It's possible I may have a letter published in an upcoming issue of GamePRO Magazine. Here's the letter (e-mail) that I just sent:


Dear GamePRO,

I have been a reader of your magazine for years now and generally admire and respect it for its overall coverage. The other game magazines I read either went out of publication or simply weren't doing a very good job.

However, there is always one position that GamePRO has always seemed to take that I cannot entirely understand, and that is its the magazine's seeming near fanboy-like coverage of the game Final Fantasy VII. Sure, Final Fantasy VII has its strong points, but I certain don't consider it to be the best Final Fantasy game. That, in my opinion, is IX (fantastic story, compelling sidequests and engaging characters.) Final Fantasy VII is plagued by a villain that pales in comparison to certain other Final Fantasy villains (such as Kefka and Kuja), a story that is at times confusing and contains plotholes, and the Playstation English-language translation in particular by a script riddled with errors ("Tifa, I'll give you information Shinra.") While I still *like* Final Fantasy VII, many fans seem to think that this is the greatest Final Fantasy of all time, but there is a growing community that thinks that the slavish, underalterated fanism in relation to Final Fantasy VII is getting old. Personally, I don't have much money to spend on games, so I have made the choice to play only Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games. And even the original Kingdom Hearts is better game than Final Fantasy VII.

When you say "underalterated," I'm assuming you meant "unadulterated"?

Please tell me you've given permission for them to publish your email address. The hate mail that would generate would be absolutely brilliant.

That's great, I hope you get published. Although you will be torn to pieces for it by the zombie horde of VII-fans.

When you say "underalterated," I'm assuming you meant "unadulterated"?

Please tell me you've given permission for them to publish your email address. The hate mail that would generate would be absolutely brilliant.

I'd love to see some of that hatemail really, I'm curious what people could come up with.

You should post some good ones if you get any Shinra.

When you say "underalterated," I'm assuming you meant "unadulterated"?

Please tell me you've given permission for them to publish your email address. The hate mail that would generate would be absolutely brilliant.

Lmao, Seconded.

One thing though, I'm pretty sure the "Information Shinra" thing was a slang way of putting it, I mean I can imagine it being said out loud, but true there are a lot of other real errors.

Yeah, you're right, I did mean "unadulterated." I guess I'm too used to Firefox and forgot that I was typing the letter in Internet Explorer (not by choice.) Perhaps it's not to late to submit a correction, or maybe they'll catch it in copyediting. Or maybe I'm just perverse and I want to test the skills of their copyeditors.


I didn't give them specific permission to publish my e-mail -- I get the feeling that they might not be allowed to even if I did. However, if they do publish the letter, I'm thinking of registering on their website.


And as for "information Shinra," it's an error. In the PC version, it's corrected to "info on Shinra." Though, then again, the PC version script did pretty much eliminate Cait Sith's southern patois.

And as for "information Shinra," it's an error. In the PC version, it's corrected to "info on Shinra." Though, then again, the PC version script did pretty much eliminate Cait Sith's southern patois.

Interesting. Well, anyway I don't remember going what the hell when I read it, guess it could easily pass for a figure of speech.

It's definitely not grammatically correct. You would never hear somebody saying they would give somebody "information" something, only that they would give them "information on" something.

Good work, although FFVII fanboys are going to be mad about this.

I'm shaking in my bright yellow shirt. Of course, this is all still dependent on whether or not they publish it. If not, we'll see where I go from there.

You make it sound like you'll follow it's publishing/rejection with something else.
What do you mean?

Agent continue to spread the truth! FFVII is not as good as the fan boys lead on!

Eventually we will undo the corruption the fan boys have brought to the gaming world

Tsu -- if it is published, I'll register an account on their website and start a thread saying that I was the one who wrote the letter. If it's not published, I'll just post it, or something like it, somewhere else. Or on their forums.

I see.
It makes perfect sense that you'd try to publish a letter before posting it on their forum. Good thinking.

Let us know as things go along.

I like the letter. Good luck on getting it published too ^^.

I love FFVII, but now it's just getting to the point where I'm getting scared to admit that I love it just as much as a Naruto fan might be afraid to admit he/she loves Naruto otherwise they'll be called a "Narutard". It's just been as over rated as Naruto.

They will either not print it or arbitrarily dismiss your claims and make fun of you.

At least, that's the gamepro I remember. Maybe gaming magazines have more integrity now days.

GamePRO does seem to have more integrity these days -- try buying or checking out a recent issue.

I would have sent it to GameInformer and addressed it specifically to Joe.

Still an option if GamePRO doesn't print it. But I don't have as easy access to GameInformer.

GamePRO does seem to have more integrity these days -- try buying or checking out a recent issue.
I guess it has been 11 years since I read an issue :P

Incidentally, the last copy I bought was around the time all the reviewers announced their top 10 games of 1997. Funnily enough, only about half of them listed FFVII in their top 10 games and no one listed it as their number one pick (although it was number 2 on a couple of lists). As I said though, this was 11 years ago. Most of the people who are writing for the mag now were more then likely teenagers when FFVII was released; the demograph from which it seems to receive the most praise.

I guess it has been 11 years since I read an issue :P

Incidentally, the last copy I bought was around the time all the reviewers announced their top 10 games of 2007. Funnily enough, only about half of them listed FFVII in their top 10 games and no one listed it as their number one pick (although it was number 2 on a couple of lists). As I said though, this was 11 years ago. Most of the people who are writing for the mag now were more then likely teenagers when FFVII was released; the demograph from which it seems to receive the most praise.

:/

I honestly had to remind myself what year it is.

Blah, fixed.

It's definitely not grammatically correct. You would never hear somebody saying they would give somebody "information" something, only that they would give them "information on" something.

Of course it's not grammatically correct. Just, you know how sometimes in movies people say "time to preform/prepare for operation *whatever*" instead of saying exactly what they'll do. Or like with the government referring to their classified information by some sort of code-name like "what I am about to tell you, is classed as information FVJIGRTIHTJHRHY" (I remember that in a BOOK, of course with a different set of letters at the end). So, I took what Cait Sith said about giving "information Shinra" as talking about Shinra's top secret plans and projects.

You're right in the sense that you'd never hear someone in real life say they'll give someone, "information" something, but you may hear it in spy movies... but not in real life except maybe as a secret agent.

~Zak

Fair enough. Still, I took the fact that it was corrected in the PC version as a sign that somebody else, on Square's staff, looked at it and said "huh? Wha?"

Haha, I hope you get published.
If you do, I want to go out and buy it. My friend is dating a rather obnoxious ff7 fan boy that I enjoy bothering occasionally with this kind of stuff.

Well, actually what you wrote in your letter IS true... FF7 sucks a lot... not only in comparison to the followers (I love FF8 waaaaaay more... 'cause it has... oh snap, EDEA <3), but mainly by the predecessors. Hooray FF1, FF4, FF5 and especially FF6!

I'm hoping people will actually wake up a bit from a letter like this. FFVII isn't a horrible game by any means. But I started hated the community about it and because of that I disliked the game. Even my little brother was/still kinda is like, zomg FFVII best rpg evar. He's never played any other RPGs outside of the FF series. And on average the FF series are average, there are far far better RGPs out there.

People need to realize that FFVII is mediocre at best. But they need to realize more that being so zealous about a game rarely happens, even to games who'd deserve such fanboy-ism.

Yeah, that's what I think, too... Final Fantasy is not the best RPG-series, it's only the most successful. That doesn't mean anything. There are indeed FAR better RPGs in this whole ton of games - however, a lot of them aren't even released outside of Japan. Take Fire Emblem for example - an EXTREMELY good RPG-strategy game-series... however, the first part we got was like... the seventh out of all?

I like the letter. Good luck on getting it published too ^^.

I love FFVII, but now it's just getting to the point where I'm getting scared to admit that I love it just as much as a Naruto fan might be afraid to admit he/she loves Naruto otherwise they'll be called a "Narutard". It's just been as over rated as Naruto.

lol same here, I do love the game...however, I can admit that the game is far from perfect and that there is much better out there.

However it doesn't help that Squaresoft are now bumming the holy hell out of FFvii, with Advent Children and however many prequel/equal games they are planning to release (or, in some cases, have released).

I can't speak for everyone, but in my experience it was the first 'longest' PS game I played (if you can see where I'm coming from) which I found a breath of fresh air (a game that takes more than a day or two to finish? Blasphemy) and being the first RPG (true RPG or not) I played it really opened doors for me.

Still, it certainly will be interesting to see how many people try defending the game to the death and proclaim how utterly wrong you are :-P


(Plus I hated Cloud.)

I hope they publish it. I doub't they will but I hope they do.

FFIX is easily the better FF in my opinion also.

Well, I haven't heard anything back yet, so it's odds-on at this point whether it will be or not. Normally, when I send a letter to a magazine or newspaper, they write me back if they intend to publish it. I'm not sure if that's 100%, though.

I'll give it a while longer, see what happens before doing anything else.

Well, I haven't heard anything back yet, so it's odds-on at this point whether it will be or not. Normally, when I send a letter to a magazine or newspaper, they write me back if they intend to publish it. I'm not sure if that's 100%, though.

I'll give it a while longer, see what happens before doing anything else.

So I take it you've had one of your letters published in the past?

Not to that particular magazine, but more than one, in other publications, yes.

well if it is published some off the Shrines could pop up in their forums and give you some support.

I hear those fan boys can be hell to get through.

I for one agree with you Agent 0042, I see a heated debate coming.

Shrine can take down any forum.

We are internet professionals.

Gross generalization here, but almost every FFVII fankid I've run across can't even form a simple sentence to save their lives. At any rate, I think it's been said before, but even if Agent's letter gets published, he'll get some token 'buzz off' response or be made fun of for irrelevance or something dumb like that. GamePro's a shitty mag, anyway.

Pretty much all gaming mags suck in one form or another, Cyan.

Mainly because they get payed to play video games. Fuck 'em.

Pretty much all gaming mags suck in one form or another, Cyan.

Mainly because they get payed to play video games. Fuck 'em.

True enough, LoL, but I meant that GamePro sucks compared to other gaming mags. GameInformer and EGM are at least tolerable. GamePro pales in comparison. ;)

When will you know if it's getting published?

No idea. Rather expect I would have heard something by now if they were going to, that is, if they would contact me before they published it. So at this point, I'd say I'll know either way for sure only once they publish the next issue or two.

I don't think it's common practice to send people notification for things like letters. It will no doubt be a 'wait and see' sort of thing.

Well, as I said before, in at least a couple of my past experiences, it did happen.

Sorry, missed that. That's actually rather surprising, I know a few people who have had whole articles published in various magazines without being notified. Maybe those particular magazines just happened to be somewhat more slack with those sorts of formalities.

Could be, could be. There is one thing, though -- if they do decide to publish it, I think I will eventually hear from them. I'm not entirely certain, but I think they may be one of those magazines that sends a token prize to anyone who gets a letter published. And any magazine that does that, obviously, has to contact you again if you sent the letter by e-mail, unless you told them your address when you sent the e-mail.

I'll have to check that. Maybe it's only for the Letter of the Month. I know they definitely give out a prize for the Letter of the Month (and not just a token one), but anything else, I'm not sure.

all I can say is thank you I'm one of the people been fighting about this with people for years.......I will say it again that I do not think the game is bad it is good but just not as good dare my name be a giveaway here (lol) as FFVI there are such better ideas in that then in FFVII I could sit here and list my complaints but I won't for now....

all I can say is let them flame you shows how dumb and stuck on the game they are really and the fact that they have no clue what a good game is most of them becuase of it being there first game or the fact that they never went as far as back tracking to play others...

anyway before I post a huge thing here I hope it gets published and helps the cause, my hats off to ya

Well, nothing in the newest issue. I suppose I'll give it one more, and then see where to go from there if it's not in that.

If you don't get published, just spam the letter on every gaming forum you come across. It's the mature way to go about it.

ROTFL. I like your style.

Yes, and very professional.

I use to like Gamepro, until they became extremely biased with their reviews. They completely trashed Xenogears and Legend of Dragoon, because other mags were saying these games are better than Final Fantasy VII.

ROTFL. So basically you're saying my letter has about as much chance of getting published in there as (Loud fart)? :)

They might publish it, so they can make an example out of you by insulting your opinion.

like the one dude said, i bet more ppl would read a comment on joystiq or something than gamepro...print mags are a dying medium unfortunately

the only magazine i could ever take seriously was next gen (rip), mags like gamepro seemed intended for a less mature readership

okay agent i will write letter to gamepro asking why aeris is hooker you have inspired me to question people about final fantasy vii hookers

print mags are a dying medium unfortunately

What's unfortunate about it? They're simply moving onto the internet, where we can get the same content faster and for free.

What's unfortunate about it? They're simply moving onto the internet, where we can get the same content faster and for free.

And it saves trees provided anyone gives a shit.

Also, good luck Agent.

agent i will start writing my letter tomorrow!