Ryan:
3. Well, I haven't heard much about it, but it really doesn't sound too appealing. Let's face it, aside from one or two, almost all movie licensed games, well, suck. And it'd be kind of obvious, no? Who will be in your party, where you will go, who the last boss will be, etc. Heck, you'll likely end up trying to figure out which Darth you fight at the end, only to do battle against your father. In other words, I'm not looking forward to it.

Googleshng:
Looks like SOMEONE hasn't been keeping up on their news. 8) That Star Wars RPG people keep talking about is a massively multiplayer online game. That dispels some of your fears, but it brings up so many other problems. Aside from the fact that (nearly) all Star Wars licensed games suck (while (nearly) all other games by Lucas Arts are great), that's simply a bad license. In fact, nearly all licenses are terrible for online RPGs. Most licensable properties are about a small group of hero type characters who stand out amoungst their surroundings. You simply can't populate a world that way. Imagine if the Mos Eisley cafe had 50 aspiring young jedi sitting around chatting. It just wouldn't work. I think "massively multiplayer online RPGs" can now officially be called an out of control fad.
As for my cats, yes they all get along fine with eachother and everyone else... although Lucifer has this annoying habit of biting/sucking on the necks of people in their sleep/other cats. That's just because he's a vampire though.

Finally, since so many people asked about Roger Zelazny, here we go. Roger Zelazny was a sci-fi/fantasy other who did most of his writing in the 70s and 80s before dying (at a relatively young age for an author) of... cancer I believe it was. The main characters in nearly all of his books are morally ambiguous jaded immortals who smoke cigarettes, no matter how out of place they are with the setting. Actually, you'd have a hard time convincing me that the Highlander franchise isn't inspired by his work. Just about everything he writes is also a weird blend of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, including several books which put a sci-fi spin on polytheism. The most famous of those being Lord of Light, the basic premise of which is that, after attaining a god-like level of technology, a bunch of people go find a planet and impersonate Hindu gods, told from a mythological style. Speaking of writing styles, roughly 75% his books are told from first person, and half his books are written in a style which prevents you from seeing what the heck is going on at all until about halfway through. His most accessable (and some say best) work is the Amber series... which is 10 books long but feels like 2 (they're short and a bit serialized). The first is Nine Princes in Amber, but make sure you have at least the first 5 handy before you start, or else you'll go crazy trying to find them.

Ryan:
Nope. It is, however, possible to get them all in a New Game +. My best file in the Japanese version is missing only two characters, and that's because I'm just too lazy to get them. Course, Googleshng here was nice enough to tell me exactly how to get one of them, so I'll eventually get around to adding another one. I think you can get a maximum of about 35 or so for a first game, and that's pretty good for one round.

Googleshng:
Specifically, there's a point in a new game plus where you can obtain all the characters you got a previous time through.

Ryan:
They're probably used to weird things. I mean, there's demi-humans, there's a cat-man running the show, and there were people who traversed time. So seeing oneself is no big deal.

I found those summons on certain bosses of a specific element, never in normal enemies. Frankly, I didn't care about summons at all. I finished the game having used up one star. Never saw much power in them, always much more punch in that Swallow. Anyway, if a normal enemy is casting very high Elemental spells, and then uses a summon, run away and come back, and then utilize a trap Element to earn the prize that you seek.

Googleshng:
Actually, getting the lesser summons is one of the hardest things in the game to do. The bosses that have them are low on HP, high on damage, and tend to really smack you around while you wait for them to cast them. I gave up and decided to get them on a plus game... which ironically is the only time you'd probably even care about using them.

Ryan:
Bad Googleshng, you made me get a whole ten letters.

Enemy levels are the same as in the first few Final Fantasies, and not like the eighth one. Also, character levels have returned to the same increasing necessary number of points system. Cool, ne?

Googleshng:
Lalala... I posted this without reading it. 8)

Ryan:
Nope, sorry, haven't read any of the Wheel of Time series. Any good?

The Chrono Cross does indeed refresh all the Elements you've used, but only in the last fight. I guess Square figured that you might need it.

Googleshng:
Anyone who needs more than one 800 page novel to tell a story gets skipped over by me. Oh, and forgive me for letting you all know the name of one spell in a game most people seem to have already won.

Ryan:
Hey, what do you do Googleshng? What's that? Oh, forgive me m'lord. Such things are not for someone of my stature to know. I shall go make you a coffee now.

Lucifer is Lynx in disguise. Just look at the similarities!

Googleshng:
Heh. So many e-mails about my demonic vampire kitten. As for what I do... that's an odd thing to be asked... but I suppose I can give you a partial listing. I do Q&A as you know, I do the quotes in the title bar of index, I'm the head of interaction, which basically just means I'm the one who just had to juggle people around to replace Brad, JD, and Amber... well, Amber's took care of itself. Then of course I do all sorts of little internal projects (like copying over all the data when we switched the release lists from a simple page to a nice searchable perl script). Plus I cover for anyone who let's me when they take a vacation. I could go on, but I'd be getting into some clasified stuff. I don't do everything though. Plenty of other staffers pull more than their fair share too, just that most if it is stuff you don't get to see.

Ryan:
Who is Zelazany? Only Elements I got to work were blue. That and physical attacks seem to work. Luckily, SunOfAGun (or Sun Facer as I know him) has but 400 or so HP, so you're wearing him down fairly well.

Googleshng:
Yes, just attacking is one of your best bets there.

Ryan:
I think it looks like a Macintosh Breadmaker. I can see the add campaign now: Nintendo GameCube comes in five magical fruit flavors! Think different.

Seriously though, I'm very impressed by the graphical abilities of the system. However, graphics are not everything. I'll be more impressed when I see some games, preferably RPGs, in action, and not just tech demos.

Googleshng:
I see a LOT of potential in that controller design actually. In terms of tech demos by the way, 100 ping pong balls bouncing around using something which isn't even a prototype for the system you're marketing doesn't impress me at all. Over 100 high poly characters with AI hopping around however, using the actual system and with plenty of power to spare IS impressive. I think we've hit the overkill point people. That's enough graphics already! As for the appearance of the system, it comes in several colors... like the iMac, and it's cube shaped... like the G4 cube... I'm not complaining here, I'd like to own a console that matches my comp. WE ARE THE MAC USERS. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

*sniff* My ending for CC stunk...it wasn't even an ending...why?!

If you could only afford one game, would you buy CC right now, or wait for FF9?

goog, when you leave rpgamer.com tell us what your "AGE/SEX/LOC" is.. please
:)

-eve

You and your demonic cats... Snuff would disaprove no doubt..darn openers...

Can I have your house when you die? I won't even mind the coyotes.

Son of Sabin

Awwww... u named ur cat Lucifer..... *checks pic* OH DEAR GOD!!!!

-A very scared ManicMailman

The Last Laugh: