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. But I can't find the right way to tell her my feelings and still make the words rhyme with "Sonja". Don't say we didn't warn you.

Ok, Vagrant Story: is it any good? Well, let me put it this way - I'd have paid 40 bucks for the demo disk alone.

Actually, the demo disk isn't a bad place to start. There are 7 titles, two of which I've already got (FM3 and SF2) and two of which I don't want (CMD2 and Chocobo Racing). Of the remaining three, Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross are just demo movies, though I've gotta say they're much cooler on my TV in Surround Sound than they ever were on my computer. Which brings us to Threads of Fate (Dewprism), a playable demo that's much, much better than I would have thought.  Graphics, gameplay and sound are terrific, all well beyond BFM, a game I already liked a fair amount.

And then we have the main feature, Vagrant Story itself. Wow. Surprisingly enough the FMV intro is far weaker than the engine-rendered cutscenes, which do more nifty cinematic tricks in one minute than I've seen in all PSX games combined up until now. It's very obvious that the ol' Playstation has been pushed to its absolute limits with this game; to borrow a line from Spinal Tap, "This goes to 11." Which in a way is a fault in the game - you can't help thinking that this engine should have been built on the PS2, which just makes the gritty textures that much rougher.

Nothing stands out in the music so far, but I haven't played past the first save point. The plot is complex, seems to be leading to some extremely cool places. Imagine if FFT's plot was actually coherent and you'll begin to get the idea. Gameplay is also very strong, though I'm only beginning to get the hang of it. And the characters absolutely rule. Callo is stunningly gorgeous for a crude, lifeless collection of shaded polygons, and I may have to sacrifice a bunch of lesser games to whatever gods created the badass that is Ashley Riot.

In short, it's bliss.

Onward.

That could indeed be the case. The odd part is that Sony seems to have things backwards in that there seems to be a big push to go through retailers instead of online here in the States, where e-commerce is relatively widespread.

The fact that they can't fill orders in Japan is also worrying for the US launch - even if the initial number of units shipped is equal to the Japanese launch (I think that was the case for most of the recent consoles, Dreamcast excluded) prior orders at home and the logistics of shipping the consoles halfway around the world can't make things any easier. All of which makes me breathe a little easier about my decision to stay out of the initial PS2 crunch.

This is partially correct, I think the PS2 DVD driver has been moved from a memory card to an internal ROM. This would presumably make it more difficult for US PS2 owners to get their hands on cracked DVD drivers like the one that allowed regional overrides in Japan. And yes, this means there's no card shipped with the system and you have to pony up another $40 at launch to save your games. Bummer.

I'm putting this up so that people can choose to withdraw from the contest now rather than face Ian's wrath.

Anyone?

No, didn't think so. Looks like you're just going to have to get medieval on their asses if you want that shirt, Ian.

Aptly put on the censorship issue. Instead of advocating more parental involvement, etc., you cut straight to the heart of the matter and suggest that the correlation between Snake lighting up and little Timmy doing the same is minimal. I can respect that, although we do get into issues where such behavior is much more widespread. Timmy's not influenced if Snake is the only character he sees smoking, but he might be if Snake, Link, Mario, and Squall all hang out in Flavor Country. And if that is the case, how many smokers do we allow before it becomes a problem?

This should set some people at ease, if true. It's one thing for the US to get screwed yet again because our fragile sensibilities won't stand for something in a game, but if the Japanese got shafted too than there's really nothing we can do about it. If you want cigs in MGS2, don't yell at me, go tell our Japanese gaming brethren to yell at Konami.

The good news is that the way things are going, there won't be 3 launch titles worth buying at the US launch. Or maybe that's not good news. Whatever. Gaming is an expensive hobby, folks, always has been. And the sad fact of the matter is you have to make some kind of choices as to what you really want to play - even if you have enough cash to get everything you want, chances are you're so busy earning money you don't have time to play everything you want. Welcome to life.

I haven't notified the winners, and probably won't until shortly before the awards go up. In the meantime, don't make yourself crazy trying to figure out who won.

Then I can dig it.

You could argue that those ratings aren't specific enough - the animated violence in Wild Arms 2 isn't in the same league as Soul Calibur, frex. But I won't. Good call. 

Actually, the video game industry is a multi-BILLION dollar shindig. And you don't need Really Perfect Graphics, but it helps. Agreed on everything else.

I haven't played enough of the game to comment on the gameplay, except to say that what I've seen suggests a lot more complexity than a direct control combat system allows. And Metal Gear Solid had great gameplay, end of discussion.

I feel your pain, amigo. I don't think anybody knows how much Coke will invade FF9, but I tend to doubt it'll play any significant role. As for the benefits of the crossover, there are none for us as consumers, except we get to see some shiny new FMV in the ads. Ours is not to wonder why, ours is but to see and buy, etc.

Closing Comments:

Short again, but those of you who've played VS know the reason why. And for those of you who don't know, hurry up and find out.

If you really want a topic, tell me what a jerk I am for shortchanging you with the column and playing RPGs. Or whatever. Seriously, send me some good stuff and I'll try and put up a nice long column tomorrow. After all, I've got all weekend to freebase the goodness that is Square. Adios for now.

-Chris Jones: "Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements."