There is a pc game where you are the bad guy. Its called Dungeon Keeper. You basically control a dungeon in a sim style game. The idea being you build a dungeon that attracts evil minions which you then use to defeat the hero. As you progress through levels the world map becomes filled with smoking ruins and general destruction. When your evil minions misbehave you can smack them around, but not too much it does damage, or you can send them to the torturers. Of course, you can do that for no reason at all if you like. Oh joy.

You can set traps for unsuspecting heroes who wander into your dungeon or send your minions out to hunt them down.

Also you can choose to possess one of your minions and walk around the dungeon being a general evil overlord in a 3D shooter type game.

The best part of the whole game though is this girl (I forget what kind of evil minion she is) who LIKES to be tortured so you have to keep chasing her away from the torturers so she'll do her work. She gets very upset about it. Its hilarious. Really. I swear. No I am not ON anything? Why do people keep asking me that? *mumbles*

~A

I don't really like writing to you because I'm afraid of cooties. I'm also afraid of being beat up by someone I can't hit back.

Gilbert

This is a bit (read: very) late, but I thought I'd send it in anyway, considering it's a free day.

I want to see Sumi-Sumi Man 14, the sequel to Sumi-Sumi Man 7. ^.^

Other than that, I'll just say that an Acts of Gord game would definately be amusing and that I really want Square to be allowed to remake games on the GBA. -.-

Alright, done .. I don't do well without a topic, or with one usually.

~ Cipher .. now the proud ownser of a Tonberry plushie! ^.^

P.S. For those not in the know, there was no Sumi-Sumi Man 1-6 .. the series started at 7 ..

George Carlin was in the Beatles?! I can't believe I missed that!

-Some Random Jerk

Just going to back to your topic about sympathetic villains. Well, I recently replayed Skies Of Arcadia, and it really struck that nearly all the villains, and even Lord Galcian was somewhat charismatic and honorable in his own way.

First off we have Ramirez, who after seeing the money-grubbing, pathetic, spineless souls of Valua's upper city, and then seeing Lord Galcian and seeing the contrast, decides that this is a man worth following. Life on the Silver Shrine was incredibly lonely, and probably Galcian was sort of a father-figure to him. It comes as no surprise that when Galcian dies Ramirez weeps over it, and as he happens to have a weapon of mass destruction on hand, he decides to use it. In Ramirez's own words 'The only man worthy of saving the world, and you killed him!'

Next is Lord Galcian himself. He is ruthless to the extreme, wanting to conquer the world, and even unleashing the Rains Of Destruction on Valua. But he doesn't force anyone to follow him. He declared, his plans openly to his Admirals, and asked them whether they would join him or not. And when Gregorio, one of his Admirals sacrificed himself to allow Vyse and Co to escape, he says to his soldiers. 'Return his body to Valua, and be careful with it, its worth more than your lives." He respects his enemies, and doesn't underestimate them.

Then there is Belleza. Another sympathetic villain. She lost both her parents in the Nasr-Valua war, and doesn't want to see something like that happen again. And if Valua rules the world, there won't be anymore war, now will there? And the fact that she outfoxes Vyse and crew twice, stands testament to her skill.

All in all, the villains seemed rather 'human' and with their own motivations, and desires. Something I'd like to see more of.

--but it's NOT YOU!

Flee in terror as the alien troops chase you down! Duck and cover as the hero fights back! Escape to a nice, quiet town!

BYSTANDER.

Hit the deck. And stay there.

One other thing. I just realized I've completely neglected to inquire about your musical tastes, a grievous oversight on my part. So, what do you listen to?

-The Neocount of Merentha, who continues to be amazed at the number of people who've never even heard of Iron Maiden.

So, since yesterday you claimed that the very idea of eating popular Square characters makes you sick, can we assume you were one of those people who never used the Devour command from FF8? Monster after monster, ripe for the tasting... looking through this bestiary, I see Tonberries are described as "tasty." Obviously, the real reasons for Mr. Tonberry's accusations were fear and self-preservation.

On a totally unrelated subject, why have I never heard anything about Secret of Evermore? Some people have said it wasn't a very good game, but I have to disagree. It had the same basic engine as Secret of Mana and a reasonably interesting story. While I grant that Evermore's ridiculous number of worthless weapons fell far short of Mana's upgrades through reforging, I thought the Alchemy system more than made up for this. Rather than having some intangible "magic points" as a guide for how much magic you can use, the Alchemy system's Ingredients provided a simple, intuitive requirement for the limitation of magic. The game had numerous other merits and flaws, but rather than having these points weighed to decide whether it was a game worthy of praise, it was completely ignored. Would someone mind informing me why Evermore seems so overlooked?

Abundantly Obsequious,

Jason Love

"..."

And you said 'fuckin' in yesterday's DA -- can you do that? You're crazy Brooke! Crazy I tell ya.

-- Ur

The general premise of Rocket Dogs had nothing to do with rocket dogs. It was (..and I may be getting a few things wrong here) a game where you were a clown. You went around town, slaughtering people and taking their meat. At the end of the game, you would have a big barbeque with all the people steaks you got! And of course, sometimes you'd find mime's, who would be killed for their blood to give to your fat vampire friend, who would beat you or whip you or something in thanks!

...yeah, it's crazy, it's sick, but I still love it.

-Hojo

This has just kept on popping up into my little, ape-like brain every time I see a picture of Lulu: Black, Crotchless Panties. In no way am I bringing this up out of perversity, but rather in a "You just know she wears that type" sort of way. Of course, the same goes for other RPG heroines as well--Aeris obviously and sadly wears huge granny-panties and Harle most certainly something red. However, sometimes we don't need to speculate, as fans of Final Fantasy VIII can attest to.

-Lee, "raise your hand if you're wearing panties with Master Tonberry one them!"

Ok, here's my idea, and honestly it's really brilliant. Better than breathing. It's Parappa the Street Fighter.

Still with me? Good. Here's how it works: It's a fighting game set to music. So far it sounds like most other games, but here's where it gets more interesting than that whole Tekken facist crap. The attacks only connect when they're on beat with the music, otherwise they miss. You want combos? That's great, it's got them. But you can't just string a series of 8th notes or even 16th notes in succession and expect to do any real damage. You need syncopation and polyrythms to do the real damage. A 5/16 polyrythm with an 8th note closer on the 15th beat to make it end on the 16th and therefore beginning the next one on the 1? DEATHBLOW!!!! It would be like a homoerotic ballet of fistbanging mania, except this time no Brad Pit to artsy fartsy the whole thing up. Match point: me.

And as for Capcom... I guess they are just trying to milk the cash cow, so to speak. Of the six games, four are remakes. While I wouldn't call them exactly 'shovelware', they are not that far off. And they were already working in an exclusive RE0, so RE4 is the only true exclusive Nintendo gets off this deal. So now they have a strong franchise in a platform where there are no other strong Mature franchises... The succes of the titles is almost guaranteed. And even if they don't sell as much as they would in a console with an older demographic, like the PS2 or the Xbox, the sweet discount in licence fees they should have received and the low development costs for most of the titles will mean they will get quite a profit nonetheless.

What I'm really interested about is Sony's reaction. I don't think they will allow Capcom's stronger franchise leave just like that. Is not as if there is a lot they could do, but I have to wonder if Capcom has not alienated SCE with this move...

BTW, am I the only one who finds the picture of Miyamoto and Mikami shaking hands a little weird? Those guys are almost exact opposites when it comes down to the way they design their games. Unless you think RE hasthe same gameplay of Mario 64, or Zelda has the cinematic and graphic presentation of a RE game...

- Carlos Rodriguez