JuMeSyn - 8:45 EST

Just about everyone reading Q&A knows me, I imagine. I'm the one always writing in about older games (mostly on Sega systems) and who has never owned a piece of Sony hardware. But rather than regale all the readers with how underrated Sega stuff is (I do that with my letters), I'll just talk about a fun little moment from when I was on Study Abroad in the Netherlands last year.

I was coming back to Leiden (the university I was studying at) from Amsterdam in early June, and there was an announcement in the train station. I paid it no attention, because these things almost always are repeated in English - the Dutch are really good about that. This one wasn't, but I still paid no mind. It had been a long but fun day and I tried sleeping on the train, only becoming distressed when I realized everyone had just left the train at a stop just after Schiphol airport. I still wasn't quite sure what was going on, but then the train pulled into the maintenance depot and I came to the distressing realization of being all alone on a train with doors that can't be opened manually. I was beginning to accept that I would be found in the morning, when my pounding on a door attracted the attention of some railyard workers. Then I got super lucky; there was a train heading to the airport in a few minutes, and because I was the only person on it I got to ride with the operator in the cabin. Turns out there was a break in the rail, explaining why the first train got sidetracked. That was one memorable night.

....Huh, that was pretty long. Anyway, I'm up to about 63 hours into Grandia on the Saturn and I think there could be 20 or more left.

Hey Ouro and JuMeSyn.

Dang the wait for FF 12 and the Wii is infuriaitng, knowing that somewhere in the world, someone's playing it makes life so unfair, although at least the Wii will be released in Australia this year, damnable Square.... The Wii is now available for bookings so if I can swindle my brother into contributing half the price I may.

Anywho my current distractions from the worser aspects of life are Harvest Moon DS and Wild Arms 3, with Harvest Moon DS eating up an unwholesome amount of my time. Seriously if i'm still awake at 4 in the morning, whilst still thinking its 12 it must have something right to it, though I still don't know why my money suddenly jumped from $2000 to $1000000000, not that I'm complaining.

Where would I live? Most probably not in a Final Fnatasy Universe, they're towns have an unhealthy rate of death and destruction for some unknown reason, probably Matt's fault anyway! Maybe in Forget Me Not Valley, or Mineral Town. Although it seems that although things are dear, so to is the posiible income high. And also no monsters to break my spindery mage bones!

Bainick reckons most RPG lands are too dangerouse for him, but when Matt's second SOCK comes around with Class's. BooYAh

JuMeSyn Oh, I'd die pretty darn fast in an encounter with any real adversary. Unless I got lucky, but luck only takes a person so far (even in an RPG).

Well, I finished FF12 last night. Decided that I wasn't going to get anywhere just leveling up, so I went into the final dungeon with what I had (including finished quests) before I got TOO strong. And I enjoyed the whole experience overall. I'm not 100% sure if I'll go back for all the stuff I missed, though... Maybe when I'm more bored.

Hi there Ouro and JuMeSyn!

I forgot to send this earlier, so I'll be quick:

To JuMeSyn:
- Do you ever feel left out when you talk about old Sega games and there everyone is talking about the PS2 and Gamecube and PS3 and all that?

How much Japanese do you know?

And to Ouro:
- Do you feel distracted by all the mob hunts FFXII has? My need for more plot is sidetracked by the mob hunts, which annoys me to no end because both are just...so...fun...

DMJewelle

Yay, JuMeSyn is here! I have questions!

I’ve been thinking about starting to import. My current knowledge of Japanese is close to zero, and in the case of written, it’s actually zero. While this shouldn’t be a problem for fighters and such, there are some more text heavy titles I’d like to try.

Front Mission 5: It’s looking more and more unlikely that this is coming out over here. From the previous ones I’ve played, knowing where to go is never a problem, so I probably don’t need to understand a lot of the dialogue. There are a lot of menus, though. Have you played this game, or one with a lot of menus? How problematic is it to navigate them usually?

Have you ever played one of these? If I started importing, I’d defiantly like to try one, though I don’t know much about them. Is there a particular one you’d recommend?

That’s all I got for now. I still don’t know if I’m going to import. I’m leaning towards it more and more, but just haven’t dived in yet.
Slashlen

Yo, Amanda here. How y'all doin' at Q+A lately? I'm doin' pretty good myself.

This question caught my eyes yesterday but I was far too busy to write in. Good to see it's still up. "Where would you live in an RPG?" So many places, each one with its own special allure. It sounds like a tough choice, but for a few years now, I've known the answer.

I would live aboard the Elsa von Bravant from Xenosaga. It's roomy, has everything you need to live (a kitchen, bed, showers, etc.), and is home to my favorite band of lovable idiots. Like them, I'm loud, boorish, perverted, can't cook, and often get into trouble and barely making it out alive (or at least that's how I feel). Living with Matthews, Tony, Hammer, chaos, Professor, Assistant Scott, and assorted droids named after drinks would be so much fun. Sure, it'd be dangerous and we'd nearly get killed on a daily basis, but that'd be a lot more entertaining than living anywhere else, in my opinion. Perhaps we could all get drunk and sing together.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading!

Sincerely,
Amanda (In the process of stealing Matthews' hat)

Hey Josh (and JuMeSyn, I haven't forgotten your cohosting),
Well, I got my Wii system and I did not have to stand in the cold to get one (thank god for pre-orders). Right off the bat after playing it for about 2-3 hours, I have to say I right away see a lot of cool things about it and at least one bad thing. First - the cool: the controller is a lot of fun. Other than the Wii Sports the system comes with, I only had the money for one extra game, so it was obviously Zelda. Although the sword fighting is little more than you simply shaking the one controller back and forth (you actually don't even need to swing it - which kind of proves they added the controller functionality as an after-thought) it is still oddly fun to do so. Not as much fun as the point and click of the slingshot, but fun none-the-less. Now, the Wii Sports, on the other hand, is much more picky about how you handle the controller. You really do need to swing the controller like a baseball bat, or like a tennis racket, or a golf club. The boxing part is really interesting as you need to hold up your fists as if you were actually boxing.

And of course, we finally get to the bad part (in a matter of speaking): the Wii Sports can actually tire you out. Zelda didn't seem like much of a workout, but the other one certainly did (especially after the boxing). Nintendo did a really good job of capturing the feel of actually playing some of these sports, but for some people that won't be a good thing. Of course, I am also way out of shape, so I'm sure anyone in even partly good shape will have little to no problem with the little workout that is Wii Sports. But, I'm sure some people will simply set it aside and play something that requires a little less on their part. I just hope that doesn't stop developers form making more games like it, because in all honesty, I had a lot of fun playing it (despite feeling like I was actually exercising). Hmmm... wonder if this game will actually help me get in better shape.

Oh - and to answer your question about where I would like to live if I was in an RPG (I love answering questions *S*) - I would live in Stormwind, one of the large cities in World of Warcraft. Why? Because the place is nice and busy, it overlooks the forest and there is very little likelihood of the Horde being able to attack you there since they would have to get past the army of guards and hundreds of adventurerers that occupy its walls any given time of day. You'll just want to stay out of the stockade - although thats good advice no matter what city you happen to be living in.

Here's a question for you (since this is a qna afterall): any idea on whether or not there is any chocobo raising in FFXII? I haven't bothered checking the guide at any of the stores and I just cleared the Osmone Plain, so I don't believe I'm really far into it. The only reason I ask is because I have those Greens the chocobos like (can't remember the name off the top of my head) and I wasn't sure if I should sell them or wait. Well, thats all for now - keep up the good work Josh, and hope your having fun cohosting, JuMeSyn.

Scott K

Luca Phase:
Luca Blight charges up!

DAMAGE Phase:
Draconn falls to Tile 36!
Tabor falls to Tile 39!
JDX resists a spell!

Movement Phase:
Bainick moves to Tile 9.
Leaper moves to Tile 40.
Arros Raikou moves to Tile 6.
Bucket moves to Tile 5.
Draconn moves to Tile 38.
Alan Tse moves to Tile 22.
Slashlen moves to Tile 45.
JuMeSyn moves to Tile 31.
PureLunatic moves to Tile 34.
Arpijy moves to Tile 36.
JDX moves to Tile 44.
Aurelius moves to Tile 38.
Tabor moves to Tile 42.

Wow, did we really already have 60 questions?!?

Answer to #L32: F. A tasty dip
Yep, Square translated 'Sarisa' as 'Salsa.' Sheesh.

#L33.
Which of the following is not an anagram of an area of Secret of Evermore?

A. HEAR IRIS TOP
B. TIN AQUA
C. ITCH AGO
D. A ONCE GILT HO
E. A PI IT MOON
F. DO PUNK

Well, that ends my time here for the weekend, guys. Thanks to JuMeSyn for a great job of cohosting, and I can't wait until the rest of you get your chance! Matt will be here tomorrow, so make sure you guys harass him for me! Later!

***Josh slept through 3 classes today.