Ack. There really wasn't much mail in the ol' box today. That kinda sucks. But oh well, that's how life is sometimes. Doesn't seem to happen as often as it really used to, but oh well, I guess y'all are just tired of me updating 'late'.. I'll try to get something worked out by two weeks from now so that we don't have to worry about it when I get back.

"When you get back?" Yeah. When I get back. I'll be gone this next weekend, down in Los Angeles, part of my company's corporate scheme for taking over the world. I don't know yet who'll be covering for me on Fri/Sat/Sun, but it might be miyu, or maybe an extra special guest weekender. You never know, so just stick with us, and we'll have fun. Then, 2 weeks from now, I'll be back, and still probably tired. Hah!

Some things change, others never do.

Anyhow, here we are:

Crono is not playable, and is only represented by a near transluscent figure of jutting red and blue polygons (well I suppose that's kind of an understatement, but I'm still not big on polygons in games). I assume, he, with his two companions, tell you a bit more about the storyline in the game and whatnot.

As for his second question, it is possible for any number of differing dimensions to be explored, but without some restraint, they'd slide right into a Sliders episode or some such. There is in fact only two dimensions the party travels to (well three or four I suppose, but only very briefly), and only time travel through some sub-quests. Also, there is still heavy speculation over Glenn's identity. While it is true he bears a striking resemblance to Frog from CT, the similarities have greatly blurred since the original sketches of Glenn came online. Even Leea, the small cave girl who not only shares skills with Ayla, but looks remarkably like her, seems to have no relation to our favorite fur-clad cave woman. I think this might be attributed to a new character designer, with some inspiration from Akira Toriyama's original group. Also, there is some speculation as to one character from CC, Alf, who is a powerful magician who uses black elements (shadow magic you could say), whom many think is Magus in another form.

I suppose for the answers to all of these questions, we'll either need to take up Japanese very fluently, or just wait patiently for the domestic release.

Whyte Tyger

Brad:
There ya go. Some answers/speculations on one of the most looked-for games recently... All I wanna see is some hip-cool triple techs again. That makes the Chrono Trigger 2nd step for me.

-Jeffypop

Brad:
All I seriously have to say to the people who constantly whine about EVERY SINGLE new FF game announced is just this:

If you don't like it, don't buy it.

"Oh, well it's not THAT bad".. well, guess what. When you buy it, you give your approval. Not your half-approval, subject to be edited through a complaint sent to a fan-driven site that has no direct ability to send it to Squaresoft, your full approval.

The only thing that these people are really looking at is the bottom line. "We did _____ and 2 million more copies sold. This is a good thing to do." They're in it for the money. Not the purity of soul, not for an artistic purpose above and beyond the normal mortal frame.. they make games, we buy them. It's that simple. I think it's great they're going back to cartoony characters. I liked that style. But if they weren't going to do it, I wouldn't be sitting here complaining. Four characters in a party again? GREAT! That's awesome news. The three was getting old, but it's their choice. Not ours. Our power comes from consumer ability. If nobody buys it, they won't make it (again). You say, "But what will one person not buying FF9 do to their sales?" Nothing. Granted. But if you're the only one who is not buying it because of a 'new feature' that just pisses you off, then maybe you're the only one that it bothers. If that's the case, then you had no chance to change anything anyways, and that's the breaks. Sorry.

'Chron

Brad:
1000 hours? Heh, that's quite a bit. I don't think I've played a game for more than 500 hours since Starcraft... a frightening thought. Anyhow, there's coming from someone who's spent a lot of time playing both (yes I know he's played quite a bit of AC, I know him ;]) .. So if you're looking to decide between the two, there you are.

-Matt

Brad:
I must admit I liked the idea of everyone being in their own class, (Rydia is a summoner/black magic user. Period) had the most appeal to me. But I love FFTactics, I love FF5, so the job system doesn't bother me at all. I'm not sure which FF9 will use, (since the 'class system' could be taken either way, I guess..) but I'm assuming you mean jobs, which wasn't bad at all. You'll definitely see me picking up FF9.

Joshai the Blithe

"There are many beautiful women in this world, but not many of them will bring you lasagna. Most of them just cheat on you."- Silent Bob

Brad:
I have no clue why Freed Y has his Y up there. Maybe other people do. I wish I could get back to Suikoden 2 and get all the stuff I missed the first time through.. I really didn't get many of the stars... only like 80 or so. Wah. The real reason I posted this is because of the quote on the end. Silent Bob is a wise man. And that's a great line from Clerks.

This letter is going to sound more like what people write to Ann Landers than you, but I figure you could help me with your oracular expertise. Or early-morning caffeine rants, whichever you have in stock. You see, I have two very dear friends who are extremely obsessive about the last two Final Fantasies. We're all 21-year-old college women, so this is a little unusual. Back when I was playing FFVII, they'd go to my room and sit and watch the game as I played it for hours. It made me feel like my years-old obsession with Square was not just some wacky quirk, and everything was good.

Now, though, things are a bit more complicated. I beat FF8 and offered to play it again for one of these friends to watch. My other friend occasionally wanders by and watches it too. Since I've started playing through this game again, though, they've asked me to play the introduction and dance scene about a dozen times each. It would help if either of them was interested in picking up the controller and playing for me, but one only likes to watch the game and the other won't play it until she gets her own version. I love these scenes, but they get old time after time after time. And I think that the more game I play, the more times I'll have to replay every scene. Last week I lent my game and Playstation to another friend of mine to play for a few weeks, but... what happens when I get it back?

These friends are like sisters to me; we're probably the only group of girls in the world who gave each other FF posters for Christmas. I just don't know how to tell them to become a bit less obsessive about making me show them everything. Please help me, or kindly donate them a better computer so they can run the video clips from this site!

-Toni

Brad:
Anytime a group of 21 year old girls want to sit around and watch video game scenes for a long time, they can just come over to my plaa(SMACK) owww.. sorry dear :( .. er.. that is, Spencer has some room in his be(SMACK) god damn, it's a conspiracy.. maybe Edge has some spare couches they could rearrange theatre style.. (flinch.. no smack.. breathe easy).. let's see. I'd have to say that you're just going to have to let them know that you're only going to go through a particular scene X number of times, (it'd be once, for me, personally..) and that they have to appreciate it as they would a movie. If they want to see the scenes they personally like the best, then they need to go out and rent it themselves. If they just want to watch, well, it goes by once, if you miss it, that sucks. Either that, or a funny thing just crossed my mind. They can get a VCR, hook it up between the PSX and the TV, and tape you playing. Then they can go back and watch the scenes as much as they please. How 'bout that? Let me know if that all works, or if you all are going to be in California anytime (SMACK) .. (groan.. fall over.. unconcious)

Brad:
See yesterday's column about sneaky ways of picking up out of print games. Other than that, the reason they reprinted FF7 was because it made the 'Greatest Hits' setup.. which I don't think FFT is likely to do. Not that it isn't a great game, but it has to sell over a couple million copies, and FFT just didn't. I'm just glad I have my copy :)

Is it just me or is there a strage connection between the song "blue" by eifel65 and the happy happism cult led by the BLUE carpainter in earthbound/mother 2. Mabye the singer of the song is Blue(sad) becuase of the mani mani statue. In the song he talks about all the blue people that walk aroun out side. The singer said " I have a girlfreind, she is so blue." I think he is refering to paula/skye/paige/whatever here. when he sings the chorus (the adabadidabado part) he could be talking in the the mrs saturn broken english. The more I thing about it the more I am convinced that all these plugs were intended,

NessZ9

Brad:
Heh, is that what Selphie's trying to spread... er.. bad Brad. I think you're high on CRACK. High on crack is bad! Drugs are bad! You're a bad person for being high on crack. You're going to hell in a crackpipe! Crack Pipe of LOVE, straight to hell with you. How much for some crack?