Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

After playing about two hours and trying to the first boss taken care of to get the Mythril, I can't help but feel like I accomplished absolutely nothing at all. I mean not only that, but I got my ass kicked by this guy. Barely made it out alive.

I mean am I doing something wrong here? :(

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I started over, I got another two hours in.

I have Firion as a white mage because of his agility, and the spirit will come with abuse of the white magic usage. He knows Cure which is about to become Cure 3 pretty soon, and he's proficient enough with a sword when his MP runs out with the healing spells from overuse.

Maria is my black mage and she sits in the front for right now to get some more damage to bring her HP up. She has all the black magic spells available from the first town and they're all at least level 2 right now, and I haven't set foot in Fynn yet.

Gus is just riding it out, but he's able to do okay with very minimal armor right now since the enemies don't hurt too hard but they hurt enough to get the HP stats up, but I think that's something I'll worry about more when I'm gonna set into the first dungeon later. I'll focus more on stats and skill progression for the time being.

To give the enemies more chances to attack me for raising my HP stat, I actually have Maria cast a black magic spell on my entire party and then Firion comes in and heals the entire party while Gus takes out the enemies one at a time. It seems to be working out well enough on the world map. If Firion runs out of MP, then he assists Gus, and Maria casts BM spells on individual enemies. Once Maria and Firion are out of MP it's back to the Inn and repeat.

At least I'll have a shitton of money by then to get all the other spells I'll be missing.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Basically, the key is just get your stats up. You're doing it completely differently from how I did it, but I think it should work. Depending on your play style you might regret later on having Firion as a white mage. I'm not exactly an expert, but I've had Maria handling both schools of magic. Firion and Gus both act as the physical attackers.

I'm ridiculously overpowered, though, so your strategy might work better for a "normal" team.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of things, even if it is a tad monotonous and time consuming. Just got the Mythril again and it went much much smoother this time.

It's a shame this game seems unplayable to me without exploiting the whole "attacking your own members or yourself for endurance and HP points" stuff. I couldn't imagine it working out that well without it.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

9.5 hours into it and that long grind session for the first five hours is really starting to show how well it pays off. I've only had to worry about gil as far as buying armor is concerned. My characters are all generally strong now too, so I haven't found it completely necessary to be buying new weapons for my characters.

I'm currently on the way to get the Goddess Bell. Josef is already in my party. Just making my way through the Snow Cavern and taking my time to make sure I check everything out before I eventually take out the boss.

Oh and bump! I hope I'm not the only one still doing this D:

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I'm... I don't know how many hours into it, but I've retrieved Ultima and the Emperor has unleashed the Cyclone. Firion and Gus both have 3000+ HP. Maria only has about 1700. Firion is maxed on swords, Gus on axes. Maria has all the spells I frequently use at 10+. I have, like, 300,000+ gil.

I expect I'll finish and post full impressions in a day or two. Maybe three.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

The Brotherhood of the Traveling Shank

Day 1:

So I started off today, with 4 thieves, named:
John
Ryan
Bill
and for hilarity... EARL in all caps. Just so when I lose the battles I know I inevitably will lose, I can blame it on Earl.

Oh and the rest of this post will have to wait for a bit.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Just out of curiosity it seems like you have so much time to dedicate to this...how?!

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Funds have been pretty low, so my wife and I haven't really been able to go out and do a whole lot lately. We usually just veg around at the apartment when I'm not working and she's not at school. I'm either playing a game (which is, of course, been Final Fantasy lately) and she's either doing homework or procrastinating on her homework and playing a game. Sometimes we watch a movie.

Hopefully in the next couple of months we'll be moved and settled and I'll have less excuses to stay home and do nothing. Although, it really only took me about 22 hours to beat FFII which really isn't that much, relatively.

Oh, yeah, I just finished. Beat the Emperor in just one hit. I was crazy over-powered. Ultimately, even though the game is completely broken on multiple levels there is still fun to be had. It was kind of cool not having to worry about, you know, dying or anything like that. I just sort of breezed through the game. Since everything I've read suggests that not being overpowered causes the game to be uber frustrating and not fun at all I don't really mind the lack of a challenge.

Also, except for the initial training hump at the beginning (about 4 or 5 hours total) it wasn't that difficult maintaining my advantage.

***

One thing I noticed about II which I wasn't expecting was actually how much more it felt like a Final Fantasy game over I. Mostly everything you hear about II is regarding the awful "levelling" system and how its broken and unbalanced. The general expectation is that the game is nothing like other Final Fantasy games, but I think its really the opposite. If it wasn't for the Black and White Mages there's really nothing in I that reminds you you're playing an FF game. II, however, has a story that fits in well with the rest of the series, chocobos, Cid, dragoons, an ambiguously evil/good guy, etc. Almost everything that really defines Final Fantasy (at least through to IX) really came from II.

The story, also, is pretty hardcore as far as things go. This most certainly has the highest body count of real characters of any core FF and really paints a bleak picture. I mean, you kill the main bad guy only for him to conquer and break out of hell and unleash it upon the earth. Sephiroth can't claim that. The only real issue with the story is presentation which is expected since it was an NES title originally. If SE ever thought to themselves "We should totally remake Final Fantasy II with and expanded story, better developed characters, and a completely rebuilt from scratch game design!" I would totally buy it. I don't know. I just see a lot of fluffy awesome potential in II's story.

***

Anyway, that's it for me on FFII. If anyone (magus) is still playing II, feel free to go at your own pace. Same thing if anyone is on I (I want progress updates on your thief run, TSM!). I'll be moving on to III soon. I think there were some people waiting for III (?), so maybe we'll get some more company soon.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Final Fantasy III wiki page


Originally released in Japan for the Nintendo Famicom in 1990, Final Fantasy III was the second game to not initially receive a North American release. Unlike FFII, a domestic release was not even considered since they had already committed to releasing Final Fantasy IV for the SNES instead. Final Fantasy III was the last of the "unreleased" games to finally receive localization via a complete remake for the Nintendo DS in 2006 with several changes to the story and gameplay. To date, there still has not been a release of the original game in NA making Final Fantasy III in some ways the "final" Final Fantasy.

The original Famicom version focus on four un-named orphans who are dubbed the Warriors of Light after discovering the Crystal of Wind. They are charged with relighting the four Crystals of Light and restoring balance to the world. The DS remake gives the four orphans names and personalities and slightly alters the early events of the game to allow the player to meet and recruit each one. Luneth is the main character and, in this version, is the only person who discovers the crystal of wind. He is then charged with finding the additional Warriors of Light. They are Arc, Luneth's best friend, Refia, the daughter of a blacksmith, and Ingus, a Knight of Sasune.

The gameplay of III takes more inspiration from I than II. III introduces the Job System which allows the 4 warriors to train in any class and to also switch classes later on. These include the original 6 classes from FFI and add an additional 17 classes. III also introduced class specific abilities (like Jump or Steal) rather than simply having each class alter stats and weapon choices.

A few other new items introduced in III and carried on to later games:

- Moogles
- Summons

At this point, most of the recurring features of the Final Fantasy series have been introduced. Future games simply expand on the existing ideas or introduce new elements that don't get carried over into future games.

As noted previously, Final Fantasy III has only been legally released in NA on the Nintendo DS. It is possible, however, to find the original game emulated with a fanslation. Also, an interesting note: Final Fantasy III is the only core FF title to have not seen a release on a Sony console or any console other than ones made by Nintendo. A port to the Wonderswan was planned, but eventually cancelled due to programming difficulties.

Cid Watch:



Cid Haze is the first Cid to have his very own last name. The characters first meet Cid very early in the game and help him break the curse of the djinn. For their help, Cid donates his airship to the group (but it doesn't last long) and then retires with his wife. Cid returns later in the game to upgrade the group's ship into another airship and reveals that he played a key role in the orphan's origins.

This Cid essentially established the name as a recurring role and also placed into a slightly larger supporting role than in Final Fantasy II. This also cements Cid's association with airships.


*****

Alright, so Final Fantasy III! This is another game I've never beaten. I played it and a got somewhat far, but I've never been a fan of the Job system (either in this or V) and gave up the game when it basically said "Have all dragoons or die!" I thought the game was cheating. Anyway, we'll see how it goes this time.

I will, of course, be playing it on the DS. I'm interested to see if anyone will be or has played the original version via ROM? I'd like to see anyone's thoughts on the original version.

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I just borrowed FF IV for the DS from Dylflon, so if I get around to it I'll post progress and thoughts.


Edit: I was going to also borrow III, but I turned it down after he said it was "meh".

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I'm still gonna be on FFII for a while probably, but I'm not jumping in on III as I've already finished it. Grats on II though. I want to finally see what's up with this game so we'll see what happens.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Well sadly, my progress in II has been stunted because of the free weekend of Modern Warfare 2 on Steam, my compelling urge to keep watching Cardcaptor Sakura for some reason, and my ever looming research paper (which is late).

I'm trying to get my paper done by tonight so maybe I can hit it up. I made it to Castle Kas'ion at any rate. I'm trying to beef the prince up a little bit. He's kind of a wuss. But that shouldn't be too difficult. Firion and Maria are weak enough to get his HP low enough without dying to get his HP, and weapon mastery should come with it.

I think after Castle Kas'ion I'm gonna try to beef up Firion, Maria, and Gus up a little more. Firion and Maria's MP is a bit too low for my tastes so I'm gonna do some Faze action and see how that goes. Everyone's HP should probably come up too.

My biggest issue with getting HP and MP up is that it's very costly, so once money starts to run a little low there's a bit too much money grinding that has to go on to make sure I can front the bills for the inns and there really isn't that much gil thrown around by enemies, at least not in this area.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Regarding gil, you can play a game of Concentration on the snowcraft by holding O and pressing X about 20 times (similar to the number game in FFI). If you can beat it without making any mistakes you'll get 40,000 gil (plus some other awesome things like an Elixir). Even if make a couple of mistakes you'll learn a few thousand gil. Also, there is kind of a way to cheat it. Basically, there are only 32 combinations of characters in FFII's concentration and they also go in the same order. So if you play it once, write down where everyone is, then cancel out of it 31 times you should get that same original combination. Since its written down you'll know exactly where everyone is.

Its kind of cheap, but it'll take care of your money problems for a while. And eventually, you'll start finding so much gil in dungeons and so much extra equipment you can sell off you won't need to be worrying about gil at all. I think I ended II with over a half a million in extra gil lying around and absolutely none of it was from the snowcraft game.

****

As for me, I have finally passed the part I quit at last time. As I kind of hinted at before it was where you have to fight Garuda and essentially you need to either be crazy over-levelled or have a bunch of dragoons jumping around. They even have a bunch of people in game say, "Hey, beat it with a dragoon!" and practically hand you four sets of dragoon equipment. Unforunately, the first time I tried it (with dragoons) they all died, and again, and again. I figured you had to raise your dragoons job levels to crazy heights which I thought was ridiculous. So, I quit the game in frustration.

This time I pretty much had the same troubles. I died about 2-3 times before finally the cards just landed right and I was able to beat Garuda. Essentially I just had to cross my fingers that Garuda's attacks would fall after I jumped and then before I landed. And pray he didn't spam Lightning.

Anyway, I'm a bit past that now. I just received the Invincible and am now being told I have to be Dark Knights to survive the next dungeons. Gosh darn this game is annoying.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Wake me up when you guys start playing IV, so I can play it with you.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I actually had to go and train two ninjas and buy a fuckton of shurikens for Cloud of Darkness because everyone else did diddly-dick on her. It was quite obnoxious.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Whoo! Beat III. Having now beaten the Cloud of Darkness I am actually wondering what all the hype was about. I beat her on my first try (thank goodness; I don't think I would want to marathon through the Crystal Tower and the World of Darkness more than once). Granted, I had also planned ahead and started training Ingus as a Ninja as soon as it was available. I also accumulated tons of gil whilst training and had about 35 Shurkiens going into the battle.

I did lose Luneth, but everyone else withstood Particle Beam like a champ. My final party had Luneth as a Knight, Arc as a Summoner, Refia as a Devout, and Ingus as a Ninja. Levels were 56-57. Battle only lasted around 5 rounds.

Anyway, as for the game as whole... I doubt I'll be revisiting it anytime soon. It had its charm, but Job system has always annoyed me and the story is way too inconsistent to really be enjoyable. It seems to say that light and dark are equal with neither being inherently good or evil, but then its the Cloud of Darkness being fought in the World of Darkness because everybody's trying to cover the world in darkness. I wish they had just gone for something simpler if they couldn't handle the concept yet.

Anyway, I really don't have many thoughts on III. Its apparently held in really high regard in Japan - it was voted one of the best games ever, supposedly. I think they're crazy. The Job system is just way too clunky and abused by the game to be that great. When I get to V we'll see if Square improved on the concept.

IV's post coming up shortly.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Psst. Typhoid! Wake up!


Final Fantasy IV wiki page


Released in 1991 in the Japan for the Super Famicom. FFIV was released in NA later that year for the SNES under the title Final Fantasy II due to the original II and III not being released in NA. IV was the first FF game to be released for a 16-bit console.

Final Fantasy IV's story exponentially improved on the tales told in prior games. Characters now were devloped beyond single lines and simple traits and had relationships that grew and changed through the game. Villains were not simply evil incarnate, but had a past and motives beyond "death to everything because I say." Well, mostly. IV also featured a much larger and diverse cast of characters including:

- Cecil Harvey: The main character and a Dark Knight from the kingdom of Baron. In the game he has to discover the goodness within himself.

- Rosa Farrell: A white mage and Cecil's girlfriend (fiancé?). She supports Cecil and stands at his side.

- Kain Highwind: A childhood friend of Cecil's. He also harbors feelings for Rosa, but doesn't pursue them out of respect for the pair.

- Rydia: A summoner orphaned through Cecil's actions. She learns to trust Cecil and fight's at his side.

- Tellah: An old mage who has sworn revenge upon the man who killed his daughter. Dislikes spoony bards.

- Edward von Muir: A spoony bard, but also maybe something more regal in disguise. Edward was in love with Tellah's daughter, and assisted Cecil after she died.

- Yang Fang: A monk from Fabul. Yang joins Cecil after his kingdom is attacked by Baron.

- Palom and Porom: Two children mages from the village of Mysidia. They are assigned to assist Cecil in his ordeals and ultimately give everything to help him.

- Edge: Prince of Eblan and a ninja. Edge has a personal vendetta against Cecil's enemies and assists Cecil in defeating them.

- Cid Pollendina: We'll get to him later.

Systems introduced to the series by IV:

- The Active Time Battle system. Rather than each character in battle patiently waiting their turn to strike, battles ran in somewhat real time. A specific amount of real time would have to pass before a character, whether an enemy or PC, could have a turn. This meant the battle continually advanced without pause. If set to "Active" enemies would even attack if the player was in a menu looking for an item or spell.

- Characters now had a preset role (inspired by the "Job system" from III) that could not be changed. They learned spells and abilities by levelling up with no other input from the player. There are only two instances where a character changes roles or grows within their roles; these are both determined by the story.

- The party line-up constantly changes throughout the game. Unlike later games, this is entirely decided by the story. Characters would enter or leave the party as the story dictated. The only constant was Cecil.

- Due to the lack of input into character's growth, players now had the use of up to 5 characters in battle at one time. This is the only FF game to allow more than 4 characters in battle.

Several different versions of IV have been released in NA:

- As Final Fantasy II for the SNES. This version had many changes to it beyond the simple name change. Primarily, the game was made much easier for the American audience. Certain rare items (like Ethers) were made more common while certain spells and abilities that added more strategy to game were removed. "II" was also edited slightly for content. This version was later released on the Wii's Virtual Console.

- Released as part of the "Final Fantasy Chronicles" collection for the PlayStation. It was released as IV for the first time. It contained the original version of the game (minus the changes made during its initial localization) and an new and improved translation. It also featured new FMVs before and after the game.

- Released as Final Fantasy IV for the GameBoy Advance. This version slightly upgraded the graphics in the battles menus and further improved the translation. It also added the "ATB bar" to the menu similar to later FF titles. Finally, it added the ability to switch party members later in the game and several new dungeons after the final boss has been beaten. Unfortunately, this version also included numerous bugs and glitches not in prior versions.

- A complete remake for the Nintendo DS. This made many slight changes to the game overall. Primarily, however, the game now had full 3D graphics and voice-acting during certain cutscenes. It also added a few more scenes to further flesh out the story. Also included was the new "augment" system which allowed characters to use additional abilities to their own and Whyt, a new summon for Rydia whose appearance is customizable and whose stats grow through various minigames.

Additionally, Final Fantasy IV is the "earliest" FF (but not the first) to receive a sequel. "Final Fantasy IV: The After Years" was released as an episodic game, similar to the original IV in gameplay, for mobile phones. It was released in NA as WiiWare for the Nintendo Wii. It takes place 17 years after the original game and showcases the return of every surviving character, plus some new characters such as Ceodore, Cecil and Rosa's son.

And finally, Cid Watch!:



Cid Pollendina is the first out of only two Cids to serve as a playable character. His appearance and role in the story is somewhat similar to III. He is the chief engineer in charge of Baron's airship fleet. Having more loyalty to Cecil, however, Cid joins him in his battle.


****

I will be playing the DS remake. The "FFII" version is... not really real. The PSX has awful loading times and the GBA version has all those weird glitches and such. The DS version is the best, IMO, minus some shaky voice acting.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I thought the DS voice acting was pretty spot on to be honest.
But oh well.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I'll start playing the DS one as soon as I get back from physio today.
I don't know how long it'll take me to do - I've never played it before.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

It's a decent length for a handheld RPG. I think you could do it with grinding in 25-30 hours

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Just an update partially to say "Hey, I'm still playin!" but also because I'm bored.

Right now I'm about to enter the Tower of Babil. I've held off for a couple of days 'cause I really haven't had that much time to play and the Tower of Babil is a bit of a longer dungeon. Yes, I have "Quicksave," but I hate to quit in the middle of a dungeon.

Anyway....

Rather than writing an awesome novel or making a cool short video or concocting a plan to make in Hollywood I was thinking about the FF series the other day. Particularly I was thinking about a pattern I had once heard about. Basically, I had read once that "fans" considered the series to follow a "even/odd" pattern similarly to the Star Trek movies. However, instead of one being good and the other bad, the odds focused on gameplay and the evens focused on story. This only applied to I-VI.

I was thinking about that and decided they were wrong. While I do agree you could see a pattern with the odds and evens it wasn't what they thought. I think they both focus on story and gameplay equally (for the most part). It has more to do with the tone and themes of the games. Essentially, if someone played I, III, and V and told those were part of one series and then played II, IV, and VI and were told those were part of a different series, I think they could be easily convinced.

Let's look at the odds: I, III, and V. Each game has the "Job system" in some form. In "I" you choose the jobs at the very beginning and are stuck with them except for one optional upgrade. III and V allow you to switch throughout the game. V let's you trade abilities between jobs.

They also have stories that focus on crystals, elemental demons, and destined Warriors of Light. In each game there are 4 Warriors (with a replacement 5th member in V) that are predestined to be Warriors. They don't really rise up and prove their worth; they display crystals or orbs or Jobs and have their worth handed to them. In I and III (minus the DS remake) they don't even have names or personalities. Just their titles.

They battle not against empires or men, but forces larger than mere human comprehension. A mysterious dark force that steals light from the crystals or a demon from beyond time. The villains have no real personality or even motive beyond the death of everything.

The evens are different - II, IV, and VI. These games don't necessarily feature one continuous gameplay feature like the Job system, but they do have and different theme and tone from the other games.

For one, they each have a larger cast of characters each with personalities and personal histories with VI, of course, being the largest. Each hero is, if not necessarily a "normal" person, is also not destined to be a hero or a legend. They are gifted individuals who see evil in the world and rise up against it, even if the odds are stacked against their favor. They have relationships and hopes and dreams beyond just the current struggle or battle.

The enemies are also more complex and less ambiguous. The heroes battle earthly forces - empires and armies. The villains have reasons beyond simply "being evil" for their wicked ways. They're not demons or gods, at least not until the end - they're just really bad men.

The only hiccup to this formula is IV. It has crystals and Zermous pretty easily fits the bill for evil ambigous evil that wants to destroy existence. Also, while it doesn't have the Job system it does have characters who are clearly said to fit within the Jobs from the prior games. However, it also Golbez, who is just an really powerful (moon) man and armies and whatnot.

Maybe later I'll get into more detail about why I think the other pattern is bollocks.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I forgot I'm still playing IV! Oops.
I ended up getting stuck and didn't know what do to (most likely because of painkillers) so I gave up and haven't touched it in almost a week now. I'm probably very early on, still. My mans are only around level 20.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I got bit by the Modern Warfare 2 bug, and then I've been doing some charting with Earl since I found out about the double XP weekend last week. It also reminded me that I need to finish Eternal Sonata because it's good and I've barely touched it I want to say in the last month.

I'm all over the place.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I mentioned in my previous post regardng a "gameplay/story" pattern that is supposed to be evident in the early FF titles. Basically, the odd games were supposed to focus on the gameplay while the evens simplified the gameplay while focusing on story. I also mentioned that I believe this pattern is complete dung. In the extreme delusion that anyone cares I will expand upon this belief. Please note, I did consider that maybe this pattern was dervied from the American I-III rather than the Japanese I-VI (which would completely change the dynamic, although I still think it wouldn't work), but I don't think 3 games is really enough for someone to ascertain a pattern.

So, I'll be breaking down each game and explaining why it doesn't fit the pattern. Remember, odd games are supposed to have simple stories with a greater focus on gameplay while even games are supposed have simple gameplay with a focus on story.


I: Really, since this is the first game its really hard to try to say whether it had an agenda in regards to a proposed pattern especially since there was not initially expected to be a sequel. Granted, it does have the simplest story of all the FF games and tells its story pretty poorly compared to to other jRPGs at the time, but I still don't think you could say it was the start of the pattern.

II: In the pattern's defense, II does have a more detailed and better told story than I. However, it also implemented an entirely new and different gameplay system in terms of stat increase. It also changed the gameplay around by switching up the 4th party member constantly throughough the game. Yes, you can say II has a larger focus on story, but you can't say it doesn't focus on gameplay (no matter how broken it is).

III: Its hard to really compare this one since I've never played the original Famicom version, but I still think it doesn't really fit the pattern. Sure, it introduces the Job system so there's definitely a focus on gameplay. I think the story, however, is no weaker than II's. Sure, you have nameless and faceless heroes in the original, but I feel that changes the tone more than quality. Basically, I think III comes off more as an epic poem whil II comes off more as a fantasy novel. Just different, but not inferior.

IV: This game, honestly, is the game that most closely fits the pattern. You have no choice over how your characters develop or who is in your party. Abilities are decided solely by level rather than purchasing them or levelling up jobs or whatnot. The story, of course, is the best one so far in the series. It has the best developed characters and the richest story at this point. However, it also introduced the ATB system which is the mostly widely used purely gameplay system in the series (and other series!) that wasn't initially introduced in I and is also the only game in the series to allow 5 characters in battle at once. I'd say they definitely had an eye on making it an exciting gameplay experience as well as story.

V: Once again we have the Job system. Perhaps the pattern was simply thought of because the odd games always use some form of the Job system which could be argued was pretty indepth for its time. Of course, they're ignoring that using the same system multiple times was probably easier than creating something from scratch. I'm not saying that there wasn't effort put into V (there are certainly refinements and adjustments and additions to the system from III), but I can't see how it shows the devleopers were focusing more on gameplay than story. While the story isn't as fantastic as IV, its still much better than the NES titles and has its moments. Let's just say Galuf's moment is better played than Tellah's.

VI: Yeah, arguably the best story in the series. You got me there. But it also introduced the Esper ability system (which spawned the Materia system in VII, certainly partially influenced the Junction system in VIII, is very similar to the ABility system in IX, etc.) and introduced Desparation Attacks which also influenced other similar systems in later games (most widely known are Limit Breaks from VII). It also has the most playable characters in the series each with their own unique abilities that may or may not be inspired by the Jobs from previous games. There's no way you could say the story came at the expense of the gameplay.

So, there you go. Sure, you could maybe argue that the evens games had the best stories, but I don't think you can argue that it was at the expense of the gameplay or that the odds have bad stories. Basically, people were just reading patterns into where they didn't belong.

Tune in next time as I rant on another random topic in the middle of the night!

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Uhm 6 is really the only game that doesn't fit the pattern. 1,3 and 5 do have terrible stories. 5 is the worst offender in my opinion considering the time of its creation. It's pretty obvious in that game the just focused basically on the battle system. Honestly the guy probably wrote the game script in like a night while drinking copious amounts of Saki.

2 and 4 are basically just a story. You can honestly go through both just mashing buttons if you fight enough random battles.

6 is the only one with something different to offer, however... 90% of the bosses and enemies in the game can be defeated with the vanish/doom technique and there's another technique that can be used on those who can't. So I think 6 can go either way. Yeah you can make it complex, or you can just go with it.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Okay, so rather than "Uhm, no you're dumb"ing each other why don't we actually refer to points and actually debate on something tangible than "No, I'm right because!"?

Regarding the stories, its subjective in the end. V, maybe, sure. Its not that great, but it has its moments. You disagree, so okay. I don't agree with III. Like I said before, its just different. I think the individual "episodes" within the towns and whatnot are much more memorable than the entire story of II. I can see how someone might prefer II's story, though. Again, subjective. They're just different. I is just primitive. It might not be good, but you can't say they didn't try; they didn't focus on the story.

Gameplay, however, I think you're wrong. II, yes, may be broken. It might ultimately boil down to "A, B, A, B, A" for an hour and instant win. But the system itself was brand new and it was pretty risky for a company who just on the verge of closure and only saved by a single game to completely alter the gameplay to the sequel to that game. It might be broken and easily exploitable, but there was definitely a lot of focus put on creating that system.

You're argument against IV's gameplay is silly, IMO. Pretty much any FF game can be beaten by levelling up enough or exploiting whatever system is in place. Now, granted, I did say that IV fits the bill the most. The player has no input on character development or abilities beyond levelling up. However, the additional abilities and switching up the party with completely different characters adds a lot to the gameplay. Its out of the player's control, sure, but it works. I'd say it works better than III's Job System.

And VI... really? I've never heard of the Vanish/Doom technique. Maybe its there and maybe it cheapens the gameplay. Same thing with II, though: just because its broken doesn't mean it wasn't focused upon. VI pretty much decided the path series took from then on. Pretty much everything it introduced got carried on in future games. You may not like it, there may be two spells that can be easily exploited, but the gameplay was definitely not glossed over in favor of the story.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

How's this going? Still happening, or abandoned?

Anyway, I beat IV a couple of days ago. I have to admit, right after beating it I had a pretty huge hankerin' to play THe AFter Years, so I bought the "core game" and got to it. I really wasn't able to get much into it. There's a couple possible reasons, but I'll stick with slight guilt that I hadn't yet finished with my "core" FF marathon.

In regards to IV itself I don't have much to say. I-III were either the first times I had beaten those games or the first time in a long time, so I had a fairly new experience. IV I had previously beaten less than two year ago when the DS remake came out, and several times before that.

IV did used to be one of my favorite of the FF games. I probably wouldn't say that now. Before, I didn't really appreciate being able to develop character abilities or whatnot, so having everything decided was nice. As I've gotten older I've begun to enjoy being able to customize my characters a bit. I still don't really enjoy it when the characters are completely blank slates, though. In those cases its usually either too easy to give them everything or the system is so complicated and tedious you have to read a novel of instructions and then spend hours in order to accomplish anything.

I also think the plot sort of cheats a little in regards to character death. I don't mind thinking someone has died only to see them return later if its plausible, but this game flat out cheats. Besides the one true death there are three (or four depending on how you count) fake deaths and each one cheats in bringing the person (or people) back.

1) Not really death, but an "incurable" condition. But if someone identified as "the great sage" can't cure it, how can the "elder" do it without any fanfare or anything? Its a cheat.

2) I don't care what you're made of. You can not survive a fall from hundreds of feet in the air PLUS an explosion from a bomb in your hand! There's not even an explanation. He just survives.

3) I'm not even sure why the third one even had to "sacrifice" himself. Its not explained what he was doing or how it would lead to his death and why it couldn't have been prevented. I suppose his survival of this is somewhat believeable since I don't even know what it was that's supposed to kill him. Explosion of the equipment? Some ultimate machine destroying technique that sucks out life energy? Maybe he was just hoping to get away from his abusive wife.

Overall, I still enjoy FFIV. Its up there with the "good" FFs, but its just not my favorite anymore.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Final Fantasy V Wiki Page


Released in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1992. Final Fantasy V was not initially released in NA due to Square deeming it too inaccessible to American gamers. There were plans to localize and release the game as "Final Fantasy Extreme" in order to market it to more experienced gamers who would enjoy the complex Job system. Plans for that release fell through however, and FFV did not see the light in NA (legally anyway) until 1999 when released for the Playstation along with FFVI in the Final Fantasy Anthology collection.

V's story returns to the basic crystal story presented in I and III. Something wicked is draining the light from the four elemental crystals and only the destined Light Warriors can save the day. Unlike I and III, however, V gave names and faces to our Warriors of Light:

- Bartz Klauser: A wandering adventurer. He at first becomes involved in the story due to chance, but his destiny is later revealed to be much less coincidental.

- Lenna Charlotte Tycoon: The princess of Tycoon. The game begins as she heads toward the Wind Shrine out of concern for the safety of her father, King Tycoon.

- Galuf Helm Baldesion: An old man with amnesia. All he remembers when discovered is his name and his destination: the Wind Shrine. His mysterious past is revealed during the game.

- Faris Scherwiz: A pirate who is initially believed to be male, but later reveals herslef as a woman in disguise. She has a mysterious connection to Lenna.

- Krile Mayer Baldesion: Galuf's grandaughter. She replaces Galuf later in the game.

Gameplay elements unique to or introduced in FFV:

- The Job system from III returns, but with some new refinements. Job levels are obtained through Ability Points allowing the player to track job advancement. Players are also now able to share a limited amount of abilities between Jobs creating "Super Jobs" (my term, not the games) that have elements from multiple classes.

- The ATB bar is now visible to the player for the first time allowing them to know exactly whose turn is next.

- The first recurring miniboss: Gilgamesh. He is fought st multiple points within the game Gilgamesh also makes cameo appearances in other, later, FF games in various forms.

Final Fantasy V has received a couple of different official releases in North America:

- On the Playstation as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology collection. This was the first official release of the game in NA. Unfortunately, the dialogue translation was far from perfect (most famously giving Faris a "pirate accent" not present in the Japanese version) keeping most gamers loyal to the fanslation from a few years earlier.

- On the Game Boy Advance as Final Fantasy V Advance. This version improved the translation exponentially, although some critics disliked the addition of multiple "pop culture" jokes added in. This version also added a few new jobs and bonus dungeons similar to other GBA FF releases.

Additionally, there is much made of the fact that FFX was the "first" game to receive a sequel, but this was incorrect. Final Fantasy V was, in the fact, the very first Final Fantasy game to have a story sequel; it was not, however, a video game. Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals is a four episode OVA released in 1994 in Japan. The anime is set 200 years after FFV featuring descendants of the original game's characters.

Lastly, Cid Watch!:



Cid Previa is an inventor from the Kingdom of Karnak whose knowledge and inventions have led the Kingdom to prosperity. When Cid discovers his machine are damaging the Crystals he attempts to shut them down, but ends up being imprisoned. He laments is failure untilhis grandson, Mid, cheers him up. Cid and Mid later become instrumental, as always, in helping the party discover, restore, and upgrade the airship.

Cid is once again unplayable, however he continues to play a larger role in the story.


*****

I will be playing the GBA version. This is the last FF that I have never beaten. After this game the only one that I haven't played recently is VIII, so we'll see how long I can keep this marathon going. Perhaps I'll get bored while playing through VII, or perhaps I'll going to distance. Oh, the imaginary suspense.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Looks like he got bored while playing. :P

Just came in here to post that Final Fantasy 9 will be available on PSN next Tues for 10 bucks.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/...-this-tuesday/

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I started it, got like 5 hours in on day 1, and decided to stop. Like, damn, the grinding required for thief run gets all of my hate. Plus it's frustrating.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

So far I've mostly heard good stories about FFIX...

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I think he was referring to FFI. He was going to do a all thief playthrough. I'm really excited about IX, BTW. My copy got stolen a few months back, so I was really hoping they'd release it on the PSN before I got to it.

Anyway, I'm still going with the marathon. There just didn't seem to be much interest in the thread so I didn't bother updating it. I'm now on VII having just beaten Dyne.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

I'm still interested. You skipped right over your impressions of the best game in the series! I am talking about 6, of course. I used to derive some satisfaction out of being the iconoclast who didn't like 7 that much, but I have been informed that my opinion is no longer controversial...

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

It happens, but I was in the throes of people that also enjoyed 6.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Just a random bump to say that I started playing Final Fantasy IV on the DS thanks to some of my Tweeplings and wanted to waste some time until Kirby's Epic Yarn was released.

I'm fairly early in the game, I just got to the castle and the Prince joined my party so yeah.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

A prince? Spoilers! :(


I played some of FFV 10 years ago, but I don't think I'm cut out for the slow pace of FF.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

And I've beaten XII! Done! Yep, 7 months since my last post in this thread (where I announced I was on VII) and I've finished the marathon. Not really much a marathon, I guess, since there was a big break, but hey! I beat them all...

What happened was I beat VII pretty quickly after my previous post. VIII went by pretty swiftly as well. IX didn't last long at all. I started on X, but I didn't move very quickly. It hadn't really been that long since I had beaten it last, so it all felt really deja vuish. As I had predicted, my excitement kind of ended after I beat VIII. It was the last game I hadn't really played in a long time.

I was muscling through, though, but then Dragon Quest IX came out. If we're being honest, the DQ series has always been much closer to my gaming heart than FF; its just much less available. Then that got me on a bit of a DQ kick (similar to how FFXIII got me on a FF kick) so I messed around with a couple of those. Then I got some new games and started playing those...

It took a while for me to get back to X. I had left off right before Operation Mi'hen. I picked it back up a little while ago. Pushed through. Started XII and pushed through that. And now I'm done! I thought about doing XIII again since its been over a year, but I've really soured on it since then and I'm not up to going through it again. Plus, I've already got a backlog (who doesn't?) and, icing on the cake, DQVI is getting released for the first time in America on Valentine's Day, so.. No XIII.

I'm going to go ahead and finish the thread off. I'll do the write-ups for the games post V and my impressions over the next few days or so. Maybe a couple tonight. This way I can say I did it "proper" or something.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

Was all about to make a write up for VI and realized I never did share my thoughts on V.

Hands down it is much better than III. The AP system is pretty great and its really simple to understand not only how much left until you've mastered a job (or at least levelled it up), but also playing with them and creating your own deal. The story was better than I thought it would be also. Nothing fantastic. Definitely doesn't hold up to the two games its sandwich between, but still enjoyable.

I was surprised at the lack of difficulty, though. I had some trouble here and there, but overall I didn't have too many problems. I possibly over-compensated for the "oh so hard" things I've heard similar to III, but still. Not that bad.

Overall, though, I would still rank V in the middle of the series. It does its job, but the story, while not horrible, is still not the best. The Job system, while improved, still has some issues (trial and error figuring out the jobs; easy to exploit once you do). I'm glad I've beaten it, but I wouldn't really go back to it anytime soon.

Re: Final Fantasy Megathread
 

FFVI Wiki


Originally released in Japan in 1994 for the Super Famicom, FFVI was released later that year in America as FFIII for the Super Nintendo. This was the last game to be re-numbered due to the skipping from I to IV. This was also the very last core FF game to be initially released on a Nintendo system. FFVI focuses on a rebellion group the Returners who battle the Gestahlian Empire. Emperor Gestahl wished to gain the control of the Espers, magical, powerful beings, and start a second War of the Magi. The Returners later battle against the evil clown Kefka Palazzo who wishes only to become a god himself.

FFVI had 14 (!) playable characters in total, more than any other core FF title even to this day:

- Terra Branford: A half-Esper who begins the game in control of the Empire. She breaks free of their mind control, but has no memory prior to her capture. She spends the game learning how to love herself and her split heritage.

- Locke Cole: A thief (excuse me, treasure hunter) who initially rescues Terra from the Empire. He fights for the Returners, but also searches for an artifact to help return a loved one.

- Edgar Roni Figaro: Twin brother to Sabin and King of Figaro. Edgar is very flirtatious. He appears to ally with the Empire, but secretly fights with the Returners.

- Sabin Rene Figaro: Twin brother to Edgar and a master martial artist. Sabin would have shared Figaro's throne with Edgar, but he chose his freedom from the throne and trained in martial arts instead.

- Shadow: A heartless man who would slit his momma's throat for a nickel. Shadow is a mercenary for hire with a mysterious past he only thinks about in his dreams...

- Cyan Garamonde: A noble samurai from the kingdom of Doma, Cyan swore revenge against the Empire for poisoning his kingdom, including his wife and child.

- Gau: A feral child who grew up on the Veldt, Gau is a master at mimicking beasts' attacks.

- Celes Chere: A former general of the Empire, she became disillusioned with the empire and was set for execution before being rescued by Locke.

- Setzer Gabbiani: A vain and materialistic man, Setzer lives for adventure. He initially only joins the Returners because the Empire is bad for his business.

- Mog: Mog is a moogle who has the rare ability to communicate with humans.

- Strago Magus: An elderly mage from Thamas, Strago is very protective of his granddaughter, Relm.

- Relm Arrowny: Strago's granddaughter and a little girl. Relm can create living things with paint and magic.

- Gogo: A strange creature, Gogo is a mimic who... mimics things. S/he doesn't even have a defined gender.

- Umaro: A yeti who has been befriend by Mog.

Gameplay elements unique or introduced in FFVI:

- For the first time you could decide who was in your party. While previous game had multiple characters, the story dictated who were fighting with at any given moment. FFVI, except for a few story sequences, allowed you to choose from any of the available characters for some or all of the slots in your group.

- Several of the above characters didn't have to recruited at all. Most of them could be forgotten about past a certain point in the game. This is the first time in the series there have been "optional" characters, the only other game being VII.

- The Esper system introduced in VI is similar to the Job system in V. Espers, or summons, can be equipped on a character. When this is done, that character learns any spells attached to that Esper via AP points earned at various rates depending on the spell. Characters will also earn various stat boosts upon levelling up depending on the Esper equipped.

- Characters now have abilities specific and unique to them such as Edgar's ability to use Tools or Shadow's ability to throw things.

- Desperation Attacks were introduced. When a character has low HP they have a slight chance, when attacking, to use a rare super attack specific to them. This concept would be expanded in later games. I've never actually had this happen to me; true story.

FFVI has seen a couple of releases over the years:

- As Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo.
- As Final Fantasy VI as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology Collection along with FFV. This version added FMV sequences to the beginning and ending of the game.
- On the GBA with a new translation along with a new bonus dungeon and few new Espers.

Interesting note, although the FF games would not feature voice-acting until FFX, FFVI is the first FF game to give a character a voice. While it is not a actual recorded voice, FFVI is the first game to use a sound to represent a character's voice (in this case, a certain infamous laugh).

And, finally, Cid Watch:



Cid Del Norte Marquez for the first time had nothing really to do with the invention of the airship or the party obtaining an airship (that role now going to Setzer). Indeed, Cid is at first an ally to the Empire! He is the inventor of the technology that can turn Espers into magicite. When he learns of the evil role of his technology he assists the Returners. He also raised Celes as his own daughter.