Chances are, if you are a video game enthusiast, you likely don't need me to tell you what a looping path is. If you're a video game developer, the notion of explaining such a fundamental part of environmental design may seem laughable. Many exploration, adventure, and role-playing titles utilize this technique in order to create satisfying gameplay loops out of their game worlds, rather than just their gameplay mechanics and systems. It is one of the textbook ways to perpetuate a feeling of momentum within a video game world, making sure traversal does not become tedious by slicing off chunks of backtracking.

In terms of variations upon the foundations of role-playing games, the monster-catching sub-genre is arguably one of the more appealing and accessible of the bunch. Claiming ownership of a party member is an enticing prospect, but the ability to customize both the individual and whole party, as well as the completionist mindset, allow for multiple layers of enjoyment. This sub-genre is one that has been around for a while, some games utilizing the concept as more of a combat motif, while the more recognizable titles use the idea to inform their aesthetic, narrative structure, and longevity. While we can all agree that the wildly popular and long-standing Shin Megami Tensei series acts as both the face of the sub-genre and a shining example of player accessibility and universal appeal, many other titles have risen to challenge and attempt to profit off of the monster-catching framework. Some, like Digimon, offer unique combination methods and multiple character routes, while others, lik...

Hand of Fate 2 plays nothing like any other Role-playing game I have encountered, yet very clearly is a Role-playing game. The depth of its combat mechanics and the variations that it layers atop the foundations of its progression and narrative structure are smart and nuanced. The way it challenges the player to continuously achieve and succeed while tackling its chapters is commendable. The difficulty present in its scenarios is intense and unyielding. These phrases could be applied to a number of different titles, and this has something to do with the nature of personality in video games.

For a long period of time, I believed that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was as close to perfect as a Mario RPG could get. Its turn-based, action-command combat, light and varied atmosphere, and translation of many fundamental mechanics found in the Super Mario platformers into Role-playing concepts were just delightful, and the game served as a perfect entry point for a fledgling Role-playing fan. That being said, I understand how some contemporary gamers might look back on this title and scoff. With more recent Paper Mario titles being focused on aesthetically gorgeous titles that unfortunately lack in substance, the modern Nintendo fan might not understand why a Role-playing game with customization, multiple levels of depth, and a heartfelt story might be so appealing. Some might even find Paper Mario's turn-based combat a relic, favoring Super Paper Mario's action-platforming approach instead. It seems Nintendo may feel the same, because the reveal that Mario would...

Flashback twenty-four years ago: it's 1990 and the RPG is a fledgling concept. The introduction of a console with the first-ever CD-ROM peripheral allowed expanse material to be brought to the TurboGrafx-16- in specific,  titles like Ys Book I and II. Revolutionary for its time, Ys featured action-based gameplay with role-playing elements, a pounding soundtrack, and a surprisingly in-depth story. With Ys VIII's recent release on Steam and the increased exposure of the series thanks to its imminent release on Switch, it is as good a time as any to evaluate what makes Falcom's signature Role-playing series so unique. Like many of its kind, however, Ys has undergone several improvements and changes throughout the years. This feature will take a look at some of the best parts of Ys Book I and II, highlighting why it is still holds up in its base form almost a quarter of a century later.

Shin Megami Tensei V is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch, which may come as a surprise to longtime fans of the series. The gap between SMTIII and SMTIV was a substantial nine years, jumping from the PlayStation 2 to the Nintendo 3DS. The advancements between these two titles were few, with the latter actually taking a step back in representing its monsters as 2D portraits, but SMTIV was still very much a gargantuan Role-playing game, featuring 70-90 hours of gameplay, a fully-voice-acted story, and many monsters to obtain and unlock.

The Alliance Alive is a relatively new game, and those who have followed these articles know that its predecessor, The Legend of Legacy, has already been covered because of its unique elements. With a month of content dedicated to narrative elements, there is one particular aspect of The Alliance Alive that stands out in relation to many of its contemporaries- the overlapping narrative that takes place during the first quarter of the game. Although it certainly is not the first Japanese Role-playing game to implement the idea, the game revisits the concept at multiple points and benefits from the concept a great deal.

It comes as a great surprise to me that Square Enix has announced the far-off Final Fantasy VII remake will be released episodically. While any story-based game- and Role-playing games, especially- can have its narrative broken into smaller pieces, the pacing and amount of content per portion in Final Fantasy VII is questionable, and not necessarily clean-cut. Unless, I don't know, you break it up by the literal CD swaps from the original PS1 release. While many games have attempted episodic release schedules in the age of digital distribution, there are very few that seem justified in doing so. An episodic game needs to have a structure in which each installment tells a concise narrative, no matter how much cliff-hanging the writers wish to create in order to encourage a player to buy the next installment. What is stranger- to me, at least- is that there are specific franchises that feel primed to adopt an episodic release schedule yet have not done so.

If you're an avid fan of Role-playing games, it's likely that you have some level of text comprehension and reading skill. The genre is not necessarily plagued with verbosity, but it does rely heavily on dialogue and in-game text in order to communicate its narrative. Having a great deal of dialogue can be beneficial to the plot and character development, but the effectiveness of this text is also determined by the tone, level of nuance, and depth of character that it actually communicates.

Video games have evolved in ways previously thought impossible since their inception, largely thanks to the rapid growth and improvement found in iterative hardware and the importance of such devices in the digital era. What was once a rudimentary open-world game like The Legend of Zelda pales in comparison with Breath of the Wild, both games offering freedom and exploration in vastly different ways. Because of the rapidly-changing standards, however, titles that were once considered the highest quality of their era are constantly challenged by newer efforts. What was once hailed as revolutionary is now considered a relic, usually only in terms of aesthetic, nothing more. So when developers claim that they are attempting to evoke a "classic" feeling, what are we to expect from their product? It isn't necessarily the same as what is "retro," which, depending one your tendencies, is anything produced within the previous fifteen to twenty years. As men...

With an HD port in Code of Princess EX and characters appearing in the soon-to-be-released Blade Strangers, it seems that this delightful little action-based Role-playing game is getting some love. Whether or not this is warranted, however, is another story. Code of Princess is, in many ways, a conundrum. Featuring absurd character designs, a wacky localization, incredibly extensive online functionality, and a slew of customization options, this game also suffers from terrible performance issues on the Nintendo 3DS, punishing difficulty, and a bland soundtrack. It is far from a perfect experience, which is perhaps why the prospect of co-operative play and altered enemy A.I. are large pushes- and welcome changes- in the EX package.

Before the Operation Rainfall trilogy, I was not aware of how much I really loved Role-playing games. I had enjoyed a number of titles from the genre in the past, but understanding the need and lack of representation on Nintendo's seventh generation console helped me realize why iterations in the Paper Mario and Crystal Chronicles series that appeared on the Wii were dissatisfying experiences. I longed for numbers-based combat, meaningful character progression and growth, and the wackiness that comes with a good, old, far-fetched Role-playing game. I was not alone in this desire. The power of a vocal community can be a compelling catalyst, though Nintendo themselves would only bring Xenoblade Chronicles to North America after the Operation Rainfall petitioning began. However, localization and publishing company XSEED recognized the potential of bringing these already-translated titles over from Europe, and thus, three of the Rainfall titles headed to North American shelves. While...

Most of the role-playing games I've talked about on this site have been narrative-driven, linear affairs. There's nothing wrong with this, and I've mentioned before that the appeal of these kinds of games is inheriting a role- being an active participant in a story. If this is the reason you play these kinds of games, you have an incentive for engaging in combat on a regular basis- you need to be strong enough to take on the next foe, so that you can progress the story, etc etc. The most frequent method of incentivizing a player is by crafting engaging narratives and allowing them to inherit a crucial role in the narrative. This leads a player to want to discover more from a narrative perspective, rather than through compelling gameplay. This is not to say that this model cannot have compelling gameplay- it largely depends on the sorts of organic progression the developers place in their way, as well as combat motifs and core mechanics. However, this can often present a...

With a new installment in the Little Tail Bronx universe headed to the Nintendo Switch, there's no better time to take a look back at Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, the second title in the series. Released in the twilight days of the Nintendo DS, Solatorobo features arguably some of the best aesthetic design on the system, blending 3D character models with 2D backgrounds akin to early fifth generation role-playing games. While it shares a setting with its previous entry Tail Concerto, neither game requires playing the other as a prerequisite, and I would argue that Solatorobo is a fine entry point for anyone mildly curious in the series.

I have no particular love for Final Fantasy, a statement that would strip my status as an RPG fanatic in the eyes of some. I had very little exposure to the series in my youth, however, and my first Final Fantasy would actually be a spinoff, the first entry in the Crystal Chronicles series. The action-based, cooperation-focused role-playing systems were extremely appealing to me, and its unique races and more straightforward lore were easy to grasp, serving its rustic sensibilities nicely. I would go on to play each title in the Crystal Chronicles series, witnessing the refinements of its cooperative structure and eventual regression into something utterly weird, before vanishing off the map completely. In its place, I would find another coop ARPG to fill the void: a little series known as Monster Hunter. Its focus on precision movement, intense preparation, and dedication to equipment and weapon builds would enthrall me in a different way than Crystal Chronicles, which featured dung...

I'm not much of a Resident Evil fan- or at least, I wasn't, growing up. It was only the lack of titles present in the 3DS library that pushed me to pick up the technically astounding Resident Evil Revelaitons (not a typo) and begin to become somewhat enamored with the series. In truth, I was something of a skittish person in my youth, painfully aware of bumps in the night and checking behind my shoulder on many occasions. Horror games didn't really appeal to me, and even tense situations in games like Metroid Prime 2 would have me walking off nervous energy. I became a bit more familiar with the horror genre as I grew older, eventually accepting it and enjoying the thrill of my pulse pounding and discomfort rising during tense sequences. Still, it took me even more time to get into horror games, partially because I wasn't quite certain how these kinds of titles would attempt to replicate the staples of the cinematic and storytelling genre while still utilizing the uniqu...