Wow, harsh! Honestly though, that was my experience the first time I played it. The second time around things seem to click a lot more. I just found combat to be very interesting. There's the challenge of modifying the field element, knowing when to use elements and when to save the charge, using elements like diminish and magnify etc. I wouldn't say its perfect at all, there's certainly a lot it doesn't do well. However I think overall it's a really fun game, that could probably use a nice remake to fix things up a bit. Maybe you just didn't have enough of the silly characters in your party?

I actually did get a Dreamcast, and still have it though I'm trying to sell it. I just got it late once it hit clearance, and never really liked the thing. I was still bitter from the Saturn days, and more importantly none of the franchises that made me love the Saturn to begin with even showed up on the system. Anyway sounds like I missed out on some, shall we say, "interesting" games? I was interested in the idea of a space shooter/RPG mix, are either of them actually worth playing?

 What was that? I'm sorry, memories of trying to play the very boring Shenmue put me to sleep...

Is this like, part of the gameplay? Team lifting? You know every time I wonder how Sega, a company that has been around for decades, can be so terrible.  Sometimes I just have to remind myself that it actually spent an obscene amount of money ($70 million!) funding a game that features team lifting as part of the gameplay.

That's a tough one, as I've only just begun to sample Breath of Fire IV. Despite that, I think I would have to say start with Breath of Fire IV. I find Breath of Fire III's early game to be pretty boring, and there's just nothing really about it that grabs you. Breath of Fire IV already has a more interesting setting, better graphics, and doesn't make you suffer through a wood chopping mini-game! Though I know you don't have a PS3 or PSP, should you get either it's also available for a relatively low price on PSN.  Plus if you play that one first we can compare notes, as I'll be giving it a go over the coming months.

I have to ask a serious question here audience. Can someone please explain to me how someone at Capcom signed off on the name Duff McWhalen for one of the bosses in Mega Man X5? Guns n' Roses reference or not, that is just ... terrible! I know the X series has never exactly been known for good boss names, but that (and the rest of the bosses really) is just terrible!

I'm not quite sure I could, or would want to, convince you to play Dragon Quest VII. I mean, I enjoy it, it was even the first game I wrote  in about to this very column back in the day when a certain awesome person was running it. The issue is, Dragon Quest VII is a one hundred hour or more RPG, and it is paced as such. You don't get the job system until like thirty hours in, heck you don't even see combat until a few hours in! I'm sure you hear the majority of the music in the game by the time you've reached the job system as well. I mean like I said, it can be enjoyable, it has a great job system once you get it, and the various stories you run into are very good. It's just the game is set at a glacial pace. Jump into that one only if you have a ton of time to spare.

Dragon Quest VIII on the other hand, is easy to recommend. Featuring a huge beautiful world to explore, an amazing localization, and the usual fun Dragon Quest combat (if you like the series' fights) I can't recommend it enough. It can be a bit slow at times, and the loading times can get annoying, but overall it is an experience not to miss. Easily one of the best in the series. The only thing I didn't care for is the character advancement system, but at the very least it does allow a fair deal of customization.

I have played it a little bit, and had trouble getting into it. I think I just wasn't in the right mood though, so I will be firing it up on my PSP in the near future. I have sampled the DS game, but we'll talk about that in a minute. Keep poking me about Valkyrie Profile and I will get to it!

I was always more interested in the sequel (though I won't play it until after the first) though not for the greatest of reasons. Namely, it involved Takayuki Suguro, the brilliant director behind Resonance of Fate. What I've heard of the game is usually that the combat is great, and the story is not anywhere near the level of the original.

I did pick this up (for like $10) and have played a little bit of it. The concept is really brilliant. The execution obviously leaves much to be desired. Still I just like the idea of forcing players to go to insane lengths to try and not sacrifice anyone. I tried to to do this in the first battle where it seems required, and was unable to find a way to beat it without using the sacrifice ability. I'd like to see them try again with this concept, this time cleaning up the many gameplay issues.

Oh there is little doubt that some concepts were ripped straight from Star Wars. At least the game is far more interesting than The Phantom Menace! I'd really be interested to hear your thoughts on Final Fantasy XII since I was unable to make the backtrack episode about it.

Well the obvious way would be to just make a wild west RPG. I'm going to go ahead and say make a new Wild Arms game with a few less Sci-Fi elements. Then use clips of John Wayne as the only dialog the main character speaks. No cutting and clipping of dialog either, the lines he speaks must be the exact lines spoken by John Wayne. This is a brilliant idea!

I am clearly going to have to find out if the internet has translated it, because this sounds hilarious! How import friendly is this game? Too tough to play without knowing a lick of Japanese?

I'm going to save this for next week, as it seems a shame to use up all this great content in one week!

Haha, I'm not sure! Is procon a word? FFXIII-2 is certainly a lot of fun, but I think it proves to some extent that all the extraneous stuff FFXIII didn't have really wasn't necessary. Granted XIII takes too long to get going (though it isn't as bad as Dragon Quest VII), but I don't feel like XIII-2 hits the same highs that its predecessor did, despite some nice tweaks to the battle system. Regardless, I'm certainly far from disappointed. There's a lot to love about it.

Interesting, I'm not quite sure what you mean though, let's have you elaborate...

This is very true. As much as I loved VI, the world as a whole could have used a bit more depth. Still, given the age of the title I think we can easily forgive the older games for such things. This is why I've come to enjoy RPGs that focus on a much smaller area of a world, instead of the whole thing. This allows the places and people to become much more fleshed out, and makes the game world feel more alive.

You're right on XIII, but the issue is most of the locations in the game had little importance or relation to the story at all. What was that ancient tower they climbed in Grand Pulse? What was the deal with that lake turning to crystal? It just seemed like the characters paid little attention to the current location and most of the story scenes could have taken place anywhere. Of course, they all looked so good that I don't think this bothered most of us. Still, the game needed a tighter connection between the locations and the story.

I think you're spot on about a lot of this. XIII's mythology was very interesting, much more so than the villain and his vague motivations. The linearity never really bothered me either. The locations looked so cool, and there were always little side paths to wander down to find extra treasure and such. The problem is more that the game design makes it feel almost crushingly linear at times. At least Final Fantasy X gave you an air ship and let you freely travel between locations. I get why it bothers people, but the characters and battle system are so good that they far outweigh the bad. I think we give too much credit to S-E for the feeling of isolation the game creates (since the lack of towns seems to have been a way to speed development), but that doesn't change the fact that their absense actually makes the game better. This is what makes the area of Grand Pulse so special. It wouldn't have been the same with a bunch of towns in the middle of all those monsters. I think as time goes on, more people may give XIII a second chance and realize it is not as bad as they think.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure other games have done the dynamic switching of music. XIII-2's soundtrack is certainly something special. I especially like the way themes from XIII and the series as a whole are worked in. Eclipse would have to be my favorite piece, channeling the classic Final Fantasy theme with a cool aggressive mix to boot. Can't say how glad I am I bought the special edition with the entire 4-disc soundtrack!

Is it Final Fantasy XIII? I hope so, that game needs more people to champion it. If not that I'll go with the classic guess of Final Fantasy VI since that's my favorite.

It's just nice to see a fun little indie title get a lot of love. It also makes some of the higher budget downloadable efforts that aren't very good seem even worse. Seriously, Daggerdale is the best you can do with the Dungeons and Dragons license?

I'm enjoying BoF IV so far, enough to recommend it to someone else as you can see in the previous letter! There's no chance it will top Dragon Quarter as the best game in the series, but I expect fun times ahead!

I will certainly do my best to answer your questions, and thank you for calling me an expert!

It wouldn't surprise me, but I would think that would be more likely to be announced at a Japanese show. I'm sure we'll hear something soon. With the success of Catherine I'm sure Atlus can see that it could potentially have a huge title on its hands with a Persona on HD consoles. I just can't recall off-hand Atlus Japan ever announcing anything at E3, so I'd say wait for the next Japanese show for that announcement.

This is a tough question. I'm sure for starters it shows that the developers really loved the title. I'm going out on a limb and saying at the very least it shows the developers desire to want to make a sequel. It think there's certainly enough critical acclaim to warrant one. Would it ruin the original's unique qualities? I don't think so, as long as it's on a new system with different quirks. I think if they just do a similar game on 3DS it will lose some of its luster. We shall see!

OK I really need to take you and other Tales fans to task on this one. What Namco needs to be doing right now is getting Tales of Graces F released and making that a success. Graces F is a massive project (the extra chapter is as long as the original game!) so you need to cut them some slack on that one. Get excited for the English of that one and put those Xillia thoughts on the back burner. Having played Graces F I can assure it is worth the wait (the battle system is amazing). Sorry to sound mean, but one thing at a time folks! This isn't Japan, they can't just dump every Tales game here at once.

That out of the way, please support Graces F!

I agree, I have a good feeling about the Vita being a good RPG system. I'm used to portables launching with a lot of ports by now, but at least these are some games I really had hoped to see on portables (except Innocence, not a fan). With a new Ys already announced for the system, I'm pretty pumped. Can't wait to have Disgaea 3 on the go!

That's a cute story! You should really try and get a video of that in action, I'm sure Capcom would love to see it! Anyway, thanks for writing in, hope to hear from you again!