Only a few more days till Lunar reaches the stores! Unless something else happens heheee.
Again Lunar dominated the letters, obviously looks like a game thats gonna do well at the stores. Also of note Chrono Trigger, Dragon Ball Z rpg and the undying FFT vs TO debate were at the forefront of the letters, of which opinions over questions seemed to be the rule.

Yoh JD,

I'm wondering if I should get Lunar:SSS. I have about $130 in my savings, and I'm planning on buying FFVIII and FF Anthologies. I'm definitely going to buy FFVIII, but I'm wondering if Lunar:SSS would be a better choice than FFA? I can't decide, so I'm asking your opinion. I haven't played Lunar, but I hear it's really good... But FF6 and FF5 are some of my favorites, and the battery on my FF6 cart is dead. Ack! Decisions, decisions.. Oh, wanna hear something tragic? I'm about an hour into Disc 2 on Xenogears, but I got that far several months ago... And I can't go back to play it. Why? Because my $@#*% memory card is messed up. It's one of those ones that're like 20 memory cards in one. I can't go back to a different set of saved games, which means no Xenogears!! Isn't that sad? Oh well... Life's hard. Well, see yah, and good luck on the column!

-Dark Neko

JD:
$130 eh? not bad. Care to send some of that to my office at RPGamer HQ? ;)
That is a tough decision. I'm a big fan of both Lunar and FFA (mostly to see FF V). I would probably get FFA only because I have already played the Sega CD version of Lunar. If I was limited to a few RPGs this year Lunar SSS would definitely be near the top of the list.
About the Memory Card...That's why I always save any rpg game I'm playing into two memory cards, for back up purposes.

For the past four months I have been looking to buy Chrono Trigger. I looked at Software Etc., Toys R Us, Kaybee, and various other video game shops. But I could never find a copy. I looked at Gamecave.com and other websites but I still can't find a copy. Do you know of a place where iI can get a copy?

Dobry signore ::bows grandly::...

I couldn't help but notice that ye are playing ChronoTrigger....alas, I am proud that FINALLY one of you lovely Guru-type folks is playing the greatest game ever bloody well created...: ChronoTrigger. Yesh, that game is responsible for sucking away much of my time, and even more of my money in the form of Yasunori Mitsuda composed OSV's, as well my astrophysics obsession ^_____^...not to mention it's responsible for my smashing cosplay romp as Schala (yesh, twas *I* who donned that long blue wig and purple robe...although it took me 3 days to get all the Sticky-Tack out of my hair from the wig >_<)...well, uh, just wanted to rave for a bit ^_^;;;...oh! I actually *DO* have some stuff that has to do with the column ^_^;!
1. What are your speculations about the majestic game that shall be dubbed ChronoTrigger II? Personally, I think that if Square DOESN'T use some of the Zeal storyline, they're putting very good potential for a great game to waste...the possibilites are endless with that, plus, nearly all the CT afficiandos I've talked would simply adore seeing such....
2. Is it just me or is Magus from ChronoTrigger Teepo from Breath of Fire III's evil twin (or maybe the other way around ^^;)? The resemblance frightens me...
3. Do you think Elehayym Van Houten is a proper name for an elephant-nose fish?
4. Did Toriyama-sama (whee, it rhymes =P) ever create a piece of ChronoTrigger art with Frog/Kaeru in his human form? I saw the sprite and he reminded me frighteningly of a green haired Mirai Trunks...
5. Do you have any clue what the plot of Star Ocean was about (or II, for that matter)? From all the MIDI titles I've seen from that game, it seems to have Evangelionistic themes, which is inDEED a most excellent thing. and finally:
6. Who do you think is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, Florence, the Mad Pigeon who must have his butter or he goes "BRAK!!" or Mr. Tumic, the Purple Octopus Wizard who lives in my stomach? Domo arigatou gozaimasu ^______^!

-Almighty Cheese & Bishounen Goddess Shosetsu

JD (not much for making pointless names that you probably don't care about many ways)

Hello this is a letter for all of those people out who hate people that make trouble for the video game industry. Here is an example in my newest OPM I read an article that said the families of the shooting victims in Kentucky are suing Sony, Nintendo, and Sega for making violent games. My problem with this violence in video games is not the problem mostly its just the kids weren't raised right. Heck I play violent video games and beat most of them in a week or shorter but playing these games will not make me go out a shoot people I just have mental brake downs so that I think I'm a GOD but thats not the point people need to stop blaming video games for violence in society. One more thing people need to stop dogging Parasite Eve it was the first cinematic RPG made it didn't have much replay value but it was a good game.

-Selk Chere, Empress of Darkness

JD:
JD Raises his can of coke to the informed reader.
This is the discussion that can get heated rather quickly. So let me give both points in the argument. I agree on the two points. Both contribute to violence: kids not being raised right, and the environment which does include violent games. Each should be blamed accordingly. The very first thing I learned in psychology is any given "Living Subject" will respond to any given stimuli which happens to include the environment or what it is exposed to. There lies the crux of the anti-violent game sentiment. Having just said that, I don't think anyone can, with certainty say what is or isn't the root of the recent problems.

JD,
Pleeeeeese print this. I beg of you!!!!! *grovels before him* I have a very strong opinion that may spice up the TO vs. FFT debate. I bought TO shortly after it was released. I liked it a lot at first, but that was going to soon change. The game overall isn't that bad, but its one major flaw makes is this: It is TOO DANG HARD!! Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good challenge. This is one of the reasons that I really like Legend of Legaia. But when it gets to the point that I have to spend two days trying to pass a battle, and spend three hours training between each fight, then it starts to get really annoying. I didn't want to waste the money I spent on the game and played through it almost to the end. I even finished all 100 levels of the Hell Gate. It wasn't until finishing the battle at the top of Eden that I put the game away. The game cut to the next scene, AND SENT ME BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 2!!!! I don't know why it did this or if it ever happened to anyone else, but I wasn't gonna take anymore of that game. In my mind FFT is ten times better.
Sorry for my sentless rant, again I beg you to print it. I sent about 10 letters to Thor while he was here and he never printed a one.

-Malo Duende

JD:
Only if you grovel for the next week. Teehee...I'm a tyrant at heart (grin)
I didn't find TO that difficult it seemed just right. As I said yesterday, I got hooked on FFT. Usually Sim/RPG games bore me but FFT was a keeper.

Dear J.D
Yesterday Kenderkin asked about Dragon Ball Z Rpgs and you thought they were all fighting games. Actually there are ten DBZ Rpgs three for the Superfamicom DBZ: Super Saiyajin Densetsu (Legend of the SSJ), Dragon Ball: Super Goku Den, and Dragon Ball Z: Super Goku Den 2 and seven others for the NES. The fighting games you were thinking about are DBZ: Buu Yu Retsuden for Genesis, and Super Butoden 1, 2, and 3 for Superfamicom.

-Lord Bain

JD:
Thanks for the clarification on that. Even us mighty RPGuru types can't know it all.

Alundra Flame ----------------------------------------- hi, I'm just writing in to flame you, or something, for bashing Alundra. Politely. A polite flame. Yeah. WD is my god. Anyway, it is a fine game. I usually hate puzzle games which are that hard, and the story is so depresing, but it is an extremely good game, even though it's not my fav. And there you have it. I'm willing to admit a game which, to be honest, is not one of my favs, is a really good game. Oh my god; I've committed an RPG sin, or something. Anyway; my point? Don't completely be against something and say it sucks just cuz you didn't like it... Alundra had beautiful graphics, developed characters, challenging puzzles, great control, decent music and sound fx, and although I didn't care for the story as it wasn't sweet or funny enough for me, it was still a good story. What exactly did you think sucked about it? Yeep. Anyway, no offence, you probably really haven't thought about this, but, well, think about it now, I guess.

-kris wolfe

JD:
Polite people rule, impolite people drool. Hahaaa.
Um anyway. Let me say I've been playing WD games when most people here didn't even know what WD was. WD is Tops in my book too. However Alundra just bored me, I just don't feel it lived up to past Working Designs epics. Admittedly I didn't continue playing the game after about 7 hrs. There was nothing fun about it. I felt it was just dungeon then next dungeon then the next one, on and on and on, with no interesting story relief. Perhaps I'll try it again one day.

Hey JD,

Being one of those gamers with moderate views about console RPGs I decided to write in and tell people why we don't speak out as much. Since we're moderate we really don't care to argue about which aspect is best and would rather just enjoy the games. Take FF7 for instance. It was an okay game, but I really don't love it or hate it. It's just that I don't feel like writing in to defend my views about it when I really don't care about it all that much. As for Working Designs at least they constanly update their page and tell us what's going on. Konami hasn't touched there Suikoden 2 area on there website for more than 6 months. Anyway, I was wondering if you looked at Valyrie Studios Septerra Core for the PC. Think it will be any good?

P.S. I'm a math major. I'm armed with Taylor polynomials and gamma functions. Fear me.

-MtMagus

JD:
I agree with you there. I consider myself a moderate and usually never wrote in to game web sites or cared much for lengthy game topic debates. I'll give Working Designs Kudos for constantly updating their site. Whereas companies like Capcom and Square update so infrequently, due to they hire fancy webfirms that cost lots of $$$. Septerra Core looks ok, but I don't like PC RPGs for some reason, except Falcom ones.

Math major eh? Care to do my math homework? I pay a fair $.02/day.

Please forgive me, I have never written in to the mail section, and I'm pretty sure that all of these letters have to have atleast one question in them so. . . . The COMMENT is: I got more than I expected from Shadow Madness. With most of the Game Mags bashing the ____ out of it, you'd almost expect it to be bad. But not only is the story written so well, the battle engine and graphics aren't quite as bad as they lead you to believe. So my question is, have you had a chance to play SM much and what do you think of the game? I think the RPGer's need to be re-informed about shadow madness, as I'm afraid that too many of them will never play it due to the bashing it received. That's what I have to say,

-Teremei

as i read returd turn of the JD i saw a few complaints. Now c'mon i don't see you people making games and I hardly ever say this but it is just a game. Now if you want a good game listen to reviews and things like that. if you want a game you can complain about you can get any game. Just like humans games aren't perfect so stop whining and start useing your brain it is as bad as you think.

-Ethan Hunt1988