(s) Archive
2024-01-26
Winner: Octopath Traveler II It’s no small task to improve on Octopath Traveler‘s combat. Every skill is so carefully chosen to make the Break/Boost system work together with the visible turn order to create a thoughtful, strategic experience in the original. Somehow, though, Octopath Traveler II improved on the best in the business to create… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy XVI The Final Fantasy series is known for having the most gorgeous, bombastic, and high-budget visuals in the industry. From Final Fantasy VII‘s bombing mission intro, FFVIII‘s blend of CGI and real-time rendering for dramatic setpiece moments to FFX‘s stunning art direction and use of color, FFXIII‘s eye-popping graphical prowess, and Final… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI‘s music is more than a mere soundtrack with songs and tones to suit the situation. It’s deliberate. It’s full of leitmotifs and metaphors. It’s expertly timed and dynamic instead of just beautiful in a vacuum (for which FFXVI‘s music also qualifies). FFXVI‘s elaborate boss fights almost always occur… Read More »
Winner: Baldur’s Gate III It begins with a startling scene of an octopedal mind flayer putting a parasitic worm in your eye. If you can believe it, Baldur’s Gate III doesn’t settle down but only gets weirder. Though your main goal is to relieve your unusual malady, your tale branches off in whichever direction the… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI is in a unique position to win this award as it was the only game in the franchise to prioritize its English dub; in fact, the English dub and motion capture were complete before Japanese recordings even began! Creative Business Unit III wanted the game to emulate darker… Read More »
Winner: Clive Rosfield (Final Fantasy XVI) “You know nothing, Clive Rosfield.” While not everyone was taken with the degree of Game of Thrones influence in Final Fantasy XVI‘s tone and world, it’s hard to deny that modeling Clive after underdog hero Jon Snow translated well to the game. Equal parts angst, heart, loveable awkwardness, and… Read More »
Winner: Torgal (Final Fantasy XVI) Torgal is the goodest of boys. He’s cute as a button as a puppy and handsome (but still adorable) as an adult. He is fiercely loyal to his people and nigh inseparable with Clive in particular. When the two are separated, Torgal spends over a decade searching for Clive and… Read More »
Winner: Cidolfus Telamon (Final Fantasy XVI) The Final Fantasy series has its fair share of lovable characters named Cid, so it’s no trivial statement to say that Final Fantasy XVI‘s Cidolfus Telamon might be the best yet. Powered by a snarky, gravelly-voiced performance from Ralph Ineson, Cid steals the show in just about every scene… Read More »
Winner: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line No more seeking out All-Star Carnival in random mall arcades! We finally got the robust musical Final Fantasy experience we’d all been waiting for with Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. This latest iteration in the Theatrhythm franchise is grander than ever, boasting a vast array of songs, including several options from… Read More »
Winner: Star Ocean: The Second Story R Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the poster child of how a remake should be done. It beautifully blends the nostalgic sprites of yore with stunningly redone environments that look even better than we could have imagined. This iteration of Star Ocean: The Second Story fills audiences… Read More »
Winner: Dave the Diver Dave the Diver is a fishing roguelike, a business management sim, a bullet heck shmup (not brutal enough to qualify for “bullet hell”), and completely addictive and charming. The gameplay loop of exploring the ever-changing lagoon as Dave and running a restaurant with your mysterious sushi chef buddy Bancho is hugely… Read More »
Winner: Baldur’s Gate III On one hand, Baldur’s Gate III is as “traditional” as an RPG gets. After all, it’s the most faithful and fleshed-out adaptation of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (the OG RPG) that’s been done to date. Yet, at the same time, it feels like such a modern triple-A experience that the… Read More »
Winner: Baldur’s Gate III Though it had been floating around in early access for a couple years, Baldur’s Gate III still felt like it snuck up on us, partly because we didn’t expect it’d be this great. BGIII caught the essence of Dungeons & Dragons at an opportune time, coinciding with a new hardware generation… Read More »
Winner: Final Fantasy XVI Final Fantasy XVI is the greatest departure from the series while somehow remaining the most Final Fantasy. With a battle system designed by Devil May Cry‘s combat director, a soundtrack by Final Fantasy XIV‘s Masayoshi Soken, and the undeniable talent of Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III, the game managed to… Read More »
Winner: Sea of Stars It was clear from the first trailer that Sea of Stars had the potential to be something special, and the final product did not disappoint. Wearing its retro inspiration on its sleeve, the game has gorgeous pixel art, snappy combat with timed mechanics, a fun adventure story, and a catchy soundtrack… Read More »
Winner: Honkai: Star Rail Honkai: Star Rail‘s launch proved that HoYoverse could capture lightning in a bottle twice. Combining traditional turn-based RPG combat with their signature gacha character acquisition was a recipe for success, rocketing the game to the top of the mobile charts. The game is more than just a money printer, though, addressing… Read More »
2024-01-17
Do you want to play Baldur’s Gate III but don’t have a PC that can run it? Are you agonizing over whether to wait until you do or play it on your PS5 or Xbox Series Something? Maybe you’re even considering buying a next-gen console due to the FOMO of being unable to play this… Read More »
2024-01-16
Hands-on with Persona 3 Reload, exploring the new Tartarus, welcome social link updates, and more!
2024-01-13
Earlier this year, I wrote my first feature for RPGFan: A Parent’s List of the Best Introductory RPGs for Kids. That article allowed me to share my experiences as an RPG enthusiast and parent. It also inspired me to consider further which RPGs are the best fit for kids. While my previous work focused on… Read More »
2024-01-12
What do the following games have in common? Besides the fact that we’re here at RPGFan and can assume they are RPGs or within RPGFan coverage. One straightforward answer is that these are all relatively well-known, successful games. They are from a range of platforms and drastically different time periods, but they are likely to… Read More »
2024-01-02
If you’ve played Omori, you know how its oft-abstracted ruminations on coping with trauma cut emotionally deep. If you haven’t played it, you’ve likely heard people rave about exactly that. Or, a cursory glance may lead you to pin it as an Undertale-ian jaunt packed with subversive genre flips. While you’d be right to some degree—it’s indeed… Read More »
2023-12-31
I joined RPGFan when it was still a fledgling site, when the term “Web 1.0” wouldn’t have made sense because that’s the only web there was. In the 25 years since, many other English-language publications have seen fit to give attention to game music, from our friends at VGM Online to the likes of NPR… Read More »
Soundtrack review: Genso Suikoden II Original Game Soundtrack Complete 18. Suikoden II “The heart has its secret currents: deep, and without guide.” The above lyric comes from the song “Currents,” found on the Suikoden II arrange album Orrizonte, with an upbeat rearrange utilized for the Visual Novel Genso Suikogaiden Volume 1’s opening movie. However, this… Read More »
Soundtrack review: A Realm Reborn: Final Fantasy XIV Original Soundtrack 9. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn I had a much more difficult time ranking the modern Final Fantasy music compared to the original nine Uematsu solo efforts. Seriously, this was a stressful choice. I love the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, especially the XIII-2 soundtrack.… Read More »
2023-12-24
Michael Sollosi Why do nearly all RPGs, even the ones with elaborate character creation systems, always start the same way? There are many sensible reasons for this, but I appreciate how Dragon Age: Origins rejects that idea outright. Just after character creation, the player chooses one of six different Chapter 1’s to begin the story,… Read More »
