In the meantime, I happened across an article in Slate that I found really interesting:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2098406/
[The subject of this post is taken from a comment left at the Armchair Arcade site's review.]
I've had a huge smile on my face reading through all of this. I'm also frankly shocked that someone's quoting Julia Kristeva in a review of a Dungeons and Dragons computer game - I haven't heard that name since university. Amazing sometimes how widely read some of us are. Huh.
So... has anyone even heard of Barrett Wallace, the alleged 'bear love poster child' of Final Fantasy VII?