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Come dream with me tonight.
Let's go to far off places.
And search for treasures bright.
Let's build a giant airship
And sail into the sky!
Let's watch the crowd so far below
Let's watch the birds as they fly by
Fly so high!
Come dream with me tonight!
Batteries not included.
| Unanswerable questions and cautionary tales |
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Hey Sebberino,
I've asked this question of just about everyone, but no one seems to even
have a clue on the answer. So I'll ask you next, and see what you can come
up with. I'm sitting here playing the import Final Fantasy VI in Final
Fantasy Collections, and something hit me as I was messing around with the
lovely Final Fantasy VI "Encyclopedia" if you will, will Square include this
in the release of Final Fantasy Collections? I think it's a pretty cool
little toy for us old school Final Fantasy fans, showing stills and CGI
rendered models and a listing of the monsters and such (Some of them I'd
like to turn into wallpapers, if anyone can rip those images off of the CD,
I would love to have them). Also, will Final Fantasy VI feature a new
translation, or will it have the old SNES version? I know there were
several changes made from the Japanese version I'd like to see fixed, such
as the names, and Cayenne (Cyan) being his rightful class of "Samurai"
instead of "Knight." Anyway, what can you tell us about it, if anything at
all? I plan on getting it, no matter what, but it's nice to know what
you're being served before you chow down, ne? :)
I'd also like to mention that everyone who's planning on waiting until the
last minute to buy Lunar Silver Star Story Complete might be a bit
disappointed. I live in the redneck capital of the world, where stupid
people reign supreme, and the local EB has a preorder list of over 50 for
Lunar. So you guys might wanna get on the ball before it's too late.
Enygma
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Okay, the first part is iffy, since Square still hasn't formally announced the FF Collections being ported over at all. Be that as it may, I'd lay odds on the Omake mode being retained for the US release, since it adds to the "Collection" aspect, and requires relatively little text translation. Moreover, Square EA's never skimped on bringing over "bonus" items like demo CDs yet, so I have a good feeling! The translation is an iffier situation. Some of the issues, like Cyan's name change, may stick with the US version. The FF6 engine only allows for six-letter names, and Cayenne is just too long. Since it's a rerelease, not a remix, that restraint will remain. Whether the doable names, like Terra/Tina and Sabin/Mash, will be restored remains to be seen. My gut feeling is that Square will invest in doing a full retranslation, which admittedly fills me with some trepidation, but if they do, I'd lay odds on the original Japanese names being restored whenever possible, or with minor changes at the most (a la Aeris/Aerith).
So, in my estimation, I'd say Omake mode is a probable yes, yes to new translation, but no to Cyan being changed back to Cayenne.
As for the latter, thanks for the heads-up. I've got my copy of Lunar reserved like a good little agent, and while some people are lucky in this regard, it's my opinion that you can never be too safe in regards to making sure you get your gaming goodness.
| Kibbles 'n bits |
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Sup Allan-Dog, I have questions for you, ok? Okay anyway, thats enough intro, so on to the questions now.
1. Have you ever played this crappy rpg series called Wizardy? Man do those games suck. What do you think of them?
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Wizardry is a venerable old series of RPGs, so judging the early ones by modern standards is sort of unfair. For the time, they were quite nifty, and IMO beat the competing Might and Magic series pretty thoroughly. Good puzzles, in particular. My problem with the Wizardry series is that they didn't seem to get any more fun as time went on. They got more complex, but the gameplay itself stayed almost exactly the same, and was gradually made obsolete and clunky by later releases. The originals are classics, the later ones are forgettable.
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2. Is there a Canadian branch of the Ku Klux Klan (please don't tell me your so ignorant you don't know who they are)? I bet your a member aren't you heh heh ehh. Actually, just to clear this up, thats a joke, I would never support the KKK.
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I don't believe there's a Canadian branch of the KKK. We have bigots and supremacists, like any other country, but I don't think we have that particular group north of the 49th. Thankfully. I trust I don't need to explain why the KKK are Bad Thing.
I loved it when I was a kid, but generally prefer jazz and techno nowadays.
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4. What is Jade Cocuun? Ive heard people talking about it, but ive never heard of it. Is it about like bugs or something?
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Jade Cocoon is an upcoming PSX RPG that's set to be translated by Crave Entertainment. It looks very nifty indeed. Check out the Games page for more information.
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5. Have you played the import FF8? If you have, you should have been able to see if like the battle system is good or something?
Yeah anyway, thank you for reading my letter, I appreciate it.
Kalahari
P.S. REM is GAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I have not played the import FF8. According to what FF8 owners and players Andrew Vestal and Brian Glick have told me, the combat system is pretty good, assuming you enjoy the FF combat system in the first place. More strategy than, say, FF7, but not a radical departure from it.
| Making a boss into badass |
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Dear Agent,
In response to Aaron Littleton's letter about the Lone Wolf off shoot, the
name of it was Grey Star. To be honest I like them better than the Lone
Wolf books, you had to ration your magc and the combat was much more
challenging (since I'd read every Lone Wolf book my character was insanely
powerful later on, taking out any challenge).
Speaking of Roleplaying difficulty, why have they gotten so much more easy
as time passes? FFI was a level building fest which STILL gave you only
about a 10% chance of beating Choas (if you ran away from every fight in
the final dungeon. FFII required about a week of level building in the
final dungeion to beat Zeromous. FFIII took a few hours, and that was
without using Ultima. FFVII I beat Sephiroth on the first try (granted I
was out of phoenix downs, had only one guy left with 284 hitpoints, and
dealth the fatal blow with a limit break right before I was about to die of
poison). And we all know the last boss in FF tactics is in no way the
hardest fight in the game. And now Xenogears, which granted is an excellent
game, has bosses that feel rigged for you to win. With the exception of
Grahft, Id, and Miang, there wasn't any boss battle I was in danger of
losing (the random enemies were more dangerous).
Now by no means am I advocating the rebirth of level building, I hope it
stays nailed in its coffin, but can't you find some other way of upping the
difficulty just a little? At least make the last boss the most difficult
fight in the game (bonus bosses like weapons aside). That is all.
FABIO
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Yeah, that is a weird trend, the last bosses being nowhere near the toughest one in the game. Personally, I think having versatile last bosses would be a good step towards improving their stock. I mean, it's nice to have ultra-powerful angel last bosses with big energy attacks and oodles of hit points, but what about a nasty one? What about fighting a last boss that sets you up by paralyzing your most damaging party members? Uses Mute on spellcasters? One that uses Haste and Stop a lot? One that heals regularly, and can't have that ability taken away? I can think of last bosses that use some of these tricks, but they fall into set patterns all too quickly. My ideal last boss would not only be a badass in terms of dishing it out and taking it, but also in terms of being smart, and able to whoop your party by being more clever fighters than you are.
Last boss teams is another good idea. The ganging up on the baddie issue made the last boss of FF Tactics an utter joke, and having a team of weaker, but complementary, bosses would be a much tougher fight.
Anyone else have any suggestions of how to make a truly nasty last boss? Any examples to emulate?
| Son May and cut tracks |
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In response to Matt's warning, another thing you should be aware of is that
GameCave has a horrible stench for selling Son May (SM) soundtracks. Now,
Son May is a company in either Taiwan or Honk Kong (I forget which) that's
notorious among VG soundtrack connoisseurs for copying original soundtracks
and selling them slightly cheaper. If you don't know about them, it's very
easy to buy one and not even know it. For example, when I ordered my FFT OSV
from GameCave, I was all happy and joyous... until a friend of mine pointed
out that GameCave sold him an SM copy once. I went back and compared the
cover GameCave had pictured to the one reviewed at soundtrackcentral.com,
and, lo and behold, they were diffrent. I canceled my order immediately and
ordered from soundtrackcentral.com. If they're out of stock, gamemusic.com
is another good place to buy.
In short, it's possible you bought a Son May recording that just happened to
leave that off. I haven't listened through the whole thing myself yet (I
d/l'd the entire thing a la MP3 so I could decide whether I find it worthy
of my scant buckage), so I may be farting out nonsense here. Then again...
Just keep that in mind when you buy VG soundtracks in the future.
Eric Kolb, a.k.a. Dygel
RPGC
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I own some SM CDs, and to my knowledge, they've never cut any tracks from a game soundtrack before, as far as I know.
That said, I don't support SM CDs as a whole, and do encourage people to visit more reputable import shops than GameCave for their game soundtrack CDs. I've had good experiences with Gamemusic.com, who carry some SM CDs (or used to, at least), but have never concealed that fact, or failed to give information about where they come from. They also carry the original Japanese releases. They're good people, too. So, while I've heard no reports of Son May cutting tracks from soundtracks before, despite the higher cost, I'd suggest biting the bullet and seeking out alternate outlets for your game soundtracks.
| Music quiz and Ys triumphant |
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Hey Allan,
Ok... we know your fav games of all time.. what about music? To me, the
only one that pops in my head right away is FF3/6j...
-- Ceteris Paribus
PS. We're gonna need an update on how that guy that bashed FF5 took the
hammer... I haven't played it, but from what I've heard, in quite few ways
it's a lot like Tactics... and NO ONE bashed Tactics. :P
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Well, FF6 had a gorgeous score, as did Actraiser. Both Lunar games had some great tunes, as did Streets of Rage for Genesis. Castlevania: Simon's Quest and Symphony of the Night. The incidental music for Silent Hill, while not the sweeping orchestral stuff I usually go for, was extremely effective. Mega Man 2. The Beginner stage of Daytona USA is catchy. And hey, I liked the soundtrack to Wipeout XL. So sue me. I guess those are my top game music picks. Well, the top, minus one:
Ys.
Earlier, I was mentioning things I think would make for a great last boss. Well, here's a new one: boss battle music as great as the Ys games do. Vestal contests me on this point, but insist that Battle #58 from Ys IV is the single catchiest bit of boss music ever presented in a game. You don't just want, you need to kick ass when you listen to that music.
And I've received quite a few FF Tactics-bashing letters over the last few months. I can dig some out, if you really want.
| Chrono Trigger 2 and ignorance |
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I have heard that there will be a Chrono Trigger 2 , is that true. If it is will Square be making it? Oh and one more question if there is going to be a Chrono Trigger 2 what system will it be for? Thanks
Mike
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We don't know. Square is the only one who has the legal right to make it, much less the intent, so that kinda goes without saying. Since it doesn't exist at present, we don't know what system it'd be for.
| Programming and loading time compensation |
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Now that memory has been discussed, I have a question about loading times. Blood Omen loads INCREDIBLY slowly, but SotN is more detailed and has much less loading time. What's up with that?
-FVK
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Well, most of it boils down to skill at programming. Blood Omen was a first-generation PSX game, and as a result, the developers hadn't developed any tricks to reduce the need to load entirely new batches of information into the active memory. Moreover, Blood Omen was developed by a primarily PC-oriented company, which means that they were used to dealing with fairly high-speed CD ROM drives, not the 2X that the PSX uses. Konami, meanwhile, had been programming on the PSX for a while, and had evidently learned how to manage memory well enough to cut down loading times significantly.
Great programming can overcome just anything, I guess.
| Return of the looooong letters! Eeek! |
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Legend of Mana - Early Impressions
No doubt there are many RPG gamers who are excited about the release of
the latest sequel to the Seiken Densetsu series, Legend of Mana, announced
at the recent Tokyo Game Show in Japan. After watching the available
demos of the game and having an opportunity to chat with columnists from
gaming-bible, Famitsu magazine, I decided to write about my initial
thoughts so far.
Unfortunately, what I have to say may not be pretty.
Before I go on, I don't want you to think that I hate Secret of Mana or
anything. In fact, I love it and hold the series dear to my heart (after
Final Fantasy, of course ^_^). I have been reviewing games for over 4
years now and have seen the ever-changing video game climate. I have
played and enjoyed every minute of Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3.
There are some things that just bother me about Legend of Mana.
First, the newest cast of characters comes into question. Many of them
strike me as being less heroic and more whimsical. It's almost
as if they are a fascinating product of kawaii manga meets Narnia art
albeit drawn with exquisite detail. It is obvious that the game designers
wanted to go with a more fairy tale quality.
You begin the adventure by selecting a male or female lead and along the
way you meet other companions. However, there are at least half a dozen
companions to choose from and with only two other party positions
available, expect to see more of a Final Fantasy IV ( FF II U.S) mentality
where party members step in and out, dying horrible deaths or betraying
the party etc. In the demo, it shows a rabite as a member of your party
(which, by the way, kicks ass) that will not stay with you forever (since
the little guy will surely be replaced by a future member) so it is
assumed that the 'pet' companion is only a novelty idea around the same
level of a Pokemon.
This constant changing of your party members is not in keeping with Seiken
Densetsu style of game play. In the past sequels, your party was
permanent and so you got to know the entire party all the way to the end.
You knew their weaknesses, strengths and how they worked together. It is
because of this fact that the Class Change System was introduced where you
got to experiment with different combinations of classes. I fear that
Legend of Mana loses this aspect.
The new 'Land Make System' allows the player to place new cities or
landscapes anywhere on the overhead map using the powers of Elementals,
thus changing the way you traverse your quest. Close inspection of some of
the action scenes with enemies like mushbooms reveals something startling.
During the battles, there is no evidence of passages leading to the north,
south, east or west which means that you won't get to encounter enemies
while guiding your party through lush forests and mountains. Instead, I
suspect that you move along the overhead map and randomly get attacked by
enemies a la Final Fantasy Tactics. To make another analogy, instead of
Zelda: A Link to the Past gameplay, you have The Adventure of Link
instead. This is could be perhaps the greatest flaw in Legend of Mana
because devoted fans of the series will find encountering enemies to be
unorthodox.
Why all the changes to something that doesn't need to be changed? I could
easily say something like 'Square is reinventing the series for a whole
new generation of gamers like Final Fantasy VII' but that's a can of worms
that I dare not open.
Remember that this entire article is speculation and that I could be
completely wrong ( I hope I'm wrong). Rest assured the game boasts some of
the most breath-taking hand drawn art I've ever seen, not to mention some
of the biggest bosses as well! And it's 2D! And I thought Symphony of the
Night was the last of the endangered 2D species. Ironically, I'll
probably pick up Legend of Mana regardless of all my nitpicking. Until
then, I keep an open mind. Thanks for reading.
Kevin Leung
columnist, [Mind Games!] (tm)
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Some troubling prospects, and some others that don't worry as much as you do.
For one thing, from the screenshots, information, and movies I've seen, I've seen little indication that the basic gameplay style, namely a free-roaming action/RPG, has been changed. Remember that we've not seen more than a few minutes of gameplay at a stretch, and most of it action-oriented. Moreover, given how much Square is emphasizing that this is a sequel to the Seiken Densetsu games, rather than an evolution, and the use of sprites, I think it unlikely that they've completed changed the basic gameplay style.
The revolving door party system worries me as well. While SD3 had some problems in its use of choosing characters at the start, since Charlotte was nigh-indispensible, to put an RPG standard scenario of gaining and losing characters as the plot evolves strikes me as a bad move. It'd make the game less original, not more. And really, does any developer strive to be unoriginal and derivative?
The comment I'm really baffled by is the complain that the character designs are too cute and fairy tale-like. Um, that's the way the SD series has always been. It's a "light" game. I mean, honestly, while the plot events and villains sometimes were dramatic, I'm at a loss to name a serious-looking Seiken Densetsu main character, and can think of at least three outright goofy looking ones (Kevin and Charlotte in SD3, the Sprite in SD2).
Closing comments
Wow. I updated, and it's not even midnight yet. That's some sort of new record for me, I think.
By the way, I'd like to mention that GIA is not currently hiring anyone new for our staff. We appreciate the offers, and when and if there are calls for new staffers on the main page, do volunteer if you think you can stand the pressure. But I warn you, things get nutty in the GIA hud. It ain't all roses. It takes hard, hard work to get a site like this running, and growing. Never doubt that.
Anyhow, stay tuned to tomorrow's column for a special surprise...
- Allan Milligan
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