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. Macs aren't supposed to DO this! Don't say we didn't warn you.

Whenever an introductory philosophy class tackles intrinsically religious issues such as the existence of God -- and they always seem to try -- there's always someone unable to separate him/herself from his/her personal beliefs fully enough to hear out some of the inevitably atheist claims afoot, who's thus forced to leave the room because his/her Christian sensibilities have been trodden on.

I knew a moment's dread today as I went for my mail -- I feared some of you may have left the room in a huff.

But I see, now, that I was just being an ass, and should know better. You guys are intelligent, objective and generally cool. You dig these meatier discussions every bit as much as I do. Put simply, you rock my proverbial face off.

Let's go.

Pretentious? Watakushi?

Howdy. In my honest opinion, RPGs have handled few themes in such a cliched, trite, and incompetent manner as religion. While I have yet to play DWVII, I found the religious aspect of FFX's plot to be the one truly cliched portion an otherwise impeccable game. Is there anyone who really thought that a monotheistic religion pervading an entire planet's culture could possibly turn out not to be malevolent? And given that the main enemy thoughout most of a game is almost always replaced at the last minute by the heretofore unknown evil that was pulling the strings all along, plus the fact that in any RPG with a false religion the deity of said religion is almost always the final boss, you could have probably have guessed who your last battle would be against a good two hours into the game. The fact is, the Japanese really don't care too much for Western religion (read: Christianity/Judaism), but they can't resist the allure of religious symbolism, so thus far every appearance of religion in video games has been either trite or simply nonsenesical. Xenogears, of course, encompasses all that is wrong about religion in video games. The level of sheer pretension here is mindboggling: religious terms and symbols are haphazardly strewn throughout the entirety of the game with no regard for context or meaning, words are randomly accented to suggest some sort of deeper significance which is never there, and of course, in the end you fight and kill 'God'. To this day I am amazed that I actually suffered through all sixty hours of its meaningless pseudo-religious pap. Xenogears has nothing profound to say, and it takes sixty hours to say it. While I still praise it today for having the audacity to attempt themes of such gravity in a video game, the ultimate execution is a horrifying disaster. So, how do I feel about religion in video games? Theoretically, I think video games should be capable of handling any topic at all. But right now, the industry is nowhere near the level of maturity to address this particular issue in any reasonably meaningful fashion, so it's just as well that it shouldn't try. -Arpad Korossy, who gave up almost all hope for Xenosaga as soon as they made the subtitle a quote from Nietzche

I'm hesitant to agree with you that the Japanese simply "don't care too much for Western religion." Historically Japanese developers have treated Western religion -- namely Catholicism -- in a somewhat cavalier fashion, but I've always seen their garbled smatterings of Judeo-Christian symbols and words as something akin to American filmmakers randomly constructing a multi-armed deity for a set meant to evoke India and Hinduism. In both cases, they're not out to offend, or even condescend -- they're just using their limited knowledge of an alien mythology for exotic, mystical effect; an endeavor that is undoubtedly more effective in a game's native market where the consumer's knowledge is equally limited....

Hey, Catholicism

Erin, Hoo boy - did you ever kick open a can of worms. Are you a closet masochist or sadist? Well, let's see where to start. First off, you have to realize that to most Japanese people, the whole Judeo-Christian mythos is just that - a foreign mythos that has no religious signifigance, much like the Greek myths are to us today. So, when the Japanese start to play with Judeo-Christian philosophy, it's in much the same manner as how Marvel Comics took Norse myths to create The Mighty Thor. Now, you have to realize that these depictions aren't exactly either flattering or well tuned to the beliefs that they are based on. I've tried to explain to many otaku why evangalistic Christians would oppose Evangelion - that when it comes down to it, the storyline is all about the subversion of God's will by man, a serious no-no in Judeo-Christian teachings. And I've gotten laughed in the face by these people, saying that their complaints are about how the villains are named "Angels" and such. But, again, the creators can do this for the simple reason that they don't really know what they're doing. Also, the reason that we have the unkind picture of the church is that, to be homest, the Catholic Church was VERY political in the Middle Ages. For instance, it wasn't until the creation of the King James Bible in England that the commoners could have bibles - possession of one was an offense punishable by burning at the stake. And there was the way that the Church kept the different nations of Europe weak by keeping them at each other's throats. So you've got that in the interpretation. As for FFX, I'd have to say that it's more based on Shinto than any Western religion. This is mainly because of the concept that each temple seems to be it's own entity, with a loose confederation centered at Bevelle by virtue of it being the largest church - which is similar to the pattern that developed in Japan with the Ise temple. Also, the concepts of summons more directly relates to the concept of the local kami of Shinto, rather than the monotheistic design of Western religion. On the other hand, the politification of the church is more Western than Japanese, though. Sincerely, AngelKnight, who is now studying Japanese History....

FFX is far less guilty of the "Hey, Catholism -- I'm looking at you!" mentality that gave us FFT and Xenogears, and has instead incorporated more Western touches into a religious synthesis that, by virtue of its execution alone, screams Japanese.

Because, to the best of my knowledge, Shintoism (which, liberally seasoned with Buddhism and a touch of Tao- and Confucionism, is still the religious flavor of the day over there) is about as disorganized as organized religion gets. It's ancient, multitheistic (with something like 8 million or more kami), and survives without the aid of a single unifying scripture or code beyond, if I'm not mistaken, cleanliness. I'm under the impression that, consequently, it's easy for the Japanese to mix, match, and mutiliate their own mythology when it makes for an interesting story -- getting shit straight being an imperative is probably something of an alien concept when Japan's sacred and secular writings have all blended together into a mind-boggling melting pot of stories and legends. After all, look at the outrageous liberties taken with Japan's indigenous religion in anime -- look at Tenchi Muyo, for crissake. Shimenawa-girded trees become spaceships, Uzume, the Dread Female of Heaven, a space pirate, and the sun goddess Amaterasu, a bitch princess from hell.

If you ask me, Western religion's escaped remarkably unscathed.

Touchy feely

First off, for whatever reason the demographics of the younger gaming crowd (and especially RPGers) are filled with the ranks of alternative religion folks, agnostics, and atheists. Those are just the demographics. So, in a certain light, it's really not as "touchy" of a subject for the vast majority of the target audience. At any rate, I'm a pretty straight-forward non-denominational Christian... I can't really say that any of the games that supposedly dealt with "heavy religious issues" were really at all either offensive or thought-provoking. I guess I've had so many heavy religious-oriented conversations with people both of my own beliefs and those outside that the slight references in games typically pale in comparison to real issues. Also, in many ways, "religious issues" in games tend to be ridiculously cliché. It's almost always the same... Everyone likes church. Church is really big. Hero comes along, questions his "faith." Church turns out to be corrupt. Hero fights against church and exposes how evil it is. Hero resolves the issue by either coming to the conclusion that there is no God, or that God is some nebulous being that doesn't give a rip. Really, it's nothing that a million books haven't rehashed. Heck, it's not anything that hasn't happened historically, either. The fact is that during the Middle Ages, the Catholic church was basically a corrupt institution mostly controlled and manipulated by the government. This is part of the church's history, and has been the subject of many a book and in-depth study. However, I am really unaware of many, if any, Christians who can't logically separate the actions of the "church" at the time from the actual religion. At no time was Christianity corrupt--the Catholic Church and many of its higher-ups were. To think otherwise would be like to say that America is corrupt because of Enron. So, really, the portrayal of some derivative plot along those lines really has zero bearing on my feelings whatsoever. My beliefs are firmly rooted in the teachings of The Bible, and the Gospel of Jesus, not the well-being of the institution that is "church." Granted, speaking from a religious perspective church is usually a good thing--as it facilitates the gathering and fellowship of other like believers...however, it, in and of itself, is nothing more than a method of organization. If a church turns out to be corrupt, (and it still happens now, it just usually has limited scope due to the autonomy of the different denominational and non-denominational churches) it's pretty obviously a reflection upon those corrupt people running the church rather than the underlying religion. That said, since no game has gotten nearly to the point of directly portraying or attacking an actual religion itself--and the fact that a game really represents nothing more than a fiction novel--I can't say that there's really any reason to get upset over any of the content displayed. -Jayde

I pretty much agree with your summation. Shallow caricatures of the Church for the sake of a storyline do not a legitimate critique make. Nevertheless, history is dotted with dodgy religious organizations and the scandals, outrages and atrocities perpetrated thereby -- the very parallels, I'd say, are what make people uncomfortable. Video games have typically not chosen to pick up on what is right with religion, underscoring instead the corruption of its harbingers.

Until FFX, that is....

A regular Ned Flanders

Erin, Religion in gaming has always been an odd beast, both in usage and actual execution. The way I see it, religion has always either been used as a major plot device, or as a vehicle for meaning, or philosophical conjecture. Unlike most, I don't really think religion has been purposefully or malignitly presented as being an evil concept in really any RPG. The argument goes that Christianity has always been presented as being a corrupt body, pulling the strings of the plot, so to speak. I think the reasons for that can be found in historical context. Most RPGs are very medieval in nature, and as we all know, for better or worse, the dominate historical view of Christianity during those times was that of a very politically motivated, determined governmental body. Religion is good for a lot of things, and plenty of Christians will be quick to point that out, but since there are not very many devout Christians in Japan, I don't think that view is expressed very often. Hence, Christianity is used in its historic context as a plot device in a great many games (FFT is a great example of this). The Japanese developers probably aren't even aware of the type of reactions this approach can, and has garnered in the Western world. On the other side of the coin, both Western and Eastern religious ideas and symbols are heavily used in gaming to tie in with the acute predisposition of these Japanese directors to engage in philosophical meandering. Whatever a person's opinion on the effectiveness/inanity of this habit is another topic entirely, but I think religion and particularly spirituality are natural bases for such a habit. The interesting part of this is seeing the weaving of Western and Eastern ideas into some of these games. The not so interesting part is getting biblical references tossed around in particularly pointless ways. All of that aside, the one trend I see in many RPGs is a particular liberal bent in presentation. Religion is often presented as confining, technology is usually used for evil purposes, and nature tends to be an overbearing force of good--environmental themes are pretty common. A lot of this probably ties into Japan's Shinto Buddhist background, and the idea of nature spirits and whatnot. Too bad I'm not knowledgeable enough in the subject to go into that much. What I would like to do, however, is a bit of a case study with FFX. I really think FFX took a step away from the norm, and attempted to present religion in a more personal manner. The reason I like Wakka as a character so much is because of the way religion effects him throughout the game. Originally, Wakka was a good guy, regardless of how zealous he was. As his world begins to crumble around him, he reluctantly opens up, and while the foundation of Yevonism (or whatever) becomes tainted a bit, its positive effects still stay with Wakka, and other characters like Yuna. We see how a life of religion has made these people good at heart, when push comes to shove. These people still live life very traditionaly, and are still commited to defeating Sin (and its rather blunt symbolism) and all it entails. The effect, as I saw it, was to take a positive light on the ideas behind the foundations of religion, even if the mortal exterior shows its cracks. You can't flaw a message like that. -Justin Freeman

FFX, was, in a lot of ways, a classic separation of religion and ethics. Wakka is presented early on as being a good, pious person simply because goodness and piety are, by their very definition, the will of Yevon. Which of course irritated me with Yevon and Wakka, since gods that arbitrarily decree what is acceptable and what is not for no reason other than the fact that they say so, in a word, suck, and people who blindly act, not according to moral conclusions they've arrived at themselves, but according to the whims of such sucky gods, also suck.

But as FFX progresses, it becomes clear that this isn't really the case -- Wakka's just a good guy, and the service of Yevon a vehicle for his doing good in the world. The institution that is Bevelle and the organized side of Spira's religion may be blown to hell by the game's events, but Wakka, his moral courage, and his faith in what is good and just, persevere.

And that, if you ask me, hardly makes for a negative picture of the religious individual.

Catholicism Wow

Dear Erin, the girl with low viscosity (awwww, yeeeah), Religion is nothing new in games. Hell, even the old-school LUNAR and its sequel had religious aspects to them. And didn't the original Final Fantasy have religious symbols that had to be removed from its pallet? As technology progressed, the intricacy that could be told with stories--and cultures, religions, and so on--did as well. Typical RPG religions of the past usually contained a god of destruction and a god of, uh, good. And eventually, you had to fight the god of bad, as he was the source of all evil. But with today's technology and depth of storytelling (helped by excellent translations), writers can litter these games with signs of the cross, references to any page in the Bible, and even the three sixes on the head of the final boss. Good gods can say more meaningful, metaphorical things like, "Come, my sheep--for heaven awaits!" and bad gods can replace the tired, "I am too powerful, you cannot stop me!" with the decidedly more arty, "Human power can never triumph, for I hold the ability to judge thine souls and place thee in eternal rest!" World-shattering events can now include an armageddon caused by sinners. Reincarnation can be implemented when you want to shock audiences when the main character dies. Other philosophical mumbo jumbo can fill hours worth of dialogue, and for what? What's wrong with evil alien specimens taking over the world with the help of a fat-ass named Pokey (btw, I finally discovered where I could get a copy of "MOTHER: VOCAL"... it's been well worth the wait). The reason for the inclusion of more thought-out, Catholic-inspired religions are simple: it gives the game a deeper, darker feel that belittles the player (and the player apparently enjoys the tingle this experience this provides, as evidenced by the popularity of Xenogears; you'd be suprised how many gamers love to be in total darkness about what the hell is going on with the religious-centric plot). I must admit, I fell for it the first few times games features enigmatic, cryptic religious overtones that give me absolutely no indication of what in God's (haha) name is going on really gives me goosebumps. However, nowadays I've grown very immune to it. These now-clichéd plot devices like the infamous "Oh my goodness, you mean to tell me that god is actually incarnated as a real person?! We must travel to this holy city to find him!" and "[Random god name] says this, [random god name] says that," (FFX's Yevon preaching annoyed the crap out of me to no end--I wanted to strap Wakka in a confession box and then toss it overboard) are now as stale as regular RPG gameplay concepts... ... ... Btw, with that statement, I'm not stomping on RPG's here, but you know what I'm talking about--the usual countdown boss with two sub-enemies, the maze forest who charts your progress through it based on the directions you choose. Well, it's the same with game religion. It's now to the point that it decreases the whole experience unless done correctly. It makes a mockery of RPG's in general, showing just what a copycat genre this can be. Religion is this decade's swords, spells, and dragons. It's time for a new trend. I've made my contribution, and now it's time for you--hire me a paragrapher, please! :-D Sincerely, Steve S. Freitas, founder, Cosmosium Studios In my mind, Erin, the matter is a simple one: the stuff looks cool. Angel wings? Cool. Stained glass windows? Fashionable. Gothic spires? Artistic. Battles in churches? Ditto all the above. I mean, even Chrono Trigger, whose plot had nothing whatsoever to do with any religion, had a battle in a church, where you fought cannibalistic were-nuns.What exactly did this mean? Was it a serious message concerning western religion? Let me recall Cowboy Bebop Episode 5, Ballad of Fallen Angels. Why choose a cathedral as the setting of this battle? Because Spike getting shoved out of a gigantic stained-glass window is cool; or more, accurately, it LOOKS cool with the explosions and the splinters of glass falling all around. Same thing in Cardcaptors, where angel wings inexplicably pop up in the funniest of places. Why? No particular grind against western relgion, it's just a superfluous effect. That's all there is to it, I think. The same can be said about cowboy hats, ripped jeans, and retro-80's crap. ---Anthony James Larrea

There's something to be said for this assessment of the situation. Following such non-confrontational avoidance of religious content as the substitution of "FADE" for "Holy" in the first FF, religious overtones were something new and different here in the States. Meanwhile, in video gaming's native Japan, much like beyblades and pinback buttons, Western symbolism probably just seemed cool at the time. After all, in the East, where demons wear tiger skins and the color white is associated with death, what could possibly be more badass than a final boss named Sephiroth with six -- count 'em, six -- snowy seraph pinions.

Trite

You know the old saying that 'violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'? Well, the more RPGs I play, the more I feel that religion is the last resort of the trite. It seems that scenario writers as a group believe that adding half-assed theology to the stereotypical RPG plot is synonymous with maturity. A super-destructive beast called Chaos? No, that's generic and childish - give us a super-destructive beast called SIN. And ruling the world is SO last week. Today's modern psychopath should look to become (and often supplant) God. It doesn't offend my beliefs, it offends my intelligence. It's a crutch for weak stories and a pathetic gimmick for attention-starved designers, like the five-year-old who says 'asshole' at the dinner table to see if he can shock anyone. Granted, FFX's story is better than most, and doesn't rely on the religion issue as much as others (I'm sure we can all think of some bloated examples). But wouldn't RPGs and their stories be a lot better off if they were universes unto themselves and not ham-handed allegories? SonicPanda

Surely if haphazard additions of religion to the RPG recipe are supposed to help elevate the genre's narratives to that coveted stratum of "legitimate storytelling medium," it's going to have to be recognized at some point that religion all by its lonesome does not make a story epic or important. Rather, it must be artfully incorporated into the scheme of a less derivative whole. Unfortunately, games employing religious symbolism in less trite, dismissable ways would inevitably mean dead-on portrayels of certain religious institutions, and those might very well offend someone's beliefs -- something games are not yet universally respected enough to dare.

Shrugging it off

Erin, I think its important to clarify exactly which kind of western church is being portrayed here. This happens in American movies as well; whenever the movie deals with the church and religion, its always the Catholic church never the Protestant church. The Catholic church is one monolithic entity with over a billion members, the protest church is made up of innumerable denominations consisting of roughly 500 million. It is much easier to parody, intentionally or unintentionally a single monolithic entity than so many smaller ones. Some of the inspirations used in these kinds of games come from the Catholic church and in some cases are not very familiar to protestants. So its easy to reference to the Catholic church because its unified and visible. Also you must remember the historical interaction not only between secular governments of west and east, but also religions. For instance the Japanese government expelled all Christians both Japanese (or those that would not convert back) and western in either the Tokugawa Period or the Meiji period (I cannot remember which.) In an effort to preserve the homogeneous nature of Japanese culture, the state actively campaigned against Christianity. I am not saying the Japanese are anti-Christian, merely that they have, culturally held themselves apart from said religion and perhaps the developers have some misconceptions about it. After all, how much research do you think is looked at for accuracy as opposed to big names to fling about? (I'm looking at YOU Xenogears.) I like the way FFX presented the religion of Yu-Yevon, in the way that it was an integral part of life and that it actually seemed to matter to the people of Spira mirroring a real-world religion much more closely than in past games. I also thought the slow acceptance of Wakka that his religion might be wrong was as realistically portrayed as we've seen in a game thus far. Perhaps this a function of the increased power of the hardware. Finally, while I laughed mightily at Xenogears pathetic attempts at depth and catering to teen angst, I fully intend to play Xenosaga TWTP.... mainly because I always knew that the planet in Xenogears wasn't Earth. Deus God? Ha.Ha.Ha. As usual, don't get too worked up about religion in games. I mean after all, they're just games. SSJPabs, also a Christian

Games they are -- but how much longer will we really be able to dismiss them with that catch-all drawer of a phrase? They may still be at the infantile "asshole!" phase of development as Panda described, but I suspect the day is not far off when a mere game's depiction of religion, to say nothing of other heavy-hitting issues, will not be so easily shrugged off.

The last temptation of Chu-Chu

Agent E- I think that religions in games have much less to do with actual religion and much more to do with the instant connotations that religion - all religions - provide. Organized religions make for great villains. Try and come up with a ruling body that espouses love and flowers but has a secret agenda for evil and the ability to twist the minds of its proponents to its own ends. What do you get? Either a government or a religion; and lo and behold, governments and religions are always the evil entities in games. (Until, of course, you get to the head of said government/religion and find that he is *really* being controlled by the *real* evil entity, aka the Final Boss.) Organized religions also make for great allies. Ever since RPGs have been around, there have always been churches or temples where you could heal and get rid of curses and save and what have you. I think this has to do with the fact that some factors of games are completely unbelievable from a real-life perspective, e.g. instantaneous healing or, even moreso, saving (how the hell do you "save" in real life?). So, to explain these things away, designers just make them happen in churches. After all, they're mystical and stuff. Of course, there are the odd games like Xenogears, where there is a very Judeo-Christian-centric theme of symbolism going on, but I think this has more to do with the instant responses these images evoke from people than any sort of social commentary. Would it have been as dramatic if Weltall was chained to a wall instead of crucified? (Or as hilarious, if we're talking about Chu-Chu?) Just like any other media, shock value is more immediately profitable than any sort of deep meaning. So basically, religion and games is either an expedient way to cook up an enemy or ally or easily abused for the sake of pseudo-intellectual glitz, or both. It has very little to do with some kind of vague Japanese/Western culture clash/meld. I mean, Japanese people just love stupid religious symbolism. Neon Genesis Evangaleon, anyone? -Eightball, confirmed agnostic

I've little to say to this, except perhaps that you have a definite point about Chu-Chu.

We love all

It's been at least two years since The GIA composed its list of RPG cliches. It included the entry "32-bit plot. Similar to a 16-bit plot, but somehow religion is involved." Well, now we have arrived at 2002. The videogame systems have changed, and RPG plots have evolved as well. Back in the day, religion occasionally showed up in games. FFLegend 2 was a good game ten years ago, for it showed mythological gods who had many strengths and weaknesses, from Apollo's ego to Venus' obsession with beauty. Well, I got disillusioned with time. Didn't play Breath of Fire 2 more than ten minutes, but in just that time, it set up a huge conflict between the church and the forgotten dragon god. And Illusion of Gaia... what can I say, that game was a really pretentious myth-blending. I have to say that I missed most of the big religion-themed games. But the biggest religion-themed game I've played was Lunar EB on Playstation. Not a bad game at all. It's intriguingly complex at times. Leo is often mindlessly obedient towards Althena's Church, but the game shows that he has the integrity and intelligence to understand what Hiro and Lucia really represent. The false Althena is a very human individual who wants fame and glory, even at others' expense. And after exposing the whole false Althena/Pentagulia situation, the world's people become disillusioned, but not all of them despair. Many Church of Althena veterans even swear to reform their institution. Another old RPG cliche--the heroes are always on the side of good--makes Lunar EB's overall story a little less than realistic... but whaddaya expect? On Japanese culture... it wasn't until I read the Right Stuf 2002 catalog that I figured out the whole "suspicion of Christianity" theme in Japanese stories. An essay in the catalog traces it back to the Tokugawa/Nobunaga conflict. Apparently, Oda Nobunaga's ambition involved the country becoming more Western, and letting Catholic missionaries remain in the nation. Some people feared the influence of the Pope. Others feared the advent of foul Western demons. But overall, Tokugawa's triumph meant not only isolation for Japan, but also fear of change, fear of loss of tradition, and fear of Western ideas. (I know these are broad generalizations. I need to do more research on the topic.) So what's all this mean in 2002? Well, not too much. Some of the "hero triumphs by slaying deities" ideas are Eastern, dating back at least to the novel Journey to the West. And not all the ideas in mass media such as console RPGs are meant to be (or should be) politically correct. But the lesson from Lunar 2 is, as far as I can tell: the church is a human-driven institution with all the imperfections, and it may have set up an idol as its head. "Testing the spirits" is a good idea, for by knowing who's the management of the church, one can find out if it is corrupt from the top down. To reform, the church should learn that what God requires is not money and laws, but "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"... even if Althena had long since became human and died by that point in the Lunar timeline. Is it the perfect, most relevant message? No. Is it delivered in the perfect way? No. But if similar worthwhile messages exist in today's Yu-Gi-Oh and *.Gundam.* spinoffs, then that's a Good Thing. Having games with something to say might even cause the N3W SK00l players to take notice and learn something. Oh, one last thought. If I recall, one person wrote into DA a couple days ago and make a snarky, postmodern dig at the "Christian reich." Sorry to go off topic, but I was put off. "Hey, that's me!" I said to my monitor. I felt like I'd been categorized, even though I belong to a whole bunch of different subcultures. Well, to build on the whole Lunar lesson, people have to remember that other people are in fact people. Even if you see a member of group X take a potshot at Group Y, that does not mean that Person from Group X is an uncaring bastard. That person may have issues, mixed emotions, or even a lack of emotional/intellectual development. But he/she is in fact a person, the same as anyone else. Myself, I'm trying hard to love everyone, and put my past in the past. Heck, RPGs might even teach that to someone. Sorry this ran long. I'm off to my unhip, postpostmodern world, and more bad DOS jokes... -Alan

Sounds fine to me.

Closing Comments:

Well, that's that out of the way.

Tomorrow, I'm sure everyone's painfully aware, is Valentine's Day.

While I'm not going to assign a specific topic, rest assured I fully intend to honor the holiday in my own, unique way, so send letters, preferably vaguely Valentine's and/or romance-themed (and I guess it wouldn't hurt them to be roughly game-related), so you can celebrate this pukemakingly spongiform holiday with the Agent.

- Erin Mehlos