(s) Archive
2023-01-10
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 With each entry, the Xenoblade Chronicles series has been expanding upon its core battle system. The first game started with a system akin to an MMORPG with auto attacks and cooldowns for special moves. Xenoblade Chronicles X increased the scale with giant robots (please bring back the playable giant robots, Monolith… Read More »
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game nearly twenty-five years in the making. Within it are bits and pieces of every single Xeno property that Tetsuya Takahashi has ever worked on, and they all shine through ever so brightly. It takes the best elements of Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade and blends them… Read More »
Winner: Koraidon and Miraidon (PokĂ©mon Scarlet & Violet) How do you get around a massive region filled with seemingly insurmountable mountains and vast rivers? With a little help from your treasured friends, of course. Instead of delegating the box art legendary PokĂ©mon to post-Gym-seven trophies, PokĂ©mon Scarlet‘s Koraidon and PokĂ©mon Violet‘s Miraidon are supportive companions… Read More »
Winner: Eunie (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) “Hear that, Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier.” It would be easy to boil Eunie down to her attitude, her ridiculous British-isms, or even her amusing one-liners. In fact, Takahashi and the rest of Monolith Soft could have left her at that, and I bet she’d still get some… Read More »
Winner: N (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) In a game where many of the villains fall a little flat, N is a revelation. If Noah is who we aspire to be, N is who we’re afraid we’ll become. After everything he’s experienced, would we do anything differently? Would we make the right choice, or would we hold… Read More »
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Oi! Just wot is up with these sparkin’ accents? You mean to tell me they managed to blend a variety of world dialects, like Welsh, London, Australian, and even American, put in some fun language of their own, and it all coheres into something wholly its own thing? Yes, yes they… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Was there any doubt? We joked about calling this an annual Final Fantasy XIV award. But jokes aside, there’s a reason so many of us (and 20+ million more) are in love with the game: it’s the real deal. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is unique in that its main story… Read More »
Welcome to RPGFan’s Games of the Year 2022! I think we can all agree that this year was a mostly a move in the right direction, and luckily, the games followed! This is also one of the most top-heavy years in memory, and our picks might reflect that as well, but there were a ton… Read More »
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3‘s story is easily one of its greatest strengths. Despite the game crossing the hundred hour mark, the story remains incredibly well-paced, focused, and, most important of all, intriguing. With all its wild twists and turns, the main story keeps players on the edge of their seats while the… Read More »
Winner: Noah (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) The Xeno series has given us many fascinating and excellent protagonists, but I think Noah is the best one yet. Where others have personal drives that are understandable and relatable, Noah really is us. Or at least who we want to be. He sees the world the way we want… Read More »
Winner: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 The Nintendo Switch is well over five years old at this point, so it’s not too surprising that some games have to make notable concessions to run on the platform. Simpler geometry, reduced resolutions, shorter draw distances, and even lower framerate targets are just a few of the sacrifices made for… Read More »
2022-12-28
Peter Triezenberg Xenosaga Episode I is not a good video game. I feel like I need to get that out of the way: it’s slow, clunky, and needlessly obtuse, with a cumbersome battle system that wears out its welcome even before you realize that there’s only one battle theme for 99% of the experience. And… Read More »
2022-12-21
Mention Final Fantasy VIII and everyone’s first thought is Squall and Rinoa’s relationship. Their bond is the central focus of the game, but Squall is not the only one Rinoa develops a surprisingly deep and complex relationship with. Rinoa’s interactions with Zell are more than meets the eye, leading several online communities to theorize that… Read More »
2022-12-14
Welcome to RPGFan’s 35 Most Anticipated Games of 2023! You might notice that we added about..oh I don’t know, five more games than normal this year. But the reality is that 2023 is absolutely packed with games we want to play, both the AAA and indie variety alike. Frankly, it’s amazing time to be an… Read More »
Here we have games we’ve been anticipating for years, games in some of our favorite series, and arguably the most anticipated game of the year…period. Granblue Fantasy: Relink Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Sony PlayStation 4, Sony PlayStation 5 It’s almost tradition at this point to have Granblue Fantasy: Relink on this list. Since its announcement in… Read More »
You like classics? We have the best classics here. Additionally, we have some fun romhacks, and some games that want to look and feel like the some of the other classics on this list. Path of the Midnight Sun Platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Consoles Later Originally a popular romhack of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones,… Read More »
2022-12-12
Last week, thanks to the lovely people at Square Enix, I had the opportunity to get some hands-on time with Forspoken, which you can read about here. I also had the privilege of speaking to and interviewing Takefumi Terada (Co-Director), Takeshi Aramaki (Head of Luminous Productions and Director), and Raio Mitsuno (Creative Producer) of the… Read More »
2022-12-07
The FFIX–XII era saw a lot of change for the Final Fantasy series, not only in terms of hardware to develop for but in story and game design directions as well. This gives us a collection of fascinating and perfectly imperfect entries to look at. This also means that one of them is likely to… Read More »
To call Final Fantasy a titan of the RPG world is a profound understatement. For many, it is the RPG series. For many others, it used to be. Some consider it a home for tradition, others an experimental playground. It’s a series that’s as divisive as any, but one that nonetheless keeps breaking sales records… Read More »
Final Fantasy V-VIII covers a lot of ground graphically and features a wide variety in narrative and gameplay styles. Many of them have also been released several times on several different consoles. Many people consider VI or VII their favorites, so there are some frontrunners here. See if they appeal to you! Final Fantasy V… Read More »
Now let’s turn our attention to recent happenings in the Final Fantasy universe and toward the future with Final Fantasy XVI. ONWARD! Final Fantasy XIII Original Release: 2009, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360Also Released On: Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android (Streaming) What it’s about: Let’s avoid most of the proper nouns, or we’ll… Read More »
2022-11-26
Once upon a time, in a magical RPG realm not unlike the colorful lands of Paper Mario, a brave adventurer known as Flynt Buckler made his way to the Sleepy Castle to fight his long-time nemesis, a sinister dragon named Tinder.
2022-11-23
Relationships are fascinating in that they’re all kinds of wonderful but can be messy and complicated as well. Human existence is all about relationships. We harbor relationships with our parents, siblings, extended family, friends, colleagues, first dates, lovers, neighbors, the world, ourselves, and everyone and everything else I’m too lazy to list. Relationships play crucial… Read More »
2022-11-09
In early 2019, Chained Echoes exploded onto Kickstarter with a final total more than double the original goal: a pretty impressive result for solo developer Matthias Linda. If you don’t know what Chained Echoes is, then go watch this trailer. We’ll wait. Seeing the game in motion proves that Linda understands classic JRPGs and knows… Read More »
2022-11-05
Upon beginning Pandora’s Tower in earnest, one soon uncovers many thought-provoking themes like gender roles, religious vegetarianism, loyalty, and more. As the plot progresses, the wider mysteries of the world promptly fall into the background. The game’s more intimate themes do far more to capture the imagination and inquiry of the player than the setting’s political backdrop… Read More »
