8/04 - 1:19 AM CST

I am so disoriented right now, it isn't even funny. I forgot to write this intro initially. I wrote the entire column, including the outro, before realizing I had FORGOTTEN TO WRITE AN INTRO. So now, after completing 99.9% of the column, here I am writing the intro. This is just wrong on so, so many levels. I don't even know what to say now.

I am listening to RPGcast #45! I always miss out on the good 'casts. I don't know how that happens. The only disappointing thing is that Chris has announced that he is six days away from finishing Persona 3. This is most disheartening. I have spent the entire summer plugging away at the game, hoping to finish before him. BAH, MY LIFE IS EMPTY.

On to the letters, which I have already answered.

Hello Again Ollie!

Ack, you've slain me grammatically! Mind you i probably would have caught that had i read it through a few more times. I was always much more cautious when writing Lusipur, now you got me on my toes! Moving on...

I have an RPG to add to the list of great beginner RPG's. It's and oldie and probably a bear to get ahold of, But i think that Super Mario RPG is an incredibly fun and addictive RPG that any beginner would love. I was never much for mario games, but i could not put this one down! I have so many fond memories playing this game, the battle system itself was simplistic and quite fun. The story was lighthearted, yet entertaining enough that it was very difficult to put down (i'm one to love the doom and gloom stories myself (xenogears, vagrant story), so this was a weird one for me to get addicted to). I would LOVE to see a port of this end up on the DS. Did you ever play this game? if so, what were your thoughts on it?

So it finally happened, FFXIII on the Xbox. I must say I wasn't much of a fan of the original Xbox, but after watching the 360 take control of some very promising titles, i've been very tempted to turn that direction over the PS3. Such titles as Lost Odessy have had me drooling over the console as it is. I also cannot stop staring at the screenshots for Tales of Vesperia, what a beautiful looking game! FFXIII has pretty much sealed the deal, although i cannot see myself buying a 360 in the too near future, i will probably be pushing for one come FFXIII's release. I do have one question though, what of Versus XIII? will that be coming to the 360 as well? It would be a mighty shame to look forward to such a game and then find out that i have to purchase a ps3 to get the chance to play it, for as it stands right now, I have very little interest in that system. I believe the original and PS2 to be greatest RPG consoles in history, the PS2 especially due to backwards compatibility. This is where the PS3 is going to fail big time for me, I have such an immersive library of PS1 and PS2 games, and now i'm forced to sit and watch the only console that can play those games slowly expire? in 15 years will there be a working piece of hardware that can sill play those games? I sure hope so, BAD move Sony!

By the way, Happy FFIV release week! what a wonderful thing to see one of my childhood favorites re-released in a fresh format! I sincerely hope they give FFVI a similar treatment. Now thats an RPG, some of the best character development to date. And i still think it was the only game that broke away from the main character forumula (no silent hero who's ugly mug you always have to observe throughout the game). I'm curious, what are your thoughts on FFVI? One of the few games where i found almost every character loveable and very well developed, with what should be renown as the evilist bastard of a villian yet. I tend to find character development as a whole lacking in most RPG's, where a particularly interesting character is introduced but never fully explained. Only a few games have left me fully satisified with the way they handled their characters, FFVI and the Lunar series seem to head up that department in my books.
-Mark

Dear Oliver,

Yo. First time writer so... if things are not to your liking I apologize.

I have comments about your hot topics, of course, but before that, I must request help with my current predicament.

You see, I love Strategy RPGs... alot. On NIS' offerings along I've clocked well over 300 hours, and with the upcoming release of Disgaea DS (which has a much cooler subtitle in Japan), this will only go up. The Original Generation games are my absolute favorite games in all of the GBAs expansive library. I've beaten every Fire Emblem (save Radiant Dawn, which I am currently loaning to a friend) to come to America, and FFT and FFTA have both been nearly 100%'d... however, I digress.

Throughout all of this, I have experienced most of the range of Strategy RPGs, and loved all of them for their own unique reasons. However, I can't seem to get this same variety out of my regular RPG enjoyment. I have a terrible tendancy with standard RPGs to get about half way through the game and completely lose interest. In Final Fantasy IV Advance, I plugged along strongly until I got to the sealed cave, then completely lost interest when, after getting Ashura and Leviathan the Wall still crushed me every time. In Final Fantasy VI, after I get the party back together to protect the Esper in Narche I just stop enjoying the game, Chrono Cross keeps me longer, but around the time when I have to kill all the God Dragons I just stop enjoying the game. In fact, the number of straight RPGs (Defined as no action commands and no control over character movement, which tend to define Action and Strategy/Tactical RPGs) I've beaten can be counted on one hand: Final Fantasy I, II and V, and Chrono Trigger. I enjoy the games while I'm playing them, but eventually I just start feeling like the grind isn't worth in, in spite of the fact that, right up to that point, I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Any advice on games or techniques to help me expand my RPG experience would be appreciated.

However, moving on:

Girl Gamers definately exist, or at least my brother is married to one. Not being one myself, I suppose it's not too relevant, but the RPGs she plays most are the Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon Games.

As for the 360 port of FFXIII, I say hurrah, I was kind of worried about the investment into the 360 for just the upcoming Star Ocean game, Infinite Undiscovery and the other selections, mainly because I DO want to play Kingdom Hearts III at some point, but with the port announced, I think that the 360 has enough going for it to let me resist the sirens call of Disgaea 3... maybe a store around here will let me rent a PS3 when that comes out? I suppose I should say something about FFXIII itself too... I guess it looks interesting. I've never really been a fan of the sci-fi Final Fantasy's FFVII didn't do much for me, though FFVIII was somewhat better... Then again I haven't really kept up with it too much. As a whole, the game looks pretty, but I'm holding out for actual reviews before I decide to get it based on an idealistic concept that will get in my head a month before release that FFXIII will be the Final Fantasy I've been waiting for the whole time, and the fantastic marketing and reviews combine with the idea to convince me to get it on the first day, and inevitibly disapoint myself.

Concerning the Wii, I'm happy with the purchase, but only because I love the decidedly-not-an-RPG Trauma Center games to death. And if the constant hype will encourage developers not named Nintendo or Atlus to make excellent games for the system, I'm okay with it.

About Xenogears/Xenosaga... I like Xenogears... alot, the plot is amazing, the combat is good, and... had I not completely mucked up my training (hint: Don't rely on your gears too much, the last boss is F'ing HARD), it'd be the fifth standard RPG I've beaten. Xenosaga... I own all three of them, but the lingering feeling of "This isn't Xenogears" keeps me from really enjoying it, in fact I've yet to start II or III... though I may give it another shot, and keep in mind "this isn't Xenogears"... maybe I'll pretend it's made by Tri-Ace?

Finally, before I depart, let me add: Shame on you for not playing SRT. The Original Generation games are gems of video games.

MoogleGunner

"Girls do not play games." Yeah, tell that to me at age 6 when I was the only girl who had her OWN Nintendo in the class. Yes, OWN Nintendo, not something I had to share with older/younger brothers/sisters. (FWIW, my parents did buy it for me, but I paid for it out of a savings account that I had in my name.) Although I can only say I've been an RPG player for 13-14 years give or take, I'm a girl gamer first and foremost. I'm a fan in equal parts of both story driven games (RPG’s, the Ace Attorney and Trauma Center series) as well as open-ended games (Harvest Moon series, The Sims.) However, I am not into sports games, FPS'es and games like GTA (although I'm quite intrigued at the premise of Bully) seeing as that I'm more of a Nintendo fan than a Sony/Microsoft fan, so my definition of being a girl gamer falls short at that point.

And since I’m a girl gamer, there are some obvious things I need to confess to:

- My DS bag is pink (primarily).
- I was a closed beta tester for Hello Kitty Online.
- I owned Cooking Mama (I don’t own it anymore since it got traded in towards the purchase price of my Wii.)
- I play Dance Dance Revolution.
- I decorate my DS. (Right now it’s got a pattern of light green and clear crystal rhinestones on it from some sets I got at FYE for 88 cents a pop.)
- I have cosplayed as a video game character. (Maggey Byrde from the Ace Attorney games to be exact; I’ll probably dress as Shiki from TWEWY next year.)
- I’m a Final Fantasy VII fangirl (although I’ve never beaten the game.)

So Oliver: Girl gamers exist. You just have to LOOK REEEEEALLLLY HAAAARRRD.

- Bucket

Yo yo Oliver,

I am here to bash Xenogears as requested. Now first I'd like to say I did enjoy Xenogears, however there were some things that the game lacked. Such as gameplay on the second disk. A large portion of the second disk is spent with characters sitting in chairs explaining what happened next in the story. While an interesting story tactic, I really would have liked to have played some of the events. It was a stark contrast to the first disk. You went from playing every minute detail (almost too much detail) of the plot to going "Hey there was this HUGE event but you only get to see some pictures" Yeah...I wasn't a big fan of that. And if I recall correctly, when you did get to play, you couldn't enter half the areas on the world map.

Let's see what else didn't I like about that game? The pink thing was frankly disturbing with her love of Fei. Also, the game didn't agree with my PS2, it froze every few hours on me. I haven't had that kind of a problem with any other game other than the original Wild Arms.

The Xenosaga games felt more cohesive than Xenogears did to me. I would have liked to know better how episodes 1-3 related Xenogears. I know they aren't supposed to match up perfectly, as I believe they changed the plot around somewhat, but I am curious how it was originally supposed to go.

And I also hated Xenosaga II except for that last scene. It made me quite excited for the third. The third was my favorite, I loved the ending. No one I know actually got to the third one other than me mind you, but I enjoyed it and am dismayed on the lack of plans to continue it.

But enough about the Xeno series. I couldn't help noticing that apparently you are lacking in female gamers near you. I find that interesting as I have the oposite problem, in that all I can find around me are female RPGamers, very few male RPGamers. (Despite the handle I have choosen for myself I am female.) Most of the guys who play games around me have only played Final Fantasy. Which is disappointing. While good, they are not my favorites.

But enough about woes and Xeno I will stop writing so you may get to other letters. Enjoy your Persona 3-ing and remember that soylent green is people.
Regards,
S. Reinbach IV

8/04 - 1:00 AM CST
Gads, I am tired.

Shawn Cooper will be joining us for next week's column! You know him better as the almighty Lusipurr, former host of Q&Abuse! Yes, he is still alive... and he still has teeth. Send a few letters addressed to him, IF YOU DARE.

Are you all reeling from the shocking announcement in my latest Currents? I don't see how you can't be. No, I still have not decided which column I will drop. What do you all think?

Goodbye for the present!

-Oliver

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