Square Enix

Game Description: Kingdom Hearts II follows Sora, Donald, and Goofy on their continuing quest. It's been a year since the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. The story begins in Twilight Town, a quiet burg nestled between night and day. Sora and friends are joined by a vibrant new cast of characters, including the king himself! Together, they encounter countless dangers—in worlds both familiar and brand-new. Cameo appearances by popular Final Fantasy characters.

Frequent readers of this site may remember that I covered the original Kingdom Hearts on PlayStation 2 and gave it one of the lowest scores on the Internet at a time when it was undeservedly racking up accolades and capturing a legion of fans.

I was concerned when the game opened and plonked me down in the middle of some teen angst of the boy-girl, largely platonic variety. Indeed, the fact that the teenaged female was baring her midriff and wearing pants that she seemingly forgot to button gave me cause for worry. Fortunately, I wasn't thrown into The Star OC, but rather I had discovered a well-done and epic role-playing game courtesy of tri-Ace.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Violence

Game Description: Set in SD 772, four hundred years since the climactic battle with the Ten Wise Men, humans and aliens now co-exist together in both advanced and less-developed societies, as the Galaxy Federation continues to research the cosmos to gain more influence in Space. The story begins as Star Ocean's protagonist, Fayt Leingod, brings his family and childhood friend, Sophia Esteed, to the Federation-managed resort planet Hyda for a vacation, but the dreamy holiday is abruptly ended when Hyda is attacked by an unknown space military. In the heat of the attack, Fayt is separated from his family and Sophia, and he begins an emotional quest into the unknown to find his loved ones. Along his journey, he gets caught up in the war of an uncharted planet, but in the end, he learns the terrible untold secret about the world and himself.

I still meet people who insist Final Fantasy IV has one of the greatest videogame stories of all time. It doesn't, but the grip this game has on a certain generation of people fascinates me.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Language, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes

So Radiata Stories, the action role-playing game (action RPG) from tri-Ace, should be my personal heaven: it's got a branching story that the player controls in a pretty big way, a bonus dungeon, and more sidequests than every Final Fantasy ever made. How can a game with so many choices be so boring?

 

Game Description: Radiata Stories offers real-time RPG action in a beautifully-rendered fantasy setting. In the land of Radiata, human and fairies coexist. 16-year-old Jack Russel lives in this world—he's a poor peasant whose father was a heroic soldier. When Jack enlists in the army to follow in dad's footsteps, he meets a wealthy young aristocrat who seeks to be a knight. With is unlikely new friend at his side, Jack will find his place in the world by fighting in a terrible war that may doom their world.

Game Description: Full Metal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir is a prequel to Broken Angel. The game delivers the exciting storyline that made the anime a hit, with all-new transmutations and chimeras. We start in the desert city of Lior, where Edwin & Alphonse are investigating a cult called the Leto. When they encounter an inscrutable woman who gives them a ring, they're embroiled in a mystery involving vanished villagers and strange monsters.