RPG Junkies, your hub for RPGs

Bring more souls, Slayer of Demons! and so I did, for hours...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:26:03 +0000

With Dark Souls releasing on the PC next week and that versions bonus content hitting consoles later this year, I thought I'd talk about Demon's Souls, the game which Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to.

The kingdom of Boletaria is engulfed in a colourless fog after the current ruler, King Allant uses souls to perform dark arts, raising the eldritch abomination the "Old One" from it's slumber. your character is one of many adventurers that enters the fog to save Boletaria, or to harness the souls for your own ends.

The prominent feature of this game and it's successor is the difficulty level. Not paying attention during the game can be fatal, simple enemies can be devastating in packs and stronger enemies will pose a challenge. this is not however fake difficulty that you find in games like "I Wanna be The Guy" as combat is simple to learn but deep, enemies can be defeated with simple strategy and different equipment sets can provide you an advantage over certain foes.

The game world is separated into different areas linked via a hub, all the levels following a dark fantasy theme: a ruined castle, a prison filled with deranged prisoners and stocked with torture devices, a swamp occupied with crazed lost souls... The areas perfectly depict a ruined, besieged world. In-game actions can affect the "tendency" of an area, allowing access to new sections of a level and affecting the toughness of enemies and their drop rate.

Like Dark Souls, the levelling-up system is flexible and you can create a multitude of character builds, along with them using different styles of play: you can have a character utilizing sheer brute force, a magic heavy user that kills from a difference, etc.

The online component will be familiar to players of Dark Souls. players can leave helpful or deceitful notes for other players to read, and they can be recommended.

A few things I disliked compared to Dark Souls: the character animation has very little weight to it, the weapon upgrading system is more complicated compared to the other game, and I thought the boss battles were not as good compared to the Dark Souls bosses.

I would heartily recommend this PS3 exclusive to fans of Action-RPG's and those seeking a challenge.

The Game that Made RPGs Cool

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 15:59:05 +0000

Okay, before I get to my opinion about what Final Fantasy VII is to me, let me start with a few quick facts about the game, no matter what you or I personally think of the game: Final Fantasy VII is the biggest hit ever produced by RPG masters Squaresoft (now called Square-Enix), it is the promoted object of the biggest advertising blitz ever seen for a video game, it is three discs long, it is the deciding factor which led many people to buy a Sony Playstation over a Nintendo 64 when both consoles were in diapers, and above all else, Final Fantasy VII is the subject of the most heated, intense debate among gamers since the Nintendo/Sega console war of the 16-bit era. Is Final Fantasy VII the game that finally erased the line between art and video games or a disposable coaster/frisbee set? The answer, for me, is a very simple one: it's neither. I decided long ago that Final Fantasy VII was just another RPG that has its good points and bad points. If I stood in the middle of a battlefield with one camp on one side and the other camp on the other side and both imploring me to take one of those stances, though, I would stand among those promoting the good points.

This is not to say I don't share any of the viewpoints of those debating the bad points. Iï¿½ll get this out of the way first: Yes, the story has holes that would dwarf the Chrysler Building. Yes, Aeris probably could have done something better than constantly flirt with Cloud. Yes, the name Cloud is Stupid with a capital S. Yes, I'm annoyed that the Reverend Jesse Jackson would probably make a big fuss about Barrett's color being a civil rights breakthrough despite the fact that Barrett reinforces pretty much every negative stereotype about black people. Yes.... Almost everything the anti-Final Fantasy VII crowd has to say about the plot and characters is justified. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the feature film-like length of the unskippable summon animations. If you haven't gotten the implication by now, I'll say it outright: I do not think of Final Fantasy VII as the best video game ever made (that honor goes to Super Mario World), the best RPG ever made (that would be Chrono Trigger), or even the best Final Fantasy game ever made (I'll get a lot of hate mail for saying this, but Final Fantasy IX holds that distinction).

Shall we go into detail about the flaws now to get them out of the way? After a quick cutscene, Final Fantasy VII immediately thrusts you into the action as it hands you control of a mercenary named Cloud. As the scene develops, you learn that Cloud is a former member of an elite military unit called SOLDIER. He's been hired for a mission by Avalanche, which is basically the Greenpeace of Final Fantasy-land. Avalanche is out to get Shinra, a super-corporation along the lines of Microsoft which provides people with Mako energy, a force that powers virtually everything but also sucks the planet dry. Now back to Cloud. The game grants you control of Cloud as the boys of Avalanche pull up to a Mako station with the intent to destroy it. This is Final Fantasy VII's training mission, so you get to tinker with the various controls and commands while guiding Cloud and Avalanche leader Barrett to success. After some negotiating, Cloud agrees to a second mission with Avalanche, which goes awry and places him in the care of a flower girl named Aeris. This is where the writers at Squaresoft begin to get out of hand. The entire first leg of the game takes place entirely within the confines of one city - Midgar, the New York of Final Fantasy VII. From the first meeting with Aeris, a whole lot of crazy crap takes place before Avalanche reunites to storm Shinra's world headquarters. During the headquarters raid, a former childhood hero, friend, and co-worker of Cloud's throws a wrench into things by reappearing after dropping off the face of the planet several years ago. So the plot kicks in after about seven to ten game-hours go by.

Now this former associate of Cloud's, Sephiroth, is royally pissed. He's so angry that he's taking his revenge scheme beyond the traditional urination in co-workers' coffee. Sephiroth carries an enormous sword and he's using it to redefine the phrase "make heads roll". Since Cloud was the last one to see Sephiroth and live to talk about it, he conjures up the notion that it's his responsibility - along with Avalanche and their groupies - to place themselves between Sephiroth and all the people Sephiroth hates - which is pretty much everyone since the ultimate goal is to save the world (as if you couldn't guess). The first disc involves the programmers showing off the Playstation's tech specs because it takes Cloud and co. down the yellow brick road as they chase down Sephiroth and visit almost every location in the process. The second disc gets to the meat of the story, and the third disc presents you with the final dungeon.

It looks typical, but the hackneyed plot twists leave you with more questions than answers at final boss time. It would have worked better if the writers just let the story tell itself, but they were so desperate to develop some characters that they worked in some of the most wasted side stories I've ever seen, and the result is the second-to-worst flock of central characters to ever exist in a Final Fantasy game (Final Fantasy VIII still has the worst). Cloud is awful as the main character. In the Final Fantasy series, we've seen a character seek repentance for his past crimes and engage his dark half in battle (Cecil, Final Fantasy IV), a character find out that he was a defective unit of an army born only to destroy and then die out (Vivi, Final Fantasy IX), a character who built the nerve to face a demon who would ultimately kill her whether or not she defeated it (Yuna, Final Fantasy X), among a LOT of others. Cloud's inner confrontation is merely his ability to pathologically lie. He invents a past with more twists than a corkscrew, only to learn some revelations about himself courtesy of Sephiroth. It's so confusing that when Cloud finally comes clean, you have to review what you've learned about him and piece his story together like a jigsaw puzzle. Furthermore, Cloud is selfish, greedy, and an a-hole when we meet him. While he does transform and face up to his task, the transformation is sudden rather than gradual and it takes place in the very early goings of the game - probably less than two game hours in. Then you have Barrett, whom the writers try to get you to sympathize with by giving him a daughter and a handicap. Something might have been there if not for his serious potty mouth, and the writers made it worse by giving him a wasted backstory starring a disgruntled friend named Dyne. Aeris is a relentless flirt who doesn't seem to realize the seriousness of the situation at hand. When the plot thickens and the writers realized they had to work Aeris's background into it a little more, they solved that problem by making her run off, thus giving her a head start to the heroes' destination only to kill her when they catch up. There's Cid (of course there's a guy named Cid), who missed a chance to visit space and has a mouth even more foul then Barrett's because of it. The only likable character in the game is Tifa, whose childhood friendship with and devotion to Cloud also make her better developed than any other character, save Sephiroth.

Sephiroth is one of the more intriguing characters in the realm of RPGs. When he first makes his presence known by killing a number of Shinra employees, he tricks you into thinking he's one of those uber-cool characters who's remotely on your side (think Shadow from Final Fantasy VI). When the good guys give chase, Sephiroth is intent on getting them to stay on his trail, which is a real change from the "stonewall the heroes" approach used by so many other Final Fantasy villains. His anger seems rooted in his past more than anything, and there are points when you feel sorry for the guy. However, it's difficult not to hate him at that moment in the Forgotten City when he drops out of nowhere and mercilessly rams his sword through Aeris's heart (in a scene made classic by magnificent CGI graphics), then flees the scene while leaving the good guys to deal with his decapitated mother Jenova.

Among the things Final Fantasy die-hards have been vocal about is the setting. Past Final Fantasies have been just that - fantasies, taking place in worlds full of dragons, knights, magic, and kings ruling from castles on high. In Final Fantasy VI, however, Squaresoft made a bold story move by introducing industrial technology that made the game feel more modern than previous games in the series. The background story to the game even included the advent of technology and a war between magic and technology, which ended with a decisive triumph for technology. Magic in Final Fantasy VI was brought about because it was the result of a plot development. In Final Fantasy VII, the designers went all-out in modernization - no kingdoms, knights, or dragons. What we got was a hard science fiction setting that could be straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel, and the die-hards didnï¿½t like it. I personally thought the sci-fi setting was a refreshing break from the fantasy elements that dominate the genre. Very few RPGs have delved into sci-fi (Shadowrun is the only game that comes to mind), and Squaresoft realized the potential of fantasy's dark twin by using it for a game in their most popular series. It's almost as if they were making a statement by doing so: RPGs can marry fantasy, but sci-fi makes a really hot mistress.

Another popular criticism is that Final Fantasy VII only allows three characters in battle, instead of the usual four. So what? Final Fantasy IV allowed you to use five characters in battle, and I have yet to hear a complaint about that game. I guarantee three characters won't change how you approach battles.

One of the most notorious criticisms about Final Fantasy VII is the complete lack of character classes. A lack of character classes and an abundance of abilities means that, if you're patient enough, you could turn every character in your party into an unstoppable juggernaut. However, the big advantage to having every character start on equal ground is that youï¿½re free to mold them into what you want them to be. Being able to switch and multiply abilities means you won't necessarily be under-prepared in one of those moments where a surprise boss catches you while you're on your last legs. Think about it: How many times in previous Final Fantasy games have you found that rare enemy with an exclusive item that you had to steal, only to not have the one thief in your party with you? How many times have you resorted to using weak potions for healing because your white mage wasn't available at a critical moment? Believe it or not, this system also helps you keep from becoming too reliant on one type of battle approach. In previous Final Fantasies, an enemy could completely cripple one character by merely removing one of his abilities, and thus throw an entire strategy out the window. With equal characters, if one ability is removed, you can switch to another one and - at least in most cases - not skip a beat. If you're fighting with weapons and one character finds himself on the receiving end of a darkness spell that you can't do anything about, that character will still be able to use magic spells from that point out.

The customization system in Final Fantasy VII could be described as an oversimplified version of the popular job system without the jobs. The characters in your party are basically the "bare" class from Final Fantasy V on steroids for the entire game. Instead of using designated job classes to learn abilities in battle, you find or purchase your abilities in the form of glowing rocks called materia. Every weapon or piece of armor you equip your characters with comes with a different number of slots for materia. Now, how you equip your abilities is obvious: You place the materia into the slots on your weapons and armor. It's a bit more than that, because some slots are linked to each other. When certain types of materia are linked with certain other types, you'll find on whole new effect on your character, or your weapons with the ability to do element-type damage to opponents, or other effects. For example, if you link a lightning materia to an enemy-all materia, all the lightning spells your character casts will hit all the enemies on the screen, but for less damage then a single target.

There are five types of materia: The green materia contains all the standard magic spells of RPGs. Blue materia is used to add extra effects to other materia. It's really only useful when assisting the green materia, but there are other ways to use it. Yellow materia contains all the abilities normally associated with the job system: Steal, manipulate, throw, and mimic are among the abilities provided by yellow materia. Purple materia is there for a variety of purposes. Most purple materia will raise your vital stats, but there are purple materia which lure chocobos, reduce random encounters, and increase the number of pre-emptive strikes your party gets too. Red materia are the homes of some of your best friends: Friends like Ifrit, Shiva, Bahamut, Alexander, and Phoenix. Now, every materia has a specified number of levels it can go up to, and most have abilities to teach you as they climb up those levels. When a materia reaches its highest level, called Master Level, it reproduces itself. (Well, except for the Enemy Skills materia, Final Fantasy VII's source of blue magic.)

The advantages of the materia system have driven many to complain about Final Fantasy VII being too easy. This complaint is easy to forget about - Final Fantasies IX and X were both easier than this. This is especially true in Final Fantasy X, which let you switch characters in mid-battle.

Final Fantasy VII began Squaresoft's obsession with mini-games. Final Fantasies VIII and IX both had their famous card games, and Final Fantasy X had Blitzball, an underwater combination of football and soccer that Square ruined by turning it into a math rodeo. Instead of having one mini-game that can be played anywhere, Final Fantasy VII has a plethora of mini-games that can be accessed via a Las Vegas-like entertainment center called the Gold Saucer. I actually prefer this idea to the card games, and especially Blitzball, because you can always move to a different game when if you're not having any luck with one, and also because it means the game can't overpower you by brute force at a certain point. There's a wide variety of things to do when the going is slow: There's a motorcycle racing game where you knock down other contestants with Cloud's sword, a chocobo race, and a snowboarding game among others. At a location called Fort Condor, a strategy mini-game forces you to use an army to stonewall invaders. If you're playing to collect every item in the game, you have to play these mini-games because doing well at them is the only way to get a number of items. The best thing about the mini-games is that they don't involve some otherworldly form of math which the game can use to cop you out. Therefore, everything is won fair and square (no pun intended), and you donï¿½t spend a ton of time trying to figure out exactly what every number means. There's also a side quest which allows you to breed chocobos. It's very time-consuming, but it gets you the most powerful spell in the game - Knights of the Round, which is actually used as ammunition by the anti-Final Fantasy VII crowd because it's a bit too powerful. (To which I respond, how do you find the time to breed chocobos? It takes forever to get the chocobo needed to get the Knights of the Round materia!)

Square finally set a decent random encounter rate. There aren't too few random encounters, or too many. It's just right.

Super-deformed characters are no stranger to the Final Fantasy series. Despite this fact, however, it's very tough to get over the character designs in Final Fantasy VII. Perhaps the answer to why this is lies in the battle screens: When there's a cutscene or a battle to be fought, all the characters in your party are proportional. But the second the cutscene or battle is over, the super-defects are inserted right back into the overhead map. It's a strange thing to do. Ordinarily I wouldn't point this out, but this case is different - it's more noticeable, mainly because the super-deformed characters in the overworld are by far the most poorly-designed characters I've even seen. The poly count is so low that the characters are all blocky with Popeye forearms and disproportionate heads. That's not even getting into the standard complaints about their awful clothes and hairstyles to the heavens. On the other end of the Final Fantasy VII graphics rainbow, though, is a true pot of gold. What Square didn't do to the characters, they did to the scenery. The scenery has a rendered look to it that's almost eerie at times. Even the locations that are supposed to be ugly have a kind of beauty to them that's dark, and sometimes even gothic. Among the best scenery is the Ancient Forest, with glowing rays of light and lush greens; the rich blue sparkles of Gaea's Cliff; and the Final Dungeon, which is full of enormous plant life radiating of light bloom.

The music certainly isn't the best stuff ever heard in a Final Fantasy game, but it's far from bad. The overworld theme has a nice, calm tune to it that switches to something more gloomy when the meteor is hovering ominously in the sky above the planet. Per usual, the boss music is very good, and the final boss theme is one of the best pieces ever heard in an RPG. The technology of the Playstation gave the composer a lot more to work with, and the result is a score that generally has a pleasant, orchestrated quality to it. The sound is the kind of inobtrusive noise included to make the music speak for it. There are no voice-overs, and so all the in-game sounds are nothing you wouldn't hear in a Super NES game.

I have nothing to say about the controls, except that Cloud moves exceptionally slowly if he's not dashing. And that some of the camera angles will have awkward effects on the directional buttons. But these problems are minor things that came with the transition to the third dimension. You get used to it. As for everything else, Final Fantasy VII is pretty reliant of menus, just like every other RPG ever made. No problem there.

The debate over whether or not Final Fantasy VII is a good game is a spirited one that, like all debates about video games, comes down to personal opinions. I think the story sucks, but the game is excellent. The thing about Final Fantasy VII is, whether you like it or hate it, the merits of the game can always be argued very strongly from either point. If you like this game but you're ashamed to admit it, I hope I gave you enough ammunition to come clean. Final Fantasy VII is a great game, and I'll scream in defense of that statement until my throat is as red as Red XIII.

Fallout 3 Quick Tip by RaizKhan

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:43:42 +0000

A code to Activate the purifier at the end is 216 ;)

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by JustThisOne

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:50:13 +0000

The cast of characters in this game range from mediocre to terrible. This was the only game where the main character was so annoying that I had to shut off the game for awhile, and revisit weeks later. Character development was especially lacking. I'm probably just throwing a minor hissy fit because I hated Tidus so much. So. So. Much. I'm also one of the few people that dislike Auron - although, that's mostly because he enables Tidus to talk all the time.

Anyway, the story wasn't bad. The music was great, though not the best of the series. The gameplay wasn't bad either. I can tell that a lot of work was put into making battles more significant from each other. It was also awesome to see who's turn was next along the side. Switching out other characters was different, but it came with good and bad. Overall, pretty innovative for it's time.

Also, if you thought the laughing scene was bad in the english version, you need to check out the japanese version. Tidus genuinely sounds like a crow.

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:06:04 +0000

(So tired of writing these Quick Tips) Since the Dreamcast held me back from getting a PS2, I didn't play this in its heyday. But what it did shamelessly well when I finally did get my hands on it was blow me away with its graphics to a level I'd not experienced since FFVII. However, the characters, story, and gameplay didn't particularly stand out against the previous FFs I had played. The voice dubbing was also surprisingly awful at times. But I say these things with perspective, back then everything mattered less to none when the game was so attractive my eyes were duct taped to the screen.

Final Fantasy 4 Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:48:06 +0000

I played this looong after it was relevant, as in the last five years, so my view of it is extremely skewed, but damn if it isn't a fine, fine RPG that still holds up pretty well. Might have given VI a run for its money if I played it earlier, but as it is the setting and characters just don't seem as interesting to me.

Final Fantasy VII Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:31:22 +0000

Coming off of FF VI, this was certainly a jump in presentation, and I was as caught up as anybody else who first played it as a kid. In retrospect, it deserves to be remembered for being such a magnificent milestone, but it's certainly not my favorite FF or even favorite PSX era JRPG.

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:20:08 +0000

The first FF I ever played, and still my favorite FF. Probably from nostalgia, but I've played it in more recent years and it remains as good as the day I took its virginity. Everything is so... flawless (next to Chrono Trigger, of course, which is even more perfect). Personally, it's got my favorite villain, favorite setting, and favorite story of all FFs, not to mention the most likable cast ever. Oh, and I could pilot an airship. Bring it back Versus!

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:17:27 +0000

Final Fantasy VII Quick Tip by Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:06:38 +0000

Coming off of FF VI, this was certainly a jump in presentation, and I was as caught up as anybody else with it at the time. In retrospect, it deserves to be remembered for being such a magnificent milestone, but it's certainly not my favorite FF or even favorite PSX era JRPG.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Quick Tip by TokenDP

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:47:37 +0000

One of the best tactical games out there. With catchy music and ridiculously fun gameplay, this is a tactical fans dream.

Shades of Promise Cast by a Faraway Brilliance

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:52:50 +0000

(reposted from Siliconera)

Nier as a playable game at the very least is competent all around. To keep the less interesting bits short, the combat, dungeons, and art direction are all decently conceived, every aspect dotted with pleasant surprises that elevates the otherwise pedestrian design (one aspect that is consistently spectacular are boss fights). Riding on gameplay alone, the main quest will be something of a well-worn glove to Zelda veterans. If there are any serious complaints, then they are of the sidequests--there are far too many (often mundane), but even here you might find a sprinkling of surprise that has blessed such an unevenly quirky game (and they are optional after all)...

If there is one area that Nier performs exceptionally exemplary in execution beyond exemption and expectations it must be the voice acting. Nier, Kaine, and especially Weiss's VAs *owned* (made personal, not beat down awesomely) their roles. The only main character's voice I imagined should be better in Japanese is Yona's. Emil's was surprisingly not annoying and cloying like I'd thought it'd be. More often than not they were all so natural they breathed believability into the awkward lines and the ham-handed moments when the writing fell through, and the humorous banter never felt forced (as it does in countless JRPGs). I enjoyed the music as well, though I'm not sure if it's memorable because it's often (strikingly) beautiful, or if it's (startlingly) repetitive. Perhaps it's both.

As for the tale itself--it's arguably the most intriguing yet demanding part of this game. The dreary plot and bleak drama is offset by the surprisingly laid-back but likable obball cast, which neuters the sharp teeth of narrative urgency but amplifies the impact of tragedy when it hits. However, completing every sidequest that was asked of me (except the pink moonflower seeds) diluted my clarity on the narrative, which was already partial in its unfolding. Thus when the game concluded I came away with a drought for answers, some which I had to discover by retracing the steps, others which I knew were not in the game. The unusual premise and the characters were begging to be explored, so soon my curiosity got the better of me. I did some internet sleuthing and soon I came upon "Grimoire Nier", a translated document floating around that was once swag for the Japanese only Nier Replicant. Containing the complete backstory, lore, history and creator explanations for the world of Nier, it was to me, be far more fascinating than the entirety of the game. Shame that largely none of this rich content is in the actual product, but I'm glad it exists and complements my experience with Nier.

All in all, Nier is definitely worth a play through (and a half). It's an entertaining trip, if not for the weird and wacky characters that keep you company, then for the mysterious, incredibly realized universe you can only glimpse from the game.

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by Xyno512

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:44:12 +0000

One of the best Final Fantasy games ever created, imo.

One of the Many Greats of the Final Fantasy Series.

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:28:16 +0000

What happened in the three hours of the game?
After awaking from a sleep, you realize you remember nothing of your past or of who you are. A old man kindly helps you, but that time is cut short as the empire comes to the town looking t o arrest you. The old man points you in the direction of the town mines. As you make your way there you're corned by emperial guards. You happen to fall down a hole and fall unconscious. you awake to find that a thief who is part of the resistance, has rescued you. You escape the town with the help of this thief and make your way to a nearby castle where you meet other members of the resistance. This is where your adventure begins.

What was the most challenging part you completed?
The last few boss battles before you get to the final boss. If you weren't well equipped or you were under-leveled prior to these fight you would know it. the bosses hit hard. I had the strongest spell in the game (Ultima) and still had a hard time with these last couple of bosses.

What was the best part of the story?
Getting to second world. Those of you who played this game know about the story up til this point. This is possibly the best part of the game. The whole game does a 360 and you virtually start the game over again on a New Game+ save. That's how I saw it at least. It was fun going through this part of the game. it was a new adventure in and of itself

Share the most innovative gameplay mechanic.
The Espers hands down. They provided a nice boost to your stats when you leveled up or a nice boost as a passive ability. You were only given a small amount to begin with (once you unlocked the ability to use them) and getting the rest of them was your responsibility. You had to search for these magical creatures on your own.Some were really easy to miss, others were right in your face. You didn't have to search for them though. It was entirely up to the player to decide if they wanted to search for them.

What ice cream flavor best represents this game?
Final Fantasy VI is more like the building blocks of ice cream. You can modify the recipe to however you want. It's such a fun thing to tinker with until you get just the right taste that you want. With a cast of 14 characters, your party can vary each time you play through this game. Adding in all the the esper stat boosts, you can make your characters stats to however you want.

Even this late, it is still a blast to play.

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:57:24 +0000

So I boarded the Mass Effect train recently when I found that the series was making the jump to the PS3. Because Mass Effect 1 is so low cost these days or that people love gifting it as well, I found myself with a copy and decided to play it, so that I would be able to experience Mass Effect 2 in its full glory.

Mass Effect 1 is essentially an amalgamation of a third person shooter with RPG elements, such as leveling up characters and applying their status points to numerous stats. It was my first time experiencing such gameplay and found it pretty interesting and fast paced. I relied on the autolevel up mechanics for my character and then other characters that one can have in their parties for speed of play.

Characters can also specialize in one of multiple types that affects their gameplay, however if they reach a high enough level then they can become a master of say, multiple weapon types instead of just the one for their class. Players can also specialize in combat, biotics, and tech that all affect gameplay such as being able to bear different armor and use different weapons, to being able to hack and disrupt enemies. Finally the cast of AI players that join the player on the story can also specialize in these types, so it provides a bit of various fun in choosing the AI characters for an assignment or mission. Gameplay also afford players with the opportunity to man a vehicle for some missions, and others have some aspect of a time limit imposed on them.

The story spans one of trust, betrayal, and seeking to save the day. Through moral actions chosen in dialogue players can go on to perhaps form relationships with their crew, perform good deeds to gain more paragon points allowing them to convince others during cutscenes to do their bidding, or be a total renegade and kill characters. These decisions ultimately leave one wanting to save at every scene and just watch them over again if they did a different choice. Or it makes one want to play the game again and see what changes. I can say that a decision at the end of the game makes me want to see what will happen if I change.

Ultimately the game is fun in what it achieves and is a great RPG for the stars, the game has great graphics to this day, and is fully voiced (even its robust codex with primary information), and with its interesting moral system and wide scale multi galaxy wide storymode, a joy to play. The game can be completed in just 14 hours if one only does the main quest and maybe one or two sidequests though it easily provides double that time if every assignment is explored (and these have voiced acting too). Definitely check it out!

*its aso available through STEAM

Easily the most famous Final Fantasy.

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:44:35 +0000

What happened in the three hours of the game?
Your name is Cloud and your a mercenary. You were hired by the group known as AVALANCHE. You don't care who gets hurt, as long as no one gets in your way you can do your job. After destroying one of the many energy reactors in the large city, you head to a bar where you discuss your next plan of action. However, after your next mission you get separated from your group and meet a beautiful flower girl. This is where the game starts to pick up in story.

What was the most challenging part you completed?
Some people may disagree, but getting a gold chocobo. If you didn't have the guide or the internet you were forced to guess the possible combinations just to get this fabled golden bird. Even if you did have the right combination of chocobos you weren't guaranteed to get the golden one every time.
it was really just time consuming.

What was the best part of the story?
Slowly figuring out Clouds mind. The whole game you're left to wonder what's with this spiky jerk. then finally everything is slowly dropped on you, you finally begin to realize even before he does how tormented his past truly is. Every thing leads to the point of finally understanding what makes cloud tick.

Share the most innovative gameplay mechanic.
Easily the Materia. It didnt seem like much, but you had to really think about what you wanted to bring use. they would have the smallest of side effects at first, but after equipping a lot those small side effects grew to big effects (not all of them were good). It was simple yet complicated at the same time.

What ice cream flavor best represents this game?
Vanilla. It is easily the most loved flavor of all ice creams just like how VII is one of the most loved of the RPG genre.

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by SupaPhly

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:44:55 +0000

HAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H47ow4_Cmk0

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by Zero_Destiny

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:20:07 +0000

A game with great gameplay mechanics and some hardcore boss fights but kind of a silly story. Started out good but wow after a while I couldn't take it seriously anymore. Regardless a good enough game but the story really left me frustrated.

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by Zero_Destiny

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:17:11 +0000

A TRUE masterpiece and is where the Final Fantasy series peaked. One of the best in story and gameplay. Any fan of RPG's owe it themselves to play this game. 14 main playable characters, espers, tactical war battles, and steam-punk elements with some of the best written characters around. If you're not happy with it you should just stop playing RPG's right now.

Final Fantasy 4 Quick Tip by Zero_Destiny

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:13:45 +0000

Great remake that brought a lot of new to the table while still staying true to the original. Take it from me who at this time has played FF4 six times with six different versions. Don't listen to the haters. Plus I love the graphics come on guys how can you not. It reminds me of Final Fantasy IX which only helps to make it look even better.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Quick Tip by Zero_Destiny

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:11:46 +0000

Fun tactics game with a great sense of humor that helped to put NISA on the map. Highly suggest it as well. :)

Final Fantasy Tactics Quick Tip by Tarlol

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:23:41 +0000

Matsuno and crew really set the standard for all Japanese strategy games with this and Tactics Ogre, didn't they? Probably my personal favorite video game.

Valkyria Chronicles Quick Tip by DaiRaioh

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:46:31 +0000

Oh boy, when this isn't an amazing game, then I for sure don't know what one is. Valkyria Chronicles has everything you can wish for, fantastic cast of characters(Vyse, Aika and Fina are returning from Skies of Arcadia baby!!), a lot of action, amazingly well thought maps which more than once challenges your tactical skills and a good written story, about a fictional WWII.
The game is told in chapters, like a book, with mostly fantastic made cutscenes in nice cell shading, you can modify your weapons and your tank, you can train your squad, but even with all that it never becomes to easy, it's not too hard either, it just calls for you actually thinking while playing, because if not you will see the game over screen more than you like.
It's a very special game, but everyone who has a PS3 and still don't own this game, give this here a chance, if you like strategic war games and like the Anime style behind it you won't be disappointed!

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by Mr_Mee

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:46:18 +0000

Great story with even better music. Interesting stat building system. The villain would laugh at Sephiroth (litterally) as he performed something that many villains only dream of. Many of the characters have great, heartfelt stories. There are points in the game where it seems to lose a little focus, but it is worth it in the end. The ending is very exciting with a great musical score attached. This is one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by DaiRaioh

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:34:31 +0000

Probably my favorite FF of all time. The interactions and relationships between the cast is beautifully made and I never thought of: "man that's boring, when is the cutscene over so I can go back to playing"
It's a big world full of great events, the good old love relationship, and the good old apocalypse super monster that wants to destroy the whole world. The gameplay is easy to learn you have three members in your main party, but can switch them whenever you want in battle, everything is turn based and a lot of times I actually had to think about what I am doing, before actually doing it, so it's never going to be too easy, except you maxed the skillchart. This can be a bit annoying, but goes easy if you put your time in it.
All I can say is the game is one fascinating RPG, with a loveable story and a funny and loveable cast, mixed with a great turn based RPG system, with a lot of side quests and things to explore, don't miss it!

Final Fantasy Tactics Quick Tip by Mr_Mee

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:33:37 +0000

Fantastic and meaty tactical RPG with a great soundtrack to boot. It was only barred by its lackluster translation(which was improved greatly in the PSP release)

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Quick Tip by Draparde

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:31:24 +0000

An incredibly addicting and Hilarious, the story is not terribly long but the end game content lasts 100s of hours.

Final Fantasy 4 Quick Tip by Mr_Mee

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:26:44 +0000

Even with the new graphics and voice action, this game still felt exactly like the SNES original that I fell in love so many years ago. Moreover, the difficulty was perfect.and I enjoyed the updated soundtrack arrangements.

Dragon Age: Darkspawn Chronicles DLC Quick Tip by CharlesLupula

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:26:20 +0000

Not one of the better DLC add-ons for the game. You basically play a generic darkspawn that's supposed to be a Grey Warden who failed the joining ritual. Yet, there's nothing to distinguish your character from the tons of other faceless darkspawn.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness Quick Tip by SolidusSnake

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:10:59 +0000

Awesome RPG, story is hilarious and doesn't take itself seriously, great characters, gameplay is deep and VERY addictive.

Final Fantasy Tactics Quick Tip by SolidusSnake

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:10:06 +0000

Great game, story is focused around political strife just like EVERY SRPG ever made, but it's very dark and well-written. One of the best stories in the FF series.

Final Fantasy 4 Quick Tip by SolidusSnake

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:08:42 +0000

Great game, but the chibi / super deformed graphics of the remake did not do it for me.

If you thought The Avengers where awesome, Wait till you Create the Ultimate Alliance.

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:32:47 +0000

Originally released for the Xbox 360 Marvel Ultimate Alliance was later ported to the Wii and Playstation 3 consoles. Developed by Raven Software and Vicarious Visions and, published by Activision Ultimate alliance was released for the Wii on November 16th 2006.

The premise of the game is simple, Dr Doom and the Masters of evil are close to seizing an immense amount of power. In response to this new threat Colonel Nick Fury assembles a team of Super Heroes (The Ultimate Alliance) to combat this new enemy.

Marvel ultimate Alliance is an Action-RPG, at any time during gameplay players can take control of any one of the four heroes currently available to them. As you play through the game more Super hero characters from the Marvel universe become available to you, the more you play the more closer you become to putting together a true Ultimate Alliance. But if your feeling nostalgic you recreate teams already found in the Marvel Universe (X-men, The Avengers, The Defenders, The Fantastic Four, etc), the great thing is if you choose to go this route you are rewarded with extra points and bonuses. At its core Ultimate Alliance is basically an RPG, all the characters you unlock are upgradeable and will level up the more you use them. But beware if you prefer to use a certain character on your team more than the others you may notice they will become a lot stronger and level up quicker than the others, luckily for your there are S.H.I.E.L.D Credits. S.H.I.E.L.D credits are an in-game currency, they can be obtained from defeated enemies or by destroying objects. On top of being able to buy alternate outfits for your characters S.H.I.E.L.D credits can also be used to buy upgrades for your characters, that way your entire team is balanced Character upgrades can also be obtained from Bosses, when you defeat a boss they will drop upgrades beware though which ever character picks up the upgrade gets upgraded. It doesn't apply to the whole team first come first served. So if you wanted Spiderman to get the Body upgrade and you used Wolverine to pick it up then wolverine gets the upgrade. During the main campaign you will come across S.H.I.E.L.D simulator discs, these discs allow you to enter the S.H.I.E.L.D simulator.

The S.H.I.E.L.D simulator is a program that allows you to play through some of the greatest moments in the Marvel Universe. If you choose to use the simulator your current games progress will be saved until you are done, if you choose not to it will be saved for later at Tony Starks Tower. On top of this there is also an arcade mode (sorry I never got to try this out) and lastly because the Wii doesn't have an online component there in instead local multiplayer. (drop-in drop-out Co-op)

Graphics wise the game looks ok. This was only my second time playing Dungeon Crawling RPG on the Wii, as far as I know the graphics were ok. The cutscenes could have been a little better though. Gameplay wise Ultimate Alliance on top of being an Action RPG is also a beat em up, so expect to spend lots of time button mashing and because this is the Wii version also expect a lot of waggling and hand gestures. The Controls were easy to learn, the motion component as with most Launch Titles on the Wii can be a little complicated but as always practice makes perfect.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance isn't perfect, some gripes I had with the game were, sometimes your Al team members took a while to notice enemies on screen, most times they will be surrounded by like 6 bad guys but they will all gang up on one guy instead of each going after there own targets, the Character customization can be very tedious, and the game gets kind of repetitive after awhile. With that being said Ultimate Alliance is still a very good game, The voice acting was great, although tedious the character customization was super cool, the length was descent (a little over 10 hours) and If you're a fan of Marvel comics there alot of fan service in this title. Marvel Ultimate Alliance gets an 8.5 out of 10.

heres the official site
http://mua1.marvelultimatealliance.com/

view this review with screen shots

http://kingrex32.webs.com/apps/blog/show/518...nce-review-by-kingrex32

D.C. and the Raider Party.

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 16:22:59 +0000

Overview- For the most part, Fallout 3 is a plain and simple open world RPG. It has perks, classes, looting, character design, and basically everything else you'll find in a core RPG experience. What seperates Fallout 3 from the masses, has got to be its compelling formula for unfolding events. The game really does make you want to go to your destination, really really badly! So, we would all rush to the next objective we wanted to complete, and bam! Here comes the XP and caps baby. This game to me has teh feeling of being "too fun". "How can a game be too fun?" you ask, well here's my thought. A few people have expressed how bad the ending was, when in reality it was an "ok" ending to a great game. I've found that most of the people that have taken sides against this game, have actually bought the game and spent many hours playing it. Which begs the question, "Well if you didn't like it, or it had too many glitches, then why'd you play enough to beat it?" Well, folks the answer is simple, the game was borderline addicting, causing us to treat Fallout's rendition of D.C., as our own personal stash of crack, and it was some really good stuff!

Story Introduction and Premise

The story in this game overall is actually a weakpoint, this is one of the few games out there that sells on its environment. I have had way more fun doing all of the cool, funny side quests scattered around the wasteland. Plus this game is funny! I gotta say, keeping a sense of humor in such a dreary setting is difficult, but Bethesda cracked this one out of the park. With all the little puns and nuances in the story line, and dialogue, there will be more than a couple times you'll find yourself smirking at the little things.

Gameplay

Graphics and Sound--Production Values

Final Fantasy X Quick Tip by TheJohn

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:56:52 +0000

Took FF VIII's problems and ramped them up with annoying characters, bizzare character models and a too futurey look that makes me think it would have been better off just being it's own game and not Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy VI Quick Tip by TheJohn

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:55:13 +0000

More characters and drama in what is to me, the last good Final Fantasy game before Playstation got it's hooks into it.

Final Fantasy IV Quick Tip by TheJohn

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:53:15 +0000

FF's corny story roots were starting to show here but the game and story are still good here. To ME, this was still Final Fantasy and a great part of my youth.

Chrono Trigger Quick Tip by TheJohn

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:51:49 +0000

Great RPG with it's time travel element put into keep you hopping from place to place to see what secrets you unlock.

Mass Effect Quick Tip by Mega_Dan

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:02:14 +0000

Combat is fun most of the time. Planetary exploration sucks. Story is good.

Interesting, if not a tough, read

Mon, 7 Jun 2010 11:35:01 +0000

Suffice to say that gaming novels seem to be the big thing these days as people are looking to get more and more out of the games that they love. Does The Infernal City do what it needs to do in order to generate interest or is it just a waste of time and space?

Setting reference
Suffice to say that having an idea about the setting itself is something that is going to be required to really understand this novel. I didn't have a great idea about TES in the past other than they were games that sort of annoyed me as first person styled games. However, I know that they are rich in story so I decided to give it a go. If ever you feel lost, you can always look up the background story and where this book would refer to the games in the past.

Writing
I have to admit that once I let go of the need to understand WHO the characters were and WHY they did what they did, it really did turn into a page turner. The concept is interesting enough with a floating city and after a long set up (nearly half the book) trying to get the great atmosphere going, it seemed far too short. Clocking in at 288 pages, it is much smaller than some of the other novels out there and really should have been the two books in the series combined together instead of stretching it out a bit.

All in all, the story is at a loss and ends far too quickly for its own good. It is so abrupt that I had to try and read it again thinking that I was missing something or that some of the pages stuck together for some reason. However, to my dismay, it just sort of ends. I know that it is supposed to be some sort of cliffhanger to allow the reader to be more interested as time goes on but nothing is more annoying after having to spend $14 cover price to find out that you don't really get a full story out of the novel.

Characters
The characters themselves are interesting enough and have some of the standard archetypes for the genre involved. Treb is the prince who thought he was a hero but instead finds out his life is a lie. Annaïg is the standard girl without a care trying to do whatever she needs to do to get the job done. Glim is the standard lizardman that you might find wherever lizardmen are. Even Sul seems a standard when he makes his appearance. While this might be a testament to how expansive the series is that the main characters in a moment aren't that grand, they certainly aren't that memorable either. You certainly won't walk around and think about those characters or the moments that affect their lives save for the very last chapter which sort of seemed tacked on.

Setting Interest Generation (SIG)
We all know that in the end, these novels are supposed to either generate interest for the setting that they are written for or they are supposed to set the plate for another setting coming soon. While we all know that this book introduces the next TES game to the series, I will have to admit that I was interested enough to try and go back to play the older TES games in the series. Granted, I might not have as long of an interest or as deep of an interest as the other games out there, but it did do enough of a job to get me going.

Overall
Is it the best novel I have read? Not really. Is it the best novel based off of a video game? Not even close. While this book did do its job, it did it sort of feebly and is so wide open in the end that it seems almost a crime to leave it where it stood. I finished up the second half of this book in an hour and a half after struggling with caring for the first half, which means that this was a struggle to write as it was to read. I will have to wait until the second half of this book comes out to reserve my overall judgment of this before casting too many stones but it is a good idea to wait a little unless you absolutely cannot do without new TES stories.

Turning your 2D world all blocky!

Sat, 5 Jun 2010 18:40:01 +0000

Sometimes you manage to catch a little lightning in a bottle when you combine nostalgia and humor. Sometimes it brings back good memories and other times it can make a new trend. Where does this game fall in and will it stand the test of time to be its own nostalgia.

Story
The story is simple enough if you have managed to play any sort of action RPG from the eighties. You are a hero, you are off to save the world and you will do a lot of things over and over again. What makes this slightly different is that the game doesn't take itself seriously and it shows. From the tongue in cheek references to the over the top characters, you will certainly not have a problem in accepting this game, if you know the jokes.

Gameplay
Standard gameplay from your typical eighties action RPG game. You move with the left stick/d-pad and attack with the standard buttons, one being your normal attack and the other being a secondary weapon or magic. The difference is that instead of just managing to stay healthy to have a powerful weapon, you can upgrade the soul weapon you have to do greater damage and the size to nearly take up the screen.

And what a weapon it can be (if you manage to stay healthy). Your sword is a master of space consumption and will do a healthy chunk of damage, but it comes at a price. The upgrades can be expensive and you can be fooled into thinking that bigger is better. I learned this the hard way myself, don't fall for that trap! The nice addition to this concept though is the ability to "swing" your sword; by pressing the attack button and giving your directional control a little move, you can actually swing the sword at a 45 degree turn, allowing for the ability to take out an approaching monster from a safe distance. It is clear that the programmers had this in mind as they certainly try to force you into this, sometimes it can be very frustrating if you manage to take on some of these enemies head on.

Towns are standard fare for an homage to the action RPG game; there is an inn, an item store, a weapon place and a few treasure chests nestled in with all of the random and crazy quests that you can do for the crazy people of Dotnia. Dungeons are also standard fare, having traps and puzzles to sort out in order to unlock the path as you play along. Sometimes they are quite easy and sometimes they can be quite frustrating. It is this balance that manages to make this game more appealing as you play it, making it not overly challenging but still easy enough to push onto the next dungeon.

Graphics and sounds
Simple in its complexity. There are sometimes where the words less is more means a lot and in this case, less of the poly and more of the pixel gives this game great form and function. Sure, it looks a little odd to be running around as a 3D version of a blocky hero but it still will give you warm and fuzzies as you see your hero (either taken from the standard sprites available or one that you created) running around slashing people with their large sword. What a sprite editor there is! While it does take some time getting used to, there is a depth there that is worthy of playing around with. Heck, you can even take the pre-existing sprites and adjust them to your liking, learning by backwards engineering, as it were.

The sprites in Dotnia are amazing but what makes the scene is the sound. The music is quite catchy and may be a little repetitive but that is ok because you will be humming those tunes to yourself as you go along. The rest of the game manages to capture the blingles and chimes of the older games to heart, allowing for some great moments and some warm smiles as you manage to find the apples, recover a lost artifact or find something important in a chest somewhere. It is all seemless and quite agreeable.

Staying Power
While there is no need to go through and do an expansion or DLC in this instance, this will be the birth of a new series for sure. From Software can easily crank these out, perhaps doing their take on the Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior for those in the US) franchise. While it might get a little old and long in the tooth, it can have the distance and staying power, for sure.

Overall
Yes, I have heard the outcries that this game rips off the Nintendo franchise that starts with a Z almost sprite for sprite, action by action. While it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I do not see 3D Dot Game Heroes kicking that Z game out of its place in history. iF anything, it is doing what it can to celebrate that games place and try to remind people how good games were before the need to have voice actors, long movie style cutscenes or large tomes called strategy guides. It is a simpler game made with complex equipment and I would have it any other way!

Fallout 3: Real Time Strategy unofficial PC add-on is as good as it sounds

Sun, 30 May 2010 05:39:37 +0000

Yeah, yeah... I know, another Fallout 3 review. Except that it is NOT! This write up is going to go over the add-on that seems to have inspired Obsidian for their rumored create-a-town addition for Fallout: New Vegas

Overview
This is pretty much as it sounds, it is an add-on that can be downloaded via any nexus of Fallout 3 goodness (a hint in there? Who knows?) which adds in a new wrinkle to the Fallout 3 game. Instead of it being another dungeon crawler, stylized nudity and pornographic actions or the ability to make new characters, this adds something completely different; strategy and town building. While it seems like it might be a bad addition, it certainly does everything right.

Story Introduction and Premise
The basic story isn't all that complicated. Once you leave Vault 101 and make your way any direction, you will run into settlers that seem to want to set up shop somewhere. You, as a fresh vaulter, might or might not have an idea as to where to set them up at. If you don't, they default to setting up right on top of Vault 101 (don't worry, the door is unobscured) but if you do, you can have them build pretty much anywhere. While you move on with your game, you get updates from the town that is being created and even can go visit to set up the layout of your town in general, adding on new settlers via recruitment and even taking them to task against raiders that will try and invade your town, giving you quite the power over the peons from the Wasteland.

Value Added
The value added is immense if you like Real Time Strategy games, even if you don't it is still a great little add on to give you something else to do besides run away from whatever it is that wants to kill you. It is also unintrusive, letting you carry on with your game without tipping the scales or ruining the pure game experience. While you might garner some extra weapons, ammo and the like it won't be as overpowering as the ability to hire anyone or give them sexy bodies to look at while the people who are shooting at them keep missing.

While you might be tempted to play with this the first thing out of the vault and your first time through the game, I would highly recommend waiting until you have beaten the game at least once. This way, you can still enjoy the original run through and STILL have a great excuse to come back to the Wastelands.

Overall
If you have any PC version of Fallout 3 (Standard or GotY), you should go get this almost immediately. If you have the console version and are kicking around the idea of getting the PC version, this would be the one that would bring you into the fold. While it is overly complicated to try and adjust to the PC, you can always get a 360 controller and map out the controls like you were playing a console anyway. Hell, this and the Evergreen patch made me spend the money on a higher end laptop and a copy of FO3GotY just to play around with it.

Great RPG concept, terrible PSP delivery

Sun, 30 May 2010 05:00:53 +0000

After the build up that I had for this game, I have to say that this was quite the disappointment to yours truly. While many RPGs arrive on handhelds, not many have the fortitude or the ability to be portable and still a great RPG. Where does this game fall?

Story
Having only played one side of the game (the dark side, what self respecting RPG head would want to play the Luminous side?), the dark side boils down to a forgetable, generic style game that reminded me a lot of Jeanne D'Arc more than anything. You are Levant von Schweitzer, who is betrayed by your beloved Emperor and friend after his love is slain by dark, mysterious forces that... that... *yawn* Sorry, I was just so bored by the set up that it translated into my writing. Levant finds out that he is the weilder of one of the mysterious Hexyz and off he goes to find himself, about true love and tolerance of others... As you can see, quite epic (notice the sarcasm here).

Gameplay
Your standard turn based RPG with a little twist that really did kill this for me personally. Instead of having standard actions like attack, defend and magic/abilities, everything is tied into action points (lovingly renamed into something generic that I cannot recall because its power of genericness made me forget) which will allow you to do basic attacks, grand attacks, great combos and powerful custom tailored moves. While that is all and good for some strategy games, this really does fall flat on its face when it comes to a straight RPG. Really, when was the last time you were in a turned based RPG and had to defend three times in a row because you ran out of action points? Not very many and if there were, they weren't very good.

Menus are standard fare as well, leaving little to the imagination though that is actually a good thing when it comes to a handheld RPG. Equiping items is very standard, go get something more powerful and replace weaker item, though having an unheard of four accessory slots seems almost overkill in the long run. Perhaps they are there to really point out how weak these characters are, perhaps that is just the standard they went with but really, too much. As you play though the story, the game sets itself up with a few choices here and there to give the raw illusion that you are affecting something greater in the long run but really, do not be fooled in the slightest.

Graphics and Sound
Not bad at all for a PSP game, thought the rigid character portraits over the gameplay sprites seems a bit overkill as well. Don't get me wrong, the artwork is fantastic and I loved looking at them when they were on my screen but there is something to be said about losing yourself in the medium. As in Jeanne D'Arc, I was drawn into the limited and limitless emotions of the sprites as they delivered their lines while Hexyz certainly distracted me and kept reminding me that I wasn't really supposed to be paying attention to the sprites while they talked, which is a shame because on a PS scale, they are quite beautiful to look at.

Sound is standard for an Atlus and Sting game, great music for battles and standard actions and voices are good fits for their characters (except for Irene who sounds like she could be working on a severe case of emphysema at this point in the game) which makes for some believable parts and great moments.

Portability
RPGs rarely translate well in the portable form simply because going through dungeons or over land without having access to save points makes for a long gaming experience. Hexyz does well to try and combat this problem but in the end, it just seems that this should have been a PS2 title/PSN title direct download mini game instead of a PSP game.

Overall
Really, this isn't even the greatest game from STING, much less the greatest Atlus game on the PSP. I am sure there will be people who will like this game but there is just something a bit off about this little guy. He might not do everything well but he means well and wants to make sure you are happy. If you can get into the game that deep, then I am sure you will find a pleasurable gaming experience... Just make sure that your PSP charger is ready to go because it will need it every time you burn through another dungeon while trying to manage your action points...

3D Dot Game Heroes Quick Tip by LeiffyV

Sun, 30 May 2010 04:32:33 +0000

Great 2D sprite action in the third dimension!

Final Fantasy VII Quick Tip by LeiffyV

Thu, 27 May 2010 13:07:24 +0000

While this might have been the tipping point in modern RPG, it was certainly not the best ever made.

Valkyria Chronicles Quick Tip by LeiffyV

Thu, 27 May 2010 13:06:44 +0000

If you loved Skies of Arcadia, get this one made by the same team!

Never has the Apocalypse been so boring

Thu, 27 May 2010 12:03:39 +0000

A developing taste for me has been Post Apocalypse RPGs thanks to the greatness that has been the Fallout series. There is an unhindered depth that can be offered it is done right, and Nier goes to prove how you can do it wrong.

Gameplay
It seemed as if the developers had been slightly lazy or maybe a bit too artistic for their efforts as everything that you do has a lot of slop and far too many stitches to be smooth. One moment you are in the third person view with sloppy camera action to 2.5 dimension view in rooms to talk to people and then to 2.5 overhead view in select views in dungeons, thus leading to some very disorientating moments and the need to attach a sick bag with the instruction manual.

Combat is your standard fare; button mash like crazy as you run around between enemies, keep it going until the waves of enemies die off, move onto another area. Rinse, lather, repeat. While the combat is smooth as far as presentation and the additional magical attacks are nice to have as far as that dark flavor, they are certainly hard to control and I was never able to find a lock button to lock onto my opponents (I rented the game, after I saw how bad it was I wanted to get rid of it ASAP).

Menus are what really broke my back on this game, this might seem a little nitpicking on my part but you will see why it is important. Being an old school RPG'er like I am, I have a set standard for when it comes to harvesting my products that I manage to find out in the wild. If I need a potion, I want to be able to find it. When companies make it a relfective jounrey about mans injustice towards dolphins while giving me a tutorial on how I can emit less hatred by wearing tin foil on my head, I tend to want to kill more and more. The menu system in Nier rates up their with one of the worst I have seen, instead of a menu is it motion context sensitive by pushing the direction towards the item you want to use and then it is used. That is a good way of blowing through items if you didn't notice it was effective.

Graphics and Sound
The graphics on this game is quite amazing (playing it on a PS3 so I am not sure if it translated out as well on the 360) with some rich details and great character design. Even the less than stellar generic designs certainly look as if they are amazing compared to some other games. Character design is great too, more on the darker side of things which seems like it could have had a lot of potential.

Souds are rich as well, with the soundtrack giving the proper atmosphere and the voice acting fitting well with certain characters while not fitting with others (remember back in the day when we didn't actually NEED voice acting? Ah, those were good times...), but all in all on the positive side. However, if I have to hear one more time that vegetables are on sale at the village square when I run by and I am minding my own business, I will have to do something vile to puppies... Just saying...

Lasting Power
While I am sure that there will be some people who will worship at the altar that is Nier, in general it certainly doesn't have any lasting power. While this might be taken as a slam, the ability to extend the game with DLC is the nature of the game these days and I just can't see Sq-En devoting any resources to this game since it is getting less than stellar reviews.

Overall
A game that could have had some great potential is undermined by its own developer by trying to be different and artistic. Instead of making everything slightly different, they could have concentrated on a few things greatly different and given Nier that dark, gritty feel to make it one of the best new IPs that Sq-En came up with. While I won't completely bury a series, I will say it will take some serious redirection and a new development house to make this game what it CAN be instead of an art project.

Rent this to see what you think, don't waste your money on a sight unseen buy

Want to play the bad guy? Darkspawn Chronicles allows you to do that!

Tue, 25 May 2010 04:27:18 +0000

In the latest DLC to be offered from Bioware and EA, we are allowed to partake in one of the biggest battles of the game as a member of the other team, the Blight. While this little bit of Alt History is a slice of entertainment, does it mean that this was worth the price of admission at five dollars/400 points?

Story
The story is pretty simple; what if your character never survived the joining? Again, it is a piece of Alt History in a game that claims to have no real canon so it is a fun way to look at the other side of the story, even for a few moments. While there is no emotional attachment to any of the characters that you control, there is a little sting in killing the members you had come to enjoy while playing the original game and even a little joy in killing the ones that you hated (I am looking at you, Zevran!).

Gameplay
The gameplay is what you would come to expect from the Dragon Age: Origins game, you control one person in the game while giving orders or even cycling through each unit to control their actions. However, instead of being indepth with personal story and background, as the Darkspawn there is just straight, nameless cannon fodder that have a specific reason for a specific area. There are a few gifts that you can give here and there but they certainly do not have any value for your nameless minions since odds are more than likely you will be killing them off yourself in order to obtain another minion instead.

Graphics & Sound
The same that you would expect from Dragon Age: Origins, except that the voiceovers are limited to grunts, cackles and great growls. This certainly gives you a darker atmosphere to work with and it was nice to not hear Alistair joking, Morrigan complaining, Wynn emitting old and whatnot. You certainly do not hear the battle cries from the companions that you had kept company with, nor do you hear their agonizing screams (at least I didn't, I had people kill them for that).

DLC Lasting Impact
Besides the entertaning "Slaughter the good guys" aspect of this game, there really isn't any deep replayability to speak of. The rewards it leaves you with (BlightBlood) is quite impressive and looks nice but really has no lasting impact either. Eventually you will find something better in the game but it will still be there when you need to see the poison vapors trailing from its blade.

Final Thoughts
Really, this is a little fluff piece and nothing else. The way that everyone hyped it (the ability to play through the entire game as Darkspawn, not just the end battle) naturally lead to some disappointment but in the end, it still does the job. While you will give FAR MORE information from the books that are out for the game, you can still crack a little smile when you know that the Ogres that are laying waste in front of you are on your team instead of fighting against you. 3 out of 5, average at best.

You got your Pen and Paper in my Console RPG!

Wed, 19 May 2010 07:33:03 +0000

So since this is an RPG hub, I am going to throw this out there as a review to change things up a bit. This is a review for a product that was from a Console RPG (See any Dragon Age link or review), taking it and making it into a pen and paper RPG that the whole family can enjoy (and by family, I mean your friendly DM, a few fellow players and a bag full of dice)!

Availability
Rare. This game setting has seen a huge upswing since the release of the console and subsequent DLC packages, feuling a great urge for the fanboy to have everything (hides all of his Dragon Age paraphenalia). If you are looking for a soft copy, you can go to Green Ronin and order it directly or go through the affiliated resellers. If you are looking for a hard copy, best of luck! I managed to snag the last copy in the county with no hopes of getting any more for another few months to say the least. Granted, it is a limited audience but still...

What’s Inside?

This is a good question, for those of you that are familiar with the standard 1E/2E fair, you will know what comes inside; for those of you newer to the Pen and Paper gig, it comes in a box set which contains a few smaller books, a map and a bag of dice. Contents are as follows:

-1 Player’s Guide
-1 Game Master’s Guide
-1 6 section Map of Ferelden
-1 baggie of (3) 6 sided dice
-1 Glossy box (Yes, I am counting the box)

Contents
Pretty straight and simple, each book is a high gloss 64 page booklet with enough information to allow you to play from level one to level five of Bioware’s world (with the threat looming that level expansions of level 6-10 and level 11-15 hanging over my head). The map is decent quality to use in a table top, pen and paper game though the cloth map that comes in the collector’s edition version of Dragon Age might translate better. The bag of dice is standard fare, decent quality for what is being offered (in other words; nothing shiny, standard issue, no frills).

The Player’s Guide is just that, a breakdown of Fereldin itself with the basic classes available (Warrior, Mage, Rogue) as well as races available (Dwarf, City Elf, Dalish Elf, Human) and various skills and magic as you might see in the Console game of Dragon Age itself. Really, it is full of quality fluff and gives you the feel of Ferelden without too much fuss.

The Game Master’s Guide presents itself with a few sections; the first is the general GM (Game Master) view of the world and how to do so if you had no clue how to do it already. The second section is the basic core of Ferelden (Monsters, Blight, Demons, etc). The third section is the rewards section (I will take my critical striking Vorpal Sword of plus a million now, thank you very much!) and the last section is a sample adventure that can be run.

The Map is a map, what do you want?

Playability

If you have played any sort of table top game before, you are not going to see anything outstanding or new with this box set. While it might be a Dark Fantasy, it is still just a Pen and Paper game. Green Ronin is not out to reinvent the wheel (glaring at Wizards of the Coast and fourth edition) nor are they going to take a huge chance on Electronic Arts license and do something ill advised. It is basic stuff that allows you to tailor your campaign to it or even expand the game past the sample adventure.

The crux of the system is the 3d6 based system, which some gamers might find hard to get over after a lifetime of rolling d10s or d20s. While it is great that I can use the contained system with three simple dice that I can buy at the local liquor store before game starts, it certainly gives it that odd “slightly off kilter” feeling to it. Traditionalists will get cranky and Console gamers will look at the six sided dice and wonder where the X button is. All in all, it works but doesn’t fit in completely, leaving the system as a whole to look like you are looking in a funhouse mirror.

Overall

This is a great purchase if you are a fanboy or a hardcore gamer. The story of Dragon Age is rich in gaming prospects and will allow you to play a little dirty with the rules and your players. If you are new to the Pen and Paper setting, you might want to wait until you have a little more under your belt or find someone who has managed to translate the system to the generic OGL/D20 settings (it is ok, you can go ask your geek friends about what the hell I was just talking about). I would say to wait until Green Ronin introduces some more product on Dragon Age itself (adventures, the subsequent level sections) and even see if they introduce a hard bound copy of the system itself to save you money.

Of course, I am not JUST saying it because I know T.S. Luikart personally and I am hoping that Green Ronin might kick down some loving to me because I love what they do… NEVER!

All in all, give it a go PDF format first and if you like what you see, by all means get the hard copy edition, it will be a great addition of flavor to your gaming library!

Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber Quick Tip by LeiffyV

Tue, 18 May 2010 04:37:24 +0000

Getting the Virtual Console version? Have an SD Card ready!