Josh - 8:13 EST

God I hate that song.

You ever find that you have a knack for pausing movies at the strangest times? Say, right when the person is about to sneeze, and they have this silly look on their face until you decide they are allowed to flood the room with fluid. I think it's a natural human function. The pausing thing, I mean. Sneezing is just weird.

Luca got a boost in power (it really wasn't much of a threat before), and I moved everything to a seperate link!

Oh yeah, I forgot that I had changed the name of THONG. It is now...

Hiya Ouro,

Nice to see the THONG 2.0 up and going. So, first off:

1) D. 715 - Man, that took ages to work out. =(

2) B. Nanami - Am I supposed to answer this?

Hmmm, reasons for purchasing games? Well, I usually browse around game sites like one here, and if anything catches my eye, I'll make a note of it in my head. Then, I'll ask around, or just send a question here, and see if its actually any good, cos you can't always trust reviews. Commercials...well, to tell the truth, I reckon that I've only ever actually seen about 7 adverts on TV, and they were all for either movie tie-ins or licensed games. I don't think they're that popular over here in the UK. Means I missed out on some truly hilarious ones, like that Zelda rap a while back.

Manuals are great. First thing I do as soon as I get a new game is read the manual from back to front. It gives me a taste of what the game will be like and gets me hyped up to play...usually. I get really annoyed when I get a crap manual...Black and white ones also build up my RAGE bar. I know, I know, printing costs etc, but surely they could at least have CLEAR pictures?

Bonus goodies are good, though I don't seem to get many of them. I think the only ones I have are some ICO post cards and a dew random posters. You know, the lack of appreciation for PAL gamers is really starting to bug me. I HATE YOU, EVIL CORPORATE HEADS EVERYWHERE!!!!! It's probably all Bill Gate's fault. It's his fault for most of the major problems of the world... World poverty, racism, the Xbox 360, communism, etc.

Genjuu wishes to know what games Ouro has left to play... and what games he is looking forward to in the next 6 months.

*Genjuu's backlog*

• FFIV (GBA) - before Lunar Ruins
• FFVI (PS1) - before World of Ruin
• FFVII (PS1) - before Midgar drop
• FFVIII (PS1) - before Lunatic Pandora
• FFX (PS2) - before Final Boss
• Vagrant Story (PS1) - lost somewhere in the second dungeon
• ICO (PS2) - stuck on a puzzle halfway through
• Wild Arms 3 (PS2) - just defeated the 4 guardian-thingies
• Psychonauts (PS2) - something happened with a giant lungfish and I'm scared. Hold me.
• Star Ocean: TTEOT (PS2) - before the place with the magic ball of water
• Disgaea (PS2) - just bought it, so only on Chp. 3
• Dark Cloud (PS2) - one of the dungeons. Somewhere.
• Paper Mario:TYD (GC) - the final chapter
• Skies of Arcadia (GC) - bought it 2 weeks ago, and i just got the Delphinus.
• Tales of Symphonia (GC) - just after the Flanoir Doctor scene.
• Super Mario Sunshine (GC) - before the final fight in the swimming pool.
• Lost Kingdoms 1 + 2 (GC) - Absolute boll...hem,hem, ..rubbish. But I got them for free so no complaining.

Fairly impressive, yes? And I'm expecting to buy FFXII, FFIII, KH2, Rogue Galaxy and assorted Wii games and a Wii itself later this year.

BTW, can anyone reccomend any Gamecube games, RPG or otherwise, not including SSBM, Mario Kart and Wind Waker?

Hi there Ouro,

First off I feel like an utter nerd but I either have all the games or am going to buy them myself, same goes for the swag ^^;; The artbook was why I caved in and ordered XS3 ^^;;

Anyway as for why I buy games, usually it's because I've bought prior games in the series and loved them or they come with free cool stuffs, I've once bought a game solely because the J-pop intro song from it got stuck in my head ^^;;

Now for what the Arros has been up to as of late, on Thursday I finished off Dirge of Cerberus so here is my mini-review, I still say the enemies are strangly out of place in the FF7 world, especially Shelke, the game has NPC interaction, exploration, level gains, and shopping for items and weapon peices(albiet from jukeboxes, and yes Vincent casts three flavors of magic(some enemies are only hurt via magic) and has melee attacks so I'd say it's an action RPG just with bang bang clicking instead of hack hack slashing, the ending sequence weirded me out a little, the bonus ending thingy piqued my interest about BC and CC in hopes they'll elaborate more on yon sequence, I'm a bit upset that Chaos doesn't look as cool as he did in FF7, and I wish he still had his two attacks, I also wished limit breaks came in a form outside of items, it just doesn't feel like a limit break if it is artificially brought on, I wish there had been a greater variety of magic as well as limit break beasts but sadly there weren't, overall the game was alot better than I thought it would be, and the story was also better than that of AC, the villians actually did villianous things!!!

And while in the final battle it arrived... Disgaea 2 complete with the Disgaea manga, the soundtrack, the artbook and the heaviest strategy guide I've ever owned o.o, here's my thoughts of the first 9 hours I've had with the game, as well as what I thought of the manga

I'll do the manga review first

***DISGAEA the MANGA SPOILERS***
I happened to enjoy the end of the manga more than the ends of the game simply because Flonne didn't get punished, The manga departs from the game greatly after the first few chapters gets back to the game's story then departs abit again, and Mid-Boss is far more akward in the manga, they also never meet up with Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday, and it answered a burning question I'd had after I finished the game so kudos on that, and maybe it was just me but those two demon brothers reminded me of Tetsu and Tatsu from Peacemaker o.o
***DISGAEA the MANGA SPOILERS ARE OVER***

As for the game so far the story is pretty entertaining, I love the anime intro it's cool cool and uber spiff I also love the song that plays ^^, The item descriptions are hillarious my favorite is the one on the Double Slap,(Sorry baby! Why you make me do that) now you too can be Ike Turner ^^;;, they've apparently gotten ridden of Statistions(sp?) as specialists, instead you have to commit crimes and get rewarded ^^;;, the item world is far more merciful than any games extra dungeons have been before, some floors contain special rooms that take you to special shops, or even to a place with a hospital, new humanoid classes are easy to open up however they must now be passed through congress after being unlocked in order to truly be unlocked, and much like Matt I too am glad the Rosenqueen shop and it's theme are back in action, though one thing that saddens me is from what I've seen in the guidebook, they've mistranslated/renamed the items Marjoly had on her(They used to be Gao's Guts, Myao's Ears, and Crowdia's Beauty, named after her siblings/family/vassal thingies) Now they are Gao's Spirit(and the description on it says He's with us today, if only in spirit..., not sure if that was a mistake or if it was refrence to how Gao was mistooken for a man in Rhapsody) Kitty's Ears and Claudia's Charm(WTF??? Claudia???) but on the upside the strongest gun is named Etoile

And thus ends the Arros' letter for now let's see...

As for a question

What do you think of when a game company just retranslates a name of a character for no reason at all?

When the original name is so far from what the japanese one was I can see but if it was just a few letters difference then why bother changing it -.-;;

Arros Raikou

Hi Josh.

I like using Josh a lot more than Ouro, because I always have to check exactly how Ouro is spelled (is it Orou? Urou? I think I got it right...).

You pose an interesting question. Funny how such trivial and obvious subjects as "why do you buy games" go unnoticed while we discuss other topics...

I'll just explain about my upcoming wishlist:

1. Xenosaga III - Obviously because it's a sequel. I really enjoyed the other games and I want to see how it ends. I bought Xenosaga I because of Xenogears, but I didn't buy Xenogears, I played it from a friend's copy.
2. Valkyria Profile: Silmeria - Again, because it's a sequel (or prequel, whatever). I don't own the original VP though, played it from that same friend's copy.
3. Rogue Galaxy - I'll admit, the thing that got me hooked on this game is the graphics. I'm usually not that affected by that but it's gorgeous. Once I learned more I decided I really want it.
4. Okami - Again, graphical value. Then I played the demo and liked it.
5. FFXII - When it comes to FFs, I don't really have much of a choice. Until a short while ago, the consensus seemed sort of "Oh, FFXII is coming out. I'll get it but I don't care too much about it".

So basically, I like sequels and graphics. Hmmm... I also rely a lot on the makers of the game. That's why I bought Radiata Stories. I read reviews of games I'm interested in, but because I hardly buy any games and I only have a PS2, I usually get what seems interesting to me.

Zohar Gilboa

Hei, herra hyvae Ouro-sama!

With regard to Dragon Force, I'm honestly surprised you haven't given it a spot on your mental radar prior to my mention. It seems to be regarded as the premiere Saturn Tactical-RPG, and as such can command pretty pricey auctions on eBay. Gotta say though, even if you're into micro-management of units, you'll still be addicted to this thing. Battles are just so crazy to see play out. And replay is through the roof. But why am I regurgitating things I already wrote in my review of it? It's on RPGamer, go check it out! And read my Dragon Force 2 review while you're at it!

Oh, I finagled a few titles from my parents. That was long ago though. At best I'll get a lunch weekly from my father now. My mother? Being on SSDI means little spare cash. I've had to pay for my own titles without getting anything as a gift since about the time the first Bush left office - long time now.

Talking about Genesis titles so much makes me think of how atrocious the American box art for a lot of Genesis titles was. What possessed so many publishers to use American art for Japanese titles when the American art always seemed to be inspired by Rambo conceptual art?

As a followup, what titles nowadays are disgraced by atrocious box art? I'm not the best person to ask here - which is why I ask YOU!

We keep speaking of films, and that means it's time to share impressions of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It looked really good. My eyes may have glazed over from staring at the pretty pictures for too long though.

Now here's an odd little item from Albert Odyssey. In the opening prologue the main character, Pike, is seen as either an infant or a very young child.

The main part of the game takes place 10 years later. Based upon what we've seen of Pike, he can't be over 12 now. Yet he is the hero, and in what is considerably more off-putting, finds a girlfriend. Could Working Designs have made a typo, or are the kids today just growing up really fast?

Back to the Genesis for a moment - I'm currently pondering whether to try snagging Shadowrun, Crusader of Centy, and/or Herzog Zwei off eBay. Commentary here is welcomed as not a lot of info exists on these titles. I'm still in a Sega mental mode, and that means I'm going to spout off about the 32X! Knuckles Chaotix always intrigued me - slightly. Odd that Sega hasn't grabbed the game and slapped it into one of those Sonic Gems collections. Other than that, I'm drawing a big blank on even sort-of worthwhile 32X titles. Oh, yes, Doom. WERE there any?

As I have never controlled a game long enough with a mouse and keyboard to become ingratiated with that layout, I give to you, Baron Ouro, the task of explaining exactly why this control setup is so prized by PC players. Selling to me of the superiority of this layout for Halo is optional.

Suggestion for RPGamer: sales charts. I'm frequently curious as to how well titles are doing, and many RPGs don't sell quite well enough to make the top 10 which is all many publications show without a lot of work. Can this be done?

I actually delayed starting Sakura Taisen in favor of playing Panzer Dragoon Saga again before I reviewed it. Even though I'd played it twice before, the game was curiously ethereal before this week: I remembered mostly images and sounds, as if from a tantalizing dream snatched away upon awakening. This time I think I'll remember it far more concretely. And yes, everyone: it is truly great. Not many games I have played manage to differentiate themselves completely from everything else, but even 8 years on nothing I have seen indicates that any other RPG has incorporated some of the things to be found in Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Luca Blight charges up.
Bainick moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Leaper moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Macstorm moves 1 space to Tile 1.
BLG moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Draconn moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Aurelius moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Omm moves 1 space to Tile 1.
Xlash moves 2 spaces to Tile 2.
Slashlen moves 2 spaces to Tile 2.
PureLunatic moves 2 spaces to Tile 2.
JDX moves 2 spaces to Tile 2.
Roku moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Donovan moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Slimey moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Bucket moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Genjuu moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Arpijy moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Reivax moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Vicissitude moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.
Tabor moves 3 spaces to Tile 3.

Well, not bad. Seems I misjudged you.

Answer to #L1: C or D.
5 Megaman games (MMX1-3, MM7, MM Soccer) x 11 FFVIII Characters (Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Ward, Kiros, Laguna, Edea, Seifer) x 12 -or- 13 Dungeons (Hyrule Castle/Sewer. Could have been 1 or 2, since you go there twice, but in completely different parts, 3 Pendant dungeons, 7 Crystal dungeons, and Ganon's Tower) = 660 or 715.

#L2. Terra = G. Maxim = R. Lemina = B. Eclair = ?

A. G
B. P
C. R
D. Y
E. B
F. H

I am gonna destroy XSIII tomorrow. Wish me luck! Anyone else having as much fun as I am with this game?

See you guys tomorrow, and don't forget to write in! ^^

***Josh was stunned by the boss at the end of Chapter 6.