Elizabeth Henges

It has been over nine years since the last mainline Dragon Quest game made its way Westward. Since Dragon Quest IX, we've missed out on the Japanese-only MMO entry Dragon Quest X, but in recent years there’s been a renewed sense of life in the franchise with titles like Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Builders. While these spin-off titles still carry the spirit of the Dragon Quest series, they haven’t been the classic menu-based RPGs that the franchise is built upon. The wait is finally over, though, as Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is finally releasing on PlayStation 4 and PC.

Finally, after four years, The Banner Saga trilogy is ending. Everything has built up to a bleak and fevered fight for survival, and with today’s release of The Banner Saga 3, players will finally see things through to the end. It’s not an easy road, and everything is against you, including the game’s own mechanics. But for those that have invested the time into The Banner Saga 1 and 2, is the conclusion to this trilogy worth seeing?

Final Fantasy VII is another hugely popular title in the long-running series, and most well known as the title that made both Final Fantasy and JRPGs more mainstream for Western audiences. With such an influential title, this book has its work cut out for itself.

I can’t help but to love fan-made video game books. They are purely works of passion, created by people who absolutely loves the games they’re writing about. Third Editions is a relatively new game books publishing house, giving a number of writers a new platform to write their dream book and market it to the world. Third Editions has a number of interesting books already under its belt, including offerings about Bioshock and Metal Gear Solid, but today we’re taking a look at one of the books from the company’s RPG collection: The Legend of Final Fantasy VI.

Nepenthe is strange. It’s a strange game to play, with a strange but successful Kickstarter campaign. The creation of one man with a bunch of watercolor pencils and a dream, it’s truly a difficult game to describe. It feels like playing through a child’s idea for an RPG, with all the whimsy and confusion that comes with it. If anything, Nepenthe is a testament to the creativity the budding indie market allows to grow within it, even if that creativity comes at a cost of playability.

In previous years, the Vita has been a bastion for visual novel and otome game fans. As Sony’s portable because home to a number of niche Japanese games, equally niche publishers started picking up Vita exclusive visual novels to localize. Nowadays, though, the Vita’s lifespan is winding down, and many of these previously exclusive titles are now making the jump to Sony’s home console. Code: Realize ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ is one of these platform jumping titles, and has one of the better representations of the otome genre, is definitely worth the attention of the wider user base of the PS4.

Five minutes rarely feels like five minutes. Depending on the situation, five minutes could go by in a flash, or it can take an agonizingly long time. But what if five minutes encompassed nearly your whole lifetime? The Longest 5 Minutes is a roughly eight hour RPG that has you reliving the adventures of the hero in snippets. While the story itself is nothing special, the presentation makes this game more charming than the average RPG.

Currently, there’s not a lot of SRPG offerings on the Switch. While we’re still waiting for new Fire Emblem Switch news and sitting on a port of Disgaea 5, those that have already played NISA’s tactical game on the PS4 have been left with a strategic drought on Nintendo’s console. Circle Entertainment is looking to end that drought, though, with Mercenaries Saga Chronicles, a collection of three strategy RPGs for a budget price.

Mike Bithell is a bit of a well-known name in the indie developer field. The creator of Thomas Was Alone and Sound, he manages to create compelling stories with unusual subjects, such as literal blocks. Now, Bithell is trying a new format with Bithell shorts, games that are shorter and a lot more compact than the (admittedly not very long) games he usually makes. The first game of his shorts collection is Subsurface Circular, a sci-fi text adventure.

Late in 2016, Square Enix released the spin-off title Dragon Quest Builders to the West. While the easiest way to describe the title is 'Dragon Quest mixed with Minecraft', it's a bit more than that, with Builders having a more in-depth story but also a few more limitations on the building aspects of the game. We reviewed the PlayStation 4 version when it first launched, and Kyle enjoyed his time with the game. Now, Dragon Quest Builders has made it to the Switch. While this might be a straight port of previous versions of Builders, the flexibility that the Switch provides makes this the definitive way to play.

I’m out of torches, and the dungeon is getting dark. I only have two rooms left to explore, but I have no clue what’s ahead. My party is hurt and stressed out, with my Highwayman slinging insults at my party as a result of the intense stress he’s under, in turn putting pressure on the other party members and making them perform less adequately in fights. My Arbelist almost died earlier in the run, and an unlucky hit can easily kill her, who also happens to be my best character. I could retreat with this bag full of loot, but a mission failure will only stress out my characters more, and leave them unusable for a week or two as they recover from their dungeon delve. So what do I do? Push forward and risk the physical and mental health of my characters, or retreat and take the failure and the consequences of that?

Last year, we got Pokemon Sun and Moon, which was Game Freak's first major attempt to shake up the formula on a series that was getting stale. Whether or not the changes that Sun and Moon made were successful depends on who you talk to, but for better or worse Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon pushes these changes further.

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.

Back in 2012, Obsidian Entertainment started a Kickstarter campaign for Pillars of Eternity, a new isometric RPG meant to be the spiritual successor to BioWare’s classic Infinity Engine games (Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment being the most well-known among them). The Kickstarter turned out to be a massive success, and Pillars of Eternity was released a few years later in 2015. Now, the well-received RPG is making the jump to consoles with Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition.

It's hard to deny that Supergiant is something special. Since setting up shop in 2009, they've only created three games, but Bastion and Transistor were released to critical acclaim, offering beautiful worlds, compelling stories, and some fantastic music. Consider my surprise then when Pyre, their latest title, seemed to fly under the press radar and release quietly on PS4 and Steam. And yet, this isn't a title to miss.

What Dream Daddy has to offer is pretty good, but ultimately it feels just a bit unfinished. It feels like this visual novel could have used a bit more time in the oven, fleshing out events and backstories, and providing proper epilogues for the Dads. For a visual novel subgenre that's underrepresented in the West, Dream Daddy is a decent title worth your time, but I can't shake the feeling that it could have easily been so much more.

Earlier this year, the first two Danganronpa titles made the jump from the Vita handheld to the PlayStation 4 console and Steam, giving more gamers the chance to try out the crazy visual novel series. Now, NIS America and Spike Chunsoft have done the same for Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, a kind of side-story that takes a different look at the world of this franchise, and tries other another game genre to boot. How does this title hold up to the series' pedigree?

While Compile Heart is most well known for their Hyperdimension Neptunia series, every once and a while the developers get a chance to stretch their legs and try a title not starring the purple haired virtual goddess. These non-Neptunia games are, of course, not as popular as what is essentially Compile Heart's flagship series, but they are usually good efforts and fun games that can stand on their own... fan service aside.

At the end of The Banner Saga 2, the pieces are set in place for the end of the world. A group of travelers prepares to step into the ever-encroaching darkness, hoping to stop the end of the world, while another fights desperately to protect the people who were placed in their care. The Banner Saga 3 marks the end of Stoic Studio’s epic trilogy, and it aims to raise the stakes higher than ever before as the story of the residents of Skogr and the mysterious Valka Juno come to a close.

Hundreds of helpless, innocent people placed their lives in their hands, and I’ve failed them. They were killed by thieves, massacred by the dredge, drowned and starved to death. I tried to help everyone I came across, and in doing so forfeited the lives of many, due to rebellions and a lack of food. Some of the dead are dear friends and family, others nameless faces that followed me in hope of a safe future, but regardless their blood is solely on my hands.

Pokemon Quest has just been released on the Nintendo Switch and will be getting a release on smartphones in later this month. As a ‘free-to-start’ title, people may be worried that Pokemon Quest may be a bit tedious, or turn into a ‘pay-to-win’ experience. Pokemon Quest more or less follows its Pokemon ‘free-to-start’ predecessors, though, which means that it quickly becomes a grind and waiting for stamina to recover… but if you buy the most expensive bundle, it’ll become a much more palatable experience.

When people think of sidequests, they often only think of the ones that offer an interesting narrative or character motivation. Whether it’s beating up a bunch of thugs to get a kid’s video game back in Yakuza 0, or taking down a mighty djinn in The Witcher 3, people will often point to these games as shining examples of what sidequests should be. Many RPGs’ side content gets held up to The Witcher 3’s high storytelling standards in particular, and often players come away disappointed that most games have more typical, fetch quest style sidequests in comparison.

Like many, I jumped on the Pokemon Go train when it first released. There were a lot of problems with the mobile title at the time (how could Niantic not expect so many to download the game?), but it was still a blast to go outside and see a swath of people walking around, looking for rare monsters and Gyms changing hands every minute. Eventually, a lot of people got sick of the constant issues and the limited number of Pokemon to catch and dropped off... and I did as well. But recently the third generation of Pokemon have been added to the game, and I decided to give the game another try.

This time we're looking at the Rick and Morty Pokemon clone, Pocket Mortys. Pocket Mortys is by no means a new game—it originally released in January 2016, two years ago, and for free no less! I remember my boyfriend playing the game when it first released on his tablet, and the screams of Mortys fighting each other filled the air and haunted my dreams. I decided to give the game a try myself for Mobile Moments, because it seems like the perfect title for RPG fans to have on the go… and a lot of people love Rick and Morty to boot.

2017 sure was a fantastic year for video games, wasn't it? No matter what genre you're a fan of, you're likely to have at least one fantastic game released that you'll love. It's been pretty great for RPGs too… but I don't think I have the stamina to play a bunch of RPGs in a row like my fellow writers. I need a palette cleanser! The fact that I found it difficult to narrow my list down to ten games this year, where oftentimes I can have trouble filling GOTY lists with ten titles signals to me how great this year really was for video games.

Final Fantasy V may not be my favorite title in the series, but it's the one I find most interesting. It takes the class system from Final Fantasy III and refines it, making it easier to experiment with various classes while keeping most of them useful for the entire story. A lot of the design decisions around the game are interesting as well, allowing you to try some really unusual party set-ups and even break the difficulty in crazy ways.

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.