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Monday the 13th |
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Googleshng - September 13 '04- 4:00 Eastern Standard Time
Just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it. Anyway though, Phantom
Brave is proving quite... interesting. There's something to be said for fighting with trees and fish.
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Classification
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Dear Master of the Simes,
I was just playing Super Metroid the other day, and I thought "why hasn;t this game been labeled an RPG, even though 3 Castlevania RPGs use the exact same formula?"
Any answers for that, Masta-G?
Sincerely,
Matthew Davidson
P.S.: Tortoise
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Googleshng:
The Castlevania games in question (of which there are four actually, SotN and the three GBA ones) are
indeed a lot like the Metroid games, but there's two things they have that Metroid doesn't. Experience
points, and various weapons and pieces of armor to collect and swap around. That really is the rule of
thumb most tend to go by. If there's EXP, you can call it an Action/RPG. Otherwise, you can't.
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Copyrights
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Technically, there is no difference in the impropriety of Fan Fiction, Fan
Art, and the Chrono Redundan-- err, Ressurection. Square Enix has the right
and privilege to sue over any of them. But, they won't. First, because no
court would grant them an injunction for the Fan Fiction, and because the
Fan Art is free advertising for the most part.
The only time it'll become an issue is when you're either a) making money
they feel they should be making (which is whenever you're making money) off
of their stuff or b) when you're taking money away from them. In the first
case, since the fan art and fan fiction are both free and largely harmless
(if, admittedly, rather dumb in most cases), they'll leave it alone. But,
when the CR team starts copying a game verbatim and giving it away for free,
it's eating into the company's profits (especially when they just released a
rerelease of the game). This is definitely a case where they're iron-clad
in their rights.
Think of it this way. If I really like Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Which was
pretty bad, by the way), and I take a poster, make a collage out of it, and
stick it in the window of my truck as an advertisement for it, I'm helping
the company. If I make my own film about zombies and the umbrella
corporation and stupid blonde girls that should get eaten named Alice, I can
always label it a parody or indulging in creative license. But, now, if I
were to take a camera into the movie theatre with me, and then tape the
movie, and give it away for free outside the movie theatre, then what
theatre manager in his right mind would let me stay there without calling
the cops on me?
And yes, I read a whole business law book. So I know what I'm talking
about. I'm not one of those yuppies whose only expertise is Law & Order or
Ally McBeal or Buffy. Nossir, I read a book, that means you can't argue.
And if you do, well... 'LALALALALALALALA' I can't hear you.
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Googleshng:
I think this was covered pretty well over the weekend (or, for that matter, months ago when someone first
mentioned this project in the column), but I like the way you put it here.
Shame on you for watching that train wreck though.
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The subject line of this letter was "Chrono Resurrection"
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Out of curiosity...
"Sage Guido", a turtle, from Final Fantasy 5: how many people sent in that
name for the turtle contest?
"Morla the Ancient One" from "The Never Ending Story": how many people sent
in that name?
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Googleshng:
OK. This is something you should never do. You are sending me a letter about that turtle contest, which
I have nothing to do with, couldn't care less about, and thus can't answer your questions here.
Presumably, you were fully aware of this, and therefore, rather than giving your letter an accurate
subject line, like say, "Turtle Contest Questions" you went with "Chrono Resurrection." A subject which
is not at all covered by your letter, but which you assumed I would be more likely to read, it being
something brought up over the weekend.
The flaw in your logic here (aside from not having sent this letter directly to Andrew), is that you are
assuming I don't read every letter I get. After filtering out the spam, I sit down and read every single
letter in my inbox, making mental notes about which ones are going to go into the column. Then I go back,
take those, and print them. If you send me letters with nice, specific, accurate subjects, for instance,
"Questions about the Fusionist in Phantom Brave" or something along those lines, it makes my job much
easier. It also makes me less likely to mistake your mail for spam. If on the other hand, you have a
fraudulent subject line like this one, all you do is annoy me and make it harder for me to find the
letters I plan to print.
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Saturnayalia
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elllo ello, in the column the other day someone asked "what are some good
sega saturn rpgs?" and u left out the essential rpg for the system...panzer
dragoon saga, one of the most innovative rpgs ever(although horribly
underpressed , with copies on e-bay going for up to 300 bucks).
Next up, why does everyone hate legend of dragoon so much? sure its
loaded full of cliches, but so is tales of symphonia and no one complains
about that. LOD may not be the best rpg of all time ( for me thats either
suikoden 2 or xenogears) but it was still fun.
now since i have to ask a question, here goes....Do u ever think
square-enix will make a parasite eve 3? I freekin love the first one so much
( and i pretend the second one doesnt exist) all i want is another PE sequel
......although, with some of the crap theyve been pumpin out lately i might
be better off without that 3rd PE, they would probably make aya Brea a
stripper or something. Let us pray that never happens.
adios
-Georf
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Googleshng:
Yes, if you own a Saturn, it is your civic duty to obtain Dragon Force, Panser Dragoon Saga, and Shining
Force 3. If you want more than that, you can always grab the various games Working Designs brought over
for it, the much lauded 2D Capcom fighters the system handles better than anything else, or the 5000
neat RPGs for the sucker that were never translated as the system died before they could be brought over.
I think I've discussed the merits and flaws of LoD plenty recently, so there isn't really more to be
said on that one, but as far as the potential for a PE3 goes, it doesn't strike me as too likely. The
original was pretty nifty I thought, but it wasn't all that well received. Then Parasite Eve 2 was,
well, the absolute worst excuse for a game I've ever played in my life, and there the general public
DOES seem to agree. Not exactly the sturdiest foundation to build a new game on here.
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Announcements for announcements...
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Why have you guys not made an update about Bethesda's upcomming unveiling of a new game (possibly in the elder scrolls series). They have a countdown running on their splash page and are planning on making an announcement of some sort on friday 9/10. I was just wondering if this information was too speculative for you guys to make a post or if there was some other more informed reason for waiting. I ask because I am a huge fan of the series and it's in depth lore. On a totally unrelated note I love the Q&A column and all associated with it. Just to add a little opinion to an actual question (I did actually ask a question which doesn't always happen in this column) I have put about 25 hours into Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and have to say that I am impressed by the high production values, the incredibly fun battle system, and the myriad of customization options offered by the item creation system. I do admit that the story runs seriously thin and drags some but I believe that is more than made up for by the interesting systems it employs. I am just wondering if I should pick up Phantom Brave and thus totally ruin my chances of maintaining my job and a healthy relationship with any other human being.
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Googleshng:
Hmm... seems this arrived slightly too late to be timely, but poking around Bethesda's site, the only
thing I see you could be refering to is a game based on the Cthulu Mythos, which is all well and good,
but not an RPG. I suppose this should answer your question anyway though. If a game hasn't been announced,
or at least hinted at, there's nothing for us to cover.
As far as Phantom Brave goes, well, it's a spiffy little game. Not sure if it's worth destroying your
life over, that's really a personal choice, but it's fun. |
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