Yo Pretty Kitty,

I figured I would write in, since I haven't wrote a letter to Q&A in a few months. Anyway, I have an ACTUAL question (gasps). I'm currently knee-deep in FF9 and Shenmue, and I only have $50 to spend before Christmas. There are 3 RPGs I want right now, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, and Lunar 2. I'm sure I want to save Grandia II for Christmas, so which other game should I ask for for Christmas, Lunar 2 or SoA??? In other words, should it be a Dreamcast Christmas or a Game Arts Christmas???

-XenoFreak

Cheshire Catalyst:
To choose between Lunar 2 and Skies of Arcadia? Gah! Why must I choose?!
Ahem. Ok, I haven't played Skies of Arcadia. If you're a regular reader of this column, you know that Googleshng loves SoA more than Oxygen itself. From what she says, it looks to be a lot of fun. Very interactive, very innovative. Lunar 2, on the other hand, while not anything that revolutionary, looks to be damn pretty. Lunar: TSSSC remains as one of my favorite games.
So if you really like those old school games like FFIV, Dragon Warrior, and the like, get yourself some Lunar 2. But if you're looking for something new and different, pick up Skies of Arcadia.
All you can do is look into your heart and find the right choice!

Hi, Chesire Catalyst I will like to say I'm a Spanish gamer. In Europe. On that corner on the left, downwards. I say this because you may confuse me with a South American gamer.

I would like to say I love Rpggamer. Thanks to it I know a lot more about Rpgs. Here in Spain its Final Fantasy and nearly anything more. But I think there should be more reviews on rpggamer. Half of the games have no reviews and many times we don't know how a game really is.

My first question is about playstation games.I will like you to give me your personal opinion about 1. Torneko 2.Persona 2:Eternal Punishment 3. Rpgmaker 4.Final Fantasy IX 5.Valkyrie profile. I was going to import the five of them but I'm not sure about 1 and 3. Any other suggestions as to what to import( I only have FFVIII(wonderful;my first RPG) Vagrant Story(Very good also; turned better towards the end) Legend of Dragoon(My favourite for the moment; I love its plot and setting)

Second of all I will like you to answer me some questions about dreamcast.Do you think Dreamcast will be a RPG platform or not really? Do you think after SoA,Shenmue, Grandia II and Phantasy Star Online there would be very innovating games in the future? Which of the four I have mentioned do you most recommend me taking into account I prefer going into the story directly, and not playing a lot of minigames as in Shenmue(Would they be good?)If I import Phantasy Star Online, could I play if there wasn't any European server? As my game will be American,I will have to connect to the US server? Taking into account I'm surely going to import some of the Playstation games, would I have time to play also the Dreamcast games.

Finally, do you know when Eithea and DQVII are launched in America? thank you for answering me in advance(je je)and sorry for the English.

-Cesar Sainz de Vicuña Alonso

Cheshire Catalyst:
Nice to get your letter! We try to do as many reviews as we can, but sometimes they aren't enough. That's one reason we opened the Points of View section. ;)

I haven't heard too much about Torneko or Persona 2. RPGMaker is interesting, but tedious. It's a great creative outlet though. Valkeryie Profile is well liked. But FFIX is definetly the best choice out of the five.

What else should you import? Try and get your hands on a copy of Lunar: The Silver Star Story or Final Fantasy VII. Grandia is an excellent game, as is Suikoden 2 and Wild Arms 2.

The Dreamcast looks promising. It's still a fairly new system. Skies of Arcadia looks great, as is Grandia 2. I'm not sure about European servers, though. We'll have to wait for further developments as the game is tranlated.

Will you have time? I think only you can answer that. :)

I know this is kinda late, but my favorite RPG moment was last night, when my little brother got to the part in FFIX when Alexander beat the crap out of Bahamut, and he stared, mouth open, at the screen for a while until he dropped the controller on his foot, which prompted him to jump away... onto the PSX. He knocked it off the shelf and screwed up the game, and it was like a half hour since he saved it. Truly, a classic RPG moment in my eyes

^_^
~Casey Edwards~

Cheshire Catalyst:
Little brothers. Hahaha. So much fun....

Hey Cheshy,

Today, while changing discs in FF9, I noticed the back of the instruction manual, and something caught my eye: the art of two characters on the back. The male is obviously Zidane, but the woman looks exactly like the drawing of Celes Chere from the old FF6 instruction manual! Am I right, or am I just WAY off base here?

-AP Non-toxic (Just like crayons!)

I finally beat Front Mission 3! Aren't you proud of me?

Sincerely,
Insanerest of AOL

(wipes a tear from his eye)
Oh, Insanerest, you did it! You really did! Now we won't have to sell the farm, we can pay the bail for your brother, and we can buy your father the prosthetic crotch he needed!

Hey CC,
I'm at the point in FF 9 that I don't want to do to much more without finishing the side quests. My question is I can't find the Scorpio sign. Expert Gamer says it's in Quan's dwelling. I went to the Qu's marsh several times, but didn't find nothing, and the guys name is Quale. Where is it, because I must be way of coarse? I don't remember any other dwelling, or someone named Quan.
Help me Obi-Wan your my only hope.
-The Great Cornholio

Quan is the name of Vivi's adoptive grandfather. He's a Qu, like Quina. His dwelling is to the east of Treno in a small cul-de-sac of mountains.

Many millenia ago, there was a standard mythology debate in this column about Odin, more specifically, the number of legs Slepnir was supposed to have. I believe he was s'posed to have eight, but they only rendered him with six legs in the Final Fantasy series. Now I bought the ArtFX Final Fantasy 8 Odin action figure, and I noticed there are two bloody stumps where there should be an extra pair of legs. I just thought that bit of information necessitated reporting.

-Andrew Egerton

The Last Laugh: