Final Fantasy Megathread

[magus113]

Originally Posted by Ginkasa

Sort of. I don't think the difficulty over all increases. I think they just throw a whole bunch of different monsters into that area. Some of them are too powerful for you to defeat or defeat easily, so you have to avoid them until you're stronger. I don't think the game overall gets more difficult, though if that makes sense.

No it does make sense. I'm in the Tower of Babil now, and it seems like a much easier climb than the Tower of Zot was.

I love this game.

[Ginkasa]

Originally Posted by magus113

No it does make sense. I'm in the Tower of Babil now, and it seems like a much easier climb than the Tower of Zot was.

I love this game.

Are we talking about IV or XIII...?

[magus113]

Originally Posted by Ginkasa

Are we talking about IV or XIII...?

Talking about IV. I'm kinda between both. I take IV with me on the go cause I have the Complete Collection for PSP.

I spent idk how long in XIII backtracking because I'm on Gran Pulse and I found out I was missing some stuff before I decided to try and barrel through an area I probably shouldn't have been. It's still entertaining though, I'll give it that, even if it's not my favorite by far.

[Ginkasa]

Originally released in 1997 for the Sony Playstation, Final Fantasy VII is a series of firsts. It was the first Final Fantasy to not be released on a Nintendo console. It was the first Final Fantasy to utilize 3D graphics. And it was the first Final Fantasy (since the FIRST Final Fantasy) to not be re-numbered when released in America.

Final Fantasy VII has been ported to multiple systems over the years to remain available. It received a contemporary release on the PC (and was later re-released on Steam). It has also been ported to the Playstation 3 and 4. There is currently a full Final Fantasy VII remake in development.

FFVII focuses on the struggles of a group of rebels, known as AVALANCHE, against a corporation known as Shinra who essentially aim to take over the world. The main concern is Shinra's use of an energy source known as Mako, which AVALANCHE believes will destroy the world if abused. Both factions also have to contend with the return of Sephiroth, a villain with unclear motives.

Our playable characters consist of of:

Cloud Strife: A former member of Shinra's special forces known as SOLDIER. Cloud has left this group and now works as a soldier for hire. Throughout the game, Cloud struggles with coming to terms with his identity and the realities of his past.

Barret Wallace: The foul mouthed leader of AVALANCHE who fights with a gun attached to his arm. The only thing he loves more than the Planet is his adopted daughter, Marlene.

Tifa Lockheart: Cloud's childhood friend and member of AVALANCHE. Tifa's knowledge of Cloud's true past is the key to unlocking the secrets in his heart (I just got it).

Aeris Gainsborough: The last member of the Ancients, the ill-fated flower girl is not only Cloud's main love interest, but also the holder of the Planet's greatest hope.

Red XIII: Also known as Nanaki, Red XIII is a victim of the experiments of a mad scientist. Red XIII is a wolf-like beast and the warrior protector of his tribe.

Cait Sith: A robot cat who controls a robot "Mog", Cait Sith has a secret identity and confused loyalties.

Cid Highwind: The second Cid to be a playable character, Cid's dream is to explore space. He settles with helping save the Planet and captaining the group's airship.

Yuffie Kisaragi: An optional character. A teenage ninja who enjoys nothing more than stealing Materia,

Vincent Valentine: Another optional character. A vampire-like being with mysterious ties to Shinra's and Sephiroth's past.

Unique or new elements:

- The active party is limited to only three characters at maximum; down from the previous norm of four. Possibly due to graphical restrictions?

- FFVII is the first FF to utilize 3D graphics. The characters are 3D models who explore pre-rendered CG backgrounds. FMV cutscenes are often used to give the game a cinematic flair that wasn't possible before.

- FFVII utilizes the Materia system; possibly an expansion of the Magicite system from FFVI. Materia are crystals that can be installed in slots the groups weapons and armor. Materia allows that character to utilize various abilities including magics, summons, stealing, etc. They can also boost the characters stats.

- Limit Breaks are the extension of the Desperation Attacks from FFVI. Each character has a limit bar that fills up as they are attacked. Once full, the character can unleash a strong attack or other ability. They work differently depending on the character.

Cid Watch!



Cid Highwind is the second Cid to be a playable character. He returns to the Cid legacy of providing or piloting the group's airship. Cid Highwind is a pilot and mechanic who originally dreamed of going to space, but his dream were dashed when his launch failed and his funding was cut. Cid's surname is a callback to Kain Highwind from FFIV and Ricard/Gareth Highwind from FFII, both Dragoons. While FFVII does not strictly utilize the Job system, Cid does have similarities to Dragoons like using a spear as a weapon and several of his Limit Breaks being a jump attack.

[Ginkasa]

With the release of Final Fantasy XV a few weeks back (I just finished it a few days ago), I've been thinking about finishing up my little series here.

Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy I played. I actually have a pretty great story about the first time I played this game. I typed it out one time on reddit; I'll just quote it here:

I didn't have a PSX or FFVII myself, but my friend did and somehow I convinced him to let me borrow both for just a weekend. I have no idea why he agreed to it; he was only up to the battle with Dyne. Anyway, I only had the game for three days, so I had to really speed through it if I had any hopes of beating the thing. I made all kinds of poor decisions in the interest of expediency. I sold materia that didn't have any immediate use for equipment. I spammed my summons (but only the ones you naturally gain through the story; I didn't explore enough to get any of the hidden ones) to get through battles.; I wasted all of my elixirs and megaelixirs. I don't even know how I got to the end, really. There were a few battles where I'm pretty sure I just lucked out. Hojo comes to mind.

I was only in my low 30s when I got to Safer Sephiroth. I got through Jenova and Bizzaro Sephiroth easily enough, but Safer Sephiroth always just demolished me. Again and again I worked through the first two battles to just get creamed by the third battle. I had no idea if I was even getting close to beating him.

I looked up strategies online, but they always seemed to rely on me having Omnislash, or KOTR, or at least some fairly basic skills and items that I sold long ago. I couldn't go and get KOTR since I had sold my chocobo materia. I think I made an attempt on Omnislash, but it was going way too slow for the time I had left. I returned the game and system without having beaten it.

A few years later I got a PS2 for Christmas. I was actually more excited to get to play some of the PSX games I had missed than any PS2 games, but the top of my list was buying and finally beating FFVII. I left nothing to chance. As soon as I could I began racing and breeding my way to a Gold Chocobo in order to get KOTR. Sephiroth didn't have a chance.

I finally returned to the battle that had defeated me so along ago. I selected KOTR confident that I had just won in one swift stroke. Before it got cast, though, Sephiroth tossed up that stupid barrier that I hadn't planned for. KOTR did only half damage which didn't kill him. I fought hard, but my strategy had depended entirely on not having to actually fight and I lost. Again.

Then I fought him again and made sure to dispel the barrier before I cast KOTR and I won. Finally. Years later.

As an epilogue to this story, I remember playing Kingdom Hearts and finding the ??????? section in the Hercules world. I selected it, curious what it was. One Winged Angel began to play. "No," said, beginning to shake. "It can't be." Sephiroth appeared. "No, please," I begged the game. He absolutely demolished me. "Noooooooooooo!"

I still haven't beat him in that.

As an aside, I have since beat him using Omnislash and also without either KOTR or Omnislash. Still haven't beat him in Kingdom Hearts, though.

One thing about FFVII is that when I really think about the game, I often think it is slightly overhyped. The graphics have not aged well at all. The story is hampered by a sub-par translation. The gameplay isn't really that big of a leap over FFVI; just a little flashier. I think some of the things FFVII is known for was actually done first (but not necessarily better) by FFVI; mainly thinking about adding more technology to the series and even some of the cinematic quality the series has since become known for.

Still, there is something about FFVII that draws me to it again and again. I don't know if its just nostalgia from the days when I could literally play a video game without stopping over a weekend or what, but I am never not enjoying myself with this game. I've actually played it through again since my marathon this thread was originally about; this isn't true about almost all of the other games in the series. If I try to rank the series, I almost always include VI, IX, and X above VII for various reasons, but those games just don't pull me in like this one does. Its odd.

As an aside, I am very hesitant towards the impending remake. While I was definitely hoping for one at some point, I was really just hoping for a graphical upgrade. I don't even really want it to be up to today's standard, or even the standards of 2004 or 2005 or whenever it was the rumor train started rolling for a remake. I would be just fine if the game looked as good FFIX. For me, the issue with the original FFVII (that would be fixed with a remake) are about the consistency of the graphics and the translation. Its very jarring to go from the polygonal mini figures of the overworld to the much more detailed battles figure, back to the mini figs, and then to an FMV. The translation just needs to be done over and with a more professional touch. I worry the remake is overdoing it. C'est la vie.

[Vampyr]

What did you think about FFXV? I finished it a few days ago.

Personally I thought it was not very good.

The storytelling within the game was atrocious. If you didn't watch the Kingsglaive movie and the Brotherhood anime, you would most likely not know what is going on at the beginning of the game.

And then throughout the rest of the game, even if you watched that stuff, you will very quickly not know what is going on. Nothing is ever explained. You can learn some tidbits by reading some books that are laying around or turning on the radio in diners, but even then it's vague, and it's ridiculous that a story driven RPG would rely on something like that to convey its story.

On top of that, the side quests are awful. On top of just being fetch quests, there's no interesting story or characters surrounding any of them. It all involves running mundane errands for people who are too lazy to do their own work. Even the main characters in the game talk about how annoying the tasks are to do.

I've seen a decent number of people talking about how beautiful the world is and it's the best Final Fantasy to explore yet, but I think those people must not have played FFXIV.

And the load times. Holy moly the load times. If there was nothing else wrong with the game, the load times alone would be enough to knock a few points off its score. I feel like I spent 20% of my time just waiting for the game to load.

Then there's the voice acting. The four main characters, Ardyn, and Regis are fine. Every other character in the game has terrible voice acting. It sounds like they are literally just reading off of a piece of paper. From the moment you meet Cindy (who's design is an abomination) she says, "I'm Cindy, Cid's grease monkey granddaughter!"

I legitimately think they accidentally had her read the character description from the top of the script and put that line in the game.

And the whole game is just full of stuff like this. Characters come and go with no introduction or explanation as to who they are or why they are important. Most of the important action of the story happens off screen.

I mostly slogged through it because I thought the post game dungeons might be fun to do.

They aren't. They're just dozens of copy-pasted rooms that take hours to go through killing the same enemies over and over.

The more I think about it the more I struggle to find any redeeming quality that justifies this game's existence. The one small thing I can say is that its badness actually inspired me to play some older JRPG's to remind myself they were probably good games.