RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

Developers of the upcoming Diablo III revealed more details for the game at BlizzCon last weekend. In addition to new features and monsters – one in particular that stabs itself then explodes to damage the player – the team showed the playable Monk class, a melee fighter focusing on quick, martial-arts based attacks. Lead designer Jay Wilson, in an interview with Wired.com, suggested that there will be options to tone down the gore or even remove blood from the game altogether. Diablo III may not be available in certain regions due to its violent content, and Wilson specified China as a possible example.

Source: Wired

Developer Level 5 announced a new DS RPG, dubbed Fantasy Life, at a press conference today. Sharing a more-than-passing visual resemblance to Mother 3, Fantasy Life is being made by studio Brownie Brown, and will feature Nobuo Uematsu on the soundtrack. Reportedly, Uematsu is performing 21 songs for the game, each of which will be paired with a specific character. Gameplay details are few at the moment, but the game appears to revolve around creating an avatar and milling around town doing odd jobs and talking to people.

No release date has been announced.

Sources: Kotaku, GoNintendo

Hang in there Slayer, I gotcha! Right after I eat this cake that’s mysteriously lying out on the table for some reason, on which that dead guy was apparently trying to write ‘poison’ before he keeled over. There we go! Now, on to save the good man from the – gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! *death*

In this update: Cross Treasures, Dragon Quest IX, Dragon Age: Origins, Persona 3 Portable, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Wizardry: Dungeon of the Imprisoned Souls, Vandal hearts: Flames of Judgment, and Guild Wars 2. (more…)

Square Enix has just announced the upcoming release of Cross Treasures, a Nintendo DS RPG scheduled to launch in Japan next year. The game is being developed with assistance from V-Jump magazine, namely from character designer Shinya Suzuki, the illustrator for V-Jump series Mr. Fullswing. Additionally, reader feedback is being incorporated into the game’s development, although details are still forthcoming.

In addition to a single-player campaign, players will be able to create custom game worlds and invite other players into it. Up to four players can join in a single session.

There have been no announcements regarding a possible North American release.

Source: Siliconera

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days, the upcoming rerelease of Disgaea 2 for the PSP, will feature both Japanese and English voice tracks. In addition, downloadable content will be available, and appears to consist largely of additional characters. Some are known in the Japanese version – Plenair, Almaz, Sapphire, Gig, Dark Eclair, Marona, and Ash – though it’s not yet known if the American DLC will be identical to the Japanese.

Dark Hero Days is scheduled for release in North American markets on September 8.

Source: Siliconera

More and more information about Final Fantasy XIV has been hitting the internets lately, making a 2010 launch seem more plausible by the day. Much of it comes from producer Hiromichi Tanaka, who recently gave interviews at Gamescom. Among the details, the following stood out: (more…)

Nobody could envy the task set before Harvey Smith and Ion Storm: following up on the surprise success of Deus Ex. If they changed too much, they would risk losing what made the game special, but if they changed too little the series could stagnate. Unfortunately, the changes Invisible War brings to the table are too often damaging in comparison to its predecessor, and some of the changes make little sense on their own. Invisible War does deliver a compelling adventure, to a point, and brings a few neat ideas to the table, but it fails to meaningfully follow in Deus Ex‘s footsteps and makes too many of its own stumbles along the way. (more…)

Not content with simply telling people how their game plays, Square Enix has just released four short videos of Final Fantasy XIV in action. One shows two players, a Hyuran (Not!Hume) and a Lalafell (Not!Tarutaru), taking out three small monsters with basic magic and melee combat. Another depicts ranged combat mechanics, first with a player fighting three dodos (bird creatures) and later showing more detailed targeting and movement. A third video shows character animations for the five races, presumably the various /emote poses familiar to players of Final Fantasy XI. The fourth and final clip focuses on a Lalafell exploring a small encampment and field.

The videos come courtesy of Gametrailers, and can all be found here.

Konami has just released details about several main characters for the upcoming Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment. The story centers on two kingdoms at war, with the protagonist and his friends caught in the middle and presumably trying to make things less bad. Along the way, a lot of enemies are killed so brutally that blood jets out of their bodies in massive, physics-defying fountains. Anyway, here is the cast so far: (more…)

More details have emerged about the upcoming Rune Factory 3, namely about some of the game’s heroines and creative uses for horticulture. Special seeds, called Active Seeds, grow immediately into something useful, like a pumpkin that sucks in enemies and does damage, or a leaf that can cross bodies of water. Additionally, the cast now includes an elven blacksmith, a girl named Chocola with a predictable love of food, and perhaps the world’s first witch-nurse. Apparently, the need for a healthy resume is truly universal.

Preorders for Rune Factory 3, set to release on October 22, will receive several bonuses, including an artbook, manga, and radio drama CD. Gaming icon Kirby has given no comment as to a possible patent infringement suit over the pumpkin-inhaling-damage thing.

Source: Siliconera

PSOne-era adventure/RPG Vagrant Story has just been re-released on the Playstation Store in Japan. For 600 yen, players can relive the glory days of Ashley Riot, an impractically dressed man’s man tasked with exploring a ruined city, forging his own weapons, and stacking lots and lots of crates.

Source: Siliconera

Riot Games’ League of Legends: Clash of Fates is still looking for players to participate in closed beta testing, and is now offering unique Champion skins to those who sign up for the beta. However, only testers who joined prior to last month will see their names in the game’s credits.

League of Legends is currently scheduled for a September release. Further details can be found at the game’s website.

White Knight Chronicles is receiving a patched version which supposedly adds equipment, uncaps Guild Rank, and makes other changes not yet specified. White Knight Chronicles EX Edition is slated for a release in Japan before the game comes to North American markets. Though it will be sold at a discount price of 3800 yen (about $40 US), it is not yet known if the changes in the EX Edition will be applied to the North American version.

Source: Siliconera

On top of the information about Final Fantasy XIV‘s job and quest system, Square Enix has recently started to release information about Eorzea’s three city-states: Ul’dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa. Constructed from the remnants of ships on a series of small islands, Limsa Lominsa boasts a powerful navy, named the Knights of the Barracuda. With an economy dependent on fishing, shipping, and shipbuilding, the city-state appears to have a vested interest in keeping control over the high seas. Other nations suspect, however, that the Knights are collaborating with pirate groups operating within Limsa Lominsa’s waters.

Further details and artwork are available on Final Fantasy XIV‘s website, located here. Information about Ul’dah and Gridania has not yet been posted.

Radio Free Jeuno returns! It’s been over two weeks since the update alongside the release of A Moogle Kupo d’Etat, and we’ve had time to partially digest the changes both have brought. Our impressions: mixed, to be charitable. Join Nerdboy, Alethea, and myself as we discuss the new things lurking about the wilds of Vana’Diel. Also, Nerdboy assaults the elderly. Like, a lot. Eight times.

We are accepting mailbag requests for a Q&A session in our next podcast, so please, fire off those comments and feedback… things! Whatever the plural noun form of feedback is. FFXI stuff, general stuff, questions about fanfiction that I wrote when I was young and stupid two weeks ago, it’s all good. Lay it on us, we’ll answer it. (more…)

In the latest issue of Famitsu, Final Fantasy XIV director Nobuaki Komoto spilled some of the beans behind the series’ next entry into online roleplaying. In particular, he revealed some key information about the game world, how quests are handled, and the so-called ‘armory system’ that will take the place of Final Fantasy XI‘s job system: (more…)

The PSP remake of Persona will be available both at retail outlets and downloadable through the Playstation Network, though the two-disc soundtrack remains exclusive to the retail version.

Both versions are scheduled for a September 22 launch.

Source: Kotaku

The upcoming Sega/Tri-Ace RPG Resonance of Fate will not feature a full English voice track. Sega localization producer Jun Yoshino states that the game will have language options, but some lines for the English option will be left as text-only to minimize the delay between Japanese and western releases. Apparently, not doing some of the work means less work is needed.

Resonance of Fate is scheduled for a winter 2009 release in Japan, with the western versions hitting US and European markets early in 2010.

Source: Siliconera.

Acquire have recently, well, acquired the rights to the long-running PC RPG series Wizardry, and are bringing the next title in the series to the Playstation 3. Wizardry: Dungeon of the Imprisoned Souls – a dungeon being a good place to put imprisoned things, naturally – will be released this fall in Japan, downloadable through the Playstation store.

No information is available about a possible Western release.

Source: Siliconera

One made the 32X, one’s responsible for the Dinner Dance. They’re cops.

Ahem. Sega and Tri-Ace have announced that their upcoming sci-fi RPG Resonance of Fate will hit European and North American markets simultaneously. Jun Yoshino, localization producer for Sega Europe, further stated that the release gap between the Japanese and western markets “will be as small as possible.” Resonance of Fate is slated for a fourth quarter release in Japan, with the EU/NA release sometime next year.

Source: Videogamer