Meep.

Well, not a bad day in the work department. I did a mock-up of the GIA site so awful that I considered printing it up just so I could burn it. I answered a few letters individually (yes, I do that now), made it to Disc 2 of Xenogears, wrote a ballad, and attended a concert. Not bad at all.

Activity is still fairly low in the letters department, which kinda stems from the fact that there's no site yet. Still, some food for thought is afoot, so that's well enough. The only consensus is that everybody hates good old RPGMaster! and his curious anal fixation. Surprise, surprise.

Am I bad enough? Hey, RP - er, I mean Double Agent! ^_^;;; Nice to see you got your column AND your girl back... Anyway, here's my question, which doesn't really have anything much to do with intelligent games... in fact, quite the opposite, but since the site's not official yet, I figured you wouldn't care. Plus, I'm wondering how you would handle this tricky question: Here's the situation: The president has been kidnapped by ninjas.Are YOU a bad enough dude to save the president? Eagerly awaiting an answer, Ellcrys PS: Forget Larissa and Kelvin... your designer's even more of a hottie! ;)

Am I a Bad Dude? Well, let's think. I wear a trenchcoat. I beat up people for fun. I wear shades whenever possible. I belch gratuitously once in a while. All of which spells bad to the bone. I do, however, floss regularly, which kinda shoots my badness all to hell.

In the end, though, my badness is what stops be from saving the President. I mean, he's such a pansy. He can't even apologize right. If I ever met the guy, I'd probably just up and belt him where he stood in his urine-soaked boxers, take one of his Cuban cigars, and leave him to whimper his life away. I've no time for wimps.

Memorable Villains This letter is a response to Max's question about villians. I entirely agree; each of the most recent games have been striving to be more evil, more depraved, more simply mean than the last. While this could be a good thing, the fact that they each have the same personality makes this difficult. As Max said, Kefka's radically different personality and highly deranged motives made him one of the most memorable villians. Sephiroth, too, was very memorable, because of his severe schitzophrenia and god-complex (although most villians have this, Sephy had it in *spades*). However, these are the exception, not the rule. Most villians are the ExDeath/Ganon type who are simply "I'm-gonna-take-over-the-world-and-kill-lots-of-people" without any real underlying motive other than because "I'm-the-villian" What I'd personally like to see in a game, in terms of the struggle of good vs. evil is a game where that distinction is extreemly difficult to make, if not impossible. A game where the gamer isn't sure whether he's playing the "good" guys or the "bad" guys, becauseeach group seems to be equally evil. Or, similarly, a game where each side thinks they are the "good" guys (ie. each believes that they are working for the good of humankind). Games need to blur the line between good and evil. FFVII made a good start, but after the death of Aerith, Sephiroth is bad, Cloud et al. are good. Anyway, enough of this, lets move on to my questions: 1. Are there any RPGs in which the player is in control of the bad guy(s) (like Dungeon Keeper), and you have to thwart the attempts of the good guys to save the world from your evil clutches? 2. I am not incredibly far into the game, but I haven't yet seen an important character named Lufia yet in Lufia II. Am I simply not far enough into the game, or is there no Lufia? If the latter is the case, why is the game called Lufia II? 3. You know the fight In FF6j/FFIII where if Terra uses magic, Locke and Edgar go ballistic? If you don't use magic in that fight, does it happen in the next [random] battle? Or is that the only opportunity for that silly albeit funny interlude? 4. Can you get run over on the information superhighway? - The Great and Amazing and Utterly Maginificent and Stupendously Stupendous Slurp

1. Not many RPGs allow this option, sadly. For this sort of action, the aforementioned Dungeon Keeper is probably your best bet, followed by Tecmo's Deception games. Some other RPGs allow some modicum of freedom to be a bad guy. You can be a serious jerk in Tactics Ogre, and get an appropriately lousy ending. Same with Ogre Battle. Shadowrun for SNES boasts a main character with fairly loose morals, though not outright villainous. By and large, though, I'd just recommend giving Kagero: Deception 2 a try if being evil is your thing.

2. Lufia is both the name of a character and the name of the series. Lufia isn't a major, overt presence in Lufia 2 because it's the name of the series. However, without giving things away, Lufia 2 and the original Lufia are quite closely linked in terms of story and characters, so don't give up on seeing her in some form.

3. I believe that you only can get that reaction if you use magic in that particular battle.

4. No. You can, however, be run over by a car driven by me for using the hackneyed Information Superhighway catchphrase. Gag puke rage.

If it walks like a duck Aaaaw C'mon! Does anyone think that Hybrid Heaven really looks like itsgoing to be an RPG?? And what about Elemental Gearbolt?? No way in hellthat is anything close to an RPG!!! - AKIRA

Elemental Gearbolt is not an RPG. It just isn't. Working Designs bills it as a shooter/RPG due to the touch-and-go presumption that any game with a storyline and experience points has to be an RPG, but really, everything in the game is a method to get you to shoot stuff. There's no purely story-driven moments or activities. In my book, I'm saying it's a shooter. A great shooter, a shooter that may appeal to RPG fans, a shooter with RPG elements, but still a shooter. Hybrid Heaven is a bit iffier, and sort of opens a bottomless can of worms: namely, what IS an RPG these days? I've never been able to come up with a proper answer for this, so I'll throw it open to all of you: define what a video game console RPG is in a paragraph or less. Use small words if possible. All right? get to it.

Update from HQ Hey there man! This looks like its gonna be really cool site once itsup and running! It's great to see all the old faces from RPGamer(ahem... SquareNET to some of us) all back and working together again.I thought Vestal dissapeared off the face of the earth! I never heardfrom him after square.net's demise. Anyhow, so is this site just gonna cover upcoming games? Are you gonnalike keep adding new ones, and as the games get released take them downor what? Whatever you do it looks like its gonna be pretty cool! Whenis it actually gonna start covering things? Well, I'll see you later!- Tim

Okay, the proposed coverage for GIA, as of Right Now, stands as follows: we cover puzzle, RPG, and strategy games, plus selected other "smart" games like Kagero: Deception 2. For the launch, we'll have some recent/current games, just to flesh things out a bit, plus a full array of previews for upcoming releases. Once a game is released, we will write a witty and insightful review, then file it away in a different part of the site. So, to recap: one section for upcoming releases, one section for archived info on games that are now out.

As to when we're launching, that's up in the air at the moment. Mid-November looks likely, though we'll have some goodies posted up as previews sooner than that. Be patient, my son, and keep reading for more details.

Is RPGMaster real?Is he really for real? If so, why do you acknowledge him? Any attentionhe recieves only makes him happier. I say him because (I'm notsexist/chauvinist, just a realist) females aren't that pathetic andstupidly insulting. Just ignore him, and hopefully he'll be hit by atruck in the meantime. One more question: Is there bad blood between GIA and RPGamer? Why don'tyou slip a covert ad into the message boards? Or am I going too far withthis spy stuff? Enjoy,Herandar Luciferage

RPGMaster! is real as my skull and he does exist. Yes, he's totally off his rocker. So why do I post letters by him? Yes, it probably just encourages him. And yet, he's just so unbelievably funny. He's so far gone, so totally out in left field, that I can't bring myself to be offended by anything he says. He makes me laugh like few things do, and according to some letters I get, the feeling is mutual. Is he a troll? Is he totally serious? Don't know, don't care. He's funny, and I leave it at that.

As for bad blood between GIA and RPGamer, well, I'm afraid the monthly picnic in the Florida Keys is off, and we know nothing about any drug trafficking charges, but otherwise, everything is fine. Why do you ask? :)

Gameplay uber alles Ah hell he's back. I predicted that much but hells if I wanted it. Well Allen your still the best RPG letter guy to date and im glad your around. Any who to answer some questions 1. All types of battle systems should have there place but more of aseemless touch should be put on them rather then walk in circles then BOOM!you fight a walking cabage patch! It doesnt matter what the battle reallyis when it comes down to it as certain people will enjoy it more and otherswill hate it. Its the basics they need to fix first in my opinion. 2. The graphics over gameplay crap has been there for years. Why do youthink donkey kong country (you know that thing on SNES) was so popularalong with Killer Instinct. Both were decent games but without theregraphics would have flopped. Its the graphics you see in screenshots andmovies not the true game its self so its the graphics the developers wantto give you. 3. Puzzle games huh? Hmm well id have to ask why so many puzzle gameshave either bland characters or really cute ones. And why cant they put alittle plot and action into the mix but still base it as a puzzler, not theother way around. I liked brainlord to an extent but they really have madepuzzle games great in terms of updating the genre. Now if only theydrevolutionize RPGs. Well thats all today bucko,Josh Justice

1. For this reason, I've always been a fan of the "visible enemies at all times" style of game, like the Lufia 2 dungeons. That way, I feel like yes, it is reasonable that I was attacked, instead of the periodic, I'm-on-a-rope-bridge-for-chrissakes battles against giant melons that occur in other RPGs.

2. Don't get me started on Killer Instinct. Just... don't.

3. Puzzle games tend to be hard sells to much of the gaming crowd. It needs to be spartan, intelligent, and deep in order to capture the older market, while younger ones will prefer something a bit flashier and easier to get into. Developing a product which bridges that gap is very, very tough (of course, this is true of all genres, but puzzlers tend to have a strong adult fan population). Personally, my favourite puzzlers are anything I can play head-to-head. Characters, graphics, plot and so forth are beside the point. The satisfaction, to me, derives from the gameplay. It's the satisfaction of winning a Puzzle Fighter tournament because I am just plain better and smarter than they are, and seeing Morrigan whup up on their character is just an added bonus. So, given how crucial gameplay is to puzzlers, developers need to ask whether any additions and revolutions are really needed at all.

Well, that wraps up another col. Seeya tomorrow, and don't feel shy about writing, all right? Write. Expound. Rant. Yadda yadda.

- Allan Milligan, Double Agent