During a very good run in Crazy Taxi = this morning=20 (grand score of $58,000+) I got a call from EB, it seemed that my copy = of Final=20 Fantasy Chronicles was in; I didn't expect it until late July. So I = hopped in my=20 car and rushed out to get it. When I got to EB, they also had my Sonic = 10th=20 Anniversary package waiting for me (they got them a week after SA2 come = out, not=20 in the shipment with the game, I don't know why, but I love the tunes = from Sonic=20 R, but I digress). Bonus! Yes. Okay, back to FF Chronicles. the first = game I=20 tried out was Chrono Trigger, popped it in the PS2 and let it go. The = intro is=20 pretty good, it's animated and such, but the framerate of the animation = is=20 choppy, like somebody lost half of the animation cells, I hope the = in-game=20 cutscenes aren't like that. Another thing, Chrono Trigger doesn't fill = the=20 entire screen when the game is running, there's a black bar on the = bottom of the=20 screen; now I know how those with PAL TVs feel. But everything still = looks=20 right, and the black bar is hardly a nuisance. But the load time before = and=20 after a fight and switching to a menu screen is pretty bad, but that = clears=20 right up when setting disc speed to FAST on the PS2. I played about an = hour of=20 Chrono Trigger and for what I played, it's just like on the SNES, except = the=20 music sounds fuller.

Then I tried Final Fantasy 4. This game = is the=20 bomb, I'm four hours into it now, and if it wasn't for numb thumb I'd = still be=20 playing. Nintendo of America really butchered Final Fantasy 2 USA cos = FF4 has=20 way more character to it. Also it has a dash feature for towns and = dungeons=20 (like in Final Fantasy VI and on) but you're still limited to four way=20 direction. Now I don't know where I read this, but I read that the load = time for=20 FF4 on the PSX was horrible, but that can't be any farther from the = truth, a few=20 times I have forgotten I was playing a CD based game; the load times = between=20 battles, menus, etc are to quick to count in seconds, like playing on a=20 cartridge system, and that was on the PS2 with disc speed set as NORMAL, = I tried=20 FF4 at first on FAST but the music during fights went all crazy. =3D)=20

Oh, maybe it was a misprint, but on the = back of the=20 Final Fantasy Chronicles instructions there's an ad for Final Fantasy X=20 (surprised?) and it says it won't be out until early 2002. Bummer, eh? = But I=20 think Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV are enough for now. Oh, and I = was=20 shopping yesterday and at quite a few stores I saw they had Xenogears = for=20 $39.99. If you don't have Xenogears you really should buy it, that is, = if you=20 like RPGs.