RPG Classics Mailbag

Greetings to all my subjects! Welcome once again to Ozzieland! This week we're gonna...

*turn around a corner and blast Ozzie with a few Plasma Rifles*...Next time you try to steal my job, not only I'll blast you, but I'll FORCE you to shrink! DID I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?!

YESSIR!

Good good...Welcome to you all to the Free-for-All Shootin' Rang!...Or something like that. Just replace the 'Rang' by 'Mailbag' and there you got!....>_> Errrr...anyway! You all were a wallop to answer my two questions...and I suppose you thirst for some Ozzie bashing/shooting/blasting, m'yes?
*Silence*

...I saide: DO YOU WANT OZZIE TO BE BLASTED?! *A small 'no' is heard, conviently coming from Ozzie*

No?...I'm wounded...Honestly is...Oh well! I'll just do that to semone who remotely resemble to Ozzie..*whistle*MUDO! COME IN HERE!

*come in from where Lunaris was*I'm so going to kill Kagon...

*Bang Mudo with a Super Sledge Hammer*Now that the obligatory Ozzie or Ozzie's Relatives bashing is done...Let go ahead to the responses, wich a wallop of you(11) sent! And here is the first r...

..Whaddaya mean "Ozzie's Relative"?! That big, scaly thing with a tail is absolutely not related to me! No way! I disbelive the illusion!

Damn straight! I'm no where affilated to a failed villan there! At least /I/ killed peoples!

...Let just say that you boths are cousins or some crap like that.

(He ain't listening...)

...One thing sure, though...interrupt me ONE more time and it the Rocket Laucher, got it?

YESSIR!

...Damn, you could have saide no? Oh well, here the first response, from Donnie Marco,

Hey, Lun! Hm... 2 topics... Well...

Well? Well what? Not MY fault if I cant decide on a topic!...But pray do continue.

By plot hole, I assume you mean little annoyances such as unexplained events happening with varied effects. Well, at the time of seeing them, there's a good number of plot holes, but most are filled by later in the story. The rest are either too trivial in nature to deal with, or can be explained away quite easily. Off course, most of the RPGs I've played have either Square, Enix, Nintendo, or APE on them.

You can also find them in the mailbag, as a destructive force. Then again, it apply to all over RPGC.

But Wait! I've got one! Whatever happened to Bannon & Arvis between when Terra et. al. left for Thasama, and the End of the World? If you go to Vector THEN, there's NOONE there, nor is there anyone from that group at Narshe or the Returner's Base! And speaking of Narshe, why's Mog the only Moogle left?

Well..maby Bannon and the rest got abducted by...GASP! ALIENS! OH MY GOD!....Er, whatever. Continue, please.

And don't get me started on FF7's ending. Then there's hordes of unanswerable questions, most of which involve deeper spoilers than what I've revealed.

B: Well, it all depends on the system. If it's an "old-school" RPG, then you can't really say that a game is non-linear, for the simple reason that you need to be at a certain level before entering each individual area, each area having a different level. In most cases, the only way to by-pass these areas is to spend hours level-building. Put the bazooka down, Lun, I said Level-building. Not Leveling Buildings.

Cheap stake...

In fact, sometimes, you have to Level-build just to progress through the story. And I've got two words for you: "Elfland"; "Ogres". Comprende?

All clear, sir.

Now, if the enemies' stats are based on levels, or something like that, then this aspect is thrown out the window. In THAT instance, you'd have to make sure Plot isn't comprimised for the sake of Non-Linearity. (Like it was a bit in FFVI's WOR.) It CAN be done, but the complexity of this task increases exponentially to the number of possible paths, which increase factorially to the number of destinations. (Probably why FFVI faded near the end...)

Gotta agree there...The story faded quite a bit near the end of the game...And it was linear in a way. Of course...you could use the moogle charm to evade allll the enemies..but that just too cheap.

In short, I'd have to vote in favor of Linearity, but keep some surprises and side-quests in store. And make sure they can be easily incorperated into the "Big Picture"

"Big Picture"? OH MY GOD! WERE IN A PICTURE! ALIENS ARE SPYING ON US! THEY...

a.k.a. Plot.

Oh...

Oh, and is Lucca hosting next week?

Donald3 (Donald Marco)

Lucca? Where the hell is she? And where's Mudo gone? And why's the sky is green? Why...

*shoves a shotgun in Ozzie's mouth* Why wont you SHUT UP? And to answer your question, Lucca is gone to some Cra..I mean,to the Really Really Smart Scientsist Convention thing.

Grumble grumble...mumph meeuhmp?

*remouve his Shotgun and examine it*...YOU BASTARD! YOU'VE WET IT!

Meeep....*cringes*

*punt Ozzie thru a Adamantium wall with a 'Mech's foot and walk out of the giant armor calmy*Well, that take cares of that...Let go directly to the..

*floats out of the wall like nothing happened* Why must you always pick on me? How do you fit this giant tin can in this crap hole room? H..

*twitches, turn around slowly...take out a lot of Rocket Laucher and Blaster Bombs..and open fire on Ozzie and dont stop until he far far up in the sky.*

TEAM MYSTIC IS BLASTING OF AAGGGGGGaaaaaaa.... *ping!*

...I'll have peace for a while. The seconde to answer in this fabulous twin Topiced mailbag is some wacko named D. Galloway...Strange name.

First off, any previous entries from this e-mail address are fakes from my evil brother, so please overide them with this entry.

Brothers are evil, like the Brotherhood of Evil. Just them they are more...Evil Organised.

Since you have two good topics for this weeks mailbag, I'm gonna do both.

You better be!

a) A plot hole is, simply put, a point where a story doesn't flow together. There are so many plot-holed games out there, but the one that takes the cake is Final Fantasy 6. The World of Ruin had absolutely no plot at all! And no matter what characters you get, nothing changes at all, unlike a real story.
b) Non-linear games are games that don't follow a certain path, often allowing you to take several paths at any time. Unfortunately, they have no story, no order, and complicated systems that turn me away. This is especially true in Romancing Saga 3, since you could do practically anything at any time, and the story wouldn't be affected.

By the way, Lunaris. *Punches Lunaris threw the wall* Farewell!

-d Galloway

*jump out of the Fake Paper wall he been punched thru.*Hey! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!...If I catch you...I'll burn yee!...Or Atomise yee!...Or...something. Now we move on maby one of the shortest reply today...From David Iwancio,

Final Fantasy 1:

The idea is that the Four Fiends send Garland back in time, and he becomes Chaos, who then empowers the Four Fiends. If you kill Garland off right in the beginning, how does he get sent back in time?

--David Iwancio

...wich would mean that he never became Chaos, and thus the Four Fiends would have made Garland go back in time and thus the Light Warriors would go on the quest..but then, they kill him, preventing...

*Meanwhile that Lunaris tries to sorts it out...In a completly different place in Enternet...*

*Kill Ran*

*Ran Dies *

I pity the foo who kill my brotha! *Throw Rick helluva far!*

AAAAAAAAAARG!

Yay!

....aaaaaaaaaaainnnnnNNNNNNN *dive from the sky at super sonic speed and crush Ran*

*Ran dies*

MY BROTHA! Yo' killed by brotha! I pity the foo who kill my brotha! *Punt Ozzie helluva far!*

...ARRRRRRG!...NOT AGAAAAAAAAaaaaii..........*ping!*

*Back to Lunaris*

...wich mean that donuts will not be invented, then Homer would go a rampaging murder spree..and...and...and......My heads hurts....That was too much reflexion on such a little answer...So let go on! Next is coming from some guy called Shades...who knows if it his real name....

Hey! It's good ol' Shade, making a long-overdue Mailbag reply!

I'll let you know that I'm not late!...Oh, you meant your answer...?

Anyhoo, I missed Ozzie's topic... But I won't waste time on it. As for this week's, I think I'll do Topic B.

Y'know, I really wonder why the planet is round...but not square! Or Triangle!...Why?...*everyones stares at him*...Forget that.

I haven't played too many nonlinear RPGs... In fact, the only nonlinear game I've ever played is Harvest Moon. I tried to play Romancing SaGa 3, but when I tried to patch the ROM, it got corrupted.

For some reasons, it hard to find a un-corrupted ROM of RS3...Oh well.

Say, do you know where I could find a prepatched ROM for download?

In a matters of facts, I do. http://www.angelfire.com/nd/lunaris/links.html . Look at the bottom.

Whether or not you do, thanks.

Well, anyhoo, I guess this was a waste of time. I could always do Topic A, but I don't think I've ever seen any plot holes in an RPG. So, this was a waste of time. Well, until the next time I actually decide to write in to the mailbag, (Maybe the next one, particularly if Lucca hosts it...)

Well, then... See y'all later!

Waste of time? This WHOLE very mailbag is a waste of time! So dont be silly...And I dont belive you when you say you never saw a plot hole in a RPG. It never occured to you thinking something like "From where the HELL that guy comes from?" Or "HOW did he came back!?" or even "Why does I'm drinking 30 beers and not drunk yet?". Thou art very strange. Anyway, the next croonies to answer in is KirbyManiac, let see what the overgrown ballon have to say...

Hmm, third Mailbag submission for me. Anyway, since I can't think of any plot holes in RPGs, I can't answer the first Mailbag question (unless the super-huge plot hole Ozzie made in the last Mailbag counts). As for the second question on linear vs. non-linear games, I say that it depends on how the system is used. For linear games, they can get boring fast when you keep playing through the game the same way. Non-linear games can make things more exciting, especially if the choices the player makes has a huge impact on the game's storyline or whatever. The catch is to make sure that the player doesn't get lost because they have no idea where they can go (for anyone who's played Robotrek on the SNES, finding out how to locate the Forest of Illusion is one of those "dead-ends" because there's no real clue on how to make it accessible. Actually, Robotrek is a linear RPG, but I'm trying to emphasize how the player loses his way without any direction). To sum all this up: non-linear is better than linear when the player knows where he can go, but worse when s/he is told nothing and gets stuck.

- KirbyManiac

Some good arguments there...Non-Linearity is good when you have a slight idea where to go...like quests and suchs. But sometimes it fun when you've been thrown in the wild, with nothing but your cloths and a rusty sword with you...out for adventures...>_>...Anyway...

*a small whistle is heard...becoming bigger and bigger...and Ozzie crash back thru the very hole in the celling he caused, bouncind as he land on the ground*

Owwww....

...Ah, there you are! What in blazes took you so long!?

...Pyscho...giant...robot....

What did you saide? Little Ran feel in the Black Hole?

.......

...Meantime that Ozzie is back as new, let go for the response from...Billy Oliver?

This isn't my first time righting into the mailbag (once before using my aol address because my outlook express acount got deleted...long story) but back to the mailbag. The biggest plot hole in an rpg would have to be in Final Fantasy 8, well I geuss not a plothole but a lack of plot. The story made sense at first but it went downhill from that. I played the game through twice and I still don't get it. By the way who was Sephiroths damn clone!?

Hey! I actualy liked FF8!...Just not the plot after the third CD..it just...blad. Boring. Annoying. Stupid. Boring...did I saide Boring? Of course, what setted me off was the "Oh-no!-The-GFs-Made-Us-All-Forget-Our-Memories-About-Us-Knowing-Since-Were-Kids!" crap..but I think I wasent alone on that part. And Sephiroth's clones were all thoses little black cloaked dudes you keep meeting...Well, I think. Oh! By the way...To prove that I like FF8, here two address for all you MUSHers out 'ere(Text-based online RP only places), First is FF8MUSH: 199.34.34.10 and Port 4209...and FFMUSH...That right, a MUSH with all the FF: DEEPFIRE.NET 4267. Now, excuse me about that shameless plug and let go directly at the next answer!...From Mabatsekker. Strange name.

<Lunaris> AMD I PITY THE FOO WHO DINT SEND A RESPONSE TO THE MAILBAG!

I have a feeling of Déjà Vu...

* Mabatsekker goes to write a mailbag thingie
* Crystalys accepts Lunaris's pitty.
* MerlHW should write a mailbag thingie, when's it due?
<Omni_Masters> I just got my guitar and guitar leason yesterday and I have already memorised all the notes they gave me
<Hades_GoD> The mailbag sucks now. I want 984 to do a mailbag :P
<Lunaris> Sunday.
<Lunaris> *smack Hades*
<Lunaris> WHAT YOU SAY!?

--- Ahem... As by these evidences, I *had* to do a Mailbag Entry. No sweat.

See Ozzie...not only on you that treaths work.

Grumblegrumble...

Stop brumbling to yourself and continue cleaning the floor with your head! You made a mess when you crashed thur the celling!

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE...

*Gets out his Dan Hibiki Gi and starts to blow a bubble pipe*

Now, as we know, Plot holes suck. Like when Mr T appears outta nowhere and kills the bad guys. But that would be cool. A bad one would be for example Sephiroth, lunging outta nowhere to slice & dice Aeris.

Plot holes are really annoying, but sometimes really useful, but I can't quite figure out any good holes..but I'll give it a shot:

1: Like why Khalid was found Dead in the Athkala Prison when I dumped him ages ago in BG1?

Oh! Thanks a LOT for spoiling me! Little son of a....

2: Why is Jaheira there too? Bitching Fighter-Druids aren't my type

THERE HE IS AGAIN! Are you Curtis the Spoiler master's brother or what!?

...well that kinda relieved me. Here!

*Throw Lunaris a Giant Self-Taught Elephant Gun +5 versus Ozzies."

Hope ya like it!

*Mabatsekker Escapes the scene*

You've better escape! With all the things you spoiled about a game I already beaten was very very rude of you! Tell him Ozzie!

Guh?

Geh?

GAH!

G|_|]-[?

Be gone, vile thing of the 'Net!*Do a very Turn Undead move and send Hypha back in Google*

*yell out unincomprensible things and vanish again.*

Well, that take cares of that...Next up is Epicgamer...damn them and thiere flashy entrance..if he have a flashy one..I swear that..I'll..I'll...

*The sky dims as dark clouds overhead sweep in. The earth cracks open revealing a firey figure. Epicgamer pulls out a water balloon, and throws it, causing a large amount of hot steam* You'd think they'd learn, wouldn't you?

*blast all around.*

Hey Lun!!!

J0.

Alright typo city! Anywho, uh... um... oh yea, the mailbag:

First off the biggest plot hole I've ever seen in a RPG probably has to be in Final Fantasy 6. Think about this for a sec, when everyone fell off the airship when Kefka moved the statues, how would they *all* survive such a long fall? The thing was like 10,000 feet up, and probably still moving quite fast from momentum.

As for the non-linear games, I think they are just different that the more linear ones. I personally don't prefer one over the other, as I like non-linear for the fact that it feels like I have more control over the story because the choises I make affect the plot in the future much more then in linear games.

Anyways, I should stop so I can go back to playing Romancing SaGa 3. Oh, one more thing, here's another oversized weapon of mass destruction to add to your collection, test it on ozzie, but make sure everyone else is at least a half mile away.

See Ya!

Joe Kirchoff
Epicgamer

Hah! Finnaly a good buddy that play RS3! Gooood boy! Continue like that!...And why ask everyones to be at one mile away? What the fun in testing a new weapon when there no innocent stander by to experience it too?!

Does..that mean...?

No, you still get blasted.*Flame Ozzie* Anyway...let get on with this mailbag! Else it gonna take on forever! Next coming from RPGDragon...wich has anoter flashy entrance...Wonder what Cid gonna say about that....

*A strange sound is heard. Suddenly a nuclear missile flys through the sky. Everybody starts to panick because it is heading towards the mailbag. Just before it hits the ground it freezes in mid-air. Everybody looks at the missile while the tip opens up and I jump into the mailbag wearing a nuclear protection suit. Then the missile shoots a forcefield over Ozzie and flys towards him. The missile explodes on top of Ozzies head but the forcefield stops the explosion so only Ozzie is hit.*

*twitches uncontrolably*Urge..to..hunt...dragons...rising......

Wazzup everybody! It is I the one and only RpgDragon with a Lunaris style flashy entrance. As you can see I am wearing protective gear so Lunaris can' t hit me.

Try it and I'll flame you.

Chicken.O.k on to what is really important(yeah right) the topic(s). I could not choose so I'll just answer both topics.First the biggest plot hole I've ever seen in a game:

FF8 end of disc 2. I don't know exactly were the game fell apart but suddenly I have no clue what the story is about anymore and it remains that way until the end of the game. Maybe it's just me, maybe not. Whatever the case it is a fact that half the game is a plothole! Beat that!

No Ozzie I did not mean that literally.

Why not? It fun making fun of Ozzie!*drum roll*

Now about (non)-linear games. I like linear games with loads of subquests better than completely non-linear games because linear games have more character development wich I consider one of the most important aspects of any good rpg. But I don't like having to completely follow the storyline so that's were the sub-quests come in. It is fun if you can get secret characters, weapons, party formations, spells etc that you would not normally have to get to finish the game. That gives more replay value.

But non-linear games can be fun too! Like Nomad soul for the pc for instance. It was slightly linear but changing bodies adds a whole lot of variety to the story and gameplay.

I'll be making my leave now because I think Lunaris can't stand a second more of me.

BYE!

*RpgDragon puts on a pair of sunglasses and gets out a strange device. He tells everybody to look at the device. Then a red light comes from it. Noone remembers what happened after that.(MiB style)*

...And flasy exits while at it! Gessh! When all this madness end? Surely not with MegamanX2K, wich is, amasingly, our next responder!

Hmm...holes...well, there's that gate to the Cleft of Dimension, that's a really big frickin' hole...then there's the Murder holes from AoK...

Your close...

...oh, you want PLOT holes?

*smack a couples of times on Ozzie's head, misteriously doing..*DING DING DING! We have a winner!

Well, try the Ruby scenario in Lufia 2. I think I wasn;t the only one who didn't understand what the hell was going on. Like an Abbott and Costello routine, on crack.

And, obligatory: *uses his Yamato Handgun on Ozzie* |-P

I really gotta put a copyright thing about blasting something with oversized guns! I mean, if others keep stealing my job...I'll...loss my reputation of being a psychopath..and..and...*break down crying*

Awww...poor you...*pats Lunaris*

...GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! GROSS!*turn around, take out Planetary Assault Jell-o Plasmatic Cannons and blast/ram Ozzie in the wall*IT TOUTCHED ME! IT TOUTCHED ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!*Keep on blasting...and somehow, it continue with the next response!..From Kagon?*

Hey Lun,

RRYYYYYYYYARG!*Keep on blasting*

As you probably know, I'm here to support nonlinearity which seems a bit overlooked/disliked. Alot of people despise it since they aren't walked around on a leash and told what to do next: you have the choice. SaGa Frontier and Romancing SaGa 3 are great examples of this. If you want, you can spend time going through each area, developing various skills for each of you characters, and learning techs, or, if you want, you can jump straight to the end (with a fair amount of battling though. Even some great linear games have nonlinear parts such as gathering the Alumina in Lufia 1 or getting the Hero much of the 2nd half of Dragon Quest 6.

*switch weapons to Flames Throwers and blaze on*BACON IS WHAT FOR DINNER!!!

Others dislike nonlinearity for a bit of a weaker plot. Sure, the SaGa games don't compare with the complexity of a plot such as Xenogear's, but they still have a nice, solid one with little in the way of plot holes.

*peek back in*Hey! I'm back from my unsuscepted dinner break and...*notice the Ozzie blasting..then Kagon's letter being answered by itself...then run back away*

Nonlinearity also encourages you to develop your characters as you see fit. Want a party full of magic users or just plain physical people? It can be done. Some of the earlier. SaGa Frontier (and some of the early SaGa games) allowed you to have monsters in your party to shape as you see fit.

*start mashing Ozzie with a Sledge Hammer...Ozzie has stopped moving a looong time ago...*

Overall, I like the nonlinear games better. The replay value is wonderful since you can change your party each time you play it. Also with the SaGa games, you have multiple main characters to choose from (8 in Romancing SaGa 3 and 2, and 7 in SaGa Frontier) with increases the replay value even more. Customization and replay value are really the main parts I love about nonlinear games, well along with the nonlinearity. That's pretty much it.
-Kagon

TAKE THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT!....Huh?...What?...Oh! The mailbag still on?...Well, doh...AHEM!*put back his weapons, leaving Ozzie in quite a bad shape...No worries! He'll get better!*...AHEM! Next response come from Kagon, my partner in crime for the RS3 shirne and...What? Whatcha mean it already responded?....Arg! Dosent matter...Next in line is from some foo' named...Gaborn?

*The floor rumbles as the Earth king rises from a large hole in the floor*

Before I start, I wanna say yes I am a newbie, and yes I don't have any idea whatsoever about what I am doing. I just know of what I need to do, my li'l 2 cents.

Oh ozzy
Ozzy hears a voice inside of his head
DUCK!
Oops, too late, heh. *ozzy is hit in the back of the head by lunaris. And thrown a few feet into a plot hole*

Sorry, but Ozzie rather in a bad shape right now...not fun to mutilate him when he not crying out in pain.

Well, ill get into my thoughts on the linear, non-linear games

I think none linear games are better than linear ones because of the total mystery of the whole game, then. Games like chrono trigger are the best ones, because if a friend beats it, they wont be able to tell you the ending (those a**holes. . . .). The only problem with non linear is that you don't know what the f_ck is goin on half the time.
Well, that was my two cents. And I hope to join in on all future mailbags.
*Draws a rune of earth breaking and points his gnarled staff at the wall*
buh bye
oh and ozzy
I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!!

No kiddin', even Garland, him who dont know where Wild Forest Imp lives, know that.

Heh not really

...Your saying your worst than Garland?

earth BREAK!!!!
*the wall explodes and Gaborn jumps on to his force stallion and charges out at 5 times the speed of light*

...That was intressting.

*groans*

..Hey! He awake already!...Make you wonder about the regenative abilities of reccuring villans...Anyway! The last(AT LAST!) reply is from Megaman984!...And I'll say again that reused joke...What happened to the others 983 megamans? Is he the 984th clone of Megaman? Is he the 984th Ripoff copy of the Blue Bomber? Read on to know more!

Hey Lun. So you finally got to host. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until... Well... Never mind.

Anyway, I prefer a mixture of non-linear and linear games. I classify non-linear games as ones like Everquest where there is no story. That can just get annoying. I like having a few set guidelines. I know it has stuff like Guilds or whatever, but I prefer being able to progress the story.

On the other hand, I hate it when games are too linear. I hate being forced to do something without a chance to explore. That is my major beef with Grandia II. There is really no chance to explore the world in that game. You can't even visit old cities once you leave and enough story progresses.

For me, I like games that mix having a story and set guidelines of a linear game, but also have the chance to roam around the world if you felt like it. So in other words, I feel that nonlinear games are neither better not worse than linear games. Both have their pros and cons.

Hmm... Short reply...

You call that a SHORT reply?

I think I'll throw in my response to last week's Mailbag that I wrote that Sunday at 1 PM EST which meant it wasn't accepted. Heh. I am so lazy.

Anyway, I think we're in a middle zone of old and next gen RPGs. Old RPGs go by the tried and true exp system, learning magic, regular battles, and what not. Next-gen throw in weird stuff like everyone able to learn the same spells, new battle engines like Ship Battles in SoA, that ball exp system in FFX or whatever it is. Right now, we're seeing a mix of games that have both qualities. I'm predicting that in probably 10-15 years, we'll be totally in the next-gen era. There might be a few classic RPGs out there, but they will hardly be the norm.

Well, I'm done. Now remember kiddies, don't let the Ozzies bite. They're rabid.

Not really...Ozzie a pig/lizard, y'know...so...Anyway! It already the end of my hosted mailbag!...Not that it dint lacked blast or whatever..but it gotta end someday. But until then...the next week's mailbag gonna be hosted by Evil Cid!...Will he do a worst job than me? Will he?...Probably so. Feel free to hulmiate him on this topic, from Zero: How could your favorite RPG villain have changed his nefarious plan so it could have succeeded? Send in the stuffs to cidolfas@rpgclassics.com ...poor Cid, sharing the mail with such a losser...

*burns*...See..ya...*faint*

...Your still there? Good! Dont forget if your a RP fanatic to check thoses MUSH out! :D*/Shameless plug*