Aftermath - October
16, 2000 - Chris Jones
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. Nich got older today, in the "orbits around the sun
completed" sense
of the phrase. Good for him!
Don't say we didn't warn you.
The smart thing to do here would be to completely do an end run
around any fallout produced by AK's weekend columns... but I, of
course, am not that smart.
With regards to RPGamer, I think it's safe to say that obviously AK will
have different feelings on the matter than I do.
As a founder of the place, I imagine he feels somewhat like Steve
Wozniack did about Apple during the John Scully years. Me, on the other
hand, I was just a reader of the site, and I admit I still keep an eye on
it to see what my peers are up to. I'll say that the people they've got
writing their columns have made very different choices than I have,
column wise... but once you take those
policy decisions as a given, I think they do a pretty good job with what
they've got. Case in point, Brad Lohr. I really got the impression that
we were near polar opposites in what we looked for out of our columns,
out of our games, programming languages, political parties, music, root
beer...
nearly everything that defines someone, in other words. But I thought he was
a great columnist for the type of column he did, and I
wrote him a small email congratulating him on his run when he left.
There's a lot of issues between the GIA and RPGamer, and a lot of history
that I really have no opinion on. All I can personally say is that I
hope our two sites can just go their separate ways, operating in their own
styles, and let the readership make its own decision based on the work
itself if a ranking judgement needs to be made at all.
Which brings us to my basic philosophy in doing the column. First off,
as far as I'm concerned, this is not a Q&A column, and never has been
under my watch. Q&A is well and good, but there are several reasons I
personally don't feel it's really suited for a daily letters column. I
freely admit I don't have the encyclopedic knowledge I'd would need to
answer every serious gaming question the GIA's readers might have, and
frankly, given how many games there are out there and how long games have
been around, I'm not sure any single human being actually could. Then
there's the actual interest in questions and answers themselves -
obviously whoever asked the question is interested in the answer, but as
a rule I can't see that people would be all that interested in reading Q&A
day in and day out, especially if they already knew the answers
themselves or had never even played the game in question. The only thing
that could really drive continuing interest in a column like that is
the writing skills of the columnist running the show... and I know I'm
not that good. Somebody like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett might be
good enough, but even then I'm not sure they could do so on a daily
basis. And last, there's the question of how necessary Q&A is in the
first place. Most gameplay questions can easily be researched by the
interested parties much more quickly than a Q&A column could answer back, and as for the
ones that can't be, you might not be able to get a concrete answer,
period. Take a look at the message boards sometime when a question like
"Why do all three hit percentages in CC sometimes go to 99%?" comes up and see how
many differing answers you come across.
I don't mind answering hard questions, if I can, and I admit I
could probably do a better job of tracking down info on the ones I do
get, like the Saga Frontier 2 question last week. But a column has to be
more than that. What I've tried to do is put something together where
people can hash out their opinions on everything gaming related, from new
releases to old philosophical debates. Somebody pointed out over the
weekend that a moderated board could do that just as well - maybe, but I
think a moderated board would do an even better job of Q&A. And you could
also argue that what this column does could be done by an Editorial
section, but I'd argue that we get a much higher throughput and
readability than an Editorial section; because we're daily, we have ideas
from wildly diverse subjects cross-pollinate, and writers are competing with
other writers to make their letters more streamlined and publishable.
Ultimately, I'd like to see this column serve the same basic purpose as
the letters columns in a major newspaper or magazine - feedback on what's
going on in the world and the industry, a rough snapshot on what the
public's currently thinking about, and commentary on the site itself. I'd
hope that under my watch I've acted as some sort of catalyst to make you
write better letters on a wider array of topics, and more of them,
but that's not something that I can really tell if I'm doing or not - I
need feedback from you guys.
And the above paragraphs are why you never want to get me started
talking about the column itself. I'm always open to feedback, both on the
column in general and on what I've said above, but fortunately for now I
think I've said everything I have to say on the subject. That being the
case, why don't I stop talking about writing columns and actually write
one?
Onward.
Sufficient information |
Hey Chris,
I just wanted to comment on the little Persona 2: Eternal Sins question
that has been appearing throughout the column the past couple of days.
While I haven't played it, I have researched the game a bit, and my
understanding is that despite the fact Atlus never brought Innocent Sins
stateside, they feel Eternal Punishment has its own storyline that is
independent enough from Innocent Sins that gamers won?t be confused or lost
in the plot. While the game features several returning characters from
Innocent Sin (Persona 2 #1, as odd as it sounds...), they will have
flashbacks to key points in Innocent Sins, so gamers will gain some
understanding of what's happened before. I don't think Atlus would really
release a game just to confuse everyone. Persona isn't exactly a major
franchise over here, so they need to release a product that'll sell by word
of mouth about its quality rather than the name alone.
-CTZanderman, who finally remembered how to e-mail the DA.
Oh, and since I missed yesterdays "rant about what makes you angry" topic,
I'd just like to say that I HATE crappy philosophy papers that make me stay
up 'til 4 AM. Oh, and I hate it when people bang on your front door and
wake you up before you wanted to get up and then walk off before you get to
the door. |
In a way, I'd prefer it if the translation team didn't attempt to
overcompensate for us not getting the first game by dumping lots of
expository dialog on us. Flashbacks when needed are fine, but I'd
rather be left guessing (which can be pleasant, under the right
circumstances) than scroll through page after page of "Remember when
Person A did that thing that made Person B do some other thing?" I
mean, heck, if I can enjoy Silent Hill with all that game's loose
ends, I think I can enjoy Persona 2 without any problems.
UPDATE: I've been informed by reliable sources that Persona 2.5
will not have any additional flashbacks or expository dialog, and
that since it's pretty well self-contained it won't need any such
things. In other words, what you see is what you get, and that should be
plenty sufficient.
Be kind to your cashier
friends *Chrono Cross spoilers* |
Hey, Chris.
This is just replying to AK's question about cashiers ... talk to us,
please!! You have no idea how boring my job can get without good
conversation - I work in a music store (instruments, not CDs) and it's
always much more fun if I can talk to the customers and learn what kinds of
music they like and such. Maybe it's different in big box stores, but I
wouldn't think so. So, everybody out there, talk to cashiers. We're good
people, dammit!
Anyway, I also have a Chrono Cross question - what's the deal with Leah in
relation to CT's Ayla. I swear I read somewhere (I don't think it was at the
GIA) that Leah is Ayla's mom ... but I don't see how that could be possible.
Explain it to me ... anyone ...?
Thanks!
- Sara Castle |
I'm only too happy to talk to cashiers, personally, but for two
things. First off, I've been one myself and at the end of a busy
stretch of getting people in and out as fast as possible, the last
thing I want to do is chat pleasantly about the weather or whatnot. (Of
course, I'm not much for chatting pleasantly in any case...) Second, I
always get the impression female cashiers are a bit wary of being hit
on by guys, and at least one or two lady friends of mine have told me it's
been a problem for them in the past. So at a video store, for example,
I might make a joke about Joe Pesci's acting if I was renting
"Goodfellas", (as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a letters
columnist...) but if they let it drop, I'm cool with it.
Regarding Leah, it's not 100% clear. Nothing I've seen suggests
there's anything you can do during the normal course of the game
that'll unlock more story for Leah, other than what she says when you
first meet her. On the other hand, apparently if you finish the game
with her in your party (I believe it has to be one of the alternate
endings, where the characters get a chance to talk, but I'm not sure)
she mentions that she'll someday name her daughter "Ayla", which is
where that rumor came from. I say it's yet another example of too
little development on too many characters.
Backwards compatibility
strikes again |
Yo Chris,
I've got a quick question...
Since I'll have my PS2 before FFIX, I'm planning on playing it on the PS2.
Now, since you can't connect a PSX memory card to the PS2, will I be able to
save PSX data to a PS2 memory card? And if so, will it only take up a small
amount, or a full block from the 8 megs?
--The Steve |
According to our resident Playstation experts, PSX games played on
the PS2 actually require a PSX data card, which will work in a
PS2. PS2 games require PS2 data cards, and data from one game typed cannot
be moved to different card type. Therefore, you should have everything you need to
rock and roll when FF9 comes out already at hand.
The last word from the
Bossman |
That picture of Rinoa was NOT FROM THE METREON. It was a two-year-old
picture taken from a professional Japanese cosplay site. Everyone can grow
up now. :)
- Andrew |
It looks like a rant from somebody from the GIA about that Rinoa
picture where we say SOMETHING IN CAPS is becoming a weekly Monday
feature here, but I hope this can be the end of it. Incidentally,
there was a Rinoa
at the Metreon event, but that picture was not her. And that's all that needs to be said.
A tretise on the
phenomenon known commonly as "Pokémon" |
Hello Chris, I've decided to spring this on you
(maniacal laughter),
I've sent this before, but it was the day Senator Lieberman was announced
on the Democratic running ticket, shoving me out with political views.
I went awhile ago to see the Pokemon Movie 2000, which is, in all honesty,
a good kid's movie. I went under the guise of writing an online review
for the movie, which is a good excuse for a 16 year old guy to see a movie
rated G. I went and questioned the cashiers, nine parents, and six children
if they thought the Pokemon craze was dying down. To summarize the response,
let's go to Parent #3 who said "Thank God, Yes." Apparently his wallet has
been pretty thin from the Pokemon craze. Four of six kids thought it was
dying off, even with the release of the Gold & Silver editions. Which brings me to my topic.
Like it or not, Pokemon has done a lot for gaming. I've never played any
of the games, but I have participated in the discussion banter about it.
It will die off, probably by the end of next year if Nintendo doesn't do
something for revival. When I say "die," I mean lose the millions of children
with truckloads of cards, games, and toys. True fact: I work in a pet store,
and a little boy came in yesterday and bought a Cockatiel with the cage, food,
and toys with his own money because he sold his Pokemon cards. Nintendo will
end this cash cow, but I think their best bet for a longer term renewal is if
they made a full fledged new Pokemon game for the Gamecube. Not that I ever
want to see Nintendo succeed, but this is a) a likely turn for the franchise
and b) I want to see Pokemon become a long-lasting franchise like Mario.
Both these make sense, since Pikachu and pals are currently more recognizable
to children than their own parents. Nintendo can create a Pokemon Gamecube
game and reluctant parents everywhere will shell out the necessary money to make their kids happy.
The point to this is, Pokemon should grow past all the hype and one great
game should be released every four years with new Pokemon and the like that
will be a staple of what Nintendo can accomplish with its current system .
Pokemon needs to have a game that will create a genre defining experience
that deserves praise (yes, a la Mario 64) for years to come. Something different
has to come along or it will truly "die" with no revival. Something like age the
main characters up a few years to denote a passing of time. Get Ash and Misty in
a relationship. Anything. Whatever it takes, I'm betting Nintendo will try it. What do you think?
Omega Rat, surprised to find that this letter has been sitting in his Drafts folder for exactly two months. |
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that Pokemon
should be looking to become a long-running game series... and part of
that is jettisoning the existing shell of hype and story around the
game. Consider that years ago Mario was just a story about a guy
fighting a barrel-throwing monkey... and then he was a plumber fighting
sewer vermin... and for the past several years, he's been saving some
helpless princess from something that's supposed to be a giant turtle
but looks more like a dragon, and even then he's gone through
numerous small mutations. Anyone remember the "Koopa Kids?" Anyone?
But the core idea of Mario, heroic bouncing plumber, has remained
constant for all of that. In Pokemon's case, I suspect we'll
eventually see the departure of Brock and Misty and probably even Ash,
as the cartoon loses popularity and the game reinvents itself on the
GBA and Game Cube. Pikachu itself may eventually become less popular,
but the "gotta catch 'em all" philosophy (if not the marketing phrase)
will remain constant. Of course, one result of this might be that
today's Pokemon addict kids will eventually be our age and demand
Pokemon gameplay infused with Final Fantasy level plots, but we can
worry about that bizarre hybrid when it happens.
Translation
difficulties |
Hey Chris,
I noticed something I rather interesting recently. Remember when Square said
it wasn't releasing Chrono Cross in Europe because it would be too hard to
translate into German? At the time this seemed like a plausable excuse but I
was looking at EGM's preview of Phantasy Star Online last night and I noticed
that it will translate five different languages on the fly, those being
Japanese, English, French, Spanish and GERMAN! I think that if Sega can
design a server that can translate that efficiently, Square's excuse for not
releasing CC in Europe doesn't make much sense. In fact it sounds like
they're kind of screwing their European fans. Just a thought.
Another guy named Chris |
The problem with your argument is, by most accounts PSO is only
going to have the most basic of phrases: "fight", "run", "hello",
"heal", "buy"... that kind of thing. There will basically be an
extremely basic core language that will have interfaces in the five
languages you mention above - all of which sounds easy enough for high
school kids to put together.
Chrono Cross, on the other hand, had a powerful engine designed to
provide standard dialog mixed with various accents on the fly. Frankly, I'm
not even sure written German has the ability to convey an Australian
accent as opposed to a Southern one (or whatever the German equivalents
would be) so Square's excuse for not translating CC really does make
sense.
Evil librarians of the
world unite! |
On the springboard of Zod Wallop (a little later than I'd like to mention
it) comes a rant:
I am one of about ten people in my city who's read that book. It hasn't
been checked out from my library since I myself took it out last year.
I'm one of the forgotten race that live in your community, sneaking through
the darkness of the stacks, secretly reading a few pages from a book here
and there (don't tell my boss) and loving my job. Yes, I am a library
shelver. And I'm not ashamed of it. You see, Spider Robinson once said we
are the hidden masters of information. Never piss off a librarian. I hold
the power over your grades when you have to do that report on female
genital mutilation in Africa. I can tell by how anxious you are to find the
book exactly how close the deadline has come. And, if you're not nice to
me, I can forget the Dewey decimal number where that particular subject can
be found. I have the power to float you through your test on the Meiji
Revolution...or tell you the book you're after is checked out and
laughingly think of the seventeen other Bakumatsu histories which sit right
next to the empty space. Not that I do that much. Usually I'm nice. Until
someone forgets that I'm a Hidden Master of Knowledge. I wrote because I'd
like to make it known that there is a problem in our library, and others
across the country. You wouldn't believe some of the obscure yet awesome
books that get hidden in my library while Danielle Steel and Faye Kellerman
occupy the checkout desk all day. Hidden in the dark of the shelves, my
children, gathering dust. Our checkout rate is dismal to say the least for
books which don't get popular advertisment. The reason: people can't be
bothered to get a minimal working grok of how a library is set up. I'm not
saying you have to know what 636.7 is (pets), but too many people each day
ask me for help finding a book in the 921 section (biographies) when the
number they give me is 398.2 (fairy tales). Every day I apply common sense
to stupid problems. People check out every VC Andrews novel ever written,
but never even remove the NeverEnding Story from its shelf. What makes a
community devour Maeve Binchy when Winston Groom's "Gump" novels enjoyed
nothing but brief notoriety until people found out that the book isn't
precious like the movie?
I'm not knocking people's taste here, but how the hell is it that the last
time we had Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" checked out was two months ago,
while the Harry Potter books still have a waiting list about as long as the
641.5972 shelf (that's cookbooks)? I love the Harry Potter series, and I
see nothing wrong with popular books. But I'd like to see people read more
than Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six". There is a large world of good books out
there quietly rotting on the shelves. We throw them away sometimes. I steal
them from the dumpster and take them home. More will die if the literary
tastes of Americans don't broaden soon. The carnage is incredible. The
science fiction circulation is a swollen nightmare...the westerns are on
life support!
I ask that each of you read Zod Wallop at least once in your lifetime.
Expand those horizons, people. Don't murder Auntie Mame!
Lord Itlan
Proud Member of the Literary Underground |
Dude, you're scaring me, ok? Once upon a time I was a very heavy
library user, and I know all to well the delight of finding out that
my local branch has the complete works of Iain Banks on tap... but
your twisted power trip frightens even me.
Still, the man has a good point. I get a fair amount of email
talking about people like Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind like they're
the end-all-be-all of fantastic literature... but they're not. Don't
get me wrong, if you like them, more power to you. I certainly don't
think they're bad writers, and at least you're reading
something. But when I consider the more obscure authors that are
infinitely better... I simply must weep that such books go
undiscovered. I mean, in The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers the main
villain was a misshapen midget sorcerer who ran around on stilts in
Victorian London wearing peeling clown makeup while his hair was on
fire... and in the context of the book IT MADE SENSE! You'll
never get that kind of fun out of Robert Jordan...
But anyway. All I'm saying is that there are writers out there who are
to Robert Jordan as Robert Jordan is to the plot of Dragon Quest I -
and you won't find them at Barnes and Noble. Dive deep into the dusty
stacks of your local underfunded library, my friends, and you will
find enlightenment.
As for Zod Wallop, it's not a must-read book, but it would make a
great RPG... at least, I'd love to see the insane asylum
escape/wedding event done as a game intro. The bit with the monkey
would especially kick arse.
But will "Spoon!" work
in a text box? |
...but if you want to be a developer someday, you better get ready for a
long, hard winter.
Amen. If anybody out there thinks they have a hit game idea, then write a
design document. Even the smallest concept is going
to have a big, nasty design document, and in writing one, you will see
dozens of errors and areas for change in that "crystal clear vision of
gaming".
Programs like RPG Maker are great because they provide the bounds that your
concept must reside within. Coming up with new genres and styles of
gameplay are nice dreams, but the amount of research and testing involved in
trying a new gameplay style will quickly have you wishing to switch your
focus to "A Final Fantasy Tactics game with a fixed story", or any other
number of examples. Do you go from a session of D&D to creating your own
rulebook and universe, or do you try designing some campaigns under the D&D
ruleset for your friends first? (I suspect the latter).
Pick a small concept, and give it a whirl. See how it turns out. Expand on
it. 99% of people who set out to write "War & Peace" are going to stop /
get bored after the first page of writing. But if you instead start small,
its a lot easier to finish, and the book still gets a cover (end
analogies!)
Now then, as soon as I can find a copy of RPG Maker for myself, I can spend
a few evenings turning one of those "Tick" episodes into an RPG. The
exciting world of "Die Flaudermaus", here we come!
Richard "KZ" Knight |
When a developer speaks of such things, you should listen. Meantime,
I like the idea of a Tick RPG... I guess I see kind of a Vagrant Story
triangle between The Tick, Arthur, and American Maid, but maybe that's
just wishful thinking.
Closing Comments:
Ok, for tomorrow, any feedback you have on my intro rant is
welcome, but for now, I think I'm sick of ponderous matters. Time for
a fluff column, say I!
And for our fluff column, I'd like to challenge you to a
potentially fascinating, potentially lame little exercise in wish
fulfillment: mix and match your games. I'm looking for stuff like
"Mario Gear Solid", "PaRappa: Legacy of Kain", "The Legend of Zelda:
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!" You know, that kind of thing. Mere titles
are fine, but a short description of the actual plot and gameplay
would be good too. Yes, this will probably be really stupid sub-fanfic fodder, but even
really stupid can be fun sometimes. Heck, I'm sure I'll get a kick out
of all the dumbass ideas, if nothing else. See you tomorrow.
-Chris Jones, out of words to
say. |