No insightful intro for today. Now on with the show.

In the "Now Playing" section, Ys IV is listed. But I was wondering, do you mean Mask of the Sun, or The Dawn of Ys? ^_^

I have The Dawn of Ys, but after playing a few hours into it, the A/V cable on my Turbo Duo stopped working... ;_; Any idea where I could find a new one, or something to fix it up with? As far as I can tell, the sound is coming through fine, just not the video.

JD:
The readers have decided strongly on YS and Turbo topics. Today YS IV and the Turbo Grafx letters dominated the Q&A.
Since many of my predecessors haven't covered this area much, I thought it would be doubly valid to print.
The Snes versions were mediocre at best, so yes I'm playing the Turbo version YS IV: The Dawn of YS.

I sure do, you can get Turbo supplies or even repair the system at TZD.com.

JD-

First off, I'd just like to offer a word of welcoming to you as the new Q&A guy...
Welcome.

OK, now that that's done.... Someone wrote in earlier about buying an old system for old RPGs... I live VERY close to a FuncoLand, where I went yesterday... I can get a Saturn deck for $37, and Genesis even cheaper, but no Turbo Graphix CD... So two questions:

1) I speak, read and write English - and only English. I loved Y's 3 for Super Nintendo (BIG mistake selling it)... I've played Y's 1 and 2 on an Game Gear emulator (bad me!), and they were both cool... Did any of the Y's games make it over here for any of the Sega systems?

2) Where can I get a Turbo Graphix CD? The Dreamcast is looking up... I might actually be convinced too buy one. Oh, one more question - Sony was good about their copyright protection - Playstation games were/are difficult to copy, and, to my understanding, Saturn games were as easy to copy as any other PC CD-ROMs (No, seriously, I haven't tried.)... With DVD-R/DVD-RAM drives coming out, do you think Sega will do a better job with their copy-protection?

-Rouge

JD:
1) Yes the first YS that reached the US was YS 1 for the Sega Master System. YS 1/2 and 3 also did make it to the US for the (spelled Turbo Grafx), and were in English. YS 4 while in japanese can be played and thoroughly enjoyed even without knowing Japanese.

2)I only know of two places to find Turbo Grafx systems. You would want to buy the Turbo Duo if you do get one, as it allows you to play the Super CD games. First there is Ebay and the other is Retro Games.
I frankly haven't read much on the Copy Protection of the Dreamcast. I'm assuming the US version will have a stronger protection.

Greetings, JD.

Wow, it's nice to finally find someone at RPGamer who likes something other than Squaresoft and Final Fantasy. I'm a huge fan of Red, Falcom, and Telenet myself, and it's a shame how unnoticed great games like Far East of Eden and the Legend of Xanadu are over here.

Anyway, my question is about Emerald Dragon. I've never played the game myself, and know next to nothing about it. Yesterday's letters column wasn't the first time I've seen it referred to as being a great game, however. I'm wondering, exactly what kind of RPG is it, and who developed/published it? Also, what format is it (CD/SCD)?

Thanks!

BTW, are you a fan of the Valis series? I know they aren't exactly RPGs, but they're great games! I wish Telenet would make some sequels to their old stuff instead of all this "Parlor Pro" crap >:(

-Ender

JD:
Yes it is isn't it ^_^
Overall I found Emerald Dragon an average game, though well worth purchasing. Since I don't know japanese, it is sometimes hard to really appreciate Story based import RPGs. The game is sort of like YS as far as the overworld, but you encounter enemies in standard rpg fashion. The battle system is turn based(interesting and fast paced). The music is great, like most Turbo CD/SCD games.
It was developed by Electronics giant NEC, and is in SCD format.

Yes I'm a huge Valis fan! It really is sad when companies of that greatness, with hits like Cosmic Fantasy and Valis to stoop to Parlor Pro.

You fiend!

You killed Nei! Now I don't have that sickeningy lousy character forcing itself onto my party preventing me from having a decent character! Uh... thanks. Oh, and off course people read the white text.

Anyway, here's why I for one am not looking forward to RPG Maker: First, text. Making text on the PSX would be horrible. Next: Well, it's not like you can really get these games circulated. Third: I believe it can only make Dragon Warriror Clones. Finally: Well, I for one have access to programming languages. I believe the 90% of you who use PCs have access to something called Verge as well. Either way you can have a LOT more freedom, and you can distribute them to people too.

JD:
Hehe. Sickeningy? is that a new word?
Interesting comments. I agree on the text part, but hey it's still a fun concept to make your own RPGs on the PSX.

Hey there.

As a reply to... er... Anonymous' question: While you might think it's a mistake by the original programer first (Japanese really aren't the best English-speakers in the world :-), it actually seems to be the translators fault...

The original names for those spells are "Kearu" and "Esuna". While I don't think Esuna is meant to mean anything, Kearu is probably meant to be "Care"... Anyway, it's not that this ruins the games or anything, so let's just let everyone figure that out for themselves :-).

Oh, and finally, I was a bit annoyed by Ryan's comment about Tactics Ogre... I know it's his opinion, but practically stating as a fact that TO lacks charm and plot is a bit unfair. I think the story is very good and complex, and that there are at least as many memorable scenes as in FFT (TO is also the only game I remember that managed to actually shock me at some scenes...). And, of course, it DOES have an interactive story... I think this is a good example that non-linear story-lines can work out... too bad that there seem to be more people bashing SaGa Frontier than people owning Tactics Ogre... Well, anyway, I personally think that TO is a better game than FFT, and I don't think I'm the only one... I guess I just wrote in to remind the column writers to be a bit more careful with the comments they write.

-Gilgamesh

JD:
Kudos! That clears things up.
Everyone has his/her own opinions. That's what makes us individuals, so stop harassing us, ok? ;-)
Honestly I like both games, though if I had to choose one FFT would prevail. Speaking of Saga Frontier...wait I better not go there.

Regarding the Saturn emulator for the Dreamcast, this was unfortunately never true. It started as an April fools hoax by a UK magazine and was supported by false reports from Magic Box for a while, calling it "Sat-Cast". I doubt there was every any real truth to it. Similarly, there was a smaller rumor stating that because of the WinCE capabilities, Sega had already developed a working PSX emulator and was looking to "leak" it into a less reputable company in order that they might release it. Again, no truth to it :)

Hey there 2nd new guy, a.k.a super pimp JD.

I enjoyed your first collumn thouroughly, and would like to ask you a question:
WHY is DW4 so rare? It is probably my favorite game of all time, 'cause I rented it a Blockbuster once. I need that game, but that EBay thing won't let me in 'cause I'm not 18. I'm willing to pay up to $40. Anyone carry it? Hehe, anyhow, please assist me as to where to find this classic!

-Big Dan

To the Jefforanious one;

Well, seeing how as you're new to this whole Q&A things I've prepared a quick question for all of us to get to know you a bit better. You are sitting on a bench and a pretty young girl walks up to you and says "Hey sailor boy, you've got big muscles. Want to come back to my place?" Do you

a) Fall on the ground drooling, overwhelmed that a woman would pay attention to you?
b) Notice a man standing near the girl, obviously another suitor for this young ladies hand. You also notice he IS a sailor boy with big muscles and his name starts with Z., so then you hire a 12-year old kid with blue hair to beat the living snot out of you so you can "train." At which point you them go forth to beat the crap out of Big sailor boy and win the lady's heart?
c) Say "To you these may be big muscles, but to me they're golden, shiny wires of hope!" grab her in your arms and run off into the sunset?
d) Say "You've got the wrong man. I play RPGs, the only thing I've ever sailed is an electronic airship, but yes, my thumb muscles are quite large."? Well hotshot, what do you do?

- Moogle Child

Dear......HEY!!!
You planned this, didn't you? I can't think of a stupid name to call you!
If you wanna be popular with your readers, loosen up! You're not acting stupid enough! C'mon! You've gotta have an Id or a pet crabbit or something!!!
-Striferoth

JD:
Yes it's all part of my master plan.
Hmm, I'm not even gonna comment on that one. It is tempting though.
I can't come up with a stupid name..... Let the readers decide!!! How's that for interaction.

JD:
Yesterday's question and comment on this topic was meant as levity, at least i hope so. Good to know we have some science buffs here, or people with too much time on their hands.