RPGWatch Feature - The Whole Game in My Hand #12, Part 2

Mike Anderson wraps up the 12th epic edition of The Whole Game in My Hand with Part 2, which covers recent RPG releases for the PSP and iPhone. Nine games are reviewed in this article, from Suikoden PSN on the PSP to Dragon Bane II on the iPhone.
Read it all here and don't forget Part 1 for coverage of the DS.
More information.

Just to note that I don't plan to let another one get to a two-parter …

Thanks another informative report on the state of handheld gaming.

I recently picked up an iPhone 3G, so I've been trying out all of the limited RPG options. So far, I've mostly been spending time with Puzzle Quest and Vay. Both are decent games with solid roots on other platforms, but neither is a stellar port to the iPhone. Still, I'd say Puzzle Quest is the iPhone game that has absorbed most of my attention.

Toward the end of your article, you mentioned uncertainty over upcoming iPhone RPGs. I know that Chillingo has announced that they're porting over some of Redshift's RPGs, and that the first one (The Quest) should be released in the next few days. I thought The Quest was a pretty darn impressive game on its prior platforms, though of course I have no idea how well it will be ported or how much content will have to be censored to get Apple's approval.

Also, Bethesda has announced their next title is coming out on the iPhone, so hopefully that will be an RPG.

I wish some of these games would work on my blackberry….

I don't know how you can do well fighting in the Star Ocean games by button mashing since when I try to do that I do horribly and am forced to use more strategy. The same thing happens to me in the tales games so I wouldn't really consider combat in star ocean a button masher.

Is that screenshot from the Pocket PC version of Arvale? Because one of my complaints about that game is that the game plays in landscape mode and the viewing area has been shrunk down to allow space for a stupid touch screen directional pad. That while you can just tap anywhere on the map to walk over! Vay does this a bit better, with just a stats pane on the right.

Is there some way to play Arvale in portrait mode?

Originally Posted by guenthar
I don't know how you can do well fighting in the Star Ocean games by button mashing since when I try to do that I do horribly and am forced to use more strategy. The same thing happens to me in the tales games so I wouldn't really consider combat in star ocean a button masher.

I was really thinking in the context of other action-RPG style games. I find that the battle field limits you in terms of how you can apply strategy. It is certainly not a bad system, and you need to plan your battles, but it is still largely a repetitive 'rush in and wipe them out' system. At least that is how I found it - but it is *worlds* better than the Valhalla Knights games.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
Is that screenshot from the Pocket PC version of Arvale? Because one of my complaints about that game is that the game plays in landscape mode and the viewing area has been shrunk down to allow space for a stupid touch screen directional pad. That while you can just tap anywhere on the map to walk over! Vay does this a bit better, with just a stats pane on the right.

Is there some way to play Arvale in portrait mode?

Hehe … I can't believe I grabbed my old Pocket PC screen … I'll have to replace that. I exported from iPhoto but dumped it in my common 'Screens' folder … as I said this is a game I've been enjoying for years.

There is no way I found to get Arvale into portrait mode on the iPhone. I also wish that the arrow pad was more omnidirectional.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Hehe … I can't believe I grabbed my old Pocket PC screen […] There is no way I found to get Arvale into portrait mode on the iPhone. I also wish that the arrow pad was more omnidirectional.

The Pocket PC version looks more enjoyable, using the whole screen like that. I really hate it when I only have part of the screen. I even go with playing games with stretched resolutions on my widescreen TV rather than play in 4:3 with black bars left and right.

I find that I do not need those arrow buttons on the touch screen. A control scheme like Vay's works well enough. The game itself seems like fun, although I played the Arvale II demo when I still have a Pocket PC and didn't like it much then.

Originally Posted by BadYeti
I know that Chillingo has announced that they're porting over some of Redshift's RPGs, and that the first one (The Quest) should be released in the next few days.

That sounds really great! I tried the PC demo and it would be great to have that on the iPhone. The graphics are okay, but I think the iPhone is capable of more. However, the world is open-ended and seems huge. It'll be like having Daggerfall on the go.

In the next few days you say? How do you know this?

Originally Posted by Thaurin
In the next few days you say? How do you know this?

On Redshift's home page, they posted three weeks ago that it would be coming out "within a few weeks, that's for sure". And the publisher, Chillingo, posted on Touch Arcade that the game was in final testing and release was imminent a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, I have no clue when it will actually be released, but it doesn't sound far away.

I see a good candidate for Mike's next article.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I see a good candidate for Mike's next article.

Definitely keeping an eye on that one! Funny - I had also been fiddling on my PDA with 'Dungeoned', from the same folks.

The Quest and Rogue Touch are now out, and Puzzle Quest has gotten a couple of much needed patches. Mmmm. The iPhone is starting to finally get some decent RPGs.