Update: A trailer and two gameplay videos taken from the stream have been added to the bottom of the post.

The wait is over! We finally have details on the next Dragon Quest game and things have certainly gone an interesting direction. It’s titled Dragon Quest X Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online which already seems to have translations ranging from Andriasang’s The Five Awakening Races to 1up’s Rise of the Five Tribes.

The important word, though, is “online”. Dragon Quest X will evolve the ideas established in the previous game by allowing you to play with a customized character teamed up with several friends online. This includes cross-platform multiplayer between players on both the Wii and the freshly announced Wii U version. In addition to this, there will also be some kind of 3DS connectivity which seems to be in the brainstorming phase.

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Final Fantasy XIII was a highly divisive game when it released last year. I found myself enjoying its finer points, but also finding fault in some of its design leading me to write a rather mixed review. With a sequel on the way, the opportunity for a more consistent experience has been opened.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes place three years after the first. Lightning has disappeared and Serah (her previously unplayable little sister) is out to find her with the help of a new character named Noel. The demo wasn’t heavy on exposition, but there was enough talk of “points in time” and “anomalies between dimensions” to pique my interest.

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The Last Story Diary is a series of articles in which I will chronicle my adventures while playing the Japanese version of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s The Last Story. While there will be no spoilers of the story’s dialogue (I don’t know Japanese), there will be descriptions of certain situations I encounter that could be considered spoilers.

After playing awhile, I came to realize the best control scheme is the Classic Controller Pro. There are no motion controls or IR sensor controls, so the Wii Remote & Nunchuck hold no advantage. In fact, that scheme doesn’t have free camera movement, though you can still snap the camera behind you. The standard Classic Controller is almost perfect, but the second L & R buttons (which the game makes use of) are next to the first L & R instead of underneath like the Pro. Both of these schemes still work adequately, but the Classic Controller Pro is by far the most comfortable.

But I digress. Back to the story!

It was time for me to enter Ruli City. Immediately, I found myself in the town’s bar. This appeared to be the main base of operations for my rag tag crew. Seiren, my dual sword-wielding warrior, seemed to be in a constant state of drunkenness everytime I talked to her.

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The Last Story Diary is a series of articles in which I will chronicle my adventures while playing the Japanese version of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s The Last Story. While there will be no spoilers of the story’s dialogue (I don’t know Japanese), there will be descriptions of certain situations I encounter that could be considered spoilers.

After fighting the glowing blue tiger until he retreated, I decided to explore The Last Story‘s online modes a bit. There are two types of online modes. Versus mode has six players fighting each other in a deathmatch while Online Raid groups you with a party to play cooperatively.

I decided to try versus mode first. Unlike story mode (which has you controlling only Elza), I was able to choose from a rather large list of characters in versus. While the basic controls were the same for each, I found each character had unique strengths and abilities.

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The Last Story Diary is a series of articles in which I will chronicle my adventures while playing the Japanese version of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s The Last Story. While there will be no spoilers of the story’s dialogue (I don’t know Japanese), there will be descriptions of certain situations I encounter that could be considered spoilers.

As I booted up my imported copy of The Last Story, I was greeted by its elegant title screen. A beautiful piece by legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu plays as the screen fades to white and the title appears.

Upon choosing New Game, I was shocked to find myself in direct control within seconds. There were no incredibly long cutscreens explaining the world to me or seemingly endless segments in a peaceful town, waiting for some ancient evil to show up. Instead, a short camera pan showing my location, Lizard’s Cave, was the only thing preceding my journey through the first dungeon.

A very brief, optional video tutorial showed me the basics of the controls. Always on the lookout for treasure, I decided to venture in the opposite direction from the game’s initial starting point. I came across a weakened part of a wall which I was able to break open. This revealed a treasure chest. Yes, there was already a secret to find before I had ever gone in the direction the game wanted me to.

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"How does it hold up to the hype?"

Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming. To give you a little perspective, the game started its initial development on the PS2. Here we are in 2010, about three and a half years into the PS3′s lifespan, and the game has finally dropped. With teaser videos shown as early as they were, the game has been anticipated for so long that its release onto store shelves seems almost awkward.

The first thing you’ll notice upon booting up FFXIII is that it is an extremely pretty game. While some argue that there are more technically impressive looking games (have gamers really become this joyless?), FFXIII stands above most thanks to its superb art direction. Every enemy, character, and environment looks beautiful. Colors are vibrant, designs are ornate, and everything is a real treat to look at.

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"A new JRPG developed by a dream team."

Sands of Destruction is a JRPG that has been very high on my watch list for awhile now. The reason for this is the people involved with the game. My personal favorite composer, Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears), is responsible for the soundtrack, Masato Kato (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Xenogears) is the game’s scenario writer, and Kunihiko Tanaka (Xenogears) is the character designer. Each of these people have several renowned JRPGs already under their belt, so it’s needless to say that the game is created by a dream team.

Unfortunately, a short demo in a crowded and noisy room is a terrible way to experience an RPG. To make matters worse, I only had a single party member when I jumped into the demo which appeared to be close to the beginning of the game. In spite of this, I gathered what info I could in my short time with it.

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You might say I’m a little late to the party, having just now finished a game I started when it first came out in December 2001. I would say, “No, you are!” in a childish manner and then run away. As it turns out, I have a very bad habit of starting games, getting really far in the them, but never getting around to finishing them.

Around the time I got my PS3, I decided to pick up “Final Fantasy X” again. I debated starting over, but the last time I had done that, I found that I was only a few plot points from the end, and this save file was even farther than that one had been.

So how does the game hold up by today’s standards?

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Sometimes I am very surprised when certain games make it outside of Japan. Sure, we live in an age where what will get localized is on the rise and what must be imported is steadily decreasing in comparison to times past (thanks to companies like Atlus and XSEED), but sometimes the choice of which games make it over still surprises me. What I mean to say is, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier (or Sir Togsef as I like to call it) is VERY Japanese. In fact, there are even cross-over characters in it from the Japan-only Namco x Capcom.

Though a spin off of the Super Robot Wars series (most of which DID stay in Japan), the game makes several large departures from its predecessors. First off, rather than focusing on giant mechs like Gundams and Veritechs, the characters you control consist of people and people-sized androids. The second key difference is that the game is a JRPG rather than an SRPG.

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We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

Being a college student, the idea of portable gaming is extremely attractive. I chose a PSP over a DS because I prefer story and graphics over “innovative gameplay”, and RPG’s are my poison of choice.

One of the first games I picked up was Xseed Games’ “Brave Story: New Traveler”. This is a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) rated E, which took me about 20 hours to beat, which is a decent length for a hand-held dungeon crawler.

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