For the longest time Final Fantasy Tactics has had a stranglehold over the console strategy/RPG market; leaving little breathing room for possible contenders to its throne. Even the absence of a sequel on the next-gen consoles wasn't enough to open the door to newcomers. Miraculously, after nearly a decade of rule, a new king has taken the SRPG throne and the funny part is, it isn't a sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics.

Despite the fact that the Dragon Quest/Warrior series has been around longer than its better known rival Final Fantasy, it never quite reached the same level of popularity. Though highly lauded and respected in its native Japan, the games only received sporadic interest in the West unlike its rival. But times have changed, the two RPG giants of the rising sun have become united and have worked together to bring hungry American RPGers a new Dragon Quest game after nearly five years of absence.

Ephemeral Fantasia (Reiselied: Ephemeral Fantasia in Japan) is a traditional RPG that was originally being developed for the Sega Dreamcast, but apparently ended up on the PlayStation 2. It features ten different characters with various abilities, 160 different kinds of enemies, night and day time cycles, and a "surround battlefield system."

Ah, the Final Fantasy series. There is probably no other RPG series that has as much popularity or history. From humble beginnings on the Nintendo Entertainment System, all the way to the next-gen consoles and even the PC, the series has gone a long way indeed. But one question lingers in everyone's mind except maybe the hardcore FF fans; Is the series losing its edge?

Remember when many people started making noise when Yuna's full profile picture popped out? Comments, conjecture, criticism, were passed around within the first few glimpses of our breathy heroine from FFX. Final Fantasy X-2 succeeds as a sequel, but as an individual game itself, it doesn't quite measure up to the expectations of the more selective gamers.