Matt Demers - 04:23 EST

I WAS nestled all toasty in my warm winter's bed, with this and that dancing around my head, when all of a sudden what did appear? A jolting explosion that was a little too friggin' near. I arose from my bed with a clumsy clatter, and I would have tripped and fallen if I were any fatter, but an enormous three hundred million volt blast of electricity; that's what was the matter. Groggy I was, I went right back to sleep, but when it happened once more, out again did I leap. I was totally awake now in remarkable form as I realized, well damn, we were in the middle of a blinkin' storm. The rain was so fierce and the wind was a-howling, but I hate being awakened, so I sure was growling. That's my sorry excuse for not getting much sleep; we should just get started on this giant letter heap.

Hey Matt,

First off I would have to say #42 a) White Dragon and #43 d) Final Fantasy VI. As big a FF fan as I claim to be I better get those correct. I think I should now be close to getting a ~.

As for the quality of sony products, I'd have agree that they don't seem to be built to last at least not the PSX and PS2 I bought. I can still play most PS2 games without it locking up somewhere through but my X-Men Legends II likes to hang when too many objects are on the screen like say the Nuwali Gateway. And most DVD movies stop playing over halfway through. My PSX can barely play audio CD's anymore and forget about actually playing a game for more than 10 minutes on that piece of junk. Oh well I never expected it last forever but I can still play my NES and SNES cartridges without problems and can still play DVDs on my computer drive from years ago.

Matt I certainly can't place ALL the blame on Sony only... for sure, I know that some of my games freeze up with much greater frequency than others. The worst, for me, have been Atelier Iris, which I'm playing through now, and both Star Oceans. The Second Story froze up on me on a few different occasions, sometimes after two hours without a save; Till the End of Time corrupted my save data twice, and froze up while going into the menu screen twice or three times. You'd think that they'd catch these things at the playtesting level, but evidently not. I'll tell you one thing: If game freezes are that big of a problem for me, then companies might just have to worry about me not buying potential sequels. I have better things to do than waste two hours for nothing, surely. The same goes for me as far as Nintendo's products are concerned, though: Happily, my SNES works absolutely perfectly after twelve years, and my NES works most of the time, with adequate game-cartridge manipulation/blowing/what-have-you. In fact, I can't remember a single time where my SNES froze up. These are just observations... take whatever conclusions from this discussion that you wish.

All that said though, I'll most likely be one of those to get the PS3 when I can afford it...I just have far too many games it would theoretically be able to play unless they have done away with the backward compatibility idea. Maybe I am being punished for not being faithful to Nintendo but had the FF franchise stayed with them I would have bought their systems instead I can almost guarantee things would have stuck with them.

Xlash the dwarf berserker

Me too. I hate it, too, because to me, it seems that Nintendo really tries to make quality a top priority. I guarantee you I'll own a Playstation 3, though, because I'll be willing to bet my bottom dollar that that's where we'll find the "RPGs that count" of the next few years. Anyone disagree? If so, you should dieeee! Or, just write a response to me to tell me what things are a-racing through your mind!

Good morning to you Matt. (Well it is only 10 in the morning here!

From extensive reserch on gamefaqs i have found that;

42: is A and
43: is Final Fantasy 6/3 aka D due to the fact that it was the only game released in 1994, the rest were in 1995.

Also replying to that statement from Sony. We do not have anything in our Playstation 2 that does not belong there. No chips or gamesharks or any pirated pieces.

A question? UM, What's your favourite Boss Music of all time? Mine would have to be Kirby: The Krystal Shards end boss theme, followed by "One winged Angel" for a close second.

Yours angryly at Sony and Microsoft, Bainick.

P.S. They're just bitter because it is now legal to have mod chips in your playstation as they don't burn the games just allow you to play them and other countries games too!

Man, you guys put more work into this SOCK than I all gave you credit for in the beginning.

My favourite final boss theme is definitely not One Winged Angel, though it was for the three weeks following my first trial of Final Fantasy VII. In fact, I'd even say that I like Final Fantasy VIII's The Extreme better overall, as well as Final Fantasy IV's final battle theme.

This might sound funny, though, but there are two themes which are still greater: Dragon Warrior IV has SPECTACULAR final boss music, even in its lovely tinny 8-bit form. It's so perfect, for Dragon-Warrior-style, and I'm certain that other people who are fans of the game would agree with me. Another favourite isn't really a theme as much as it is scary: Giygas' final forms in Earthbound have, quite honestly, the most frightening background sound/music I've heard. It's so trembleriffic, I just can't adequately make up adjectives with which to describe it.

Dear Matt *giggles*,

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we had gameplay between two (RPG) games mold into one? While I was napping today I dreamt of... oddly... Pokemon XD with the Legend of Zelda elements. Okay, scratch that -- Legend of Zelda; Wind Waker's gameplay. I don't think it was as simple as Zelda, but in my dream, I was certainly trying to beat the crap out of wraith-like deformed Pokemon with a sword before I realized I could do standard long-range and melee attacks with my big Pokemon if I summoned them. Problem was, they had poor accuracy and you had to seriously blast at all the enemies randomly to hit them... I think. Think real life =D! It was scary because then, at some point I realized I had to get Dark Lugia for a sidequest that required me to wipe a whole beach of wraith-like Pokemon like... really quickly. *_____*

Um. *thinks* That said; you think they'll ever make Pokemon game like that? I think, while scary because there's a prospect of it being realllllly...hard...it would be neat >D And plausible. And a very neat break from the traditional turn-based gameplay rampant in all Pokemon XD.... Hmm.. maybe this is some higher force's way of telling me to stop obsessing every weekend on Tales of Symphonia so I could finish Zelda and begin on XD.... :O

Matt Whoa, I'm not the only crazy person here! I say we should smash together a few completely different games; say, Mischief Makers from the N64, Mortal Kombat, and Final Fantasy X. With her FFX-2 background theme going, all chipper-like, a bloodthirsty Yuna could run around ripping the heads off of enemies and allies alike to then shake them incessantly while screaming "Shake shake!" If nothing pops out, she could opt to use the heads as Blitzballs instead, taking the Aurochs to a victory at last; that is, provided she doesn't kill off too many of her teammates. Wraith Pokémon with much blasting, though? I suppose the Pokémon franchise has touched about a hundred different gameplay styles already, from cards to pinball to sushi, so anything is possible, though I doubt you'll see Resident Evil: Ash's Nightmare anytime soon.

For my other question; do you think if we do something big and massive, Square will remake Final Fantasy 6 in a state that would royally kick Final Fantasy 7's bum? Or, you think, Tetsuya Nomura wouldn't even bother? I was thinking, maybe part of why FF6 and all the FF's before that have kinda, fallen out of the radar and become mere handheld fodder is because Tetsuya is unwilling to dabble with characters that aren't his... And I mean that in both the good and bad way. Seriously; you've had the characters for 6, 7 and 10 pop all over the place but 9's isn't anywhere? I think it would be grand if Tetsuya took on the challenge of revamping FF6 because it had a lot more depth than a good lot of things in the series... It reminds me of Suikoden in a way with a much more focused way of storytelling... it was like Star Wars... *sniffles* FF6 didn't certainly have those glaring; "How do the rest of the world go to school :O?" and "Why did HE give a minor complete and utter leadership of a deadly army of teenagers? D:" *giggles*

I think that's all for my sudden spur of letter-writing. *____*

~....I can't remember what nickname I used here. ._. Ai-chan!

PS, Wasn't it the White Dragon? :O My mind is stuck on how happy was to know I could fight Templars in the Veldt.. I liked their attacks..... *t ries to remember where the dragons were*

PS,S; O_O Mother = Earthbound? :O

Maybe, one day, Square Enix will remake FFVI in such a fashion, but the ones slated for release in the near future are Game Boy Advance-destined, and I doubt they'll be able to do much to trump number seven, at least on a technical level. There are, of course, a fair number of people in the world that think Final Fantasy VI already royally kicks Final Fantasy VII's bum, though, and don't you forget it! I figure that the changes for Final Fantasy V and VI are likely to be about as substantial as those for IV: Don't expect a crazy overhaul like the one we're seeing for FFIII DS, at any rate. What SHOULD we expect? A bonus dungeon in each, perhaps; maybe a couple of tweaks to the job system in FFV (a couple of new classes?), maybe a couple of new espers in FFVI, and then silly meaningless stuff like being able to look up monster stats outside of battle, and blah blah blah. Blah blah blah is all the other business, like concept art, that's only cool for the first few minutes.

Most deadly armies are made up of teenagers, though, didn't you know? Especially in RPGs... any older than that, and the soldiers would be classified as middle-aged. You can't have a bunch of old fogeys fighting when the world is at stake!

*Matt is certainly an old fogey in RPG terms, but not as old or as fogeyish as Andrew*

Matt,

Due to my current disintrest in current trends in RPG's (read MMORPG hostal takeover), I've decided to look into consoles from the middle of the gaming era, such as N64 and Sega Saturn. I was wondering, since I don't know anyone first hand with either console, if you have recommendations for RPG's on either of these consoles. I know that there were not many, but since I'm not 100% RPG all the way, I do have some ideas for non-RPG games to pick up. I am always on the lookout for a good RPG, though, so can you lay a few on me?

Matt You're barking up the wrong tree as far as the N64 is concerned, because there were exactly two good RPGs released for that console. The first was Paper Mario, which is a hilariously funny game. The second was Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, which was pretty good, though I didn't get the chance to play it from start to finish. I never owned a Sega Saturn, but a quick hunt around the Internet reveals that the pickings were on the slim side. If you're a fan of the Shining Force series, the series had one entry entitled "Shining the Holy Ark" for that system, though if these screenshots are any indication, it didn't follow the original Shining format. Also, everyone seems to rave about a Panzer Dragoon Saga, though it also appears to be extremely rare (especially now, almost ten years after its original release). If you want it badly enough, you might have to pay through the nose, and that probably wouldn't be a pleasant thing to do.

Oh! As and aside, here's a couple of recommendations for good soundtracks/soundtrack mixes:

1) Katamari Damacy
2) FFV Dear Friends ed.
3) Black Mages
4) Kingdom Hearts, as long as you ignore portions of the Disney parts
5) FF Pray

I whole-heartedly agree with FFIX being one of the best soundtracks about, though I am quick addicted to FFVI (yes I know I have a problem...).

Curiousity Unbounded,
MagRowan

Thanks much. I've heard that Katamari is devilishly addictive, and that the music is fun too, from more sources than just you. Final Fantasy V has a highly underrated, killer soundtrack, and while Kingdom Hearts is not one of my favourite games, some of the music is acceptable.

The first step to beating an addiction is a willingness to admit that you have one! It's too bad though, that despite your efforts, Final Fantasy VI is a game that will always draw you back, especially when it is remade every third year.

Hello again, WonderMatt.

By the looks of it, it seems 2006 is going to be quite a year for the RPG, especially since Dragon Quest VIII should come out then (if it even does.) And trust me, I'll be getting a copy, should the opportunity arise, since what I've seen of it looks jaw-droppingly, fanboy-creatingy excellent.

Matt I'm sorry to inform you, but Dragon Quest VIII won't be coming out anytime in 2006. That's because it's hitting stores next TUESDAY! I will also be hitting the stores that day, but BOY will I be seething if the Electronics Boutique in Stone Road Mall doesn't get the shipment. You'll hear about it next Wednesday; I guarantee you.

But I digress, so I think it's about time I get to my question. As an avid Mega Man X fan from the first title and having to put up with quite a dry spell until X7 came out (which I couldn't get, what with the lack of money at that point and all) so when Command Mission was announced for an aussie release, you bet I got it. Still, it left me sorely rubbed the wrong way, what with my favourite new character ending up being the bad guy and all...*ahem* oh yes, my question: ever gotten hyped up about a game, but ended up feeling empty inside due to some factor or another about it? (And we know how you feel about DQVII, so pick another one.)

Regards,

Peter 'That better not be another...great, it's a live bomb, thanks' Brennan.

P.S: Although I haven't played Planescape: Torment myself, I have seen it in action and wholeheartedly reccomend it as well.

To jump outside of the RPG world for a bit, you really should pick up Mega Man X8! They returned to a mostly 2-D playing field, most of the good play control was restored, and the gameplay was fantastic, especially in view of its horrifying prequel.

*jumps back*

The most recent major letdown for me was, of course, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I really got my hopes up for that one, and the many delays it had in its quest for release in North America made me even more ravenous for it. Of course, while the game wasn't a total write-off, it was still hugely disappointing, and I'll mention yet again the lovely support granted by stationary allies in battle; truly remarkable. Add to that a dragging storyline, an abrupt conclusion, and an unfortunate tendency to crash (as described above) and the result was nothing more than a steaming pile of something smelly. *sigh*

Okay, I'm the one. I love ALL the Suikoden games, including IV. I am currently on chapter 9 of my third play through (new game +, 111 hours!) The big complaint I hear is that traveling takes way too long. It is slow until you get Viki, but...you see that little R1 button right there? Hold it in while sailing (or jogging around with Hero). See? Speed!!

I don't know why I love these games so much, they're just fun to play. I love collecting the Stars of Destiny. I do wish IV had provided a little more backstory on some of the characters, especially the hot pirates! And Hero always looks like he's ticked off about something, but I guess if you wore the Punishment Rune, you'd be crabby too.

Matt Everyone has their own set of weird idiosyncrasies; take for instance, my mother and her affinity towards liver. It's really weird and inexplicable, and I frankly don't understand it. Your oddness is just Suikoden-related. I guess I should pick up Suikoden V if it comes out and is decently reviewed, to catch up on the series. I bet you're looking forward to that one!

Anyway, I've never been one to let other people influence whether I try out a game or not, and I'm really glad I bought Suikoden IV. At $19.99 on ebay, it doesn't owe me a dime, as my dear old granny used to say.

Anyhoo, I guess you need a question...hmmm..Do you like tactical RPGs? What's your fave and why? I love FF Tactics best, but also Tactics Ogre, Saiyuki, and Vandal Hearts I (not 2!). I ask because I'm getting ready to run right out tomorrow to get my own shiny new copy of Suikoden Tactics, and I love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love tactical games.

See ya!
Mog the Hoople

Uwaaahh, Disgaea! Disgaea Disgaea Disgaea! I won't repeat it eighteen times, but it WAS lots of fun, with ridiculous humour thrown in helter-skelter... the game is remarkably entertaining. Other than that, though, I really liked Final Fantasy Tactics a lot, and the Shining Force games of yesterdecade.

I think that the reason I play tactical RPGs is to satisfy my hunger for micromanaging... I tend to get lost in it when I play such games, and I swear that a good third of my playtime in Makai Kingdom goes towards equipping/placing/ organizing. You might say it's a strange idiosyncrasy of mine. <3

Thanks for the letter! You have proven that Suikoden IV fans do exist! However, you're not alone: Indeed, the qna box was assaulted by mail from many others with a similar view. Behold:

Ben I am a fan of that game!!..I bought it on american import almost 4 months before it came out in good ole blighty!...And allright the sailing was a little tedious..but i loved it, the characters made me laugh, i thought the naval combat was huge fun and i loved the battle system compared to this new breed of "Action Orientated" ponce that seems to be conquering our games now-a-days...

Mike ...when Suikoden IV came out, the 3 of us still around decided to buy it and play throught it as a group (sometimes the group was larger but the core was the 3 Suikoden fans). We found that experience fun. Sure, the frustrating parts were still there but, in a group, it's not nearly as bad. And, maybe we enjoyed it more since we were playing together.

Ragnar Morkore ...Suikoden4 is one of my favorite games...

Sky Render ...Believe it or not, there is at least one fan of the game, that being myself. I love it for many reasons: the addition of a full-scale inventory (meaning less Dragon-Quest-esque rearranging of items, which is really not appropriate for a game where you have 70+ playable characters), the addition of selectable combined Rune attacks so it's not guesswork and accidental combining with unwanted effects, the addition of the Flashes ability (via Slash Orb) so random battles against weak enemies are no longer a waste of effort... The list goes on and on. Yes, the game has flaws, but what game doesn't? Even the cult classics like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night have aspects that are less than ideal (such as overly easy gameplay, and a story that basically dies halfway through the game). The most popular RPG in recent history, Final Fantasy VII, is quite possibly one of the most flawed titles on the PS1 in many regards (particularly graphically; there are times when Dragon Quest VII's graphics look better, and that's saying something). That doesn't make them any less playable or fun, though. I enjoy Suikoden IV for the good aspects of the game, and am more than willing to put up with the bad ones as a trade-off. Oh, possibly of note: I never finished the third or fourth Suikoden, so that may well have made the game more enjoyable for me. I've known sequels and prequels to ruin many a gameplay experience for people before, especially with the Lunar games.

So, the proof is in the metaphorical pudding. Maybe these heartfelt replies will make a few of you go back and reconsider your original stance on the game. Perhaps not. Maybe I'll have to publish a gamut of anti-Suikoden IV letters next update in a similar style, to be fair!

*Matt schemes to start a letter war*

To Matt(I hope)

Like many I'm a long time reader and a first time writer. To tell the truth you're doing a hell of a job, but enough of the ass-kissing....

In response to you asking if anyone likes Suikoden 4, well I haven't really played that much of it. From what I did play it doesn't seem like a bad game(never did get to where you drive the ship). I played it when my brother stayed at my house during the summer, and he said that it's one of his favorite games, he even went as far as saying he liked it better than Suikoden 3. I did play number 3(in fact his copy of the game used to be mine) and I loved it. It was just so refreshing from all of the other RPGs on the PS2, being light-hearted and having a nice 'unite to save the world theme'.

I also want to state that my view on games is usually quite different than my bro's when it comes to RPGs. For instance, Legend of Dragoon: I hate it with a passion, I never could see how people could enjoy its highly cliched plot, horrendous music, horrible characters, etc. But It's my brothers favorite game for the PS1(mine on the other hand is Xenogears). So when he said that Suiki 4 was better than Suiki 3, I just couldn't believe him.

Matt Brothers are weird; it's a very well-known fact. My brother loves Legend of Dragoon too, for some mysterious reason, and Star Ocean 3 as well. I think it's time to get out the lobotomy equipment and have fun messing around with their brains to make things right.

Also I liked the letter about how Sony makes there systems into crap. I love my PS2, but I think I loved my first one even better(get the joke). Seriously though, it just seems like Sony doesn't give a damn about their console quality. I'm on my second PS2, and I also had 2 PS1s, which is pretty sad since my early console's(NES, and Genesis) still work fine(besides the batteries in my cartridges not keeping memory anymore). I never hear of people buying multiple Xbox's or Gamecubes. The point is that Sony doesn't care. As long as they have big name publishers making great games, people will keep buying as many PS2s as they need.

Matt I never told this story yesterday, because I didn't want to go into massive amounts of detail, but I had majorly huge problems during my experiences with the lovely PS1 system. I had to rent it to play Final Fantasy VII, but to play VIII, I borrowed the PSX from a friend of mine. For some reason, it just refused to play the game without having the graphics "skip" during gameplay, and not JUST for FFVIII. It froze up at some point or another for at least half of the games I ever tried playing on it, and in FFVIII itself, it became so bad that I was unable to use any spells at all. Why? Well, whenever I'd go to cast a spell, the characters would do whatever weird hand gestures they were supposed to, and then suddenly FREEZE on two graphic frames, jumping back and forth rapidly between the two. I remember that it made Quistis look like she was having a heart attack laughing, but it was certainly not funny or fun for me!! This has been yet another tale of Sony's questionable reliability. We now return you to the letter:

Now onto the question. As I mentioned earlier, Xenogears is, by far, my favorite game of all time. I just love everything about it: the music was great, the graphics, innovative battle system, and man that game had the story of all stories. I just wanted to ask what do you think about Xenogears? And also, do you like Xenosaga? And if you're actually a big fan of the series, do you think that Xenogears and Xenosaga are connected(I don't care about any of that legal stuff)? Anyway, that's about it.

XenoFFvs

Matt Yep, I'm a Xenofan. Not a Xenowhore, but definitely a Xenofan. The games aren't perfect, for sure, but I've found them to be enjoyable enough to invest in, and I'm more or less looking forward to the third episode. I just hope that the game is meaty enough to answer the 15003 questions posed by the first couple. I do know that Xenosaga/Xenogears is based on an original piece of literature containing six episodes, and that Xenogears is supposedly the fifth of those. How closely the developers have followed the original idea, though, I have no idea. I've always been VERY intrigued by the fact that Shion/Jin of Xenosaga, and Citan of Xenogears share a common last name...

P.S. I'm so freakin' definently getting DQ8, I've never played a demo that had me screaming for more when I was finished with it.

SO EXCITING!! It won't be long now...

Maybe it was the giant bolts of lightning this morning, but I woke up filled with energy, despite the fact that I didn't sleep as long as I should have. I went to school with a spring in my step, tipped my hat to all of the good sirs along the way, and burst into song upon my arrival on campus, at least in the musical form of my life. What would a good title for a musical starring me be, anyway...? Anyway, I went to the gym for a bit, and lost absolutely all of my vigour: I fell asleep many times during the ol' PDEs class to follow.

*sigh* But what are weekends for? They're for SLEEP, and time with the grandpappy of all Q&A hosts, Andrew. Before I hand you guys off, though, we have to do that thing we like to do:

Another lucrative round for the lot of you... I've really got to step up the questions a notch sometime soon, or I'm going to be in trouble. If indeed I do finish off Final Fantasy VI this weekend, though, I'll be starting a game called "Chrono Trigger" for the Follow Me questions. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of it, but we'll see if you can answer my quizzes with success.

Looking at specific questions, I think almost everyone got #42. a) White Dragon is the only Dragon you can fight on the Veldt out of the Great Eight. I was always a bit puzzled as to why the White Dragon would be called "Legendary" if one can fight an infinite number of them, but meh- you can't win 'em all. 10 points there!

Alsoooo... d) Final Fantasy VI was released first out of the five. It was unleashed upon North America in the great year of 1994, while the others followed in 1995. 10 more points to ye d-guessers.



The newest in the series of tilde-getters is Bainick! My number-one Australian writer-inner has been trying since the very beginning to work up into the top ten, and voila! After a couple of solid weeks, 100 has been passed and a tilde shall be given. So, congratulations!

Question #44: (20 points) Follow me!--> In Final Fantasy VI, how many crates are in the town of Nikeah?

a) 0
b) 28
c) 40
d) 42
e) 56

Question #45: (15 points) What is the most anyone has ever won on the US version of the game show "Jeopardy!" in a single day during NORMAL gameplay (i.e. not during tournaments)?

a) $37,000
b) $45,001
c) $52,000
d) $55,001
e) $75,000

It's been a grand week, everybody! I hope you've had as much fun as I have.

Keep sending letters in, because we just can't get enough of 'em. I hope you all have a great weekend! I'm off to catch some quality time with my mattress.

Goot byeee!

***Matt doesn't enjoy stepping in freshly-spat gum