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. One man alone cannot fight the future, unless it's me, in which case the future is toast. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Until I saw the story on RPG Maker today, I really didn't care much about if the software would make it over here or not. Generally speaking, I'd rather play something than make it, or read something than write it. But just as this column proved me wrong about writing, a little consideration of the potential RPG Maker has convinced me that this upcoming release might be a Good Thing.

One of the real weaknesses I've always seen the console market as having is the inability for independent amateurs to make small-but-promising games. As much as I love mainstream RPGs, I've always been conscious of the fact that they seemed to be put through too much in the way of committee-think. Broad creative visions could be seen in games, but there was little room for individual quirks to come out. I never got the impression that a game was the result of one and only one author's singular ideas; there was no J. Michael Straczynski of video games, in other words.

But RPG Maker has the power to change that. Even if 99.99% of the games people make suck, I'll wager there's at least one proto-Sakaguchi out there that can make something truly memorable out of tile-based landscapes and dialog boxes. There won't be any limits on what people can make, and while we'll probably see plenty of excess profanity, hopefully we'll also see some truly intelligent, mature games. Not that I'll wade through all the crap to get to that one gem in the garbage, I'll leave it up to you folks, my loyal readers, to inform me of what's truly remarkable. Life is good when you have your own letters column.

I agree with your assertion that 2D and 3D play differently, but I don't think it's impossible to duplicate the frantic pace of a Street Fighter combo in 3D. It just hasn't been done yet.

As for SF3 animating better than Soul Calibur, I'll buy that argument, with some exceptions. 2D animated art is more stylized than the current super-realistic 3D models, and thus can lend itself better to certain exaggerations, like swaying fighters and rippling muscles. But just as 2D evolved from crude ASCII art (Space War) to unique, individualistic characters (just about any recent Capcom 2D fighter) I think we can expect to see some sort of evolution in 3D models. Models with "cartoon" textures, like in Fear Effect or Futurama, are a start, but it could probably go a lot further.

I admit, I don't know how to give 2D style or play style to any 3D game right now, but that's what development is for. Yes, this is totally unfounded speculation, but I suspect that by the PS2 is obsolete, we'll all feel a lot differently about what 3D is and isn't capable of than we do now. And fortunately, given the average half-life of video games letters columnists, I probably won't be here to take the blame if I'm wrong. Like I said, life is sweet. 

In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that Daniel is in fact a good friend of mine in the real world. However, I'm printing his letter because it has a very unique perspective in contrast to what I get from just about everybody else. Admittedly, Daniel is a buttoned down corporate type who's been seduced by the dark side (marketing) to the extent that he values profit over quality (and that remark's gonna cost me a black eye the next time we meet). Yet he is an example of a demographic that's quite different from RPG players, but still quite real and powerful. Daniel is a (say it with me) CASUAL GAMER. Other people have alluded to the existence of this rare specimen, but this may be the first actual instance we've ever seen in the column.

He's more interested in Super Smash Bros. than Soul Calibur, more interested in Diddy Kong Racing than Gran Turismo, more interested in working through Zelda over a period of several months than doing 10 hour marathons of FFT. It doesn't make any sense to me, or probably some of you, but he wants a system he can mess around on for a few minutes, and a system that has games he can sit his kids down in front of in a couple of years. And for him, the N64 is that system.

I think he botched a couple of points, tho. Despite Nintendo's dumbass attitude toward RPGs around the time the N64 launched, given the SNES's track record it wasn't unreasonable to expect some relatively hard core games for the new system. Turok and Shadows of the Empire were enough in the early days for me to think something like Ogre Battle 3 would be along Real Soon Now. Instead, the system got deluged with driving games, sports games, and bad platformers (with the exception of Banjo Kazooie) and I got burned. And there are enough really good platformers out these days (Rayman 2) for a new Mario game to be... less enticing than it once was. I'm sure the Japanese haven't forgotten the N64 launching with Mario and 2 other titles, then nothing for weeks. In short, while Daniel's got some valid points, and while Nintendo would be foolish to prefer his money over ours (or vice versa), being warm and cuddly isn't enough for a system to survive anymore.   

Foolish Skanky, everyone knows that the 9th dwarf isn't Skanky, but Sexy. Given that you're wrong about the dwarves, I tend to doubt the goldfish thing as well.

While I appreciate the thought, please give me a little credit, folks. Asking me if I've read Ender's Game is like asking me if I've played Zelda, and asking me if I've read Douglas Adams (I have: everything he's ever written, including Last Chance to See and The Meaning of Liff) is like asking me if I've seen The Simpsons. We can talk literature if you want, but chances are I've already been there, done that.

A lot of people gave me answers on about 3DO RPGs, but this was the most well-rounded answer I got. For the record, Lucienne's Quest was developed by Micro Cabin, who later developed Street Sk8ter. I had entirely forgotten about Guardian's Quest, major props to those who bought it up.

As for the reason I bought this up, well partially it's academic curiosity. Obscure RPGs on dead also-ran systems are interesting for what they might have been, much like looking at Australopithecus Robustus or giant sloth remains. Also, Lucienne's Quest was one of my 3 most obscure RPGs on my DA application, but I'd never actually played it. I was curious to see how much info you could dig up, which, as it turns out, was quite a lot. Good job to all concerned.

For the record, I don't like polka as such. By and large I like relatively cool bands, like the rest of you. Watching Lawrence Welk is like the musical equivalent of a traditional sauna - sweat your ass off and then dive into a pool of freezing water. It's the shock that's important as much as anything.

To continue my rant about RPG Maker, at the very least I'd expect it to fill some niches that people seem to want filled. People who want heavy-duty experience building 2D RPGs can design them themselves, or play other people's. People who want intricate stories or specific follow-ups can do the same - you could build your own Hyperion RPG, frex, and I'd expect to see a lot of unofficial sequels to Final Fantasy 6. We could see something like a combination of fanfic and fan art - fan RPGs.

I'm aware that there have been other 2D tile-based RPG makers on the PC, and even on the Palm Pilot, but I don't think traditional console RPGs translate particularly well to either system. Hopefully between the widespread availability of the Playstation and the ability to transfer games easily with the Dex Drive and Internet, we should see a much bigger and more potent RPG-making community with RPG Maker.

And I'm sorry for your game loss, that's not a fate I'd wish on anyone. Except someone playing Beyond the Beyond, perhaps it would convince them to stop playing.

That's a little unfair, I think if Miyamoto-san wanted the sky to turn green there's a good chance it might happen. But rare exceptions like Miyamoto aside (wasn't he an artist of some sort before he started designing games?) most game designers were programmers themselves before they started designing. By and large, I don't think designers are any less prone to fits of tech envy than anyone else.

More than a few people were upset that I lumped the Sega CD and Saturn in with the CDi and 3DO. I'll admit that there were some games released for both systems - I'd buy a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga on sight and then a Saturn to go along with it, based on what I've heard. Working Designs' legacy on both systems is also noteworthy. But while the Saturn's not as bad as CDi, it's not nearly as strong as the N64. Just prior to the introduction of the Dreamcast, Sega had a miniscule 1% of the US console market, and while PDS is a stunningly good game, I haven't heard anybody claim that it approaches the earthshaking status of Mario 64 or Zelda 64.

While I think the Syphon Filter 2 commercial is quite good, I don't think it's good enough to make me by the game. On the other hand, I'm quite serious when I say I'd buy more Coke if they started showing the FF9 commercial. Which brings up an interesting question: will the use of game characters as product spokesmodels ever extend into the mainstream?

Yes, Mario, Pikachu, and even Link have been used to sell things to younger demographics, but the only promotion I can think of that used game characters to sell to a general audience is Crash Bandicoot and Pizza Hut, and that didn't exactly make me want to rush out and grab some 'za. On the other hand, if Solid Snake told me to buy Brut I'd probably have no choice in the matter. So what do you think, peoples? Are we gonna see Mega Man selling cars during football games, or are we as gamers too narrow a group for advertisers to bother with?

May God have mercy on his soul.

Closing Comments:

Well, a lot of good letters today. I would have liked to get more in depth on a lot of those topics, but there was just too much ground to cover. And I doubt I've made it any easier with that advertising thing. So send me whatever you want to follow up on, or even something new if it's interesting enough. Catch you tomorrow.

-Chris Jones, late, and proud of it