So, I get into the staff channel today, and the first thing I see is, "KILL THE INFIDEL!" (that isn't even a lie, thanks for the support, Goog :P) .. so I suppose everyone is wondering where I've been, or what the hell happened. I didn't die, I didn't get sick.. I didn't go off to Tokyo in my same clothes again (heh, heh, heh).. I've been experiencing... 'technical difficulties'. Anyhow, without going into details, because, honestly, they're lame, I'm back, I'm sorry, and I'm hungry.

Er.. uh. Here we go.. anyhow, where we left off... crazy Saturday-Sunday column for you guys.. hey, bigger is better, right?

• Escaflowne: That guy/girl villian (can't remember it's name)
• Final Fantasy 5: Faris...ugh.
• Final Fantasy MQ: Phoebe...I still think she's a guy...
• Any Final Fantasy: The Priest/White Wizard...(well...Tactics kinda defined it.)
• Final Fantasy 7: Cloud in a dress...nuff' said.
• The Slayers: Gourry in a dress...and he looked like Usagi-chan...eek.

The MILF-miester

Brad:
I don't really have a solid reason for this, other than the fact that perhaps Japanese culture is a lot more tolerant, (hell, I'd hope they were) than Americans. As Americans, we're almost raised straight into a high level of intolerance for anything we see that's outside of the 'norm'. When the first homosexual hero of an RPG tries to cross shores, it's going to get shot down, hard. Why? Because of people in America. We all look back on how stupid racism against blacks in the South was 40 years ago, but we do the same thing to gay people today. On the internet, the multisyntactic usage of 'gay' is never meant as a positive term, and is one of the most common insults that you see. I just hope in 40 years we look back on this and America as a whole realizes how stupid this all is.. (My English teacher actually went off on a very similar topic, basically about rampant discrimination in America, and halfway through his little rant, he said something about "some REDNECKS who killed a homosexual man" .. talk about losing credibility.. ) Anyway, sorry about the sermon. Learn tolerance. Find the humor in it. Or perhaps the subject matter is a bit too old for you and you should stay away from such things until you're old enough to handle it. And I'm not saying there's a specific age. I know 25 year olds who wouldn't be able to deal with it, and I know 15 year olds who could. I mean, we at RPGamer have to deal with Googleshng all the time, and he/she's a rampant transvestite, in between the gender-bending operations.. always dressin' like somethin', never know what's really under them clothes.. never.. really want to know. :o

Lord Junk

Brad:
I'm pretty sure I beat the game with him as a Knight with Geomancer 2ndary abilities.. but it's not like Ramza was the one who was dealing out the damage... and I really haven't gone through the game again, after figuring out what works best, so that was basically my 'first shot' at anything spectacular. I'll say that having a Knight with Ninja's two-swords ability can get mighty destructive, though. Lancer can also equip some cool stuff and gives a large range of movement... of course, you've GOT to put Teleport as their base movement :) *zchwooop!* *zchwoop!* Hello! I am behind you! *whack*.. .. the best part of that game is when you have a guy near-death in front of you (kneeling), you move up.. select the attack to finish him off, and the last thing before the attack action hits, is this little window that says, "Execute?"...

-matt

braddio:
Well, I'm personally definitely going to get SF2, it looks good, and well, I actually liked the first one. I still haven't completed all 7 quests, but I'm about halfway through the 4th, if I recall correctly.. maybe this summer, when I have too much time on my hands, is when I'll actually get down to beating up SaGa Frontier 1.. maybe.. heh.

- Sage, a curious and somewhat irritated Fuzzy Peach

Brad:
As I recall, there actually is only two FMVs during gameplay (the opening, and closing scenes), but once you beat the game, you can view the Opera FMVish commercial thingy. This was actually a fair disappointment to a lot of people, but I guess, that's just how it is. :/

-aderax

Brad:
Must say that I love MOO (Master of Orion) .. it's a great game.. I always lose, of course, but then, I haven't played THAT much.. Yeah.. that's it. I'm always the punkish little Psions.. I love to research everything.. spend too much money on research, and then, sure, I can build the most ultimate kickass ship in the game.. but I've only got 4 of them, and the other guy's got like 1400 of his little mosquito ships, and I DIE :(

-Swiggus

Brad:
Never noticed this before.. that's just funny. I wonder if Queen knows... and coming from someone inside a software development company (and knowing the guy who actually does code-diving).. there are tons of these types of 'inside jokes' in every single little piece of software that you purchase.. it's just part of the industry.

~SmartLaine "Evil Gumby has killed Mr. Bill! OH NOOOOOOO!"

Brad:
Okay, the Mr. Bill reference nearly knocked me out of the chair.. .. ahh, the good ol' days. Anyhow, the worst RPG I've ever played.. hrm.. hrm... possibly 7th Saga? Just .. odd, and not all that much fun. It seems like it might be, to begin with, but there are places in that game you can get stuck, as in, "I just saved, and I can't go on, period.." .. and you have to reset.. it just wasn't THAT much fun. It was alright, though.

Hey Brad,

I figured since Google never answers my letters, I would try my luck with you. It's just 1 Question!

How do you save nanami from dying!?

Brad:
You've got to have all 108 stars before going to the place where she dies, (that treaty place.. ) once she's hit by an arrow, they'll take her away, and instead of coming out and saying "She's dead", they'll say, "She's all right!" .. yay! I swear I used her quite a bit and was in bad shape when she went out.. my main healer..

I have to say that now I'm totally addicted. Why did you do this to me? I haven't played a console RPG since I started playing this. It interferes with my job, my school work, my familial relations, my bathroom habits--everything. It's just such a cool game, though.

Also, I'm an archer--you said that archers are cheaters. Why is that? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. I love being an archer! I'm just wondering why you think we're cheaters.

-Freedan
of Harvestgain

Brad:
Dude, you're on Harvestgain. Gimmie a msg, either Ryteria, Space Riki (my mule, inside joke), or Palom (along with Heather as Porom) .. we're on later nights and sometimes weekends. I agree, this is a totally addicting game, though I haven't really missed work because of it, nor school.. bathroom habits are defi-- er.. that's icky. Heh. I said that Archers are cheaters because on lots of Asheron's Call message boards, people sit and whine about how all mages and archers are cheaters.. because obviously they can take on these huge enemies that are 5 levels above them without much problem.. eh, it's a long standing debate. I'm of course kidding.. because Heather has an archer she messes around with, and I could kick the crap outta her. Errr.. ;D .. Archers probably DO make the best PKs, though. Mages are a good runner up, and warriors pretty much get torn up in 1-on-1 PK battles. Anyhow...

I saw your advice to the guy having trouble with the Weigraf battle in Riovannes. Well, I just passed that battle yesterday on a copy I'm borrowing off a friend and I know of two ways to beat him without using the Yell/Acumulate trick.

#1) You forgo having a life and spend enough time playing in order to make Ramza a ninja for this battle. Then you give him the following equipment. Two of the best ninja swords you can buy for that battle (available at Dorter Trade City for 10,000 Gil each), a Twist Headband, a Power Sleeve, and a Bracer. This left Ramza with a whopping 16 physical power and two swords that have an attack power of 12. Give him attack UP (Geomancer skill) and if you're compatable (heck, even if your aren't) it's a one hit kill providing both swords hit.

#2) You put Ramza in a class where he can equip robes. Since Lightning Strike is a holy elemental attack, the Chamelion Robe will absorb the damage that Lightning Strike does to you so Weigraf won't use it. This can also be helped if you make Ramza one of the magic using classes for this battle because his high faith makes him a natural magic user.

Oh yeah, while I'm here. I'd just like to note that it seems that being a Taurus with Ramza makes him compatable with both of the characters he gets into one on one fights with.

Hope this answers the question.

P "No-name brand" C

Brad:
Tell ya what, there's some great information, kids. The Taurus thing makes it so you hit him harder, but doesn't that also let him hit YOU harder as well?

I think I know why they always screw up the names when they translate FF's... I heard somewhere that Terra was supposed to be Tina, etc. etc. Well, think about it. What the hell kind of name is Tina for an epic RPG to have? Think if Cloud was named "Charlie." Doesn't have quite the inpact, eh?

In FF6, they actually use their creative energies to come up with goon ENGLISH names for the characters. For example, Terra vs. Celes. The word "terrestrial" pertains to the earth or the ground, while "celestial" has to do with the sky, stars, and other heavenly bodies. Also, you'll notice Terra's magic is opposite of Celes's... Celes learns Ice magic naturally (without Espers), while Terra learns Fire magic.

To take it even farther, "Edgar" means "wealthy pikeman" and is generally a name having to do with royalty in its meaning. Edgar is royalty, and he can equip pikes, AND he's wealthy. (I could list more examples, but....) I think the names picked out for the FF characters are not mistranslated per se, but are chosen carefully by Square's translators to exhibit the inner qualities of the characters themselves.

I just wanted to say that. 'Bye now!!

~Cid "Your Bestest Friend" Reincarnate

Brad:
I liked this.. it's just well thought out, and deserved to be printed. 'nuff said.