Conspiracy_Victim

OK couple of things. First, Danny DeVito is NOT Phil in Kingdom Hearts (after checking both the KH booklet and IMDB). The voice of Philoctetes, or "Phil" if you will, is Robert Costanzo, who was his voice in the TV show as well as Det. Harvey Bullock in the cartoon "Batman:TAS" and Mr. Orvetti in the cartoon "Spawn" as well as a ton of other stuff. Second, and this is directly off the IGN review of Xenosaga (found here ): "Veteran RPG gamers may find some of the information listed above [talking about the story -ed.]a little similar to Monolith's other big project Xenogears. Originally published by Square for the PlayStation One, Xenogears was to be the fifth installment of a separate but similar six-part series. In fact, Monolith and the game honcho Tetsuya Takahashi even went so far as to create a tome of knowledge detailing these events in Xenogears Perfect Works: The Real Thing. Flipping through its pages, you might even be amazed to discover that several of the events described within the book made it into this game as well, not to mention a few direct character references. The official word on the street, however, is that these two games are not linked at all -- and just happen to share universal traits much like SaGa and Final Fantasy do. We'll leave it to our readers to draw their own conclusions on that matter, but it won't take a rocket scientist to figure out the real story (re: the beauty of politics)." Take that for what you will. They seem to say that Saga is a completely different storyline from Gears. Can someone just give Monolith a call and ask them please?

Pine...yeah she looks like a "Pine". S'mon Square keep her as "Paine" and make everyone happy. BTW I'm not a big J-Pop fanboy simply because I don't make it a practice to listen to it. The video itself was pretty good though in that it gave the artist and the game some exposure. As for the tight clothes and such, they've got to appeal to the key demographic (12-18 males) on a visceral level. While a lot of FF players will buy it because it's FF, I'm sure they wouldn't mind bringing in some new players.

Uhh...Ben Affleck? Well, there's Dogma but he was just losing his immortality and destroyed by God in that one. But, he survived in Armageddon (thanks Bruce Willis) and Pearl Harbor (thanks Josh Hartnett). He also somehow manages to blunder his way through Phantoms, Reindeer Games, and The Sum of All Fears among others. Shoot he even manages to survive Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Well IGN's review of Saga said that some of the later cutscenes can last almost 50 minutes, so get some Cokes or coffee and a comfortable chair because you're going to be up for a while. I'm willing to check it out though I'm the patient sort. Now when the hell is episode 2 coming out?

Just found an article on X-2 here at IGN. It says that the game is slated for NOVEMBER *grumble* and it doesn't refer to Paine as "Pine" in parentheses. Also makes note that several minor characters are back and in larger roles (Lucil, Clasko, and Elma [???]). Also refers to the job system, including the jobs "magic gunner" and "dark warrior". Nice little article, and has the music video in the media section along with a bunch of pictures.

Yeah Yuna I'll get right on that one . It oughta be ready about the time the game comes out in America hehe. Damn you high tech people with your high tech ways! /sarcasm off

Unfortunately I don't know the names, but people have said that a LOT of the voice actors in Saga do the dub for Trigun, so they at least they got experienced voice actors. As good as it was, yes I too think KH beats it out simply because of the synch work and the epic actors they managed to get to reprise their Disney characters. And unfortunately, I have never heard Dark Cloud 2, so can't help you there.

I'll admit the cutscenes can be pretty long sometimes, but they're never OVERlong, if you know what I mean. The scenes only go as long as they have to be to set up the next scene. If you've played FFX, the cutscenes are longer than any of them except for maybe the ending. However, I personally like some storytelling in a game so I'm more than happy to sit through them. Plus the voice acting is so good (Ziggy in particular) that you're actually willing to sit and listen to them. All in all, I didn't mind them.

Ummmm..ok sorry but I can't follow all that . I never played 'Gears but I have heard that there seem to be serveal reference to it in Saga. Personally I would like Gears to be remade into at least part of 5, since I've heard so many good things about it. Well, I'm about 10 hours into Saga (just introduced Jr. the last playable character) and it hasn't lost any steam. The only things I coud wish for would be some way of comparing armors (better than the current system, anyway), and more places that sell Med Pack-S. I hate having to buy what seems to be 100 of those things when I could use 1/3 of the S Packs instead. Plus in battle they're barely enough to keep up with the damage. Other than that it's still a great RPG.

Yeah I knew that Namco had quite a few ex-Squaresoft people on their roster and that several of the 'Gears people were on 'Saga. However, because a game takes place in the same universe doesn't make it a sequel. For instance (yes it's a reach, but play along) is the movie Soldier the sequal to Blade Runner? The director of Soldier admits it's in the same universe, and you can actually see one of the Runner police hovercars on the junk planet. However, I wouldn't call it a sequel. I'm not trying to start anything with ya Flik, I'm actually curious as to how the two games fit together. I'll freely admit I haven't seen any interview or review that talks about the relationship (if any) between the 2 games. If someone on the design team says that the two are related, great I'll still enjoy it. If not, hey it's still a fun game. BTW: 6 game series? I thought I read 7. Ok cool I feel a bit better now. Edit: Fixed "sequal" to "sequel" like it's supposed to be. Also wanted to add something. I read on another board that someone read (friend of a friend sorta thing I guess) that Xenogears may or may not be Xenosaga 5. The writer of the whole series may use elements of Xenogears in part 5 or he may scrap it and go with a different angle. So, they havent' really decided yet, as they've just finished writing out 3 and starting 4. Again, all hearsay but it sounds reasonable.

I thought Xenosaga was the sequel to Xenogears on PS1? I'm not into RPGs, so I could be wrong. I don't believe they're related except by design company (Monolith Software) and the fact that you can use mechs during a battle. I'm not totally sure since I never played Xenogears, but no reviews have made any mention to them being directly related. Although if I' mwrong I'm sure SOMEONE will be more than happy to correct me. Plus, the whole title is Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht so seems to be an autonomous series. With 6 more titles to go *sigh*. That's a lot of play time to get to the end.

Man I've been playing pretty much nonstop for about 6 hours now and DAMN. Lots of cutscenes, but then this is the first part of a series, so they need to set everything up. The cutscenes usually use the ingame engine, and it's still pretty damn good. Lots of characters, lots of twists and turns, and even some philisophical discussion. All that, and I'm still nowhere NEAR the end.

Otherworld..man I loved that thing blaring out guring the Blitzball FMV. So un-FF like to hear metal during the game. Meanwhile, I'm STILL downloading %93.. Have I mentioned that I hate dialup? 'Cause I do. Edit: ok I've seen it and if I had to make a guess that's Yuna's "pop star" job . Looks interesting, although I don't like Paine and Rikku beating the crap out of Biggs and Wedge like that (has FF VIII flashback to constantly beating them up). Paines sword looks nice, and Rikku actually looks like she can do some damage for once with those twin daggers. BTW I'm not big on Japanese pop culture, but is Koda Kumi like Japan's answer to Britney and Christina? Not that I'm arguing or anything .

Personally, I would like it in English so I can understand what is being sung. The Japanese version of songs is ok since I imagine they probably get the song's lyrics and flow better in their native language, but it seems more powerful when you understand what the song is trying to say and add to the scene (such as FFX's scene with Yuna and Tidus at the lake). They'll probably just keep it as is though, since reanimating would probably be a pain in the ass.

Well I got it today as well (of course, first day on the shelves) and to sum it up, WOW. I've only gotten started but the opening movie is on par with FFX for presentation and artwork. The music, done by the London Symphony Orchestra, is incredible. The voice work is also excellent (outside of some sync problems once in a while) and it sounds like the actors did the whole script, and not just looping dialogue (such as Yuna's ultra fast "Yes" in places). The battle system takes a bit getting used to and I'm not used to hitting "O" to interact with people (would "X" have been so hard to map as the interact button like most other RPG's?) but all in all this is hard to top as an RPG. First impressions, of course, but they seem to be good ones.

Well it's going to be tonight actually 'cause I'm taking off for a bit. But, once I get back I'll download it and post my not so expert opinion. Since I'm a big fan of FFX I'll probably be biased, but who cares .

Stupid dial up connection *grumble*. Well let's see how long it takes. On a totally unrelated note I picked up Xenosaga today (RPG's make me happy). Should anyone else get it, let me know what ya think about it. We can exchange thoughts, findings, etc. No big whoop.

I believe it's June 15th if my sleep deprived brain remembers the column mention correctly. Usually tickets go on sale a month to a month and a half in advance IIRC, but that varies. There should be a bunch of radio ads about it leading up to the beginning of ticket sales though.

I believe the show creators said he wasn't going to put on the costume or consciously fly in the show. They wanted to focus on Clark and once he did one of those two things he would become Superman and make Clark a simple alter ego. Of course things change, but I'm pretty sure that was their intentions.

The only thing I can think of is that there was some sort of glitch in the translation and that "rule" should've been translated as "aid". The rest the message seems to insinuate that we are faulty as a race and need all the help we can get. IF the message was translated properly, the only thing I can think of is that they use this as some sort of grand decision making process for Clark that goes the rest of the season. Clark gets all quiet and forlorn as he thinks about what the message means to him. Lex starts to feel alienated from his only friend who seems to be withdrawing from him. Lex turns full bore rudo heel (wrestling term, but apropo) and offering his good friend Clark this one last chance to ride shotgun on the Lex Express (dammit, did it again). Clark sees the light and refuses, making Lex an embittered dick toward the whole town and making him the lovely antagonist we all know and love. Basically, I have no idea why they did this, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Actually the Compaq Center (I still call it The Summit) is going to be converted into a satellite worship center for Lakewood Church once the Rockets head to their new downtown palace. They finished the deal about a month ago after like 2 years of negotiating. Well I can afford to get tickets but I work Sundays and they're a pain in the ass to get off. I'd make the effort if I knew it would be a good show and had a group to go with, but I'll probably just forget about it. We'll see.

I too marked out when the Superman theme played. Other than that the single overriding thought I had about tonight was W...T...F? Since I never read the comics, only saw the movies (not the greatest of source materials I know but go with me) where the hell did they get the "Jorel wants Kalel to take over the world" theory? Poor Marlon Brando must be spinning in his grave. Wait, you say he's not dead? Sorry I thought The Island of Doctor Moreau would have killed him along with his career. Anyway, was ANY of this foreshadowed in the comics, or was this simply a device made up for the show?

Yeah also saw it in Ken Hoffman's column today. I'm hoping to get a friend or 2 together and get tickets but I ain't holding my breath. Anyone who does get to go, a hearty to you. At least, that's for if I don't get to go. If I DO, I'll see you there .

I think given the huge amount of crap we as wrestling fans have been forced to endure for the past several months, the fact that we had anything at ALL to enjoy in a RAW made us giddy, like sniffing whiteout and markers together . Rock, Booker, and Hurricane (hell, I'll even throw in Test looking drunk off his ass in that GGW promo and his "It's not like I touched 'em!") made the show fun for a change. Now, if they could just keep it up. I'll look for Austin in NYC next week and pray.

Well, I kinda liked the Bouncer (special moves and everything) but man, when I beat it I kept expecting for the REST of the game to start. Then I just got all three characters to beat it so I'd get to see everything and unlock all the characters for the little battle mode, but I still souldn't believe how short it was. I thought the Two Towers was fun in a beat em up sorta way. Plus the extras were pretty good. Sure you couldn't play as Gandalf (boo frickin' hoo) but the characters were just different enough to make it worth playing through with all of them.