Josh - 4:21 CST

Beat FFIII the other day. Finally. I don't remember having so much trouble on the final boss in the original version. Sheesh.

Working on a combination of Portrait of Ruin, Seiken Densetsu 3, and F.E.A.R. right now. Pretty close with PoR, and about 3/4 done with F.E.A.R. Maybe halfway done with SD3. I forget how long that game is.

Also, what post office is closed on Saturday? I was going to mail out THONG stuff, and this is the first Post Office I've ever been to that's closed on a Saturday. Sheesh.

Arros Raikou is hosting on Monday, so don't forget to send him some mail along with stuff for me! :)

Dear Ouro

It's a pleasure writign in again! Anyway, when I checked RPGamer earlier today, I noticed that, at the top of the homepage, there are options to view the site in different languages. Is this something that was just recently implemented, or has it been there for a long time? (If the answer is that latter, then I'm definitely not that sharp, having never realized it before...)

Anyway, if last week's topics are still open
* Any series you'd like to see a sequel for?
Megaman Legends. I'm DYING for a Megaman Legends 3...

* Any games you're playing that you think other people should be playing? Why?
Megaman Legends. It's SO underrated.

* Give me some inventive ways to use my DS stylus.
Maybe it's no too inventive of an idea, but have you ever played Rez or Okami? I think that DS installments of those games would rock!

* We've got that Wiimote thingy. There are plenty of videos out there of people using it to do goofy things. What would you like to see it used for in a game?
Wii installments of the aforementioned games would also rock. Furthermore, I feel that there aren't any console light gun games that really make you feel the recoil of the gun that you fire. When the Wii remote is place in the Zapper, I'm hoping that it can rumble when you press the fire button. Maybe the rumble could even be enhanced when placed in the Zapper. Maybe it won't perfectly simulate the feeling of firing a gun, but it would go a long way. That would also establish a universal light gun controller for Wii games, so that people won't have to make their own light gun peripherals. I so wish a Megaman Legends 3 game could play this way

Alan
To quote Steampunk, “Megaman Legends and Tron Bonne forever!!!!”

Matt/Ouro,

Someone needs to explain Ar tonelico to me. RPGamer describes Ar tonelico as "...[Y]ou create your own heroine and bond with her through an unforgettable journey exploring the world of the Levatiel." For the record, that would be four kinds of awesome. However, everything I've read about it at the official site mentions nothing of the sort.

What exactly do we know about Ar tonelico?

Carabbit

Hey Matt/Ouro/Random Other Host,

I'm an occasional Q&A contributor, but what I have to say today isn't as much of a question as an observation. In general, I have a problem with the plot of the vast majority of RPG's that are out or scheduled to come out soon. Let me start by saying that gaming obviously has "grown up", as is evidenced by the prevalence of Mature-rated games or anything Rockstar has ever put out. There are so many games in the action/adventure and strategy genre that are definitely geared towards an adult audience... that is, those of us who grew up with games when we were kids, but are now adults and don't look for exactly the same content anymore.

Now my question.... why does it seem that RPG's have obviously not "grown up" along with other genres? How many more times do we have to endure the stereotypical story of young-boy-hero saving the world from evil-empire? It's not only old, it's beyond dead... smashed, beaten into the ground, recycled into futility, pain-inducing. Yet we as gamers still put up with it. I can't tell you how many reviews and commentaries I've read, both here and elsewhere, in the last few years that all have a stipulation such as "well, if you can get over the cliché story and stereotypical characters, this is a great game!" But.... an RPG is a ROLE-PLAYING-GAME, and now most of these games seem to have one central theme that is completely unoriginal and the only variety is in gameplay.

I don't get it. I'm 26 years old and have been playing RPGs for at least 10 years. But I'm an adult now... I no longer associate myself (if I ever did) with a 12-year-old boy orphan from some far-flung backwater village, on some quest to save the universe and I'm the ONLY one who can do it. It just seems to me that the story elements are gone. We willingly admit all the time that some of the most hyped games have bad plots, yet we still say, "but it's still a good game and worth playing!" Will we still be saying the same thing when PS6 is released and FFXXVII has a hackneyed plot about a preteen hero saving his village from rampaging chocobos?

I guess my overall rant is just that action games tend to have adult-appealing plots (Resident Evil, Metal Gear, Halo, Silent Hill.... there's many more) but RPG's don't anymore. Why does an RPG story have to be cutesy or cliché or uninspired in order to be an RPG? The only really "adult" RPGs I can think of in recent years are the Elder Scrolls games, Xenosaga, Final Fantasy VII, Koudelka & Shadow Hearts (the first one at least), and the Knights of the Old Republic games. There are probably a couple more, but that’s just what I can think of off the top of my head. So much else seems to be geared towards children story-wise but the gameplay is contradictory to that. Just take Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.... tremendous, awesome, very strategy-related, thought-provoking, and somewhat difficult in gameplay... but with a story that only a ten-year-old would actually find entertaining. Here’s a game with play seemingly geared towards adults that begins with a children’s snowball fight in a school playground! FFXII is another one... while not necessarily geared towards children, the story is arguably very poor with mundane paper-characters, but with very challenging gameplay.

Maybe it's just in the style of RPGs in general.... they started as games geared towards kids because ALL games were geared towards kids back then. But now those kids are adults.... and the stories are still for kids. I'm just frustrated. I long for the type of story where a grizzled middle-aged Knight-warrior (like Auron or Cyan or Balthier) is the central character in a truly dynamic story. I'm tired of playing as spunky or pissed off teenage boys!

Thanks for reading... I'm just curious if you or any other readers feel the same way!
Seth

Bob, it's right underneath us!
I know!

Ahem- the alien from Metaluna and the Venusian pickle were both fought by me in Tengai Makyou IV. Along with one fixed fight when Hollywood Tycoon Ron Terry sent them after me in his office. I don't know how I forgot to mention that, but now you know ... The Rest of the Story.

Well then, so you don't wanna read MY reviews of Sakura Wars titles, eh?
Fine. Read THIS http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/strategy/sakurataisen/review.html?q=sakura%20taisen for the first game, THIS http://www.mobygames.com/game/saturn/sakura-taisen-2-kimi-shinitamou-koto-nakare/reviews/reviewerId,63797/ as a very brief take on the second, and THIS http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/sakurataisen3/Sakura_Taisen_3-2.html for the third. None of these are written by me.

Why read about the third? Because I've gotten midway through it, of course! And it's awesome. Coquelicot is quite possibly the cutest character I've ever seen in a game. And there are quite a few anthropomorphized animals running around doing dastardly deeds: the first battle was against a rabbit wearing the suit the Walrus wore in Alice in Wonderland, with red sunglasses and wielding a big pair of hedge clippers, under the Arc de Triomphe. Having been to the Arc de Triomphe, seeing it in this way was a hoot.

Quick notes about Lunar: Magic School. The single most interesting part of the game is the final two chapters when there are six characters in the party. Even then, though, a LOT of random battles are in the way. And the enemies aren't pushovers, meaning all of these random battles will require some attention.

I don't claim to have understood everything in the story, because I would get bored trying to decipher loads of Japanese text in a row, but it seemed curiously forgetful. Seriously: if a woman enchants a student into setting fire to all the unimportant buildings in town (conveniently enough), wouldn't it be a natural course of action to devote resources to stopping her? Same for the man who put alien-looking things onto the student presidents, making them adversaries. What the hell was up with that? If you haven't read my trio of Shining Force 3 reviews, I ask that you do that now. I did my best to make those a good read.

Phantasy Star mention, eh? Be prepared. Phantasy Star 1 is hard (I never finished it) thanks to lengthy first-person dungeons that are brutal. Phantasty Star 2 is also hard even though it's not in first-person, thanks to true mazes and enemies that get really brutal. 3 is a good example of 'great concept, mediocre execution.' 4 is awesome, and also the only one I've actually finished (even though I've played all of 'em).

I'll finish with a few more remixes. FFIV: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00925/ SMRPG: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01027/ Symphony of the Night: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00890/ FFVI: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00977/ and a Chrono Trigger I hope I didn't send before: http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00312/

Oh, god, I wish I had that pretty mind back!
JuMeSyn

Luca Phase:
Luca Blight takes a moment to rest (12.2% HP remaining).

Damage Phase:
Draconn falls to Tile 50.
JDX falls to Tile 53.
Slashlen is burned!
JDX is burned!
JDX is full of fury!
Draconn is burned!
Draconn is full of fury!
Leaper is burned!

Movement Phase:
Leaper moves to Tile 53.
BLG moves to Tile 42.
Draconn moves to Tile 51.
Alan Tse moves to Tile 30.
Slashlen moves to Tile 54.
JuMeSyn moves to Tile 4.
Vicissitude moves to Tile 44.
JDX moves to Tile 55.
kupomogli moves to Tile 13.
Tabor moves to Tile 57.
Tabor falls to Tile 55!

Great, now Ouro outranks me.

Answer to #L43: C. 1000g
Well, most of you were able to identify this from the first Ys game!

#L44.
Who of the following gets stronger when the sun goes down?

A. Angela
B. Hawk
C. Duran
D. Carlie
E. Kevin
F. Reise

Well, looks like Sony finally fixed a bunch of problems with backwards compatibility. Is this a step in the right direction for Sony, and is it enough for them to regain some ground? What do you guys think? The PS2 had the largest selection of RPGs out of last-gen's consoles, and now...what will happen? The Wii and the DS are looking to be top contenders right now, but will Sony be able to keep up? Sound off!

***Josh hates the USPS.