I remember that whole fiasco. I'll never fully understand Sony's refusals with some of these games. For example didn't they prevent Atlus bringing over Soul Hackers for PS1 at one point? Anyway, at least this one was able to come out in some form, I know Working Designs was never able to release that Goemon game that they had actually finished translating. I picked this up a few years ago, but sadly never got around to it. This letter spurned me to finally give Growlanser 2 a try, and I will share my thoughts on that shortly.

I have to say, I was similarly completely surprised by the game. When I first went in, I was expecting just another turn-based strategy game. What I got instead was a pseudo real-time strategy type experience, with all kinds of things going on in battle. In the third battle you have to deal with closing walls and an extra party member showing up in the middle of this happening. I've also enjoyed the story so far, despite some less than stellar voice acting. I'm looking forward to seeing what other twists they throw into battles throughout the game. I have to say I love the idea of objectives that change the story based on whether you complete them or not. More RPGs need to do this. Anyway, I shall continue to update Q&A with other thoughts on the game as I continue to play it.

This sounds interesting, and I can't wait to see how it accomplishes this. Though it obviously hurt Working Designs, this is looking more and more to be quite the amazing collection of two games. I'm looking forward to further epicness in the third game. Are the games connected in terms of story?

Well, I don't think the decisions around bringing games over are that simple, they never really are. It sucks that the one they got to bring over is the worst in the series, but its also possible that it was the only they realistically could. I'd like to know exactly what went on with this title. At the very least it sounds like they tried to improve it over the original Japanese version. Anyway, given that Atlus owns the developer of the series I'm surprised they haven't done more with the series over here, given how well they've done with their other series. We've gotten all of the main Dept. Heaven games from Sting, so why not more Growlanser? Anyway, they're bringing over the PSP version of Growlanser IV, so hopefully this is just the beginning. They've become a much better publisher since the days of Heritage of War.

While it is coming out in the twilight days of the PSP, don't forget that it will be there for Vita games who never even owned a PSP. Not only that, but with so few PSP releases it will be a prominent release among niche RPG games. I don't think it will be overlooked at all, and I'm really hoping it will be the first of many future Growlanser games to come. I'm still early in II, but I am certainly already a fan of this unique series.

You know, Madden with RPG features is actually a pretty cool idea. MLB The Show already does this for the most part with the Road to the Show mode, so it seems only natural here. Level up your player as he gets better and eventually becomes a Hall of Famer. The last boss could be Brett Favre!

Well, the same thing certainly applies for FIFA, and you could even have a bunch of different classes! You could be a flopper, a striker, or "married to a spice girl"! I think this would work out even better than Madden because there are so many different leagues with so many different storylines to work with. Of course it won't be anywhere near as good as this, but a man can dream!

Whoa, listen I love RPGs, but I assume the EA game you're talking about is that new Need for Speed game. That is actually a clear sequel to Burnout Paradise based on the gameplay videos, and it doesn't need RPG elements you crazy fool. Two out of three is fine sir!

No worries! He's got the code and was quite happy about it, so I'm glad everything worked out in the end. I'll see if I can make you an Ys fan at some point, but that's for another day!

I agree, though I doubt they have the budget for such an effort. That said, I think you should give the first book a try. You may just find it much more to your liking. The series does a great job showing you politics from different characters perspectives, and leaves you liking characters you never thought you would. I guarantee you'll enjoy it much more than the show!

Well, we used to do reader reviews, I can't say that staff would be completely opposed to the idea. I say write it up, and send it in. In the worst case you can post it in the forums to tell people about the game. You'd have at least one reader in me!

I'd have to disagree on Shiren. It keeps the speedy gameplay of Roguelikes along with the punishing difficulty. The graphics just make it easier to look at, and personally I just can't deal with ASCII graphics. Plus it has a rescue feature that can be quite fun. I can't argue about the other Roguelikes on the system since they aren't as good. I love that such a simple game has spawned an entire genre of interesting games.

Sorry to hear you don't have time for many games at the moment, here's hoping you find the time soon (and a less lame outro :) )!