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. Hey, I didn't put anything new here yesterday. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Alright, so I said Brian would be doing tonight's column, and yet he's not. All apologies. Unfortunately, he got a little busy with other work and needed to get some sleep, else he'd be "Late, late, for a very important date!" he said while running off with a top-hat on. You just never know what those Canadians are up to, eh?

On another subject, I received some pretty positive responses regarding yesterday's column, so that was good to come home to. Also, sorry this column went up a little late, but I was actually out of state at a party all day without knowing I'd need to do the column, so things are running a little behind schedule.

We have quite a wide range of topics to cover today, and the idea of sleep is a bit alluring at the moment, so let's get on with the show.

Although I can't give a guaranteed answer to your question, I can speculate. If you've watched the Metal Gear Solid 2 - Sons of Liberty trailer, you may have noticed that a few times Snake was shown dragging bodies to dark corners. Construe from that what you will, but it at least means that there's a chance that bodies won't dissolve Yoda-style in MGS2. Of course, Metal Gear Solid 2 is going to have a very strong focus on stealth, with a combined goal of killing as few enemies as possible. I'm sure Kojima is spending his time trying to think of as many ways to make the stealth aspect as realistic and difficult as possible, to ensure replay value and overall suspense.

I'll agree that list of games converted into movies has been rather questionable, but I really don't think making a movie out of RPG game X would make much of a difference. Plain and simply, I just really don't feel that games and movies are a happy mix. 95% of games based off a movie wind up sucking like a Hoover, and a solid 99% of movies based on games are even worse (with the final 1% being left for those who insist that the first Mortal Kombat movie was a work of art).

Most non-RPG based gaming movies seem doomed from the very beginning since they titles don't leave the script writer much to work with. Mario games may be fun as hell to play, but trying to find enough relevant plot throughout the series to make a movie off of proved to be a futile attempt at best. On the other hand, there's far too much plot in most adventure and RPG games to cram into a two hour movie without the final product being a mere empty-shell compared to its corresponding game. I'd love to see John Woo do a Metal Gear Solid movie, but only if it was 8-9 hours long, which would never happen. For the time being, the only game-to-video translations I would want to see are anime series and Saturday morning cartoons (I'd give anything to see Cartoon Network rerun the Zelda cartoons), at least when it comes to direct conversions. The Final Fantasy Movie isn't based on anything related to a single Final Fantasy game, so I really don't even consider it a "videogame movie", at least to an extent.

As I said yesterday, I my excitement for the PS2 in the year 2001 is almost unmatched. I don't mean to overly criticize the PS2's Japanese and American launch, because as I said yesterday, I've never been one to be excited by system launches. Simply put, first-generation games never seem to garner much attention from me. Of course, I also find myself wondering if Sony has realized that backwards-compatibility is a double-edged blade, especially when the new system improves the previous console's games. Due to enhanced graphics in the PS2's PSX emulator, developers decided to pour more money and time into their PSX projects rather than focusing on their PS2 launch titles more. Of course, I won't argue their choices one bit - just knowing that I'll be able to play an enhanced version of Activision's Spiderman title later down the road makes it all worth the while for me.

Although I've only played bits and pieces of Soulblazer and Terranigma, I was quite the Illusion of Gaia fan during the SNES days. While I would love to see an extension of the series appear on the PlayStation, it looks like that's a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, free-roaming adventure-RPGs (games such as Zelda 3, Secret of Mana, and so forth) were nearly unexistent on the PSX outside of Alundra. One can always hope that the series will make a return on the PlayStation 2, however.

As for choosing a favorite game soundtrack, that's quite the difficult choice. I've always been a Mitsuda fan, so Xenogears and Chrono Cross come to mind immediately (I have a natural affinity for anything with celtic influences). Legend of Mana, Suikoden, Wild Arms 2, Final Fantasy VIII, Tales of Destiny, and Final Fantasy Tactics are all top-ranking as well, however. Of course, if I was able to include Orchestral remixes, I'd definitely have to go with Shen Mue Orchestral for right now. Although my judgement is probably a bit clouded seeing as I only recently acquired it, it's simply an absolutely amazing CD.

Not that I didn't catch the sarcastic tones in this letter, but just as a little secret between me and you, expect to see an expansion on features in the upcoming weeks. There's plenty of personality coming around the corner - probably more than you'd care to be exposed to. All I can really say for right now is to keep your eyes peeled, and that hopefully you'll like what we have in store.

Of course, if you want to see mean, just put me within twenty feet of a keyboard around the time of Legend of Dragoon's release.

If you're looking for replayability over anything else, I'd suggest that you limit your choices to Chrono Cross and Legend of Mana. Chrono Cross' replayability is comparable to that of Suikoden, in the sense that there are 45 characters to recruit for your party, although you can't always get them all. You'll have to make choices at times which result in you getting one character, and permanently missing another. While there are two main endings, where which one you get is decided by two major branching points, there will be little many little endings depending on who's in your party at the end of the game and how you make use of New Game +. On the other hand, Legend of Mana will be extremely replayable due to the non-linear, branching game style. As you complete events in Legend of Mana, new events open up as a result of your efforts. Some sequences will only become available to you if you do certain events in a particular order, which means you'll miss many scenarios along the way. The ultimate decision depends on your gaming style - Would you rather play a story-focused game with decent replayability, or a very non-linear game with even higher replayability? Take your pick.

Is David a heroic name? No. Is David generally accepted as a man's name? Yes. A few other readers sent in more thoughts on the BadAss debate as well. Many of you were quick to point out that no real hero would wear clothing that let his ass hang out, while others asked why Riot's twin brother Mary-Kate wasn't allowed to participate in the fight. I haven't even picked up Vagrant Story yet, yet already I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Riot the same again.

While I agree that Kefka was one of the most lively, maniacal villains ever in an RPG, I don't think that qualifies all other villains as sub-par. While each of the last three Final Fantasy titles were made to be an epic, the presentation of that epic varied from title to title. In Final Fantasy VI, a small rebel alliance bands together to fight Kefka, a crazed lunatic bent on destroying the world. There were never any major plot-twists to counteract this setup -- Final Fantasy VI was made to tell the tale of an epic struggle of good versus evil where the good guys rarely came out on top, so of course a megalomaniac of a villain was required. Meanwhile, the search for the truth was what geared the plot for Final Fantasy VII. Sephiroth was just as lost and confused as Cloud was. Where Kefka just wanted to destroy everything, Sephiroth believed he was doing the right thing. He may not have been as inherently evil as Kefka, but Sephiroth managed to commit a few attrocious acts as part of working towards what he believed to be a greater goal. Lastly, in Final Fantasy VIII I never felt that the focus was meant to be on the story itself. To this day, I've never seen characters come more alive than in Final Fantasy VIII. While there was an epic struggle going on around the heroes, the focus was given to the characters themselves and portrayed the effects that being a hero can have. Although I'd be glad to see another villain as cruel as Kefka in Final Fantasy IX, I'd only want to see that type of character if it fit in with the direction that Square took the rest of the game in.

Closing Comments:

Chris returns tomorrow, so be kind and send some mail his way. As for me, this ends my little stint as Double Agent for now, although you never know when I may pop back up again. Until next time,

- Jeremy Steimel, extremely tired.