RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

The Harvest Moon franchise has been running for fifteen years and the key to its continuing popularity is its ability to tweak its formula with each new addition to the series. While Tale of Two Towns shares most of its game engine and graphics with last year’s DS iteration, Grand Bazaar, it adds a new twist to the series by forcing the player to choose to focus on either growing crops or raising animals.

Continue reading ‘Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns — Staff Review’ »

I miss Dr. Weird.

What’s happening, everybody?  Hope you’re braced for the coming week, what with Witcher 2 and New Vegas DLC coming up.  In the meantime, let us discuss the many interesting things that have happened since last Sunday:

• The Economist speculates on a possible tech/internet bubble, driven by overconfident investors and unproven business models.  And here we thought time travel was impossible.
• Microsoft pays $Texas for Skype.  Why would they buy a largely free VOIP service as a tech bubble is being built?  Why, indeed.
• PSN is finally back up, bringing the catastrophic train wreck to at least partial closure.  Which means we can now focus on Sony’s harmless and entertaining train wrecks.
• Eidos and Deus Ex: Human Revolution websites get hacked.  Hey, hackers, that’s not funny.  Deus Ex has been delayed enough.
• Square Enix has a rough week, owing in part to Final Fantasy XIV‘s amazingly poor launch condition. Really now, are high-res catgirls and magic midgets that hard to deliver?
• The National Endowment for the Arts classifies games as art, thus solving all problems with the games industry forever.
• Call of Duty vs. Battlefield at launch, the US Navy makes an anti-piracy MMO, the Harvest Moon folk join up with some weird colleagues, and much more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – It’s Not Different At All, Is It Steve?!’ »

The Harvest Moon series boasts of a long history that hardly requires introduction. While detractors will likely only groan at yet another DS iteration, fans of the series will be tickled by the tweaks to the Harvest Moon formula that make Grand Bazaar a fresh experience.
Continue reading ‘Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar – Staff Review’ »

This past week, Harvest Moon got a dose of online multiplayer in Japan.  Marvelous Entertainment, creators of the farming sim series, launched a free-to-play MMO dubbed Harvest Moon With Everyone.  Players will be responsible for building their own farms, and gain experience for completing tasks to that end, but can also visit other farms to help out with chores and such.

As is common for the model, the base game carries no charge, but players can spend money to buy premium items.  Presently the game is only in Japanese, and no plans have been announced to translate the game for English players.

Source: 1UP

30 Second Hero eh? That’s what my ex used to call me. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 08/25/10’ »

I am proud of the Qwib-Qwib, and I will not flee because of petty insults. Continue reading ‘Mass Media vos Qwib-Qwib 08/18/10’ »

Final Fantasy XIV is sucking me in. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 07/02/10’ »

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.

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

Star Ocean The Last Hope International is heading towards 8/10 territory. Continue reading ‘Not So Mass Media 02/14/10’ »

Natsume announced over the weekend that Harvest Moon: Leaf Valley will be released for the PlayStation Portable this April. In Leaf Valley, players are charged with helping the townspeople stop the Funland Corporation from bulldozing the title village and replacing it with an amusement park. Basically, it’s “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” but with farming instead of Ice-T.

Leaf Valley is set to retail for $29.99. An exact release date has not been announced.

Although not likely to feature singing man-eating plants, Harvest Moon: My Little Shop is available today on WiiWare. Selling for 1200 WiiBucks, the game centers around a shop and farm the player inherits from their grandparents, using what they grow at the farm to sell at the shop. Clearly, a game for those interested in seizing the means of production without involving antique political theory or those pesky Bolsheviks.

La Pucelle Ragnarok needs an English release date. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 11/20/09’ »

How come when it’s us, it’s an abortion, and when it’s a chicken, it’s an omelet? Continue reading ‘Mass Media 11/11/09’ »

Natsume’s upcoming Harvest Moon: Animal Parade now has a release date of November 10, retailing at $49.99 US. Players who preorder through Gamestop will receive a bonus “limited edition” plush duck.

My opinion on balloon boy. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 10/17/09’ »

XeroZohar: Delicious Cactuar
CactuarJoe: No eating! Not allowed!
XeroZohar: Awwwwwww. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 10/09/09’ »

Natsume has announced that Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming will be released in the next few weeks, likely hitting North American shelves in the last week of August. The Nintendo DS title shares some characters with the previous Harvest Moon installment Island of Happiness, and will spearhead the upcoming release of several further entries: Sunshine Islands, Animal Parade, Sugar Town, and Littlest Shop.

Natsume has made no comment as to whether Myron Reducto, of the law firms of Freezoid, Zarog & Skon, had a hand in creating Littlest Shop by way of shrink gun.

Source: Siliconera

These days it’s not altogether uncommon to see strange genre mashups. In 2007 Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords managed to successfully combine RPG elements and puzzle games in what is perhaps the most unusual combination out there. However, it was by no means the first. As early as the SNES era you could find games that defied genre boundaries, with Harvest Moon being not the earliest, but the most successful example. Continue reading ‘Game Changers: Volume 17 – Harvest Moon’ »

Natsume has announced a North American release of Harvest Moon: Magic Melody for the Wii, in an exclusive deal with Gamestop for the US and Canada. Although an exact date is not yet known, a late August launch is expected according to Gamestop’s release schedule.

Source: Siliconera