I hate to be the one to tell you this, but when a man and woman wed, it is customary for the woman to adopt the man's last name rather than vice versa. Therefore, in the event that Strawberry Eggs and I were married, she would henceforth be known as Strawberry Montok. (Which, for some reason, sounds like an ice cream desert to me.)

Clarification once again: EvilPaul did not actually write that line you quoted. That was one of Ethan's infamous "edits." Pathetic, no? Twisting around the words of others in order to stroke his oversized ego.

FURTHER clarification: Ethan IS a woman.

I have never been one to jump on the "hate the 'emo' protagonists" bandwagon, for a couple of reasons. First, Cloud and Tidus are not even close to what I would call emo. Cloud has a few, very justifiable, emo moments in FFVII. The scene in the lifestream comes to mind, but that was serious stuff; he was essentially trying to piece his own past together. Overall, his character in the game is *far* from emo. Squall is a slightly different story, but once again, he wasn't just angsty for the sake of it. His character was very well done overall, and by the time the game ended, he was quite a different person.

Tidus wasn't emo in the least, and I have never understood this complaint. I really liked the guy, honestly; I thought he acted normally for someone who was thrown out of a plush sports-star lifestyle into an archaic, strife-ridden world nothing like his own.

I gotta go with story and characters here. The reason being, we haven't seen a flagship Final Fantasy title with a truly well-done story since Final Fantasy X waaaay back in 2001. X-2 was a massive disappointment, XII dropped the ball in the plot department, and spin-offs such as Dirge of Cerberus and the various Crystal Chronicles iterations just don't cut it. Crisis Core did have one hell of a story behind it though, I will say. So while I'm interested in seeing how this crazy new battle system works out, I'm hoping most of all that Square Enix tells a good story this time around.

Your letter ends rather abruptly, so I have a creeping suspicion that you, like so many others, may have fallen victim to RPGamer's malicious mail server. Either that, or Ethan managed to get to your letter while it was in cyberspace. Wouldn't surprise me. He's crafty like that.

Bahaha, believe me when I say that I heard that one. Homicide is not the answer, despite how tempting it seems at times. For some odd reason, our society seems to frown on murder, so for the sake of your job, I recommend a different way to relieve stress. Such as... writing to my column!

Looks like you're ahead of me on that one.

Wow. Those are some harsh words for FFX, and I can't really say that I agree with them... at all. To each his own, I suppose.

I will say that I don't really understand your complaint about switching characters in and out during battles. How is it any more annoying than having to do the same thing, but OUTSIDE of battle, like in every other Final Fantasy title? The ability to change characters out DURING combat was a blessing, plain and simple. It also contributed greatly to combat strategies, since all the characters were unique in their abilities.

I DO agree with you on gambits. I've always claimed that configuring gambits differently for different battles was one of the main strengths of combat in FFXII. It was complimented by the fact that it was entirely possible to issue manual commands at any time on top of that.

A game doesn't *need* to have a story on level with literature to succeed. It needs simply to be told well, paced well, and feature well-rounded characters.

Well... okay, that's a pretty bare-bones discussion of videogame narratives. There's more to it than that, but this is a discussion to be broken into many different pieces. By that I mean, I need YOU READERS to write in and tell me what YOU expect from a videogame's story.

You too, miss boomy. Thanks for writing.

Well, well, well, if it isn't our Editorials Curator, Sam Marchello, known also as Nyx!

It's Oliver today, my dear. Lucky for you, since I'm the gentleman. Work is such a bore, I know, so ask away.

What I want more than anything is hardly fit for print.

Nah, just kidding. I'm not that perverted, really.

How about a housemaid? Being a busy college student and whatnot, it's a bit difficult to keep this apartment of mine from wallowing in garbage 24/7.

Yeah, that sounds good. A housemaid! An attractive housemaid with dark hair, a pale complexion, a good work ethic... and willing to perform special tasks beyond the regular call of duty when required.

...

Okay, so I am that perverted.

Now that's a tough one. I must think carefully about this.

*Think think. Think think.*

I've gotta go with Tifa Lockheart from the immortal Final Fantasy VII. Very beautiful, at least in later entries of the FFVII compiliation such as Advent Children. Very strong, yet she has a soft side to her. An extremely steadfast friend to Cloud, no matter what the circumstances were. (And boy did they go through some circumstances.)

See, I'm not that perverted. I didn't say a thing about how large her breasts are.

Ugh... what's even coming out next year? I honestly don't know, so gimme a second for some on-the-fly research.

Well, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon seems to be coming early next year, and I'm pretty excited about that one. I do love me some Fire Emblem, lemme tell ya. I'm also pretty stoked about the upcoming console version of The Witcher, which I never played because I just don't do PC games for some reason. Dragon Age: Origins looks cool, and can we dare hope for Final Fantasy XIII next year?

Thanks for the letter Sam, and keep curating those editorials.

Me.

Now that's what I call short & sweet. My answer will be the same.

I find RPGs set in modern times refreshing. A nice change of pace, if you will. Persona 3, in particular, set an amazing tone with its realistic Japanese setting combined with some JRPG magic. Valkyria Chronicles accomplishes the same thing, although to a slightly lesser extent. Being a SRPG, you don't become quite as familiar with the world around you.

Thanks very much Bain_nick.