1Up gave it 9.0/10, as did Games Domain.

I would guess Xenosaga would be some sort of side-story, since they'd presumably have to ditch the extensive cutscenes.  Baten Kaitos could work well, though, with your cards displayed on the touch screen.

According to 1Up Nintendo has added Xenosaga DS and Baten Kaitos DS to their list of upcoming third-party titles.

Chris Avellone has posted some "designer ramblings" to the Obsidian forums regarding influence, romances, and endings in KoTOR 2.  About the endings - "Your character's gender, your character's light side/dark side leanings, the 4 different answers to your questions about what happened in K1, you ALSO get variations based on how you solved each planet and how you dealt with each of your companions."

Circuit City also has it for $25 this week.

I hadn't heard anything about this game until I read this review at Gamespy.  I like both puzzle and rhythm games, so I'm intrigued by the game.  Anyone play it?

Worthplaying has the new patch for Sacred, with several pages of fixes listed.

Yes, it's North America.  It'll be published in the US next spring.

Yea!.  IGN has a series of articles about the game here.

"I've been doing a lot of generic leveling up. Don't know whether that's really required or not."
Presuming they didn't make the game easier for the GBA, then for FF1 at least, it's very much required.  I have yet to make it out of a dungeon without being almost dead, and that's after several level-up/scouting trips into the dungeon.  The game is very hard, at least on the "Hard" difficulty setting.

Also, assuming they kept the option from the Origins games, I'd suggest that anyone playing change the setting that automatically switches targets if an enemy dies to "off".  Combat is very boring if you use the auto-switch.

They just launched the German version, and I guess it was a mess.  Tey've already released 4 patches for it, and it looks like it's still not fixed.  As for the English version, one of the developers posted the following on their forums -
"I'm fully aware that you guys are growing impatient, but at this point there simply isn't anything to be announced. Take note though that there will be an English version."

Here.

I don't generally like games like this, but I really enjoyed what I played of the demo.  The story appeared to be interesting, with a temporal crossover between Japan in the past and modern-day Paris.  Plus, it's always fun to grab enemies with a whip and smash them to the ground  Also, the control is much improved over the earlier games in the series.

"I certainly hope that Elder Scrolls 4 isn't a XBox exclusive, lets face it, the best thing about Morrowind was all the mods that enhanced the original game, and I can't see that on a console."
Usually when people refer to a game as an "XBox exclusive", that only means it won't be on PS2 or GCN.  Halo, KoTOR, etc. are considered XBox exclusives, even though they're also on the PC.  Elder Scrolls 4 has been announced for the PC, so there's nothing to worry about there.

The first game got pretty terrible reviews, but the sequel looks to be improved, and it's only $20.  It's shipped today, so hopefully we'll get some reviews soon.  Anyone thinking about picking it up?

IGN and Gamespot have posted their impressions of the Japanese version of Dragon Quest (Warrior) 8, which was just released in Japan.  I really wish I knew Japanese right now

RPGFan has some details about the games coming from Mist Walker, the game development studio founded by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series.  Also, the article revealed that Nobuo Uetmatsu will be providing the music for the game.  I love the entire FF series, but I can't wait to see what new games these two can create.

The sign at the store said it went through November 27, but that might not necessarily be for all stores.

Usually, that would be true, but it's been over a year since Titans was released.  Presuming they were working on this new game even before Titans shipped, it's probably not too far off.  My guess would be late next year.

That's the teaser message at the Ensemble Studios website.  I've been wondering what they were up to, since it's been quite a while since AoM : Titans was released.  Hopefully, they'll reveal what their new game is tomorrow, and not have an 8-day countdown to nothing, like a certain RPG developer that shall remain nameless

I'd imagine most people looking at this thread having already finished KoTOR, but you might want to put a spoiler warning on that last post, just in case.

I would guess Microsoft.  I don't think they have any interest in putting it on the XBox, but they've had much success with other historical strategy games, like Age of Empires and RoN.

Gamespot has some new screenshots from the new Gamecube Zelda game, as well as screenshots from the next Mario sports game, Mario Baseball.

Yes, the puzzle temples in FFX were terrible.  I love RPGs with puzzles in them, but not the random trial-and-error from FFX.  I almost always try the puzzles first on my own, but I didn't even bother with the Dome puzzle - I went straight to the FAQ.  Also, if you're stuck on a new game, just ask at the GameFAQs forum, especially if the game is already available in Japan.  There are a lot of importers who've finished the Japanese version and also people who will have the game finished within days of its release.

This is crazy.  Between two different stores, I got -
Max Payne
MDK 2
Wizardry Gold
Republic : The Revolution
Ghost Master
Armed & Dangerous
Enter The Matrix
Jurassic Park : Operation Genesis
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
Asteroids
Enclave
BG : Tales of The Sword Coast
Star Wars Monopoly
Alice
Empire of Magic
Homeworld
Return to Castle Wolfenstein

for $26  :shock:
Thanks for the heads up on this.  I don't go to EB that enough, so I probably would have missed it.  According to the signs, the deal is good through Saturday the 27th.

This is the main difference between console and PC RPGs.  There have been very few console RPGs that aren't linear, while most PC RPGs allow more freedom.  Actual non-linearity is very hard to pull off, though.  It doesn't really do any good to allow the player to go anywhere if they're not strong enough to defeat the monsters in anyplace other than where they're supposed to go.  

KoTOR was a great bridge between console and PC RPGs in many ways, including linearity.  Scalable difficulty allowed you to go wherever you chose, and still be able to defeat the enemies there, while the story (which usually suffers with nonlinear games) held up throughout the game.  Generally, I prefer linearity in my RPGs, as a large part of why I play them is for the stories.  If other developers can pull off what Bioware did with KoTOR, though, then we could have both freedom and a well-told story.

Gamespy has posted their review for Working Design's upcoming PS2 real-time tactical RPG collection (an RTTRPGC ) Growlanser Generations.  It's supposed to be out on the 29th, but there's been no mention of the game going gold, so I don't know if it'll make it by then or not.

About halfway down this page is the legend Suikoden was apparently based on.

You can't go back until you've beaten all 4 of the regions' regional tournaments.  There are even some tournaments you can't do on your first visit, because they require the higher-level certifications.

Some people say I shouldn't tempt fate.  I say fate should not tempt me.

Why is Suikoden 3 any less mature because it has an anthropomorhpic duck in it?  It's not like he was some kind of Donald Duck "wacky" character; the character itself was serious.  SMT : Nocturne has plenty of anthropomorphic creatures, and I even have a talking mop in my party, but it still has a very mature tone.  
I take it as a given that Japanese RPGs are going to have odd things in them.  Early in FF7, you're fighting your way through a corrupt megacorporation fighting giant houses with arms and legs.  They're weird, but I don't think they make the games any more or less mature for their presence.

I thought 3 was great, especially the varied and wonderful character designs.  There were problems, like the odd pacing, stiff animation, and the "pair-up" combat system, but I thought it had the same "Suikoden" feel that made the first two games special.

I've heard vague comments that 4 isn't that good, but I haven't heard any specifics about what supposed to be bad about it.  It's supposed to be out in January (for $39.99 for some reason) and unless it gets really bad US reviews, I'll be picking it up as soon as it comes out.

I read in a review that you can get the weapons from GC and the first game free in UYA if you have a save from those games on your memory card.

I may have some impressions later.  My resolve to wait is rapidly waning  The thing that sounds most interesting about the game is the battle system.  Even the best battle systems get boring after you figure out the best way to kill a certain enemy or group.  With the shuffling of the cards for each battle, every combat should be somewhat different.

I started up NOLF2 for the first time in quite a while, and I'm having a graphics problem I didn't the last time I played.  Certain sections of the ground will occasionally get brighter for a second or two, or flicker between light and dark.  I've tried updating my drivers, and that didn't help.  Anyone have this problem in this game or another?

I think Lucasarts has pretty much abandoned their internal development, and will probably become just publishers.  I'm sure there will be a KOTOR 3, but Lucasarts will hire some other developer to do it.

I'm getting it tomorrow, but I won't be playing it until for awhile.  I'm already playing too many RPGs at once, so I'm forcing myself to hold off on Baten Kaitos and Grownlanser Generations (assuming it makes it out this year) until Christmas.  From the reviews I've read, the consensus seems to be that the game looks and plays great, but the story is somewhat cliche.

"I highly doubt there will be a Fable 2. It sold well but the setting is just not compelling enough to warrant a sequel IMO."
Fable may have disappointed a lot of people, but it sold really well.  When BC was cancelled, the speculation was that they wanted to focus on Fable 2.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it next year even.

Unless Sony makes some big mistake (like Nintendo did with using cartridges for the N64), Sony will win the next round of console wars by a big margin.  They have the edge in exclusives, amount of games, variety of games, supportive fans, and they're fast becoming the "Nintendo" of this generation, where their name is almost synonymous with video games.  Microsoft did a great job getting the XBox to where it is in only one generation, but they have no hope of toppling Sony any time soon.

The thing that will help XBox 2 the most is a strong launch.  Right now, it looks like Oblivion will probably be a launch title, and I'd bet either Bioware's unannounced console project or their presumed FPS/RPG using the Unreal 3.0 engine will be as well.  Also, I think they need to just forget about Japan and concentrate on the American market and developers.  Japan is pretty much a lost cause as far as XBox is concerned.  Their only chance would be getting FF13 or Dragon Quest 9 exclusive to the XBox, and I can't see any way that would ever happen.