Is it just me, or has the battle system in RPGs where you fight like afighting game become a trend? I mean, see Xenogears and the upcoming gameLegend of Legaia. I think it started with Sabin's blitz attack in FF6. Ithink it is pretty cool, but I would get sick of it if every game had it. Imean, even I get sick of Tekken 3 (but it still rocks!). I think each gameshould design its own original battle system. Thanks for posting (if you did).

--Matt Elder

Apparently someone was trying to show off how good they are at lookingstuff up in a Latin dictionary.

Ludus is overwhelmingly used in Latin to mean game. As in The Games. As inGladiators(the professional wrestling of the Roman world!). The type ofschool it is often used in conjunction with are gladiator schools. Venatus, which was suggested, does indeed mean game. As in deer and otheranimals that you hunt. Venatus refers to the sport of hunting. If you wishto speak about games, ludus is the correct word. Plus, it's alliterationis better, making it even more grammatically correct.

Keep up the good work, GIA people.

Etiam, delenda est Carthago,

Caine, Classical Archeology Major specializing on Ancient Rome at U-Mich.

Howdy : )

How come so many people get mad or don't like to read about a game theyhaven't played or gotten to yet? I read them and I don't even know whatthey are talking about! The characters and places are unfamiliar so idon't remember them. Sometimes, when my friends talk about it a lot andi get familiar with the game, i do know what they are talking about, butI still like to play the game.

I hear they want to get the SURPRISE! out of it. That reminds me ofbooks. heh. Instead of reading a book, i'd rather look at the cliffsnotes or have someone tell it to me. Maybe i'm just lazy..... = (

I like to play games because they are fun. I don't really care about astory.

-Jason Cheung

Greetings, Double Agent!

This column is absolutely great. I can't get enough of it! Anyway, on to the question: I heard somewhere that a Final Fantasy VI (III US) Piano CD was released. Is this true? I'm an experienced pianist, and would love nothing more in the world to sit down and shock my friends with the Fierce Battle or Tina's Theme on the piano! O great one, do you know of anywhere I could get the sheet music? Or the CD for that matter?

By the way, has Square ever released sheet music for any other games?

-Matthew W

Well, since there's a big "What is a good rpg" debate going on the letters sections, I guess i'll add my two cents. (Why? Heck if I know...maybe I just felt like ranting a bit about the subject ;))

Many people want more freedom in rpgs. Wanting to do whatever they want, not being held back by the plot. Although I admit that the suggestion Desmond Gaban made in his last letter seems quite interesting, I have my doubts if that would actually work. Take Unchartered Waters for instance. Here is a game where you can do what you want, but...you have to spend hours at a time to actually find something good to do. Oh, you can get missions from guilds and all that, but the actual story in itself is hard to follow (and find, in some cases). I also have to remind everyone that a game that would give the player absolute control would be a headache to design...trying to keep track of every single possibility that could happen...and then some.

As for the aging idea...I think I heard of a game like that, where you control a character and you get to control his progeny as the games progresses...but I forgot the title (I hate it when my brain takes a vacation without telling me).

And also, I dislike having complete liberty in a game. I like having more linear plotlines where the story is told rather than I create it. Why? I like litterature, reading books and stuff. I dislike trying to find every single bit of storyline and picking the right characters to find the sub-plots and such. This is why I like games like FF2/4, Xenogears, Kartia, because they give us the story...pure and simple. When i'm exploring a dungeon, trying to find the "big baddie", I can't stand the fact of having to pass about an hour fighting through random battles to get there. Most of the time, I end up fleeing the battles just to get there faster (and I end up getting my behind kicked because I'm not strong enough, but that's beside the point...I think). It's a fact, these random fights do nothing to make the plot go forward.

- Anonymous

Hi Allan. After Mr. Gaban's sentiments and his inclusion of his "ideal"game I'd like to show my opinion on this :P. Well in order to keep mysanity I've bounced this idea around in my head so i really can't expressit too well but here goes:

In order to go backwards to a more detailed world (as i love) in spiritnot time frame you need one thing: a replacement DM. Not just someone toroll combat dice and determine encounters but to 'create' a world. Nations, landforms, species, societies, birds migratory patterns (you getmy drift). With that set and the world operating you need to haveinteraction. Say nation A hates nation B but is a dependent tradingpartner with nation C. So if B attacks C (for randomly justifiable reasonsand with the intent of winning, not just being another stupid AI war, so asit seems real) nation A would then assist nation C to their benefit. Sohow would that affect the player? It doesn't have to. He could be on adifferent continent fighting the orc tribes that threaten the nearbyvillage and therby winning fame in that village and maybe getting aposition as constable or something and eventually working his way on.

That was just the world in general though and honestly i dont think icould write the other aspects. So ill make 'em REALLY shorter. Combat:real-time WITH GREATLY IMPROVED AI as in fleeing enemies, long rangeweapons, tactical strategy, etc. Character: you create him/her/it fromextensive class-subclass, race-subrace, etc. etc. and also having a familysystem where you gain fame/ settle down/ you have a kid and raise them tobecome your new heir. Plot: you make it, EVERYTHING in the enviromentshould be interactive from chopping a tree for fire wood to fishing in anystream for supper, so you could slaughter a small village (which by allcommon sense, unless on a hostile border, wouldn't have formal guards). Anyway the plot would be a collection of quests at the beginning allcompletely generated with a VERY good generator as not to become stagnantuntil you can get enough wealth to build a town, raise an army, or whateverelse you want to do. I've left out a bunch but this is good enough.

Bosco-the-Wonder-Bear

I think I have to disagree with a large chunk of Desmond Gaban's editorial. While I do have to agree that I sometimes get nostalgic for the "old" RPGsout there like FF1, FF4j, Dragon Warrior et all, I don't think that therehas been a sudden shift towards making the games into interactive stories:the recent popularity of FMVs in recent RPGs stems directly from their NESand Famicom predecessors. When RPGs first came out in ye ancient times ofyore (ie the mid to late 80's) the programmers didn't make things the waythey did out of any consideration for giving players greater control overthe characters, they did it because the hardware couldn't support anythingmore complex than block characters. Look at Dragonwarrior for example.Every step of the game, you were guided along a specific path of "Do X andtalk to Y to get Z to be able to do W" There never was any choice involvedin the matter. RPGs were always about letting a player share in a worldand story carefully crafted by a designer. The only difference is thatwith recent technology and greater storage capability, the creators of thegame have been able to infuse their games with added depth and realism.Instead of having the background shake while Rosa spins around once and atext box pops up saying "Exit!" or having Princess Gwaelin express herthanks in a text box, a FMV pops up and our heros escape from the Shinrabuilding in a motorcycle and a truck. Personally, I would love to see anRPG appear that had a truly branching plotline, in which specific decisionsand general conduct (killing weaker enemies, putting X in a party with Y,going out to make money while an army beats up a village) could drasticallyaffect the storyline. And I also think that it would be awesome if, asDesmond Gaban suggested, a game flowed in real time. No more sleeping ininns a thousand times after everyone's mentioned that the huge meteorlooming in the sky's going to fall down next week. Will these thingshappen? Probably not anytime soon. From what I've heard, the hardwarestill isn't good enough to support such a game, but one can always dream.

- Secret Asian Man

I was reading that letter about killing off more characters in the FFseries, and I came upon a really good shocker for an RPG. Y'know thosekids that say "I wanna be just like you when I grow up, (insert hero's namehere)!" that are in at least one town in every single RPG after '91? Well,turns out the little sucker has unimaginable powers that he doesn't knowabout and after following you to the last boss and watching you get(uncontrollably, one of those can't-win battles) slaughtered by his thirdform, he takes your equipment and takes up the Final Battle either byhimself, or you can continue the game into a second quest where you gathera party and finish the Hero's (forceably) unfinished work in differentparts of the world before fighting an even more powerful (end boss guy'sname) using your now fully unlocked special powers!

... no, wait, that's a stupid idea.

-TravisR

Hey, Allan, 'tis I again! I was doing my Band Babysitting fundraiserlast Saturday, and I finally realized what SaGa Frontier's earlyscreenshots remind me of - 101 Dalmations! I'm serious here. Just findany one of those less recent Disney feature-length animations, andyou'll notice a -very- striking resemblence to the backgrounds for thosescreens you have up. What's more, Edea from FF8 looks a lot like aclassic Disney female witch villain, especially now that I've seen howshe moves in that trailer. She reminds me of Cruella deVille. So what doyou think, Agent? Which one of Square's creative minds has a 9 year oldkid or two? =)

"Cru-ella de-Ville... Cru-ella de-Ville...If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will!"

~Nick F. (Game Cat)