RPG #16: Telepath RPG Review

Full disclosure: I wrote these games, so what follows are my (undoubtedly biased) opinions. The Telepath RPG series is notable for a few reasons. To begin with, it was the first in Flash to feature well-crafted characters, storyline, and dialog. The series also eschews random enemy encounters and lets you level up individual stats and attacks through a training system.

Many reviewers on Newgrounds compare Telepath RPG Chapter 1 to Harry Potter. There are some similarities, to be sure. You begin the game as a gifted student at the Psy Academy, a military school where young men and women with psychic powers are trained and prepared for leadership positions in the human military. You are free to wander the Academy and interact with fellow students, faculty and guards, including several friends whom you can recruit to assist you in your journey. The combat in Telepath RPG Chapter 1 involves quite a lot of randomness at first, though you can balance things out a bit by leveling up your combat skills with Helen in the Southeast Building.

Telepath RPG Chapter 2 picks up where Chapter 1 left off, but does so with much better graphics and music, as well as a cool tactical battle system that will remind you a bit of Shining Force, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Fire Emblem. You can now have up to 7 characters other than your main character under your command in battle at the same time. Even better, there are a whopping 10 playable characters you can get to join you if you play your cards right. Each character has their own unique set of skills and attacks, and most of them can learn new skills through training (or in one case, by having new parts installed on him).

Both Telepath RPG chapters use a dialog tree system similar to the one in Fallout, which allows for some freedom in your interaction with various NPCs. Talking with other characters is especially important in Chapter 2, and there are dozens of characters with hundreds of lines of dialog that you can do this with.

The bottom line: the Telepath RPG series remains one of the most compelling RPG series in Flash, and Telepath Chapter 2 may actually be the best RPG ever made in Flash. If you play no other game on this blog, make sure you play Telepath RPG Chapter 2!