Andrew, I would like to have Sephiroth's masamune. That thing rules! I mean, geez! My only question is, he left it in the president of Shinra's back and... had it again later? If there is more than one, I would gladly have 2 at once. Woah, can you imagine Sephiroth wielding 2 masamunes at once? That would be cool. Anyway, Scull Lead was talking about FF8 being a love story. Strangely enough, FF8 really didn't seem like much more of a love story than the others to me. I played it, and, in fact, it felt like less of a love story than FF7 or FF9. I mean, all they really did was make the "rival-to-the-protagonist" a love interest for Rinoa. Well, to be fair, they had the whole "second story" with the singing woman and all that, but that seemed a LOT less emphasized than Squall's story. I would rather have the Squall's story be the "side story." And just because the leveling system is "realistic" doesn't make it fun. Besides, how real is a cactuar? "Mooses coreographed by..." --Ewcoolio

Andrew, oh, Andrew; How about collecting Materia? Sort of like getting the right letters in the Coca-Cola caps for a sweepstakes. The Holy Materia would be ultra-rare.

FF IX was so pretty that I bought the art book soon after starting the game.

I think that if ever I have the money, I would buy *all* the Final Fantasy OSTs.

I guess that's too much Final Fantasy. It'd be cool to have a Dekku-scrub doll.

-Wesley

P. S. No, really: who is Shadow's daughter that he didn't reveal himself to? Keep your mind out of that gutter, there.

My friends and I were having a discussion about the challenge of certain video games. It came up that most console RPGs don't take skill, just patience and time, because leveling excessively will substitute for skill and tactics in battle. I pointed out that all of the Final Fantasys that I've played have had this "problem." Final Fantasy 8 (which I haven't played, but have watched) tried *really* hard to solve this ... and in the end, failed. The whole "monsters are a couple of levels higher than you" breaks down when you get to the top levels. It loops. I know this because I have a friend who leveled his characters to 98 or 99, and was fighting all level 2 and 3 monsters. Whoops.

I guess it's just another opportunity to mock Final Fantasy 8.

-Meghan

these are things that i myself have thought a lot about, and i hope you don't mind me offering my two cents ...

i have always considered rpg battles, whether in pencil and paper rpgs or video games, to not exactly depict what occurs during the fight, but rather to just be a representation of the statistical system by which it is determined who wins a conflict.

any fight where two humans go at it with any kind of weapon (gun or sword), it is most likely to end with the first or second successful attacks. but an rpg would be boring if every fight ended realistically, with a single sword slash or a single bullet killing any foe.

and just a quick thought about ff8 ... i thought it was a cool idea, if not stellar in implementation, how the enemies would level up. doesn't it make at least a little sense that any enemies you would encounter, were ones that had been wandering around themselves, possibly fighting other lower-level monsters and killing them ?

so ... yeah

-ovafiend

So, I knowa lot of people think Xenogears is a crappy game, and a lot of people are obsessed with it. Count me among the second, though I won't refute the arguments about it having too much story and not enough actual game there. That's probably why I like it--I love stories and I loved this one. But, whatever...

And then, there was eBay. And craploads of stuff about Xenogears from Japan. And my wallet suffered. Soundtrack, Vocal arrangment CD, Perfect Works, Thousands of Daggers, Piano Music book, Millenium collection (just the second one), poster, wallscroll, keychains, and doujinshi. And (almost) nothing with Id in it. (Can you guess who my favorite character is? I'm addicted to red hair.) A friend of mine painted me a wall scroll, and it's gorgeous.

However, though it doesn't exist AFAIK, I'd love to get my hands on an Id statue. A little one the size of the ones that came with the Millenium collection would be ok, but I'd really like a cold-cast resin 14" super-detailed one to sit next to my "Himura Battousai" statue of the same type. Additionally, I will make, eventually (when I learn how and have time, that is) a music box with Faraway Promise in it, and probably adorned by an pair of angels like in Nisan Cathedral.

-Meghan

Silly Andrew, E-mail's for kids!

RPG memorabilia, huh? You're asking for it, you KNOW you're going to get raving Pokemon fans...

Anyhow, I would personally like to see Final Fantasy Anime. It would be interesting if they elaborated on the earlier titles, especially FF6. Imagine Edgar trying to pick up chicks, or maybe it could be about Mog. Moogle Anime ... now THERE'S an idea...
Also, how about Dragon Warrior merchandise? With all the cool monsters, they could come up with something good. I think a slime statuette would be great, myself. What do you think?

"So what's your plan?"
"A little something I like to call FIGHTER-DOKEN!!!"

NeoCarbuncle

Hey again,
Elliott here. Mmm, this is a rebuttal to the rebuttal of my letter! Counter argument if you will. Tomm tries to disagree with me, but all he does is entirely agree.

The point that I brought up was that Square has failed in bringing gamers epic and heroic characters nowadays. I said that FF6 had amazing characters, they are the last of the 'great breed'. Square has given us not troubled characters, but broken characters. Prime example is Squall, but hes way over used, lets use Tidus. Tidus is a sissy, plain and simple. He has emotionally problems linked to his abusive father, who he believes ran out on him. What are we watching, Montel Williams? I dont want to hear a story about a cry baby, plain and simple. Tidus is a broken character. Hes pathetic and should not lead that group of 'heros' (by the way, Auron is the only true hero in that entire game).

I want to hear a story about a TROUBLED character. The story of Terra and her cross bred lineage and her struggle to come to terms with it AS IT PERTAINS TO THE STORY. Her being half esper and the role of the ESPER in that world is an amazing parallel. Tidus' family feud had what to do with SiN? Oh, the parallel is that his father is SiN, I get it...right? Wrong. The fact that Tidus hated his father had nothing to do with the evil of their world, the fact that he is SiN is just an interesting plot twist. And plus, before the 'epic' final battle in a game, who wants to see their main character cry?

My point was proven by you. Cecil didnt have it all EASY when he made the cross to Paladin. Ever heard of Kain? His best friend or worst enemy? You dont ever really get to find that out. Even in the ending, Kain doesnt show to the wedding because he feels he isnt strong enough to look into Cecil's eyes again. He is training, becoming a stronger Dragoon, he is a troubled character.

In closing, I want to see more Bart Fatimas and Aurons, truly bad ass characters with their own tragic past and their own stories to tell...that don't involve social disorders. Schizophrenia, Broken Homes, Low Self Esteem and all the other bullshit that has found its way into my gaming doesnt have a place there, its place is within society...aren't games a little taste of worlds we can never really venture into, why drag our real world problems with us?

elliott, who belives that characters like auron need to be a catching trend - http://www.mephtik.net "you smell of the farplane..." now thats foreshadowing baby!

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• Useless junk.