Role-Playing

A friendship built on a rotten foundation

HIGH The steady unfolding of plot and character development that makes me feel like I'm watching a movie.

LOW The lukewarm battle system that makes me feel like I'm watching a movie.

WTF One of the witches our hero can be "engaged" to—complete with wedding gown—is 12 years old.

Atlus was kind enough to share some info with me about their upcoming DS RPG My World, My Way, and I'm passing it along to you.

Launching February 3rd, My World, My Way is the story of Elise, a spoiled-rotten princess who finds that the one thing she can’t have is a boyfriend. Why not? Because the boy who has captured her fancy is an adventurer, and he’ll never settle down with a bratty girl who has everything handed to her. Naturally, the first thing Elise does is set out to have adventures of her own in order to land that boyfriend, once and for all.

The story is absolutely on the comic side and far from the usual RPG fare, and the mechanics follow suit. Eagle-eyed readers will notice the "Pout" option and PP points in these screenshots. In a strange twist, Elise is such an effective pouter and tantrum-thrower that she has the power to affect change over tons of things in the game—everything from skipping random battles, to completing quests just by saying that they’re too annoying to finish legitimately.

For readers who crave their RPG a little off the beaten path, My World, My Way is definitely one to keep an eye on.

And as I'm sure most of you know, Atlus RPGs can be notoriously hard to find after their initial release. Don't say I didn't warn you, K?

At this year's Penny Arcade Expo, there were more games than ever to check out on the exhibition floor, but more than the others, one stood out as something to keep a close eye on: Rise of the Argonauts from Liquid Entertainment. After a dynamite walk-through and presentation from Liquid’s Andrew Rubino, I was absolutely convinced that this game was on the right track. Currently scheduled for a December 16th release, Andrew took time out of his extremely hectic pre-release schedule to answer a few questions.

Game Description: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a console role-playing game (RPG) for Sony's PlayStation 2. Persona 4 takes place in a rural town named Inaba where mysterious murders occur whenever there is fog after heavy rain. The town has a television channel that airs only at midnight called Mayonaka TV, during which it is said that one can see their "other half" while staring at the screen. After hearing about a recent unsolved murder, some characters realize that they had witnessed the murder victim while watching Mayonaka TV. Chronologically the sixth installment in the Persona series, Persona 4 is a suspenseful countryside murder mystery with multiple twists and turns in the plot that will have you guessing all the way to the end.

Bears live inside your TV

HIGH The hilarious mid-summer camping trip.

LOW Unskippable cutscenes and long stretches between save.

WTF One character's totally unexpected mid-game reveal... Literally.

Confessions of an RPG Nerd

HIGH Finding an RPG hero and villain who aren't exactly like every other RPG hero and villain in video game history.

LOW Non-skippable cut-scenes. Really, should I have to watch five minutes of dialogue again just because I suck and died on a boss?

WTF There is a dog in your party. A dog who fights with a knife and smokes a pipe.

Game Description: A new generation of tales unfolds! A power struggle begins in a civilization dependent on an ancient technology, the blastia, and the Empire that controls it. The fates of two friends traveling separate paths intertwine in an epic adventure that threatens the existence of all. Tales of Vesperia marks the first Tales RPG release in HD with detail and graphics never before seen in the series. Now, real-time battles are more exciting than ever with over limits, the ability to unleash fatal strikes, combinations and burst artes. The next evolution of the revered role-playing series comes to the Xbox 360.