What do you think of the whole Final Fantasy movie thing? Do you think there will be any point in seeing it other than for the very nice animation? Of the RPG's you've played, what one do you think had the best plot?

Jonathan S.

When a trend is popular--so popular that you see it on the news--there is usually an instant "counter-culture" reaction. "Spice girls suck!" "Titanic sucks!" "Wrestling sucks!"

...and now, sadly, "Zelda 64 sucks!"

Sure, I've done my fair share of bitching. Mostly about Final Fantasy 7. But that game had actual flaws; like control so horrid you needed a giant mickey mouse hand to find out where you can enter/exit a screen. Don't worry, this won't be a FF7-sucked-a-thon, I'm just pointing out that yes, the game had issues. Tons of them. Hell, FF7 had so many issues it had back issues.

Zelda 64, on the other hand, does not.

For the sake of argument, I won't say it's perfect, because you can't improve on perfection. And with Lunar:SSS, FF8 and so many other good "Intelligent" games on the way, Zelda 64 won't stay king forever. However, I *will* say that Zelda 64's flaws are so petty it deserves nothing less than the highest praise. Rarely has there been a game I've had so much fun with. A game that even I, king of complaining, can't find one damn thing to bitch about.

The point of all this is that hype works both ways. It can get the masses juiced about a game, but it can also get soggy "oldbies" set dead-against a perfectly good game, simply because so many people like it. When CNN does a feature on your favorite game, it's kind of hard to feel like an "Elite Hardcore Gamer"--but that doesn't mean it's any less of a masterpiece.

Beware the anti-hype. Don't let it ruin your fun.

- Thor "CyberThor" Antrim

1)In a recent RPGamer there was talk of someone importing Japanese games for the SNES and talking about buying a converter. A converter, eh? I would rent quite a few Japanese games from a local rental store in the area and I never once had to use any converter. One of my friends also let me borrow the Japanese Dracula X, and it worked flawlessly on my american SNES with no problems. What is all this silly converter talk?

2)You said that it would be doubtful for Grandia to come out on the PSX. I was just wondering, what do you think Working Designs "surprise" RPG is going to be?

3)Do you think WD will continue to make games for the PSX2000 or whatever the heck Sony decides to call it?

4)Wasn't Brigandine supposed to blend the best Elements of Dragon Force and some other game. From what I've heard it looks kinda Shining Force- ish? I can't really see any Dragon Force elements.

5)And for all the un-informed, it FFT ripped off any game it was NOT Ogre Battle or Ogre Tactics. Try the Shining Force series. Geez, when did SF1 come out? 1992 maybe?

6)Damn, I forgot what I was going to ask....

7)Oh yeah! Do you think it would be considered illegal to buy the Japanese packs for FFV and SD3 and then play the translated roms? Kinda silly, but hypothetically?

Though you have answered previous letters of mine, please answer this one. It has some questions I really wonder about. If not in your column at least personally. PLEASE ^_^

Robindra N. Deb

I don't know, maybe its me.. but doesn't it seem silly to call a game type an acronym that when expanded, still needs to be further broken down before its understood?

And calling it "FREE" no less? Isn't that practically inviting pirates and five-finger discounters?

---TorgVega Q

Dear Allan,

I've been reading the debate going back and forth over the past few days over translation, and I really do think that there are some people that misunderstand the fundemental nature of translation itself. I think it can be best summed up by using anaologies in music.

When a violin repeats what a piano just has played, it can't make the same sounds. It can only approximate the same chords. It can, however, recognizably make the same "music". But.. it can only do so when it's faithful to the logic and limtiations of the violin as it is to the logic and limitations of the piano.

Languages are like that, too. Each has their own "sound" and their own logic. The process of rendering ideas from language to language is really more like a transposition than a translation-- translation implies that there are word- for-word equivalents that exist from one language boundray to another no more than piano sounds exist in the violin!

And the idea of word-for-word equivalents of a story, of a language's underlying feeling strikes me as false to the nature of story telling. The best a translator can do is hope for is to come close as possible not to the text's literal meaning-- it's is near impossible to drag a sentence's meaning across one language barrier to another intact. What is more important in preserving, even at the expense of making four strings do the same notes as 88 keys (i.e. English from Japanese), is that the translator preserve a story essence, the total feeling of the complexities.

If a translator has used some Americian idioms in stead of a Japanese one, if a bit of humor that the US audience might not understand is left out... what does that matter in long run, as long as you find yourself sympathizing with the characters, despising the villians, getting wrapped up in the story.. and overall, enjoying the game, as the designers intend?

Sincerely, Shawn David Struck

Hey, nice site. Funny how you sort of crawled out of the woodwork; since some of you fellows are relatively well-known, I would have thought you'd debut with a bit more fanfare. As it is, I stumbled upon you completely by accident. A fortuitous mischance.

Anyway, I was wondering if you knew anything regarding an RPG called Exodus Guilty, developed by Abel and published by Imadio, that shipped in Japan a couple of days ago. I've seen some screenshots and art on National Console Support's page and on the page that linked me to yours. It looks quite lovely, and the story seems ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Chrono Trigger (or perhaps Phantasy Star 3 would be a better comparison). Anyway, I know it will never be released in this country, but I'm curious as to whether you know more about the game than I nonetheless.

If it's any consolation, there are people out here who don't dislike you for disliking Zelda. Stick to your guns, and if you ever need someone to help answer questions, drop me a line; I have a fearful command of trivia, and my sense of humor is proven to drop full-grown cows at fifty paces.

Sincere regards,

Rev. Dr. David Francis Smith.