Well, this will my last Q&AK update for a few days. Tomorrow I'll be moving into my dorm at college, and will probably take a day or two off (at least) to get settled in. I might come back before a week from Monday (the 24th), but if I do, it'll just be until the 24th, where I take another few days off to get used to being back in the classroom. If I'm going to be gone more than 4 days, though, I'll sic a pinch hitter onto yall.

On another note, alert reader J. Parish offered this explanation for blonde/brown hair in FF Tactics:
In reference to the question "Why do all FF Tactics characters have blond hair?" - well, I've wondered the same thing. But if you notice, a few significant characters *aren't* blond - Delita, Teta and Olan. IMO, this is where the nobles/commoners tension comes in - the high-born nobles have light hair and skin, and the lower classes have darker coloration. If you stop and think about it, the notion makes sense; after all, Alma says Teta had a hard time in her school. Seems to me she would have trouble fitting in if she looked notably different than the other children. Doesn't quite explain the Death Corps, but at least it's a start.

Q: Q: 1. What is with purple and blue hair!?! I mean, in every FF since I have played them (accept FF for NES) someone has strangely colored hair. No one seems to notice either.
2. When you summon monsters, why don't they stay around?!? But in FFVI (FFIIUS) when some boss summoned a monster, his stayed around? Am I the only one who thinks this is lame?
3. R.E.M. does in fact stand for something. It's the dream state of sleep. The initials are derived from latin, and yes it's a technical term.

AK: 1) Hey, there's nothing wrong with funky hair! It gives personality. It's also a Japanese thing -- odd colored hairs are quite common in anime, so many games with anime-style art will feature characters with anime-style hair.
2) They get bored and go home. They figure since the main characters are usually such studs, they don't need *that* much help.
3) Yeah, actually, it's not Latin, but English for "rapid eye movement." But that doesn't apply to the band -- the band wasn't thinking in terms of that meaning. They just thought it was a cool phrase. R.E.M. the band isn't related to R.E.M. the sleep stage.

Q: Ack! Now with Xenogears coming out in somewhere in November, I'll be buying Zelda 64, Xenogears, AND Brave Fencer all in the same month. Sure, it'll be a big month for RPGing, but where will I have time to finish them all?

AK: Oh man, I feel your pain. But forget about playing time.. who's got the money? I'm probably going to get Xenogears, just because I'd have to get a Nintendo 64 to get Zelda, which I can't splurge for. If you ARE going to get all three, I'd suggest making a priority list. Maybe, play FF8 demo, then Xenogears, then Zelda 64, then Brave Fencer? Just a suggestion. But keep those grades up! Remember, Christmas is always a little bit sweeter if you don't have to worry about having to repeat the grade because you totally messed up the first semester.

Q: I was sitting around trying to play BoF II and eat dorritos at the same time and it got really frustrating. Why can't you play more RPGs with one hand? You don't need quick reflexes, like with other games. I also remember someone telling me you could play 7th Saga with one hand. This should be an option in more RPGs. Man, I'm getting lazy...
-Dr. Colossus

AK: Hey, you can play most RPGs with one hand... I remember playing most of Final Fantasy II (IVj) with one hand. The other hand I'd use to eat. Not to do other things, don't worry. These days you still can, you just can't use the run option. Action RPGs, well, you can't, but your traditional ones like FF7 you can, if you're flexible and patient.

Q: I can answer two questions from yesterday. 1) It takes around 4000 licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop. Yes, I'm serious. They gave them to everyone on the last day when I was in 5th grade and I figured it out. I'm not sure exactly because I did one hundred at a time and I didn't know if it was till brown showed or till it was completely uncovered or what. 2) I remeber the Dragon Warrior anime and so does one of my friends. If you look hard there's a little on the internet about it.

AK: Well, neither of those are the most interesting tidbits, but since you went ahead and counted to 4000 licks, I think you deserve some sort of reward for it, and although it may be a small section in a small column, it's the least I could do.

Q: 1) On the left-hand column of Q&AK, what's it mean by "In the PSX"? Does it mean that's what you're playing now?
2) What's the deal with everyone separating their questions?
3) Why the heck am I separating my questions?

AK: 1) Well, not necessarily what I'm playing now, but what I have in the system. You know, like if you just played FF7 2 weeks ago but haven't played anything else, you'll leave it in the PSX. But more or less, it does mean what I'm playing right now.
2) I don't know.
3) I still don't know.