Matthew Demers - 18:01 EST

I MANAGED TO SIT DOWN with my "brand-newest" game last night. That's right! Disgaea 2 has hit a Matt'sBasementApartment near you, and I've got two hours of playing time on the clock. Those darn video game companies can try all they want, but I won't fall prey to their backlog-lengthening ways! For now.

I have to say that playing Nippon Ichi Tactical RPGs is quite like riding a bike. No matter how long it's been since the last time you've played one, sit down with one for about five minutes, and it'll alllll come flooding back. My personal happiness to this point? They brought the silly shop music back! Yay!!!

One more column will finish the week for me. It's time to begin!

Your incredibly cruel question about the Lunar: Silver Star Story blooper reel reminded me that Alex in that game was voiced by Ashley Angel, later of the manufactured boy band O-Town. He was probably the first "celebrity" RPG voice (albeit AFTER he did the game).

That led me to thinking about other celebrities in video games, from Dean Cain of Grandia Xtreme to the star-studded Kingdom Hearts series. What's your favorite "stunt casting" in an RPG? What's your least?

Here's another question: aside from being related directly to FF7, is Dirge of Cerberus really an RPG? It doesn't sound like one to me.

Well, it apparently has a number of customability options, a number of different weapons, and I read somewhere that there's magic, too. But largely, no. Most sites are calling it a shooter, without an RPG nor a slash preceding it. I guess that you're right, then; the reason we're covering it is chiefly because its predecessor was most definitely an RPG, so the people most likely to be excited about it would be (or should be?) the fans of the original game, and since this is "home" for many of those people, there you have it. RPGamer is here to serve! (Did that babbly sentence even make sense?)

After your comment on Dragon Breath it reminded me of a funny footnote in one of my Baldurs gate Booklets (Or books if you want to be exact). What makes a good booklet?

Is it the bits of comedy that can sometimes be found lurking at the end of sentences, the pretty pictures that go with the controls, the effort (or lack of) that makes the player of the game actually read it instead of going head into the game.

I'll say it now that I have read through Bauders Gate II's 258 booklet, no mean feat, but what makes a gamer want o read something that is longer then most VCE texts (though actually a lot more interesting).

For the Baulders gate II book they are basically explaining the rules of AD&D to the new comer, who like me had never before been to the world of Fearun or the universe of Dungeons and Dragons.

Most Nintendo 64 booklets had multitudes of colour in them, computer games in general were lucky if they gave you a quick card or map with there books of monstrosities, though in modern days the booklet is a far better tool then am internet page (meaning some people cannot read the booklet if they need it in a hurry.

I guess that's the difference between console and pc games in general. Console games, even the bad nes at least try to give you all the info you need with a booklet where PC games just don't!

Bainick will end his letter with Volo's quote on Dragon Breath, he was going to do the quote for Earthquake but little kids could be reading it.

"I nearly perfected this spell myself, after consuming a surprisingly hot stew of Calimshan peppers washed down with a bottle of spiced Amnian wine. Though perhaps Dragon's Belch would be more accurate in this case" - Volo

"I do noy know how i can even begin to respond to that comment" - Elminister

296: C
297: D So thats how the Poker machine owners did it, start them off young and have 'em for life.

Bainick

Thanks, Bainick, as always!

What do the rest of you think about instruction manuals? Necessary? Superfluous? Fun to read?

Hey Matt,

My two cents are coming your way today. Please watch out for falling objects.

Oh and grats on beating Lunar and Radiata Stories. Gimme my Lunar back now and I’ll send you 2 and 3. :D

I too loved Dirge of Cerberus. The controls sucked, but I switched to a mouse and keyboard, which totally rectified the situation for me. If more FPS’s played like it does and had the same love put into them, I would start playing more of them. The bonus missions would be fun with friends, but alone they suck. It was worth it at launch, but right now Xenosaga 3 is the better choice. Or 1 and 2 if you don’t have them already.

My war on backlog took a turn for the worse. Forgetting the addition of Xenosaga 3 (which I am loving by the way, but you know this), and Disgaea 2, a total of 16 games were added to my collection in the last few weeks (a bunch purchased off of ebay, and even more bought used – classics like Sly Cooper, etc). And Titan Quest is still not done, sigh.

Speaking of which, do you ever schedule your backlog play order? I find myself doing that now. Right now it is… Xenosaga 3 -> Ratchet and Clank -> Titan Quest -> Atelier Iris -> Heroes of Might and Magic 5. Of course Valkyrie Profile 2 and the other new games I get will position themselves into that list as they arrive. Sigh… too many games, not enough time. I also have a similar list for DS/GBA games.

SOCK: guesses: d and c.

Have fun!

~~~Sean~~

Definitely!! As you'll recall, my plan earlier this summer was to get through Radiata Stories so that I could vault back to Shadow Hearts and get through it. Well, that didn't happen, as you know, because of the Lunar thing, and a little treasure called the Fire Emblem series.

Now, I try to keep something on the go in both my portable world and console world. Right now, my portable backlog looks like this:

Fire Emblem GBA --> Metroid Prime Hunters --> DQH: Rocket Slime (?)/Contact(?)/Children of Mana(?) --> FFIII --> FFV --> Yoshi's Island 2

Maybe. Metroid Prime Hunters is a huge maybe, since I've had difficulty staying focused on the game, and there are altogether too many other delicious looking games being hurled at me left and right. That bunch in the middle is just not clear to me at all at this time. Consoles look like this right now:

Disgaea 2 --> Grandia 3 --> Xenosaga: Episode III --> Valkyrie Profile 2 (?) --> Final Fantasy XII --> Rogue Galaxy (?)

The wild cards in this whole thing are, of course, the elements thrown at me by real life. In no way will I have the time to just sit on my ass and play RPGs all day long for the next three months, so something is going to have to give. I don't intend on giving up my social life or academic career for the sake of funfungames, as attractive as that might seem to me sometimes.

Anyway, thanks for the e-mail, Sean, and thanks for being my black-market supplier of hard-to-find games... as well as for donating a few to the contest!

~Mister Matt~

Or, should I say "Master Matt"...

....or "Meister Matt"...

....or...

Matt ...or... MAGIC EMPEROR MATT!!

....Ahem. This is my first letter to grace the pixels of Q&A, so I decided to initiate my status as "Contributor" instead of "Reader" with a fairly interesting, if not novel, subject. And I will attempt, to the best of my ability, to include a question somewhere in this letter. Well, shall I begin?

You answered that, did you not? Regardless, I would like to discuss one of the most memorable and interesting events of the RPG worlds I have been immersed in. I expect that you will extract some substantial nostalgia from the details I have yet to mention, so bearing through my long-winded introduction should be worth your while. (What? To the point? Yes, yes, I'm getting to that..)

--To brighten your job, I present to you the beginning of a work of fanfiction that is yet to be named, which I created entirely while writing this letter to you.--

It was a dark and stormy night--

Wait, let me rephrase...

The night was bleak, obscured by the ominous fog that rolled slowly through the pale blue streets, guided aimlessly by a cold, howling wind. The unending wave of mist drifted past old, worn shingles, weak from the unrelenting gusts, past the dulled wood of doors and shutters, their finish long lost to the abrasive breeze.

The steady, monotonous rhythm of man's lifeless creations echoed throughout the dark alleys, steel upon steel, accompanied by the sudden, snake-like hisses of steam that often pierced the air. But the metallic metronomes that turned water into warmth were offset by another similar, though more powerful sound, the steady thumps of rock-hard alloy striking the earth, growing louder over time, like a herd of metal beasts stampeding through the gloom of the industrial town.

"Hey, Vicks." The uniformed man glanced uncomfortably toward his twin.

Vicks glanced back. "Yeah?"

"What's up with this girl?" he complained. "She hasn't spoken a word. Not one. She's like a doll, and she's creeping me out."

"Man, you forget everything!" Vicks said impatiently. "That lunatic Kefka put that crown on her head, made her a slave, blah, blah... so yeah, she's pretty much his puppet. But you know that already! I shouldn't be explaning this to you, you were there when they told us."

"Oh yeah... I shoulda remembered that." the man said sullenly.

"Seriously, Wedge," Vicks remarked. "you gotta pay more attention to stuff. One of these days you're gonna forget your orders and get us both killed!"

Wedge looked annoyed. "Yeah, I guess... Anyway, have you ever seen hair like that? I mean, it's GREEN. That's pretty weird."

"Way to change the subject." Vicks retorted.

"Whatever. Don't you think she'd look better without this stupid hat? Wedge turned his akwardly huge Magitek Armor toward the girl.

"What?!?" yelled Vicks, as he stared helplessly while Wedge reached out and touched the girl's crown.

To Be Continued... possibly in the Fanfiction section on this site, if I ever get around to finishing it.

Now the question. What do you think the beginning of Final Fantasy 6 (the part I added to in my composition)? Would you consider it one of the more memorable moments of your gaming history?

Also, if you don't mind, tell me one of your favorite gaming moments.

Yes, it was a long and overly artistic letter, but I had to go all out for my first contribution to Q&A.

I apologize.

Unless you don't mind.

In that case, you're welcome.

~Jopin~

Jopin... I mind only if you mind! Incidentally, I think I just made the longest response ever in Q&A, but that's a story I just had to tell. No matter how old I get, I'm sure that I'll look back on that very moment and remember how incredibly much I loved Dragon Warrior 2 at that point. It'll be one of my favourite games for always~

Anyway, sorry to steal the scene from you, kinda, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about one of my most cherished RPG moments! I'm sure a lot of you have your own stories to tell. Care to share?

Hello, Hello, Hello. It's essay time, Matt; I'm here to try and answer one of my own questions from a letter I sent in last week.

Namely, what is it about the Kingdom Hearts games that many gamers-myself included-just love? Well, I think I've come up with some answers, and I can at least tell you what it is I have enjoyed about the games.

I put off the original Kingdom Hearts forever. I kept telling myself that I would give it a try one day, but it just never seemed to take priority. But it finally did one day, in a store, when I saw a new, sealed Greatest Hits copy for a mere $20.

The game engaged me for various reasons, and I played through the entire thing in a couple of weeks. (45 hours if I remember correctly.) I wasn't blown away, but I certainly was interested in seeing how it would continue.

You see, the reason the original Kingdom Hearts is so engaging is mostly because it's such an ingenious concept. I know this has been said before, but the strange blend of influences from both Disney and Square really creates an atmosphere that's hard to ignore. As a Final Fantasy fan, the cameo appearances by Squaresoft characters are always something to geek out over. There's just something incredibly cool about meeting Squall, (known as Leon in the Kingdom Hearts games), and fighting him. There's something immensely entertaining about the fact that Cloud is in the service of Hades from Hercules, and is commissioned to kill you. It is just incredibly awesome that Sephiroth is an optional mega-boss, and One-Winged Angel plays while you battle him.

It's somewhat hard to explain, but I think you can catch my meaning, intelligent as you are.

Kingdom Hearts is also engaging for its plot. The original game is relatively short on it, but towards the end of the game it really picks up, and Square once again shows there skill in telling a fine tale. However, the story does suffer from the frequent visits to the Disney worlds. These Disney worlds are nothing more than fillers, and the little mini-stories contained therein do absolutely nothing to advance the main plot. They will certainly please fans of Disney's films, but they tend to seriously drag down the pacing of the plot. It's a little ironic, actually, considering that the Disney influence is intended to be the meat of the game.

But the reason Kingdom Hearts just isn't for everyone is because of its rather shallow gameplay, mostly concerning its combat. That isn't to say that you can't have fun playing it, because you certainly can, but the gameplay is really quite minimal in comparison to other RPG's. The combat is just far too simplistic and repetitive for many to enjoy, myself included. It's too bad Squaresoft couldn't back up their great concept and story with some solid gameplay.

A year or so later, along comes Chain of Memories. What a strange entry indeed. Chain of Memories is still an enjoyable, (and necessary) entry in the series. But the gameplay has taken a huge step down from what was already pretty mindless. What makes Chain of Memories so entertaining is, without question, the story it tells. In this respect it actually outdoes its predecessor. Yes, the disney worlds are still there, (even more useless and annoying than before), but the plot outside of those levels is what keeps the game moving. The plot is rather like a big prologue to Kingdom Hearts II, a lot of questions and few answers, but this is hardly a bad thing. Strangely enough, I found myself comparing the style of storytelling to FFVIII, in the way that it relies heavily on dramatic dialogue and moments. The ability to play as Riku after finishing Sora's path is an excellent addition, and feels more like the second chapter of the game rather than a tacked-on extra.

BTW, I have read a few letters from readers who call Sora's story a "lame rehash of the first game." Unless they're talking about the little disney sublots, I have no clue what they could mean, because the new story concerning Sora, Organization XIII and Castle Oblivion is completely original.

I am roughly 8 hours into KH2, so I can't say much except that I am engaged. It seems that, like COM, storytelling is emphasized above all else in KH2, which is not a bad thing at all. The prologue of the game, (which is close to five hours long, I won't spoil the specifics), is absolutely spectacular. From what I've seen so far, KH2 also does a better job of integrating the disney worlds into the main plot. Basically they've combined the fine storytelling of COM with the stylish atmosphere of the first game, and the result is definitely better than either of its predecessors.

But I'm afraid to say that the gameplay isn't much better than before. The inclusion of new features like Reaction Commands, Drives, and Limits certainly make the combat more diverse and interesting, but not any deeper. The reaction commands, for example, are there purely for the cinematic aspect; they make things look cool. However it requires no skill or timing to pull them off.

I hope you enjoyed my little (long) essay. In finality, Kingdom Hearts is a great concept, and it tells a very interesting story, but it needs some solid gameplay to back it up for it to truly be called "great".

Thanks,
Oliver

Definitely! Thanks for the time you took to write it. I'm sure that many readers will appreciate your insight. While I'd say that most of the people who will ever play Kingdom Hearts and its sequels probably already have, there might be a few people out there sitting on the idea of picking up KHII, at least. Perhaps your miniature review-of-sorts will be exactly what person x needs to make that decision!

Take care, Oliver, and have a great weekend.

Anything big planned for the 300th SOCK?

--

Alexander M. DeMichiei

Well, Alex, you'll have to take a look below!

Indeed, a little bonus is in store, and this might provide some people with a great chance to make a big move in the standings! Whoo-hoo!!

I discovered the most delightful news, everybody!

Back at the beginning of this year, NIS America had a "Random Name Campaign" in which people were encouraged to submit suggestions for the hundreds of random names you can encounter of enemies and allies alike in Disgaea 2. I submitted my five: Sunshine, Billary, Broccoli, Budevay, and Zyxenfryx. I was lucky enough to have the last one of the bunch chosen as part of the "Final 100" on which people voted. The Top 20 were supposed to be included in the game, and my Zyxenfryx ended up the 16th most popular choice!!

Thus, if you happen to see that name on your travels through the netherworld, you'll know where it came from: Yours truly! I nearly died when I discovered this earlier tonight, because I had just about forgotten that I participated all the way back then. Isn't that neat??

#298. e) Papua New Guinea - 500 points
There! I did it! A real-life Final Fantasy XI question, made up by me! I'm so proud. Of course, this one should have been pretty easy to research, if you had a few extra minutes to do so.

#299. e) Tethys and Amelia - 550 points/1,100 for Kharamain
So apparently, I'm not the only one playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones these days! This question said "throughout the empire's reach," but that really referred specifically to the name of Chapter 5, in which it was possible to find Tethys and Amelia, two characters who would only join you LATER in the quest! Of course, researching for this in FAQs was probably fruitless, since their "cameos" were fairly insignificant in this chapter, and every one I checked out to research the answer lent very few clues to the correct one. Thanks for the submission, Kharamain!

#300:
Which of the following does not belong? (1,000 points)

a) Ember, Mars
b) Bane, Venus
c) Flood, Neptune
d) Hail, Mercury
e) Smog, Jupiter

Happy 300th question! Can you believe it's been this long? Obviously, the point totals are a little higher than they usually are; I thought I'd give you all a little treat for the big 300! Can you capitalize on this golden opportunity? Best of luck to all of you!

STRAGGLERS:
(people who I love, but who still need to check their e-mail or somehow get in touch with me because they have unclaimed items- if you fall off the list after a week, it's TOO LATE FOR YOU! Check your spam/trash folders for my messages if you're not getting them, and I'll check mine, too!)

• none to speak of!

That wraps it up for this week!

But that doesn't mean you have to stop writing in! Josh is more than willing to accept any letters you're willing to throw at him. There's all sorts of great topics to talk about, from the new releases of Disgaea II and Xenosaga Ep III, to the numerous upcoming games. What do you think of the near future? When do you think the Wii will be released? Why do you think Nintendo has kept silent about it for so long?

I'll return next Tuesday. You're in great hands until then! Adios, everyone, and have a great weekend.

***Matt thinks that it's time to get the ball rolling, whatever that means.