought that games would be in 3D, but at the time, I couldn’t even imagine that today’s graphics would be such detailed models with hundreds or thousands of polygons. I envisioned pixels, stacked on top of one another building a world. As the years went by, I chalked that fantasy up to boyhood dreaming and to the silly thoughts of a five-year-old. Now with 3D Dot Game Heroes, I’ve found that I wasn’t the only one to have this idea.

Continue reading ‘3D Dot Game Heroes – Staff Review’ »

Nintendo has finally announced the concrete release dates for Square Enix’s Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. The Nintendo DS title arrives in North America on July 11 and in Europe on July 23.

As you may recall, Nintendo accepted the task of publishing the game back in February.

Far in the future, the world has decayed. Toxins have poisoned the air and water, and the Earth’s axis has warped. Unable to adapt to these changes, humans were slowly dying out as a species. Those lucky enough to survive created Basel, a giant machine beneath the earth designed to repair the environment, while also doubling as the only area able to sustain human life. It is here that Resonance of Fate takes place.

Continue reading ‘Resonance of Fate – Staff Review’ »

Via a recent press release, Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep will not be out this summer, as previously stated. Instead, the game will arrive in North America on September 7. There will also be a special GameStop exclusive bundle that includes a copy of the game, a Mystic Silver PSP-3000, a movie (to be announced, but it will not be related to Kingdom Hearts in any way), and a 4GB memory stick.

Square Enix has also revealed some of the celebrity voice actors for the game: Mark Hamill, Willa Holland (The O.C., Gossip Girl), Jesse McCartney (Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days), James Woods, and Leonard Nimoy.

One of the best ways of constructing an exceptionally powerful party member in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is by intelligent use of the Password system. By manipulating this system, the player can bring in demonic allies from other player’s games, re-use the normally single use Demon Sources, and in general, snap the balance of this game like a toothpick. This week, we’ll take a look at some basic strategies for abusing passwords for fun and profit.

Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Part II’ »

Coming straight from XSEED is the announcement of a partnership with Japan-based developer/publisher Nihon Falcom, with the intent of bringing the latest three installments in the Ys series to the PSP.  The ports of the titles in question – Ys Seven, Ys: The Oath of Felghana, and Ys I & II Chronicles – will see a US release, though no date has been announced.

The deal also allows XSEED to release the next three chapters in Falcom’s Legend of Heroes series, the Trails in the Sky trilogy.  As with the above Ys games, release dates are not yet known, though the titles will be brought to the PSP for North America.

The downloadable content machine rolls on.  Next up for Mass Effect 2 is a multi-mission storyline dubbed Overlord, which apparently involves battling through a laboratory and other facilities in an attempt to shut down an enemy AI; on the Normandy this is known as “Tuesday.”

Continue reading ‘New Mass Effect 2 DLC: I’m Scared, Shepard. Will I Dream?’ »

I accept dehands. Or is it defeat?

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 05/13/10’ »

Coming straight from Bethesda’s blog, the contents of the Collector’s Edition for Fallout: New Vegas have been revealed. In a move sure to delight the six people that dumped their stat points all into luck, the CE keeps the gambling theme and contains the following:

Continue reading ‘Bethesda Unveils Fallout: New Vegas CE Goodies, Wants Your Questions’ »

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love exists in a strange realm of intersections. It lies between dating sim and tactical mecha combat sim, between long-established Japanese tradition and familiar New York iconography, between the storytelling constructs we know as “video games” and “anime.” Like the Zen master, or the pathetic fanboy trying to get the “harem” ending, it strives to achieve balance in all things.

No discipline is flawless. At one level or another, we are all human, defective, stained with the deepest seeds of doubt and regret, shame and anger. But we can try, dammit. We can try. And this game, despite some technical flaws, tries. Dammit.

Continue reading ‘Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii) – Staff Review’ »

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey uses a pretty basic version of the traditional Demon Fusion system, with a few interesting quirks. This week, we’ll go over some of the basic functions of the Fusion system, working up to the more complex tricks you can pull with it later on. First off, we’ll look at the basic mechanics themselves.

Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, Part I’ »

Title says it all. Natsume just announced that the DS-bound Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar is set for a July release, with the game expected to show for the first time at E3 in June. In addition to the usual raising animals and harvesting crops to build up their town, players are tasked with running a store and selling items raised from their farms. The game will have a multiplayer mode, allowing players to trade items between each other.

As with prior Harvest Moon games, Grand Bazaar comes with a preorder bonus in the form of a plush horse when ordered through GameStop.

BioWare has just revealed the latest downloadable add-on for Dragon Age: Origins. The tellingly-named Darkspawn Chronicles puts you in control of a hurlock vanguard, responsible for carrying out the whim of the Archdemon and leading the darkspawn against the human nation of Ferelden.

The bullet points suggest some kind of alternate history is at work, exploring what would happen if your Warden didn’t survive their Joining. Unlike previous content, Darkspawn Chronicles is a standalone adventure, though it does unlock an item for both Origins and Awakening.

The content is set for a May release, though an exact day has not been stated. Further information can be found on the Dragon Age website.

What often separates a good adventure from a classic one is whether it leaves you immediately wanting more. So it is with last year’s Dragon Age: Origins, a game sometimes hampered by technical and balance problems but broadly acclaimed for its storytelling and depth of character. The first proper expansion for the game, Awakening is at once familiar territory and new ground, taking established lore and mechanics from Origins and making smart additions to both. Small but recurring issues keep Awakening from ever quite stepping out of Origins‘ shadow, but it takes a lot less time to do much of what Origins did right.

Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening – Staff Review’ »

150 pieces of media for one game is too many.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 05/04/10’ »

More details have come out regarding some of Fallout: New Vegas‘s features, and some will look rather familiar to followers of the Fallout 3 modding community. Of particular note:

Continue reading ‘Fallout: New Vegas Features Hardcore Mode, Gun Mods, Notoriety’ »

Playoff hockey!

Continue reading ‘Not So Mass Media 05/01/10’ »

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, the most recent addition to the rather scant roll of the series’ mainline continuity, is a game with significance for the series as a whole. As the central pillar of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the mainline entries have always been fairly old school dungeon crawling affairs, considerably darker than the numerous side stories that have spun off of them. It has been a major point of curiosity to see which direction Atlus would take the series: outward into the younger, more upbeat world of spinoffs such as Persona and Devil Survivor, or back inwards, towards the darker, more chaotic entries of the early series. Interestingly, Strange Journey seems content to pick its own path, taking to heart many of the upgrades the series has seen in interaction and depth of character, while maintaining the disturbing, often sharply critical edge the older Shin Megami Tensei games had. The end result doesn’t quite have the same bite as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, but Strange Journey‘s excellent story, solid character customization scheme, and exceptional dungeon design mark it as an excellent game in its own right.

Continue reading ‘Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – Staff Review’ »

Schaaaaaaaadenfrauuudeeeeeeee~

Continue reading ‘Not So Mass Media 04/29/10’ »

An Atlus press release revealed the earth-shattering news that preorders of Persona 3 Portable will get a hat modeled after that of character Junpei Iori.

Continue reading ‘Persona 3 Portable Preorder Bonus: You Get a Hat’ »