Hey Allan,

I've had it up to here with all the bashing that FF5 receives in this column. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but it really chaps my ass when people bitch about FF5. I mean, it's clearly the best of the series, even the producer agrees with that. And it's not about the class system. Sure, that's great, but the true greatness of FF5 is in its plot and characters.

Who can't identify with Galuf's sense of not understanding, of being lost in a world he never made, when he awakens without memories? WHo here has never felt divorced from their own sense of self, and hidden away their true self like Faris does?

FFV is a story about the triumph of love and hope over nothingness, embodied by Mu. It's a clear story of striking contrasts between Good and Evil, and is thus superior to the trendy "gray morality" stories spun off of Orwell's overrated 1984. FFV has all the depth of Orwell's book, but with a stronger moral message and better storytelling, and should be remember and prized long after Orwell's vision of the future has been tossed aside.

Give FFV it's props. It's one of the great works of our time.

-EddyJ

Hey Agent,

GILGAMESH SUXOR!!!!!!!

- Brad

I saw your article about Vandal Hearts, and early on I thought the maincharacter was a girl. The pictures led me to believe it was a very uglygirl, but a girl none the less. One picture looked very much like thecharacter wore that eye stuff women wear (I think it's called eyeliner,but I'm not sure.) This the pic. And thename sounded girly too. Ashley. How many guys do I know named Ashley?None, but I know plenty of girls by the name of Ashley. Is this justmore of that weird square stuff? Ramza looked female, too, but at leastthe name "Ramza" was not pre-associated as a girl's name. Anyway I justthink that the name Ashley was a bad choice. I wouldn't be that upsetif you could change "his" name. (I'm playing xenogears presently. Iwas almost going to write like -his-. Scary...)

Is Squaresoft like Disney in trying to undermine our family values? ^_^

Alexander3025

BTW, a friend of mine told me he saw somewhere on your webpage about asecret "Mr. T." character in FFTactics. I tried to tell him that that'sprobably a joke, but...

I see that link about a new famous FF quote. I click on it, and I see the picture about this so called bad translation. First of all go get the japanese version and compare what it said ok? Then read what was said -before- and -after- and -who- said this. Maybe it will make a little more sense to you. I could take a line from any game and act like it doesn't make sense when we have no idea what the hell the character is talking about.

"I can't wait to meet a great guy I can scream at and exchange blows with!"

What is wrong with that sentence? Nothing. The character said that because he/she like to argue or scream at. Like Barret would have said if Cloud said "Oh no I don't wanna fight!" So get the japanese version, find that line again and tell us what it really was in japanese, and the context of that sentence. To me it make perfect sense, but to some it's just to say: LOOK! FF has a bad translation again!

-Phil "Osirus"

What's all the fuss lately about Redbook audio? I doubt that Final Fantasy will ever be done with Redbook, and that's a damned good thing. Do you truly want to have about 80% less music in the next FF? Because that's exactly what the result of Redbook would be. And THAT'S why Nobuo Uematsu never has & almost certainly never will push for the use of Redbook audio: he doesn't WANT it. More music without "realistic" sound quality is by far preferable to significantly less music done with real instruments. And while I'd certainly never complain about higher-quality sound (as long as it's not at the expense of a greater amount of music), I've never found any of the post-NES FFs to have sound quality poor enough to detract in any way from my enjoyment of the music. Composition quality is infinitely more important than synth quality, IMO.

Red XIV

Hey Allan,

I've just noticed something. There is no coverage, or even mention of Silent Hill on The GIA. I mean before I never would have mentioned it, but now with all the RE talk I was just wondering if you, or anyone there had played it. People who thought Resident Evil had a few frightening parts should try this game. It brings a whole new meaning to "Survival Horror". As I played through it, there were times I had to turn the lights on just to be sure nothing was there.

The mood of the whole game was absolutely horrifying. I mean, the entire game you had only a little flashlight for light, and there were guys in there that made the entire RE cast seem like the Care Bears.

I don't know I guess I just can't stand see games like the Resident Evil series, only moderately scary once in a while, at best, get credit for something Silent Hill, a game that made almost piss my pants quite a few times, does much better.

Big E -- "The man who just wrote his first entirely serious letter, ever"

Hi,

About Parasite Eve the book...well, Parasite Eve the game wasn'tactually based off of the book, it was based off of the movie. Whichwas in turn based off the book. Although I haven't read the book (mylevel of Japanese isn't high enough to read it), my Japanese friendstell me that it's very, very different from game. It doesn't take placein New York at all (I believe it takes place in Japan). It's also alotmore scientifically accurate I think (it actually has a bibiliography ofall scientific journals and stuff at the back of the book).

The movie is still pretty different from the game. The movie is kind ofa prequel to the game. The Japanese scientest from the game (I think)is in the movie, and he mentions a couple of times in the game stuffthat happened back in Japan. That's actually stuff from the movie. Apparently the movie sucked too ^_^.

Moose M.

I'm guessing that the inclusion of Gilgamesh in FFVIII is justanother of your awesome pranks. Am I right? Sure, Gilgamesh is thecoolest villain the series ever saw (Kefka was such a joke), but wouldSquare actually put him in other games in the series a la Cid and Biggsand Wedge? I have to admit that would rule, but with just onescreenshot posted, it seems pretty dubious. Please clear this up.

-The Walrus

Allan:

Just read today's letters (answered by Drew) and just needed toelaborate fully, Mod chips are not illegal and Sony cannot do anythingabout them. Game Sharks and Pro Action Replays are not always reliableas they could temporarily change the coding for a certain cache of thememory which could cause a screw up. However, this is usually during thetime when discs need to be inserted or swapped (usually) which meansthat it is in between discs. Another problem is getting the codes in thefirst place, you could go to GSSCC but the problem is that they alwayslist "unlock codes" for the newest version game shark, meaning you arebuying at $70+ (Canadian) and you are in a bind when those idiots changetheir versions of game shark via PC COMM (which is unfortunately nowremoved from the market so you can never buy one). However, Interactwill "upgrade" your Game Shark for a "small" fee. I don't think you needant codes however if you buy a Pro Action Replay. You see, you can usethe swap trick to load ANY type of game or disc (with PSX coding). Whenyou first turn it on the Action Replay will have a menu that willpop-up, load an original North American game by getting something tohold down the little switch at the top right hand corner of where thePSX lid usually covers (a pen will do but current Pro Action Replay'sshould come with a spring). The disc will spin then stop. At this pointswitch the disc to any import (or copied game) and run it. WARNING: thenew PSX model (9000 which isn't out yet but will be soon) won't have aparallel port to use a Game Shark or Pro Action Replay with.

Also the new "stealth" mod chips are a little better as they do notcause a game to lock up in the coding in the cache memory of thePlaystation, however, I just got to play Rival Schools 2 today and themod chip seems to have a failure as well. You can play the game exceptfor a certain mode for some reason. Usually on the internet, there arepatches that you can download to remove the MOD chip protection, if youhave a burner then you can make your own CD's without the MOD chipprotection. Also, old MOD chips can't load some games regardless ofwhether or not there is MOD protection (ex. Point Blank 2).

My verdict is obviously to get both but from experience, new MOD chipscome out every so often to bypass all new MOD chip protection that anolder chip cannot. This of course forces people to continuously upgradetheir MOD chips and leaves them with less cash than before which in turnforces them to buy fewer "original games" and more "cheap games".Unfortunately for Sony, all big "cheap games" (such as FF 8) are hackedby BIG pirating companies that make "silver discs" and the people whowant to play those big games (such as FF 8) will have no choice but tobuy these pirated games. JUST WHAT IS SONY THINKING? They are onlystopping the little pirates but are increasing the sales of big pirates.

I've rambled to long. Questions? Here's my e-mail

RPGr@home.com

Jess

Hey Allan "my head's on Richard Simmons!!" Milligan, (blame drew, not me! drew!)

Regarding Voices in Final Fantasy... I personally think it's a bad idea. Part of the fun of Final Fantasy is the ability to put one's self into the character. For example, say if I wanted to be Squall. I could name my character "" instead of "Squall". Sowhatever happens to Squall I feel is happening to me just because of that name change. However when voices are added, it either gets rid of the ability to change names like in Xenogears, or it makes putting one's self into the character less believable. How many of us have changed some FF7 characters to the names that they wanted? It would be a shame to lose that ability wouldn't it?

Yes voices would add more personality to the character, but there's also the problem of voice acting. Would people really want a great Final Fantasy game ruined by horrible voice acting? I sure wouldn't.

Although voice acting would be a nice addition, the ability to name and 'be' a character and the risk of bad voice acting would have me be strongly against it.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

-Natsus

Ok... no offense to anyone who hopes for speech in a Final Fantasy game, but I hope and pray daily it never happens. To this day, I have never seen an unbelievably good voice in any game. MGS was a great game and all, and it had a lot going for it, but voice wasn't what gave it all of those nifty reviews IMO.

If anything, I feel voices would actually detract from the game in a way. I actually enjoy reading all of those badly translated comments from the X number of FF characters I've played. I can only hope that it never goes voice. Brave Fencer Musashi or Resident Evil anyone? RE had it's reasons, it was trying to be a B-movie. With voice, it succeeded. I have no idea what Brave Fencer was trying for... but it was frightening all the same.

As for DVDs and Square tendancies towards FMVs, I'd still argue there might not be enough room for it. As those FMVs become more detailed and more frequent there's going to be an increase in room required. We all know that. Not to mention the amount of space required for polygonal characters, textures, more detailed backdrops, etc. Personally, with this new space availible, the things I would like to see are: (A) More interaction with the environment, (B) more detailed storylines (expanding on gameplay hours), (C) redbook audio, and (D) better polygonal work. Now, given Square's nature and the nature of the next generation systems, I know I'll get D. Here's hoping for the other three.

... besides, it's just like reading a book this way. ;)

- HD