Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third installation of the Castlevania series on the Game Boy Advance. Players take control of Dracula’s benevolent reincarnation as he attempts to find out what is going on and why he is being drawn to the castle that was his home in a former life.
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Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release Date: May 6, 2003 Platforms: GBA JustRPG Score: 90% Pros: +Engaging Combat. +Brilliant Visuals. +Easy to Use Interface. Cons: -Music/Sound gets Old Fast. -Bland Story. |
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Overview
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third installation of the Castlevania series on the Game Boy Advance. Players take control of Dracula’s benevolent reincarnation as he attempts to find out what is going on and why he is being drawn to the castle that was his home in a former life. The character players control is once again not a member of the Belmont clan. Instead, he is Soma Cruz, the inheritor of Dracula’s powers. Soma makes his way through Dracula’s evil castle, running into people from various organizations that know about the legend attached to him. Eventually, he runs into a man named ‘J’ and the story unfolds.
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Bujingai: The Forsaken City
Bunjingai: The Foresaken City is a hack-and-slash adventure game with some RPG elements. It also stars the famous Japanese recording artist, ‘Gackt’ as the basis of the main character/his voice.
Developer: Red Entertainment Publisher: Bam Entertainment Release Date: July 20, 2004 Platforms: PS2 JustRPG Score: 75% Pros: +Stunning Graphics and Animation +Enjoyable Combat +Amazing Soundtrack Cons: -Repetitive -Awkward Camera Angles -Short Game |
Bujingai: The Forsaken City Overview
Bujingai: The Forsaken City takes place in the far future of the 22nd Century. Plays take control of Lau Wulong as he sets out to defeat his best friend, who has become possessed by an evil demon. The evil demon, wearing the body of his friend, has started a world wide catastrophe that has wiped out almost 70% of the world’s population. Lau must defeat his friend, and in turn close the demonic portals that the evil spirit inside of his friend has opened around the world.
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Breath of Fire IV
Breath of Fire IV is the fourth game in the Breath of Fire series. Man, that was hard! The game itself is a continuation of the amazing RPGs, and it does not disappoint.
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: December 4, 2000 Platforms: PS1, PC JustRPG Score: 77% Pros: +Easy Navigation through Menus +Marvelous Combat System +Good Story Cons: -Repetitive Music/Sound Effects |
Breath of Fire IV Overview
Breath of Fire IV is a continuation of the Breath of Fire series, made by Capcom. Players take control of a character named Ryu, a boy who has the unique ability to shape-shift into a powerful dragon, as he attempts to set out and stop a vicious war that may destroy the world as he knows it. Players are also able to play as ‘Fou Lou’, the antagonist of the game, and must try and stop Ryu from undermining his plans.
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Breath of Fire III
Breath of Fire III is a continuation of Capcom’s prestigious Breath of Fire series. Players take control of Ryu, a boy who can turn into a dragon, as he makes his way through life and tries to find out about his history.
Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Release Date: January 31, 1998 Platforms: PS1, PSP JustRPG Score: 82% Pros: +Stunning Sound Effects +Wonderful Battle Engine +Great Replay Value Cons: -Follows the ‘JRPG’ blueprint. |
Breath of Fire III Overview
Breath of Fire III takes place in a world where technology and magic mix together. Players take control of a young boy named Ryu as he attempts to make his way through life and find out about his sketchy past. Throughout the game, players will collect colorful party members. Through the game, players will find out that some unspeakable force threatens the world, and Ryu sets out to defeat it.
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Breath of Fire II
Breath of Fire II is the sequel to Breath of Fire. It is set 500 years in the future, and stars a couple of familiar faces from the first game, along with a brand new cast and amazing story.
Breath of Fire II Overview
Players take control of Ryu Bateson, an orphan, as he attempts to find out more about his history. He has the ability to transform into powerful dragons, and is joined by a friend of his who is a talking dog man that uses a crossbow to fight. Ryu ends up finding out that demons threaten the world, and he sets out with his collected friends( one of which who is a massive armadillo man) to stop the demons and prevent them from destroying the world.
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Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a new spin on the Breath of Fire series. Players take control of another boy named Ryu as he attempts to save the girl he cares about, an in turn reset the status quo of the world he lives in.
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter Overview
Players take control of a boy named Ryu, who lives underground just like everyone else. Humanity in this story has fled underground because of a cataclysmic event in the far past. Sadly, they have started to stagnate, and the underground societies are falling apart. Ryu is a ‘lower class’ member of said society, and so is confined to the lowest, most polluted areas of his world. His friend, Nina, is experimented on, and is unable to live underground anymore. So, Ryu sets out to save her from her eventual death by making his way to the surface world, inadvertently coming to blows with the leader of the society, a man who wants to steal Ryu’s shape shifting capabilities.
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Brave Story: New Traveler
Brave Story: New Traveler is an RPG based on a popular japanese manga. Players take control of a young boy as he sets on an exciting adventure to save his friend from a horrible illness.
Developer: Game Republic Publisher: XSEED Games Release Date: July 31, 2007 Platforms: PSP JustRPG Score: 85% Pros: +Great Animation +Fun Characters +Fantastic Game Mechanics Cons: -Tedious Encounters -Formulaic RPG -Mundane Soundtrack |
Brave Story: New Traveler Overview
In Brave Story: New Traveler players take control of a young boy named Tatsuya. He sets out to save his friend, Miki, from a horrible illness that she is afflicted with. He does this by talking to a magical, disembodied voice which leads to him being sucked into an alternate world where he is given a magical sword, dubbed the Traveler’s Sword. He sets out to collect five magical gemstones so he can return home and cure his friend with their power.
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Brave Fencer Musashi
In Brave Fencer Musashi players take control of a boy named Musashi who has inherited the names and swords of a legendary blademaster. He sets out to find out more about the swords, and accidentally finds himself in the middle of an evil plot to conquer the world.
Developer: Squaresoft Publisher: Square Electronic Arts Release Date: October 31, 1998 Platforms: PS1 JustRPG Score: 74% Pros: +Cute story +Great Humor +Voice Acting Cons: -Very Vague -Poor Jumping System -Missing Save Points |
Brave Fencer Musashi Overview
Brave Fencer Musashi was Squaresoft’s way of ‘testing the waters’ with an action-based RPG hybrid. Players take control of a boy named Musashi as he sets out to find an ancient sword that belonged to one of his ancestors. While on his mission to recover the sword, he finds himself in the middle of a plot to kidnap the princess of the country he resides in, and an even darker plot that plans to use the ancient blade he seeks to release an evil wizard back into the world. So, Musashi vows to stop both with his awesome samurai powers.
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The Bouncer
The Bouncer was Squaresoft’s first game on the Playstation 2 and another attempt by the company to mix an action-adventure game with an RPG.
Developer: Dream Factory Publisher: Squaresoft Release Date: March 6, 2001 Platforms: PS2 JustRPG Score: 68% Pros: +Impressive graphics +Detailed combat +Engaging Story line Cons: -Poor AI -Very Linear -Not very interactive |
The Bouncer Overview
Players take control of three bouncers (go figure), attempting to rescue one of their friends who has been kidnapped by an evil, multi-national corporation. The three bouncers all showcase different real-life fighting styles, and they all have their own motives as to why they intend to go against the evil Mikado corporation and try and save their friend. The story itself plays out as an ‘interactive movie’, with amazing cutscenes interspersed with relatively easy ‘fights’. The game plays like a beat-’em up, where the player controls one of the bounces, the other two being controlled by the A.I. When the player defeats enough enemies or clears a checkpoint, or defeats a boss they are taken to a screen where they can spend their Bouncer Points(the game’s experience system) to upgrade their stats and abilities.
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Borderlands
Borderlands is a gritty sci-fi western set on a desert planet in the far future. It is a strange mixture of an FPS and RPG, and has been commented on as being ‘Diablo with guns’; This, of course, is not a bad thing.
Developer: Gearbox Software Publisher: 2K Games Release Date: October 26, 2009 Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC JustRPG Score: 97% Pros: +Tons of weapons +Plenty of Gore / Effects +Amazing Co-Op Gameplay Cons: -Poor AI -No Mini-map -Bland Terrain |
Borderlands Overview
Players in Borderlands can take control of one of four characters that fill archetypal ‘classes’ from other RPGS: Brick, the ‘Tank’, a massive man capable of entering berserker rages where he is extremely resistant to damage, regenerates HP at a ridiculous rate, and uses his ham-sized fists to beat people to a pulp; Lilith, the Siren, a woman with strange, super-human powers that allow her to fire off shock waves and turn invisible; Mordecai, a famous ‘hunter’ who is skilled with the use of sniper rifles that is aided by his gigantic pet vulture, and Roland, the Soldier. Roland has the ability to deploy massive, unmoving turrets and heal his allies. The players take control of one of the characters as they attempt to find out what strange technology lies inside ancient vaults on the planet of Pandora, all the while helping in a multi-planet war between mega corporations.
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