Doot - July 13th, 1999 - Drew Cosner
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Comin atcha, on that distant road. Good letters? I got a truckload.
| Eskewed logic |
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How's this for logic, Drew? You can never be
an all-time classic letter-col guy! Why? Simple.
It's all in your name.
There have been two classic letter-col guys so
far, in my book. Jay Boor and the mighty Thor.
Notice how both rhyme? Do you think that's a
coincidence? Of course not! Nothing about
Drew Cosner rhymes with "or," so naturally...
heh-heh.
Ok, levity aside, what are your impressions
of the Dreamcast RPG Evolution? It's just
been announced for a close-to-launch release
date (10-15-99). Have you seen much on it yet?
-CraigInMN...2!
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You don't know what my middle name is, now do you? Why do you have to go making these assumptions? Look, I've read "Teach Yourself to be a Witty Columnist in a Week", so I think I know what I'm talking about. I'll have you know that I read all of my material to a local group of elementary school students, and they always laugh so hard that they spray the milk I've forced them to drink at gun point out of their noses. Okay, so maybe my lameass animations aren't on the upper echolon of humour alongside such Jay Boor classics as imposing my visage over a cow's testicles; I guess I'll have to try a bit harder.
Anyway, to get passed my pointless chattering, I honestly haven't seen much on Evolution. I'm down with the whole adventure, Indianna Jones thing, so if they can pull it off it could definitely be cool. Time will tell, as it has that sexy way of doing.
| Actual questions |
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Holy shit! Actual questions!
1) Did Hiroki Kikuta do the music for Legend of Mana?
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I honestly don't know. Legend of Mana's instructional booklet doesn't even seem to have a credits section. If anybody out there happens to know one way or another, feel free to clue my lame ass in.
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2) Do you think that Yasunori Mitsuda will be doing the music for Xenogears 2 or Chrono Cross?
-CS
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I can tell you for a fact that Mister Mitsuda did the music for Chrono Cross. Xenogears 2 is a bit of a mystery, seeing as it hasn't even been announced nor proven to be in development. Minor detail there. Will he do the music if there is a Xenogears 2? Sure, I don't see why not.
It's amazing how I can switch right back to arrogant bastard mode after admitting that I don't know the answer to a question. It takes practice to be like this, I tell you.
| Questioning Chrono Cross |
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Hey Drew,
Just got two quick Chrono Cross questions for you.
1. Are the characters sprite based? I couldn't tell for sure from the
demo shots.
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No, your characters are 3D, making them total outcasts at parties thrown by 2D purists, and bars owned by tridimensioniaphobes.
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2. Do your additional party members follow you throughout the entire
game, or does Serge just assimilate them?
That's all.
-Mark John(s)on
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Nope, they follow the lead character around, just as with Chrono Trigger. Another note of interest is that you only initiate battles when your lead character touches a wondering monster; Your accompanying party members can walk through them for all the game cares. Of course, while you're busy screwing around watching your characters perform feats of osmosis on the monster, he usually runs up and attacks you from behind. What a cheapshot.
| Buy 'em all |
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Yo Drew,
First off, my good man, I have an important question. In the import version
of FF8 do you know what the saving method was? I pray that it was Lunar
style save anywhere but assume that it's FF7 style save where we say so,
punk.
Secondly, the Dolphin sorely needs to have its real name revealed. I think
that you should hold a contest at GIA and see who comes up with the best
possible name for it.
Third, what do you think of the Square/Nintendo announcement? Do you think
it'll result in any games, and if so, would the big N be stupid enough to
censor games again? I sure hope not.
And finally, I think anybody that bashes the PSX or N64 are punks. I used to
be a PlayStation basher until I played FF7 on my PC, which forced me to buy
my PSX so I could get FF8. Each system has awesome games, and the same will
probably be true for the nest generation systems, so as costly as it may be,
I might have to buy both.
-The Steve
P.S. Wanna know something cool? No? Well anyway, my band ELEPHANT FACTORY
(http://listen.to/elephantfactory) has gotten it's music in the video game
"Lemmings Revolution"...are you as excited as I?
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FFVIII is going to have the same old save points we've all come to know and love, so don't get too excited. Secondly, this may shock you and all, but Nintendo really wouldn't give half a shit what the results of our poll were, so we're probably going to try and stick with features that would accomplish something. As for censorship, although Nintendo still censors the games they themselves publish, they pretty much leave the third party titles alone, unless we're talking hardcore nudity or something along those lines. Then that wouldn't quite make it past Nintendo's quality control department, I fear.
And lastly, I agree completely. I admit that I'm a pretty big Nintendo fan, but I still love my PSX and even Saturn just as well. When you get down to it, the only way to enjoy all of the better games coming out is to own all of the platforms. Of course, most people aren't frivolous like I am, and have to choose which system they intend on purchasing. You just have to decide which system has the most titles you'd be interested in playing, blah blah blah. You know the schpeel.
Only I would actually use the phrase "blah blah blah" in a letters column.
| The definition of high definition |
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An interesting theory on the viability of the future of these
consoles. There may be a more limiting factor though: DTV.
Digitial TV, whether Standard or High-Definition, does not (normally)
work with analog devices such as VCRs, Home Theatre systems, or even
DVD players. This means that all your stuff is going to be obsolete
in just a few years (since DTV is mandatory by Federal government in
the US).
Currently, the only console made to live in the era of DTV is the
Dreamcast (early announcements said it would have DTV output
capability). No other console has yet stated whether they would or
would not support this themselves, but since they are being tied to
DVD movie players, its my guess the answer will be no.
-TorgVega Q
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DVD and HDTV go hand in hand. They were practically made for each other as the next step in home viewing, so I don't get why you're using the fact that the upcoming systems are DVD based as a logical reasoning for their not supporting HDTV. HDTVs have more lines to scan than regular TVs, which gives them better definition and resolution. So one frame of HDTV film sends twice as much information to the set as regular TV. However, MPEGs can be resized easily, and might be naturally compatible with HDTV. Okay, so the actual reason is much more complex and beyond my pathetic grasp, but that gives you the basic gyst of it.
Also, Sony is a major proponent of HDTV, so it makes sense that the PS2 will be HDTV. Whether or not Nintendo's Dolphin will be HDTV compatible is as of yet unknown, but I'd be shocked if it weren't.
| Hobbits |
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If all that Xenogear1 wants is a Middle Earth game with the characters from
LoTR and the Hobbit, then look around. On the PC, there are way too many to
choose from, though the old Interplay LoTR series strikes me as a good
choice. SNES had the LoTR game which, IMHO, sucked hard core. There's
nothing like getting to the end of a game and then discovering "Oops, you
missed an item in the beginning and you have no way to go back and get it.
Sorry." And, if you're into real life, MERP, the Middle Earth RPG is
outstanding. Just look around. There's stuff out there, though not PSX or
N64 versions.
On another note, in the upcoming live action versions of the LoTR series,
they have just announced that Elijah Wood will play Frodo.
HERESY!!!!!!!
It's kinda like letting DiCaprio (possibly) play Anakin in Episode II of
Star Wars.
-DJag
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I have no idea what the Hell you're talking about, but I guess this is evidence of a Hobbit RPG. So there you go.
| Another bomb, courtesy of Sega |
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We all know about Sega's mistakes of the 32X and the Saturn. But there is
one thing everyone is forgetting about. The Sega's all-in-one system. It was
about the size of a big portable CD Player and it played Sega cartages (yes
32X also) Sega CD and also audio CD's. Yes it sounded like a good move for
Sega, combining all of their bad system's into one unit (wait a minute, good
move for Sega, I don't think so) but remember that this was about 4 years
ago. The price tag on this was $400. That was a hell of a lot then for a
gaming system and still is today. And that my friends is the lost mistake of
Sega.
-LukeM_2
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Amazingly enough, I remember that thing. I believe it was called the CD-X, and yeah, it played Genesis, 32X, and CD games all in one neat package. Unfortunately, like you said, it was expensive as Hell, and Sega hardly made any of the things.
| Sticks and stones... |
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Double Agent:
This is a note to Spuzzz, the guy who wrote to you
yesterday asking why no one has made any RPGs
with tragic endings. The truth is, several already
exist!
Long before Lufia 2, Phantasy Star 2 for the Sega
Genesis delivered a truly tragic ending. Not only
was it the first RPG to movingly kill off a main
character, but Phantasy Star 2 also had a
Butch and Sundance type ending, where as
the game ends, your party is surrounded by
insurmountable odds and you know that they
are going to bite it. No signs of a happy
ending, at least for your party. If you haven't
played Phantasy Star 2, it's a classic not to be
missed.
Also, more recently, Shining Force 3 on the Sega
Saturn was a masterpiece with heavy elements
of tragedy. It was to be released in the form of
three scenario disks, each displaying a different
side in a three-sided civil war. It maturely depicted
the moral ambiguity of war, the tough situations
faced by those in it, and the lose-even-when-you-win
theme permeated the game. Unfortunately, because
it was a game that came out late in the Saturn's
life, Sega only released Scenario Disk 1 in the
US. Japan got all three.
Sega has been a creative force in the RPG world
for a lot longer than people tend to recall, and they've
done it without ever having Square or Enix in their
corner. That makes the coming launch of the Dreamcast
even more interesting.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a staff writer and
RPG specialist over at Sega Web (www.segaweb.com).
I'll leave you with this word: Shenmue.
-Craig Hansen (a/k/a CraigInMN...2!)
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Well there you have it, more tragic RPGs.
| Fact or fiction? |
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Yo Drew!
I don't think it really matters if Nintendo and Matsushita combine their
forces to make a DVD player/Dolphin. See, you can't really compare it to the
CDi. Namely because of the name. I'll bet several thousand more people have
heard of Nintendo than Phillips. And seeing as how almost every
technological achievement in the video game industry is accredited to
Nintendo by people outside of said industry, I don't think anything with
Nintendo name on it could do horribly in today's economic market. Secondly,
Nintendo has a much larger base of developers than Phillips ever did. What
with Square a possibility, Rare, Factor 5, Lucas Arts and Activision all
publishing for Nintendo it won't matter if the Dolphin is sold as a toilet,
people will buy it. Also, Nintendo's fan base is much larger than Phillips
ever was. More people outside of the video game market have played Nintendo
products than any other system and will probably be more drawn to Nintendo
than the other systems because the faint remembrance of the name in the back
of their mind. And if you add on the DVD capability to the Nintendo name,
you're gonna sell shit faster than the new Backstreet Boys CD. So, you see,
I don't think Nintendo's going to need any type of miracle, I think this one
will sell itself.
-Mark John(s)on
P.S. I heard the Playstation 2 might be selling for around $200. Fact or
fiction?
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Yeah, it's true that the Nintendo name has a large following amongst gamers, but that doesn't necesserily ensure success. Sega was a household name back in the 16 bit days, and they continually gave Nintendo some stiff competition here in the states. And then they released the 32X and the Saturn. And we all know how well those went over. Of course, if anybody can pull it off it would probably be Nintendo, so it'll be interesting to see how they handle things.
P.S. Sony hasn't made any announcements yet, but my money's on 300 bucks.
Closing Comments
Well, time to find my way back to whatever hole I crawled out of until my services are needed again tomorrow.
Ciao.
-Drew Cosner
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