Hey Drew,

This is in response to the guy who went on and on about how he's never going to convince SCEA to release Vib Ribbon unless he does a bunch of ludicrous crap. I just want to point out that I downloaded the freakin' game off of a news group, burnt it to a cd, and played it on my playstation without doing any letter writing campaign, or otherwise making a mockery of myself. Now, I realize that there are legal and moral issues with this sort of thing, but if they're not going to release it in the U.S., I say screw em. I'll watch that crazy bastard dance all day long. The moral of my story is 'damn the man' Besides.. it's much more fun than any domesticated game I've ever played. What I mean is that it seems like a translation couldn't do it justice anyway..

Later,

-El Nacho

Drew

On that letter about the nude photograph as art:

"she was nude"... "pornography"... "feeling...when something touches me"... "reach deep down inside"... "The feelings I [had]"... "first time I saw Aeris"... "permanately imbedded".

And if that isn't bad enough, if you rearrange these bits and peices, and alter them a bit, you can get something like this:

"The first time I saw Aeris, she was nude, giving me that feeling like when something touches me deep down inside. The feelings I had were akin to pornography, as I permanately imbedded [myself into her]."

I think we know what this man's true intentions were. Shame on him.

-Justin Freeman

A Pledge and Chastisement:

I hereby vow never to whine that the Junction system was tiresome, Tifa's tits unrealistic, or that Crono accidentally talked in one of the optional endings. I will never attack semantics and trivial game flaws as if RPGs have to somehow battle one another for dominance. I vow never to fashionably disdain or worship Pokemon. I will be content to do my own personal part to ensure that games remain uncensored, unrestricted and available by making my views known in a constructive and intelligent manner, instead of degenerating into silly arguments among what should be my allies for gaming freedom about which game made more money and is therefore better.

I refuse to waste your time demanding SD characters, three-member parties visible on the world map, or more Ted Woolsey translations (shudder). I will take RPGs for what they are, an ever-changing art form which constantly improves despite drawbacks, and not complain bitterly if a new game doesn't fulfill my every expectation. That's part of life, if some detail remains unfulfilled and must be addressed next time. It's a growing medium. MISTAKES ARE MADE.

I will abstain from any "I really hate the turn this series is taking" sentiment. Note to whiners: Join the industry or get software and make your own game, if nothing else will satisfy your desire for perfection. I'm sure your games will never, ever have flaws, because you'll never innovate. You are protesting the very essense of experimentation and growth because you're trying to hang on to an unrealistic and anachronistic view of what a game should be. Your every complaint yearns for that "first time" gaming feel. You must address your cynicism, not the medium which has left you behind.

I'm proud to waste my precious youth and enthusiasm playing games which are made and distributed for nothing more than enjoyment. I prefer to debate whether to buy more insulin or pre-order Chrono Cross, and let politics in games remain a matter of good guy versus bad evil guy/sorceress/empire/hedgehog-demon. Let the gamer focus on gaming. Or let him endure Lara Croft's embrace for eternity, trapped in the colon of Bill Gates himself.

Serves him right.

-LORD ITLAN

Drew,

The comparison between DQ7 and Daikatana isn't exaclty valid. You have to remember that much of the controversy surrounding Daikatana had to do with the games nefarious creator, The Romero. Had it not been for many of his decisions involving PR, the game wouldn've been treated quite differently one would suppose. Add in game's a revolving door team, and the fact that most of the people in the FPS community are gigantic pricks (don't believe me? go read planetcrap.com,) and you basically have a game that is going to be faced with derision from all sides. It doesn't help that when the game actually did come out it sucked by all accounts.

On the topic of why RPG fans are so critical, I'd have to say it's because we are fans of the games we love on a very personal level. When I think of Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger, it makes me think of a period of time in my life, much like a song will. And when somebody insults that game, they're insulting me in a weird way. And as a result I think we tend to be critical of other games because to us they represent a threat to our favorite games, as convoluted as that sounds.

It's also because the online RPG community is so strong and so big, and as a result tends to be more vocal. On a curve, as the sample size increases, the extremes become larger and more visible (and in this case quite a bit more vocal.)

And remember according to Daily Radar, Legend of Dragoon is better than Chrono Cross.

-Carl Jarvis

Rpg fans nit-pick their genre because they are STUPID. There, plain and simple. While OTHER young people around the world are starving, fighting for thier countries independence, or just trying to survive, a large group of "educated" young Americans sit around and pick apart the latest Final Fantasy or what have you. It is ludicrous. People need to realize these are GAMES. They're just games. Instead of bitching and moaning about 2d graphics or why the storyline was so shallow go out and do something. Volunteer work, take an art class, GET A JOB.

6025-2nd shift LDC SCRAPPER

The thing about RPG fans is simply this - we're intelligent. While FPS fans are dirty, vomiting neanderthals, RPG fans are sophisticated, cultured people who support their genre to the bitter end.

Well, that was a fun trip into the Land of Happy-Yet-Untrue, but the fact is, RPG fans are conceited. The majority of fans who consider themselves "hardcore" (fortunately, true "hardcore" fans are few and far between) are fans who are either socially retarded or suck at action games. It is these fans that were disgusted at the thought of Final Fantasy VII drawing in fans of other genres.

The funny thing is, these select RPG fans are so quick to turn on the genre they would supposedly rape a donkey for. The minute a once "old-school" game gets a technological update, they're up in arms and ready for revolution, despite the obvious change in the hardware these games are run on. Kind of like people who bitch that, while FFIX has returned to it's Fantasy roots, it's still in 3D form. "And that's just unacceptable."

It's true, as a group, RPG fans have grown picky and bitchy. I heard someone the other day complaining that, while Star Ocean 2 had an enjoyable battle system and was easy for him to play through, the voice acting sucked, which ruined the -entire game- for him. I'm getting sick of people who demand perfection, and a perfect balance of story, character, graphics (which have to remain true to their ties), music, translation, and gameplay. And if there's a small dip in any of those attributes, the game goes from "Wow, this game is great." to "Wow, this game is great, but it has this flaw that ruins the entire game."

Hooray for imperfections. And hooray for mindless action. Oh, by the way, Red Bull is heavily circulated in my hamlet of Spokane, Washington. It's paired with hip commercials such as Satan discussing Red Bull with his minions, and every commercial ending with the hip slogan of "Red Bull gives you wings!"

Energy drinks rule.

-Aaron Linde

Hey!

I read about the topic, and a thought dawned on me. The reason why we RPG fans (you don't have to agree with me, so don't yell at me) are so nitpicky about our games is that we are perpetually on the search for the "perfect RPG". Now this may not make sense to most, however, if you are female you would understand, because for many years, women have also been searching for the "perfect purse". One that would cater to all our needs, hold all the stuff we could want, but not be inconvienient, so naturally, we get picky. (well, okay, not ALL of us get picky about that, so don't yell ^_^ , I'm just putting down what I think, K!?)

The same thing happens with RPG's. We want to find a game that is not too linear, but not so far out there we never know what's going on. We want a game that has great gameplay that's easy to use. And the list could go on and on, and on...

I hope that helps at all (and for those of you who don't agree with me, just DEAL! Okay??)

-Invisigirl

Drew,

I'd say what makes RPG players and other gamers different is how they deal with their sexual frustration. Hardcore RPG fans spend hours and hours drawing beautiful naked game girlies, this guy spends fifteen minutes on a couch doing research for an ass review.

http://www.dupayosh.com/gamereviews/pc/ass.html

Somehow I doubt he's written an editorial titled 'Why Quake Is Art'.

~Ian P.

P.S. Now get the column to discuss video games and religion! "Why Jesus Would Like FF6 More Than FF8."

Drew, None of us have any common sense. Our RPG obsession defies rational behavior. I mean, look at ourselves from an objective standpoint. We actually LIKE games that will consume up to 60-80 hours of free time per hit, then we'll spend upwards of 20 ADDITIONAL hours a week on the internet talking about the games, pretty much indefinitely. Evolution would not support this behavior in the wild. Hell, I don't think any one of us even EXERCISES for more than an hour a week!

Eh, to us though, that's just normal. And it's damn fun. Now excuse me while I go buy my copy of Chrono Cross.

-Red Raven, completely irrational and loving it

Dear former Double Agent returned from the great beyond,

Your latest question of "What is it with RPG players?" is a doozy. But luckily, one of those tangential questions - why are RPGers often resistant to change? - is rather easily answered. Simply put, many RPG players aren't much for GAMES... rather, they're in it for the stories, the characters, the plot twists and tragic events you see when you feed some old geezer too many rotten fish. For many RPGers, gameplay itself is just a means to an end (or worse, an impediment) to advance to the next chapter. Battles and systems and strategy are hassles to them - I've even seen this attitude displayed by a Working Designs writer (which is understandable; a writer probably SHOULD see the rest of the game package as secondary).

I personally don't agree with this philosophy, and based on the popularity of titles with innovative and challenging gameplay like Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle and Panzer Dragoon Saga, I'm definitely not alone. But looking at RPGs from the perspective of someone who would rather be reading a book, I can understand why a lack of gameplay innovation would be desirable. If you don't have to work hard or learn something new, it's much easier to muddle through and get to the next meaty bit of story to chew on. It even extends to me, in a different way: I import tons of games, but rarely RPGs... except the Final Fantasy games, whose components are easily recognizable for someone with a rudimentary grasp of reading Japanese and a knowledge of the series itself. That familiarity allows me to master a system and story in another language with the same ease that someone who rarely games can grasp the basics an RPG that plays like every other RPG from the past decade.

So this fall, for people who dig new kinds o' gameplay, there's Valkyrie Profile, Skies of Arcadia and Chrono Cross. For those who want something comfortable with a great story, there's Final Fantasy IX, Grandia II and Lunar 2 (which, luckily, are all good enough games to appeal to the more gameplay-oriented gamers as well). And then there's Seven, which will only appeal to suckers for hand-drawn art (me).

Of course, there's also the matter of why so many RPG fans like rehashed STORIES, and for that I have no non-insulting answer. Complacency? Lack of taste? Head injury? We may never know.

Anyway, I'm going to ignore the rest of the topic to avoid making this letter run even longer than it already is.

XXXOOOXXX,

J. Parish

Yo Drew,

I was concerned when I learned that there was a 6 character limit in Chrono Cross. How, then, could I name all of the Chu-Chu like characters "Meatslut"? And Lucky Dan would be bad too, I thought. But no, there is hope...his name is Mojo! Sounds good to me...

Also, I was wondering, is Serge really mute? How do people know what he's saying then. Like when he's on the beach in the beginning and the guy goes "Lenna? She's not here." How did Serge tell the guy he was looking for Lenna?

-The Steve