Since when have you had a car? Unless of course you decided to go out and get your lisence between Sept. and now. As far as your AFD shenanigans go, there, there, every day is AFD when you're around. Laughter, jokes, innocent bystanders made into a delicious pie as they are lowered into a pit of lava. No worries there, bub. I do have a little news for you, I've decided to go to OCAD for college. Not because of you, per say, but because I'm a terribly auspicious man who has needs and wants that little old two-barn-town can't deliver. And by delivery, if it's not there in 10 mins. you get a free picture of Shroudie. I take it you're now infatuated with Warcraft III: Army Badgers from Space, huh? According to my research, by taking I-90 W 45 km, and then directly heading towards the direction of the sun, you'll get to Mexico by sundown. Now everyone knows that Mexico sells the best mineral salts for your tea, so you'll have to beat back the crowd with that human leg hidden under your bed. Now let me in before the damp, dampness causes me to shiver and be all cold-like.

*shivers*,

O' Shrouded One

ANDREW OCAD? The school whose architect decided that a giant shoebox supported by paintbrushes was a good design concept? But... That's less than fifteen minutes from where I live! Clearly, I must uproot and flee before it's too late. Or at least, stick around and show you around town, since i'll probably still be completing my three-year program by the time you get here. Also, Kitsune says "hi".

Funny thing, I noticed that two of your e-mails were in response to a mistake. If you did more mistakes, you might have a busier column!

ANDREW Yeah, but then I'd look like a big idiot. Don't even say it... Besides, I maintain that it wasn't a mistake, since technically falling through the back of Ganon's room could be construed as jumping.

So, I've been looking at Paper Mario 2 stuff. While I admit, what I see is AWESOME. I am a wee dissapointed. The beauty of the so-called Mario RPG series is that each game was unique in that is had a different developor and had little to do with the previous. However, PM2 is going to be like a direct sequel to the first game, which is odd. What are your thoughts?

-Masamune (I couldn't find the Undead and the Alliance... ;_;)

ANDREW My thoughts are that one FF development philosophy is quite enough for me. I have faith that however closely related the development staff and naming may be, Nintendo will make sure it's good, because let's face it - Nintendo doesn't put its name on very many bad games. As to what I think about it, well - I think it looks pretty good, and having never played the original Paper Mario, any incidental similarities between the two won't be too noticeable for me. Most of all, though, I'm glad it didn't turn out to be an AFD joke. Speaking of which, I guess I should whip some newsies into action, since they released those screens yesterday and all. Now where's my cat-o'-nine-tails...?

Castiavelli! So, you fancy yourself a strategy guide now? May Brady Games smother you with 1,000 Runes of Smelling Really Bad!

Anywhat, let us talk of the Squarenix merger, for now that so much time has passed, I can form a good opinion on the whole thing. And that is: it resulted in inferior games.

Case in point: the Final Fantasys. Square gave us FFX and FFTactics. Squarenix gave us FFX-2 and FFTactics Advance. While the sequels are still enjoyable, their lack of story made me run back to the originals.

Of course, some good will come of it. Looking at the screenshots of Dragon Warrior 8, it looks like Square convinced Enix to do something different. While I loved the whole DW series, the changes intregue me so.

Anythat, what's your opinion?

NeoCarbuncle
The average April Fools' joke contains 3g of fat and 250 calories. Please use sparingly.

ANDREW I opine that while Enix's crappy interface design and lack of attention to graphics has a certain Luddite charm, it's high time the series modernized just a little, because quite frankly I shouldn't have to push an extra button to go down stairs when Final Fantasy innovated that into the stone age seventeen years ago. Also, I found a spelling error in Dragon Warrior VII. Rico and Doug spelled "of" backwards. Uweehehehe!

Castiavilla! It's Mr. giantupmybutt! How you bez? We deserve a break! Eating pudding with a spoon!

If you recognize both quotes, you need to get out more.

Anywhy, April Fools is upon us! I am saddened by the lack of fake reviews. I should have written one, who cares if I'm a summon/eidolon/GF/cute thing?

Just for ha has, what was your all-time favorite April Fools thing done on this site?

Oh, and... um, when's Shadow Hearts 2 coming out? (Sorry, couldn't resist! ^_^; )

NeoCarbuncle
Ted Woolsey makes me cry ;_;

ANDREW It's hard to say, but since I was involved and all, and I am an egotistical maniac, I'll have to go with our mildly convincing Chrono Break scam of yesteryear, which I kind of gave away by photoshopping admiral Ackbar's head onto a FFXI tonberry.

Hmm, that went off-topic rather quickly. Anyway, do you have a favorite underappreciated RPG? Mine's Okage. The first RPG for the PS2, it was quickly forgotten after the advent of higher-profile titles like FFX. Still, it had a fun, quirky art style, lots of humour, and a story that got surprisingly deep near the end.

Keep up the great work, and say hi to Shroudie for me. I want an invitation to the wedding!

Kitsune

ANDREW Actually, I'm pretty sure that outside of Montreal and Quebec City, there's a lot of people in Quebec who can't speak English at all, but I have to agree that I will forever hate the instruction manual thing thanks to the delay it caused in my getting Final Fantasy IX. My favorite underappreciated RPG would have to be Breath of Fire V, which gets a lot of respect, but not as much as it deserves. I really think that game should have been the bestseller last year, but it got eclipsed quickly by other, more high-profile games.