Having played the GBA version, did I miss out on the real FFI?
Printable View
Having played the GBA version, did I miss out on the real FFI?
Yep.
It's not nightmarishly hard, but there's a lot less hand holding than in the newer FF games, and a lot more trial and error.
The GBA version is a lot better balanced than the original game, which is one of the reasons that it is easier. That and you level much much quicker.
Limited spell use means knowing when to heal :)
Limited spell use means spamming the hell out the the Healing Staff. :D
BTW, FFI had handholding compared to PC88/PC98 JRPGs from mid and late 80s , the most simple example of handholding is including airships for faster travels :p. My point is the whole point of FF experience and console RPG is more handholding compared to PC JRPGs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
It's harder and probably one of the hardest entries in the series with you watching your whole party get wiped often. Grinding helps but not as much as later games. The title is very resource based with trying to make decisions about using precious items or spell charges to survive longer, running from battle to preserve said resources, and whether you are brave enough to really try to explore every nook and cranny of a dungeon for rare and powerful loot with a very real chance of dying and having to redo the entire dungeon. If you get easily frustrated about failing and having to redo sections of a game, then the NES/Famicom version is not for you.
I just finished a playthrough of the NES version (probably the hardest version thanks to all the bugs) and I pretty much had to relearn all the basics again about playing old school RPGs like save often and actually using the run command. Also it's not about spamming the Healing Staff, the later dungeons sometimes involve spamming the Healing Staff and your three Healing Helms every other round just so you can keep everyone alive.
The old kill every enemy off but one and have everyone spam the infinite use healing items trick.
Yeah, the GBA version is a cakewalk compared to the original. The original involves lots of running and tough healing choices and dying. Sometimes it's a grindfest just to get through the next area. And sometimes the game just screws you over (e.g., no auto-retargeting after an enemy is killed).
My favorite is the following:
>Party enters battle at Full HP
>Enemy gets preemptive attack
>4 Enemies cast instant death attacks
>Party annihilated before you even had an opportunity to enter a command
I remember trying it once and dying in the first random battle I encountered. I was 11, though, so I guess I can be forgiven :p
I don't think it's stupidly hard - it's like the others: the bigger the level differential between you and the enemy, the less you have to think about strategy in battles. Run around levelling up enough, and you can button-mash through it like any other FF :p
The mechanics are more awkward, though - for example you have to queue all 4 attacks at once in this game. Fine but if an enemy is defeated by the first character and you've just blindly fed "attack attack attack attack" commands at the same enemy, your next 3 characters will just wave their swords at thin air where that enemy used to be. So you have to really think ahead when feeding in those commands - is your fighter strong enough to wipe it out in one hit? Then get your monk/thief/whatever to target something else so you don't waste turns.
This was "fixed" in the remakes and a fine example of where they've been simplified as a result.
That and it's fun playing the old FF as it was meant to be, going through the FFs and watching the progression in graphics and game mechanics from one to the next etc.
The original game is hard for me because in the old games you had to be a lot more diligent in your explorations. Things were not as easy to find and the most random things would get you rare stuff!
I remember trying out the NES version. I got lost within about a half hour and stopped playing. Although, that's probably not an issue I'd have only with that version of the game. xD
What makes the NES version more challenging than the GBA is inability to save unless you enter an inn and much more limited magic. There are no ethers and you can cast a particular level of spells 9 times max before having to go to an inn, but brand new spells you can probably cast it like 1-3 times depending on level. Money is harder to come by too I think. Oh yeah, and dead characters cannot be revived until you get the rise spell; there's no phoenix downs and rise/unstone spells can only be cast out of battle.