Let's Begin another fun filled RPGamer Letters column. Woop Woop Woop. I don't know what woop woop woop means, but I saw it somewhere, and it looks neat.

JD:
The Opening Intro to YS 1/2 Turbo CD (Adol Sailing in to Esteria) and the "FF7 scene."

2) Has any more info surfaced about Suikoden 2 using you data from the first game?

Not to my knowledge.

3) How much will Suikoden 2 cost?

Can't you load ebworld.com? :P

4) Will it come with any cool goodies?

Come on, this is Konami we're talking about here. Heaven forbid they actually add some cool incentives. To answer your question, none to my knowledge. Unless you consider the manual cool?

5) Do you do the Dew? Thanx,

-Evil Genius
P.S. Christina Aguilera is hot! We need more of her!

I'm not gonna tell ya.

Hey JD,

Never written a letter to you before, so go easy on me...
1. With all the talk about video game soundtracks lately, here's some interesting info...the 2000 Grammy's will have a Video Game Soundtrack catagory! Needless to say, this is quite awesome... finally people can recognize game music like it should be. And just imagine the look on Will Smith's (or some other high up actor or actress) trying to pronounce Suikoden--"And the winner is...Su e ko...uh...Sweek od...um...er...shit!"

JD:
I think its a neat idea. I wonder if Square will win them all or none at all. We'll see.

2. You confuse me...apparently you're going to buy a Dreamcast at launch, but then you bash him and Sega at the end? What's up with that?

You must have missed my rousing defense on Stolar last week. I am a big Sega fan as many of you know, however Stolar does not represent Sega, at least not anymore (he was fired). I have never bashed Sega, at least not seriously. My bashing of Stolar was directed at him and him alone. While my position on Stolar has remained, overall, one of neutrality, it is just too fun to bash him. (*grin)
Perhaps I will soften my joking with regards to Stolar.

3. To anyone out there who wants a Turbo Grafix 16 (or Turbo Duo, kinda the same thing, whichever one has both cards and CD's is the one i'm talking about), I have one in excellent condition, and I have Ys 1-3. I will accept $500 in cash, or one human soul. Whichever one is better for you.

-kymion

$500? Uhm you can get a new Turbo Duo (rare) at Ebay.com with YS 1-3 for like $300, and even much less for a used Turbo Duo.

1) Did you play the greatest of the RPG series'? DW3 was the greatest of all RPGs, it had a good story, it had good graphics (for 8-bit), and people were able to choose classes!!!!!!!! Now, how could you pass that awesome piece of RPG history up?

-Darwin42, master of Life, the Universe, and Everything

JD:
I have to say at the time Dragon Warrior 3 was released, I was a huge Enix/DW fan. Yes I got it the day of its release. At the time and both in hindsight the game was very good, but by no means the greatest.

JD
i have a question for you i recently purchased import legend of mana and a psx code card,DO you know how to get past the lockout so i can load the game? thanks alot for any help,

-Kris

JD:
I remember we had this issue also, when we got LOM. Alex has our copy of it, so I turned to him for the answer on this one. He told me that you need a Gameshark and the right code to unlock it. As far as the PSX Code Card, I've never heard of it.

I also got ahold of a Thousand Arms demo. It looks like an awesome game. The battle system is a cool idea. You have one main character who does the attacking and two support characters. You can have one of the support characters cast a spell or use an item to help the main character. The one support character you don't use will then either cheer on your attacker (Raising his attack or defense) or taunt the enemy (lowering their attack or defense.) The graphics of the battle system are also awesome. It looks really good.

And the dating sim is also pretty fun. You first select a girl you want to take out and then take her to an area where you want to have the date. Then she asks you a number of questions and, depending on your answer, wants to end the date or keep talking. Eventually, if you have a few successful dates, you can start to buy her presents and such. And the voices in the game are a lot better than what we have heard up to this point in RPG's. Thousand Arms is going to be a great game.

Uh oh. I just realized I sent you a big, multiple paragraph letter. Feel free to edit it if you print this or laugh at me if you don't.

-Swiggus

JD:
Looks like RED has done it again with another great game. I have not played Thousand Arms yet, so reader opinion is all I can attest to.

Regarding what my non-biological bro E-Chan said regarding the Ys remakes - though Nihon Falcom did get bitten by the remake bug, at least they had the interest to make major changes to the game rather than simply sticking it in another medium and releasing it to fans of the original.

The two remakes do have significant changes to them - most notably the improved graphics and remixed soundtrack. Even if the remade music isn't quite as good as the original Ys Book I & II score (which absolutely rocked), at least it shows an interest in adding something new to an already classic game. Enix did something similar with Dragon Quest III Remake, which was also a very different game from the original with numerous noticable improvements (damn then for not translating that gem).

Many of the remakes out there are simply the same game released onto a new system. Take the Final Fantasy Anthology, for example - the only additions are the CG movies to the beginning and end of the games, which is honestly such a minor change that it barely registers (yes, a nice change, but one that isn't related to changing the game itself significantly). The worst part is that the music is somehow worse than that heard on the SNES (well, at least with FFV anyway). Damned lazyasses. Well, as a positive, at least it gives people who didn't play FFVI a chance to play it for the first time, and finally getting FFV over here is a definite plus.

Heh, people will probably flame me bigtime for dissing the FFA, but that's just my opinion (and for the record, I barely care that FF4 wasn't also included). But anyway, bottom line - if you're going to remake a game, do it right. Falcom and Enix did that, and thus I applaud them.

-Jason Strohmaier
Total RPG Writer/Charts Editor

JD:
I fully agree with you. Falcom and Enix have made at least, very good remakes of their older games. Game Arts is king in the remake carousel however. Then again they've only had to remake 2 games. Good points all around. Like I've stated in the past I still wish Square would put more effort in their remakes, rather than just chasing the all mighty $$$ signs. I'll take whatever they dish out mind you, but I still can't help wanting more.

JD,

The anonymous lettersent yesterday outlining the Japanese plot to take over the US, while entertaining, seems to have a few holes. Firstly Japan has no standing army and hasn't for some time as I recall.

Second I find it odd that anyone would want to take over America with its unbelievable national debt, and high population of rednecks.

Third, I don't know about the rest of you but I think that video games have a higher educational value, than most of the public schools in America.

JD:
I think they want to take over "redneck" alley as you put it, since they are easier to manipulate and pound into submission. Well ok, America isn't really redneck alley, at least I don't think so, though sometimes it's rather deceptive. Ain't it?

Dear JD- I know many people have worked very hard to come up with convincing arguments in many many discussions. I have spent many years researching this, even wrote my Ph.D. thesis on the matter. I now feel, however that I have come up with a foolproof theory. It is as follows: I M RIIT & U R RONG Now, you may ask, what happens if people try to shake my theory? Here are a few examples.
Q: What happened to your spell checker?
A: SHUT UP STOOPID
Q: It's actually spelled "You", not "U".
A: U R DUM
Q: Are you even listening to me?
A: U SUK GO AWY

As you can see, the common argument breakers fail against this. I hope you consider this plan of attack the next time you are in a debate.

-Matt

JD:
Once again, the sheer intellect of the RPG community is proven with this thought provoking letter. (Cough...Cough...)
Now I know exactly how to debate against a witty opponent, don't you all?

JD,

You know how that person said about the Japanese game producers making all the games and releasing them right when school starts? Well, personally I think its going to explode in their faces. See we will have gained so much military knowledge from the games that when the attack we will thwart their every move and all RPGamers will eventually master Ether powers. Then we will lead a rebellion, and take over the world. Waha hahahaha, think of the awesome powers we RPGamers will hold. we will make the developers slave to produce a new game every month to fulfill our RPDesires. Who among you is with me, we will form the new order in the world wahahahaha. I can't wait to see the look on their faces as they realize what they have created. Our powers and tactics will be so amazing we will not only conquer earth but the whole universe. So all RPGer's must join in alliance and conquer the world with me, and then we will throne the almighty JD as our leader (yeah right). Think of it, its so perfect.

-FirstWizard "The Seeker of Power" Hayabusa

JD:
Why did I print this letter? Hell I wanna be ruler, damn it.