For the record, it is *not* necessary to have an original Suikoden game save to get all 108 characters in Suikoden 2. However, having an original game save means that it is possible to meet the Hero and Gremio (if you saved him) from the first Suikoden, and even use said Hero in your party. But he doesn't count as one of the 108, so it's not necessary. Suikoden 2 is an excellent game even without that nifty extra. The original Suikoden was near the top of my favorite RPG list for quite a long time, but Suikoden 2 just blew it out of the water entirely in terms of plot.

And now that I've written a Suikoden letter, I must wail the obligatory lamentations that SuikoGaiden isn't being released in the U.S.:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the love of all that is holy, bring it here!!! Konami, you bastards!!!!" *sniff* It's time for my blanky now....

-Mike, the 109th Star of Destiny

Chimerasame:
You have been playing too many RPGs when:
· You see the words "guitar gear" and think of Nikki from Chrono Cross suddenly being thrown into the world of Xenogears with his guitar as a mech.

I agree, they should release SuikoGaiden on North American shores. Until then, I recommend that you learn Japanese. I'm serious! It sounds hard, but even I, who found other foreign languages boring, have fun learning Japanese. Not that I can really understand much of anything yet...

Greets Chimerasame,

Following question 16 which I wrote in a hurry for Friday's column(?), I found this resume of an article which I found interesting:

(GIA article snipped to save space)

See now, they mention that FF X will be entirely 3-D. That's exactly what the N64 games did and most of them bombed (remember Quest?). Things just keep getting worst and worst. Good thing there's a lot of old games being re-released. Personnaly, I think this will be the first console Final Fantasy I won't buy (and I bought Mystic Quest). Once a game is in 3-D, it looks more like an adventure game then an RPG.

As for BoF4, I leveled up a while and went back to fight that Rider. After around an hour, I simply quit. Interesting thing though, when 4 or 5 of my characters died, he revived them, so I think you're not supposed to kill, just put up with him till he acknowledges your strenght then gives you free sutff and leaves. On the other hand, maybe your supposed to find the attack that removes his healing power like the boss called Dragone (?) in the final castle and kill him

Since this is Q&A, a question now :

-There's an Alundra 2 now?

Mat

Chimerasame:
Well, I can hope they won't fire me for plugging the GIA a couple times. It'd be pretty silly to do that, but stranger things have happened, like an auction of nothing at all. I don't see what the rivalry's all about, both sites are pretty cool. I look forward to meeting people from both at E3. As far as the BoF4 thing Anfrew wants me to comment on, uh... BoF2 was cool! I do intend to finish the PSX BoFs, really. I just have to buy them and then finish all the other games that are lined up. FF9, XG (yeah, yeah, I haven't completed it yet, though I know most of the endgame anyway), the two Baldur's Gates, and a few others.

All hail the four-headed...um...thing (and the guest-host too)

Well this is a question you don't see quite as often. What's your fave RPG music? Personal faves include Magus's theme (CT), Fithos Lusec and Eyes on Me (FFVIII), Time's Scar (CC opening theme), and the FF theme (whose name I forget), and, of course, anything about Lunar 1 or 2 (just got the second and it doesn't disappoint).

Also, how can you go about procuring game track CDs (OST) without a credit card and no game stores in the area? I desperately want to get a few, but the way that everyone else uses (online) is unopen to me. Oh well, I'll always have to abilty to download, right?

The Wandering God
"I think I'm gonna hurl" -Ruby

Chimerasame:
Ooh, music question. Well, there are a lot of things I like. FF4's World Theme is cool, as is Golbez'z theme from that game. Moving forward, I also like a lot of FF6's music, though perhaps not quite as much as AK. Favorites include Terra's theme, Celes' theme (and the opera version, Aria de Mezzo Caraterre, naturally), Atma's theme, Dancing Mad, and the ending theme (character medley). From CT, I like Frog's theme, Magus's theme, and the music from the trial.

Moving on to later games, some nice tracks from FF7 are One-Winged Angel, naturally, the FFVII World Theme, Aeris's Theme, and the Cosmo Canyon music. In FF8, there's The Landing, Movin', The Legendary Beast, and I must admit I liked Eyes on Me. It was better in the ending theme, though. I also liked the general feel of the music in Suikoden 1, and Chrono Cross, but there aren't any specific pieces I can name. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I have an inexplicable tendency to listen to "Have You Ever Seen Me" from Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow over and over and over. I also recommend Ebay, but always check to see what kinds of payment the seller will accept. In my auction of nothing, I accept checks and PayPal, for example.

Hey,
Saga Frontier 2 had some very fine points, but was flawed in one particular area which ultimately ruined what could have been a near perfect rpg. The graphics were beautiful, and the music was powerful. The gameplay had lots of variety, which is what kept me interested enough to play it to its end. The story set up a very cool, elegiac tone which would have made more sense had the characters reacted at all to anything provided in the story. The characters showed a mere fraction of the emotion that the Lunar 2 mini-standees possess. Very disappointing. However, I would recommend trying the game for its finer points, especially now that it is selling for less than or equal to $20 at many online retailers.

Quick question: Are the downloads for Skies of Arcadia worth trying? I beat the game yesterday and my last save is at the end of the final dungeon, so it might be a pain to leave just for a new weapon or whatever it is.

-Dan

P.S. AK's Christmas essay was great.

Chimerasame:
I do not yet own a Dreamcast. I plan to, eventually, but right now I'm still working on lots of PSX games. As such, I'm afraid I don't have much advice about SoA. I do however know that Google loves the game, and I suggest you mail him in a couple days when she gets back from a short New Year's vacation.

Yo,

I have a few questions for you:

1) In Xenogears, after I get the Yggdrasil, what am I supposed to do with it?
2) Where is Mog Central in Final Fantasy 9? Aaannddd... where is Curaga?
3) Why did it skip from FF3 to FF7? My friend says it's because of the way the Japanese count, he's usually pretty smart with that.
4) In Megaman 3, how do I beat the Topman? He's REALLY fast!

It's nice to see a weekend host that actually answers video-game related questions, keep up the good work!

-- Haruka

Chimerasame:
Bail you out? It looks like you gave about as much information as I possibly could, really. As far as the Yggdrasil... the very first time you have control of it, I think you're supposed to go to Nisan. I also think you have to submerge into the sand and travel under a river to get there, much like Figaro castle. As for Topman... well, we don't cover MegaMan games and I haven't played MegaMan 3, but here was my strategy for a couple hard bosses in MegaMan X: Beat as many other bosses as you can. Make sure the meters for those bosses' abilities are as full as possible when you get to the boss in question, then go inside and let loose said special abilities as fast as possible.

Hey there Mr. Q&A host,
I've been looking around for this bit of info, but haven't found anything yet. Do you know if the PS2 has the Regional Coding thing on it, or is it one of those...err..uncoded ones?
An answer would be much appreciated.

Son of Sabin

Chimerasame:
There isn't much more I can say to answer this question. I recommend getting a GameCube. So it won't be out for several months, so what, just get a time machine! I don't think Nintendo really cares for Square much, though, which will be a problem. I don't really want to get every fourth-generation system out there... I suppose I can always wait for PC ports of Final Fantasies. Maybe with luck Nintendo will decide it's ok to have a GC FFX after all... I just hope Square's not bitter about Nintendo previously not liking them at that time :)
Disclaimer: this is NOT to be construed as any sort of evidence that there will be ports of FFX other than PS2. I am merely assuming that there will eventually be a PC port.

Wow, I've always wanted some nothingness to call my own, but do you accept Monopoly money? Anyways, any idea if Hoshigami has been released in Japan yet? Any idea if were getting it here in North America? I went to www.hoshigami.net but I can't make out a damn thing, do you know anyone that speaks Japanese?

someguy

Chimerasame:
I can read katakana and hiragana, and even a smattering of kanji, but I can't make out much on that. I wonder just who the grumpy person or people AK knows is/are. Maybe one is also named Andrew? I wouldn't want to be presumptuous, now, would I? :)

Anyway, there is a Japanese-speaking guy who sometimes hangs around and pretends to do work for RPGamer, I'll ask him the next time I see him.

::attempts to Eat you::

I can no eat until weaker!

Quickies are small messages that get small replies, you don't stuff one huge letter into a quickie box.

Sabin "Hey, Google didn't print my sig a few days ago!" XIII

I've heard that, in MGS, the boss Psycho Mantis will scan the active memory card for other Konami games. If their is a Suikoden file he will say something like "Ah, I see you are a fan of Suikoden." Thus, that pronouciation would be definately correct as it is from Konami. Do you have any idea if what I heard is true?

Question - Who do you think is cooler: Flik or Viktor (in Suikoden I and II)? Why?

-Rahlious-

Why are you doing Q&A naked?

what are the little "BON BON"'s on top of moogle's heads. what purpose do they have? why do they say kupo! and kupopo! so much?

The Last Laugh:

AK: Well, I guess that does it for my return stint to RPGamer. I'd like to thank Chimerasame for being kind enough to let me guest host for a day. I had a wonderful time. I hope to be asked back one day.

Anfrew: So you can boost your ego more.

AK: Ahem. Well, it was fun having an alter ego, but he's getting on my nerves, and the gimmick is REALLY old at this point. Anyway, what's up with RPGamer going by nicknames all the time? It confuses me. We didn't do that back in my day. You young whippersnappers, you don't have the respect for the guys from the old days!

Chimerasame: I could go by Rob Hamilton, but it's too easy to pronounce. Plus, I like being able to run a search on "Chimerasame" and have every result relate to me somehow. At least this nick is unique; I also periodically use "Odo" on IRC. (And Utena, ChimerAway, Ayla, Maxim, Alfador, among others.) And Chesh uses 'Chris Martin' at the top!

AK: Fair enough. Well, take care everyone! I hope yall have a wonderful time in 2001!

<---AK

Chimerasame: Well, I'd kinda like to have a guest host tomorrow, but the person I had in mind, Garnet Til Alexandros, will be away at a New Year's party. Myself, I'll be here doing the column as I have very little of a real life. We'll party on IRC! ... riiiight. Well, maybe I'll pull up some random guy off the street to guest host. Hope he doesn't stink too much.