Hey Allan! First of all, major kudos to the GIA in general. You guys have ecome my fave source for video gaming news, are usually impartial, and actually update - all of the sections! - frequently! Been reading the column regularly for a while, and I didn't feel like I had anything new to add until now, when the topic of "old-skewl" gamers and level-building came up.

First of all, the notion that being "old-skewl" makes one somehow better than all of the RPGers who just got started, for example, on FF7. This is totally false. We may have a bit more experience, but does that mean that the newer RPGers automatically have less zeal for the genre? Absolutely not. What exactly defines "old-skewl" anyway? Having played since Chrono Trigger? (It's been longer than it seems!) Final Fantasy IV? I? Dragon Warrior 1? Ultima? Wizardry? There IS no clear-cut definition, and I suspect some of the bragging "old-skewl"ers could be ragged on by veteran computer RPG players for their own relative newness to the genre, should the computer RPG players ever decide to do something so stupid. I can see where the image is coming from, though... the hordes of (mostly!) younger newbies requesting cheats in all caps, etc. But we have to remember that that doesn't mean that there aren't people who simply haven't been exposed to the genre until it became more "mainstream", and would have easily been one of the "old-skewl"ers had they known of RPGs earlier. It's just hard sifting through all of the obnoxious ones that have been flowing in since Mario RPG or FF7 to find the people who can speak intelligently about the games, but the effort is worth it in the end; just knowing that you've introduced someone to a genre that they'll enjoy is reason enough to go through it.

On a related note, as little as six months ago I used to cringe whenever the word "mainstream" came up in an RPG. Oh great, it'll fill up the ranks of RPGers with new clueless people. I eventually realized, though, that the negative effect of new people being introduced to RPGs is only ttemporary, but the positive effects are permanent. Clueless people eventually learn. Newbies weaned on 'easier' RPGs will eventually want more complex stuff. And the RPG genre will become even more well-known, leading to more mainstream titles and more new supporters. 'Mainstreaming' a title is not dumbing it down in any way, either. Look at FF7, arguably the most mainstream console title yet released. There's still a great abundance of things to level up, to gain ability in. There were a few great innovations that I would like to see in future games. And the game was still, and this is the key here, FUN. When you strip away all the debates about endings, translation, plot, and immersiveness, you realize that the game is fun. It was great; how could a mediocre game spark all of these heated debates in the first place? And it was mainstream.

This kind of ties in to my (intended :P) second topic, level-building. I feel that, while it is an atrocity when it becomes a necessity, it can definitely be fun to do. First example: DW1. There would not have been a GAME without level-building. While this game or anything like it has no chance of survival in the current world of console RPGs, it was definitely fun - and satisfying - to see your character gain strength to face the next challenge with each meticulously gained level or piece of equipment. For a more recent example, take Mario RPG. Battles usually did not become stale, and if they did a simple switch of characters would usually spice them back up again. Not that you ever really needed to level-build in the ridiculously easyy game, but it would have been very enjoyable had you needed to do it, also due to the fact that enemy encounters WERE NOT RANDOM. And for some reason, I also had fun building in Breath of Fire 3, as another writer had noted, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly why. The best and most recent example, though, whould have to be Xenogears. Battles, while somewhat repetitive over time, were a great chance to have fun. Innovations like storing APs, Deathblows, and Gears made it so that fights never got too bogged down, and you could easily have fun building levels by having, say, the person who doesn't need to gain that badly, flex by throwing a massive combo every battle, or show off ust how much damage he could do. Stuff like the WizardryRing and Trader Card didn't hurt at all, either... you could actually get some great items out of level-building if you knew where to look. Anyway, the wohle point of all of this is that there's nothing really wriong with the concept IMO, it all has to do with the execution.

Sorry for the length of this letter... hang on, I have one thing more to do before I end it...

- Red XIV