Josh - 4:50 CST

Pro in Tennis and Bowling! Also downloaded Zelda:LttP, Mario 64, and Mario World. I'm waiting to see what comes out this Monday, though.

I've had entirely too much fun with the Wii. The mechanics of the system are just so intuitive, I've just been in a constant state of...uh..."impressed-ness" since I turned the bloody thing on. I get giddy with the frickin' NEWS channel, for god's sake. The globe is just a really nice touch. I could probably gush for awhile now, but...let's move on.

This is ridiculous:

Link

You have to see it to believe it.
Zohar Gilboa

Dear Ouro

FFVI Advance does look mighty fine, but there are still two concerns I have that have not been answered by any review. First, do you if the battle glitches finally been fixed (so that having the Dark status actually means something)? Second, is the Coliseum still auto-battle? The game would be so much cooler to me if it didn't contain all those clumsy bugs that made battles too easy, and if the Coliseum didn't insist on battles in which you can't control you character. These would make or break my purchase decision.

Also, have you ever played the online fighting game called M.U.G.E.N.? I've only heard about it a few months ago, and if it weren't for my backlog, I'd like to check it out. It even has a ton of famous RPG characters! Now if only I could tell whether or not my computer could actually run it.

Hmm, the hyperlinks in my last two posted letters didn't show up. Well, in case anyone is still wondering, the Hiromichi Tanaka interview that I referred to in Sunday's column was this

http://www.cubed3.com/news/6729/1/No_FFXI_on_Wii,_FF_Anniversary_Projects_on_Nintendo_Systems,_Chrono_Update_and_Much_More!

And the "clip" that I referred to in Thurday's column was this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDiTaXkWhnA

Whew, I hope those work.
Alan

Is game music better or worse than in the old days?

In the 2D age of RPGs you tended to see a small collection of music, and generally in MIDI format, in all games (not just RPGs) because disk space was so limited. In the NES days, the hardware was too limited to have really good music. I think there was a sound output hardware limitation with the NES that kept music from sounding better. You saw graphical improvement as in-cart expansion hardware kept getting better, but the music always sounded a little "Tinny."

With the SNES there was more disk space, but still not enough. Most music was still done in MIDI because of disk space limitation. That said, the SNES era music sounds quite close to today's game music. IMHO LoZ: A Link to the Past has about the same quality music as LoZ: Wind Waker. An important advance during this era was the ability to play more than one instrument at the same time. Some of the late-era games like FF3 US and Tales of Phantasia had excellent music.

In the modern era, you tend to see large collections of music because of the large amount of disk space available. Okami for example has more than 100 different pieces of music. Playback tends to be compressed wave format rather than MIDI. It is still compressed b/c that shortens disk loading time. The drawback to a big amount of music is it tends to be hit-and-miss with some good, some average, and some bad pieces, whereas there isn't one bad piece in LoZ: A Link to the Past. The key here for developers is to make sure music (and sounds, for that matter) that the player hears most often are high quality. Poor battle music and footstep sounds will just kill a game. With modern systems, some titles employ 5.1 sound in certain situations, but I have a poor home theater setup (I can never hear the rear speakers or subwoofer) so I cannot say whether 5.1 sound significantly changes the game music experience.

So in summary, I think SNES-era music and later is better than NES-era and earlier, but further than that I draw no distinctions. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Flamethrower

*Hobgoblins on golf cart, beware!*

I found a source for Sakura Wars music, and am currently listening to the ending of the third game, Voyage. Very soothing, since all the ladies in the game(s) can sing pretty well. You probably don't care though, since in addition to the games not being your thing, sitting with a FAQ in front of you for translation purposes is mandatory unless you want to scroll through a LOT of text without a clue as to its meaning. So go ahead and ignore my ramblings like usual.

Started LandStalker two nights ago. Very nice so far. It's an amusing Zelda-ish title that is quite intuitive, although the isometric view (as usual) is annoying from time to time. Haven't gotten very far though, because I'm putting in 40 hours this week. Stupid need for money. Actually, I did try LandStalker a few weeks ago. Somehow, though, I managed to not see the door leading out of the very first room. I somehow thought that the statue I started close to could be moved, or jumped onto, or something, and I fiddled around with it in futility for about 10 minutes before giving up. This time my eyes worked correctly! Must be time for an eye examination.

Random question: what's the big deal with Resident Evil? I can't remember if I ever touched one of them, although apparently 4 is a sweet ride.

Another random question: way back when (2001) I heard that Star Fox Adventures was Zelda-ish. Does that make it sort of an RPG for the Gamecube? I have no idea, so I'm asking you.

Still not done with Tales of Phantasia - in fact I have a lot to go. Lately I reached the future, so I'm wandering around getting into fights with enemies that yield enough experience to make it worth my while. I get almost all of my playing done in the break room though, since that's a far better use of my breaks than wandering into Borders just to see that they don't have anything new. Any particular places that make you break out the portable systems, or is it less patterned?

Oh, you're gonna love this: I want you to decide whether Iron Storm merits inclusion on RPGamer or not. It's a World War II-based tactical game on the Saturn that was Working Designs' first localization effort on the system. Check around and say yea or nay.

Who's your party in this playthrough of Seiken Densetsu 3? And what classes are they?

Possibly against my better judgment, I picked up ActRaiser 2 off eBay. This once I didn't care enough to get a box or manual, I just bought it. Sometime I'll feel like suffering through it, and then I can finally treat everyone (most likely) to a truly scathing review, since I haven't reviewed anything I thought completely sucked before. Maybe I'll finish Sword of Vermilion too, and get some hatred out of my system.

Okay, Phantasy Star II is hard. Believe me, you WILL need to spend a lot of time fighting. And the dungeons are true labyrinths that may require a map to navigate. Phantasy Star III is fairly easy and fairly unmemorable, at least to me. Your mileage may vary. Phantasy Star IV is where it's at. Think you'll be experiencing any of them any time soon?

Hell, I'm too tired. Nothing else except to say that Letters From Iwo Jima is superb filmmaking. You be sure to go and see it, support Clint Eastwood's devotion to challenging movies!

*Santa's reindeer laughter - From Hell!*
JuMeSyn

Luca Phase:
Luca Blight takes a moment to rest (12.2% HP remaining).

Damage Phase:
Leaper falls to Tile 54.
Tabor falls to Tile 55.

Movement Phase:
Leaper moves to Tile 56.
BLG moves to Tile 47.
Slashlen moves to Tile 52.
Arpijy moves to Tile 57.
kupomogli moves to Tile 16.
Tabor moves to Tile 57.

Great, now Ouro outranks me.

Answer to #L46: B. Castlevania: SOTN
Yep, it comes coupled with a remake of Rondo of Blood.

#L47.
In the beginning of Phantasy Star II, what's the only spell your party knows?

A. Res
B. Anti
C. Foi
D. Sag
E. Rever
F. Zan

I guess now we can start concetrating on letters even more! So, are there any recommendations anyone can make for my Wii? How about that newfangled FFXII DS Lite they're showing around? Or that the PS3 is getting a downgraded version of Oblivion? There's always plenty to talk about, so let's see what we can do, ok? Have a good night, guys.

***Josh needs to not talk on the phone til 4AM.