Googleshng:
Nope. I've had more than enough ear infections to recognize one, and I already saw a doctor, which is why yesterday's column went poof, and why I now have carbonated earwax. You'll notice today's is longer than usual to make up for it.

Googleshng:
I'm told you have to sneak out into Estard DURING the playable ending. I haven't checked myself though.

Cyrael:
The most unique villan in an RPG eh? Well I would have to say Lynx in Chrono Cross. I didn't realize who or what he was until it was revealed.

Googleshng:
Ooh. That's a toughy. I can name plenty that were really unique for their time, but they've all since become clichés. Therefore, I'll have to go with The Egg from SaGa Frontier 2. You don't see a lot of possessing entities as major villains. I'm giving 2nd place to The Profound Darkness for managing be so secretive as to not get mentioned for 3 and a half games and NOT come off as a deus ex machina.

Cyrael:
Yeah! Get well soon!

Googleshng:
Funny where people's minds go when you don't give enough information. There's a world of difference between a hospital stay and a trip to the doctor's. There's also a big difference between life threatening illness and a supreme annoyance. It's the latter on both counts, and I should be fine by Tuesday. This weekend'll suck though.

Cyrael:
I haven't seen a whole lot on the PS2 Baldurs gate, but since I didn't really enjoy any of the BG style games aside from Planescape, I don't really mind the direction it has taken.
My top 5 game list? Well... I am gonna lump some series into a single game, so here we go: Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Harvest Moon, Phantasy Star and Lunar.

Googleshng:
I generally avoid anything AD&D related, on the grounds that AD&D has the worst basic rules of any paper RPG I recall playing (yeah yeah, 3rd fixes stuff). As for my 5 favorite RPGs, well, they're in my bio, so let me just copy and paste. Not neccessarily in this order: Skies of Arcadia, Xenogears, Phantasy Star, FF6, FFT. Hmm... that list looks wrong. I'll have to tweak it some time.

Cyrael:
Nifty. Since I haven't played those games in question I have nothing more to say. Oh wait... Zippy would fit pretty well too...

Googleshng:
I got a slew of replies to this, most of which contradict each other. Someone who specifically asked me not to print their letter threw in... Uncharted Waters and Napple Tale. Someone else mentioned FF4, which doesn't quite strike me as correct.

Cyrael:
Final Fantasy XI is (as far as I know) an online only game similar to Everquest, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot and Anarchy Online. A veteran of all but one of these games, I have really enjoyed the MMORPG scene since I was introduced to it back when UO first came out. In general I enjoy them because of the reputation you can sometimes earn, be it good or bad. I had a stealth archer party who robbed travellers along the major roads in Ultima Online, and whenever people would see my name, or my friends names they would turn tail and run! On the flipside though, my primary character on Everquest is known as a caretaker of younger players; I heal the 'newbies' and help them through their early stages of life. Player Versus Player (PvP) can be addressed in several different ways. For example, in Ultima Online it was open PvP, meaning that an ultimate character could slice and dice his way through newbies just to be mean. In other games though, like Everquest you can only PvP openly on certain servers, and you can generally only kill each other if you are within 5 levels of each other. There are many other ways to address it, but these are the only two that I have played extensively in. I hope that cleared a few things up...

Googleshng:
Short form!
Do you have to play it on the computer? Well, not if you have the PS2 (or whatever) version. You DO however have to go online to play it, and for the record, there's a monthly fee to do so.
Can players kill each other? Maybe. Hasn't been announced either way.
Can other people control your characters? Nope. You just have the one character, which just pops out of existence when you aren't there.

If those answers don't suit you, allow me to recommend PSO. It's possible to play offline, for free. Heck, you can even play multiplayer split-screen with the GC version, and players can't kill each other.

Cyrael:
I always thought it stood for Initiative Points... But I could be wrong.

Googleshng:
I always want to say Inner Strength Points for some reason, but looking it up in the instructions, I find it's actually Infuriating Points. That's... odd.

Cyrael:
I have NO clue how this is supposed to work... Alas, I suppose we will all see, won't we?

Googleshng:
I thought about this quite a bit, and I can't name a single SNES RPG that really NEEDS every button. The only games that use X Y L R Start AND Select use at least a couple of those just as luxury buttons. In the case of Super Metroid, you could honestly do everything using an NES controller. A and B to run and shoot naturally, start for the menu, select to cycle weapons, double tap for weapons. The only thing left out there is standing still and shooting at an angle, which you could work by making you have to tap and hold up for either that or the straight up aim. On the GBA of course you have L and R, so you could use them for angle changes, and be just fine.

Cyrael:
Heh, it is pretty addictive, isn't it?

Googleshng:
Fear not! Enix accounted for psychos like us. After you gain enough levels, the fights around Dharma will no longer count towards class levels, so you'll be forced to move on.

Cyrael:
That COULD be Goog, but I have serious doubts...

Googleshng:
It's not often that I laugh after clicking a link. Congratulations.

Cyrael:
I haven't played Power Stone, but I hear it is fun! So I'll let Google field this one!

Googleshng:
Buying Powerstone is a waste of money for the same reason buying any Capcom game with a sequel is a waste of money. The sequel improves upon it vastly. Both Powerstone games are Capcom's answer to Smash Bros., but in actual 3D... and you don't die from falling off cliffs... seriously speaking though, they ARE thematically similar, and have many a crazy weapon to liven things up. Powerstone 2 is out and out better than the original though since it has more characters/weapons/players at a time, and some really interesting arenas.

Cyrael:
I didn't like the new graphical stlye at first, but it kinda grew on me like a sort of fungus. Right now, I am pretty indifferent to it until I see more about it's plot and gameplay.

Googleshng:
Like I said back when this issue was current, take a good look at any Zelda game other than the N64 ones, and they're honestly pretty cartoony. Especially Link to the Past, most people's favorite. Link's age has always flown all over the place, but he rarely looks more than, say, 10. What I WILL grant though is that those eyes look pretty creepy. In any case, I actually think it looks pretty cool. At the moment though, I'm not even in the mood to think about a new Zelda game. I'm still a tad burned out by the 3 Shiggy-less ones we had recently.