thesis (Paradise!) Paren-
by Tito Olivo on 05.25.2004
Please click to read our disclaimer!
I'm back, but I never left. Maybe it's the new layout (
Discuss It) that makes me feel new here all over again. Although I'm personally a bigger fan of the
Original Layout...you know, the one with a special table dedicated to my unfrequent mailbag updates...you know, the one with the lil' space below the title where I can write nonsense you can only read on the classic main page. Yeah, that one.
Le Sigh.
Not only do I feel I did a decent job with the letters below (which you will soon be reading), I also managed to make the most use out of (I kid you not) parenthesis. I noticed as I wrote countless responses to the letters, and (about half way down) I decided I would simply abuse this marvelous piece of grammar and sentence structure ingenuinity. Enjoy (and have fun).
Sega's Explosive E3 Anouncement
i think this has to do with the return of the shining force series. Check out www.shining-world.jp or www.rpgfan.com for more info.
-rupen amakiao
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So sorry to disappoint, Rupen. Not only for this post-E3 reply, but also for a disappointment you probably already know about.
Props for your courage including RPGFan, our speculated adversaries, in your letter...
"..."
...I kid, I kid. I can see how RPGFan might've led you to believe that — or not. But in the very least Sega did announce Phantasy Star Universe, in the form of a CG trailer("Phantasy Star V?") about a minute long.
Speaking of RPGFan (while not being afraid to promote another's progress), beyond the (personally good) news of their mailbag confirmed to restitute (again), how about somebody kick Timothy Duong into recrudescing with more Lores?!
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Review Editor For Hire
Since there are no Reader Reviews and no comments section to post your own reflections on a reviewer's comments, I hope that the Mailbag will accept my interpretation of the FFXI experience for publication.
Having just cancelled my FFXI account after two months on the PC version, I feel obligated to add my experiences into the mix and fill in some of the gaps that I felt were present in GAF's two reviews, since the game costs so much money to get running on the PS2. For background info, I would recommend you to those reviews, and make the assumption that you have an idea what's going on in FFXI.
1) Monster Party
Cutter's review mentioned that players may get tired of fighting the same monsters in the same areas over and over again. This is present in every MMORPG, so it doesn't seem so bad.
What she failed to mention is that you will be fighting these same monsters in different areas over and over again. As always, what Square fails in monster ingenuity, it makes up for in palette swapping. It will break your spirit when you realize that weeks down the road, you will crest a new horizon only to find the bunny rabbit you were fighting at level 1 with a new name.
2) A Lot of Class
Both reviews mentioned the variety of jobs and sub-jobs you can pick up. However, the variety diminishes somewhat when you realize that parties expect you to have the optimal sub-job to go along with your main job, else you will not find your stay in a party very long.
This is encouraged by making literally the majority of job/sub-job combinations completely useless, especially as compared to their better counterparts.
A Paladin will be expected to have a Warrior sub-job, and maybe (this is stretching it) a White Mage sub-job. Any Paladin with a different sub-job will be laughed out of any party, and anyone with a Paladin as a sub-job at all won't be invited to begin with.
3) Workin' at the Coal Mine
In a group (which you will be in pretty much every time after level 10, since there is only one job capable of soloing very far), you are expected to fulfill the one and only role that your job/sub-job combination has. As in the previous example, if you're a Paladin/Warrior, you're expected to stand in front and take the blows, hitting your provoke (taunt) button over and over again. There's very little variation in what you can do (once in a while, you might cast a spot heal).
There are some jobs that permit a little variety in what you do - for example, a Red Mage might sub in White Mage or Black Mage, meaning that they can either be responsible for status effects and curing or status effects and nuking. For the most part, though, you'll be doing the same thing at the ever-expanding level cap as you are at level 20.
Also, you're expected to have the optimal equipment for your level, of which there is usually only one option. That means you're expected to switch over to a Thief job and farm gil for hours on end every couple of levels. A side effect is that you end up looking exactly like everyone else of your job/sub-job combo at your level.
In the end, it feels more like a job than a game and becomes very repetitive.
This is not to say that FFXI is horrible - rather, it is merely mediocre among MMORPGs. It has a bit more traditional of a storyline than most and the missions are fun, while they last (read: not too long, and only one every ten or so levels). If you enjoy highly simplistic gameplay or you only have a PS2 as your portal into MMORPGs, then it might be worth picking up. However, I would highly recommend watching a friend play it for a couple hours and seeing if it's your cup of tea.
-James Krysiak
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Thanks, James K.
What, you expected a lengthy rebuttal?
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Last Dance
~This is the last time I will contribute to the discussion of my initial email involving Sega. One of the problems seems to be that the gentleman (not unlike most gamers) is taking the topic too much to heart. I compared Mario to Sonic because that's how Sega chose to announce his first US game. A Sega Genesis and a Super Nintendo side-by-side, Sonic vs. Mario. Perhaps commercials aren't the most logical choice of drawing parallels here, but Sega approved that commercial... so I don't think it's so unfair to compare the two. Apples often taste good with oranges.
~Sure they're different games, but where do you draw the line? Game developers influence each other, (and I might argue that without Mario there would be no Sonic) and I'm told that in Japan they are friends or more, and are always exchange ideas. Both Sonic and Mario are platformer action titles, neither are above criticism, but I'm seeing more and more people becoming defensive about their favorite game series and development companies.
~Which brings me to what the difference actually is, Sonic is faster than Mario. That's it. Essencially they are both doing the same kids of actions, but Sonic is doing them faster. Why is he doing them faster? Because he's on a timer! Good lord! I can't even name on my fingers the number of video games that still use a timer throughout the entire game?! The last Castlevania title to do that was the X6800 game (re-released as Castlevania Chronicles) back in 1993 in Japan!
~So while I admire Sega's efforts to hold on to tradition, (and I do admire them, in fact I concede that in some sense it's very unique) but I can't help but feel that such stubborness that runs so freely thru the company is holding them back. I thought that the point of console gaming was to be "on your own time" so to speak, (and maybe I'm missing the point here) but you can't deny that the use of a timer in arcade games goes back a very long time... to Super Mario Bros. I believe. Which came out in 1985, almost 20 years ago, and that's my point exactly.
~No gripe this time except to say that for all the hate that FFXI caused upon it's announcement, there sure are a lot of people playing it. During Easter when a special egg quest was going on, the area near the auction house on Alexander in southern San D'oria was packed with literally several hundred players. You could barely run thru the crowd and the servers couldn't show all, half or even a fourth of all the players at once. So "abomination"? Oh yeah, people hate it, meanwhile the highly overrated FFX2 drops out of existence never to return.
-Nicholas Belmont
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To Readers: Think of it as two editorials in one mailbag, back to back. This is the kind of mail I can't respond to, yet can't help but post. Those who entirely read it receive +2 Kool With a K points.
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Silent Hill's Silent Movie
Hi,
My name is cedric, i was just woundering if you had any idea about when Silent Hill the movie might be coming out. I am well aware of Silent Hill 4:the room but as far as the movie, i have not been able to find out much information concerning that issue. Also i have heard some rumors every now and then hinting about the productions of a Metroid movie and was also woundering if maybe you had scrounged up any dirt concerning that topic. Well have a good day, hope to here from you.
-Cedric C. Carter, II
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CCC, I've got all the scoops you want. Only con is it all dates back to 2003. No update aside from the original press release has been made. There might be movie trailer out there on Googleland, but I'm not one to register with some evil corporation's filth-of-a-website-and-service to find out if it's actual or a hoax.
Pre-production notes can not be found on IMDB's website regarding Silent Hill the movie, but at least its 2005 release date is confirmed. Credits lingering since last September note Christophe Gans (Botherhood of the Wolf) as director, alongside producer Samuel Hadida (True Romance, Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse) — who are no strangers when it comes to working together on a film¹.
Here's a good site with lots of extra info from the original press release. ¹It's also where you can figure out the first film Gans and Hadida worked on cooperatively.
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You're Wrong in Places You Don't Even Know!
I just read your article about Dragon Warrior DS. Just wanted to point out that Square-Enix Develops Dragon Warrior (duh) and Koei does Dynasty Warriors. An honest mistake I am sure but you might want to clarify for some more uneducated gamers.
-The drizzit
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Well, let it stand clarified that the above-mentioned companies are behind the above-mentioned games. Although I've no idea which article you're talking about, drizzit. Good eye regardless. 
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Questions Without Limits
1. first I would like to compliment you guys on having a very informative website
2. Has there been any announcements on the following games being released on the Gamcube in America
a. Baten Kaitos (when?)
b. amazing island (when?)
c. Giftpia (when?)
and for the gameboy advance, mother 1 and 2?
Also was there any announcements from Konami regarding the releae of the YS series on the US PS2? or other formats? Thanks
-Jesse W. Weber
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So many questions in one letter, Jesse...actually two, since you mailed me an exact duplicate days after the original. I'll only assume Google had a day off and I'm the last possible replacement. Kinda like what I do with every letter I answer to boost my ego.
Let's [you the reader and I, we're a team!] answer these in partial random order:
Enjoy your Ys news & images fix, with a sprinkle of the game title detail: Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim. At last!
Not much on a US release of any GBA Mother games, although starmen.net's (it's not a porn site I promise) scopious information should do you good. You can find importing information there as well.
1: Thanks. Twice. Taking into account the multiple mails.
2/a: Yes! (15 Nov 2004) ...more
2/b: Yes Again! (3rd Quarter 2004)
2/c: Huh? Isn't this already out? In fact, search our Old GAF News and I'm sure you'll come up with plenty of stuff. Don't mind the broken links and pics, they died long ago...as did our humor.
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[ closing statements ]
Cool. Done. Any and all who continue to play
Socom II are requested to
mail me with their usernames and usual time of play. Been wanting to recoil from my killing-hiatus and play again with a group of level-headed down-to-earth gamers, which I'm sure are plenty in numbers from mailbag readers.
Mail me anyways. Just because.
PS: Chris K. for Treasurer!
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Tito Olivo,
Denin
http://steel-law.com - i play while you read this
