Do you consider this game hard?

[Wolf Kanno]

One of the excuses offered up for why this game wasn't released in the West was that it deemed too difficult for Westerners and while we all know that is a crock of shit, I am curious to see if anyone felt this game was at least one of the more challenging FF titles?

[Ergroilnin]

No it was easy.

And what the hell is up with that topic making fever you just got?

[Colonel Angus]

No it was easy.

And what the hell is up with that topic making fever you just got?
You don't come around here often, do you? Wolf Canoe is the guy who keeps FF relevant in these parts. He's the pied piper of Squeenix RPGs. :wcanoe:

To answer the topic, no, this was pretty easy. IDK what was the real reason they kept it out of the US. It wasn't some difficulty BS. It might have more to do w/ the peculiar story line, the transgendered playable character & the wide variety of job classes (mind you, III wasn't released here, either & there weren't any FF games that offered so many choices. Those could've been viewed as "too much" by Squaresoft).

[metagloria]

I found it very difficult the first time I played through, but that was because I had a completionist mentality and never switched jobs before one was mastered. By the time I got to the third world, I could barely kill anything. But now that I get it, it's a lot easier...still challenging toward the end, but easier than IV at least.

[The Man]

It's definitely easier than the hard version of IV, but that's not necessarily saying a lot. It's definitely one of the more challenging entries in the series, though I'm still not sure I'd class it as difficult.

[Sephiroth]

Yes, it is. A normal guy does not stand a chance in this one as he has so find out and manage too many things at once and that is what makes it hard as this is the basic context of someone who start completely new to this and all and that is what someone normally does and if we compare it to other Final Fantasys it is also fairly hard. I also beat Neo-X Death on a low average level but that is the context of having found out and gotten things already.

[Electroshock Therapy]

I thought so. I thought I was playing this game all smart-like and really trying to use those interesting job classes. But my curse in making poor choices in FF continued, and I always had the worst party for the occasion. Except the Bard. I am so glad I experimented with the Bard. Love Song was my most used strategy in normal battles! Saved me lots of MP for Cure!

[Mirage]

This is actually the first final fantasy game I played. I found it to be challenging, but I never thought of it as impossible. It was perhaps my first RPG as well, so the learning curve was very steep for me. Naturally, I had to pass on both Omega and Shinryu, but the main story never felt like it was too hard, even if I died to many bosses the first time I encountered them, and had to try to think up something clever before reattempting. It never bothered me though, because thinking up tactics and strategies is something I find very fun.

[VeloZer0]

I would say that it is easier than the NES entries, but if you exclude the first 3 then it is certainnly on the hard end of the FF spectrum.

When I think of the game 'hard' doesn't exactly come to mind, but it certainly wasn't easy.

[Galuf]

some bosses were pretty tough. but once you got past them all and got to farm on the Movers then the final boss is easy. but i had the GBA version so yeah

[Ayen]

It was easy until I got stuck on a boss, but I can say that about a whole lot of games I played in my youth.

[Galuf]

It was easy until I got stuck on a boss, but I can say that about a whole lot of games I played in my youth.

please tell me it was liquiflame so i can safely say i wasnt the only one who had trouble with it

[Ayen]

It was easy until I got stuck on a boss, but I can say that about a whole lot of games I played in my youth.

please tell me it was liquiflame so i can safely say i wasnt the only one who had trouble with it

Didn't even get that far. It was either Siren or Magisa & Forza.

[Pumpkin]

I thought it was one of the easier ones really

[Mirage]

Liquiflame was probably the first major brick wall i ran into. The feeling when you beat it though. Indescribable.

[Sephiroth]

Somehow I often fail beating Garula.

[Galuf]

Liquiflame was probably the first major brick wall i ran into. The feeling when you beat it though. Indescribable.

YES! now i know im not the only one!.


Somehow I often fail beating Garula.

He was the first boss i had trouble with too.
but that may have been my savestate. yes i played on Emulator first time...

[metagloria]

It was easy until I got stuck on a boss, but I can say that about a whole lot of games I played in my youth.

please tell me it was liquiflame so i can safely say i wasnt the only one who had trouble with it

Yeah dude, the very first time I played this I was super inexperienced and got thrashed by LiquiFlame. I think I was probably level 12.

[Galuf]

if you want too see how i truly fair with the game im doing an LP of it ( granted it is co-op with someone who isnt too experienced) its in the letsplay and livestreams section if you want too see it

[Spooniest]

2 things:

The interface is clean as a whistle. Few bugs, lots of options, easy to use.

On the other hand, the sheer number of options that are eventually present in the game make this game complicated to learn easily. When SE said "This game is too hard to release in the US" (presuming that this quote is accurate), they probably were thinking that it was just too hard for them to convey properly in a manner that would be ontime+underbudget.

Slick of them to manage their financial resources well at a critical stage of development for their company, I say.

[Galuf]

FFV is too hard to be released in US.

but contra and mega man are no problem....

[Spooniest]

FFV is too hard to be released in US.

but contra and mega man are no problem....

My Spidey-Sense is telling me that they meant to say "it's too hard for us to translate."

[Lamia]

It's easier than all its predecessors, yet harder than all of its successors. Sure, FFIV was released in the US, but as we all know, its difficulty was watered down.

I did have to "cheat" to beat Atomos though; basically, I turned everyone into a dragoon and spammed the jump command, effectively avoiding the bosses powerful magic aoe attacks.

Honestly, Final Fantasy IV (hard type) is the only FF game I've truly struggled with. The RNG on the moon is insane, to the point where monsters would crit, and one-shot a full-health party member. I had to use magic to vanquish random encounters, which I only used on bosses in other FF games. There was also the fact that you lost gil for running from battles.

[Spooniest]

I did have to "cheat" to beat Atomos though; basically, I turned everyone into a dragoon and spammed the jump command, effectively avoiding the bosses powerful magic aoe attacks.

Even with the scare quotes, that's not cheating. That's totally legit and the best strategy I've ever heard for Atomos.



Honestly, Final Fantasy IV (hard type) is the only FF game I've truly struggled with. The RNG on the moon is insane, to the point where monsters would crit, and one-shot a full-health party member. I had to use magic to vanquish random encounters, which I only used on bosses in other FF games.

I do not know what you're talking about. The only really hard monsters when you first get to the moon are the Prokaryotes and the Eukaryotes, and even they become mere annoyances by the time you've leveled up a bit.

Going further in, there are lots of randoms in the Lunar Subterrain that could be challenging, but I'm thinking mainly of the Sorceresses and the Red Giants. Blue Dragons are difficult, sure, but you can just run away. There are plenty of other battles you can fight in there to get money, and you don't encounter Blue Dragons often enough for it to become a problem.

The only other monster I can think of that might be doing a lot of damage to you is the Behemoth, and their STR and Attack are just through the tittyfucking roof. The trick (when you first encounter them) is to use Blink and Image, and avoid magic (it'll counter with Maelstrom [All Ally=Reduced to <10 HP] if you use too powerful a magic, and the regular stuff just bounces off).

It only seems hard to you because you've failed to do your homework, is my point. FFV is much harder than IV. You either have the abilities and items to win in many cases, or you don't, and since a first-time player doesn't know what's coming up until they're in the thick of it, it's extremely common to enter an area where your current job setup is totally inadequate. If you only have equipment for this one setup, then you're screwed and have to go back to town. Don't have enough money? Time to grind some out.

The sheer amount of shit you can buy and find and do in FFV is mind-bending. It is the most complex mainline FF there is.

[Sephiroth]

It's easier than all its predecessors, yet harder than all of its successors. Sure, FFIV was released in the US, but as we all know, its difficulty was watered down.

I did have to "cheat" to beat Atomos though; basically, I turned everyone into a dragoon and spammed the jump command, effectively avoiding the bosses powerful magic aoe attacks.

Honestly, Final Fantasy IV (hard type) is the only FF game I've truly struggled with. The RNG on the moon is insane, to the point where monsters would crit, and one-shot a full-health party member. I had to use magic to vanquish random encounters, which I only used on bosses in other FF games. There was also the fact that you lost gil for running from battles.

You know that Atmos is way easier if you keep one character ko as he focuses on pulling him/her from one side to the next?

[Spooniest]

It's easier than all its predecessors, yet harder than all of its successors. Sure, FFIV was released in the US, but as we all know, its difficulty was watered down.

I did have to "cheat" to beat Atomos though; basically, I turned everyone into a dragoon and spammed the jump command, effectively avoiding the bosses powerful magic aoe attacks.

Honestly, Final Fantasy IV (hard type) is the only FF game I've truly struggled with. The RNG on the moon is insane, to the point where monsters would crit, and one-shot a full-health party member. I had to use magic to vanquish random encounters, which I only used on bosses in other FF games. There was also the fact that you lost gil for running from battles.

You know that Atmos is way easier if you keep one character ko as he focuses on pulling him/her from one side to the next?

Using a Sacrificial Lamb vs. Staying Out of the Way?

I'd rather just stay out of the way.

[Pumpkin]

Yeah I just had the one character KO'd, and revived them when the fight was close to over

[Rez09]

I . . . played FFV after Tactics and found it a pretty easy game. I don't remember getting stuck on any bosses, barring Omega and Shinryu for obvious reasons, and my friend who played through it afterwards didn't have problems until he, somehow, ran out of money to throw at things in the final area. I agree with the people who have said it so far: the three NES games are harder. Well, one and three are anyway, two really just depends on your patience for punching yourself in the face for hours on end. :/

Also, regarding the Atmos fight, can't you Kiss of Blessing him? <.<

[Galuf]

FFV is too hard to be released in US.

but contra and mega man are no problem....

My Spidey-Sense is telling me that they meant to say "it's too hard for us to translate."

pooh hah. but fans gave a decent job of it and its better than their PSX translation

[Spooniest]

FFV is too hard to be released in US.

but contra and mega man are no problem....

My Spidey-Sense is telling me that they meant to say "it's too hard for us to translate."

pooh hah. but fans gave a decent job of it and its better than their PSX translation

That was done for free by kids with too much time on their hands. It is frankly a miracle it's as good as it is, and it has several issues.

Professional translations must be done during billable hours, and at that time, it was customary to hire only one translator. Having a team for such a task would have been cost-prohibitive at the time, and it was too big for them to do in-house, I'd wager.

Better to hedge their bets and just save that money to pay FFVI's translator.

[Galuf]

FFV is too hard to be released in US.

but contra and mega man are no problem....

My Spidey-Sense is telling me that they meant to say "it's too hard for us to translate."

pooh hah. but fans gave a decent job of it and its better than their PSX translation

That was done for free by kids with too much time on their hands. It is frankly a miracle it's as good as it is, and it has several issues.

Professional translations must be done during billable hours, and at that time, it was customary to hire only one translator. Having a team for such a task would have been cost-prohibitive at the time, and it was too big for them to do in-house, I'd wager.

Better to hedge their bets and just save that money to pay FFVI's translator.

guess it doesnt matter to me. even FF VII was made before i was born lol

[Electroshock Therapy]

I . . . played FFV after Tactics and found it a pretty easy game. I don't remember getting stuck on any bosses, barring Omega and Shinryu for obvious reasons, and my friend who played through it afterwards didn't have problems until he, somehow, ran out of money to throw at things in the final area. I agree with the people who have said it so far: the three NES games are harder. Well, one and three are anyway, two really just depends on your patience for punching yourself in the face for hours on end. :/

Also, regarding the Atmos fight, can't you Kiss of Blessing him? <.<

I'm currently playing through FFII again. Nowhere in the game is this necessary. Just strategy, mixing magic and weapons. Well, that and don't sell your weapons that inflict status ailments. They really do make the toughest enemies easier, even all the way to end game. For instance, I always keep the Ancient Sword. It's a great weapon against Gigas enemies or anything with a high defense. I've played this a couple time, and I'm going through it again. Mainly the grinding I've done is for Gil and maybe for some extra MP. Leveling up weapons and spells is pretty minimal, too. Sorry mods for going off topic like this. I like to respond whenever I see people think they need to beat themselves up to win the game. I just want to people to realize FF II can be fun! :monster:

Back to FF V. I do remember I had a terrible time trying to beat Ex-Death at the end. I even did level grinding throughout the game, and I though I was careful enough to exploit various job skills for my party. Nope. In the end, I had to go online and find strategies. I ended up using that one chemical mix that skips the second form entirely. :( Next time, I will beat it the proper way!

[Madame Adequate]

I haven't been finding the game especially hard so far. Atomos almost got me until I discovered how much shell was reducing his damage, and I had to take a couple of stabs at Liquiflame. It seems to depend on how you build your party to a great extent, and now that I've got the hang of knowing what I always need and how to seriously implement that so I have an effective spread of magic, various damage options, etc. it's become pretty easy for the most part.

Sometimes you come up against enemies that always wreck you though. I cannot for the life of me safely beat Blue Dragons in ExDeath's tower. Red Dragons sure, no problem, but without ice-absorb gear I can't survive Blue Dragons for long at all, and even with it it takes an age to chip their health down.

[Polnareff]

Without looking back to that time, it's easy to say "yeah, this game is easy" but back then it was one of the more challenging games to wrap your head around with regards to the job system. If you leveled up the wrong jobs at the wrong time, and equipped the wrong passive abilities without understanding them, then you were in for some hell.

I find this game to definitely be up there on the challenge scale, even to this day. Every other game has some kind of kink that totally destroys it, that a normal person can figure out in 10 seconds, or is so painfully easy that you don't even have to try (hello, FFVII).