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A slew of RPGs is shipping out today across a range of systems: Star Ocean: First Departure for the PSP, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the Nintendo DS, Eternal Sonata for the PlayStation 3, and Fable 2 for the Xbox 360. If you’re a multiplatform RPG player, we at RandomNPC offer our condolences to your wallet.

PlayStation 3 owners in Europe with a taste for J-RPGs can soon get some orchestral action. Eternal Sonata, chock-full of new costumes, playable characters, quests, and cut-scenes, will be heading overseas in February.

It was announced this past July that the PlayStation 3 version of Eternal Sonata, featuring new characters, costumes, and cutscenes, would be out sometime this fall. The release date has now been set for October 21.

Source: Kotaku

Namco Bandai made a couple of RPG-related announcements today. Tales fans have something to be excited about as a playable demo of Tales of Vesperia for the Xbox 360 is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and it’s free for Silver and Gold account users. Tales of Vesperia is due out on August 26 and is rated “T” for Teen.

It was also announced that the PlayStation 3 version of Eternal Sonata will be making its debut on the system this fall. The new version will come with some in-game goodies including new events, music, and two new playable characters: Crescendo and Serenade.

What is reality? What are dreams? How can we tell the difference between the two? What if our eyes are clouded by what we think is reality, and our dreams are actually brief glimpses at the real world — short moments where the clouds part and the light breaks through? Or are dreams merely excursions into other realities? If a dream were a reality, how would you live in it? What are life and death, and how do they relate to dreams and reality? Is death itself a dream? Is life the only reality?

If that paragraph made you cringe or roll your eyes, Eternal Sonata is not for you. If, however, you are intrigued — or morbidly curious — read on.
Continue reading ‘Eternal Sonata - Staff Review’ »