RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

With virtual Alaska, Pittsburgh, Point Lookout, and a better endgame behind it, Fallout 3 has set its sights a bit higher – literally – with its latest DLC. Putting a big twist on a previously unmarked encounter, Mothership Zeta is essentially a lengthy, linear shoot-em-up quest in the vein of Operation: Anchorage. While the setting is novel and it contains some memorable setpieces, it’s crippled by balance issues, overlong segments, and, of all things, plot holes. For all its atmosphere, Zeta can’t shake the feeling of wasted potential.

Continue reading ‘Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta – Staff Review’ »

Let the outtakes commence! Fresh from our last Radio Free Jeuno and Better Know a Dev Team podcasts, we’ve got a pile of audio goofs and silly antics that didn’t quite make the cut. Nerdboy once again instructs us on the proper way to spell tri-Ace, we find out why people ever bother singing in the first place, and good times are had by all. Enjoy!

Continue reading ‘August Podcast Omake: Gone With the Belchwave’ »

Fresh media for y’all, ’cause you’re all dying for it, I know. In today’s update: 3D Dot Game Heroes, Summon Night X: Tears Crown, Dragon Quest IX, La Pucelle Ragnarok, and Final Fantasy Legend II DS. I’m told Final Fantasy Legend II DS is actually part of the SaGa series, but m’eh. When Squenix, proud owners of Eidos, decide to finance 30 Deus Ex sequels and spinoffs, then I’ll make the effort to be more precise with their nomenclature.

‘Nomenclature’ is a funny word. It’s pretentious, but it’s fun to say. Go ahead, try it. While you’re at it, here’s the media:

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

The RPG world as we know it is composed of several sub-genres, mostly focused on the difference in battle systems: menu-driven or traditional, action, tactical, hack and slash, roguelikes. The first three are, by far the broadest and most common categories with action RPGs being the ones most en vogue at present, and menu-driven RPGs being the oldest. But what about tactical RPGs? Perhaps not everyone knows this, but they do indeed have a long lineage and an impressive pedigree, one dating back to the NES era.

Continue reading ‘Game Changers: Volume 23 – Final Fantasy Tactics’ »

Square Enix’s PR rep Klee Kuo tweeted this morning that the Japanese release date for Final Fantasy XIII is December 17, 2009. The announcement was just made at the Final Fantasy XIII Premiere Party in Tokyo.

Square Enix also announced that there will be a special FFXIII/Slim PS3 bundle in Japan. No further details were announced, but more should be revealed at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. Yoichi Wada also stated that Square Enix is aiming to release Final Fantasy XIII in North America sometime in the spring of 2010.

Source: Kotaku

We Meet Again, Phantom Brave. It’s been a few years, hasn’t it? You sucked up a healthy portion of my time back on the PS2, you slick little TRPG. I had a blast with your free-and-open gridless maps, your extensive and esoteric concepts of what constituted a “weapon,” and your down-again-up-again story. Yes, we had good times. So how’s that intervening half-decade treated you?

Continue reading ‘Phantom Brave – We Meet Again – Staff Review’ »

One of the very few gripes people seemed to have with the Playstation 2 version of Persona 3 was with its battle system.  Having to talk to each party member just to change their equipment or having to rely on the sometimes-not-very-good ally AI in battle was, to be frank, just plain irritating.  Well, Atlus has listened to the feedback. 

Continue reading ‘Persona 3 Portable – Out with the Old, in With the New Battle System’ »

Tomorrow’s weather: Excessively violent with a chance of dismemberment. Tune in tomorrow for our five day forecast!

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 09/06/09’ »

One of the more unexpected evolutions introduced in Diamond and Pearl, Dusknoir is an even more dangerous version of Dusclops, a Pokemon with some already impressive defenses. What Dusknoir offers over Dusclops is primarily a much improved offense, an undeniable blessing given that Dusclops’ offense was roughly equal to that of a wet noodle. On the whole, Dusknoir fills much the same role that Dusclops did in R/S/E, blocking Rapid Spin and offering team support in the form of status effects. The creepy cyclops’s increased offense gives it a bit of a new lease on life, though, alongside its more unusual options, in the form of strange support moves like Gravity and Trick Room.

Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XIV: Dusknoir’ »

More information has emerged regarding the cast of Valkyria Chronicles 2 and how they’ll go about waging “politics by other means.”

Continue reading ‘Valkyria Chronicles 2 Rolls Out the Cast and Gameplay Details’ »

In a recent Famitsu interview, Tetsuya Nomura revealed a few more details about the upcoming Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Among other things, the game is to be chronologically the first in the Kingdom Hearts timeline, and the three main characters – Terra, Aqua, and Ventus – will each experience different events and encounters throughout the game. Additionally, Birth by Sleep will keep track of which commands and skills players seem to favor, and the character’s fighting style will adjust accordingly.

Nomura stated that Birth by Sleep is “not likely” to be released before Final Fantasy XIII.

Source: RPG Land

It seems like Square Enix brought to PAX pretty much the same demo for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days as it had at E3, though there were a few notable improvements.  You could actually pick up the DS and hold it, for one. 

Continue reading ‘Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, PAX Impression’ »

We’re having a cookout at my place today, and yet I still took the time to get these up. You should be grateful.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 09/05/09’ »

Nippon Ichi have announced that their strategy RPG La Pucelle Tactics is being ported to the PSP. Dubbed La Pucelle Ragnarok, the port will feature improvements to the interface, such as being able to skip battle animations. Additional voice acting and a new scenario featuring bonus bosses from the Disgaea series have been confirmed.

La Pucelle Ragnarok will be released in Japan on November 26. A North American release has not been confirmed.

Source: Siliconera

I’ll be 26 tomorrow. Somehow I feel a lot older than that.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 09/02/09’ »

In Japan, crossover games have been around for a long time, and in the case of Super Robot Wars, some have spawned an entire successful series. But on this side of the Pacific, these games almost never make an appearance, primarily due to licensing issues and western gamers not being exposed to the source material. Cross Edge is one of the first games in the crossover genre to make it to North America so fans on this side of the planet can see what they’ve been missing.

Continue reading ‘Cross Edge – Staff Review’ »

There are only a few things in life that you can really count on. Mario will always trump Luigi; there is never anything “final” about Final Fantasy; and Dragon Quest will alway be a bastion of tradition in the RPG world. But in December 2006, Square Enix shook the very foundations of our RPG beliefs: they announced that Dragon Quest IX would slough off the shackles of menu-based fighting and embrace modernity by becoming… an action RPG.

Continue reading ‘Game Changers: Volume 22 – Dragon Quest IX’ »

One year, four months, and thirteen days ago I gave my opinion on Mana Khemia ~Alchemists of Al-Revis~, a title I described as “the union of several good ideas other games had but never put together before.” It was a strangely-worded explanation of a strangely attractive game; none of what I played then was all that new or unique, but so many elements came together into a deceptively entertaining gestalt that, frankly, I didn’t care. Mana Khemia was not unique, and I was fine with that.

Mana Khemia 2 isn’t unique, either. And I’m fine with that, too.

Continue reading ‘Mana Khemia 2 ~ Fall of Alchemy ~ – Staff Review’ »

Today’s Pokemon reminds me of one of my favorite things about Pokemon games – the sheer weirdness of it all. In what other game could you find a psychic coconut tree? Or for that matter, a steel penguin? And not just one, but two animate blobs of poisonous slime? I never get tired of the knowledge that, should the desire strike, I could pit a small blue lungfish against a pink bulldog in a dress in a battle for domination. And so in the spirit of the bizarre, we look at the ambulatory egg-sprouting coconut tree that is Exeggutor.

Continue reading ‘Strategy Session – Competitive Pokemon XIII: Exeggutor’ »

I woke up this morning to find my car parked half a foot away from the curb, which is what I get for coming home at three in the morning.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 08/30/09’ »