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Googleshng - February 9 '99- 1:30 Eastern Standard Time
I have less letters today than I have ever had. Hopefully I won't
run out before the end, but I can't make any promises.
Anyway, tomorrow Cheshire Catalyst is guest hosting. You know, he's been making those pictures
at the bottom of the column. Anyway, he's played most stuff, so ask whatever.
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Got Questions?
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Ask Google
and C.C.
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Recent Q&A's
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02-08-00
02-07-00
02-06-00
02-05-00
02-04-00
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The Old stuff
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The Archives
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Draw Me!
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Fan Googles
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How do you pronounce...?
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Listen
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In the PSX:
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RE3
+86 seconds
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In the Genesis:
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Phantasy Star 2
Meant to change that...
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In the Gameboy:
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My cousin's copy of Pokemon
He WILL pay.
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In the SNES:
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Civilization
AC today?
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In the SMS:
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Phantasy Star
Always.
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In the NES:
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River City Ransom
Javelin Man
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In the Saturn:
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Nothing
No games yet
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In the N64:
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Zelda
Hookshot. 8)
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In the Dreamcast:
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Soul Calibur
Need another game...
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Lunar 2
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Hey Goog:
What is the word on an American release on Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. I know it
is being remade the PSX, and I LOVED the first one. Also, what is your
impression of Wild Arms 2? I really liked the first one, but I don't know
much about the second one.
The Archmage
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Googleshng:
Well, the last I heard, Lunar 2 was still slated for an April
release. Actually, I seem to recall the release dates section has finally been brought
up to date, so you can check for yourself. As for Wild ARMs 2, well, I still don't have
the first one (I hate the postal service) so I obviously don't know much either. What
I do know is that it appearently has really great music.
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Translation
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Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. True the FF5 translation came from the scraped PC
conversion but guess whos translation they were gonna use for that version.
Well Ted Woolsey of course. So you are mistaken Google. Hate to gloat but
hey. Print the rest of this letter if you feel like it.
I have played the very beggining of the PSX FF5 and I have also played
through nearly the whole rom version. The translation for FF5 PSX was done
by Ted Woolsey (think that's how you spell his name), the same person who
did the translations for Chrono Trigger, FF4, FF6, and numerous other SNES
sqaure titles. I have yet to see someone complain about these translations.
The reason people don't like Ted Woolsey's translation of FF5 is because
they are used to another and people always tend to enjoy the original more.
Yes, Faris's tone of speech bugged me but the rest of the characters seemed
much more developed. Woolsey translated the FF5 when they were considering
bringing the game over to the states, but that oviously didn't happan.
Sqaure had the rights to this translation somehow and used it to save time
and money. People first started to complain about a final fantasy's
translation when FF7 came out. Woolsey did not do FF7. A direct translation
is often dull(could this be because it was written mediocore or poor to
begin with), but people seem to enjoy it when people add a little flare to
it, like Woolsey has done. Sorry this got so long. Just had to point out
that Sqaure did not hire a crappy translator for FF5.
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Googleshng:
Since I'm so low on letters today, I think I'll take this
oppertunity to prove that I actually know what I'm doing. Way back when, Square was
toying with the idea of releasing FF5 in the US on the SNES under the title FF Extreme
(since they'd already released FF6 as 3 and the numbers were confusing enough). THAT
translation was done by Ted Woolsey. They scrapped that idea though unfortunately and
the translation was stuck in a closet. Then years later, after Ted left Square, came
the idea for FF5 PC. Since Ted no longer worked for Square, they could not legally use
that translation, so they commissioned another from some hack. FF5 PC was also scrapped,
but that's the translation they wound up using for Anthology. I WISH they could have
used Woolsey's, he's a very good translator. As for dirrect translations, they aren't
dull at all! Dirrect word for word translations make almost no sense and are full of
phrases like "number one best". That's why you never tend to see them. Oh, and as for
why I don't like FF5's translation, not only are there embelishments like Faris' speach
pattern, and disusting arbitrary name changes like "Dragon" and "Hydra", in Japan those
two actually have names, the translator made some unbelievably stupid name translations.
Should this robotic monster called Moteru Turapu be translated as Motor Trap or Mottle
Trap? Great call there. Then there is of course the whole thing about Faris/Saris being
translated as Faris/Salsa. I think it's safe to call that a bad translation.
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Opinions
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Google,
I have noticed that most sites and stores only promote the most popular
games. And I have played most of them already. What I want to know is:
1.) Have you played Persona? I heard it was a good game and I'm wondering if
I should invest in it.
2) Have you played Kartia? I heard it is a good game...What do you think?
3.) Are you looking forward to FF9 and Galerians?
Thanks..please print this letter!!!!
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Googleshng:
Persona is one of the extremely small number of RPGs that I
started playing and stopped. I can only think of 3 in fact. Unless you enjoy spending
100 hours in ugly first person mazes full of pointless empty dead ends (which you don't
explore since you start with a map) with no sound except for echoing footsteps and this
disturbing echoing laughter. There's also the combat which revolves around attacking,
listening to your drab gray characters shout "Persona" in irritating voices, or talking
to the monsters with a system that's fairly entertaining... for about 5 minutes, in order
to get the equivolent of materia, of which you can carry precious few, causing you to
waste hours building up spells which you must later throw away.
Kartia on the other hand is an excellent game with extremely interesting game mechanics.
Simply put, it has an innovative system for creating your own weapons, armor, spells,
and monsters all with the same resources. Plus it has an extremely good plot even when
you consider all the other evil religious conspiracy tactical RPG plots.
Oh, and as for FF9, I'm going to buy it the day it comes out of course, but I haven't
heard anything in particular that has me drooling over it yet.
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Chrono Trigger names
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I'd like to point out that while Ozzy and his henchmen were named after
rock stars in the US, but in Japan they were named after FOODS as a
tribute to the character designer- the same guy that did Dragon Ball...
(Gohan=Rice etc. for those that didn't know that.)
-Trevor
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Googleshng:
That's another of those fun facts I keep forgetting to mention
when it's relevent. 8)
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Magic
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I was reading the poll at the rpgamer website, and noticed something
interesting... that of all the magic systems had almost equal voting,
except for the Draw system. My point in writing this, is to point out
the strengths, and weaknesses of the results of this Poll.
Learn Magic By Level: I gotta say, this one's the most fun, because
you're always anxious to know what you're gonna learn next... unless of
course you use a guide, in which case you already know everything, but
that's cheating (BAD).
Job Class: Since there's only two final fantasies which use this one, I
can't say -to- much on it, seeing as I'm still playing FF5, and I've
never played FFT (yeah, I'm falling behind), but it really allows for a
lot of customization in your character, like having a summoner/white
mage in ff5, it's nice, but it has serious weaknesses, such as major
hp/mana fluctuations, weapon changes, etc
Espers: Allowed -extreme- customization of your character... every
person could learn every spell in the whole game practically, which was
good and bad at the same time. Good that you would have that much power,
bad that you lost some of your strategic magic spread, look at the FFIV
compared to FFVI... in 4, you had to work with what you had, one white
mage, one dragoon, one ninja, one summoner, and one paladin... however,
going to face Kefka, you had character strengths, but at the same time,
you had all the magic that you bothered being bored and had everyone
learn... anyways
Materia: Everyone who didn't go around bashing FFVII actually saw the
kickass-ness of the Materia system, another system that allowed extreme
customization of your characters. For example, my final attack party,
cloud/red/cid had cloud being a powerhouse with omnislash, and kinights
of the round, red being a physical attacker/group haste/quad bahamut
zero, and cid doing wall/healing when he wasn't doing the happy happy
highwind limit break (my favorite limit break was either Great Gospel,
Stardust Ray, or Omnislash, but that's beside the point *grin*)
and finally...
Draw: It was fun, until it pissed you off cause you had to go back and
replenish spells until you could refine them on your own, especially
painful to keep in large quantities without going FAR out of your way
was Ultima, Full-life, Holy, Aura, and Meteor. Draw was nice because if
you didn't go draw 100 of everyhting, it made you think about how to use
your magic vs. your physical power.
Thanks for the time to read this -really- long email... hehe but
anyways, to my question after stating all my crap *grin* Google, what's
your favorite Final Fantasy Magic System?
--Prisma, The InSaNe Halfelven DRUNK sorcerer
P.S. By the way, I don't care if you're male or female, just keep the
Q&A pages coming on a regular schedule :-)
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Googleshng:
That's a long one. Anyway, I basically like any system of magic
as long as it's innovative and not hideously unbalanced. In other words, I don't really
have a favorite as far as the FFs go. I have a least favorite though, FF4. The only one
to use the standard generic spells by level system. Still a good game though.
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Stuff
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Well, I was reading the other day and just thought I'd put my two cents in as
well. No, Nick Boice, you are not the only one who just plays the game and
doesn't complain about every little detail. I do the same thing, and it has
helped me enjoy many games that other people couldn't stand. I think it's
because they focus on the bad thing and so don't see the good. I could be
wrong.
Oh, Cloud078, go get the Suikoden games. You can still find them at Wal-Mart
new for like twenty bucks.
Oh, and this is for every person who prefers Paws to Brad: Get over it.
Yes, Paws is female. And she knows how to pronounce "pokémon" correctly.
But Brad (Steve?) can do math and isn't afraid to show it. And he's funny.
You just can't beat that combination.
Googleshng: So what am I? Chopped liver? 8)
Now for the questions:
1. How were you able to go so long between tapes 4 and 5 of Escaflowne??? I
almost went postal just waiting the 2 minutes it took to get the one out of
the VCR and the other into it and to the right spot.
Googleshng: No kidding! That was such a huge cliffhanger, being broke really sucks.
2. Which Eva character were you talking about who speaks the Osaka dialect?
Just wondering.
Googleshng: I can't recall his name, you know, the loser who gets Eva 03 for like 5 minutes.
3. Do you like Record of Lodoss War?
Googleshng: I haven't really seen much so I can't say.
And now, for an RPG question....
4. How do you feel about the Suikoden games? I'm pretty sure you've said
before, but I can't remember and don't feel like checking. ^_^
Thanks for your time,
Draklar
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Googleshng:
I didn't really like the the original for various reasons, but
I here the second is really good. Again, I hate being broke.
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