Josh - 4:31 EST

Hey, thank you guys for sending in your stuff. I had to take yesterday off because I had some people visiting me from NY, friends from over the summer, and I didn't have time to post the column (It's ok, I bribed Roku so he'd let me off ^^). But now I am back in full force! And...in fact...

...I'm going to do something incredibly embarassing, because I can. As a gift for harassing me and letting me harass you for six months, you get to see...Ouro In Action! Yes, this video depicts my moment of snapping, due to writing entirely too many pages during the last few weeks of my internship. I walked into my suitemate's room, and saw him dancing, and stupidly decided to join in. I wasn't trying to dance well (clearly), and now I look back on it, laugh my ass off, and then try to forget it again. But here, I will share it with you.

Disclaimer: I had nothing but fast food for a week before this video was shot. Beware my gut, but it's gone now! I swear!

So...go here

Ok. Now stop crying and read my column. ^^

Well Ouro,

I was going to cover for you on Saturday, but there weren't enough letters. I figured instead of stealing the one letter there, I would just write one to you. What are your thoughts on all of the supposed piracy of FFXII going on right now? Does it make you mad or just jealous? I can't say that I'm upset really. I just want my own official copy when it comes out.

Right now my backlog is officially on hold. I'm going to try to finish Dirge of Cerberus, since I was almost done with it before I got Xenosaga III. But Suikoden V with be going back to the shelf for a little while with FFXII, FFVa, and FFIII all coming. I also finished FFII: Dawn of Souls, so that leaves my portable game option wide open.

Tales of the Abyss sounds like it might be something I pick up after a little break. Also, .hack is looking pretty nice, but I still think I'm going to wait for all of the parts. Maybe.

Anyway, how is PSU?

Later,
Macstorm

Hi there Ouro

Normally I would write into the collumn so that everyone knows I still exist but 1) I've had zero to little time to even read the collumn due to work and other obligations 2) I haven't touched a video game much less an rpg for more than 15 minutes in recent memory and 3) none of the discussions going on have sparked my interest

But I'll chip in where I can, Skies of Arcadia I love this game, it's the first traditional RPG I know of where the characters moving about in battle served a purpose, which was later seen in SH2 and 3, and pointlessly implemented in WA3 which served no purpose, I also loved exploring and finding stuff regardless of if yon stuff served a purpose or not, I also liked recruiting shipmates as well as customizing your ship, also it was fun seeing what Cupil evolved into, and I beat every bounty fight ^^;;; and maxed Vyse's stats ^^;;

As for FF5 I like it but sadly it is the only FF game I never finished legally, no I do not mean I played a rom... I... I... had to cheat to beat the game !.! that one freaking battle where that one guy's weakness changes argh I've never been able to beat him on my own, I tried starting over years ago but the lag, funky glitch on the save screen and piss poor translation made me stop, but I'll take sword in hand once again and fight to stop ExDeath(or whatever) once the GBA port arrives

As for Bainick's reply one of my major villians in another project is basically the host of a kid's show from hell she has the children at home recite a song which summons demons to slaughter them more evil Peewee than TinkyWinky, though a well organized non-backstabbing, non-infighting, competant evil organization would be unexpected

Now for questions to the Ouro of which I have 1

Question: Which is a cooler modern day era RPG threat/villian group? Aliens, Demons, or Robots?

Also no wimping out and saying zombies they are far too hard to draw and you can't make much motivation and development for a cannibalistic corpse who only shouts "Brains!!!" also no other people or vampires

Arros Raikou
*still strange after all these years o.O*

Hello!

I have seen a poll on the front page of RPGamer asking if we think the site should cover news on Okami. I didn't know Okami was a RPG though. What are your thoughts on the game? Do you think it classifies as a RPG? How so?

Thanks for the information.
-thinkfreemind

What games are in your collection (RPG and other Genre) that you wish didn't belong there? The only one that I have would probably be Magna Carta. Though there isn't any amongst my 40 strong '64 games. Maybe Legend of Dragoon due to the fact that the second disc is unplayable. Blagh

Bainick loves having sausages with his Tomato Sause!

Hey Ouro!

Hey, you asked for letters, right? Hopefully my ramblings won't be TOO incoherent.

Thong has been fun so far, although admittedly I only actually KNOW about 2% of the answers and have to look up the rest. Or just guess, if I'm in the guessing mood.

Anyway, I remember the good old days of the Genisis. It was my game system of choice when I was very little. Even my mother played games on it, although she only played Road Rash.

I played Phantasy Star III, as far as RPGs go. It was fun, although recently I played a bit of PSIV, and I like it more than the third game, for some reason. The characters seem more... Friendly. They were so cold and detatched in 3, and it just wasn't all that enjoyable! My older brother loved the game, though. He used to play it incessantly when I was a kid. Between him and my mother, it's a miracle I ever touched the game system!

The only other systems we had when I was little were an Atari (not much to talk about there), and a Sega Saturn. I don't remember how we got it, but my sister and I loved the thing. We didn't have many games for it admittedly, but one we did have was called Dark Saviour. It was a great game that had many different scenarios depending on how fast you completed the opening of the game. To be honest, all my memories of the game are disjointed and random, but I can still remember that I had a lot of fun playing it. In fact, despite no longer having a Saturn, I'm thinking of finding a copy of the game and buying it.

Though it's not an RPG, I did play the game Myst recently. Yesterday and today, actually. It didn't take much effort. I think it was because I remembered most of the solutions. I need to pick up Riven, now. Maybe I'll find a used copy somewhere, as my old one disappeared. I adore puzzle games, although if my next playthrough of Riven goes anything like the last, I'll be lost about an hour in. Maybe this time will be a little less confounding.

I haven't really played any RPGs recently, so I don't have much else to say. Being unemployed didn't quite allow me to buy new games. Fortunately that's changed now, so hopefully I'll have more to write about soon.

Yours,
Aylee

Well, Josh, I wanted to send you mail. The problem is, I'm finishing up Valkyrie Profile 2, and most of the burning questions running around in my head involve the story connections between it and the original, so I obviously can't really get much into that, considering what you're playing at the moment (not VP).

Ever had that happen, where you really wanted to talk about something, but were forced out of it for spoiler reasons? It's really frustrating, I can tell you that! What's even more frustrating, now that I think about it, are many FAQs and guides. I try only to look at them when I really need help, or am really frustrated at a particular point, but all too often, my eyes end up wandering, and catching something I didn't want to catch. Ever seen a company or individual writer who's particularly good at minimizing this, or am I just doomed due to the nature of RPGs? (I'm quite proud, BTW, of my play on VP2; I got until the final [frustrating part of the] battle without even glancing at an FAQ - I hope to do that again for .hack and FF12.)

I have been playing wizardry v heart of malestrom for some time now and for some reason the orb of llygalm(or something like that) was taken away from me and the 3rd level any ideas how to get it back or do i need to restart but i would hate to do that please someone help me

Luca Blight takes a moment to heal.
William.T falls to Tile 21!
Draconn falls to Tile 22!
Tabor falls to Tile 22!
Aurelius falls to Tile 23!
BLG moves to Tile 16.
BLG is burned by a Flame Trap!
Bainick moves to Tile 15.
Arros Raikou moves to Tile 10.
Slimey moves to Tile 26.
Bucket moves to Tile 22.
Draconn moves to Tile 26.
Slashlen falls to Tile 25.
JuMeSyn moves to Tile 15.
PureLunatic moves to Tile 29.
Arpijy moves to Tile 28.
Carabbit moves to Tile 12.
JDX moves to Tile 27.
Aylee moves to Tile 17.
Tabor moves to Tile 25.
Sundoulos moves to Tile 14.

You're lucky...you just barely got me last time...you won't be so lucky this time!

Answer to #L16: B. November
Nov. 27th, to be precise. London Philharmonic Orchestra!!

Answer to #L17: D. 160E
These were in reference to the SP costs of the spells in Actraiser! The letter corresponded to the first letter in each spell (Lightning, Rain, Sunlight, Wind, Earthquake)! Earthquake is the last one, which costs 160 SP.

Answer to #L18: C. Penguin
Penguin is the only one out of the choices that is released in the 4th series of action figures in Brave Fencer Musashi. The others are all released in series 5.

#L19. The Assassin skill Dark Escape is very useful if used properly. Which of the following skills will not end it prematurely?

A. Wild Strike
B. Illusionary Weaponry
C. Black Mantis Thrust
D. Dismember
E. Earth Shaker
F. Bull's Strike

Well, thanks to you guys, I have a good amount in my inbox, so much so that I will have to spread them out over a few columns! Thanks guys, but don't think that means you can slack off ;)

So, Okami...anyone else played it so far? How about Tales of the Abyss? If any of you guys have picked up any recent titles, how about sharing your experiences? I hope to see you guys tomorrow!

***Josh is enjoying this nice inbox.