Nearly five years ago, gamers first got a crack at Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, a quirky TRPG set in the Netherworld. This game mixed a unique blend of humor with tactical combat and defied many of the common conventions of RPGs and of games in general. There really isn’t anything quite like a Disgaea game, and now the series makes its debut on the PlayStation 3 with Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice and improves on the formula in nearly every way. Continue reading ‘Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice - Staff Review’ »
It is a story for the ages, repeated in mead halls and around campfires for generations. It is the story of one who ascends to near-godhood on the driving forces of hype. His armor gleams like the luster of filtered screenshots. His voice resounds with the thunder of a thousand preview trailers. At the pinnacle of his glory, the world holds its breath and waits for his first majestic assault. Continue reading ‘Too Human - Staff Review’ »
Widely considered the crown jewel of the Castlevania series and a classic of gaming, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night took what had been a very traditional side-scrolling platformer series, shifted the gameplay focus to exploration, and infused it with RPG mechanics. Symphony of the Night was a significant change to the series, moving it towards more RPG-influenced gameplay, a trend which has increased as the series has gone on. Time has not been particularly kind to this game, as later entries in the series eclipse it in terms of having deeper gameplay and plot, but with such fluid animation and a wonderful soundtrack, the game still has something to offer the modern gamer. Continue reading ‘Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Staff Retroview’ »
The Fire Emblem series makes its triumphant return to consoles with the only entry to grace the GameCube, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. The tried-and-true mechanics return with a whole new race of characters to make one of the best RPG experiences to ever grace the console. Continue reading ‘Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - Staff Retroview’ »
Fire Emblem is among the longest-running RPG series today, and though each new game brings a new plot and characters, each one holds on to nearly the same mechanics. In Fire Emblem, it is a given that if characters die, they are out of the game. Permanently. One can also count on the fact swords beat axes; axes beat lances; and lances beat swords. And, interestingly enough, all weapons will break if used a set number of times. These are truths remain constant and set up the basis for Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Continue reading ‘Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - Staff Retroview’ »
When moving from a bustling city to a quiet rural town, one would usually expect life to become more peaceful, but this isn’t the case in Persona 4. Instead, the main character’s arrival is followed by news of a scandal, and later, a murder. Rather than worry too much about that, he quickly makes a few friends and hears an interesting rumor regarding TVs and rainy days at midnight. While investigating, he and his friends instead find a connection between this strange phenomenon and what has now become a string of murders. Discovering that they may have the power to help the would-be victims, they set out to prevent as many casualties as they can while solving the surrounding mysteries and attempting to catch the culprit. Continue reading ‘Persona 4 - Staff Import Review’ »
It has been rightly said that every book written represents the death of a perfect idea. This principle can easily be applied to video games, and perhaps none embody this like the obscure Russian first-person survival game Pathologic. With a haphazard English localization, a dated engine and very unforgiving gameplay, Pathologic lacks even the cult status to be salvaged from the bargain bin. The tragedy in this is that the game deserves a look by anyone who ever claimed to support the idea of video games as art, for few other games to date have been as bold, uncompromising and mature. Continue reading ‘Blurring the Line: Pathologic - Staff Review’ »
Final Fantasy IV is a classic RPG that has seen release on five different gaming platforms, so remaking a game that has been played by so many, and often played so many times by those people, is a particularly difficult challenge. How does one make a game that is so familiar to its fans seem fresh and new while retaining the nostalgic feel at the same time? Fortunately, the DS remake of Final Fantasy IV exceeds expectations and is a new yardstick by which to measure remakes in the future. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy IV - Staff Review’ »
With six games to its name in North America (five regular games and one spinoff: Suikoden Tactics), the Suikoden series had been a staple of the RPG genre — if a bit of a dark horse. Suikoden V is a solid addition to the series as well as a great place for players who’ve never tried the series to get their feet wet. And while the game may not appeal to those interested in a highly complex battle system, Suikoden V is an absolute gem for story gamers, and offers memorable characters, a rich plot and a chance to experience a conflict that moves beyond the typical black and white save-the-world plot of many an RPG. Continue reading ‘Suikoden V - Staff Retroview’ »
When you’re a kid, summer vacation is the best time for swimming, riding bikes, and playing outside until after sundown. But for Luso, the main character of Final Fantasy Tactics A2, summer vacation is about leading a clan, fighting monsters, and saving another world. It is the making of an epic “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essay. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift - Staff Review’ »
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard is a dungeon crawler that seeks to induce nostalgia for the very earliest RPGs; games that, if given half a chance, would happily hand a player their own teeth in a bag. The game’s designers have succeeded in producing a tough, classically-styled RPG, but its high level of difficulty, slow-paced plot, and one-dimensional cast is going to make it fairly impenetrable to anyone without a pre-existing love of dungeon exploration and turn-based combat. As far as dungeon crawlers go, Etrian Odyssey II is better than the vast majority, but this particular sub-genre remains a very insular and traditional one, and Etrian Odyssey II isn’t going to change any of that.
Continue reading ‘Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard - Staff Review’ »
Under normal circumstances, when a Japanese company releases an expansion for a game, the rest of the world is left out of the loop. Thankfully for us in North America, Persona 3 FES is a rare exception to the rule. Offering a number of changes to Persona 3, FES adds some nice bonuses to the initial package, while adding on a good deal of new content and doing some overall re-balancing. FES’s changes range from the nice but inconsequential (new costumes), to the significant (an all-new 30 hour epilogue), to the inexplicable (Mara), but overall, FES is a solid and worthwhile addition to Persona 3.
Continue reading ‘Persona 3 FES - Staff Review’ »
The Wild ARMs series has never been known for stellar quality, but the games — excluding the second installment, which left many fans with PTSD — are still the objects of affection for many RPG connoisseurs. Naturally, players have certain standards and tolerances when it comes to Wild ARMs games. They know they aren’t getting a perfectly polished game, just an above average one that gains appeal largely from nostalgic references.
So when a longtime fan recognizes that the newest Wild ARMs title isn’t up to the series’ standards, you know it’s bad.
Continue reading ‘Wild ARMs XF - Staff Review’ »
Neku Sakuraba is a boy with a bit of a problem. He just woke up in the Shibuya’s scramble crossing, the busiest street crossing in the entire world, and he has no idea how he got there. In fact, he doesn’t remember anything other than his name. His only clue is a strange black pin with a skull on it. It’s not much to go on, and before he can figure things out, he is bombarded by peoples’ thoughts. Neku doesn’t even like other people, and yet, now he can hear everything they are thinking. If things weren’t going badly enough, he also got the strangest text message on his phone. “Get to 104. Fail and face erasure.” Despite his best efforts, Neku is unable to delete what is obviously some crazy spam message. And that’s when the frogs started attacking him. This is not a good day at all. In fact, it’s leading up to be a bad week. Continue reading ‘The World Ends With You - Staff Review’ »
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the latest game in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, is a game that will appeal mostly to fans of the series. Starring a character who appeared only in flashbacks and in passing mentions in the original game and detailing many events only alluded to in FFVII, Crisis Core relies a great deal on nostalgia, to the point where it’s actually re-telling parts of FFVII at times. Still, underneath it all, there is still an interesting, if not particularly challenging game with some unusual ideas about combat and storytelling. On the whole, Crisis Core is a solid, if somewhat predictable title that should provide some entertainment for people looking for a bit more background on the characters of Final Fantasy VII. Continue reading ‘Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Staff Review’ »
Alchemy \’al-kə-mē\ - A power or process of transforming something common into something special
-Merriam-Webster.com
One of the toughest challenges for a game in this day and age is the concept of “unique.” It’s a very nebulous term; you can take it to mean “going where no man has gone before,” or perhaps “something kinda familiar, but twisted beyond recognition.” Perhaps Mana Khemia is not a truly “unique” game. Every element of its gameplay feels like it’s been done before… but can a patchwork not be beautiful of its own right? The contrast of many fabrics may come together to create a beautiful work, just as the union of many existing concepts in game mechanics can join to create an excellent experience.
Continue reading ‘Mana Khemia ~Alchemists of Al-Revis~ - Staff Review’ »
When a quirky title comes along, one that I think most people won’t hear about or will more than likely ignore, I tend to jump on it. So far, I’ve gotten lucky (Portal and Steambot Chronicles, I’m looking at you). Whether or not Opoona, a quintessentially quirky RPG from Arte Piazza for the Nintendo Wii, can go beyond its mere charm remains to be seen. Continue reading ‘Opoona - Staff Review’ »
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, one of the first GameCube titles to make real use of the connectivity between Nintendo’s square console and the Game Boy Advance, got a lot of flak for being a multiplayer title with a fairly shallow single player mode. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates doesn’t do multiplayer quite as well as its predecessor, as it loses a lot of the finely tuned balance between competition and co-operation that made the original so enjoyable, but it makes up for it with a much deeper and more satisfying single player mode. On the whole, Ring of Fates is a bit of a finger in the eye of some other, more simplistic dungeon crawlers, as it offers an entertaining, fairly complex combat system and a variety of dungeons to run through and level up in, and yet doesn’t skimp on the storyline, which is a surprisingly well-told and emotional tale. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates - Staff Review’ »
When Nintendo finally gave the gaming public a look at the Wii, it included a short clip of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors in the montage of games currently being made. Nearly two years later, the game is out, and anyone can pick up an invisible sword to become the silent protagonist of the newest game in the Dragon Quest series. Continue reading ‘Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - Staff Review’ »
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