PixlBit

I used SCV's create-a-character mode to create Tifa using the Devil Jin template. I did a pretty good job on her, if I do say so myself.

Yeah, I bought the Gamecube version of SCII, no contest. I didn't have an Xbox and I think Spawn and Todd McFarlane's characters in general are lame. For the PS2 version, Heihachi seemed kind of phoned-in, and I'd rather Namco have made some deals and gotten a character more representative of PlayStation, like Cloud, Sephiroth, Squall, or Dante, for the PS2 version.

With Link, they really did their homework on Zelda lore when choosing his weapons. Plus, they did a great orchestral rendition of the Zelda Overture.

From the developers of Grandia also came the Lunar games, which I actually liked better than Grandia. The 2-D battle system in those games allowed for positioning of both player characters and enemies, and each character had a specific role in combat.

Hey, I really liked FFX-2, its 6th-gen take on ATB and FF5's job system, and the sexy costumes. I wish it maybe hadn't recycled so many assets from FFX, but then again, I knew what the game was about. It's too bad they don't reuse that engine for an all-new FF game.

The Tales series probably has the best combat of conventional RPGs. FFVII and FFXII would rank right behind them.

Were tactical RPGs discussed for ths article? Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, and Valkyria Chronicles would all have been worth a mention. Valkyria in particular was a nice step up from previous generations of grid-based tactical RPGs even if it could have used a bit of tweaking. That game has been my favorite of the whole generation.

I liked the individual skills that VI had for each character, but I also found that the characters were seriously overpowered to the point where there was really no wrong character for any situation, especially with a couple of choice relics. I made Gau, a character everyone else usually hates, into a damage-dealing bastard quite easily. I once killed Final Kefka in five attacks! V did have a good battle system, and I've grown to appreciate the game more and more over the years. but I think it showed to much better effect in Final Fantasy Tactics than in FFV.

Great to see the FFXII love here. It is my second favorite FF title as well, surpassed only by VII.

Mr. Mime is the only clown that comes to mind.

Yeah, I spent time in Arizona seeing family, then I spent 3 days in San Diego and 3 days in San Simeon, which is about halfway between L.A. and San Francisco.

For your pretend birthday present, you get a date with the Amazon. How's that? :)

Happy belated Birthday! Sorry I missed it. I was on vacation on the West Coast at the time.

On Chronicles of Mystara, I was interested in getting it and would have gotten it EXCEPT for the fact that it came out far too close to Dragon's Crown, and Dragon's Crown is a far superior game (however, George Kamitani did work on D&D when he was with Capcom.)

Castle of Illusion kind of interests me, and I will probably pick up Hatsune Miku as a curiosity. i like it when we get off-the-wall titles like that in the US.

That cake was pretty nice, BTW. Kudos to your coworker for the nice birthday surprise.