Q&AK with.. AK actually hosting it? Craaaaaazy stuff cats! Anyway, I've read all 2017 messages I found in my mailbox, but if yours doesn't get posted or doesn't get a reply, it's really nothing personal. Time constraints and stuff like that. Now that we have stuff out of the way, let's get down to business.

Q: In your poll for this week, "Which upcoming RPG, confirmed for 1998, are you looking forward to the most?" you didn't even list Final Fantasy 8! Everybody and their dog wants that game, so I see no reason not to list it in the poll.

AK: You silly goofball. When we say "confirmed for 1998," we mean RPGs that are scheduled to be released between now and 1998. FF8 won't be released until next year in Japan, and even later here.

Q: Hey AK!
I'm here responding to a question posed by one of BSM's faithful supporters, who probably won't read this response due to the utter devastation caused by BSM's final Q&AK session (until next week or so, anyway). (:
He asked what it would take to become an RPG designer. And while becoming a PROFESSIONAL RPG designer would take some SERIOUS work, becoming a "personal RPG designer" with an already-guaranteed audience of about a dozen people or so (MINIMUM) is EASY. Just go to http://moria.vivid.com/vecna/ and download VERGE, which stands for "vecna's Extraordinary Roleplaying Game Engine". After downloading it and its three ZIPs, you can use MapEd to lay down tiles (which you can draw!) to create maps (and you can add parallax scrolling, etc. if you so choose), then add events (which can be scripted in VergeC, VERGE's pathetically-easy-to-learn version of C++ designed specifically for making RPGs), then add entities (townsfolk, story characters, etc.) and program them (using either VergeC or the built-in movement scripting ability, which can make an entity move up 2 and right 4 merely with U2R4). And with this, you can create a FULL RPG with everything from flashbacks to nighttime scenes to "30 second countdown before explosion" scenes, etc. And the source code is publically available, so you can edit it to your heart's content. I already did: http://members.tripod.com/~wyrdwad/ -- I added text file and string support, which now makes it possible to write your own battle system using VergeC, rewrite the item and magic systems, etc. There's almost nothing VERGE can't do, and if you advertise your VERGE demo on the VERGE discussion boards, you're guaranteed a pretty large audience for it.
In addition, VERGE can also handle full-motion video now... (:
So hey, if you've always dreampt of making your own RPG, why not do it? It's really not all that tough...
This unofficial ad has been brought to you by Wyrdwad. (:

AK: Very very very rarely will I post something like this, but since there was such an uproar about RPGMaker, this would be probably be a fun little commodity for some of you. Have fun.

Q: I have a simple question about import Playstation games. If you plan to buy and play one, is it neccessary to have an import playstation as well, or will those games work on newer american playstations. thanks.

AK: Ah, the old import question. You can run them on normal Playstations, BUT you have to have your Playstation fixed (talk to your local veterination about that procedure (haha, that was a joke, believe it or not)). In all seriousness, you have have a "mod-chip" installed in your Playstation. Which can be risky, especially since adding one nullifies your warranty. Also, don't be tricked into thinking the mod-chip translates games, too. The games will all still be in Japanese.

Q: I recently bought and beat a used copy of Breath of fire, and am wondering... are there multiple endings, and what are the differences? I used Agni magic, like all the FAQs said to beat the final boss... but yeesh, the ending had like no closure... So did I get a bad ending, or does the good ending just suck? =)

AK: Sounds like you got the "good" ending, which isn't very good, I agree. The worse of the two endings is just a "the end" screen, and the final boss laughs at you and you realize you didn't truly win. If you had a little cut scene and stuff, then you got the real ending.

Q: Hey, I looked at the list of release dates for all the games, and it said that FFV was released for Win95 in the US 2nd Quarter 98! Has it already been released, or is it coming very soon, or what? I know I haven't seen it in any electronic stores... Please shed some light on this!
-Ben Carter

AK: 2nd quarter 1998 was a projected release date that's probably no longer accurate, unless Eidos makes a sudden release. Getting Eidos to say anything other than, "yes, it is coming out" has been like trying to get President Clinton to talk about Monica Lewinsky. The closest I ever got to a release date from them was "after FFVII's release." They do say it is coming, though, so I guess we'll have to keep on waiting.

Q: Andrew,
Okay, I know you to be a reliable source of information, so I will ask you: what RPGs do you suggest for the NES? I'm thinking about buying a bunch of NES games and am wondering what games I should get.
Thanks,
A Loyal Visitor of RPGamer.com Since the UnOfficial SquareSoft Page,
Jared

AK: Thanks Jared for your support. When I think of NES RPGs, only a handful come to mind. First, of course, we have the classic Final Fantasy I. The Zelda series, which some despute as being an RPG (I call them action-rpgs), is also legendary (pun intended). You also can't forget the Dragon Warrior series, I-IV. All of those are very solid RPGs which are wildly popular in Japan. And we can't forget the darkhorse classic, Crystalis. Great game.