Excuse me, Cosner? You in charge?....You'll have to excuse me as I try and think up of something witty to put here.......well......uh.....just envision me saying something so horribly sarcastic that it......made you feel really bad while making me feel really smart. Oops, a new internet name can sometimes go to your head...*cough*....*uneasy laugh*......*clears throat*...

I was wondering if you would know the first game that used the term "Mad Skillz". It was my belief that Xenogears was the first, but after seeing that legendary phase spoken in Lunar, I'm not quite sure. Your enlightenment would be thanked, though unexpected.

-Æ

P.S. Brownie points awarded for pronouncing my name correctly.

You know, I find it somewhat interesting that your last column's Grandia-basher didn't bother to give his name. That, combined with the tone of the letter, just screams out "troll" to me. But I'm not going to feed the troll this time around. I'll just say that he's completely wrong in every possible way. ;p

Grandia is IMO one of the best RPGs ever made. While the story isn't the greatest I've ever seen, it's still quite good, and the characterization is excellent (as is typical of a Game Arts RPG). And the gameplay is excellent. This is one RPG where I often actively seek out battles, not to raise levels but just because the battles are fun. Grandia's battle system is one of the best I've ever seen. It combines the movement-based system from Lunar (much refined for Grandia) with the active-time systems from the FF games (again improved from Grandia), plus a few additions of its own. For example, if you hit an enemy hard enough, you can stun it & prevent it from attacking for a while. Of course, the enemies can do the same thing to your party members. I'm sure others could describe the battle system better, but what it comes down to is that it's fun. And that's what raises Grandia from simply being a good RPG to being a great one. F-U-N.

Red XIV

Hey Drew,

I know your topic is about the worst Christmas ever, but first, I'll run off on a (small) tangent because I want to be like you.

I wish you guys would have put up a review of Grandia before I bought it. I decided to go and trust IGN's review, and am kicking myself in the ass for it now. Grandia received a freaking 9/10. Well, I should have known, since Xenogears received a 9.5/10.

Grandia is not 40 hours long like you thought. It took me 60 hours. It reminds me of Wild Arms: town, dungeon, boss, town, dungeon, boss, etc. But Grandia is more linear, its battles are more boring (even all the bosses are alike), and there are fewer towns. Plus, once the actual story of the game is revealed (about midway through the game), you're already sick of playing, and the rest of the game just seems to drag (for 30 more damned hours).

So what is the worst Christmas ever? Just ask the poor fool who's buying the Grandia I'm auctioning on EBay!! Bwahahaha.

-Wesley

P.S. Aren't you tired of seeing little kids being the heroes of videogames? I remember the days when the world (or princess) was saved by some fat piece of turd like Mario. I'd love to see a game where Mario is an old fart, and the objective of the game is to get a divorce with Princess before he kicks the bucket and she relieves him of his Social Security savings.

You know, to some people, christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, so I thought of a new TV show to get people in the holy spirit. It's called, get ready for this, Gettin Holy With Alexander The Holy Robo-Knight. First, Alexander would give a brief introduction, you know tell us how all the other GF's are doing, all that junk. Then, he would give a brief description of today's "sinner", or in other words, someone who has been pissing off Alexander recently. Then, the camera would cut to a scene of a suburban neighborhood and Alexander would come marching down the street. He would stop in front of the guy's hhouse, knock the door and open fire with his LASERS OF JUDGEMENT. Afterwards, there would be several shots of the smoking crater from different angles. Then the camera would cut back to the studio, Alexander would give us a few words of wisdom, (for our daily dose of holiness) and bid us farewell. Examples of merchandise would be T-Shirts with the phrase "Holier than thou" on the front, with Alexander's LASERS OF JUDGEMENT pointed at you on the back. Brilliant, huh?

Dear Agent:

I have a question for you and, amazingly enough, it not only pertains to actual gaming, but even falls within your area of expertise. I know, I know, no commentary on how Final Fantasy sucks, no alternate theories on Gilgamesh's man-ness or your inherent homosexuality. Not even a quick discussion of why all non-medieval settings suck. It's rare and unusual, but please, humor me.

Right now I'm living in Japan and, after finishing the six-pack-o'-whup-ass-kickin' Crono Cross, I'm looking for a new RPG to purchase. The problem is that I'm not sure which one to buy. What I'd like here is for the GIA to enlighten me with expert advice. I've been thinking about Grandia, but have heard many bad things about it in these very pages. And I've been thinking about Saga Frontier 2, but had the misfortune of playing the original. I have even given serious thought to Parasite Eve II, but am leery lest it be as short as its predecessor.

To quote: Help me GIA, you're my only hope!!!

Lord Pendragon

Drew,

This is off topic, but i don't give a damn. Yesturday you described the guy from Grandia as "his mouth gaping wide open, a look of pure idiocy smeared across his bulbous head, as he recited some moronic bosh that was apparently supposed to be a motivational speech."

I just wanted to say that i had a boss like that with a name as generic as Justin, it was Jim. and How you did an excellent job of descibing him there. Sadly, i've been short on cash shortly and have thought of returning to my former boss to ask him if he'd take me back. Thank you Drew, for reminding me why i quit my job.

~nick

Ha Ha Ha. Drew ya old boot. You sure are lucky Canadians have such a good sense of humor. You sure are lucky all 3 of us Canadians that read your December 19th column don't go south o' the border and track you down for your obvious Canada bashing(that if we were to send you $4000 that you could get that 12oz. pepsi you've had your eye on). Guess what. In a small town in Northern Canada called Alert we have what we call a missile alert system, which is basically a radar for detecting missiles going your way and to shoot them down. Say if we were to shut down this system. These missiles would be detected in North Dakota, which would be too late. Ha Ha Ha. How do ya like that eh? You sure are lucky buddy. And for all of the other Canadians that read Drew's column, speak up about Drew's Canada bashing, e-mail your complaints to Drew!

I will defend A.K. on his beliefs on REM too. They have written some of the best songs of the past 15 years.

rob85

P.S. just for you buddy, my favorite thing of the holiday season is the joy about being with your family. For Christmas I want a wah-wah pedal for my guitar, a handy tool set, and Crash Team Racing For Playstation.

Drew,

I don't like Pokemon for a different reason than the ones you stated.

Firstly, I have nothing against the games themselves. This is because I have never played any of them. They don't seem to interesting to me, and I don't have a system on which they are available, so I haven't gone out of my way to get the chance to experience them.

However, I don't like the Pokemon "phenomena". It's like everywhere I turn, I'm surrounded by cute little animals, not to mention little kids who "gotta catch them all"! I hate to sound like an ad for Fight Club, but Pokemon kind of embodies all the things I don't like about the consumer culture that we live in.

That's my half-coherent view on it. To sum it up, I don't have anything against the games, I don't think I'm above the cuteness, I just don't like how it's such a big consumer thing, surrounding me wherever I go.

-Brud

I've lost a lot of respect for you drew (not that you probably care). In a response to a letter about Pokemon you said all the Pokemon titles that have come out have been fairly descent. You're saying Pokemon Snap is a fairly descent game????? OoOoOoOoOo let's pay $49.99 (that's how much I saw for at Best Buy) to take pretty pictures of cute Pokemon!! It's a piece of trash and there must be something wrong with you if you think this title is pretty decent. This game is a piece of trash even if you are a little kid who likes Pokemon which is the demographic this game is aiming at.

Pendy (that wacky , zany DW freak)

P.S. Sorry for the flame but it had to be said.