DC,

You seem to be confused as to whether you want a game to give you the freedom to project your own persona into the main character, or for the game to be story. In effect, you get hung up on games like CT AND Xenogears. That's just weird.

If you just want to "blow shit up", I'd suggest something more along the lines of fighting games; stuff low on story and greater attention to action. RPGs have almost universally transformed into interactive stories, and as stories do, they evolve and try to explore more creative possibilities than the standard "blow shit up". That's why we have mute characters, Squall being an ass, and Fei having split personalities. Sure, it might be funny if Fei suddenly uses Weltall to start "blowing shit up", but it'd be at the sacrifice of any kind of an interesting story.

But I do think that we have reached a point in where the developers forget that sometimes we DO just want to "blow shit up" for ten minutes before moving on. From what I've heard about ZOE, I guess it's sad that they had to add on a story to an otherwise fantastic "blow shit up" kind of game.

-Red Raven

Yo Drew,

I gotta defend Fei from your frequent attacks in the column yesterday. The Fei that you play as during most of the game is a wuss for the specific reason that he's one of several personalities, with all of his anger and hatred stuck to his Id side. After the scene far into disc 2 when Fei confronts those personalities and they all sort of meld, Fei becomes a take charge guy that is willing to fight for his cause (such as saving Elly in the end despite the fact that it's fairly suicidal). So yeah, he doesn't want to fight in the beginning, but he does it to survive when he needs to, and the fact that he acts this way shows how well the characterization worked...

-The Steve, ever the Xeno-whore

yo drew u fukin moron what is wrong with you man??? we rpg players are definately smarter then those stupid shmup + fighting game faggots. u have 2 b a compleat idiot 2like that kind of game. rpg's are forintellectuals and smart people.

SR

How much do I want to relate to a character? That's very hard to say. Personally, I don't require a character to have a personality exactly like mine, since my personality's so unique (of course, that's what makes it MY personality) that it's next to impossible to hope for one. On the other hand, I don't really mind when a main character's a sniveling wuss. As long as that sniveling wuss is well done, I don't give a darn. All I really require is that the character be written well enough that I can easily put myself in their place, regardless of their personality.

Take, for example, some of my favorite characters from games, books, and TV: Harry Potter, Ender Wiggin, Roger Smith, Mint, Morpheus, Macbeth, Squall Leonhart, Edmund Blackadder, and Solid Snake. Each one of these has a very distinct personality, and only one of them is anything like me. However, with each of them, I get so absorbed in their personalities that when I read/watch/play them that I am able to put myself in their position, and their situation, and feel what they feel, see what they see, love what they love, and hate what they hate, each to a certain extent. In some cases (Mint and Edmund), it's just for a cheap laugh, while in others (Ender, Squall, Macbeth, and Harry), I'm automatically sucked into their minds, and I feel like I know them better than anyone in their own world. In Roger, Morpheus, and Snake's case, it's because I want to be them; envy is the main factor here (I mean, who wouldn't want to be a mercenary giant robot-piloting ruler of a dream realm?).

Perhaps that is what they mean all along when they say you should "relate" to someone. It has nothing to do with having someone who's just like you, or even having someone who's likable (witness Macbeth: they named the play after him for a reason, and his cheerful, happy-go-lucky attitude was not it). They just need a little understanding.

-Alex Scott - related to Ender Wiggin a little TOO much

I think that characters in a game being different from you is something done on purpose. Lots of people make RPGs to be a story, and most put you as an overseer that looks at the events that unfold. To prevent you from just sitting and watching pixels move around on a screen, creators allow you to wander around the world, fight battles, search for items, and play mini games; but essentially, a console RPG is like watching a telenovela or anime series. Video games have always been, really, offered as enhanced TV: don't just watch it, play it, control it.

When people get cliché, heroic can do all video game leads, they frown and say it's too stereotypical. When people get antagonist assholes who whine about everything, such as Fei and Squall, they frown and say it's too annoying. When people get cute, sweet pink heart loving characters like Chu Chu or even the typical anime girl seeing in Rhapsody or GameArts games, people frown and say it's too simple.

In a way, these kind of gamers can relate to Squall and Fei. They constantly whine about games, how bad they are, how they lack innovation, how they're no fun. Like they are tired of Squall or Fei bitching, I'm tired of these gamers bitching.

If people really want to control everything they want in a story, go write a story. If people want a character that they don't have to relate to, go play a computer game. Actually, I'd be board if video game characters were like me. I play to escape reality a little, so I don't want any stinking realism. Life like graphics, yes. Believable emotions and dialog, yes. Good gameplay, yes. So real it feels like going to the supermarket, no.

They should just release a real life RPG, see if these kids stop complaining about how they can't relate!

-Areku

Well, I would agree with you on the matter of main characters. I -seriously- prefer it when they have a personality of their own. The point where I disagree though is on the "clash with the player's" bit. I can take wimps such as Fei and so on. What I can't take is when there is nothing backing them up. Fei was a rather well written character that changed and grew over time as the events in the game happened. It wasn't quick mind you but it was still there, and more importantly, the game let you in on why he made the decisions he did and the actions he committed. Squall on the other hand was presented as an a_%$#& -and never changed-. He stayed that way for most of the game. Very little reson was given why this was, which results in the player being alienated not because Squall was so different, but because the player had no understanding of the character, his motivation(or lack there-of in this case) and his actions.

As for the whole silent protagonist thing, I think that's what killed the characters of Chrono and Serge. While I enjoyed both games, there were more then a few times in ether game that would have liked ether one of those two to show at least some emotion or reaction. There are exceptions to this rule, such as Zelda. In that series of games -you the player- are intended to be the one one adventuring through the world (This is one of the resons that you can change Link's name to what ever you want.). -You- are the one going through the dungens and -you- are the one fighting dragons and so forth. The first Dragon Quest used this same idea to get the player more into the game. The Chrono games, and other like them, present the leads as specific characters that you are following through a detailed narative. Their lack of specific personality and character ruin the illusion of a whole and compleat world. It's as if they are merly there as filler for the plot and story.

Well, I've ranted enough. Thanks for the putting up with my vent. Keep up the good work and have fun!

-Matthew Bafaro

Dear Felix Galimir (and leave off the last "s" for "satan")

i find it difficult to tolerate any hero of an RPG whose goal it is to save the world (and that's most of them). There's usually nobody worth saving and the world is a trash heap anyway.

yours cruelly,

opultaM Forward

"I have to object to your insinuation that RPG players are somehow more intellectual than other types of gamers. I really get tired of that sort of sentiment because it's totally, totally untrue." - Drew Costner

I have to disagree with Drew on this, and the reasoning behind my disagreement should be obvious, which makes me amazed he failed to see it on his own.

Role Playing Games require the ability to read. Not just a little bit of reading either, but full-on literacy, the capacity to read beyond, in many cases, a sixth grade level.

60% of all Americans...specifically....are functionally illiterate. This is a well enough known statistic, but bear with me. America is easily the single largest computer game market, and most American households (some 80% as of 2000) have at least one console game machine in them. Now what is actually meant by being functionally illiterate? It means that 60% of all Americans are just able to read well enough to sign their own name, make out a handful of very simple printed words, and to read numbers just well enough to determine the price of something they want to buy. Less than 2% of Americans regularly buy books from bookstores for the purpose of reading them...as opposed to using them for decoration in rooms...the common 'coffee table book' (which, sadly, is the bread and butter of most book chains).

Since the very point, the very purpose and nature of the RPG is to be a story, essentially to be a novel that one can play as a game, the average RPG easily has as much, and sometimes more, text than the average paperback novel. Almost all RPG's are fantasy or science fiction based, which by the very nature of the genres involved requires text involving multisyllabic words that describe very complex, often highly abstract, concepts, devices, and situations (silly or not!)

So, if one but bothers to put this information together, it is clear that gamers that prefer RPG games must, by the nature of what is required of the player, be more intellectually capable and advanced than 60% of the population of America, arguably the most dangerously wealthy and powerful nation on earth.

There can be no question that RPG gamers are more intellectual than other gamers. However, this is not something to become overly proud of, given that the average that they rise above requires colorful pictures on their menus simply to order food correctly. Nevertheless, Drew is wrong on this one.

Jennifer Diane Reitz
UnicornJelly.com
Otakuworld.com

Hi Drew!

I think that as long as a character's motives and actions are logical (in the context of the game and the background story, of course), I would accept any character. Unless, perhaps, the character was racist in some way and not presented as the bad guy or someone with an actual reason to hate others. Hmmm, that's still the same as before - a character who acts in a way that isn't explained properly.

In any case, I haven't encountered such a character. Also, I'm recruiting to the army tomorrow (it's mandatory in Israel) so now you *have* to put me in your coloumn! You don't really have to, but I might have access to missiles and stuff (unlikely, but it *could* happen), so watch it before you send this letter to the trash can.

-Private Zohar Gilboa reporting!