Matt Demers - 02:14 EST

WHAT DO YOU DO on a grey, late December day chock-full of wind, rain, mud, and dankness? It doesn't matter, if you're on holidays! Happily, insides of houses are much warmer and comfier than outside them, so if you're lucky enough to be on some sort of vacation right now, you might be tasting a bit of my dismal delight, too.

I haven't been able to play many of my new games much, partly because of family events, but mostly because I currently have to share the electronics in the household with three siblings. Heck, I have to share with my mother, too, who has taken quite a liking to her new copy of Civilization IV. When I get back into routine, I expect that Wild Arms will receive a good dose of attention.

So, enough about me; what are the lot of you playing right now? Let's take a look and see...

Mattimeo!

Don't feel bad about not remembering who that crazy Al-Bhedian Cid is. No one likes him anyway! (ha-ha) He annoyed me to no end, especially everytime you wanted to go somewhere and he said, " YEEEEE-HAW! HERE WE GO!"

Anyway, so far as Cid's go, I give them all ranking. Number one, of course, is FFVII Cid, just for the whole tea scene. Number two, Regent Cid, because I lurve him. Number three would be the FF IV Cid because... he's like Santa! Only different! And then after that I guess you can throw in Mr. Candy-Corn shaped guy from FFVI, and the Librarian dude from FF V, and you can put that stupid headmaster from FFVIII DEAD LAST. HA! HA HA HA!

Anyway, now that I'm done discussing, Cid, I have a question for you. What is your favorite RPG Vocal song? I like Small Two of Pieces.

Shoopuf Alias

(Shameless Plugging: Buy Tales of Legendia! It's the only way we'll get Tales of the Abyss the game we all REALLY want!)

Yes yes. Start saving up, the lot o' you, and you might even get a free instruction manual when you buy it! What an offer! One that you might not be able to resist, possibly.

Favourite vocal? Eeee, while I love video game music, vocals aren't something I pay as much attention to. I'm not a real fan of anything from Final Fantasy besides FFIX's offering, perhaps, but "Pain" from Xenosaga was something I quite enjoyed... I hope I'm not the only one.

ndhl needs to lay off the crack. The Sega CD versions of the Lunar games came out first, followed by the Saturn versions, which were then ported (without further changes) to the Playstation.

I mean, come on! Lunar: The Silver Star came out in the US from Working Delays... er... Designs in 1993 (Source: RPGamer's Lunar: The Silver Star page). The Sega Saturn launched in Japan on November 22, 1994 (Source: Wikipedia's Sega Saturn page).

So, there's really no way that the Saturn versions preceded the Sega Saturn versions.

--
Ross Bemrose

G'fah, thanky! Having never experienced the Lunar series in any form, I guess I let things slide a bit, especially since fact-checking takes an enormous chunk of time when you're doing it through telephone lines. What a pity. Is it really evidence ndhl is abusing illegal substances, though? Hmmm...

A warning, custard, eggnog, and old orange juice makes a good bet, but not when your the one dared to drink it.

Anyway how are you on this disgustingly hot christmas Matt?

Matt I am well, except that I'm a little tired, and a lot busy. The holiday has been remarkably filled with things to do, with the exception of just a couple of days, on which I tried to take advantage of the situation by doing as little as possible.

Mine was not fruitful in the game sense but my car is being magically fixed free of my charge anyway and the recieving of two new old consoles into the collection a.k.a. Ps 1 and XBOX.

My most memorable Cid? To be honest none f the Cid's have been that memorable, none have been totally needed in the plot (with exception maybe to number fours) and they just seem to be there as and added thought like Biggs and Wedge (Not including number 7). Hey that's a good question what is your favourite group of Biggs and Wedge from the FF series.? Maybe not so great but it is 1:30 in the morning and my larger then normal stomach is feeling quite delicate at the momemt.

Anyway everyone have a great New Year

A Sunburnt Bainick

Bainick! That's a silly thing to say! Cids are vitally important to Final Fantasy storylines, even the non-FF4 ones. Without our favourite piece of candy corn, Celes would perish and we'd be left with no second half of FF6! FF5's Cid accomplished just about everything significant in the game... the party members certainly didn't play many key roles, now did they?

Biggs and Wedge, though? Hmmm. I guess I'll say Final Fantasy VII's, because well, I don't know; that's the first thing I thought of. FFVI's were a bit too soul-free for me. Were there a couple of Tantalus troops too? Probably *shrug*... blah blah blah. FFVII is my answer. So there! And Merry Rainy Christmas to you!

Hey matt I have been reading your column for a couple of months now and I was wondering what game franchise do you like better Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy?

I grew up on Final Fantasy and I recently got Dragon Quest 8 for Christmas and I have never been having this much fun with a game, I like it lots better then any other game I have played. The last couple months I have been playing an rpg for a couple of days and then lose interest in it and start a different game, until I got hooked on Chrono Trigger and beat that, have you ever been in a slump like that? And I was also thinking about trying to find a copy of Dragon Warrior 7, you think that would be a good idea?

Buford

I grew up on both, Buford, and there are things in both series that I really adore. If it makes any sense to you, I want to say "I like Dragon Quest better, but I think Final Fantasy games are sometimes better games overall". There's a nostalgia factor linked to both series, so I think that I enjoy Dragon Quest more today than I do Final Fantasy, only because I love the way both series used to be years ago. Nowadays, Dragon Quest is far more similar to its ancestor games than Final Fantasy is, so I feel somehow "closer" to it. I dunno. Dragon Quest is what I like better.

No series is without its black sheep, however. If you're absolutely sure that you love Dragon Quest VIII, you can give Dragon Warrior VII a try, but be prepared: It will be a much different experience for you (if you play games for graphics, just forget about it altogether). DWVII was a game that dragged slowly for many people. It's quite a bit longer than DQVIII, but the storyline doesn't progress very excitingly for the first two-thirds of the game. A few other things are gone: The exploration factor is virtually non-existent compared to DQVIII, the battles are slightly less balanced, and the job system consists of a cluttered mess of mostly useless techniques. Even so, the game still stands up in other areas. Despite a few typos here and there, the translation is great. The music, of course, is wonderful, the characters are mostly interesting, and the challenge is good too. Overall, though, I think it's the weakest Dragon Warrior game. If you really want to see where the series came from, find a copy of DWIII for the NES or GBC, or IV for the NES, somehow.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and also for the letter!

Dude, what is the deal with the poll this week? Has it really come to this? RPGamer wants to know how fat we are? Anyways... haha.

What is the latest on Baten Kaitos DS? I don't even know what most people are speculating about it, guess there isn't a huge following of it here... and for that matter do you think they will bring the sequel over here (yes I know its a prequel, I'm not totally out of the loop)?

I really hope they bring the sequel over here, because it isn't looking too great for Baten Kaitos DS, I'm afraid. Nothing has been announced officially about the title's cancellation, but the game fell off of Namco's Upcoming Games list on their website a couple of months ago. What does that mean? Well, nothing officially, but certainly it doesn't bode well. Another Gamecube BK, though, could be a good idea, with a somewhat bleak landscape in store for that console in the coming months (Everyone: Get distracted yet again by more Zelda screenshots! Oooohh... ahhhhh!)

Have a Happy New Year, everyone! Next time I make an appearance, it'll be 2006, so I hope that you all "party down", as they say, in the meantime. Myself? I've got some special plans for New Year's Eve involving a Snakes & Ladders game, some friends, some family, and the LCBO. If you don't know what that is, go look it up. My fellow Ontarians will know of what I speak!

2006... crazy. At this rate, it'll be 2007 in another year! I'll be back next week, in any event, so continue sending your questions in and I'll do my best to continue answering 'em.

***Matt's birthday is in just 29 days!