In case you're just joining our show, previously in progress, I'm Brian Glick, and I'm the temporary host of Q&AK here on the RPGamer network! Andrew Kaufmann has left the studio for a while to sign autographs for over-eager female fans. He's the next Leonardio DiCaprio, I tell ya.
   Until Andy returns, please email questions directly to me. Otherwise, you'll have to wait a while to have a shot at showing up in the spotlight. Now, a couple words from our sponsors...

Q: Hey, what's with people calling the Zelda games RPGs? Zelda 64 could be, I'm not too sure on that one, but not the others. Everyone says RPG, can anyone say "Adventure"? I swear the next time I hear anyone refer to a Zelda game as an RPG I'll hunt the down and brand the word STUPID into their forehead backwards so that every time they look in the mirror they'll be reminded.
   -Loosiphre

BG: Zelda is kind of a grey area. I would define Zelda as an "Adventure RPG"...meaning it isn't fully an adventure game (like, Super Metroid), nor is it totally an RPG (like, Final Fantasy). It has elements of both types of games in it, but to call it one or the other wouldn't fit properly.
   For example, in Zelda : A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo, you wander around towns in an overhead perspective and talk to other people, and solve quests which eventually bring peace to the land. That would fit in with the RPG genre. But, you also swing a sword, shoot arrows, regain life through little power-ups, and there isn't any sort of "experience" or stats system. All of that is indicative of adventure-like games. So, we have no choice but to call the series an "Adventure RPG".
   You should also take some anger-management classes for that temper, Loo. You could hurt someone with that branding.

Q: Why is everyone under the impression that Final Fantasy 8 is moving away from an anime-like style? All anime is not SD; in fact, very little is. If anything, Final Fantasy is evolving towards a more realistic and traditional style. If nobody believes me, then they should try watching some anime sometime. Akira, El Hazard, X, Escaflowne, Evangelion, whatever. You'll find that the character design is much more similar to Final Fantasy 8 than any earlier Final Fantasy.
   -Jason

BG: That's a good point, I never thought of it that way before. It seems as though it really depends on just how you define "anime". When I hear "anime", I associate it with the kind of drawing style found in Sailor Moon, and other popular Japanese cartoons. This is the style that Final Fantasy VII had, and when the series departs from that style of drawing, many people, including myself, don't recognize that the new style may simply be another form of anime.

Q: About those nude dancers in FF4j...I've been playing a little of it (thanks to that translation Talis mentioned) and one of the most amusing differences I noticed was the dancer in Baron. She's wearing a red dress, and, upon the beginning of her dance, she throws off the dress and bounces around in a skimpy uniform. It appears that Square US's solution to removing the innuendo from that scene was to remove the dress entirely! If she's not wearing a dress, she can't take it off, can she? The odd part is it worked.
   --Shih Tzu

BG: *laugh* I never knew that about FF4j. So they just start her off in the skimpy leotard in the North American version to get around the problem...genius, pure genius. Still, I think that most of the people who have written to me about the whole nudity issue in video games think far too much about this subject...*wink*

Q: First, I was wondering where the name "Glick" comes from. Is it like, the Midas touch, only with licking? A golden lick? That'd be cool.

   And speaking of licking, don't take all the women from me while doing this column, man, it'd really peeve me off!

   Second question. Why not smile?

   -AK, alive and kickin

Andrew Kaufmann | andrewk@rpgamer.com
"You've been so sad, it makes me worry.
"Why not smile?" -- Michael Stipe

BG: We've got a visit from the star himself, Andrew Kaufmann!
   I don't even want to get into what kind of obscene ways a twisted mind would view a golden lick. We've probably already lost almost all of our female readers already. =)
   On a side note, my username at my ISP is "bglick"...and a lot of people have read it the wrong way, thinking it stood for "big lick". Woo, boy, that's always fun to explain.
   Take all the women? There's no way THAT could happen, what with your charisma and your rugged good looks. In fact, not one female reader has even struck up a conversation with me yet! I guess I just don't have your charm...
   Oh, and stop listening to so much music. You've got a column waiting for you. *grin*