Matthew Demers - 21:49 EST

SOMETIMES, I WAKE UP and it feels a lot like I have an eyelash stuck in one eye, even though after an hour of searching and peering in the mirror like an idiot, it's evident that there isn't anything there. Dry eyes, I guess, but today's episode is driving me crazy.

I'm helping to run "Math Survivor" as a Frosh activity at the school today. It should be... interesting. Before then, I hope to answer some of your letters, so let's get started.

Matt,

My apologies for having slacked off so long about writing in. Since last we spoke, I finished grad school and got a teaching job in History, so fear not. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I guess the best way for me to keep my thoughts from meandering would be to take on the latest questions, so here goes.

RPG-loss stories: Well, one major story comes to mind. The first goes back a few years, when I was playing the first Lufia on. . less-than-legal means that I've since forsaken. At any rate, I didn't have class that day, so I'd devoted some significant time to the game, saving along the way. The problem came when a power blink reset everything in the computer lab. Much to my dismay, I found not only that my game was reset, but also the saves that I had made that day were all wiped out. Ouch.

Games I'm looking forward to: Given the fact that I only have a PS2, this list isn't all that long. I'll probably avail myself of Rogue Galaxy and Wild Arms 5 eventually, but not until they hop onto the bargain rack.

"Hi, I'm Yiazmat, and I have 50 million HP!": I guess this is a more general statement of my policy towards elite-level challenges in games. I'm in favor of them if they're not ridiculous. Yiazmat (FFXII) and the Abyss dungeons in WA3 and ACF are examples of ridiculous challenges. Not only are they prohibitively long and demanding, but they provide relatively little or no reward for the investment (although the Sheriff Star does offer some benefit if you can make it through another poor translation of ACF). The Nebilim battles in the recent Tales games, however, offer the prospect of powerful weaponry if you succeed.

Game glitches: The story on this one relates to one of the games on your list: Valkyrie Profile 2. As I played through the game, I found myself put off by a number of factors, but a major glitch made the game nearly unbearable. When I hit the middle and later stages of the game, cutscenes immediately following major boss battles refused to play. I could skip past them to resume game movement, but it did leave out major plot points that were difficult to divine through dialogue.

Best endings: A few come to mind. I've always enjoyed the ending to FFVI, but the fact that it's my favorite Final Fantasy probably biases that somewhat. Xenosaga III offered a poignant ending that still left the door wide open enough for fans to hope for more in the future. I also enjoyed Dragon Quest's (first) ending, if for no other reason than it was not the end!

*looks over the letter* Sheesh, looks like I've made up for lost time here. Well, I hope I can write in more regularly, and if that does happen, I'll try to tone them down in the future.

Sincerely,
Eric McLendon

Not to worry, Eric- it's just good to hear from you again. Thanks for the letter, of course!

I heard quite a few people complaining about the Allied AI in Persona 3; something about characters making stupid decisions. The great thing about the game is the further you go into it, the less you can blame the AI. There's a system in place that allows you to suggest moves for your partners. Let's call this system "The Gambit System". I just made that up.

On the main character's turn, you can set a "gambit" for each of the other characters. Then, when their turn comes around, they will follow the gambit you have set. At first, your choices are simple: Attack, Heal/Support, Wait. But, as you defeat bosses, more options are given to you. You can have them conserve SP (Magic Points), or have them attack the same enemy you do, or, my personal favorite, have them focus on knocking enemies down. And if your gambit no longer applies (Say, the enemy you targeted just died), they will instead do their normal attack, rather than flailing wildly at the air. I'm approaching the halfway point of the game, and there are very few times my comrades make stupid moves.. And when they do, it's generally my fault. I should have told them to do something different.

The best parts of the game, though, are all the different Personas. It's got a real "Gotta catch em all" feel to it; except instead of cute, fuzzy little pets, you're collecting mythical beasts and beings from religions around the world. And, instead of tossing a ball to summon your friends, you shoot yourself in the head. Well, pretend to. Either way, it's definitely more dramatic.

It's certainly the best new game I've played so far this year. We'll have to see how the last third of the year plays out. Right now, the only games that seem to have a chance to surpass it are Phantom Hourglass (of course) and Soul Nomad & the World Eaters (NIS does Ogre Battle, please oh please oh please oh please be good).

-MrMSTy

It sounds good. A lot of people have waited a long, long time for this game, too, so I'm glad that it's delivering! It might be good Christmas list material; can you believe it's almost that time of year?

As for your other upcoming games, I've heard that Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the best thing ever. I don't know how this can possibly be, given the sheer number of Zeldas that have been released by this point, but I'm still optimistic. As for NIS's new game? I'm not quite as optimistic as you are, and I hate to trounce your hopes... but don't you feel like every single NIS tactical RPG has felt more or less identical to the one before it? I have difficulties believing that this one will shake up the formula, but you never know.

Merci, Monsieur.

HmmmI haven't written in for over a year so thought i'd give it a go. About sexuality in videogames i really think sony is really dropping the ball on this one. One reason final fantasy was not so eager to stick with nintendo was censor-ship. Also one of the selling points of their console is the more mature games. And how two of their flagship series GoW and GTA have sex mini-games. Factor in how the new Manhunt game [which is now mature] has some scenes which are far more hard-core then anything ever released in way of violence. But on the flip-side I'm highly worried if this does become true in which nudity is in Rpgs, maybe it would get more pigeonholed. Such as shun more mainstream gamers to rpg games. To many it is still a hard for core gamers to pick up an rpg, and if many start to feature this sorta material it might be a sliding slope to the J-dating sims. Basically it would be nice to not have them remove scenes ala Xenosaga 1 but not get into the explict games out in the market. Actually about Xenosaga it is rumoured that Kos-mos might be playable in some other games, becuase they have a great pre-made world, a core-base and throw in some hack and slash action - rpg. You might have a great game, hell she was playable in Soul Caliber 4. Any other character who would be good in a non-rpg format to draw gamers into its series? You also brought up madkatz controllers do you even reccomend them for a very casual gamer for the gamecube?

I absolutely loved that bio idea be kinda cool if more people adopted once to get to know some peoples taste abit more.

One last question which is your most wanted game on the 360? wii? ps3? Ds? And lastly Psp?

Cheers Daniel.

Oh man. The 360? It was Blue Dragon, until I heard that it was rather unfantastic in the end. I'd say Eternal Sonata. For the Wii, I'm dying to play the new Fire Emblem, which apparently won't be called Goddess of Dawn in North America after all. The ONLY game that I really want to play for the PS3 is Final Fantasy XIII, though that's based purely upon the one trailer that we've become familiar with over the past eighteen months. For the DS, the answer is Dragon Quest IX, pure and simple, though there are several other games that I'm anticipating with excitement. And for the PSP, I've heard good things about Brave Story, but at the same time, those new screens for Crisis Core display a surprisingly exciting Zack. Hmm, hmm. I almost want one of the little handhelds, dammit.

Thanks for writing in, Daniel!

Hi Matt,

I think I forgot to say that full actions in DDS games use half turns whenever they are available, but if it were to hit a weakness, you would turn a second turn into a half turn (so you can have 3 half turns if you do it right).

About the sex thing... The new Conan game has sexual buffs. In other words, by getting laid you get stronger for a set period of time. I can't imagine how many pre-teens and teens will jump all over this aspect of the game. I swear—The more mature the game, the less mature the players.

My definition of hard: Not only do the bosses kill you, but so can regular encounters. Even if prepared. Games are "unfair" if the boss has a randomly used attack that can pretty much wipe the party out in one hit (think Big Bang from FFIV, unless you leveled like mad), or just a party-hitting instant death attack. Games that are hard to pick up are "unplayable", "infuriating", "stupid" or "annoying". "Unenjoyable" also works. I am not a challenge seeker like Matt, but I do like knowing there is a little bit of a risk involved. As good as Brave Story is, it is on the "easy" side.

I did the same thing as you with Dragon Warrior III. I rented it like 15 times as a kid. I got like 90% of the way through the game and then had to bring it back because we were going away for a weekend. I returned to the store the next chance I had... and my game was gone. Replaced by a party of dead level 1s with names like: "Dude", "****", "You" and "Haha". I was pissed. I begged the store to just sell me the game (no other place had it at all), and they refused. I never did get back into it until the GBC version was released.

I don't have anything constructive to say in response to your hot topics, so I will just wrap it all up here. Have a great day, Matt! May you be primed for a third Metroid soon!

Regards,

Sean

Primed I am! I've played the first little bit, but I'm not sure that I like the new setup... the camera is more than a little bit dizzymaking than it used to be, and I wound up with a headache after playing for just a couple of hours. (It could have been a headache due to something else, but it made playing the game highly unpleasant.)

Thanks Sean... May people send you a ton of letters for the weekend!

Matt, glitches generally don't affect your game unless they're "Crash" glitches, which of course will end your game whether you like it or not. I think glitches are fun. I enjoyed watching the FF6 (FF3 US) speed run on speeddemosarchive.com. The guy uses basically every glitch in the game to win in the fastest time possible.

There is a glitch in South Figaro - When the story splits into the 3 scenarios, during Locke's scenario, you can go right and up from the starting point (When the guard's back is turned). When he's about to turn around, enter the menu. When you exit the menu, you will be past the guard. You can complete the scenario without recruiting Celes. (Applies to SNES version only). She gets replaced with one of the moogles from Locke's scenario. Check out this Youtube video for an example of it.

I like the "Vanish/Doom" glitch. For readers not familiar, Vanish is a spell that makes the target vulnerable to magic, but immune to physical attacks. If you use Vanish on someone, any spell targeting them will always hit. Doom is the FF6 instant death spell. Needless to say, it's an extremely deadly combination, and works on most bosses.

Another not-so-well known glitch is the "Psycho Cyan" glitch. See this Youtube video for details. Under certain circumstances, Cyan will begin attacking the enemies endlessly. He won't stop until all are defeated. How they ever figured this out is beyond me.

Hope you enjoyed that bit of nostalgia.
Flamethrower

Heh heh- absolutely, Flamethrower! As I mentioned, there are -plenty- of things that are messed up with that game, but despite them all, it remains a masterpiece. Thanks for the links and the letter!