(s) Archive
2018-05-20
When we put out the call for stories last month, we weren’t sure what we were going to get. We know how dear RPGFan has been to us, as a labor of love for 20 years. And through comments over the years, from our forums, to email, to our 2017 Reader Survey, we know it’s… Read More »
2018-04-29
No Zelda is complete without both simple and elaborate sidequests. There are plenty of small ones: little things Link can do that can lead the way to new discoveries or fun rewards. But then there are the really in-depth ones, like some of Majora’s Mask‘s questlines, or the world-scouring collect-a-thons in Link’s Awakening, Breath of… Read More »
Look, we can say we love Link all we want, but with the exception of a cartoon and CD-i series of games we don’t discuss, Link is intentionally a blank slate for us to define as a hero. As such, characterization and narrative in Zelda comes from the rest of the cast. Often that can… Read More »
We debated whether these were really “secrets” or “easter eggs,” but whatever you call these things, they’re but a handful of examples of the Zelda series’ wonderful attention to detail and things you sometimes have to really go out of your way to find. Sometimes your curiosity leads to reward in the form of an… Read More »
2018-04-25
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘s (OoT) iconic status is rooted in what it meant for both the franchise and the industry as a whole. Link’s transition into the 3D era on the Nintendo 64 presented an opportunity — really a necessity — for Nintendo to… Read More »
We had this great idea: Let’s discuss games that were milestones for the industry. Things that, in ways, changed what we thought of RPGs, or crazy crossovers. Games that caused a shift in the market to a drastic degree, like how Final Fantasy VII changed everything. Of course, we have intentionally set our 20th Anniversary… Read More »
2018-04-22
Zelda‘s many games don’t always take place in Hyrule. Especially in the games that don’t feature the Link-Zelda-Ganon trinity, our green-clad hero ventures somewhere different, like in Majora’s Mask, Link’s Awakening, and the excellent Oracle games. It’s also nice that even if most of the games are set in Hyrule, each game presents the familiar land in… Read More »
As we’ve talked about in other sections, the Zelda series is big on tradition: It’s why Gohma appears in more games in the series than most bosses. But there’s great and inventive boss encounters, whether you’re fighting Ganon again or some of these big baddies below that we’ve only seen once. Like the dungeons they reside in,… Read More »
2018-04-15
You know your series has winning compositions when you can rearrange, remix, reorchestrate, and re-release themes composed 30 years ago, and still make them sound fresh and exciting. We don’t need to introduce anyone to the main theme song of Zelda, but from the NES titles to Breath of the Wild, there’s plenty of other… Read More »
What’s a Zelda game without labyrinthian dungeons? Well, okay, it’s Breath of the Wild. But until the Switch game came and turned convention on its head (in a good way), every game in the series was home to usually eight or nine dungeons, usually built around a theme — there’s often “the fire one,” “the… Read More »
2018-04-08
It’s not just clever items that provide the Zelda series with some of its innovation and charm, but also clever use of gameplay mechanics. Some of these are very much Zelda traits, like the transformational masks in Majora’s Mask. Breath of the Wild‘s gear and stats are to be expected in many RPGs, but were very new… Read More »
The Zelda series is one built on tradition: Even Breath of the Wild features some classic ones in new wrappers. The inventive items that return in each entry are dear to many of us. And while we appreciate the classics like the bow and arrow, boomerang, and magical rods, we mostly wanted to focus on… Read More »
2018-03-28
Welcome to Part 2! Below you’ll find our selections for the last decade, and believe me when I say some of these choices made it in by only one or two staff votes: There were some really close calls, but all that means is that we’re fortunate enough to have a ton of great music… Read More »
We’re big music buffs at RPGFan. One look at the thousands of reviews and features that make up RPGFan Music is proof enough. There are other music review sites out there, but none quite as extensive when it comes to RPGs. So, when it came time to plan our 20th Anniversary features, we knew at least one… Read More »
2018-02-28
Part 2 of our Still-Wanted Localizations feature includes “The Big One,” and likely some games you may be surprised to see! The Love-de-Lic Trilogy: Moon, UFO: A Day in the Life, Lack of Love Writeup by Robert Fenner Love-de-Lic may have only released three games over the course of four years before disbanding, but their… Read More »
We are so spoiled today as RPG fans. Seriously. There’s the occasional high-profile title we either don’t get in English (or it takes a while), but by and large, most major titles make their way outside of Japan now. We’re a long way from the days when North America got two thirds of the Quintet… Read More »
2018-02-20
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Musical Awakening by Marcos Gaspar I was around five years old when I played my first ever Final Fantasy game (suitably, Final Fantasy). I remember spending hours each day playing as much of it as I could understand until I hit a wall I couldn’t climb: Gurgu Volcano. I stopped playing… Read More »
Final Fantasy Tactics: Learning Through Failure by Michael Sollosi The first time I played Final Fantasy Tactics, I died right away, attempting Chapter 1, battle 1. And battle 2. And battle 4 (Dorter Trade City took me a couple of tries). And many battles thereafter. It wasn’t because these fights are brutally difficult; the learning… Read More »
2018-01-31
Seriously, how did 14 games of this caliber all launch between late September and December? Some of these Best RPGs of 1998 are often still cited as some of Nintendo, Konami, Square Enix, and BioWare’s finest. Fallout 2 September 30th, 1998 Writeup by John Tucker The original Fallout is a game that truly showed me… Read More »
The ever-growing popularity of the RPG owes much to Final Fantasy VII. Before 1997, we would get some RPGs, and miss out on countless others. But we aren’t here to talk about Seiken Densetsu 3. No, we’re here to look at the year after Final Fantasy VII‘s release. Cloud’s journey marked a significant shift in RPG interest,… Read More »
2018-01-20
The Final Fantasy Legend: I Like to Picture Jesus in a Tuxedo T-Shirt by Robert Fenner Yeah, it’s actually a SaGa game, but we didn’t know that at the time. The Final Fantasy Legend was not the first turn-based RPG I’d ever played, but it was the first I’d ever owned. At age 5, I was probably… Read More »
2018-01-19
Final Fantasy is the David Bowie of JRPG franchises. OK, I know that statement sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. David Bowie was, and still is, one of popular music’s most beloved figures. Over the course of his six-decade career, Bowie reinvented himself endlessly — his 1967 debut was a competent yet somewhat plain album… Read More »
2018-01-16
Time Paradox by Nathan Lee I don’t remember the circumstances of why I picked up Final Fantasy XIII-2. I had never played a Final Fantasy game before (besides a little bit of FFIII which I did not enjoy), and did not even play XIII. I think the reason was either I was in my experimental… Read More »
2018-01-09
Final Fantasy XIV Memories: (Feel) (Think) (Hope) (Tell) by Mike Salbato I talk about Final Fantasy XIV everywhere that I can on RPGFan, but if I have to pick one moment, one thing in the game that sticks with me as a defining experience, it remains to this day the final battles in The Final… Read More »
Final Fantasy XV Memories: Super Eos Bros. by Peter Triezenberg It’s more-or-less impossible to divorce Final Fantasy XV from its inordinately long development. I was in seventh grade when this game was first announced as Versus XIII, and by the time the game was in my hands, I had graduated from college. Following all those… Read More »
