It was in 2009 on this day that Dragon Age: Origins was released, marking the start of a transition from the pure, tactical RPG gameplay Bioware was known for into a more cinematic and action-oriented generation of Bioware games.
Whether we were saving the Capital Wasteland or damning it, Fallout 3 was a journey retreading countless times and that’s what made Bethesda’s gambit a truly iconic title.
Few franchises have as long and storied of a history as Final Fantasy. Over the last 30 years this role-playing game megalith has won the hearts of gamers around the globe with countless games featuring rich worlds to explore, engrossing gameplay, and fantastic characters. World of Final Fantasy throws on a pair of rose-colored glasses to take a look at Final Fantasy’s past with a Japanese role-playing game that’s indelibly modern. Whether or not that look is a good one may depend on how much Final Fantasy you know.
It was on this day in 2010 that Obsidian released Fallout: New Vegas, taking what Fallout 3 had established, and making it into one of the best action-RPG systems out there.
Square Enix’s flagship Final Fantasy series has undergone many evolutions in the last 20 years, but there are still some hallmarks expected from a game in the core franchise. Final Fantasy XV does have some of these familiar elements: dudes with hair reaching varying degrees of spikyness; a grand, high-stakes story involving a prince undertaking an epic journey; there’s even a grumpy old man named Cid. But these familiar details are juxtaposed with some pretty big departures from the formula. That’s not necessary a bad thing, as I discovered during my hands-on session with FFXV earlier this week. If anything, the demo showed me that the long-awaited next entry in the series is a lot of fun if you’re willing to let go of nostalgia and embrace the new.
Turn-based battles. Straight-up dungeons. Random encounters. For decades, these were the calling cards of the Final Fantasy series, making it one of the most prolific and beloved RPG franchises of all time. In recent years, however, Square Enix has strayed from its origins, using more real-time, action-based fighting sequences set on wide-open maps. Whether or not that’s a good thing is entirely dependent on your perspective, but one thing’s for sure: there’s still plenty of room in the modern gaming world for the turn-based RPG, and World of Final Fantasy scratches that itch in the cutest possible way.
It was today in 2009 that Demon’s Souls came to North America, introducing a new kind of action-RPG games that would challenge players to survive brutal, yet rich gothic worlds with the Souls series.