I'm going to make what will, again, probably be my only BaD contribution.

 Man, it's been a while since I've done a proper update blog. It's been even longer since I've written anything even approaching article quality. The last thing was maybe my Plus10damage Bloodborne review... at the beginning of 2015. Christ. Well, one of my new years resolution is to actually publish an article to the front page rather than finishing a first draft and then shelving them for no apparent reason.

Between random Internet outages and my laptop deciding randomly to freeze, I've been falling behind and since I was already a little behind on things, I'm trying hard to catch up before it snowballs out of control.

I think that I am craving an RPG.  The only problem is that I am not quite sure which one to dive into.  The reason that I think that I am getting this craving is because I am doing my best not to download Bravely Default right now.  There are other signs, like downloading FF IX just because Snee was talking about it.  I even picked up Rune Factory 4 on a whim.  I used to buy games on a whim constantly, but I have been doing better recently.  In fact, the only unplanned purchases have been the amazing PSN sales.

Brief New Years blog ahoy! A whirlwind tour of what I’m looking forward to – in the gaming, anime and convention/cosplay realms. Ready, GO.

Argue all you want about which RPG has the best characters and story, but neither of those things matter nearly as much as a game’s battle system. Since we typically spend upwards of forty hours in an RPG, the bulk of that time is spent fighting foes within the rule set the designers created, so it has to be compelling enough to keep pulling us along. Sometimes, a combat system is formulated with just the right amount of intricacy, a satisfying splash of spectacle, and exactly what was needed to get in our heads and keep us plugging away until we save the world on the brink of decimation. We’ve picked our favorite RPG battle systems and wanted to explain why we love them so dearly. Maybe you’ll gain an appreciation for a combat system you felt was a drag or you’ll decide to dig into a game you never tried before. Maybe you’ll think we’re daft and forgot the real greatest system around. We’re bound to have a big assortment of faves, so read through our picks and tell us what yours is too.

Welcome to Battle Theme month at Digital Mystery Tour! JD kicks things off with a selection of modern JRPG battle music that's sure to get your blood pumping. Be warned: this episode of DMT features so much butt rock. So very much butt rock. Fighting Vipers fans should be right at home.

I've taken a bit of a break from the RPG reviews to write this up for you.  I finished Golden Sun and moved on to other projects.  Here's a fun game- what are the names of the next two titles I'm going to review?  You are wrong.  The answer is Ninja Five-O and Esper Dream II.  Anyway, here is part of my long-running countdown.

reprinted from 1UP BaD blog:

Western Tales series fans have a lot to be happy about with this year's releases of Tales of the Abyss 3D and Tales of Graces f. Apparently, these releases were successful enough to warrant the release of the latest main series game, Tales of Xillia. 

Japanese RPGs haven't had the easiest time this generation. The good ones are few and far between and Japan has taken notice to the downshift in popularity. Many games, such as Tales of Graces f have a hard time being localized for English speaking audiences. Thankfully, after much fan demand, the game has finally seen a release on U.S. shores and while it doesn't stray far from the formula, it provides an experience that will satisfy many starving JRPG fans.

Namco’s Tales games have been coming out for quite some time now, but Europe and North America are just now starting to get some real love from the beloved RPG franchise.  The publisher recently brought to us localizations of Tales of the Abyss 3D and Tales of Graces f, but it seems that there may be more in store for us as patents in both Europe and the U.S. have been spotted for Tales of Xillia.

Greetings, Earthclan! This week, the Tri-Force crew is joined by Hell Block Hero JD to talk about mass quantities of Mass Effect! But before that, we talk a little about what we've been playing, including Tales of the Abyss 3D, Gotham City Impostors, Metroid Fusion, and Asura's Wrath.

Tales of the Abyss tells the story of Luke fon Fabre, a boy who lives a sheltered life due to a kidnapping incident that he was the victim of as a child. After losing all of his childhood memories, he becomes a snobby and ignorant young adult. During a training exercise with his master, Van, a mysterious female attacker accidentally causes an event known as “Hyperresonance” which sends both Luke and his attacker to the other side of the country. Luke then learns about the conspiracies, wars and other events that were going on outside of the walls that he had been bound by. These events change Luke, and everyone that he travels with.

My family and I are on a budget, and within it, everybody gets a little monthly spending money.  My wife buys typical wifely things like clothes, jewelry, stuff like that.  The kids don't get a whole lot, but they spend it on kid stuff.  Candy, a toy, whatever.  I am also fairly predictable in my own spending habits.  I almost always buy the same thing:  Video Games.

In 2006, fans of the Tales series were starving for more. Coming off of the surprising success of Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo Gamecube were not one, but two titles in the same year. The first, Tales of Legendia went largely ignored for its odd art style and lackluster presentation. The second title was Tales of the Abyss, which seemed like more of the natural progression of what Symphonia had achieved earlier.

So 2011 is drawing to a close and what a year it has been for video games. We got a new portable, a slew of new interface changes for existing consoles and tons...let me emphasize TONS of great games. All year we gamers were bombarded with fantastic games of all genres. I doubt that there are any gamers that didn't get what they wanted...(unless you're a hardcore Playstation Move gamer...). Now we are in December and pretty much the gaming year is over. All the major releases have come out and now its time for us to start anticipating the games of next year. Based off of that, I already feel like theres enough reason for me to be tight on money well into next year.

Nintendo didn’t have the most even release schedule in 2011.  A year that could be characterized as lacking in terms of software releases was capped off by a small barrage of marquee releases in the form of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 

Tales Studio, the developer responsible for the Tales series of RPGs since 1995's Tales of Phantasia, has been closed by parent company Namco Bandai. Although a reason wasn't given, Tales Studio has been having financial problems for some time and bankruptcy rumors have been floating around throughout 2011.

This console generation hasn’t been very kind to people who love console JRPGs. There have been very few released, and hardly any of those were actually good. Tales of Vesperia is an exception. Though the game isn’t as popular as its predecessor, Tales of Symphonia, Vesperia makes its mark as one of the best in the series.