Elizabeth Henges

I've missed the portable Mario Sports games that Camelot used to make. Even on portable consoles, Camelot didn't try to make downsized versions Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, but instead gave the games more of an RPG spin, complete with a storyline and leveling system. However, since Mario Golf Advance Tour for the GBA, we haven't seen any games like it… but that's where Golf Story comes in.

Koei Tecmo is as well-known for their spin-off games for other IPs as they are for Dynasty Warriors. The company has taken The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest, amongst other IPs, and provided their own Musou-flavored spins on them with Hyrule Warriors and Dragon Quest Heroes, to overall good results. Now, we have Fire Emblem Warriors, the unlikely mix of the SRPG series melded with that hack-and-slash, mow down everything before you Dynasty Warriors gameplay.

I always view anime video games a bit like movie tie-in titles. While they have the potential to be good games in their own right, the main draw is less the game itself and more of the fanservice aspect. After all, it’s fun to step into the shoes of your favorite characters and play out either the plotline of the anime or a completely new plotline.

Ever just want a mobile RPG to play for a few moments here or there? I love my portables as much as the next person, but I have trouble bringing it everywhere I go—namely, it’s pretty hard to pull out and play during lulls in the workday. But my phone is always there, and I find myself gravitating more towards mobile games for what I used portable systems to fill my time with. But, it’s not exactly easy to sift through the dirt for a diamond… that’s where Mobile Moments comes in! Mobile Moments will take a seemingly random mobile RPG from the Google Play Store and I’ll play it, and tell you if it’s worth your precious storage space.

Fire Emblem Warriors isn't exactly the game I expected from the series. Being strategy RPGs, Fire Emblem games are slow, methodic, and require strategy to survive. A lot of Musou titles, on the other hand, has you cutting down swathes of enemies with ease, rushing about and quickly cutting down foes to finish the stage. The two series seem mismatched for each other, but judging by what I've been able to play so far, Fire Emblem Warriors meshes the two together very well and promises to be a great title for Fire Emblem fans.

Ever just want a mobile RPG to play for a few moments here or there? I love my 3DS as much as the next person, but I have trouble bringing it everywhere I go—namely, it’s pretty hard to pull out and play during lulls in the workday. But my phone is always there, and I find myself gravitating more towards mobile games for what I used portable systems to fill my time with. But, it’s not exactly easy to sift through the dirt for a diamond… that’s where Mobile Moments comes in!

The original Terra Battle released three years ago, and many were pleased with how the title brought unique strategic gameplay to mobile devices. Now, Terra Battle 2 has released, and I'm sure you're wondering how Mistwalker and Silicon Studio's newest game stacks up to the original. There are a few more changes in Terra Battle 2 from the original than you may expect, and while not all of these changes are for the better, there's some potential for improvement.

Garry Schyman is quite the force in the gaming industry. As a composer, Schyman has won the British Academy Film Awards for his work on Bioshock Infinite, as well as several other awards from the Game Audio Network Guild and the Academy of Interactive Art & Sciences.

Ys is back in the spotlight with the release of Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, but Ys is one of the long-running series of Falcom's portfolio. The series has gone on for thirty years, and like any long-running series, there are some more unusual games given the Ys name that you may not be aware of. Some are pretty good, despite the genre shift, while others aren't the best games for the series.

For Part 2, we're going to try and untangle the mess that is the Dragon Quest side games. There are quite a few of these, and many of them have their own genres, plots, mechanics, and so on that are unique to them. Even if you aren't a huge fan of the main Dragon Quest titles, with their old school turn based battles, then you still might fund some enjoyment out of these titles.

Dragon Quest is most easily described as Enix's Final Fantasy, although the first Dragon Quest game came out before the first Final Fantasy title. The mainline Dragon Quest titles are all turn-based RPGs, with the exception of Dragon Quest X (more on that later). The series is also well known for sticking very closely to its roots.

Joel Couture’s book Fallen Down: Heartache & Compassion in Undertale is a wonderfully written work that goes in depth into these character relationships, as well as how these play into the message Undertale is trying to get across - and even some of the more meta commentary about player habits.

When I first saw Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire in the Google Play Store, I immediately wrote it off as one of those weird scam apps. You know, the ones that clearly rip off Sonic or Mario or another popular series to get unsuspecting people to download it and then bombard them with premium purchases and banner ads until they uninstall the app. When I found out that A New Empire was a legitimate, Square Enix endorsed release, curiosity got the better of me.