SCRAWL’s Sal writes: "The latest issue of Famitsu has officially Neptune for PlayStation 3. It’s a PlayStation 3 role-playing game scheduled to launch in Japan this summer. It’s also the game Compile Heart launched a countdown to this morning."
Sarah LeBoeuf of Gamervision writes: "When Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002, I thought there had never been a game more made for me. A Squaresoft role-playing game that merged classic Disney characters with some memorable faces from the Final Fantasy franchise, yet delivered an entirely new and enthralling story and addictive action-RPG gameplay? Done and done. Even before I played it, I knew I loved it, and after playing it multiple times, I loved it even more. I anxiously awaited the release of Kingdom Hearts II, even shelling out for a limited-edition art book strategy guide in early 2006, despite the fact that new games were a rare luxury because of my financial situation at the time. I was living in a tiny studio apartment in Philadelphia, and I vividly remember spending that spring sitting in front of my tiny television, continuing Sora’s story as I had waited to do for almost four years."
Kotaku: Players of the original Mass Effect had a big impact on the story of the second, if they imported their character save from the first game. BioWare imported some 700 player choices and associated plot points into Mass Effect 2.
BioWare lead cinematic designer Armando Troisi said during today’s Mass Effect 2 Game Developers Conference session that it was "the small things" that mattered when carrying over player data from the original Xbox 360 and PC sci-fi role-playing game.
Platform: PC
Developer/Publisher: Icarus Studios, LLC
Genre: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG)
Verdict: Ideal for those looking for a more ‘hardcore’ MMO
Pros: No class system allows many combinations of character; excellent crafting systems
Cons: steep learning curve; lack of structure may bother some players
Acquired: Developer Provided
Price: $40, $15 per month
At first I really wasn’t very sure about Fallen Earth. Knowing nothing about it before loading up the game, I was a little unsure of the very drab interiors of the instanced tutorial section and especially the fact that nothing felt particularly compelling. In the first hour or so of Fallen Earth it all felt just a little bit too mundane and average to be anything special. There’s no polish here, nor is it the most welcoming of games. Fortunately it turns out that first impressions are extremely deceiving as once I got under the surface of Fallen Earth, it was quickly apparent that this is an unique and great MMORPG, providing you pay it the respect it deserves.
You see Fallen Earth isn’t the most forgiving of MMOs at all. Once the tutorial makes way for the vast post-apocalyptic world that Fallen Earth offers, there’s an awful lot to take in and no sign of the simplicity that the likes of World of Warcraft offers. However that’s certainly no bad thing once you accept that you’ve got a lot to figure out. There’s no hand holding or stupidly obvious ‘Go here, do this’ style quest NPCs. This is both a curse and a blessing as I can see many people giving up far too quickly in favour of simpler, but less rewarding, games. Stick by Fallen Earth though and you’ll be rewarded with an experience that gives you more choices than nearly any other MMO in years. The desolation of the bleak wastelands around you are intimidating in their vastness and it’ll be many hours until you adjust your expectations appropriately and simply enjoy the fact that there’s no ’set’ path to take. Fallen Earth doesn’t even feel like a game where players must rush to the end game quickly to see the ‘full’ game, the journey there is just as important.
Unlike more conventional MMOs there is no class system to be confined to. There are templates that you can choose to follow but for the most part you can mix and match your skills however you want. This really opens up a lot of options and it’s refreshing to see a game treat its players so maturely, allowing them to really define their character. This is demonstrated even further by the complex crafting system. As you would expect in a post-apocalyptic world, useful items are hard to come by in their complete form, so you’ll quickly rely on the items that you can create yourself. To create such items can take quite a while as initially core materials must be found, in order to start off. After this the actual crafting element can take a long time, comprising of hours sometimes, but fortunately this can be left to finish while you are offline. Something that was used to great effect in the past by Eve Online’s skill system. Crafting is immensely rewarding but much like the rest of the game, players do need to be committed to the effort. At least if you’re the lazy sort of MMO player, you can always buy items from other players through an auction house system. The crafting system was what really drew me into Fallen Earth. Being able to craft all my weaponry and even build my own ATV felt like a great accomplishment, much more so than levelling up in other, more mainstream MMOs.
I found most of my time in Fallen Earth was spent playing alone. Solitary existence just felt more appropriate given the backdrop of the game. There are fortunately a number of group quests available but I found Fallen Earth to be less sociable than most MMOs.
Fallen Earth isn’t quite the messiah of MMOs as it does have a steep learning curve at times which is sure to put some players off persevering. This is a shame as give it the respect it deserves and it becomes an extremely rewarding experience. Not least because of the effort that is required in order to progress. It’s a culmination of small, initially mundane sounding things that make it so rewarding. The fact that it explains your ‘respawning’ upon death by showing that you are a clone, or the fact that you can have horses or motor vehicles to travel with but they all need maintaining in some way. It gives the allure of true independence and choice, something that too many MMOs don’t bother with even though surely that’s the entire point of having an entire virtual world at your disposal.
Fallen Earth isn’t for everyone and I can see why some players will be disappointed by the lack of strong structure here, and the unconventional manner of the game. It does feel frequently difficult and unwelcoming in the early stages, but persevere and it becomes a glorious, if unpolished, experience. It’s not a game that you’ll see quick results in and I’d argue that the 10 day trial isn’t long enough to see what’s on offer unless you manage to devote many hours a day to it. However if you have the time and you thrive on an MMO that never patronises you, Fallen Earth is ideal and a perfect niche addition to the genre.
Sharing: It’s Win/Win
Examiner: With Final Fantasy XIII’s release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 quite literally just around the corner (March 9th), it’s time to take a walk down nostalgia lane and revisit the franchise’s distinguished past.
It’s been more than two decades since Final Fantasy debuted in 1987 as director Hironobu Sakaguchi’s last ditch attempt to make video games, and since then the series has evolved greatly. One humongous merger, 12 single-player RPG epics, one Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game with millions of subscribers and countless spin-offs and remakes later, Square Enix has earned itself the reputation of being one of the most influential and prestigious gaming studios in the industry.
However, while gamers tend to remember Final Fantasy more for its halcyon days back on the Super Nintendo and PlayStation, the series has had its share of missteps as well.
With that said, here are some of the most defining, shining highlights in Final Fantasy history, and some of the moments best left forgotten.
PSX Extreme writes: "With so many RPGs hitting in 2010, including one of the most anticipated titles of the generation in Final Fantasy XIII, there’s a good chance we may all have to reshuffle our lists significantly before the year is out. But for now, what’s your favorite role-playing game of the generation?"
This is such a shame. What a waste. Stargate fans around the world are not pleased to see this company file chapter 11 bankruptcy dashing their hopes of the launch of the Stargate Worlds massively multiplayer online role playing game.
Every so often, we’re blessed with a couple of staffers who get a copy of a game, and we ask them to politely discuss the pros and cons of said game in a feature we like to call a dual review. This one, however, got ugly. We’re gonna call this the DUEL review, because…well, read it. You’ll know why.
Platform: PS3, 360, PC, Mac
Developer/Publisher: Bioware/EA
Genre: Role Playing Game
Verdict: Depends on who you ask, but generally – Buy It.
Pros: Characters are well-fleshed out, combat strategy is fulfilling
Cons: Horrifyingly bland facial animations ruin hopes of immersion, no multiplayer options
Acquired: Developer Provided, Staff Purchase
Price: $60
Way back at E3 2004, the world was introduced Dragon Age, marking Bioware’s first foray back into the game-style inspired by Baldur’s Gate. Originally announced as their first PC-exclusive since the aforementioned franchise, Electronic Art’s eventual acquisition of Bioware was greeted with word that the later renamed Dragon Age: Origins would also be coming to the living room in the form of a console game. Whether or not EA had anything to do with Dragon Age coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it was expected that a new RPG franchise from the studio that established the “western RPG” as a viable genre would have be awe-inspiring at the very least. So does Dragon Age: Origins justify its five year gestation period, or has Bioware’s luck finally run out on the PC platform?
As much as a game being the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate should pretty much sell itself, Origins decided to take a different direction, instead focusing on six unique “origin stories.” Each of the six classes provides a completely different introduction and back story, complete with side quests and independent character development. Through this process, players will be re-introduced to the game mechanics, inventory system, dialog trees and combat hierarchy.
After an hour or two of becoming comfortable in one’s proverbial skin, all of the storylines unify, for the push forward into the meat of the quest line. The neat part of what is essentially 6 different tutorials is that decisions that your character makes will affect virtually every aspect of the game going forward. Rarely do developers allow the freedom to make such influential decisions, so early in the game, but let’s not forget, this is Bioware we are talking about.
Allright, I have to butt in here. What the HELL? “Influential decisions” my ass! Look, I played through every. single. beginning. storyline. And let me tell you – they’re interesting and have lots to do in them, but really? You just get to the “Come be a Grey Warden” part of each one and that’s that. The rest of the storyline is SET for you. Yeah, yeah, they mention you being an elf, or a female, or whatever. But you still gotta be a Grey Warden. What if I just want to stick around and work the farm? Rule the kingdom? Jeeze, you’d think there’d be a LITTLE chance of not becoming a freaking “kill everything and get a bunch of sorry-ass magicians, dwarves and elves with their OWN freaking problems to help you out” character.
Well if you would have ever given me a chance you finish, you might have seen that you just completely blew my next point. Great work there Rob! Breathe, Blake… Breathe… Ok, now that the blood is returning from my face, lets touch on what was meant by the phrase “influential decisions.”
When you are playing through a game and a decision, whether it be anything as broad as members of your party or as granular as the weapon loadout that each character has equipped, can make or break your entire campaign going forward, that is kind of a big deal. Now it is hard to say if this is do to just being bad at this style of game or not looking far enough into the future, but on three different occasions it became necessary to restore an old save point, in order to tweak decisions. Last time I checked, that was an “influential decision…” Plus, who the hell wants to play a game about an elven farmer, other than the the target audience of any Nintendo based Harvest Moon snoozefest? Though it might be interesting to stay and remain as a king, I am pretty sure that there are Nintendo properties that cover that well too… See: Little King’s Tale.
Way to go, man. Way to totally de-rail a perfectly good review and well-reasoned interruption. I suppose I have to just interrupt again.
To me, Dragon Age: Origins is a game that loses even as it wins. For one example, look to the characters themselves. Not the one you choose as part of the New Game process, no, but the ones already created for you to “interact” with. Frankly, I’ve become significantly fond of the other party members, to the point where I’d much rather play as one of them. I feel bad when I can’t include them all in each party I send out. They’re well-drawn, well-written, and downright hilarious to listen to. Tromping through towns, dungeons and under the huge mountain of the dwarves, we get to hear Alistair and Morrigan bicker and the Stone Golem wonder at the stupidity of human beings. In fact, these characters are so well thought out that I found it a huge dis-connect when my own character showed up in the cutscenes, saying nothing. Ever. Gordon Freeman is allowed to stay silent. With a cast of characters as colorful as the swashbuckling Zevran to the constantly drunken and belching Oghren, it was stunningly ridiculous to only hear my character yell during battle, and stupid repetitive phrases at that. So, Mr. G, what do you have to say to that?
It is impossible and, dare I say a bit ignorant, to criticize a game a game for being so well flushed out that when it actually allows the player to make a choice, that it disconnects them from the experience. Last time I checked, an RPG that has an immersive world was a positive thing. What part of ROLE PLAYING GAME is so hard to understand here? It is implied by the name of the genre that you are defining the experience through every decision that is made, so why would that even be a valid critique? If you want to complain about not having spoken dialog for your character, then why not criticize Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for not writing lyrics to the ballet Swan Lake? Would it have been nice to hear the responses to your dialog choices be verbalized, ala Mass Effect? Sure. Is it a necessary or even feasible component for a game that has enough original content to span the length of entire calendar days to complete? Hell no…
Another win/lose? The voice acting. It’s fairly stunning, in my opinion. The characters live and breathe and say goofy things and sound like they actually mean what they’re saying, rather than like they’re reading from a script in a sound booth. Why, then, couldn’t BioWare spend a little more time on the facial animations? Have you seen Avatar, Blake? Regardless of whether you think the movie is just a re-hash of Fern Gully or the greatest single cinematic experience of the past decade, you have to admit that those animated aliens could ACT. The ones in Dragon Age? Not so much. The wooden facial animations are so horrible that I find myself not looking at the screen during long expository speeches. They SOUND wonderful. The characters’ anger, joy, laughter and subtle sarcasm all come through when listening to the game. Watching it, though, is like attending the latest local-theater group doing a read through of the telephone book. The animated faces woodenly move their lips, their teeth showing in odd ways, their body language stiff and predictable. What happened, Bioware?
I can tell you what happened: over six years of development, technology advancements and platform changes. Face it, back in 2004 when it was originally announced, this type of character interaction was the norm. It is reasonable to imagine that when they were designing the game’s engine this was perfectly acceptable. At your own admission earlier in the article, you complimented how the supporting cast seemed so well fleshed out. That is not something that happens overnight. I would have much rather them spent the last six years perfecting that, rather than the facial realism and dialog mechanics. This is like the comparison between Assassin’s Creed I and II. Both installments may have had all of the same components, tools, and even core engine, but the original lacked the variety, flair and soul that was perfected in the sequel. If nothing else, Dragon Age has more soul than all of its peers, combined. Too bad that soul it is hidden behind the appearance of a rapidly aging stroke victim.
Honestly, I think they made a mistake in crafting a single player game. Imagine the potential fun of running these stories with a friend; navigating the Fade, smashing your way through endless tunnels under the Dwarven kingdom, working together to solve the mysteries of the Elves and Werewolves. As with most games that rely on cinematic techniques and storytelling traditions, Dragon Age falls prey to the single most devastating factor in the enjoyment of any media entertainment experience – time. Unless uplayers are willing to spend a consecutive 40 or 50 hours in one huge spurt of gaming, all the well-crafted cut scene dialog trees in the world and promised sex scenes will not be as compelling two to three weeks in. I don’t know about you, Blake, but I have a life that includes more than just huddling in front of the computer or console, gripping my controller and moving little avatars of men and women through their paces. The sheer volume of material to move through becomes daunting after a couple of weeks, I’ve found. I just. Don’t. Care. What happens next. It’s got to be one of the main reasons most of us don’t play through video games to completion. The time factor. With a multi-player feature, I might spend more time in the lands of Dragon Age; sharing an experience always brings new perspective and new life to those activities that have lost their initial charm and shine.
Of all of the hairbrained ideas that you have brought to the table, this has to be, by far, the most valid. (HAH!) One of the selling points of Baldur’s Gate, the game for which Dragon Age is modeled after, was the inclusion of multiplayer functionality. Why the spiritual successor to such an influential muliplayer game would lack this critical feature is beyond me. Considering how commonplace co-op gaming has become, this exclusion is borderline inexcusable. Promises of pixelated poon aside, the only thing that could have kept a grasp on my increasingly nonexistant attention span for the gigantic amount of time needed to complete the game would have been a social component. As much as it pains me, I must admit that with this one, you completely hit the nail on the head. In short, Dragon Age is alot like marriage: It can be a time consuming, yet rewarding process, the problem is that it seems like it will go on, ad nauseam. Too bad BioWare forgot that the only thing that makes marriage tolerable is having a partner who is along for the ride and just as invested in seeing things through.
Aww, what a sweet little metaphor. Let me make another one. Dragon Age is like that skateboard you REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted for Christmas when you were ten. You agonized over it, you watched your friend (the one with all the cool toys) ride his up and down the street, you wrote Santa a letter even though you were pretty sure he was a pack of lies wrought by the ruling class to control your behavior. That skateboard had all the sweet new features that you drooled over: fat wheels for serious control, amazing wheel chucks for intense turning ability, a wide sandpaper covered deck that you could almost lay down on in its full roominess. In short, you wanted that skateboard in your mind with the glorious halo and the singing choirs of angels like nothing you had ever yearned for in your short life. Then Christmas came, and “Santa” left you a skateboard alright, but it was a skateboard in name only. Crappy thin wheels, thin little deck made of yellow plastic, barely able to control itself down a driveway, let alone down a huge neighborhood hill. Yeah, it’s a skateboard and yeah it represented the technology that existed when IT was made, but it still sucked because it didn’t maatch that skateboard in your mind. Over time, you found that it rode ok and did some neat things that the big fat skateboards couldn’t, but by then it was too late. You hated skateboarding, Santa, and Christmas in general. You were scarred for life so badly that you have to keep bringing that story up, even in game review articles that….wait. Ahem.
Ahem. Here’s my final word: Dragon Age: kinda cool, doesn’t suck that bad. The end.
Oh, lets not forget about me: Dragon Age: Awesome on so many levels, yet lacking in what should have been its selling point: multiplayer co-op. The end… Again.
A playable demo for Lunar: Silver Star Harmony was recently released for the PlayStation Portable. You can download it from the PSP’s PlayStation Network, which will take about 210MB of memory. In the demo, you’ll get to see the enhanced graphics, animated cutscenes and play through a few battles in the RPG classic. Lunar: Silver Star Harmony is a refreshing return to the role-playing game, which also includes some additions to the story.
As a bonus for completing your first quest in the demo, you’ll get some bonus equipment for use in the full game. Upon completing the demo’s quest, you can create a save file that will store the "demo clear data." The game doesn’t say what the items are. Game publisher XSEED Games has only hinted that it is "bonus starting equipment."
