The first in the long-running Atelier series from Gust to be released into the western market, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana was a different kind of RPG than most PlayStation gamers were used to.
Final Fantasy Dissidia: Opera Omnia
Overlong title aside, Dissidia: Opera Omnia is probably the fairest and least gated free to play RPG on the mobile market with one of the highest levels of production quality. Square Enix have has a hit and miss love affair with the mobile space and freemium titles in general for some time now, and whilst titles such as ‘Final Fantasy: Record Keepers’ and ‘Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius’ have been out longer, there’s little doubt that this is the most polished offering they’ve produced.
Ancients I & Ancients II
‘Ancients: Death Watch’ was originally a shareware title for DOS in 1991 that served as an extended demo and proof of concept for its paid sequel, ‘Ancients II: Approaching Evil’ in 1994. Developed by Farr-Ware, a three-man team consisting of programmer Mark Lewis, and graphic art duo Jason Struck and Matthew McEwan, both were published by Epic MegaGames.
Kingdom Hearts III
If any game has been a long time coming it’s Kingdom Hearts III, which has seen its life as a series extended through a variety of handheld entries that have been as vitally important to its plot as the main series’ numbered entries. Kingdom Hearts III is the cumulation of not a trilogy, but over 10 games in the current plot thread that all need to be paid off in this instalment. But does Kingdom Hearts stick the landing?
Langrisser Mobile
At one time the name Langrisser was a serious competitor with Fire Emblem and Shining Force in Japan. Five solid entries spanning from the Mega Drive (where it was renamed as ‘Warsong’ for western release) to the Sega Saturn era abruptly ended for the series to go dormant only to make an unexpected appearance on mobile devices in 2019.
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
The mighty Dragon Quest series releases infrequently when compared to other franchises, but when a new game does appear they are usually something special within the RPG community. Dragon Quest XI comes triumphantly back to consoles on the heels of Dragon Quest X’s lack of western release on last gen systems and after the successful handheld entry that was Dragon Quest IX on Nintendo DS. Having missed out on playing X, the new game can’t help but make a solid impression as the west’s first HD Dragon Quest offering.
Onimusha Tactics
After three relatively solid entries into the Onimusha series of adventure/horror titles (arguably Action RPGs with their levelling system for weapons) that closed off a tight trilogy in 2003, Capcom started to experiment with the IP. This gave us smash-clone ‘Onimusha: Blade Warriors’, ‘Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams’ the fourth entry into the series, and ‘Onimusha Tactics’ a fully-fledged tactical RPG for the Game Boy Advance.
