Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. We all live in a Pokemon world, which is why I want to go to Mars instead. Don't say we didn't warn you.

I'd like to take a moment to ask you contemplate the beauty of Front Mission 3. Not the game, which stretches before me like a West Texas highway, but the case. You see, we all too often ignore the external covering of a game. We may remember a game with particularly elaborate packaging, but even then it's more as a curious exception then an appreciation of the art itself. When you think of Lunar:SSSC, do you think of the colorful drawings that adorn the box, or the pungent cloth map contained inside? A cover might catch your eye at the store long enough to make you buy it, or you might salivate over the box art of an upcoming game as a poor substitute for actually having the title in your hands, but once the game is home the case is stacked on top of other forgotten plastic shells, left to gather dust.

Enough of that, I say. I have no doubt that the jewel case of Front Mission 3 will someday meet the same unknown fate as the paper box my copy of The Legend of Zelda came in, but for now I will look with eyes unblinkered, to know what I've got while I've got it, and I ask you to do the same. Move your fingers over the smooth plastic cover, appreciate the gritty but impressive image of a giant mech on the cover, even laugh at the trite marketing phrases on the back (as if the name Squaresoft wasn't enough to sell the game outright) but stop for a moment and understand that there's more to a game than the playing. There's the anticipation.

Enjoy.

You learn something new every day, whether you want to or not. I suppose the above offer might appeal to the same billionaires who could shell out $200 bucks for a Neo Geo cart, but frankly, I just don't get it. Japanese media hype seems quite different (and to me, less preferable) than what we get over here - the Chu Chu Rocket commercial seems perfect evidence of this. I actually don't even care for their reviews, because they seem to tilt the scales far more than I'd like. If Famitsu gives something a 40, then everyone on this side of the pond seems bound to give it a perfect score as well. The only thing Famitsu has that I particularly envy is a huge lead time on everyone else, which is null and void when you've got the web to transmit the pertinent info way faster than a paper and ink mag could get to your house.

And no, these aren't sour grapes. No, really. I mean it. I don't see how you could possibly think otherwise, end of story. 

I am pretty much in agreement with all of the above. SoM was an amazing game, and one of the few I can think of that successfully straddles my solo game/party game dichotomy. I enjoyed the wide open nature of movement, where if you wanted to run away, you didn't hit a button but merely hauled ass to somewhere else on the screen. I wasn't all that crazy about the power meter (I mean, are you really going to spend 30 seconds moving at a virtual crawl just to unleash a level 6 attack?) but other than that SoM hit just about the perfect balance of action and RPG.

To get on my soapbox for a moment (ok, to get on an even bigger soapbox for a moment) I don't see menu-driven RPGs lasting that much longer, with the exception of turn-based tactical RPGs. I admit their usefulness in the early years, when they gave access to a far larger array of features than a real-time game could have, but these days I see them as a hindrance, as much as anything. A combat setup like SoM, but with spell selection happening in real time, would be a strong replacement for menus, and I too would like to see developers turn something like this out.

You tell me I'm screwing up, but don't say why. Then you seem to congratulate me for doing so, which makes me take the overall letter as a compliment. And I told people to send criticisms, not compliments. What's wrong with you? Why can't you be more like your brother? Do you think you're going to get anywhere in life staring at the tv all day? I swear, kids today, I just don't know...

Ghaleon is THE PUPPET, no question. I don't disagree with this, but I do find it a little odd considering his role in Lunar 1, which was far more of a puppeteer pulling strings behind the scenes. All I can think is that Working Designs may be attempting to motivate RPG villains by making an example out of Ghaleon: "Look at this! Lose to the hero and we'll make you into a bizarre promotional item!"

Like everything else in life, real music with vocals in games would cut both ways. I personally think it could bring another level of involvement to games if we had a fitting original vocal played along with big plot scenes. Square seems to be doing this a bit with "Eyes on Me". However, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I envision something a little more hefty than J-pop when I think of epic moments in Final Fantasy. Just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I think Alison Krauss has an absolutely stunning voice that would lend itself really well to a low-key bit of music played at the nadir of the hero(ine)'s quest. On the other hand, some Shirley Manson (Garbage) would make a great opening theme, although I picture something more in line with "Crush" than the latest Bond theme.

But that's where the problem comes in. I have my favored artists who I think would make a great addition to games, and someone else has theirs. Gamers seem to be a diverse lot, and there's probably little that would end up agreed on, music selection-wise. Game developers would almost certainly try to solve this problem by trying to please everyone, either with a completely generic number that lacks any of the artistry that a good singer would lend to the game, or with a highly popular but not actually good musician (ie Madonna) who would completely overwhelm the rest of the work. So all things considered, maybe it's better if we stick with inoffensive orchestral music for now.

As I said before, I'm more than willing to take the blame for FFT's translation. Once upon a time I even had a letter published here defending the translation, so it's somewhat fitting. In all fairness, I think the X-Box is a little out of my league, but ok, whatever. Saga Frontier, fine. Mission to Mars is a movie, go bug  Harry Knowles or someone about that, and as for World War II, I think I worked out any residual blame I might have had for that when I (like every red-blooded American kid in the '80's) blew up Hitler's resurrected head in Bionic Commando. That is all.

Bring it on, punk.

I actually think Chrono Cross is in excellent position for sales, precisely because it's a month of so before PS2 and FF9. Make no mistake, I think there's gonna be blood on the floor between the two behemoths (and frankly, I don't think things look good for FF9, since it's a single genre and people are already hyped about PS2) but Chrono Cross looks to be an excellent appetizer game. People will say, "I need an RPG fix to tide me over until FF9... hey, this Crono Trigger sequel will do." I found myself in the same position last year with Soul Reaver and FF8.

And I hate to break this to you, but the whole point of being a Double Agent is that only a select few people know who I'm working for, and where my loyalties really lie. Sorry.

This was actually sent for yesterday's column, but at the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to get into the whole posting pictures thing, mostly because I'm too lazy to do the HTML. But the pic in question has started to grow on me, and I thought I'd use this as a bellwether for future submissions. And besides, I just can't pass up celebrity endorsements, mostly because the marketing guys would kick my ass if I did.

Closing Comments:

Scuttlebutt says Robin Williams is due to sing "Blame Canada" on the Oscars tonight, but don't quote me on that. If true it's mighty tempting, but maybe not enough to stop me from playing FM3.

Speaking of which, I did finish Fear Effect at ~3am last night. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying the game has multiple endings, some of which are charmingly nihilistic. Really, they put CT's Day of Lavos to shame, and make the whole thing well worth playing through. Which is not to say that my copy probably won't be traded in for Vagrant Story. Later.

-Chris Jones, who prefers "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"