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This first week has gone pretty well. Thanks to everyone who sent in letters, I do read them all. Anyway, we have some surprises coming up soon, not for the Circle of Sages, but for the whole site. Sorry this one's a little late getting up, I've been watching basketball. On to the letters!

Madonna Eve

Madonna in the PE movie? That has to be a rumor. I just saw an Entertainment Tonight episode a couple days ago...and it said that she's in some other movie...but I don't remember the movie. Oh yeah, what the hell is Madonna's last name!? My mom told me it was Italian, or something...

Ryan: It was a rumor, though it was proclaimed to be true by PSXIGN and some well respected movie site. However, Square called IGN and told them that the rumors were totally unsubstantiated, and the movie wasn't happening. No idea about Madonna's last name, though it's probably some drug reference, looking at her latest hippie-stoner image.

Angelic Fantasy

In FFVI, Kefka was portrayed in his finial form, as an angel. In FFVII, Sephiroth's finial form was an angel (with one wing). Why exactly was this? What does Square have against angels so much that they would make their main villans in the likenesses of angels? Were there any other villans who had the likenesses of angels? My take on this is that demon villans are so overdone that the guys over at Square were going "Hey! Why don't we make our villan an ANGEL! That would be so different than the typical demon".

Ryan: Yeah, and it wouldn't surprise me if FF8's villain was an angel either. Maybe Square is hinting at how godly they are? Subliminally, of course..

The Infamous Villain

I'm a little confused about the way things are going to work. As you said, one Sage out of the circle will be attending the Q/A column each weekend. But this weekend you only posted your own address. How can we write to the Circle of Sages next weekend if there isn't one communal address?

I'm sending this letter to the great Thor, too, because he bathes much more often than you'd like to admit... :D

~Radien

Ryan: Now I don't bash Thor THAT much.. I'm trying to cut back.. really. :) One of the reasons we changed over to the one host format is because of the sheer volume of mail. We all get the mail and read it anyway, so why not just have one person per week do it? If we have it go to everyone, that's just too much e-mail for everyone to get every week. As for Thor's not bathing.. maybe it's his dirty diaper (sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Madness over Shadow

I'm very disappointed with the results thus far in the "Poll of the Week." I know it's all a matter of opinion, but has anyone looked a bit into Shadow Madness. The pics are breathtaking!! and Crave's bragging of the battles being "lesser in number, but harder in difficulty." I'm just curious as to know what your opinion is on Shadow Madness and the rest of the games in the poll for that manner.

MIKE

PS -- what's all the hype on Lunar? I just don't get it!!

Ryan: We get a lot more of these than you'd expect. People actually complain about the results of the poll! It's not like we pick the winners, people. As for Shadow Madness.. I have to admit, at first, it looked pretty cheesy, but the latest screen shots and information makes it much more appealing. I know I'll be getting a copy, but of course, I get almost every RPG that comes out here. Lunar, on the other hand, has always looked good. People may complain about Working Designs speed, and rightfully so, but their games are always good.

Historic Castle?

Sages-

In Final Fanatasy VI, when you find the ruined underground castle, couldn't that be Baron from Final Fantasy IV? Think about it! In Final Fantasy IV, you learn that the "real" king Baron was actually Odin and that he was killed by Kainazzo! In Final Fantasy VI, you see a scene(1000 years old) of Odin fighting a powerful creature. Odin lost and died! See the connection! Heck, when you summon Odin in either game, he does the same attack- slash the enemy to pieces (well, he does it in Final Fantasy VII too, but oh well!)

-Dekar

Ryan: I don't think this theory is very concrete.. There never was a battle which took place in Baron, as was depicted in FFVI. However, there are other references to Baron, notably in FF Tactics. Several of the hidden lands were related to previous FF games, such as the Crystal Tower (Baron,) and the Ghost Train (the one near Doma in FFVI.)

The name game

Hey Ryan Ryan bo byan banana fana fo fyan mi my mo myan Ryan! doo doodoo!

Sorry, I just thought you might like your name put to a catchy little tune. It always makes me happy. :) Anyhoo, welcome back first of all! All of you wonderful sages who take the time to answer our burning questions (or just the questions we type in because we can't think of anything better to do *-^) kick so much butt. And I would just like to say to any of those flame writing nasty people: you must really not have much to do with your life if you spend precious rpg playing time writing letters to people you hate. That's just my opinion.

I have a few kestions.

1) Is there rivalry amongst all you sages? Do you all get together and drink coffee together whilst laughing at the absurd letters ( like this one) you receive daily? Areall you sages buddies? :)

2) Why does Square make all their leading ladies so, uhm, incredibly...busty. I mean, I think it is a pretty good marketing ploy,(Half the guys I know sleep with little Tifa figurines using her chest as a pillow) but its a bit odd. Some of these people (like Tifa) are so ill proportioned, In real life the poor girl would be slanted forward because of all the extra weight. hmm. this probably is a uncomfortable question. mooooving on.

3) Is beating the weapons in FF7 incredibly worth it? I mean, I am so in to beating the whole game because I love it, and beating the weapons is all I have to do now, but when I tried to go fight one , I saw it, the battle music started playing, and I ran out of the room screaming: "Runn awaaaaay run awaaaay!" they scare me <sniff> but please help me overcome my fear. I'm a wuss I know. <sniff> but even teletubbies scare me for God's sake! :) hmm. well thank you Ryan bo byan and have a great day answerin letters and doing whatever else it is you do!

-sadie the questioning. :)

Ryan: Wow, you made my ego even bigger than it is normally. I guess I'll have to keep my head away from sharp objects so it doesn't pop. Do we have a rivalry? Nah, not really, there're a few cheap shots back and forth between Thor and I, but it's more friendly jabbing than actually rivalry. I think Square makes their leading ladies so busty because of the "Tomb Raider" effect. Meaning, the number of sales is directly proportional to the cup size of the female lead. Actually, Rinoa is more realistic than Tifa, so maybe they're coming to their senses. Emerald Weapon is a huge pain in the butt, but Ruby is pretty easy if you cast Knights of the Round and Hades (Hades puts him to sleep,) and do a Mime loop. Emerald gives you the better stuff, though, because you get all the Master Materia from him, and only a gold chocobo (and a bad racer at that) from Ruby. Anyway, good luck beating them, it took me a few weekends to do it myself.