Once upon a time, tri-Ace decided to borrow some elements from Star Trek in making an RPG. Thus was a series spawned that continues in intermittent spurts to this day, though not at a uniform level of quality. (Star Ocean).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 63: “The Fault Lies Not in the Stars” appeared first on RPGamer.

New York cops have it rough a lot of the time, but Aya Brea would gladly tackle some drug dealers instead of the evil mitochondria monsters that came one Christmas. Her life just got weirder from there. (Parasite Eve).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 62: “Bio Hazard Level 4” appeared first on RPGamer.

A guy named Ramza walks into a bar just a few minutes before a guy named Wiegraf. Their differences are resolved quickly and painfully. Whether that sounds eerily familiar or bafflingly bizarre, give the story a listen. (Final Fantasy Tactics).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 61: “Tactical Genius” appeared first on RPGamer.

What can change the nature of a man? Quite a few things, actually, but this game is definitely one of them. (Planescape: Torment).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 60: “Taste the Torment” appeared first on RPGamer.

So the only way you know the Shining series is by its superb tactical installments? Well, there were a couple of games that did some first person dungeon crawling also. (Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 59: “Deep Light Dungeons” appeared first on RPGamer.

The time has come to once more boldly go where Akitoshi Kawazu has gone before. Remember the PlayStation days of his signature series, and rejoice. (SaGa Frontier).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 58: “SaGa: The Final Frontier” appeared first on RPGamer.

Intelligent Systems likes emphasizing how two dimensional Mario plots are with some RPGs that have poor depth perception. Only by listening can their shallowness be adequately blown up, so please do that. (Paper Mario).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 57: “It’s-A Me, Paper Mario!” appeared first on RPGamer.

In one of the most changeable series around, there’s plenty of leeway to have some discussion. The Mana games, particularly the earlier ones, have now served that purpose. (Final Fantasy Adventure, Legend of Mana, Sword of Mana, Children of Mana, Dawn of Mana, Heroes of Mana).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 56: “Mana From Heaven?” appeared first on RPGamer.

When Final Fantasy returned to a Nintendo system after years of Sony exclusivity, it was news. Thus the Backtrack crew members bare their souls to talk about a series of precious crystal gems found in the caverns of the series. (Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 55: “The Dark Crystal Chronicles” appeared first on RPGamer.

Eschewing the trend of three-dimensional gameplay, Vanillaware demonstrates how sticking to two dimensions can be stunning. Thus it is fitting that the studio’s games warrant some time for analysis. (Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, Muramasa: The Demon Blade).

The post RPG Backtrack – Episode 54: “Two-Dimensional Thinking” appeared first on RPGamer.