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. And cancel Christmas. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Nothing to say today, really, except maybe "Sorry this update's so unusually early." I'm feeling markely more spry this evening and think I may venture out of my box now that the cruel sun's long since tucked away.

An insider (not the IGN kind) speaks

Hi there! I was just perusing some of the letters on FFX's voice acting ... And how many of the people were saying things like "Why didn't they include both tracks!?" I was working on the FFX project as a beta-tester, and lemme say, there was absolutely no room left on the DVD. That's right. 4.3 gigs of space ALL used. You can thank the uncompressed 50+ CGI movies for that. I also ask that gamers give the voices a chance -- even though the "hardcore" will NEVER accept it. Some of the voice talent is really, REALLY good. (Wakka is played by Bender from Futurama, and Rikku is Bubbles from the PowerPuff Girls, for example.) It would be nice if you could pass this along to your readers/writers without listing my name. Hope you enjoy the game -- we all worked really hard on it! :)

So there you have it, people. Good old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness lack of space. No one can devour a storage medium quite like Squaresoft.

Thanks for the info, my man.

Despite all the VA controversy, I'm heartily looking forward to finally playing FFX. And regardless of the mental image of an inebriated robot in a sound studio that will inevitably be conjured up whenever Wakka opens his mouth, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it.

Aren't you listen?! Catch the chance, Square!

Hiya, I know I sound like a deluded fanboy.. but why doesn't Square try to "catch the chance" (god I love Engrish) and release a "Final Fantasy X International" in the US, with the Japanese voices, after the initial release? I mean, if the Japanese are stupid enough to be milked twice for the same game, I think American gamers are MORE then dumb enough! I know I am. Sincerely, Sukebe Panda!

Well, after what we heard yesterday, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea, does it?

However, since it would have relatively limited appeal and would require a 2nd DVD, the price would have to be jacked up significantly, which would discourage a lot of potential buyers, thereby limiting its appeal even more, forcing them to jack up the price still higher to make it a profitable venture, limiting its appeal yet further....

They're probably just worried about being caught in a fatal loop that'd eventually result in some kind of stack overflow.

Erin is a good cat. And a pretty cat. Yes she is.

Oh wise Agent! Thank you for that insightful rant about dubs and the bliss of ignorance in not knowing what those Japanese people are saying without the subs. It's a very common view in the chat room I go to. Translations are also not as bad as people may think. For example, when playing an import copy of Shenmue people wouldn't know what Ryo was saying in a certain scene but they'd think "I bet he just said something badass right now" but after playing the US copy they find out he just asked if anyone could tell him where he could find some sailors. Not so badass anymore. And this translation was approved by Yu Suzuki who supposedly was working tightly with the US team. It seems that Sega liked this dub more considering that it's what the Shenmue movie uses, even though people here think it is a bad dub. Over there they probably enjoyed it more because it was in English, and the US version of games seem to be getting more popular considering the re-releases of certain games. You are such a great wise agent. Yes you are! A brave agent as well. Luxsol

See, now. I can't even tell if you're being sarcastic or not. What's worse, you're explicitly stealing Drew's thunder in being so ambiguous.

Lucky for you he doesn't love me enough to stop calling me by another woman's name, so for the time being, I'm not gonna tip him off.

Confusion

Erin, Out of curiosity (or ignorance), when, exactly, did the news break about not being able to turn off the voice-overs in FFX? As I seem to recall reading in... well, everywhere, you could indeed turn the voice-overs off--Then, suddenly, without warning, I read on the GIA's DA page that you can't. I mean, it would be one thing if you just couldn't turn off the voice overs in merely the demo, but we're talking about the entire, finished, (almost) fixed damn game. Please enlighten me. Also, it feels good to have apperently started the "What kind of panties does Lulu wear" debate. It makes me feel tingly. -Lee, "So, what kind of panties do you wear?"

While everything I'd personally read prior to doing the column in question had said you could in fact turn the voice-overs off, the Japanese version's only dialogue options are Subtitles On/Off and Subtitle Names On/Off. This, coupled with the absence of the ability to turn the VA off in the English demo, led me (and others) to the conclusion that yeah, we're stuck with 'em.

And as for your second question... You lookin' to start another debate, my friend?

Freedom of choice - or not

So now I've seen a bit of the other side of the FFX dub/sub debate, and it seems like the usual set of arguments; as usual, they're good ones and, as usual, I want to come back and clarify my position a little: Yes, I'm angry, and yes, I'm frustrated, and yes, I feel like I'm watching a series I've loved since I was eight years old shooting itself in the foot. It's not, however, for the reasons dub advocates frequently assume. I don't say there's anything sacrosanct about Japanese. I don't think it's a better language than English. I think that both dubbing and subtitling are compromises, both have disadvantages, and, assuming equivalent acting quality, dubbing has fewer disadvantages. I think that poor English dubbing in games is a result of cultural differences and economic issues (game dubbing in America is the lowest of the low-status acting jobs here, the kind of thing one takes to supplement one's Burger King income, and furthermore, companies have no incentive besides PR to produce a quality dub, given that there's absolutely no evidence that doing so will sell more CDs) rather than a lack of acting talent in America or a concentration of same in Japan. I acknowledge that it's entirely possible for a talented, dedicated group of people to produce an English dub that has the Japanese cast hanging its heads in shame. And I will freely say that, if (contrary to all current evidence) that is the case with the dub of FFX, I will happily play through the whole game in all its English glory. I have just one request: GIVE ME THE CHOICE. I have ears. I can decide for myself whether I prefer Tidus in English or Japanese. I can decide if I'd rather kill the voices altogether and imagine them myself. And being told by Square US (not even Sakaguchi, mind you) that I can't do that, that I have to sit back, take what they feed me and try desperately to like it or not play the game at all is deeply and profoundly insulting. It feels like a slap in the face. In any case, there's such a thing as a Gameshark. You don't suppose the localizers took out the menu option, but left all the rest of its code in...? - Charlie "At least none of the press materials contained the phrase 'We found the perfect Tidus and Yuna working right in our offices!'" Tangora

Had it been possible for Square to give us the ability to choose one, the other, or neither, this whole argument would've been effectively nullified because the grounds on which we based our bitching would've crumbled away from under us.

For my part, I would've been delighted with the option of hearing both casts, just because it would've been... well.. neat.

However, we've paid a lengthy visit to why it wasn't feasible above, so I'm hereby closing the audio file, as it were.

Deserting the Falcon

yeah, i know i'm way late on this one, but i only read the GIA on fridays. oh erin, erin, erin. i can't stand by and let you diss desert falcon, not you who purports to have loved it so. the screenshots don't do it justice; everything on the 2600 looked like that (even the retina-searing graphical tour de force of 'solaris') - it was all about what you made up in your head as you played. keep your romantic vision alive and remember that the howling sphinx was really, really nasty, especially in the black sands of level 20, where the oases were blood red and the pyramids dull purple. what a stage. can you tell i'm hopelessly lost in the past? but i'm a 2d artist in an increasingly hostile and poly-obsessed games industry, what's a boy to do. b.

Dear child, you do my wrong. I'm not one to let romantic vision die.

Moreover, in Desert Falcon's particular case, I think it's sadly impossible for me to part with my childhood impressions of the game, seeing as how they were impressed upon me so ... impressively.

I've more than done my part to bring this forgotten blip of a game to public attention.

VERITABLE RUSSIAN EPIC WARNING

Salve Erin, Well, I thought I'd write in again after two things happened. One, I read everyone's comments about the FFX dubbing, and while I understand their complaints, it seems that a lot of them forgot a few things on the way. Two, I got this week a few back issues of Electronic Games Monthly (hey, it was a free subscription), and after seeing that Halo got 10's across the board, I felt confirmed of what one of the major problems in gaming is today - we're rewarding the wrong things. This could take a while, so hang on. First, the FFX dub issue. One, if I hear the "if it was originally done in Japanese, it should STAY that way" argument one more time, I'm going to start hurting people. While I understand the argument (personally, I'd rather watch my anime subtitled), the simple fact is that this isn't for a Japanese market, but an American one. Most people don't realize that subtitled anime titles on tape are either $5-$10 more than the dub, or (increasingly) not being made in favor of bilingual DVDs. This is because there is a MUCH smaller market that purchases subtitled anime, so they have to have increased prices. In the same token, one of the reasons that Square games (and some other more niche titles) were more expensive ($70) in the days of the Super Nintendo was that they sold relatively few units compared to a game like Street Fighter II that had mass market appeal. It wasn't until Square broke out into the general public that their prices dropped signifigantly to market average levels. So, if Square was to eschew an English soundtrack in favor for the Japanese one, fewer people would buy FFX, and the price would skyrocket to the levels of the bad old days because it would be a niche title. I don't know about you, but I can forgo the Japanese voicing for $20. Well, some people may counter that the game could be made bilingual. But then they forget that Square just BARELY got FFX into one DVD. Sound data is one of the most memory-expansive types of media - even newer compression techniques don't solve the problem totally. It's quite likely that adding a Japanese soundtrack in addition to the English soundtrack would have made it impossible to fit the game onto one DVD. And if the game was on 2 DVDs, it would be more expensive, less people would buy it, and so on and so forth. Again, I'm quite willing to forgo the Japanese voices for $20, and I bet a LOT of gamers would feel the same way. If Square makes a more expensive version that has the Japanese voices for the "purists", that's fine - but I don't want to have to pay for something that isn't really something I NEED. Finally, the voice clips were taken completely out of context, and without said context, it's hard to tell what's going on with the voice. For instance, some people said that Yuna sounded very stilted and formal. But I would point out that in the movie Shrek, when our heroes first find Princess Fiona, she uses much the same manner and tone in her voice as does Yuna in the clips - she's talking as if she's addressing a crowd. Once the trio gets out of the castle and the truth is revealed, Fiona drops out of the royal tone to a much more colloquial tone to express her displeasure at the situation. (And yes, she doesn't drop out of it totally, but that's to be expected from someone that would have grown up in the public eye.) So, without knowing the situation, we can't tell if the tone of voice is a product of bad voice acting, or if it really fits the situation. Moral of the lesson: we can't make a call until 12/26 on the quality of the English voice acting until we see the game as a whole. (Also, FYI, there's a good article (http://www.happypuppy.com/features/bth/bth%2Dvol9%2D14.html) in the archives of Biting The Hand at Skotos (www.skotos.net) about the trials and tribulations of adding voiceovers into games. People might want to read about it. (And yes, I know the archive is at Happy Puppy, that is where the column was originally.)) And now for something completely different. (Apologies to Monty Python.) Am I the only one who finds the fact that Halo, MGS2, and other sequels and the such are recieving top marks all over the place sickening? Are these great games? Yes. Do they look wonderful? Yes. But, do they bring anything new to the table? No. But, I think that part of the problem is the attitude of the gaming culture about what makes a great title. In the January 2002 issue of EGM, the editors listed the 'top 100' games of all time. But I had my doubts about this when they answered the question of why aren't revolutionary games like Pong, Space Invaders, and such on the list with the response that the list wasn't about the most influential games of all time. Let's compare that to the AFI 100 Greatest Films list, which factored in the influence of films into their listing. The AFI had several silent films listed (including D.W. Griffith's controversial Birth Of A Nation) that, while maybe not something that would sell now, were crucial in the evolution of cinema, whereas the earliest console represented in EGM's list was the NES, and few of the games that marked milestones in gaming were in the list. This attitude of throwing revolution to the wind distrubs me. In my mind, Pong is one of the greatest games of all time. Why? It created video gaming as a hobby and pasttime. What about games that created genres that are million-sellers today, but made barely a blip when they appeared? It seems that to many modern gamers, it's more important to have games that just play well. While it's nice to have games that are fun to play, to reward a game like Halo with perfect scores because it is the uber-FPS is to just insure that we keep getting FPS titles crammed down our throats. Why? Because the developers see that's what's selling and that's what gets the good ratings, and they want to make money, so they follow that. Sometimes, we get a title that is really unique - a good recent example of this is Grand Theft Auto 3, with its highly non-linear play and freedom of action, but more and more, we see games that are nothing more than rehashes of the same old mechanics. How do we solve this? Well, let's reward originality, and punish blandness! Instead of giving Halo, MGS2, and such other titles 10s, let us give them 9.5s and even (horrors!) 9.0s, and denote that "well, it's a flawlessly executed game, but it brings nothing new to the table." And when we get games that are revolutionary, lets reward them for that originality. As long as developers know that the new is risky, and the known is safe, they're not going to make any changes. Or, to put it simply, as long as we keep buying Halo and other such games, we're not going to see any major evolution in gaming. Just my $0.02. Sincerely, AngelKnight, who thinks that the best FPS he's seen is System Shock 2.

I'll agree that innovation is important - nay, integral - to the evolution of gaming, but I have to say that in a lot of cases I don't feel that it goes unjustly unrewarded. On the contrary - I think that far too often solid, and more importantly fun titles take a backseat to what's new and different, simply because they may rely a tad heavily on the native formula of their particular genre.

Dragon Warrior VII, for example, hardly breaks any new ground with its straightforward, traditional turn-based battle interface that has remained largely unchanged since the first game in the series. Nor are the positively archaic graphics anything to write home about. The overall game experience, however, is something pretty special, if you ask me, but sadly DWVII is one poor old pony most casual players are going to pass by in favor of the latest and greatest.

It is worth noting, however, that different reviewers place different levels of emphasis on innovation. The PSM staff, for example, was very big on penalizing the overdone and applauding the new and shiny. Although, admittedly, I haven't subscribed to PSM in near two years, now, and their editorial approach may have changed pretty drastically since....

Doing the speed limit

Ok I'm a little late addressing these topics but it's free topic friday so what the hell. The game I would like to see revamped for one of today's systems is a NES game called Bump N Jump. It was a top down driving game where all you did was try and make it to the end of the board without killing yourself. To do this however you would have to make your car jump up way in the air and jump over all the obstacles in your way. Plus hoards of evil cars, dump trucks and semis would try and run you off the road and you would have to jump on top of them to destroy them. It was kind of disturbing back then that you could destroy ambulances that tried to get past you but it seems pretty tame to today's stuff when you look at games like Grand Theft Auto 3 (not that's there anything wrong with that). It was simple but really fun. I also agree that you can successfully transition a game from 2D to 3D and make it just as fun or even more so. Besides all the Nintendo titles mentioned two days ago, I think the new PS2 Spy Hunter did this as well. That was a fun ass really old arcade 2D arcade game and I think the 3D version pulls it off very well. I've seen a lot of samples of the FFX acting and I think it's not that bad. At least they got some credible people like that guy from Futurama instead of the retards that do the voice acting for Dragon Ball Z *shudders and falls down in mass convulsions* It could be better but it's great compared to most of the crap seen on anime dubs and other video games. Finally, what do you think about ROMs and emulators for old systems? I would guess from what you said yesterday that you stay away from them but why deny yourself the ability to play great games like FF2j, FF3j, one of the Mana games and Dragon Quest 5 and 6 when they are 100% translation patches out there for them? Sure they are homebrew stuff, but they are pretty good considering the crap translations that "professionals" bring us, like with Legend of Dragoon and FFTactics. If it's the legal thing that's bothering you, I say you fret too much. IMO breaking the law to play ROMs and emulators for old systems like the NES or SNES is pretty tame. Of course maybe your one of those people who never underage drank and always drives the speed limit so who knows. Also, someone thought the only truly excellent dub out there is Cowboy Bebop but I think the dub for Princess Mononoke was just as good or better Cowboy Bebop. Pendy http://dqnn.alefgard.com

Shhh! The truth is, I've quite an arsenal of emulators on my PC for 8 and 16-bit consoles dearly departed, through which I've experienced quite a few must-plays I missed the first time around (Phantasy Star, the first few DWs, etc.). I don't condone the illegal emulation of recent systems (the PSX, N64, etc., which are still on the market), but while, strictly speaking, playing NES ROMs is no more legal or nice of me - c'mon. Playing games over a decade old that have long since stopped bringing in the cash for their parent companies is a largely victimless crime, wouldn't you say? Beyond that, I'm not making money distributing ROMs or anything, and 90% of the time I ultimately pick up the cartridge eventually, just to have added it to my collection like the anal retentive geek that I am.

Accuse me of a being some law-abiding prude, will you, Pendergast. I used to have my very own video clarifier to make copies of anime for my friends' private home use, by God!

Princess Mononoke's dub ruled from on high, BTW.

Providers of fine rants since 1979

One thing that really annoys me in (some) video games is when a puzzle has a second, quite obvious solution that the game will not let you do! For instance, box puzzles. What I want to do is have them climb over the box aso they can push it from behind. The box cannot be that large, or they couldn't push it, could they, and the ceiling probably isn't all that low, unless the characters are dwarves so they won't hit their head, or possibly as fat as some of the Cids so that more space is needed =) Games that are in some way puzzle games, or that involve a lot of human interactions are strong offenders on this sort of thing. Oh, and by the way, why are there never Scots, Irishmen, Vikings, Bards that are annoying in unique and different ways, for instance, a propensity to believe that music can soothe savage beasts, which causes them to need three days in a house of healing at a major plot point. And why do you never see anyone in Restoration garb, with the padded trousers with slashes revealing bright yellow material beneath and all? It would at least be a change from what they wear in EVERY SINGLE RPG EVER! This rant has been provided by Arawn, ltd. Providers of fine rants since 1979.

This is a fabulously obxnoxious problem shared by most video games.

Ico, for example, could perform truly eye-popping feats of pre-pubescent athleticism where the level designers saw fit; negotiating ridiculously long and treacherous tracts of pipe suspended in middair, for example, with that fearless hand-over-hand crawl of his. Yet, in those goddamned symmetry levels, he couldn't just climb that stupid frelling steel lattice to get to the ledge above, which, I might add, was only half a hand out of jump's reach, and eliminate half the work involved in that particular puzzle. I mean.. what the hell. What the hell, Sony?!

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance hands-on impressions

Erin, I've played about six hours of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and just wanted to give my impressions. You can only pick from three characters, but through the advancement process, players are allowed a large amount of customization (choosing which spells or attacks you want your character to learn and suchlike). Combat is kind of like Gauntlet except deeper (unlike Gauntlet, there is not bias towards ranged attacks vs melee attacks). It should be noted that people familiar with PC games have called the gameplay of BGDA Diablo-esque. Visually (even in the post-MGS2 era) the game is stunning. The special effects are gorgeous, the textures are very high quality and the animation, be it for humans, beholders, or rats is very convincing. Furthermore, you kill an enemy, the body does not diasppear, so you can return to an area five hours later and admire you handiwork. Aurally the game is also quite impressive, though it should be noted that like Silent Hill 2, music is minimal and most of the soundscape is composed of the sounds of combat. It should be noted that the voicework is excellent, though (as one might expect in an action-rpg) infrequent. IMHO the best feature of the game is the multiplayer co-op, a feature in short supply on the PS2. Playing with a buddy is fun because you have the opportunity to share everything except gold, so if you need a healing potion, your buddy can give one to you. The control is extraordinarily well done, the designers managed to map quite a few functions (attacking, switching between melee and ranged weapons, casting spells, blocking, jumping) onto one controller without making things confusing. Downsides? Unless one is talking to someone, the camera stays pretty distant, which might make things confusing for people playing on small tvs (there can be twenty or so characters onscreen at once). There are some jumping sections which, while pretty easy, feel out of place. Also, I suspect BGDA might disappoint die-hard fans of the PC versions of BG since they are pure rpgs, whereas Dark Alliance is 'merely' an action-rpg. However, I think anyone who appreciates action rpgs would be wise to give BGDA a try. - Mark

Since A: I seem to have less and less worth actually typing out tonight, and B: the GIA is a little behind in reviewing this game, I thought it'd be a nice nod to fans of the series if I posted this letter, despite its giving me little to comment on.

Fading into the background

Hey Erin, the agent who is vauge about possibly listening to Into Another, On the subject of voice acting, one odd trend I've noticed is that the main characters tend to be the worst in the game, or at least the most annoying. I'm thinking specifically of FFX here, out of what I've heard of it, but another recent game that comes immediately to mind is Shadow of Memories. Besides that little rat kid, Eike was by far the worst voice talent in that game. I'm also looking at Raiden from MGS2 here, who wasn't technically bad, but damn did I want to shoot him in the face. Other notables I can think of off the top of my head are the Lunar games, escpecially Eternal Blue where it sounded like Lucia read the script a few minutes before her final takes, as opposed to the utter coolness of Ronfar, Lemina, and the like. I can only think of two possible justifications for this travesty. One is that the main characters' sheer bulk of lines would cause too hefty of a price, but they can splurge a bit on characters with less to say. Of course, since it all comes from the same budget pool, mathematically it should come out the same in the end, but maybe like prices grow exponentially in bulk, I don't know. Or maybe it's just that main characters in games usually are the most bland, and often the most annoying. Raiden couldn't have possibly been portrayed as likable, I'm not even sure if he was supposed to be. And how exactly do you portray "spunky young teenage boy" with any kind of humanity? Some characters read well but would probably sound awful dubbed by anyone other than the most talented actors (Zidane and VIVI, for example). And finally, maybe they really couldn't fit the Japanese dubs in FFX. It was supposed to be two dvd's until the very last minute, so maybe they just barely fit everything as it is. Not including a voice-off option is inexcusable, though. -Ted Copulate P.S. When a friend of mine in a shaky relationship asked me how Metal Gear Solid 2 was, I asked him if it sounded fun to play a game where every time you saved you had a lengthy fight with your girlfriend. He said no. Between that and the absolutely ridiculous ending: Kojima, what the hell were you thinking?

Fine, dammit. I give. "For a Wounded Wren" and all the "this'll all be over soon" crap to which it was affixed was, in fact, referencing the Into Another song of the same name. Amazing how many people have asked about that.

And I've noticed this phenomenon you mention.... I adore the work of nearly all WD's voice actors. However, not only Lucia, but Luna, as well.... They're... acky. Though you could say Lucia was supposed to be acky in order to reflect her lack of humanity.

Another explantion that comes to mind for why central characters often come off as sucky in comparison to supporting cast ... is the simple notion that just maybe, after hearing them for most of the game, we're completely sick of them.

Speaking in (or of) tongues...

Playing Shenmue in English is weird because it was set in Japan. Playing Shenmue II in Japanese is weird because it's set in Hong Kong and China. Especially when that kid tells you he's never heard of Japan. Disregarding the possibility of unbearable voice acting, it wouldn't be any weirder in English. So don't get too torn up if the XBox version is dubbed. As a side note, it should surprise absolutely no one that the end of Shenmue II offers no more closure than the end of the first chapter did. Play it now, or play it later; you'll still end up waiting in anticipation. -Anson

I'm not gonna pretend to have much to say about this letter... but it has a nice, sort of a warm glow - perfect for a wintry, 55° WI night such as this.

Global warming's not real, oh no.

You bastards.

Looking ahead to the holidays

Mmmmmmm. Eggnog. ~Ian P.

With brandy, Ian? Promise me brandy. Or cognac, or something.

Closing Comments:

Well, that's it for me for a bit. I'm off to NC next week, so you shan't be seeing me till the Tuuuuesday the 18th. Till then, a tasty, gift box assortment of GIA staffers will be tag-teaming DA.

As for tomorrow.... I know I told everybody last week that Drew was going to talk about MGS2 with them, thereby allowing him to discuss something he was looking forward to discussing while saving myself spoilers for at least one of these games everyone's clamoring to talk about that I haven't yet played,

Well, poor Drew's hands have been too tied with finals to get through MGS2, but damned if I'm not going to unload at least one spoiler-fest on him to shut you people up. Ever-philanthropic angel that I am, though, I'm going to give him the lesser of two evils.

Tell the man your thoughts on Golden Sun. Has Camelot finally atoned for Beyond the Beyond?

-Erin Mehlos, off to Angelo's to add another Chianti bottle to the wall