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Shop Watch July 2013

By Russ | July 5, 2013 at 10:01 pm

July has a lot of alternate endings.

It’s also a prelude of some hardcore RPG-ing to come. Shin Megami games typically have a ton of stuff to do between all the catching, fusing, and endings. August and September bring their own bags, and October’s got Pokemon, which is among the most hardcore RPGs of all. Seriously, it’s an RPG so hardcore I won’t touch it. Pokemon is like liquid OCD you can inject via a needle. I don’t need that drug.

Titles shipping the week of July 14

Shin Megami Tensei IV, published by Atlus (3DS). While I’m a jagoff who would have preferred a console version of SMT IV, I am glad the game is crossing the pacific. SMT IV brings back the Press Turn system, where exploiting weakness adds an extra turn for your party and vice versa. There’s also demon fusing, demon catching, multiple endings based on alignment – yeah, this game looks to be pretty much sex. Can’t wait to lube up!

Time & Eternity, published by NISA (PS3). Toki, female gunslinger and part-time personality in her own body is about to get married when assassins kill the groom. Time magic is used to fix the problem and her alternate knife-wielding personality Towa jumps in to help out. This game is currently getting panned in the reviews, but the premise and battle system seem to be decent, if unpolished; ideas.

Titles shipping the week of July 28

ArcaniA: The Complete Collection, published by Nordic Games (360, PS3). This is kind of like the Game of the Year version of other, more popular RPGs. This release includes the main game and its sole expansion, the Fall of Setariff. Originally hailed as Gothic 4, rights to the Gothic series have passed back tot he original creator and ArcaniA is its own series now. The 360 and PS3 versions are priced differently for some reason.

Some Advice: These are all pretty much niche titles. The prices on ArcaniA aren’t bad. Do you want the goodies with SMT IV or perhaps an LE for Time & Eternity? Jump on it. Otherwise, both titles will see a small drop eventually.

The Future: August has Tales of Xillia, Dragon’s Crown, Rune Factory 4, and finishes with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn; which is a lot more fun than I expected. September brings the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMix and October more Pokemon. After that, I do believe it shall get busy.

All release dates are subject to change.  Games available for download may have varying or staggered release dates. The views of this column do not reflect the views of RPG Land.  This column brought to you by The Last of Us. Hey Listen!

Topics: Arcania: Gothic 4, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Shop Watch, Time & Eternity