You know, I thought I fully understood VS, but given that everyone who plays it has a different take on exactly what the hell happened, and given how good the translation was, I think the game producers maybe kind of blew it. It's a tremendous game, but the garbledness of the story should probably take away points from a 10/10 review.

Here is my take on what happened:

Sydney and Joshua: These are not the same person.
Evidence: 1. First of all, there is a short flashback that Sydney has, in which a little boy sees a younger Duke and rushes to his arms. Since the Duke is much younger in this scene, we can only assume that the boy was Sydney as a child, and not Joshua. If Joshua and Sydney were brothers, it's not too much to assume Joshua would look a lot like Sydney when he was a kid.
2. They're listed separately in the credits.
3. I think that the reason that Sydney's soul shows up as a little kid is that the Duke saved him from sickness or death as a child by giving him the Blood-Sin and the power to stay immortal. So, one might say his body lived on, but his soul never got any older. That would be completely idle speculation, except you will remember that Sydney says, "I wanted to help Father, just as he helped me when I was born." If you're observant, you will notice that the Blood-Sin on Sydney's back is a bit skinny and distorted lengthwise, almost as if it stretched with the skin as he got older. By contrast, Ashley's Blood-Sin had the normal shape.

The Duke's motives: He was immortal too, and he wanted out. He also wanted Rosencrantz to succeed to the city. However, Sydney was against Rosencrantz from the start, which is why as soon as he found Ashley, he decided to test the new guy instead. That also explains why Rosencrantz is immune to the Dark: he's been preparing for this for years, only to have Ashley take it all out of his hands.
Evidence:1. In the intro, when the Duke speaks with Rosencrantz he says something like, "Lea Monde is yours. Let no one out of the city."
2. When Rosencrantz confronts Sydney he says something remotely like, "You would let the Cardinal have the city? Not after all I have suffered these many years!"
3. Later, before Kali kills Rosencrantz, he says, "You have deceived me, Sydney?" to which Sydney replies, "I've done nothing so base. You deceived yourself with a child's daydreams."

Ashley's family: He never had a family.
Evidence: How could Sydney and Rosencrantz both come up with the same story, if it weren't true? Also, how to explain all those Break Arts and such, that are "retrieved from Ashley's suppressed memory"?

Anyway, I realize this is long, but I haven't seen people pick up on a lot of this stuff.

Cheers,
Albert Onyx.

I'm not going to even bother with the Hardin/Sydney/Joshua thread. Instead, I'm going to focus on the Rood.

*chides Chris for not paying attention during the ending*

Yeah, Guildenstern did get his Rood from Sydney; he skinned Sydney's back for it. Pretty painful, I'd imagine. Guild (as I'll call him from now on; it's shorter than calling him Guildenstern) then proceeded to put the skin on his back, claiming the Rood. Does it remind anyone else of The Silence of the Lambs? I can imagine Guild using a bayonet a la Buffallo Bill to skin Sydney.

During the entire game, Ashley had his shirt on. But, during the ending, when his shirt was removed, he had a blood sin on his back. Ashley, though, did not claim the Rood from Guild when he defeated him. Instead, Ashley already had a blood sin, a Rood Inverse. The Rood Inverse is what Mullenkamp has on her back during the intro, and the blood sin emblem on the cover of the Vagrant Story disc. Indeed, the Rood Inverse has a more Arabic, flowing design, along with the fact that it is red in color. Sydney/Guild's Rood was black, and the sword in the middle of the design pointed down.

Of course, the real question lies in how Sydney and Ashley recieved their blood sins. During the game (I can't remember the exact point), it was said that the Inquisition branded the blood sins onto the backs of heretics (and possibly felons? I don't quite remember if felons were included). Of course, that practice has since fallen into disuse; it would seem that Ashley and Sydney would be one of the very few people alive to have a blood sin. One piece of evidence supporting the use of blood sins on heretics is Mullenkamp; she has the Rood Inverse tattooed on her back. As the priestess of Mullenkamp, and also a dancer, she surely would have been branded as a heretic.

Of course, that still doesn't explain why Ashley would have a Rood Inverse on his back. During the flashbacks, the Ashley there wore shirts with open backs; his skin was clean. Sometime between the death of his family and the current time, he had acquired a blood sin.

Either this will be a loose tie that will be fought over in VS debates around the country, or it'll be resolved in a sequel. There's still much about Ashley's past that hasn't been explained.

Ugh. I think this letter was much better written the first time I wrote it. But there's no helping that. IE screwed me over.

Noah Bayens.

Oh, and Tia is much hotter than Callo. Callo had two ratty looking dreadlocks on the side of her face that gave her the feared 80s look.

I read the remarks on paganism in FF games; how Eurocentric!

Japan's underlying religious/philosophical tradition is Shinto. Certainly, most RPG's coming from Japan have a European look and feel to them; some even incorporate pagan symbols (such as the Pentacle in Chocobo Dungeon 2), but it's unlikely there are undercover pagans running amok at Square. It appears that neo-paganism is one of the few religions that has not gained much attention in Japan, which makes sense; with Shinto at its core, Japanese society probably hasn't removed itself from nature as far as American society has, so it has little need for outside influences to tell them how to honor and respect the earth.

Anyway, many of the same themes we think are "neo-pagan exclusive" can also be found in Shinto philosophy, except Shinto doesn't require it's adherents to dress like extras off the set of Xena: Warrior Princess. What we're seeing as "pagan" is probably seen as "Shinto" in Japan.

ImpermanentOne

Eastern religion is less conerned with rituals, prayer, and ceremonies, but with contemplation, meditation, harmony, etc.

Take Christianity, if you change the names, and bring it back in time a few centuries, and you'll have the perfect oppressive cult-like evil organisation.

Its all about perspective. Personally I think more religion in RPGs makes for cooler plots.

As for Japan "making sport" of North American cultural icons, think for a moment about what North America does with other cultures' icons. Baseball teams called the "Redskins", comes to mind. We also treat tribal religion and polytheism like its some kind of joke in our media, when there are still many people on this planet who are Shamanists and Tribal Religionists. (Its not like there are no tribal religions left. Here's some statistics, there are more Tribal Religionists then there are Jews, but who in America would ever make a video game or movie with a fantasy culture ruled by Rabbis? If the Tribal Religionists had access to the American media, I'm sure they'd get annoyed.)

Trevor *looks surprised at huge letter*

I have been contracted by somebody claiming to work for your archnemesis, to give you a question so difficult you cannot possibly answer it, thus making you appear foolish in front of your millions of adoring fans. Bastard that I am, I have taken up the challenge.

Here is the question:

I live in Japan and want a PS2. However, eventually, I will be going back to the states, and I don't want to have to buy a second one when I get back, just to play American games. I read on the GIA news that the first gen PS2's over here will play American games, but that later versions were changed. I've also heard that the reason for this is because of cracked DVD drivers stored on the memory card.

So my question is this, if I buy a PS2 now, but swap memory cards with someone who got a first-gen machine, will my machine be able to play American games, or will I need to swap the entire machine?

Lord Pendragon

Now comes the real concern: Why haven't you gotten any letters about Space Channel Five?

-Cedric "Lobst" Henry

Zhakrin

Even today, it amazes me how ignorant even well educated people are about religion. One wonders why Christianity is so mocked? Because, for centuries it's been the main religion of almost all the imperialist oppressors, from Charlemagne to Queen Victoria. So now, in this era, it's chic to belittle it. What people don't realize is that much of the time, those in power ignored the basic tenets of Christianity, and instead twisted it to their own purposes in order to keep their subjects in line. It's the same in the Middle East with Islam, in Southeast Asia with Buddhism, in India with Hinduism. Instead of following the main teachings set forth in these religions (i.e. compassion, respect, charity, humility.) the rulers, priests, etc. use the more violent parts to subjugate their people and have their way. So, games like Xenogears actually validate the main teachings of Christianity, and all other religions, while invalidating the various perversions brought about by humanity's desire for power.

~Krelian (hoping this clears things up)