Whoa. Where have I been recently? Actually, in all honesty, the RPG scene is really depressing me lately....And I guess by "lately," I mean "the majority of 2009." Maybe you disagree with me (and that's totally fine), but after 2008, the meager offerings of 2009 have felt so disappointing that it's all that I can do to even check the newest issue of Famitsu.
Sure, there have been a couple of bright spots, like Star Ocean 4 and Magna Carta II, but in general, everything feels like a port or a portable title this year. That's great for people who like ports and portable titles, but I don't happen to be one of them. Sure, there are a few more console RPGs announced that even look good, like End of Eternity, Final Fantasy XIII, Tales of Graces, and Ar Tonelico III (to a lesser extent), but they are all 2010 titles.
Now, I suppose that the relative lack of interesting titles (in my mind) is probably a blessing in disguise, as I don't have as much disposable income this year as I did in 2008, but it doesn't make it feel any better.
Okay okay. So I'm being a little whiny about this. I know. I'll try harder.
Anyhow, for this week's RPG releases, you might see a system that has been uncharacteristically quiet lately make a return to its place of domination. Yeah, the DS. Woo.
Check out what's hitting shelves this week (November 9 - 13, 2009) around the world:
North America
Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection – Square Enix – PC, Xbox 360
Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands – Marvelous, Natsume – Nintendo DS
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade – Marvelous, Natsume – Nintendo Wii
Phantasy Star Zero – Sonic Team, Sega – Nintendo DS
Spectral Force Genesis – Idea Factory, Ignition – Nintendo DS
Japan
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – Square Enix – Nintendo Wii
Final Fantasy XI: Vana’diel Collection 2 – Square Enix – PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2
Hexys Force – Sting, Atlus – PSP
Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star – GameArts, GungHo – PSP
Rockman.EXE: Operate Shooting Star – Capcom – Nintendo DS
Europe
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World – Namco Bandai – Nintendo Wii
Yep. The DS is back in the spotlight with over half of this week's NA releases: Spectral Force Genesis, Phantasy Star Zero, and another Harvest Moon. Meanwhile, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade hits the Wii, and what has to be the 100th Final Fantasy XI collection sees 360 and PC release.
Japan, meanwhile, gets some much cooler titles with Crystal Bearers for Wii, a new MegaMan RPG for DS, Atlus and Sting's Hexys Force for PSP, and GungHo's Lunar remake for the PSP. Oh, and that same FFXI collection is seeing Japanese release this week as well on 360, PC, and PS2 (for all those people who just can't give up MMOs on PS2. ...what?).
Europe, meanwhile, gets Tales of Symphonia 2 fashionably late. Like, very fashionably late.
Anything worth it for you this week?
P.S. Sorry I missed last week's list. Probably the game that most of you care about on that list was Dragon Age: Origins, which I'm told is about as quintessential BioWare as it gets.
5 comments:
Nothing for me this week. I might pick up Phantasy Star Zero at some point but I'm in no hurry. The next RPG I pick up will be Crystal Bearers (unless Borderlands DLC counts). I've really been neglecting Star Ocean 4, I'd like to put some more time into that one between now and Christmas.
^definitely play star ocean.
anyways anyone played dragon age ?
i already beat it, which i'm suprised i did it so fast lol.
took me a little less than 40 hours, but i didn't do many SQ's tho, the game was very addicting, i played for hours on end til i beat it.
for everyone that likes wrpg's it's worth playing for sure.
now i have to tackle magna carta one of these days.
I agree, Star Ocean 4 was fun. I stopped playing right at the end of the game for some reason I can't remember right now, but I plan to polish it off before the end of the year.
Magna Carta II is definitely worth playing. I'm enjoying it thoroughly, and I think I'm nearly finished it.
Still haven't gotten around to either Borderlands or Dragon Age, but I want to before the end of the year. Western games always take back seat to Japanese ones in my 'to play' log, however. Just my MO, I guess.
And, yeah, I'm also planning to get Crystal Bearers. It just boils down to whether or not I can convince my wife that we should spring for a Japanese Wii over a North American one for Christmas. (I really want to play Tales of Graces this year. :P)
^well if your into modding you can get an american wii to play japanese games.
anyways i just got magna carta 2, i'm about 12 hours in and it's fairly good, although nothing greatm but yea worth playing for sure.
not like theres much else new coming out soon, pretty soon i'm gonna finally start playing my older rpgs, still have to beat IU and LO, and i never even really started TOV. lol.
hopefully there will be other noteworthy rpg's next year besides FF13.
i can't figure out where all those other HD projects went. Atlus has an HD project (rumored to be Persona 5) in the works. Mistwalker has a title they promised to show by the end of the year that sounds like an HD title. tri-Ace hinted that there was a new Valkyrie Profile in the works. Namco Bandai made vague promises of 'making it up to 360 ToV fans' but has yet to come though.
it's like all of these games just dropped off everyone's radar. hopefully next year will see way more new titles than this year.
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