James

@Dirty

Anything?

It's colonoscopy time!

Coming next week:

Local doctors announce free Mass Effect 3 DLC with every colonoscopy!

@Themariohenri

I'm sorry, but for that, I'm afraid we're going to have to give you up.

That poor horse must be nothing but a mangled nondescript mass of rotting flesh by now.

@iceveiled

Where do you shop for memory cards? I need to know, to make sure I never go there.

@Ravenok

Good point. There are a few JRPGs where a random encounter will turn out to be some special battle, but I can't think of them off the top of my head, and even then they're usually obviously special from the beginning.

But in counterpoint, you sometimes get an unexpected reward from random battles. New equipment that helps boost you ahead for example.

@TheOtherJames

Thought: How does the comparison hold up if you compare battles in a JRPG to plays in a game, instead of games in a seson?

"Imagine a Final Fantasy game in which you have to read your opponents' moves during each turn and execute complex defensive schemes to prevent them from attacking."

Grandia 2 and 3 come to mind.

"Turn-based combat has no such moments. Even when JRPG developers pack their battles with gargantuan summoned beasts and flashy spells, they can never really emulate that jolt of excitement that hits you when your quarterback throws an 80-yard touchdown."

I tend to run into those moments in just about every RPG I play. At one point I will run into a battle so difficult or unexpected that nothing but a little skill and a lot of luck carries me through. They're rare, but just like in football, that's what makes them special. Some RPGs do manage to script those moments in. The end of Persona 4 comes to mind.

"Have you ever played a JRPG where every single battle mattered?"

Have you ever seen a football game where every single play mattered? A majority of plays in football just change where you punt from later on. That's no more exciting than a battle that just gives you a little more XP.

"I want to play a turn-based JRPG in which combat is something I care about, not just that thing I do between each scene of the story. Is that so much to ask?"

And I'd like to see a football game that doesn't bore me 90% of the time, but we can't all get what we want. Maybe sports aren't my thing, and maybe JRPGs aren't yours. At least the RPG has the story. The best football can do is this: http://xkcd.com/904/

Wal-mart doesn't even close on Thanksgiving. While you are eating dinner with your family, please remember those who don't get that opportunity just because their employer decided to squeeze a little more profit out of one day. Their greed means that many people don't get to spend a very special time with their families. Please, don't support the companies doing this.

If you have to go out to buy something, please give every employee you talk to the best "Thank you," you can muster. If you don't *have* to go out, please boycott any retailer that's open on Thanksgiving and wait until another day to shop.

"No one on the internet ever bases their reactions off of what they see without looking deeper first. Nope. Never."

You're practically begging for comments full of irony.