Feature by Harvard L. The Tales series is by many regards Bandai Namco’s answer to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy. It’s a JRPG series with epic scope and a long line of mainstream titles connected more by common elements than plot or character, which is beloved by its hardcore Japanese fans,…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Finally! Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2, on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita were two of the finest JRPGs that have been produced in recent memory. It might not be a series with the mainstream awareness of some others, but both games are genuinely…
Read MoreList by Matt S. Whether it be because of licensing, a developer going out of business, or the industry simply moving on, every generation there are a lot of games that end up “lost” – the original games might be available in some form or another, but the changes of…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Bandai Namco’s Tales franchise has always been good at telling classical JRPG stories, using classical JRPG tropes. From Tales of Phantasia right back in 1995, though to the most recent, Tales of Berseria, released in 2016, Bandai has never strayed too far from the established path in…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Tales of Vesperia is the first major JRPG release for 2019. I’ve always had a complex relationship with the Tales series for its combat, so in this video I take a short look at the combat system – what I enjoy, and what frustrates me. Be…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I never had the opportunity to play The Last Remnant on its initial release in 2008. It was a console exclusive on Xbox 360, and I didn’t spend much time playing that console at all. I’m so glad that for the remaster Square Enix brought it…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I’ve already reviewed the Atelier Arland trilogy multiple times. For each game in the series. Rather than do yet another review, when I’ve really run out of things to say, I thought I’d instead write generally on why I love this particular trilogy so much, even…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Marenian Tavern Story is basically classical Atelier but with a different name. The team at Rideon took a crack at it with Adventure Bar Story a few years ago, which showed a lot of promise but ultimately fell short of its goal. Marenian shows a lot…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists is the next new release for the long-running, and dearly beloved Atelier franchise. We knew it was coming out in January in Japan, and now we have the global release date to share! The game releases just a few months later,…
Read MorePreview by Matt S. If there’s one thing that Fire Emblem Heroes proved without a shadow of a doubt, it’s that the mechanics of a tactics JRPG can be tailored for mobile quite nicely. Langrisser has, over the years, been Fire Emblem’s closest rival, and Langrisser’s development team apparently noticed…
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