RPGamer - Letters for May 11, 2000

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Ask Google

and Brian

Googleshng - May 11 '00- 1:30 Eastern Daylight Time

For some strange reason, tonight I got almost all quickies. Also, there's a MAJOR storm going on and I keep having brownouts. Since I'm leaving first thing in the morning, this means I just have to rush through this column... not by cutting stuff out mind you, I'm just writing while Brian answers. Anyway, while I wait, I suppose I'll be nice and give hints to the people who plan to stalk me this weekend. Obviously, I can't tell you what I look like, but I will be travelling with my cousin who went as Ryoga last year, and no, he isn't again this year, my gameboy stealing cousin, recognizable for his bulbous head with blond hair and psychotic eyes (OK, that was cruel), a rather non-descript friend, and a whole mess of other people. If that isn't enough for you, on saturday, one of us will be wearing a cardboard Ohmu costume, and another will have a motorized model of Eva 01. 8) Anyway, here's Brian.

Brian: Hi. I'm Q&A, and you're reading Brian Wachter. Don't bother pronouncing my last name, unless you're at least partly German. I'll have Paws put up a wav (or do it myself) if anybody really cares. Anyway, about me: I'm not at all German. I'm half latino and half caucasian and strangers tell me I look like Heavy D, although I'm not black. Go fig. Also, due to work and computer bugs and heatstroke, I didn't get around to making myself a sig pic. Unfortunately, I also forgot to ask Silky to do one for me in case that happened. Basically, this means you probably won't remember me. If you really want to, you can imagine a little chibi black chocobo sleeping under a tree. Anyway, if you're still reading, congrats on a long attention span. Your reward is the rest of the column. Enjoy.

Wish you were at E3?

Ask Brad
Be jealous!

Recent Q&A's

05-10-00
05-09-00
05-08-00
05-07-00
05-06-00

The Old stuff

The Archives

Draw Me!

Fan Googles

How do you pronounce...?

Listen

In the Genesis:

Shining Force
Thank you for clumping!

The more things stay the same...

Why do people have to base a difference in gameplay between the games in a series as one of the most important things, and that the sequel sucks if it's just more of the same thing? It's hard for me to understand why, if SuperGreen liked Suikoden 1 so much, that he wouldn't like Suikoden 2, because it's "more of the same"? I thought Suikoden 2 had one of the most incredible stories from any game I've ever played (and I'm not new to gaming at all). What do you think about this? Do games have to change with every new release?

Chris

Brian:
Umm... yes? Although the most important change in an RPG series is that of the storyline, playing another game with the exact same mechanics can get a bit tedious. If the next game in a series hardly changes at all, the story has to try even harder to make up for the monotony in gameplay. Give me a sequel with a riveting story, and a few new gameplay goodies thrown in for freshness, and I'm happy.

Googleshng:
The main reason I love Squaresoft is that they're constantly experimenting. A good story is great, but I like a new game while I'm at it... at least usually.

You must be this old to see FF9.

Hey, I recently checked out the pole at gamefaqs.com for May 10th, and it was about E3. It asks "Are you going to E3?" and one of the answers is "no, only because I am under 18." And I was wondering why can't you go if you are under 18? I mean if I had the chance to go it would suck because I am only 16. (Plus I live in Connecticut so the transportation would also be a problem.) But anyway, why is it that people under 18 can't go?

-Jordan

Brian:
Same reason you can't do anything else until you're 18. Driving is the only privelage pre-18 year olds get, you should know that.

Googleshng:
Since E3 is really a press conference, I guess they don't want a bunch of whiny little kids running around. Either that or it's because I'm told E3 features something called "Booth Babes". Scantily clad girls there to attract people to the booths... although why ANYONE wouldn't be drooling just from the games is beyond me.

Wark?

Hey Goog,

What do you think about them putting Chocobos in "Legend of Mana"?
=20
... I don't remember them doing something like this in other = non-Final Fantsy RPG's... ... ...

-DarkMagus

Brian:
Chocobo (no "s" in the plural, guy) rock, man! They're transports, labor, pack animals, they can be trained for combat, and they come in a rainbow of kawaii collectible colors! Heck, black chocobo even fly! Don't diss the chocobo, man.

Googleshng:
Actually, I'm pretty sure either is fine, it honestly doesn't ever come up... anyway, your memory is obviously imperfect, because the original game in the Mana (or SD if you prefer) series was Final Fantasy Adventure, in which not only was there a Chocobo, but it was pretty darn important to the game. Also, Moogles can be found in both series, so there's even more precedence.

Mini Review

Goog and Brian,

Well, I figured I'd offer a quick summary about Wild Arms 2 for all those curious folk out there since I'm like 20 hours in.

It is not a triple A title but it's decent. It's really a renter in my opinion. The graphics are nice but they should have been more, at least in the battles (very blocky). The Anime opening and closing kick @$$. The towns are nice but they're just missing something. Character development is really weird, it starts, suddenly stops, starts again...etc. Battles are EASY. I mean really REALLY easy. The boss battles do offer a lot more challenge though. You can have up to six characters on your party (two of them are a complete mystery.) The music is some of the best there ever was, except for the edited out vocals, which if you want to here WITH the vocals I have posted on my own web site in Real Audio:

http://www.geocities.com/radrisol

-Radrisol-

Brian:
Yes, anime does indeed kick a random cluster of non-alphanumeric characters. Umm... so you mention sub-par graphics (who cares?), easy battles (that's annoying), and spiffy music (woo-hoo!)... but what about the plot, man? Isn't that what RPGs are about? Shame on you. Also, the characters aren't wierd, they're "unique".

Google:
Oh who cares about plot? As long as it has the whole party splitting/no one main character deal and all the cool puzzles, I'm happy.

Suikoden 3

Escaflowne! Yeah! I love that series! I ordered the entire set, and when it came, I was soooo happy! I watched up till volume 5 (took me a month because of school, yuck, but I am in full slacker mode right now) and found out, they sent me a crappy volume 5, all messed up! I sent it back, and two months later, I got a good copy back! yeay! happy!
heh heh ^^

-Sasami

PS-Macs rule! What kind of mac are you on? I'm on a G3 blue/white tower w/ DVD-ROM ^_^

Brian:
Hmm... yes, I do need to get both Escaflowne and a Mac of some sort. STOP TORTURING ME!!

Googleshng:
Wow, you've seen as much Escaflowne as I have, and you have the same kind of Mac I was planning to get instead of this one. I'm actually using an iMac... it has just enough of everything to do everything I need it to, and it was a whole lot cheaper than a big old G3. If only the keyboard wasn't so small. Actually, several people wrote in today saying they'd seen up through tape 5 of Escaflowne. Odd coincidence.

Rabid Fandom

You know on rpgamers' page it says "Complete RPG Coverage. Period." Why don't you get some red spray paint to put into that large space in the middle "and a slime." Maybe even have a cute little bouncing rotating one. And if it's rotating, have one with Brad on the other side of it. Or just have a graphic on the frontpage for whoever is hosting....just a thought :)

-Stefan

Brian:
Because spraypaint doesn't show up in IE.

Googleshng:
Heh. You know, there IS more to RPGamer than just Q&A. Read the rest of the page sometime. 8)

Quickies

There once was an email from me
typing it filled me with glee
sure its' not a haiku
but it's a limerick for you
could you link to my comic for me?

webrunner! adventurers! cartoonist!
http://www.fuzzyfur.net/DSOS/adv

Brian:
Hey, that's pretty good.
I prefer limericks, man.
They require skill.
Google: You know what's odd? After I finished yesterday's column I was thinking how odd it was that I never got any limericks.

"So what? 2 Y chromosomes gives you 8 legs? No wait, all of Loki's >kids are freaks."

...he-hey, HEY!! I devise a way to get the outer wall of Asgard to get rebuilt for free, and this is the thanks I get? BASHING my children? That's so not fair..

:)

=Loki=

Brian: I think I'll go brush up on my Norse mythology now.
Google: I love jokes that require extremely obscure knowledge bases.

Do you think that RPGamer is tough enough for Mr.T? Well check out this page and see sucka! http://firefly.sparse.org/~mrt/cgi-bin/t.cgi?field=www.rpgamer.com ~Double "I stole your tidle Nyah" 0o7

Brian: RPGamer and its staffers are not liable for any mental scarring that may occur due to overexposure to Mr.T.
Google: That's better than most -izers I've seen, but the dialectizer is still the coolest.

Today's quote is from Star Trek:The Next Generation! I don't expect a tilde for this, but can I at least have an apostrophe?
Robust Man

Brian: Darn it! Here I am, prepared with a bag full of tildes, and you decide you don't want any. More for me.
Google: Fair enough. Here you go: '

Is anyone from RPGamer going to Otakon this year? A lot of the people that attend are gamers, so anyone on the east coast might be there. I'm going, and I don't want to miss anyone from RPGamer because I didn't know they were there. ^_^;;

-Raincrystal

Brian: Well, I wasn't sure, but now that I know you're going to be there stalking RPGstaffers, I'm going to steer clear. Thanks for the warning, RC!
Google: Well, going to Anime Central is literally costing me all my money, so if it's really soon, I definately can't. Although a couple months from now, my cousin will no longer live in Chicago, he's going to Japan for a year, so I guess I WILL need to find an anime convention on the east coast. Besides, a cool MGS character is named after it!

Dear Googleshng,
Domingo just plain sucks. He is weak and doesn't have that great of spells, and the only cool thing about him is that he can climb/swim (doesn't fly).
Undine

Brian: True, Domingo not have great of spell, but big his heart is! A winner is Domingo!
Google: HEY! First off, he's a freaky jellyfish demon thing. Second, I'd call it hovering. He's uneffected by terrain, and he can cross water, pits, and well, everything but extremely tall stuff really. Plus he has really good defense, and ALL mages are terrific in that game due to the odd AI.

Hey, Google...
You single? =3DD
~The Genderless Norweigan Slime

Brian: Isn't genderless kinda redundant there? I mean, anybody who's read Slime World knows that slimes reproduce asexually.
Google: Uh, what he said.

The Last Laugh:

Brian: Wow, that was really fun, although it felt too short. Now, even after just one column, I know how Goog feels. SEND LETTERS! NOW! Well, not now... wait until the weekdays when Goog is back... then send letters. I hope I get to do this again sometime. If I don't then there really won't be much point in my making a sig pic, and I know you all just love the idea of a kawaii little chocobo snoozing under a shady tree. At any rate, I hope I was able to amuse you and bring a little ray of sunshine into your otherwise dark, meaningless existance. Unless you're out of school for the summer, in which case it's a bright, meaningless existance :)

Brian Wachter a.k.a. Black_Chocobo (no sig pic... *sniff*)
Send congrats and love letters to: Black_Chocobo@rpgamer.com
Send death threats and stuff I won't read to: MushroomRetainer@ignmail.com

P.S: I wasn't serious about the whole meaningless existance thing. Don't beat Goog up, ok?

Google: That WAS really quick. No multiparters, nobody asked Brian what his favorite games are... just short. Anway, as previously plugged, Brad will be doing his column from E3 this weekend. So, send him questions and stuff... oh, and if you DO plan to stalk me, why don't you break the tradition of trying to kill me, and instead give me presents? I'm still looking for that copy of Dragon Force, not to mention Tactics Ogre and Xenogears: Perfect Works... of course I'm kidding! Unless you really want to give them to me... >8)

Googleshng "Otaku" @rpgamer.com
Van-Sama! Van-Sama! Van-Sama! Van-Sama! Van-Sama! 8D


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