02/23 - 3:00 p.m. CST

No, the title to this column isn't supposed to make a whole lot of sense. It's a play on words, but you'll just have to guess what I'm referring to. Some of you might get it.

I have officially recovered from a rather miserable bout with the flu. I seem to contract this illness right around this time every year without fail. Funny thing is that I just had it a little over a month ago. It barely lasted a day though, so I think it felt the need to come back in order to fulfill its usual 3-4 day obligation. I went to class this morning for the first time since last Monday, and thankfully, I'm not as far behind as I could be. I think.

I did utilize some of my sick-time to play some Persona 4, which I'm moving through very slowly, but greatly enjoying. I also played a little bit of Chrono Trigger DS, which has become the game I play for 20 minutes or so before bed on certain nights. Fun game, but, ah... let's just say I've played plenty better.

On to the LETTERS!

Hey Oliver,

...Did someone mention the Sorceress Assassination Plot in FFVIII? Oh, that's right. You did! That was one of the best gameplay sequences in all of FFdom, now wasn't it?

In retrospect, though, I don't see why it was necessary to trap Edea’s float between the gates when it was essentially a straight shot for Irvine anyway. Plus, it obliterated the SeeDs' only advantage: the element of surprise. (Of course, the sequence was so awesome that I find myself not even caring how irrational it was. It was just so exciting!) Maybe you can make some sense of the "trap her between the gates" decision?

Boy, now I’m in a retrospective mood... When it was mentioned last week, I realized that FFVIII was truly the “mixed bag” of the series. It contained some of FF’s most awe-inspiring narrative sequences, while simultaneously giving us embarrassments like the "oops, I forgot we all used to be orphans together" plot twist. Now, I won't ramble too much about my misgivings here, but I will condense them into a single statement for you: the plot implodes upon itself when Disc 3 starts. The main party could've used a certain je ne sais quoi, too. What about you, Oliver? Was FFVIII a mixed bag for you?

Aww, now I wanna play FFVIII again...
Cornman89

Greetings Montok

I hope this new year finds you hale and hearty, following your Blue Dragon plus re-birth.

After the response you gave to your mystery correspondent in the Feb 10 Q&A column, I feel I have gained an insight as to why you are such a staunch advocate of the Tales series (though perhaps not particularly adept at defending them). Like myself you seem to place paramount importance on a game's characters, namely appealing personality and meaningful development. I find myself quite enjoying Tales games despite their often generic stories because of the distinctive characterisations contained therein, yet I digress this is not the reason I am writing in.

Rather, I was thinking of picking up Metroid, yet I do quite enjoy a bit of good exploration. As such I was wandering whether you would be so kind as to enlighten me as to the degree exploration plays in that eponymous title.

I was also wondering what you consider to be the worst Castlevania game since Simon's Quest, and how you feel about the series' current direction. There's no need to be shy with the criticism, I'm sure readers would like nothing more than your frank and honest opinion.

Finally I was wondering if there was any chance of linking a forum thread to your Q & A column so that readers might find recourse by way of calling you a pillock, should you say anything untoward..

Ah but alas time catches up with us all and I'm afraid I must depart. You have my heartfelt gratitude for the sterling effort you put into your column, and my fervent hope that you will participate in this weeks RPGcast to remind Chris that minutia is boring.

Sincerely
SiliconNooB

Oliver! Much has happened since last we corresponded in the Q&A. Such as my being sent on a Clint Eastwood bent by Gran Torino that hasn't stopped yet, though it stalled so I could get my stupid slasher movie fix with Friday the 13th. Clint Eastwood is awesome.

Awhile back you said an occasional music link might be alright, so I'm gonna start you out with this glorious sample of Super Robot Wars, Woman the Cool Spy. Viletta Vadim is a very worthy character and I loved her theme the first time I heard it. Don't mind the Youtube link, it's an audio-only one.

Hmm. Since last we corresponded I've played a plethora of titles... you mentioned Final Fantasy III awhile back. Yes it's a big grind-fest with a final battle that caused immense irritation at how there is no way to equip characters to make up for the weaknesses of Jobs (Ninjas aren't all they're cracked up to be when they die in one freakin' magical attack). I'm not sorry to have played it, but Final Fantasy V does this a whole hell of a lot better, I feel. Agreed?

Just finished Chrono Trigger on the DS. Suffice it to say the game is just as good now as it was in 1995, although the extra dungeon you can access before finishing the game once is WAY too fetch quest-oriented. Also reuses tons of sprites without contributing any new ones, making it painfully obvious the porters weren't concerned with extra effort. You have played this game, right?

Would you believe my DS malfunctioned again? This time both screens stayed black when I turned the power on. Fortunately Nintendo's warranty lasts until October this year, so I got free FedEx shipment and free repair. This does put a serious crimp in my intent of delivering the first staff review for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon though. Macstorm will probably have to do it.

Speaking of Fire Emblem... I've got a few things to say about both 3 and 4 you will probably find interesting. Such as this serious flaw in 3 related to the forced dismounting I mentioned awhile back. It seems that character stats are not entirely part of the character - they're also part of the mount, and when your mounted people have to move on foot indoors, their stats go down. The most obvious case of this is with pegasus knights and paladins - they lose 6 magic defense when they dismount because it was all in the horse/pegasus! In a game with magic defense being a VERY rare stat to increase, that's a problem. Also the game considers a stat capped regardless of whether it comes from the character or the mount, and thus when dismounted some stats like speed and skill that were maxed outdoors no longer are.

The final battle for 3 I consider it safe to talk about, because this is a 15 1/2 year old game that will never be translated into English. And it's rank with cheapness, which means I have to vent. First off, there are three parts to this final battle. The first part is easy enough save for the presence of a seemingly unlimited number of dragons that kept spawning. Dragons have an attack that ignores defense, so they require very careful handling to keep fatalities away. The second part finds you having to climb a long stairway, single-file. Plenty of long-range magic users are attacking you at the bottom, more are at the top, and there are a couple of magic enemies positioned to attack one after another on the way. Naturally I was horribly unlucky, and BOTH of these bastards with a Drain spell to take a character to 1 HP had it hit. That cost me two people. Also the boss of this part can ONLY be killed with a certain spell, and he'll actually move when you're in range.

Enough about Fire Emblem 3 - a few notes on Fire Emblem 4 now. The neatest thing about this game is the incredible variety to the classes. I'll take Leaf as an example: he starts as an okay sword-user. Once he promotes, he gains the ability to use spears, axes, bows, staves, light magic and elemental magic. Coupled with him having very good stats, he's a monster. Fee and Fury, your Pegasus knights, can use swords before promotion. After promotion they can use staves too - you now have flying healers. This is why characters in 4 have both strength and magic statistics, because so many characters can use both. If this sounds broken, remember that 4 is definitely not lacking in challenge.

Need an example of this challenge? Alvis is a nasty bastard who the storyline gives you enormous reason to hate, and when you finally fight him he's formidable. He's on a castle, his weapon is one of the Holy weapons that increases his stats, and his attack power is a mammoth 70 magic. Plenty of people without sufficient Resistance or HP will die to that, and his Defense is also maxed so only a few people can deal any damage. It's a damn good thing he doesn't have the skill to attack twice, or he could kill everyone if you got unlucky. The final chapter comes after him and features a full dozen opponents with 80 HP and some maxed stats guarding the final castle, one each an expert in a different form of weaponry. And they'll chase you.

The other cool and unique aspect to 4 is the love system. You can keep a male and female character together on the map as much as possible, and you'll probably get them to fall in love. If a woman doesn't fall in love, she doesn't have kids and you get different characters in the second half of the game who you aren't able to customize as much. The customization aspect is this: the kids get the skills their parents had, and their stat growths are higher based on who their father was. If you have Dew the thief fall in love with Lakesis, the kids will get his neat Skill that has him steal the money from anyone he fights. Also, the dancers in this game are better than any others because not only can they be equipped with swords (though they're too weak to win many fights) but they revive everyone surrounding them instead of just one. Four revivals a turn if you work it right? Very nice.

You've probably had enough, and I'm tired of typing. Good tidings be with you.
JuMeSyn

Damn... that JMS letter was... epic. I'm not complaining, I'm seriously just in awe. 1250 words is the length of the majority of the essays I've written for college. I have a feeling that with Mr. Moehnke on staff, our Editorials section will blossom and bloom like never before. (Er, JMS's real name is Mike Moehnke.)

Well, tune back in next week for your bi-weekly dose of Ethos! I would suggest sending him essays of gargantuan proportions, so that editing them down will take just as long as it would if he actually ANSWERED them.

As for me, I'll be back in a fortnight.

-Oliver

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