Hello all powerful Andrew. Unfortunately I must say I'm hesitant about Baten Kaitos. The game looks graphically amazing, and I dig the storyline, sort of. But I'm not a fan of games that run off a card playing battle system. For some reason I don't get as much joy and excitement out of it. I put it on a level with Pokemon or Magic the Gathering, maybe even D&D in that you don't feel as connected to the characters. There's no physical struggle. Look at Phantasy Star Online C.A.R.D. Revolution. Somewhat similar scenario. I like it better when it's my dude dealing the physical damage, or taking the damage, not his ace of spades. The storyline however is somewhat similar to Albert Odyssee the Legend of Eldean for the saturn in that a boy is raised by a winged race, not sure of his background or why he is different, it's just on a much bigger scale. I would like to see an rpg that is setup similar to a first person shooter game for exploring dungeons, where its half action, half turn based. It puts you right in the front seat. These are my thoughts, thanks for reading!

Isn't it weird that there's so little variety in what games get merged with RPGs?
I mean, seriously, RPG elements can pretty much be grafted onto anything. Instant innovation! Why stop with platformers?

RPGs with fighting game mechanics are pretty awesome, yes - but imagine an RPG with side-scrolling shoot em up mechanics! As a pilot, flying through outer space fighting off hordes of aliens and (perhaps!) an evil empire, bent on universe domination - you could level up! And your wingmen could too!

Perhaps rare, space-dwelling life-forms could provide rare drops.

Also, puzzle games.

Imagine "Tetris Attack Adventure".

-DNE

Well, I really just wanted to write and let you know how much I enjoy reading your "answers". The comical, witty remarks, and the intelligent retorts are always fun to read when I am actually supposed to be doing something else, like working. :P

But I suppose I shouldn't be writing to you unless I had a question to ask as well. So here is my question.

Do you beat every RPG you play? I just wonder how many people actually beat them all. Personally, I've played a lot of RPG's, but only beat about 70% of the ones I have played. It's an irritating fact, but hard to change nonetheless. And once I stop playing the game, it's hard to want to go back just to finish the end. It's especially irritating on a game like Xenosaga where I get all the way to the final boss and then realize that the characters I had chosen to play with throughout most of the game were pretty ineffective against it. ><

Anyway, that's all I've got. Thanks for reading. :)

-Kelley

Hey, the new quote on the main page is from the G.Fly in Breath of Fire right before he attacks you. And afterwards you get the satisfaction of feeding him to a frog. ;)

watcher...needs more tildes =D

I remember playing Shadow Hearts. I got it shortly before FFX, and broke away from it when X arrived. I played Final Fantasy X relentless... and I tried to make myself adore it, and when I finished, I had this dry taste in my mouth. Probably because I hadn't gotten anything to drink for like twelve hours, but also because I realized something that terrified me: I miss Shadow Hearts. I went back and played it with a more open mind, and to my surprise I adored the game endlessly, despite the fact that no one else seemed to at the time.

Then there's Breath of Fire:Dragon Quarter. Everyone hates it. Seriously, it gets good reviews, but no one can stand the game... but I LOVED it. I loved the challenge it did give, and I loved the story(especially for not sending me after some superpower being immediately). After beating a game, I am normally *GREATLY* saddened -- but no, the ending was totally, ridiculously awesome, and I wasn't saddened. Infact, I replayed it! 1/4! Woohoo.. anyway, I found the BoF series to just get better and better -- call me crazy -- from the very beginning until the latest entry, in every way. Story, graphics, gameplay, music... but perhaps BoF:DQ was too wildly different for some people.

Here I am today. I HATE Square. I shouldn't, but I do. I find that I hate GTA:SA, and I hate HALO 2, and I hate FFX/FFX-2. I don't perpetuate my hate, or claim it's rational. I'm falling to an unnatural bias against popular games -- surely that's it.. but why, and am I alone? After playing Shadow Hearts and BoF:DQ, plus many more, I've come to hold some kind of strange grudge against more popular games... and I can't drop it... I need some kind of help group. For many reasons.

On a side note: I've been playing Wizardry:Tale of the Forsaken Land, which I picked up years ago and never touched after playing 15 minutes. I found inside a surprisingly strong storyline, decent music, great art and plenty to do... why must things slip under my nose like that?

• Console RPGs

• Online RPGs