Sephiruss:
Hey, I don't know about anyone else, but I know I enjoy reading an Imperial Mog letter. The entertainment factor plus the fact that he usually includes a good question is probably the reason he gets printed so often.

Googleshng:
Ah, but why do you wear collanders on your faces and fight over a freak with no personality and a sword in her chest?

Anyway though, people ask me about Q&A "regulars" all the time. Truth be told, I don't pay the slightest attention to who's sending a letter and just go by the content. The reason certain people get printed more often than others is that they send in more letters than others, and/or have a knack for asking the kind of questions I'm prone to print.

Sephiruss:
Finally! Someone remembered I existed, even though he didn't remember my name.

Googleshng:
I have played every PS game, but I only own the first two, since 3 and 4 WERE within arm's reach of me for years. Anyway though, 4 is definitely my second favorite in the series, just behind the original.

Sephiruss:
Well, my favorite RPG to play is definitely Chrono Trigger. It seems that at any given time I can pop it in my SNES and play for 8 hours non-stop.

Googleshng:
Why don't I get to answer this one?

Sephiruss:
As for the fiends in FF4, I don't know, since I haven't played it past the first couple of hours (it's next on my list of games to play).

Googleshng:
"Fiend" is one of the most popular substitutions for "Demon" in RPGs, so I'd go with that. Oh, and do a group of 4 elemental bosses in an RPG really NEED rationalization? They're really a staple of the genre.

Sephiruss:
I'm really looking forward to a few games. Xenosaga, Suikoden III, and Legaia: Dual Saga are all looking pretty cool. I'm NOT, however, looking forward to Final Fantasy XI. Yeah, I said it, what are you gonna do 'bout it?

Googleshng:
Probably agree with you. I've seen precious few people drooling over it. Anyway, the only games I'm currently looking forward to that I have a chance of getting within the next few months are Eternal Darkness, and WarCraft 3, neither of which are RPGs, so you probably don't care.

Sephiruss:
Final Fantasy X International is FFX with English VA/Japanese subtitles, improved sphere grid (or so I'm told), and I've also heard that it comes with a sort of FFX-gaiden set after the events of FFX. They aren't trying to confuse you, they're just trying to get people to buy the same game twice.

Googleshng:
Epilogue is a better term than "FFX-gaiden" but yeah, that's pretty much it.

Sephiruss:
This was sent last week but got lost in the mail for a couple days, so I'll just answer it this week.

Well, since it's been a week, you probably already know the answers to all of your questions, but for those of you out there who haven't played yet, here goes. Sure, Tidus is okay, but it takes him a while to get any real motivation, which coincidentally he gets when Auron makes his way back on the scene. Tidus definitely is not my favorite character, that title belongs to Lulu. FFX's characters are all good, no disposable characters like Quina, Zidane, or Umaro. It takes a little while for it to turn from a movie into a game, it seems that they tried to lay some groundwork before plunging you into the meat of the game. I'd say by the time you get to Luca, that movie feeling is replaced by some good gameplay.

Googleshng:
Broke. No PS2. Need people to pay shareware fees.

Sephiruss:
Hmmm...maybe the Xenogears team wasn't given enough creative freedom and decided that they could make it on their own. That's just a guess on my part. Of course, I'm soooo not informed on this subject so you'd best not listen to me. ;)

Googleshng:
I'm surprised you only listed those two. Over the last few years, talented developers have been jumping the Squaresoft ship all over. Of the top of my head, there's Crave, the former Square USA and makers of Secret of Evermore... OK, no real loss there. Then there's Sacnoth, makers of Koudelka and Shadow Hearts, not sure what they did for Square, but they're pretty darn skilled. Lightweight, who brought us the Bushido Blade games have skipped out. Monolith of course skedaddled after Xenogears. Brownie Brown, who did the Seiken Densetsu (Mana) games is off on there own working on something for the GBA right now. Then there might be more I'm forgetting. I'm not sure WHY all these people set off on their own, but you will notice that Square's non-FF offerings have been getting steadily worse since they went to the PSX, and now you know why.

Sephiruss:
1. Nintendo putting out a Zelda game on their new handheld? I'd be willing to bet on it. It may not be in the very near future, but give it a little time.

Googleshng:
You know the phrase "Abscence makes the heart grow fonder"? It wasn't that long ago that'd you'd have to wait a good years and a half years to get a new Zelda. Lately though they've been coming out of the woodwork, and without Shiggy's touch at that. If there's a sudden lull, I'm happy, but I assume Link to the Past will find it's way to the GBA eventually. Everything seems to.

Sephiruss:
2. Square said a while back that they were interested in developing for GBA, but Nintendo is apparently still mad about Square developing for PSX instead of N64.

Googleshng:
That's not quite why Square isn't doing anything on the GBA, but it's a moot point, since as I just said last letter, the people who made the Mana games are already working on a GBA game, which we cover. Magical Vacation. Go check out our coverage.

Sephiruss:
3. I haven't played Castlevania on GBA, but all the other Castlevania games were good and I've heard this one is no exception.

Googleshng:
Take SotN, remove the coolness of being a vampire, add the coolness of a really spiffy magic system.

Sephiruss:
4. Looks like Tactics Ogre, Lunar, and Breath of Fire II are confirmed, you could always check out RPGamer's games page under the upcoming GBA section for others.

Googleshng:
There's a TON of promising stuff on the GBA horizon, it's the current RPG magnet.

Sephiruss:
5. You could get one for cheap off the back of the truck...Ahem, I mean, since the GBA is fairly new, you're probably going to have to pay regular price for one.

Googleshng:
I got mine through an act of random generousity. That won't work for you.

Sephiruss:
I haven't heard anything about a PS2 price drop, so I wouldn't expect one any time soon...hopefully I'm wrong about this, for the sake of Xenolovers everywhere. SoA on the Cube has been announced (for Japan), but I'm not certain if its localization has been announced or not. I'm hoping it'll make its way over here on either the Cube or PS2, since I really want to play it. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Googleshng:
Skies of Arcadia has already been translated, and darn well at that, so I can't see any reason for the ports not to come over here. As for the price of the PS2, I seem to recall hearing they plan to drop it sometime fairly soon, but not be enough to make me happy.

Sephiruss:
Last I heard of a date for FFX in Europe it was for some time in June or July. As for other FFs in Europe, FFAnthology is set to be released in Europe Feb. 27.

Googleshng:
Those dates should be regarded as sketchy. Part of the game publishing world's disdain for Europe is being even more vague with release dates than they are for everyone else.