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Ask Google |
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Vocabulary Expansion |
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Googleshng - June 12 '03- 2:00 Eastern Standard Time
It's always interesting to learn new words, especially when they sound
so darn 1800sish. More on that down in the quickies.
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Various Questions
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Hey there, g,
I've been away from the gaming world for about a month
(getting married and all). I've read most of
RPGamer's news and E3 stuff, but I've still got a few
questions. If you have time, I'd love some answers.
1. Have you heard anything about the Elder Scrolls III
"Game of the Year" edition? I would guess you haven't
played the original, but the Xbox version was rife
with game-wrecking bugs. I could have kept playing
for another 100 hours if it hadn't become impossible
to walk around for 15 minutes without crashing the
game and risking damage to my save file and Xbox.
Anyway, have you heard anything about these bugs being
fixed?
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Googleshng:
I'd never heard of any bugs to begin with. Sure it isn't just your copy?
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2. Have you played the GBA Lufia? Is it worth picking
up?
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Googleshng:
I haven't had a chance to myself, but word on the street is that it's surprisingly mediocre. Still a
heck of a lot better than The Legend Returns there though.
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3. Was that nifty in-game world map included in the
original Dragon Warrior II on NES (it's in the GBC
remake)? That was an awesome game, and such a world
map would have been quite innovative for an NES game.
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Googleshng:
Nope. I really wish it was though. Finding that one space island in the middle of the ocean was a royal
pain.
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4. Do you think there is any chance Fable will do even
half the things it promises? If all that stuff
described in RPGamer's article works, I think I'll
actually cry.
Thanks for your time, g.
-jaraph
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Googleshng:
Call my a cranky old cynic if you must, but I have yet to see a game by Peter Molyneux come close to
living up to the pre-release hype. Find some old articles on Black and White if you want to see what I
mean.
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Why is this so difficult to comprehend?
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Damn, man, that's just downright spooky. How did you know Shadow Hearts was
getting a sequel? What sort of bizarre Deep Throat/Helba/Prophet of Delphi
connections do you have, anyway?
-Cactuar Joe
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Googleshng:
I work at a videogame news site. You're looking at said site right now. It's thus a regular occurance
for me to overhear what the newsies are working on at any given time. Just doesn't usually make a difference
as I normally don't notice these things until five seconds before the story is posted.
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Tri-Q
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Dear Google,
I have a few questions for you now. Some concerning RPGs, some Anime
related, and some, just... well, to be determined.
*Spoiler for Xenosaga*
First, I've been playing Xenosaga lately, and I am currently at the point in
the game where the team is swallowed by a gnosis, and I'm at the center of
said gnosis. I'm really stuck on the boss where Cherenkov gets attacked or
something by the Zohar. It has two side attackers where all they do is cast
some evil attack that does quite a lot of damage. All my characters are at
level 15, except Ziggy, and my AWGS are all at full health, so, can you help
me? Please don't refer me to a strategy guide, as most spoil what happen
and most guides are written poorly.
*End spoiler*
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Googleshng:
I pretty much went the whole game without remembering AWGSes existed. I suppose you could go run around
and character build if you need help, but the standard tactic of kill the side bits then concentrate on
the main chunk should work well enough. And of course if you really need the extra help, you can always
start out fighting on foot and hop into the mecha when you're about to die.
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Second, I've read your rant, and yesterdays Q&A, and you speak of Munchkin.
Please, could you enlighten me, and others who are uninformed, about what
this is, and why you like it.
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Googleshng:
Munchkin is a card game by Steve Jackson modelled after dungeon
crawling D&D campaigns where all the PCs are backstabbing little min/maxers. It's very silly, and
very fun.
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Third, Trigun is great, I've rented the episodes, as I don't have the
privilege of Cartoon Network. Are there any other Japanese Animes that are
like this, or as good?
Thanks for your time,
Ricky Takare
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Googleshng:
Now there's an open-ended question. I suppose I'll recommend Hellsing to you. Same animation studio,
ergo the same visual style, but I can't think of anything too thematically similar to Trigun off the
top of my head. Well, maybe Irresponsable Captain Tylor...
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Broad Cultural Stereotypes!
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Exactly how familiar is the Japanese population with the English language? They obviously know the alphabet, but I see English words all the time in certain Japanese video games...the DDR imports, especially, seem to be in almost complete English. Can they only read it, or learn words? Can they speak it? What's goin' on? I'd like to go to the Land of the Rising Sun one day...just curious.
- Feep
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Googleshng:
From what I've gathered from people who live there, most people in Japan BELIEVE they have a pretty good
grip on the english language, but the average person doesn't really know it well enough to find fault
in the amusing random english gibberish found on all manner of Japanese products. Of course, everything
you're talking about is likely done by people who have actually done some serious studying up on the
matter.
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A big long gripe about pirates.
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I just thought I would direct everyone to an excellent editorial I read on the RPGamer website. The editorial talks about piracy, and I think it is one that every serious gamer (or not so serious gamer) should read.
I sell games for a living and I intend to get a job where I am producing software. Every day I experience people who have no respect for the hard work that goes into producing games, music, movies or anything else that is being pirated frequently. People will come into my store and ask me how they can STEAL a game rather than purchase it. They will stand in front of me and expain to their friends that rather than pay money for a game they can just STEAL it off the internet.
I have heard all the excuses. "If the games didn't cost so much I wouldn't have to download them." The reality is that even if the games were cheaper, those people still wouldn't pay for them. Besides, if everyone who played them actually paid for them, maybe they could be cheaper. "It only costs pennies to print the cd, why does it cost $50 to buy it?" Pennies to print the CD, but MILLIONS of dollars go into the development. If a game sells well, the company makes money, but when a game flops, the company does not. They need to find a price that balances the potential risk with the potential gain. Besides, on top of the printing costs there is also marketing cost, licensing fees, and many other costs. "Well, I never intended to buy that game anyway, so they are not really losing any money." How about "Well, I never intended to buy that car, so I figured it would be okay to steal it. They are not losing any money."
Personally I love how people will try to rationalize everything in order to avoid the fact that they are stealing. It does not matter whether you steal a car, a song, or a game, the result is the same. Someone loses something. The only difference is the likelihood that you won't get caught. If you steal a car, there is a good chance you will go to jail. If you steal software, there is very little chance you will see any kind of punishment. We live in a society where our actions are not based on what is good or morally correct, but rather they are based on how likely it is we will be punished for doing wrong.
To turn this into a question, I would like to know what you, and your readers think of this matter? Do you agree? Do you disagree?
Eggman
"Do not go on arguing what a good person ought to be. Just be one." - Marcus Aurelius
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Googleshng:
I'm always shocked at how often I hear video game store clerks telling stories like that. You'd think
people would show more discretion. Anyway, the whole piracy issue has always bugged me quite a bit, and
honestly, the more I do, the more personal it gets. I've been in situations where I can say things like
"I've met the people who developed that game you're pirating. They probably make less money than you do,
they spent the last three straight years of their lives creating it, and if it doesn't make enough money,
they won't get a green light from the publisher to make a sequel. Pay for the freaking thing!" Naturally,
if I ever reach the point when I can replace "they" with "I", that subject will REALLY set me off.
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Rumor Mongers
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Hey-o slime-o!!
Considering your earlier comment on random speculation about games that have absolutely no solid information about them what you would consider to be the most outrageous incident of totally unfounded speculation that you knew of on a game that, at least at that time, had either not yet been officially announced or had no specific info on it (e.g. Crono Break, Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasies 12-infinity).
If you cant find anything good I'm sure your other readers could dredge some interesting tidbits from the bowels of the internet to share.
Yea...
-The Krello
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Googleshng:
Definitely Chrono Cross. As you may recall, there were five years between it and Chrono Trigger. About
one year into that gap, some weird baseless rumor caught on that there was a sequel in the works, and it
spread like wildfire. You have no idea how often this column got letters on that subject.. and admittedly,
the idea I have is a bit fuzzy.
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