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. Once again, I cannot make out a valid check. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Welcome, my friends, to 2002.

About this time last year I was sadly surveying mankind's failure to live up to artist expectations. No flights to Mars, to picturephones, no lengthy docking sequences set to classical music. Man, Clark, were you ever off. There was I, expecting Hal to jump out from behind something, maybe say "Boo" in his eerily calm voice, and send me tumbling out an airlock. But no. The closest we came to contact with the likes of HAL at the dawn of the new millenium were props from the Kubrick film going cheap on eBay.

Thusfar, 2002 doesn't look any better. But maybe that's just the cynic in me.

Tonight's col is a slightly more minimalist entity than usual, but it's just as well that we save our articulate fervor, I suppose, for tomorrow (and most probably Thursday, too) promises to be an exhaustive display of fanboyish ferocity.

For now, though, pour yourself a nice refreshing glass of flat, lukewarm champagne and join me in telling the industry what to do in 2002.

Selling yourself short

I want to see Enix of America ADVERTISE THEIR GAMES so that games like Dragon Warrior VII sell more than a measly 100,000 something copies. All they did for DWVII was to put out a few internet ad banners and game magazine ads. Enix of America's lack of advertising lead to bad sales of DW2, 3 and 4 which got 150,000, then 95,000 then 80,000 copies. I've met so many people that didn't even know DW3-4 even existed. But yet when Nintendo published Dragon Warrior 1 it sold 500,000 copies with it's great promotional campaign including TV ads. I know that DWVII could have never as sold as much as the last few FF's with it's outdated graphics and being a PS1 game among the new systems (though thank god for the PS2 being able to play PS1 games) but it could have sold a hell of lot more if people knew it was out there. Pendy the DQ/DWguy http://dqnn.alefgard.com P.S. If you are curious about the commercial look here.

Certainly you have a point. DW is largely absent from the the usual advertising melee, and the sad, sad truth of the matter is that more purchases are influenced by obnoxious MTV spots than by critical, objective and thoroughly witty consumer advice the likes of which can be found at the GIA.

Yet I'm often forced to wonder if any insane amount of TV exposure would help DW's sales enough to offset the ungodly expense: what percentage of the MTV set plays games? More specifically, RPGs? Nay, archaic-looking RPGs that emphasize gameplay over pretty colors and Lulu's rack?

You give people too much credit.

North America: Square's mistress

There's only one thing I'd like to see from the gaming industry at the moment. Assuming the recent articles are accurate, and FFX International includes what essentially amounts to an extended ending to Final Fantasy X, I'd like to see this package brought to North America in some form or another. Paying for a game a second time is bad enough, but paying for a game and import costs is downright painful. Joseph Zupko

Without giving too much away about the plain ol' North American ending of FFX, after completing the game I, too, found myself badly wanting what the International edition promises.

Oh, Square. You're just no good for us ... yet like a moth to the flame....

Remembrance

Erin, I want to see these things happen in 2002: 1) Shin Megami Tensei 3, and localized in the most complete way possible. 2) PS2 Broadband/Internet support and the Hard Drive. 3) Jet Grind Radio Future ported to GC/PS2. 4) Dance Dance Revolution 2, with good licensed and original songs this time, thanks. 5) Beatmania IIDX...now. 6) Persona 3. I hope. I wish. Generally, I just want some games with original gameplay (JGRF, BMIIDX, etc.) and better stories. Oh, and more GOOD voice acting. As a remembrance of 2001, I'd like to make the following associations between some of this year's RPGs and movies: Final Fantasy X -> Lord of the Rings Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land -> Mulholland Drive Tsugunai -> Harry Potter Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance -> Ocean's Eleven Ephermeal Fantasia -> Glitter Take that as you will. P.S. Why is it that you didn't enjoy Persona? I'd like to know, as it seems everyone has their own qualms with the game. P.S.S After playing FFX some more, I realized I actually liked Wakka quite a bit - just has to ease off the Yevon stuff. -Xaen

2001 was a good year, oh yes, but while I don't expect to see many of the items on your list in the immediate future, 2002 ought to be pretty damn special, as well.

Persona, since you asked, had an irritatingly high encounter rate that made negotiating those drab first-person dungeons a chore. Which isn't to say it wasn't without a greedy fistful of good qualities - just not enough for me to feel inclined to slobber all over it.

Dance Dance Resolution

Erin - My New Year's Resolution is to get good at DDR. Peace, Ray Stryker

I bought DDR with similar intentions - a month before moving into the 2nd story of a flimsy apartment complex where neighbors call upon each other to settle disputes as to what, exactly, was said during last Thursday's argument with their significant other. My point being ... with my unique lack of controlled, stealthy and otherwise ninjutsu-like movements, getting any solid DDR practice in is out of the question during hours when anyone else is in the building.

Unconventional (hopefully)

Read my lips: NO. MORE. RANDOM. BATTLES. Thank you, and goodnight. - Fritz Fraundorf EM, Game designers should stop putting save "points" into next-gen RPGs. Why can't we save any damn place we please? I only have SO LONG that I can play a game in a single setting now that I have an actual life. Well . . . something that resembles an actual life anyway. -Red Raven

Not only is the freedom to save at any seasonable instant appreciated by those of us no longer able to play for 12 consecutive hours, but "save points" are just silly, particularly when a plot lamely attempts to explain away their existence in the game world as in CC and Xenogears. And I think everyone knows how I feel about random battles.

Let me, then, take the opportunity/ies to once again shower praise upon Lunars: SSSC and EBC, where enemies can be seen, avoided, and killed upon their eventually outwitting and catching you unawares. And then you can save with an area cleared of them.

Awkward and inconvenient conventions that rattle the suspension of a player's disbelief...? No thanks.

Journeys Abroad with sUpERpImP*69

I have a new year's resolution for Square. STOP TRYING TO BRANCH OUT INTO OTHER MARKETS. For the love of god why does Square think that they need to make an online Final Fantasy. If they wanted to try this, why not release it for the PC and call it Final Fantasy Online? This game is going to be a total failure. Who would pay monthly fees for this? I just can't wait for the day when I can play Everque....er....Final Fantasy XI on my PS2. Finally I will get the chance to join an adventure with people named sUpERpImP*69 and 3l33T ha><0r. Why Square? Why? From the report that you posted it seems that most people could care less about FFXI. This is a good thing. Once this game tanks, they will go back to what made them good in the past. I refuse to pay a monthly fee for any game, including a poor man's Everquest. -Dan

I'm attempting to keep an open mind regarding FFXI, despite my instinctive fear and hatred of anything new and different. I do have misgivings about its eventual cost, however - more than the monthly fee, the price of the PS2's hdd & modem - and the dedicated internet service I will undoubtedly require after becoming incurably addicted.

Background noise #2

Hi, I have a New Year's Resolution for Squaresoft-- make more than one battle theme for its rpgs. Why have 68+ excellent tracks for FFX, and then make the innocent players suffer through twenty hours of battles with the same damn song? Make five or six regular battle themes or enable an option to just continue with whatever field map music is playing (as is done in a few regions of the game already). Square's second resolution should be to come up with a new musical accompaniment for their romantic fulfillment fmvs. I don't know about the rest of your readers, but I've never ended a moment of intimacy with, "The passion was there, but the lack of Celine Dion in the background just took something from the moment." EK ps- I leave a sip of cristal for your hammering needs.

We actually mentioned this in passing not too long ago: the FF battle themes get indisputably monotonous. Regional tracks would keep things fresh and go a long way towards maintaining the illusion of cultural variety within the game's reality. I coudn't agree with you more.

As for Square's expressions of love ... I personally found Suteki Da Ne to be a marked improvement over Melodies of Life, and MoL, in turn, a marked improvement over Eyes on Me. So, mayhaps, they are moving in a desirable direction.

Thanks for the Cristal, BTW. Now that it's lost its fizz, I'll be sure to add a sip of OJ and have myself a very tiny Mimosa in your honor.

The FFX Experience

Hey Erin, What do I hope to see in 2002? Another game (experience) like Final Fantasy X. Here's why. Any game who's ending made an 18 year old guy break down into tears, not only because it's so damned sad, but because after it's become a part of you, and it's over, you start to realize that it's actually over, and you think back to all the great moments you had playing it, the unforgettable characters, and you start to get misty eyed all over again....well, that game must be doing something right.What I'm trying to say is that any game that has had that kind of memorable effect on a person, and has crafted such an incredible story and a beautiful world with characters that are so real, so likeable that you never want it to end (like an amazing book or movie), has in essence become more of an experience than a 'game', and needs to be closely examined for what future games are to be made of. For some reason though, Square seems to be the only ones who can do it. (By the way the FFX soundtrack is simplely astounding; they need to get over to America and do some film soundtracks) ~Mike, who has to know what that little clip after the credits means...(I think I have it figured out, but I'm not sure)

FFX was, for me, a helluva finish to a helluva year in gaming. So, then, without further ago, let's get down to it...

Closing Comments:

It's time, guys: FFX. 'Nuff said.

-Erin Mehlos