Negative! Single ladies, AK is still single!

Sorry Chris, had to do it..

-AK

Hmmm... I'm not sure Sir Farren understands quite how the designers of Persona 2 intend you to get past the bosses. I've played for 24 hours and never once had to level up. Yes, I've been trounced mightily by bosses, but that was only because I went in unprepared for that fight. You see, Levels aren't terribly important in P2... Your selection of Personas and equipment, though, *are* of the utmost importance. Every persona has a strength and weakness... sometimes even immunities. They also have the ability to influence your power in battle. A level 13 Baofu with Odeyssyus is far weaker than a level 13 Baofu with Tengu. Not only because Tengu would give him better spells, but because it will boost his ability scores. This principle applies to every character and every persona...

The only thing levels are *really* useful for in P2 is that you can only equip a persona if it's no more than 5 levels higher than the person equipping it.

And if you're still having problems beating a boss, go eat a hardy meal... seriously! The restaurants that are scattered over the city all sell food that can give you stat boosts of up to 8 points... and that's a lot.

I suppose if you go into P2 thinking it will be a traditional Level Building monster bashing game, you'll end up dissapointed. You can't just no-brain your way through it and expect to win like a lot of games allow you to. But even having said that, it's by no means a *hard* game... it just requires a slightly different approach than others.

--Drexle

-Nick Herman

I actually just beat Chrono Cross last week, two days before Christmas. My friends were telling me that the final boss was "hard" and that he "popped up" at "the last second" and that the ending "sucks" and that the Chrono Cross is "impossible" to use. I used the Chrono Cross on my first try (it was kinda hard, though) and I found the ending to be truly remarkable. I guess you could say that Chrono Cross made me realize Iıve forgotten how good a sequel can be for a videogame, quite possibly because there are so few true sequels in the realm of videogames. The ending of Chrono Cross, however, made me wish, even for just a second, that Square would stop making Final Fantasy games, in all their disjointed-sequel glory.

If they did stop making Final Fantasies, though, what hope would they have of putting together a series of true sequels that fit together nearly one one-hundredth as well as Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross? You know, in America, we take pride in soap operas that last thirty, forty, fifty years. In Japan, they have these "television dramas" these little soap opera miniseries that last, all told, about ten to fourteen episodes at the most. That's the Japanese way. It's easy to keep a series going as long as that series has a definite ending in sight. Now, I write books for a living, so I know that in order to write astory, you need really only one thing: a story to tell. And that involves a beginning, a middle, and an end. If a series has no conceivable end, then, how can it truly be "one" story? That adds to the disjointedness of Final Fantasy sequels, and the stupidity of making games like ffix, which, while enjoyable, really try to tack on elusive "continuity" in the cheesiest of ways.

With those television dramas, though, once the series is over, the producers just pick up everything, sell the video and DVD rights for the series, and, in the midst of their success, they sit back and write another series, with the same actors, director, producers... just a different story,different themes, different title. That seems to be what Square is doing -- or bordering on doing -- with their FF series. Wouldnıt it be wonderful if the Final Fantasy team just went all out and made a series of totally unconnected games, no sequels, with different names, just like a Japanese television drama? Because, in a way, that's what they've been doing.

I'm just saying that I think a sequel should be a sequel. If not a sequel, then a different game altogether. FFVII could have been "reunion," FFVIII could have been "Liberi Fatali," FFIX could have been "Melodies of Life," I don't know. I think if Square really wants to "evolve," then perhaps, getting rid of the Final Fantasy name is the first thing they have to do.

That, or get Playonline running so I can at least look atthe FFIX strategy guide.

Well, what the hell, Iım still gonna buy FFX anyway. Any word on how I can import? I trust you would be the first to have anyinfo, working for a games site and all.

--Justin Case
(theORIGINAL ff player, who still owns the old-school NP strategy guide -- so don't call his words blasphemous)

Having now regained my sanity, I'd like to compare both Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue. SSSC is, undoubtedly, one of the best 2D RPGs to grace our shores. Sure the graphics aren't what one would call cutting edge, but it proves that graphics aren't necessary for a good experience. The general storyline, character development and music were all top notch. That, or the FMV scenes were just that damn good. It was a pleasant reminder of the games of old, with an exceptional makeover.

But where the Silver Star Story was the cheery-go-lucky little tike, Eternal Blue is its older, darker brother. Now, yours truly is only about three hours into it, making sure to play through and beat the first game thoroughly so as not to spoil any major plot points questing through the sequel. Regardless, even with my second slight brush with the quaint little world I can see that deception is going to play an extremely emphasized role. Questions already arise as to just what's going on here. In short, there is hardly what you would call the second childhood adventure; you're thrown right into the thick of things. The music was a little light for me, but hey, when you're in a band you want loud, swing, brass, etc., not some piano drolling on. Don't get me wrong, it's superb, just not my style. I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone who, like me, splurged in order to purchase it, but lemme tell you, I'm a judge of good games (or so I've been told) and this is a classic. You'll thank me later. Lunar 3, anyone?

Dreaming of Dragons,
Aleksandrs Bomis

If it wasn't for this interesting sauce, however, the game would turn out to be quite a mess. Townsfolk that you have absolutely no incentive for talking to (no treasure in the houses, folks!), prolonged repetitiveness (exactly two, monster filled sub-areas, followed by one save point and one boss encounter). The game isn't even very long (by Square standards, anyway).

For most RPGs, thats a sure path to failure, but this time, I'm having far too much fun to consider "the sum of its parts". I hope Square is taking notes, because I am going to have a much harder time accepting the traditional FF battle system from now on.

Richard "KZ" Knight