Honestly, I feel like Nintendo's done a fantastic job with the Luigi character this last decade. While Mario continues to be silent in everything but Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's found a voice. There was a diary of his you could read in Paper Mario, you could listen to him prattle about his adventures in Paper…

But if you're looking for plot or dynamic character arcs or exciting action or anything pushing technical boundaries or impressive spectacle then the games aren't gonna hold anything for you. Far be it from me to defend the games from all criticism - it's just this one part that I kinda appreciate :)

Yeah, the story really is practically non-existent. The games don't really bother with lore or continuity or anything like that. Not even plot really. What they do in their opening acts is try to establish just one thing that they think is important. WindWaker was about your little sister. Twilight Princess was…

I've never played that one, so you've got me. I've touched only Symphonia, Symphonia 2, and Abyss.

I think I would need to be way out of touch with American culture to argue that this nightseeker pic from Etrian Odyssey IV (

Not all anime art is creepy (in fact I would say most is not) but surely nobody is going to deny that there are some trends in anime art particularly in how they portray women that turn sections of the market away from the games? Be they the giant inflatable breasts on every female in the devil survivor series (seen…

Whether the art depicts a 10 year old girl, or it depicts an 18 year old girl super deformed so as to appear 10, what's the difference? The end user experience is that she looks like a sexed up little girl. That's why I jump to the conclusion that she's a little girl... because that's what she looks like! Is there…

I tend to agree - most of my favorites aren't the slow starters. But really JRPG is the only genre that really can justify a slow start. For a story that's going to follow a giant adventure to save the world across years and continents, there's something to be said for showing the very beginning and establishing…

Oh yeah, I realize that there are fans for whom fanservice is a service well appreciated. But just as such drawings appeal especially to one sub-set of the market, it simultaneously repels others. Just like mainstream gamers should be understanding that there are people who think sexy little cartoon girls are pretty…

I have some new ideas for this column. I feel like it's devolved into a weekly whine about how great JRPGs are, guys, really. Rather than try to sell the games, why not do some more analysis of the genre? Things that spring to mind include:

Oh lord, I haven't seen this TV show in years, not since season one. I'm grown up and don't watch Saturday Morning Cartoons anymore... but I would totally watch the "Ash's Carizard comes back" episode of pokemon. When I was eight or whatever every time I saw the Pokemon movie (there was only one back then) I would…

And I suppose you know the top speed for those models of Iron Man armor too? :P

Well nobody knew New York was going to come under attack all of a sudden like did they? And the entire episode didn't last more than an hour or two did it? So if a dude in Iron Man armor can move at say, 200 miles per hour then even if Don Cheadle gets word and is able to move out with his suit the second the attack…

Okay, so any game where the player controls a character that's part of a narrative counts as an RPG got it.

I... think it would be wrong. I mean, RPG means almost nothing these days, RPG mechanics and the idea of chasing XP meters and grinding loot have leaked into so many games practically all new releases are RPGs in one way or another.

...I might go buy the complete Calvin and Hobbes instead of Etrian Odyssey IV now. Sorry Atlus.

I don't think it's a problem to have an "unfair advantage" like this. The game is single player, so if a player has an extra edge that's their experience and only their experience. You don't really need to worry about fairness or equity between players in a single player RPG, you know? I mean, where do you draw the…

That's a bummer. Atlus makes some great JRPGs, but always on the cheap. You're not gonna get the spectacle you desire from any titles out of this publisher. Even their big new SMT IV release is first person combat with recycled 2D sprites and brief hit animations.

Actually I was just talking about Square Enix Japan. Their recently accquired Western development talent has been turning out top rate product. Deus Ex Human Revolution, Just Cause 2, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman, now Tomb Raider... it's been solid stuff.

Didn't LucasArts pull this during the previous tech generation swap too? They had some Indiana Jones game that was showing off their fancy Euphoria engine and (in retrospect) looked an awful lot like the Uncharted series ended up being. But then some things changed in management above the developers' heads and the…