This time around, there will be no such conundrum as Legend of Legaia follows its own distinct path into the increasingly crowded world of RPGs. The theme of the game is set in the future, where the state of the world is turning for the worse. Man, of course, hasn't been treating the planet so well, and as a result, curious things are starting to happen. A strange mist is beginning to blanket over Earth, and wherever it goes, normal people are starting to turn into killers and monsters are creeping out from the shadows. Three young heroes emerge to confront the situation - they are Vann, Noa, and Gahra. Vann is a 15-year-old boy with a quiet disposition and a dislike for fighting. Like each of the characters, he has his own original style of kempo. Noa, who is younger than Vann, was raised in the wild by wolves. Despite this, she speaks very well, and as the others would discover, she has a very big secret. Gahra is the oldest of the group and grew up in a monastery. The temple where he was taught focused on the strengthening of the body through a grueling regimen of physical labor. As one would expect, his demeanor is usually very serious.

Seems good so far, let's hope it gets translated for english audiences. Go here to view the rest of the article.-Webber 9:45 AM EST

"When you play the initial disk version of Zelda after finishing everything you can enter into a different world, though the design is the same"

Next, he said that Nintendo is developing more Zelda games for Gameboy, a color version of Link's Awakening, and another Zelda adventure. Thanks to EGM for this great info.-Webber 10:00 PM EST

-Webber 9:30 PM EST

SSM: Sega's arcade division has many top producers renowned world-wide for their quality games. What part do they have to play in the overall software strategy for Dreamcast?

SI: This architecture is very powerful. Already arcade developers are using the coin-op version of the Dreamcast architecture, called Noami. Yu Suzuki, the Virtua Fighter 3 producer, told me yesterday that he has already achieved 3.5 million polygons on it - this is much, much higher than the figures for Model 3. We expect that lots of arcade titles will appear on the Naomi boards in arcade centres. Consequently if we decide to do it, lots of arcade titles will be easily ported to Dreamcast. On the other hand the demand for quality titles from consumers is much higher than before. They will not necessarily be satisfied with the quality - they will want much more consumer-oriented titles so this is a good thing and a bad thing. We need to carefully select the titles from the arcade side and add some taste of home games. That's our business strategy.

That is some mighty boastful stuff, let's hope Dreamcast delivers. Go here to view the rest of the interview.-Webber 11:15 PM EST

There is a strange-shaped building in the game that serves as a school for soldiers like West Point. It's called Garden. Squall is one of the trainees of the school. It is a private school for kids from six to 19 years of age. If a kid doesn't pass the graduation exam during the ages of 15 to 19, the kid will be expelled from Garden.

There's no magic shop in FFVIII. Basically, normal people cannot use magic, but Garden graduates are exceptional and can.

A much harder goal than passing the graduation exam is to become a member of SeeD. SeeD is a special force like the Green Beret or French Foreign Legion. Highly capable trainees have a chance to try out for SeeD. Squall is hoping to become a member of the squad.

There are several new features for battle mode:

1) Among the commands like Fight, Magic, and Item, there is a new command called Draw where you can "draw" magic from the monster you're fighting. After selecting Draw, you choose Use or Stock. Stock means you can save it for another battle. If you draw magic, you can use it only once. Currently, it is not known how much magic you can save. And of course, you can't always draw magic from anything.

2) The second new feature is Guardian Force. It's much like summoning a monster, but this time the monster evolves as it gains experience in battle. You select command then you select your monster. It clearly shows that you can have several monsters as guardians.

3) On the demo disc, Squall's gunblade is available. As Squall turns, there's a gauge for the gunblade. If you pull the trigger (R1 button) at the proper time, it will bring bigger damage for the opponent.

Other tidbits: Square said that the Chocobos will be a little different this time to give them a more realistic feel.

Laguna will not be included on the demo disc.

Despite the previous reports, Biggs and Wedge will have cameo appearances in the game. Square had second thoughts and decided to include them.

Pretty cool stuff, we'll have tons of pics and movies as soon as the demo is released with Musashiden next month. Thanks to Videogames.com for providing this great info.-Webber 11:00 PM EST

SSM: Role-playing games very important for the Japanese market. How will Dreamcast address this?

SI: As you saw yesterday the biggest benefit of Dreamcast is to provide the almost movie-like graphics. So when you think about role-playing games, it's kind of a story, like the movies. In the past, even though the graphics movies ahead of the gameplay are very attractive, when you go into the game itself the graphics suddenly change but with the performance of the Dreamcast, the graphics will be exactly the same quality as the movies - the movies and the gameplay will be seamless. This machine is the most exciting platform for role-playing games.

Let's hope they continue to pay as much attention to a game's story as much as it's graphics. Go here to view the rest of this excellent interview, and thanks again to Game Online for this great info.-Webber 10:00 PM EST

Core have remained tight-lipped, but our spies inform us that the product of their three Dreamcast kits is unlikely to be the speculated Tomb clone. In fact, Core already have a previous project which they are using to 'roadtest' the system. Herdy Gerdy, from what we can glean, is an ambitious attempt to create a 3D world with animated characters of cartoon quality.

The source of the animation is ex-employees of Cosgrove Hall, a mainstay of the children's cartoon industry in this country, and responsible for hits like Dangermouse.

Apparently, the animators are experiencing the theorised 'enablement' that Dreamcast offers: the machine has the power to handle 'whatever they can throw at it'.

Not an RPG, but it sounds like a good start. Thanks to Game Online for this great info.-Webber 9:50 PM EST

-Webber 9:15 PM EST

Haskins: What will Deus Ex offer that other games don't in terms of playability?

Marshall: There will always be several ways to get through any obstacle. One person can use a keycard to get through a door and another can pick the lock. Most RPG's you have to use a skill to open a door, but with ours you don't have to. You can use a skill if you want, but there will always be 2 to 3 other ways to get through the same door.

Dan: Most games are based around a few simplistic design elements. Typically there are switches, keys, and doors, and that tends to be all. We are designing not just "levels" to run around and kill shit in, but game worlds. These maps won't feel like a run to point a, then b, and get the key along the way, but like you're actually there. They will be living breathing counterparts of the real world.

Harvey: Mark these words--the game will be an rpg. Travel map, conversation system, inventory, multiple ways to solve problems, skill system, useful allies, etc. we are not making a shooter. Those games are great, but we are trying to create an experience that provides players with exploration, atmosphere, freedom of choice and depth. Each player's experience will be somewhat different.

The interview also discusses the issue of Real World creation, meaning the creation of a game world which mirrors real life settings, and the difficulty in doing so. As with the first interview, there is a lot more to this one, go here to view the rest of the interview.-Webber 10:20 PM EST

Haskins: Tell us about the name Deus Ex. What is its origin and why is it an appropriate name for your game?

Warren: Okay, at risk of opening myself up to major ridicule from grammarians everywhere, I'll tell you where Deus Ex comes from. I wanted to play off the literary term "Deus Ex Machina," which is Latin for "God From a Machine." And, yes, I know that means the name of my game translates to "God From," and, yes, I know I'm ending the game name with a preposition, and yes, I know that's not grammatical so sue me!

Anyway, Deus Ex Machina goes back to ancient Greek and Roman Theatre where an actor portraying one of the gods would be lowered to the stage by means of machinery pulleys and ropes and such to provide resolution to the plot and to solve the problems of mere mortals. In literary criticism, it's come to mean a person or event in a work of fiction that comes out of nowhere other than the writer's fevered imagination to solve seemingly unsolvable plot problems. It's a device typically used by bad writers who've written themselves into corners.

If fits Deus Ex for a couple of reasons. First of all, there are several forces in the game who aspire to God-like powers or actually end up having them. But it also refers to the fact that so many computer game plots are so hopelessly lame. We're all still trying to figure out how to tell stories in this relatively new medium we're no more sophisticated in the use of the tools of our medium than the Greeks and Romans were in theirs.

We always seem to resort to brute force, Deus Ex Machina storytelling and I liked the kind of self-referential, we're-doing-the-best-we-can-even-when-we-suck aspect of the title.

Finally, isn't the computer you're playing the game on just a God-in-the-Machine, in a sense? Deus Ex just worked for me on every level except pronouncability. And, by the way, it's pronounced "Day-us-Ex," not "Do Sex!"

Cool info, and thanks for clearing up the pronunciation. Go here to view the rest of the interview, and expect plenty more info on the game this week.-Webber 10:10 PM EST

We still have plenty of RPG movies to post, I'm just doing the movies in the order in which they appear on our tapes. Expect a lot more movies all this week.-Webber 2:50 PM EST

Almost two years after the system's release, the RPG genre finally debuts on the N64 with THQ's Quest 64. IGN64.com has been monitoring game's progress for a while and although the game certainly had all the potential to succeed, the finished product seems to be lacking that spark of ingenuity that attracts many gamers coming back to the genre.

We should have a review of the game ourselves shortly. Go here to see the rest of IGN64.com's review.-Webber 10:30 AM EST

Webber 8:50 PM EST

The next game entitled Black Matrix is coming from NEC interchannel, and it is for the Saturn. it is again a 3D Strategy RPG, featuring five female heroines. Not much else is known about the game at this time.-Webber 1:00 AM EST

The only thing we do not know about the contest is how Atlus will pick a winner, assuming they recieve multiple entires. The winner will recieve an Authentic Medieval Helmet engraved with the Tactics Ogre logo. We'll post more info about the contest as soon as possible.-Webber 12:00 AM EST

Yakata a traditional RPG for the PSX has been released in Japan. We don't know much about this game, and also finding it to import is probably going to be pretty tough.-Webber 9:30 AM EST

Deus Ex is set on earth approximately 50 years in the future; it's a world continually complicated by conspiracy and intrigue. In fact, modern-day conspiracy buffs might have a hard time differentiating fact from fiction, because the game's premise is founded upon certain presumptions that inevitably start to ring true the minute the player delves deeper into the story. The game is also set in a real world, replete with notable landmarks, such as the White House and Statue of Liberty, and other familiar environs ranging from the streets of Hong Kong and Washington D.C. to New York.

However, unlike typical RPGs, Deus Ex will reportedly contain no monsters or aliens. Instead, it will be populated solely by human characters. "That's a big risk," Spector admitted. "A lot of people just sit around and go, 'where are the monsters and where do I shoot.' But that's not the point. It's a game of interacting with people and a real-world environment."

Sounds like something different, but something very cool. Go here to view the rest of the article.-Webber 9:20 PM EST