RandomNPC - Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

(Most of) RandomNPC reflects on their first RPGs and what got them into the genre.

When moving from a bustling city to a quiet rural town, one would usually expect life to become more peaceful, but this isn’t the case in Persona 4. Instead, the main character’s arrival is followed by news of a scandal, and later, a murder. Rather than worry too much about that, he quickly makes a few friends and hears an interesting rumor regarding TVs and rainy days at midnight. While investigating, he and his friends instead find a connection between this strange phenomenon and what has now become a string of murders. Discovering that they may have the power to help the would-be victims, they set out to prevent as many casualties as they can while solving the surrounding mysteries and attempting to catch the culprit. Continue reading ‘Persona 4 - Staff Import Review’ »

It has been rightly said that every book written represents the death of a perfect idea. This principle can easily be applied to video games, and perhaps none embody this like the obscure Russian first-person survival game Pathologic. With a haphazard English localization, a dated engine and very unforgiving gameplay, Pathologic lacks even the cult status to be salvaged from the bargain bin. The tragedy in this is that the game deserves a look by anyone who ever claimed to support the idea of video games as art, for few other games to date have been as bold, uncompromising and mature. Continue reading ‘Blurring the Line: Pathologic - Staff Review’ »

Final Fantasy IV is a classic RPG that has seen release on five different gaming platforms, so remaking a game that has been played by so many, and often played so many times by those people, is a particularly difficult challenge. How does one make a game that is so familiar to its fans seem fresh and new while retaining the nostalgic feel at the same time? Fortunately, the DS remake of Final Fantasy IV exceeds expectations and is a new yardstick by which to measure remakes in the future. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy IV - Staff Review’ »

When you’re a kid, summer vacation is the best time for swimming, riding bikes, and playing outside until after sundown. But for Luso, the main character of Final Fantasy Tactics A2, summer vacation is about leading a clan, fighting monsters, and saving another world. It is the making of an epic “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essay. Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift - Staff Review’ »

I had a chance to sit down with Peter Molyneux, the man behind the upcoming Fable II. Fair warning, there are a lot of details, plot and otherwise, and it’s a fairly long read. Continue reading ‘Fable II Demo, Interview with Peter Molyneux’ »

Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard is a dungeon crawler that seeks to induce nostalgia for the very earliest RPGs; games that, if given half a chance, would happily hand a player their own teeth in a bag. The game’s designers have succeeded in producing a tough, classically-styled RPG, but its high level of difficulty, slow-paced plot, and one-dimensional cast is going to make it fairly impenetrable to anyone without a pre-existing love of dungeon exploration and turn-based combat. As far as dungeon crawlers go, Etrian Odyssey II is better than the vast majority, but this particular sub-genre remains a very insular and traditional one, and Etrian Odyssey II isn’t going to change any of that.

Continue reading ‘Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard - Staff Review’ »

RandomNPC had a chance to sit down with Koji Igarashi of Castlevania fame. Continue reading ‘Interview with Iga’ »

After sitting through the Microsoft Press Event, and thinking about it over a tasty beef bowl at Yoshinoya, here is my summary and impressions of the event. Be warned, this is a long read.

Continue reading ‘Microsoft Press Conference Impressions’ »

Part 1 of 7:

We were able to attend Atlus’s Shin Megami Tensei panel at the Anime Expo, and they were kind enough to let us record it. Special thanks to my friend Tim who helped me out with the camera.
Continue reading ‘Anime Expo 2008 Atlus Panel’ »

Under normal circumstances, when a Japanese company releases an expansion for a game, the rest of the world is left out of the loop. Thankfully for us in North America, Persona 3 FES is a rare exception to the rule. Offering a number of changes to Persona 3, FES adds some nice bonuses to the initial package, while adding on a good deal of new content and doing some overall re-balancing. FES’s changes range from the nice but inconsequential (new costumes), to the significant (an all-new 30 hour epilogue), to the inexplicable (Mara), but overall, FES is a solid and worthwhile addition to Persona 3.
Continue reading ‘Persona 3 FES - Staff Review’ »

The Wild ARMs series has never been known for stellar quality, but the games — excluding the second installment, which left many fans with PTSD — are still the objects of affection for many RPG connoisseurs. Naturally, players have certain standards and tolerances when it comes to Wild ARMs games. They know they aren’t getting a perfectly polished game, just an above average one that gains appeal largely from nostalgic references.

So when a longtime fan recognizes that the newest Wild ARMs title isn’t up to the series’ standards, you know it’s bad.
Continue reading ‘Wild ARMs XF - Staff Review’ »

Neku Sakuraba is a boy with a bit of a problem. He just woke up in the Shibuya’s scramble crossing, the busiest street crossing in the entire world, and he has no idea how he got there. In fact, he doesn’t remember anything other than his name. His only clue is a strange black pin with a skull on it. It’s not much to go on, and before he can figure things out, he is bombarded by peoples’ thoughts. Neku doesn’t even like other people, and yet, now he can hear everything they are thinking. If things weren’t going badly enough, he also got the strangest text message on his phone. “Get to 104. Fail and face erasure.” Despite his best efforts, Neku is unable to delete what is obviously some crazy spam message. And that’s when the frogs started attacking him. This is not a good day at all. In fact, it’s leading up to be a bad week. Continue reading ‘The World Ends With You - Staff Review’ »

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the latest game in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, is a game that will appeal mostly to fans of the series. Starring a character who appeared only in flashbacks and in passing mentions in the original game and detailing many events only alluded to in FFVII, Crisis Core relies a great deal on nostalgia, to the point where it’s actually re-telling parts of FFVII at times. Still, underneath it all, there is still an interesting, if not particularly challenging game with some unusual ideas about combat and storytelling. On the whole, Crisis Core is a solid, if somewhat predictable title that should provide some entertainment for people looking for a bit more background on the characters of Final Fantasy VII. Continue reading ‘Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Staff Review’ »

Alchemy \’al-kə-mē\ - A power or process of transforming something common into something special

-Merriam-Webster.com

One of the toughest challenges for a game in this day and age is the concept of “unique.” It’s a very nebulous term; you can take it to mean “going where no man has gone before,” or perhaps “something kinda familiar, but twisted beyond recognition.” Perhaps Mana Khemia is not a truly “unique” game. Every element of its gameplay feels like it’s been done before… but can a patchwork not be beautiful of its own right? The contrast of many fabrics may come together to create a beautiful work, just as the union of many existing concepts in game mechanics can join to create an excellent experience.

Continue reading ‘Mana Khemia ~Alchemists of Al-Revis~ - Staff Review’ »

When a quirky title comes along, one that I think most people won’t hear about or will more than likely ignore, I tend to jump on it. So far, I’ve gotten lucky (Portal and Steambot Chronicles, I’m looking at you). Whether or not Opoona, a quintessentially quirky RPG from Arte Piazza for the Nintendo Wii, can go beyond its mere charm remains to be seen. Continue reading ‘Opoona - Staff Review’ »