Funny that you ask the question like that, because I started playing RPGs on the family Apple IIgs, on which the mouse was very much standard equipment. One of the earliest RPGs I played was Dungeon Master, in which the mouse was used for everything. You'd solve puzzles by picking up and manipulating objects with the mouse, and the battle system invovled clicking the weapons on the character portraits as quickly as possible.

When I got my own PC in high school, I learned more about what it meant to play games in the Olden Days of PCs. It was oh-so-much fun to edit autoexec.bat and config.sys in order to run games. Ultima games were the worst... once, I attempted to tweak my expanded memory settings in order to run Ultima: Savage Worlds. I must have done something wrong, because it did nothing but rain Greek characters down the screen when I booted it up. Fortunately, I had backed up all 40 megabytes of my hard drive, and I somehow managed to make the game run in the end.

PC RPGs were pretty directly inspired by Pencil 'n' Paper RPGs back then, so there was a lot of statistic-rolling involved, and combat was frequently turn-based. Whether controlled by mouse or keyboard, many of them involved twisty dungeons and no auto-map feature. I was always pretty miserable at drawing maps on graph paper, so I'd frequently end up buying the hint book for the games once the dungeons started getting particularly twisty. I loved those old RPGs, though many of them haven't exactly aged well. A few of them have, and I'll be talking about those in my response to the next letter!

I love Suikoden 2. It's a fabulous game that everyone should have the chance to play. However, I'm also a pretty frugal person, and I don't believe anybody should be paying exorbitant Ebay prices for old games. Since Sony keeps pumping out the PSOne Classics, I think we should all hope that Suikoden 2 makes the list sooner or later.

And to answer the Suikoden 2-related question that nobody asked, when it comes to Viktor and Flik, I'm a Viktor girl. He's such an adorable big ol' teddy bear.

Well, for starters, I'd never compete with you for the title of Pokémaster! I am a mere Pokénovice compared to you, especially in the realm of battling. I do intend to catch all of the Black/White Pokés eventually, but as the game didn't grab me quite as much as previous games have, I've put it aside for now. I've caught most of the Gen V Pokés, but I'm missing a few near the top of the list.

I've poked around in the darker corners of the Pokénet for you, and there does appear to be a preliminary GTS spoofing program for Black and White. Fortunately, so far there haven't been any Event Legendaries released to stores only, so there's less need for anybody to send themselves a spoofed Pokémon in order to catch 'em all.

Hoo boy, Ultima 4. To be honest, that game is too retro even for me. I didn't have a PC when it came out, so I entered the Ultima series with 5. For somebody who grew up with console games and wants to try that style of older PC game, I'd recommend Ultima 6-7, Might and Magic 3-7, and Wizardry 7. All of these are a bit more modern and easier to understand. Of that list, only the Might and Magic games and Ultima 6 are available on GoG.com so far.

Of course, Baldur's Gate 1-2 are always good choices to try out, as are Fallouts 1-2, Planescape: Torment, Betrayal at Krondor, and Arcanum. All of those games are available on GoG for just a few bucks. Thanks for your letter!

Problem is, I already played DQIX. I liked it, but now I'm done with it. I like my DQ games to be single-player, honestly. Also, while I like Toriyama's monster designs, I can't stand his character designs. I don't want to watch a Toriyama character for hours on end in an MMO. Sorry Mac, but when it comes to my massively multiplayer entertainment, Square Enix just hasn't grabbed me at all.