Upon consideration, I have elected to do two things today. Or, more specifically, I've elected to *not* do two things. First off, the Xenogears debate will not continue today, because it's just going in circles, frankly. Lots of picking nits, a few outright flames, and not much in the way of fresh content. So, I'm exercising my Agentish decree, and here endeth the discussion. I give it points for most respondents being willing to concede that there were flaws in the game, and that there was room for differing opinions, though. Good show. Second, the planned update/response for SI is being canned for two big reasons. First of all, the new main issue I was going to address, namely whether video games actually do influence violent behaviour, is deserving of a column of its own. No direction home was about the Paducah lawsuit. Whether gaming was at fault is beside the point - the lawsuit exists, the blame has been laid, so I addressed it, and whether it'll work. And hey, since when do facts and law have anything in common? ;) I'm researching video games, violence, and influence as we speak, and that'll probably come into play in two or three weeks. The remainder of the comments regarding it will be dealt with privately, so I can get to work on the update I post up on Saturday (this is big reason number two). Which I really should start. Hmm. In any event, thanks for the commentary, everybody. In the formative stages of any new feature, feedback is crucial. None of which has anything to do with Double Agent, so roll up your sleeves, I feel the mojo working in my veins again, so let's rumbaaaaaaaaa! | FF Mystic Quest triumphant? | hi.. am i the only one who likes mystic quest? cause it never seems to get any respect. I think its better than ff3. |
You're not the only one who likes Mystic Quest, but you're the first person I've met who enjoys it more than FF3. The reason for the griping and hatred are clear-cut: mediocre graphics, wafer-thin characters, totally linear plot without even making an attempt to disguise as much, stunningly easy, short, and I'd be hard-pressed to say that there's *a* plot twist in the entire thing. I think the battle themes kick mucho ass, but it was designed to be a beginner's RPG, and it lived up to the role all too well. It's a good game for starting out, but for my tastes, it's just too simplistic and unexceptional to keep my interest. Out of curiousity, why do you like it so much? I'm genuinely interested. | The rat's ass | Ok, in the article "Final Fantasy for Wonderswan?", there is a quote from aSquare official, "There's no plan at this time. But if we have enoughrequests from gamers, perhaps..." regarding bringing a Final Fantasy gameto the new system. What gives? So we wanted a version of FFIV in theCollection, numerous calls for a translation of SD3 and the creation ofCT2. Many of us HAVE asked nicely (having emailed them, signed a petition,etc). Was that not good enough? Do they want more people to write them?If so, let's all write them again! If they ignore, that just makes themhypocritical. That would make me very unhappy to know that one of myfavorite game companies claims to listen to "requests from gamers" butreally just doesn't give a shit. Thanks, DJag |
Remember that the Wonderswan is a Japan-only system, so they might indeed listen to their Japanese customers. Never confuse a game company's respect for their Japanese customers with their total disdain for US customers. For quick reference, here's a guide: 1. Japanese gamers matter. They get to design Mega Man robots, and influence whether Square will develop for Wonderswan. 2. American gamers are stupid, ugly, and have the combined intellect of a mixed-fabric sweater. They do not matter. Their input will occasionally be solicited by Japanese companies, who will have a good laugh at the results, and cheerfully ignore them. Square does give a shit about gamers. Just not on this side of the Pacific. | Squid bits in tartar sauce | Sup Allan, how goes the letter answering business. Wait, you don't make money from it, so I guess it's not a business....hmmm...anyway, I have some questions and comments that need answering. 1. Why do you wear a gasmask? How much could I buy it for? It's pretty cool looking. |
When you work with Andrew Kaufmann, you need all the air filtering you can get. It's not for sale. And yes, it looks very cool. 2. I have noticed that there are many "specialized" gamers. I see many RPG and strategy only, as well as many who will turn away from anything not fighting and action. However, I seem to be more generalized. I have the typical RPGer arsenal (FF7, Xeno, BOF3, FFT, etc) but also enjoy action and adventure (MGS, RE2). Fighting and lightgun are represtented as well (Tekken 3, Time Crisis) and racing (Gran Turismo, Need For Speed 3). And if that wasn't enough even sports games are in there too! (NFL Gameday 99, NBA Live 99) Every one I know says I am weird for having such a varied variety. Is this true, am I just messed up, or is this actually semi-normal? |
Good question, and to be honest, I can't tell anymore. I mean, a "normal" gamer is a subjective term at best. Hell, I used to be considered really odd because I preferred River City Ransom to Battletoads. My definition, at the time, of a normal gamer is someone who can name every Mega Man 2 robot without hesitation. These days, I don't know. Most of the RPG players I speak with seem to enjoy that genre very much, maybe wander into close-by genres like adventure and strategy games, and go into convulsive fits at the mention of a sports title. Still, despite everything, I believe there are general gamers, who, like you and me, can and do enjoy a wide range of games. I think this is pretty normal. I hope it is. 3. How many game soundtracks do you own? I only have two unfortunately (FF6 and Chrono Trigger) |
I have the music to Dracula Battle Perfect 1 and 2, Ys Perfection Collection, Ys IV Perfection Collections (1-3), Symphony Ys 95, Ys Symphony, Dragon Quest Symphony: Roto, Actraiser Symphonic Suite, and Lunar: Eternal Blue OSV. And Final Fantasy: Pray. 4. Are you pro-capatalist, or pro-communist? Well that is about it, too bad. Dance on, man. Kalahari P.S. Kindly inform AK, that if he does not supply me with the sock containing the ashes of Stalin, he may suffer an unfortunate "accident" |
I'm pro-communist until I can find myself a job. At which point I'm pro-capitalist. | The swarm | Double-Agent: Want to talk about something other than XENOGEARS? Cool.Here's something to stew over... Can there ever be...too many RPGs available at once? Thinkabout it, man. XENOGEARS took me close to 100 hours to playthrough. With my work schedule and other commitments, thatwas 6 months of pretty much solid spare-time gaming. Fortunately,there were not a ton of other decent RPGs released since then. But now, in the next 6 months (April-September) us Playstationgamers will see the release of the following RPGs, and I'm onlynaming the ones I think will rock or at least come close to it: 1. Shadow Madness 2. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete 3. Dragon Valor 4. Jade Cocoon 5. Star Ocean 2: Second Story 6. Final Fantasy 8 Take into account that I am already playing LEGEND OF LEGAIA,which is just plain fun, and you have the makings of a real problem. I plan on probably buying at least four of the six RPGs I named above.Lunar, Jade Cocoon, Star Ocean 2, and FF8 are just too goodto pass by. And in the meantime, I have to find room in my budget--not to mention time to play--WWF Attitude and Gran Turismo 2. I also have great games sitting idle on my PSX rollercart, that Ihaven't played as much as I should. Titles like TENCHU, TOMBRAIDER 3, a college basketball title, MADDEN, METAL GEARSOLID, and a couple others. I've had to write off picking upLEGECY OF KAIN:SOUL REAVER at all. There's just notenough gaming hours in my week! Now, I am able to justify it like this: After January, the supply ofdecent new games will start to slow to a trickle as we await theUS release of the PS2. So I'm stockpiling good games now.And who knows if the launch titles for PS2 will appeal to meuntil I hear what they are, so thank goodness for backward-compatibility. But seriously, if we were earlier in the life of the PSX, with no lullforthcoming, wouldn't this be simply too many RPGs at once?The things take a person working a normal 40-hour-a-week jobabout 3-6 months to play. With XENO finished and plans tobuy 4-5 more RPGs in the next 6 months, that's over 2 years ofgameplay, if I play them all through to finish. Square claims it'll be slowing down when PS2 hits. Which is good.But I worry that, like the fighting genre before it, you'll eventuallyhave so many good RPGs---and ultimately too many substandardones, as well---that before long the market will be overwhelmed by thesense of "sameness" and move on to a new genre. And when thathappens, when companies pull back from RPGs because they areno longer guaranteed to "go gold," you won't be able to find adecent RPG to save your life. What do you think? CraigInMN...2! |
Volume promotes competition, above all. It takes a lot of games, and a lot of derivative crap ones, who truly oversaturate a given genre market. While I find that the pace of RPG releases could be spaced more efficiently, I think we're a far cry from a try overproducing market. If we have multiple major RPG releases happening on the same day, consistently, there's reason to be worried. But the larger the RPG fanbase gets, the more splintered and divided it becomes, and not all games are going to appeal, and thus sell to, each section of it. Dragon Valor's target audience may not be Shadow Madness' audience may not be SaGa Frontier 2's audience, and so forth. Not even the big names, like FF8, are going to be unloading copies on every segment of the RPG market anymore. So long as their are market divisions, and breadth of product and style, oversaturation won't happen. Sure, some games will suck, some companies will pull out, sales will be dodgy on some, but the RPG industry is growing now, not retracting. Any oversaturation fears are, in my view, about a year or two premature. | Tragic ending... Lufia 1 spoilers | 'Lufia & The Fortress of Doom' (Taito, SNES) had a very unhappy ending.Poigniant, really. The game itself was much akin to the 'Lunar' games ofWorking Designs fame, in that the focus surrounded the romanticrelationship of a human boy and a goddess come down to life on earth, Inthe case of Lufia, the Goddess was a member of an evil, invadingpantheon, and turned against her fellow gods for the love of humanity. Unlike 'Lunar', however, Lufia has the romance end tragically, Lufiaherself is effectively killed, then reincarnated again as a little girl,leaving the hero to discover her eight year old form in his middle age.This ending essentialy leaves the hero in the role of a grandfatherlyfigure to the only love of his entire life, who herself will never evenremember him. If that is not a tragic, bitter, sad ending, I cannotimagine what would count as one. True, no worlds were destroyed, indeed the sacrifices involved save theworld, but it is certainly a very sad ending for the hearts of theprotagonists. Like any good book -and I argue that an RPG does count asa form of literature- it even made me cry, at the time. I submit the first 'Lufia' as an example of a game with a tragic ending. Jennifer Diane Reitz |
Good call, Jennifer. That is indeed a superb example of a tragic ending to a game. Really, in many ways, it's an even more tragic and heartbreaking end to a game than simply killing off all the main characters. Lufia not only dies, but her living on is in a form that leaves her inaccessible to her one true love. The hero gets to grow old, a bitter, lonely old man. Not only does he not get the girl, but in all likelihood, someone else does. That has got to hurt. Again, excellent example. | Emotional Lunar demo reactions | I think I am getting too setimental. for the past few rpg's I have played, I have been on the verge of tears for many things. Most of these moments came from xenogears, when a scene put together so well (no matter how hokey it may seem to anyone else), that I couldnt help but be moved. The only scene that comes to mind right now is where Bart was bragging about him and Fei being best friends after Fei whupped it up at the fighting match. But on to the real subject of this email. Upon watching the intro to the lunar demo, Near the end, where some of the characters were appearing out of the light, i began to get all snuffly and warm inside. And not only that, but the video of luna talking and singing at the springs. The dialogue was also very fresh and well thought out, and it brings out the different personalities very well. In the few hours that I played the game I felt like I actually care about the characters. The graphics are sharp and colorful, and the music is excellent. (well, the battle theme is a little on the wimpy side, but it's good overall) I guess the one thing that makes the game stand out so much to me is the whole innocent overtone. It's kind of refreshing after all the intricate plot lines of Xenogears, FF tactics, and FF7. (Note: I'm not saying that either style is better. I am just saying that it is a nice change) The one thing I am unsure about is the abscence of random battles on the overworld. I'm not sure if I prefer it or not, but it's just so unusual. Anyway, that's my poorly organized ramblings. seeya -andrew |
I received a number of comments about the Lunar demo, but this was easily my favourite of the bunch. It's always nice to see someone really, really enjoy a game, even if it is a 2-4 hour demo (which seems to be the range of play time required). Other popular sentiments included find the opening theme song really cheesy, being happy to see a very traditionally-styled game released in this day and age, and one guy who has already decided that Nash is the coolest RPG character ever. I've known that for years. :) | A new side to Zelda, courtesy of Fritz (spoilers, laddie) | Having recently completed Zelda 64, I have to say that it was anexcellent game, but wasmarred by the grievous absence of one major character. We can only hopethat Ura Zeldaends up being released, so that this glaring omission can be corrected.Ideally, Ura Zelda shoulduse an entirely new storyline, which would go something like this: THE PRINCESS HAS KIDNAPPED BY NINJAS. ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGHDUDE TO SAVE THE PRINCESS? Feeling that he is a Bad Enough Dude (TM), Child Link sets off on hismissionto save Zelda once again. However, as he is climbing down the ladderfrom hishouse, he slips and breaks his back. Thus, the mission is passed toLink's rivalMido, who fancies himself an Even Badder Dude (TM). Mido is notaccompaniedby Navi; instead, he has Kazooie, who forms the other half of the duoknownas Mido-Kazooie. With Kazooie's aid, Mido is able to fly, enabling himto beat theRunning Man. Once defeated, Running Man then reveals a startlingsecret: Therabbits that he previously thought were extinct are actually stillliving in a secretcave under the Deku Tree. In order to get inside, Mido must throw DekuNutsinto Jabu-Jabu's mouth, then give him some Coca-Cola to drink. The DekuNuts and Coca-Cola will cause a chemical reaction that will explode andkillJabu-Jabu, enabling Mido to retrieve the Megaton Chainsaw that Jabu-Jabuhad swallowed. You can then cut down the Deku Tree (hey, it was alreadydead) and enter Ura Zelda's only dungeon, the Rabbit Warren. At the end of this dungeon, you encounter Pols Voice (how did they evermanage toleave him out of Zelda 64? Pols Voice rules!). Like always, you needto useyour Ocarina -- you have to press buttons randomly to create theworst-soundingmelodies possibly, damaging Pols Voice's big ears. When you do thisenough, heexplodes from the awful sound, and you free the missing Sage. Now,you've probablynoticed that all the Sages are named after locations from Zelda 2 (orvice versa)...but one of the palaces was never represented! Yes, that's right, themissing sageis none other than... PARAP(P)A!!!! Just then, however, Chop ChopMaster Onionshows up, angry by Mido's poor Ocarina performance. He declares that "Urappin' awful" and demands you "Challenge his rap". You then have toout-playChop Chop on your ocarina, at which point he will confess that hekidnapping Zelda, andrelease her. Mido and Zelda get married and live happily ever after,and Linkhas to settle for Princess Ruto. The end. Wouldn't that make an awesome game? Just my 2 cents. Your friendly neighborhood dullard, - Fritz |
It's in questionable taste to publish a letter from a site-mate, but y'know, this letter really pissed me off. Fritz, I'm sorry man, but your idea sucks. And you wanna know why? You left out the Kool Aid Man. No true game of passion and style is complete without a brightly-colored wave of freshness and fruit flavor, cresting with cherry and fruit punch foam. A wave that heralds the arrival of the one, the only Kool Aid Man. He'd push the N64 to the max, the Rumble Pak vibrating with anticipation, "OH YEAH!" filling the screen at every turn, as all the petty struggles between Zelda, Link, Mido, Ruto and Chop Chop wash away in a tide of Radical Raspberry. With Kool Aid Man's help, and some tasty fresh drinks, every member of the Zelda cast could solve their problems quickly and easily, and go out to play a game of Kool Aid Man on their Atari 2600s, a fine game which delights gamers even today, for the low price of sixty thousand Kool Aid points. Oh yeah.
Closing comments Two people sent me information and web addresses regarding the Pokemon jet mention yesterday. The world is a cold, insane place, my friends. I still don't know if there are Pokemon on the vomit bags, and I'm way too scared to ask. I realize that Pokemon is really popular, but good lord, this is bizarre. Yeah, that'll do. That'll do. - Double Agent | | | |
