VITAL STATISTICS Date of Birth May 10, 1987 RPGamer Hire Date January 17, 2007 RPGamer Position Game Reviewer Location New York, NY Personal Homepage TBA Hobbies 1) Writing 2) Guitar Hero 3) Making movies Favorite Movies 1) Lord of the Rings 2) South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut 3) Airplane! Favorite RPGs 1) Suikoden II 2) Final Fantasy Tactics 3) Suikoden 4) Xenogears 5) Final Fantasy VI

Shh, I'm hiding from the Empire.

   Call me Ishmael. Actually, you can call me Jason, or whatever else you want to call me- I'm not very picky. I'm currently a student at New York University, studying writing, film, and computer science among other things. Since before I can remember I've always wanted to write for a living, whether it's in the movie industry, the gaming industry, or something else that's just as creative and awesome. RPGs have also been a part of my life for what seems like forever; my mother had a NES before I was born and I grew up playing games like Final Fantasy and Faxanadu, eventually making my way to the SNES era of epic RPGs, then Playstation, and so on and so forth. In summary, I've played far too many roleplaying games; I've also recently become a big supporter of Nintendo and its policies on gaming, particularly with the introduction of the revolutionary Wii.

   Although I'm an avid fan of most types of games, from Final Fantasy to Metal Gear Solid to Mario to Resident Evil, there is only one series to which I consider myself a devoted fanboy: Suikoden. Ever since I saw the first Suikoden in its pretty box back in 1998 and read the back cover, I was hooked. 108 recruitable characters? My own castle? Count me in. After beating and loving the first game, I've made a point of getting each of its sequels on release day from then on, as well as replaying the series frequently. My most fanboy moment arrived when Suikoden V came out back in March of 2006 - I first spent the entire week before it came out calling every store I could contact in order to find it. Failing to get it earlier than the day after its ship date, I went to pick it up that Wednesday and subsequently spent the next four days skipping classes and work until I completed it entirely. The next Monday I started a second game but couldn't finish it then - damn you, real life!

   I've also been playing MUDs, text-based MMORPGs, since I started on Aliens vs. Predator MUD in 1999 (which I am currently a retired administrator on, by the name of Enigma). I've also created my own game, called SuikodenMUD, which is going under heavy revisions at this time, and we're looking for people who are interested in designing, programming, and Suikoden to help out. /end cheap solicitation

   If you have any questions or feedback on any of my reviews or just want to chat, feel free to contact me at ishmael@rpgamer.com or on AIM at apathetic enigma.

   Last Updated: January 18, 2007