Matt Demers - 23:17 EST

WELCOME to Q&A, the most updated column in the history of RPGamer! As many of you probably know, this would be the very first column of my second year in the captain's chair, and so I've made a few changes to the decor, as you might have noticed! Not only is there a bit of a visual change; there's much more to be excited about. What exactly are those changes? You'll have to read on to find out!

One thing hasn't changed, though: Write me an e-mail, and I might just put your letter up in the column within a few days' time. Ask me a question, answer somebody else's question, provide commentary, express concerns, excitements, delight or dismay; I'll be glad to hear from you! With so many new technologies and great-looking RPGs on the way, there's no better place to talk about it than right here, with myself or my weekend counterpart, Ouro.

And now, to begin Year II!

Hey Matt!

First off I want to say congrats on your 1 year achievement! And you've definitely been doing things right according to my standards. I had actually started reading the column back around 2000/01ish when Googleshng was around, and while I read it every day, I only submitted stuff a couple of times. For some reason I just felt so intimidated, and because of the fact that he/she remained so mysterious I never felt like I could relate to him/her. Then along came one of the Andrews, and suddenly the column became somewhat...malicious is the only word I can think of right now. I remember reading posts that were responded to in a manner that I would call downright insulting. I'm not sure if it was all in fun, but it turned me away nonetheless. So then I became afraid to send questions in. And then I stopped reading altogether. For quite some time I'd still come to the site but wouldn't even glance at Q&A. Then one day at the start of this year, I noticed a new host and decided to give him a shot. I've been keeping up again ever since. Great job!

So enough sucking up...here's more answers that I'm basically picking by way of eenie meenie miney moe (is that how it's spelled?).

332) C
333) A

Hope this brightens your day!
Laurie

You know, I don't think there's any real definition for how to spell those quasi-words! Funny thing, though: We once had a guinea pig who we were told was male from the pet store; we named it Moe. I came home from school one day to find the little furball munching on the placentae of her three babies. Needless to say, we reached the conclusion that Moe was NOT male, and we named her babies "Eeny, Meeny, and Miney". Oh, I guess that's how *I* spell them, by the way.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words! I hope to be doing this for a long time to come, so hopefully if I celebrate a two-year anniversary in 2007, you're not writing in with more grumbular things to say.

Hiya Matt,

AH, I can't wait any longer! I've been trying so hard not to get excited about this. When I first started seeing stuff about FFXII....wow, almost a year ago, I told myself not to care too much because it was so far away. And then as the release date became ever closer I told myself not to get my expectations too high so I wouldn't be let down. But, now that it's less than four weeks away, I can't contain myself any longer.

But, I fear with so many games coming out this fall some will be overlooked that normally would be getting great attention. I don't have nearly enough time to play them all on top of my backlog. Some games like Contact, Tales of the Abyss, Children of Mana, Rogue Galaxy, Okami, ...hack//G.U.vol.1//Rebirth, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria are probably gonna get looked over because so many other "big name" games are coming out. I just hope that I'll have time to go back and play these games. This is probably the main reason I will not be purchasing a next gen system.

I like playing the smaller less known games because for some reason it feels that much more pleasing when they make a good game. When a big name series comes out with another title and its good it just gets piled into the list of good games, but when a new series or lesser known games receive praise it makes it more enjoyable. I don’t know if that makes much sense. I think my classes are draining me of intelligence. I’d better go recharge....

The Dark Chevalier
*goes up to his local GameStop to reserve his FFXII collector’s edition*

Nah, you make perfect sense. And not only that, but new series/lesser known games tend to increase in value much more drastically over the years, if you're into the whole eBay scene. I'd personally rather hold onto them just to be able to say "I have the original, and I love it!" Think of JuMeSyn and his Panzer Dragoon Saga pride!

Perhaps a new classic will be born in the days to come. Have fun gaming!

Hey Matt!

So, Sega is doing it again, and now they are doing it in style. All four original Phantasy Star games in one package. And once again, the impending horror of the US likely being left out of the loop again.

Someone, somewhere, has to have some sort of petition going to bring this over. I would do it myself, but there are people far better equipped to pull this off (as in, not having a job and a half, or a lack of html skills, or the contacts to give such a thing life). So, please, if you know of one, let me know (or at least let Matt know, so he can let everyone else know). I can write a letter to Sega, but this is the kind of thing that needs numbers.

Thanks!

BigWook

Well, you heard the man!! I did a quick search and I wasn't able to find anything like that, but it doesn't mean that somebody can't start one.

Of course, whenever I think of petitions, I think of the two great failures of the past. Earthbound 64 had a HUGE petition that got something like 10,000 signatures, but it obviously did little to make Nintendo notice that we were begging for more Mother here in North America. And then... the Dragon Quest IV remake... augh, the agony!! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO CANCEL THIS!? (And don't tell me it was because it was the translators -which is the official excuse- because Square Enix quietly released DQV's remake in Japan only just a little later, the dastardly fiends.)

I guess there's never any point in being pessimistic though, is there?

Thanks, BigWook! Hopefully your wish comes true!

How goes it on whatever day this turns out to be, Matt? I asked this of Josh a few sessions ago, and he had NO IDEA.

So why don't you tell all the eager readers, Matt: what on the Turbo Grafx-16 and the Turbo Duo should we look forward to on the Wii? Apart from my already annotated attempt to smash things around in Bonk's Adventure, I have no direct experience on the system(s). Let the information flow!

Automapping is probably the one thing that makes me like Shining the Holy Ark far more than Shining in the Darkness. A first-person quest can be damn hard to navigate if I have to write down where I'm going - what's your stance on the automap?

Okay, for some reason I was bouncing around eBay when I saw someone selling Lunar: Magic School for the Saturn. I know very little about it, save it being a greatly enhanced version of a title that began on the Game Gear. Something tells me you're not deeply immersed in its intricacies either - so this is mostly a fishing expedition among the Q&A readers. Who knows something about the forgotten Lunar title?

Your worries about the prices I would have to pay for Fire Emblems 3 and 4 prove unfounded: I got the former for $11 and the latter for $16 (US), neat and complete. FE 5 would be another story should the thing ever pop up on eBay. And while I'm thinking about it, in Fire Emblem 4 it seems the dancers who cannot fight in the GBA editions are capable of wielding swords!

Just bought Shadowrun for the Genesis, should be arriving any day now. Josh must have some reason for never rising to the occasion with information about the title, so I come to you now. And do tell me if what you uncover justifies my feeling that RPGamer should have a separate listing for the SNES and Genesis editions of the game, please.

I finished Langrisser 2 yesterday (when I write this, clearly it will be much later by the time you get to a reply). Reading through the script on GameFAQs I'm struck by how much effort is made to humanize the antagonists, which is unusual for a Tactical title released in 1994. Vargas doesn't just barge out late in a battle to fight, which is what it looked like when I played that battle: he wanted to be with his wife as she gave birth, but the desire to not be like his father and leave his men to die compelled him to come forth. Eggbert the sorceror doesn't just show up and wreak havoc, he honestly believes that his force of will (and Bernhart the Emperor's) is strong enough to prevent the evil sword Alhazard from ushering in a new reign of darkness, so he takes whatever measures are necessary to acquire the sword and let Bernhart unite the continent.

Anyway, the final battle was something of a disappointment. Bernhart, who I had already beaten twice, is the final boss - but for some reason he has a susceptibility to magic! Admittedly this was a weakness of his before but to be able to put the final boss to sleep, thus eliminating his ability to counterattack for a round - does this not seem a trifle too easy? He summoned some Demon Lords for the final battle that were in fact immune to magic, making his own vulnerability all the stranger.

At least the last fight has a nice theme music: http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/6453/99879 This seems to be an arranged version; the poor Genesis couldn't quite manage this audio fidelity.

Now here's a cute little Fire Emblem reminescence. I was cruising around the GameFAQs message boards a few years ago, when the first one was fairly new in translation, and came upon some poor fellow who related an interesting story. He had Lyn ruling, as she tends to do, in the chapter at the end of which Eliwood (or Hector) gets promoted. She had taken a hit but had smashed about 10 enemies and gained several very good levels. Then the player noticed that she was in the range of a bandit with a Swordslayer. What I always remember about this little story was the writer saying that this bandit was thinking "i r t3h 1337!' as he smashed that Swordslayer down upon Lyn. Death followed, mandatory restart. Poor fellow.

Y'know, I just really like the music in Albert Odyssey. Here's another sampling of it in the form of the standard boss track. http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/1012/28

Okay, here's a genuine question for you. Why is Shiva seemingly the only member of the Hindu divine trinity we ever see represented in RPGs? Final Fantasy seems to have established Shiva as a mighty ice goddess summon, but where are Brahma and Vishnu? Admittedly Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer and Shiva the Destroyer so it might be harder to fit those two in - but why not try? (Any religious scholars - I KNOW there is a great deal more to Hinduism. We're not undertaking religious studies right now.)

Have you ever noticed any box art that was repellant to you, Matt? Many Genesis titles were given Americanization of their box art, thus making characters who looked like refugees from a Conan the Barbarian movie be the exterior face of the game. I don't THINK many more recent games have been barbarized in this fashion but I'm curious about just how substandard the North American releases are compared to the original Japanese designs. Recently I suggested to Josh that a Sonic RPG might be in the words soon, since Mario was about the age Sonic is now when he jumped into the format. Think it could work?

Remember the Ratchet/Manupil naming debate I threw to you? Well, this is what Ratchet's voice acting in English sounds like:

http://www.audioatrocities.com/games/shiningforce3/clip6.mp3Awe-inspiring really doesn't do justice to this demonstration of thespian skill.

A few more SFIII naming issues while I'm on this kick. There's an Aspinian general who Medion has to fight pretty early on, named either Varlant or Valiant. If it helps, the general in question is a centaur with an eye-patch.

Medion also has to fight, much later on, a fellow who is part of the inner circle of true nasties stirring the war up. This Destonian commander is either Crewart or Cruel. Heavily scarred fellow wielding a big axe. Then there is a fellow who Julian must kill off early in Scenario 3, with the intriguing name of Defender. This guy appears to be a Celt with his long red hair and fierce profile, if it helps.

Then we arrive at a man (second in political power in the Aspinian Republic) whose name you'll most likely prefer in English. In Japanese it is Brighvable, which I still haven't wrapped my tongue around. In English it is Brutus. He's an older man who walks using a cane, although something nasty happens to him that causes him to turn into a gigantic minotaur-like thing named Kudan, which Julian has to kill.

Then there is the group of six hardened killers the Emperor keeps on hand. Medion meets up with them in Scenario 2, then an angry Emperor sends them after everyone in Scenario 3. These are the Rainblood. Their leader is King, and the others are Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, and Pawn. Picking up on the theme here? Got any suggestions for something better? And for reference - they are quite strong.

Now, to close, I'll do something rather different. This is not my own material, but I feel it is perfect for reading by anyone a little peeved at something. I'll just give you something to alter meer annoyance into despair!

REASONS FOR GIVING UP HOPE: Nothing works, nothing counts, nothing fits, no one cares, no one listens, standards have fallen, everyone's fatter, lines are longer, traffic's worse, kids are dumber, and the air is dirty. I'll be back later with more reasons for giving up hope. In the meantime, try to come up with a few of your own.

JuMeSyn

Bah! Never give up hope, is what I say! TeraAssignments for dynamical systems classes of doom don't get done that way. ;)

So, as I mentioned above, one of the great highlights of this week so far has been the finishing-up of the disgustingly large assignment of doom. "Yes!" Matt thought, "I finally might get a break for a night or two!" Of course, nothing can come without a twist for me, and yes; I found out today that I've written part of my Ph.D. scholarship application wrong. What a dork! That's what I'm going to be up to tonight, now. O, it never ends...

At least I have Thanksgiving to look forward to. Alas, it doesn't look like I'm going to be around for this Friday's column, as my parents are coming to pick me up early in the day most generously. But you can endure me in the meantime!

#332. a) A, B, C, D, G, C, D, E - 800 points
This one might have been easier if I had remained in "Do-re-mi" form, but this song should be immediately familiar to anyone who played Super Mario RPG. Yes, this was the third line of Toadofsky's Suite! Good job to those of you who managed to guess correctly!

#334:
Who was in first place on the scoreboard on the day that "items" were introduced to the competition? (1,500 points)

a) Bainick
b) Erika
c) Xlash
d) Dermot
e) MagRowan

I've got a few things to update now!

A whole slew of new items has been added to the game, and thus a large number of NEW summon recipes have joined the mix. Check the items out here. In addition, there are now several HIDDEN items to discover through many different means that I can't tell you, since they're hidden. In addition to unlocking the secrets of the summons, there's a lot to discover.

There are also a few new status effects to speak of. Fury and Sadness arrive, fresh from Final Fantasy VII, as well as Float, and the dreadful Virus, which will prevent you from claiming items or prizes. Yikes!

A few of you noticed what the "oddity" is about the column! Yes, it is true that the banner changes colour every day. It changes colour depending on how many one-time-use items are utilized on that day. On a day that no items are used, it appears grey; one item produces purple, two is blue, three is green, four is yellow, five is orange, six is red, and seven or more is black. Interesting, no? And maybe useful to some of you, somehow, someday.

Good luck with today's questions! If anyone new wants to get involved in the game, now is a great time to begin, because if you get both of today's questions right, you'll obtain enough points to bring you immediately to the first benchmark!

STRAGGLERS:
(people who I love, but who still need to check their e-mail or somehow get in touch with me because they have unclaimed items- if you fall off the list after a week, it's TOO LATE FOR YOU! Check your spam/trash folders for my messages if you're not getting them, and I'll check mine, too!)

• none to speak of!

Yep... Quickies have returned!! I knew they were popular before, so I hope that they once again become a mainstay of Q&A. ;)

In any case, if I keep going, I won't have enough steam to crank out any more columns this week. I guess I'll save some for tomorrow! Give me your best questions, answers, or whatever, and help me get year two off to a great start. Thanks, everybody!