Michael: Welcome to another edition of the Roundtable. We've got three new topics and four new panelists to help us discuss them, so let's move right onto our panelist's introductions!

Andrew: My name is Andrew Duff, and I leave in less then 48 hours for Japan. Which is why I cannot sleep. ;_;

Googleshng: Hello, I'm Google. I live here. Go read my latest rant.

David: My Name is David Looney and I run guides and need people to send me FAQs. Plus I know google is really a highschool girl who wears skirts. Really.

William: I'm William Albert Borden, Goog asked me to sit in. I'll try to play nice... I really will.

Choco: Teehee, I'm Magical Girl Choco deeeeesu~ :D I like candy, and somehow got stuck saving the world! Nice to meet you!

Michael: Thank you for introducing yourselves, dear panelists. Choco, try to lay off the sugar coated candy some, we need you to be of clear mind. Now we'll get down to our first topic of discussion. Square-Enix is old news, but what we haven't yet covered here is what will happen to each company's flagship series; will the stylistic differences between the DW and FF games start to creep into each other?

Googleshng: Being by different dev teams, the only change you should see is in translations.

Andrew: I disagree.

Googleshng: How so?

Andrew: The games will bleed into each other, as each series tries to milk more out of each other audiences.

Michael: We might see Dragon Warrior VIII marketed as heavily as the latest Final Fantasy game.

William: I do not think that they will grow the same in all that many things. Sure mere coincidences might happen, like main characters looking alike, but both of them bank on players liking them the way they are. I mean the games sell like beer at a football game already. I think the developers will leave them as they are. Heck, they have not changed FF all that much from the first games.

Andrew: The weaknessess of both series' shall fade away under more scrutinity!

David: Well, it could lead to Dragon Warrior getting a new character artist or a real menu system, which would be a good thing.

Googleshng: The core audience of the two are more or less at opposite ends of the spectrum. No reason for them to want to emulate each other.

David: And they would bleed, depending on which group of upper management runs Square-Enix now.

Googleshng: FF could use a better interface design too, but I doubt either will get one.

Michael: I don't really think we'll see anything like moogles in Dragon Warrior or crappy interfaces in Final Fantasy. However, I do think that each series will be more polished from the merger.

Googleshng: *cough* FFX *cough*

Michael: I haven't played FFX yet, but let's not discuss that!

Choco: From the look of things, Square-Enix is keeping things separate... just like their name. Instead of breaking the barriers and naming themselves "Squenix", they left the nice little "-" in their name, thus keeping the two companies together, yet separated. It seems to me as though this trend will continue on in their developing habits.

David: Final Fantasy has changed drasticly over the years. Dragon Warrior is more the series known for staying with the same ideas.

William: David, yeah, but anyone who has played a Final Fantasy game can look back at FFIII and FFIV and know that they are Final Fantasy games.

Andrew: Dragon Warrior has altered quite a bit too, considering.

Googleshng: Yes, but FF has never tried to be more like DQ, and DQ has never felt the need to be more like FF.

Michael: Good point Choco, which is why I don't think we'll ever see the two series blending together. And Goog said that they both have seperate dev teams, so really, the only things that will make either game similar is what the big wigs in Square-Enix want.

Googleshng: And I doubt the people running Enix will force difficulty on Square's agendas.

Andrew: You know what would be creepy? A Kingdom Hearts-like mix-up between the two series, even if it was only for one game.

Googleshng: I shudder at the thought.

Andrew: And with the success of Kingdom Hearts, it's a creepy maybe.

Michael: I have a better idea Andrew, create another dream team ala Chrono Trigger and create an original game.

William: All in all my point is this. If the games sell well like they do, then why change a good thing? It's like Capcom running every series it comes up with into the ground, and in some cases right through a mountain until they change anything.

Choco: Time for more analogy fun. If the teams gets together and make something, it'll probably be a kind of like those soft ice cream dispensers that take, say, vanilla and chocolate ice cream and swirl them together. Thus, two individual styles swirled up into one package... instead of taking the mixture to the blender and totally destroying the lines.

Googleshng: So what? You need to character build after every other boss? I don't think that would work.

Michael: If I ever see a Chocobo in Dragon Warrior, remind me to never buy a Square-Enix product again.

William: If I ever see that I might kill...but enough about my rages. I think the companies know they have a good thing with the games the way they are, so they might not change them. You know how 'The Man' works.

Andrew: Hey, say what you like, but I enjoyed Kingdom Hearts. And if a game like that game rock so well, I don't see why this mix couldn't.

Googleshng: I figured we were talking gameplay elements here.

Choco: Kingdom Hearts was imbalanced in its mixture, though. More chocolate than vanilla, you might say ;P

David: Well considering how much vanilla is in chocolate already... Kingdom hearts was a liscenced game, so you knew it was going to be imbalanced. It is better to say vanilla ice cream with sprinkles; the Square characters being sprinkles.

William: Heh. I finished it... But then again I finish every game I start... Call it a mad habit.

Michael: Say what you will, but I liked Choco's point best. Square-Enix is keeping their name seperated, and I think it's a sign that both Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy series will more or less stay their own paths. Frankly, I'm more interested in what this two-headed beast can do when they combine their best talent.

William: Michael, now you're talking about gamer geek wet dreams.

Michael: But before any readers decide to go nuts, don't even think of Chrono Break. Let us move on to our next topic!