Indeed
That's why I'm not touching that quest with a ten-foot pole
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Indeed
That's why I'm not touching that quest with a ten-foot pole
I believe Sakaguchi once stated that the point with Aerith's (and also Zack's) death was that the world doesn't stop turning just because someone died. Yeah it sucks, yeah it's sad, but the world at large doesn't care; life goes on and in the characters' case they still have an explicit goal to reach. They all find ways to grieve in their own way, without making it a huge let's-all-wallow-in-self-pity session or anything like that.
It's why no matter how cool Zack's death was in Crisis Core, it'll always feel to me like it kinda missed the point of them originally making it a completely anticlimactic ambush by I believe it was 3 Shinra soldiers. Instead of, you know, a gigantic smurfing army.
*shrug* It's your own choice to decide whether they remove the materia from the rocket or not, and yet you're blaming it on the characters? Don't abuse your status as a world-crossing witch, man =P Though I will say I never had the feeling they were devastated, they were basically expecting it to fail but seeing it directly still bums them out, understandably enough.Quote:
DON'T YOU THINK MAYBE THE OUTCOME COULD BE A BIT DIFFERENT IF YOU HADN'T DECIDED TO JEOPARDIZE THE WHOLE THING?
Also, now you know why Yuffie was an optional character ^^
No, I get the death thing, and I understand why it's important that it's understated. That;s not the point I'm making. I'm not saying this is a blunder on the part of the writers, it's just that the death itself isn't really important to the narrative in the way a large chunk of the fandom (including me, up until this point) misunderstood it. Aerith's death isn't a turning point because of her death - it's not her death that makes the characters change their motivations and reach an epiphany. It's something that propels some story events forward, and only then do the characters really grow and change. It's more like a stepping stone - and a much lesser one than Cloud completely giving in and giving Sephiroth the black Materia, which I think is where the real Wham Episode happens - to the actual resolution of the story and character arcs.
But then that epiphany goes out the windows and here we go with the senseless huge materia padding :gator:
Also, Cloud & co., you assholes! Criticizing Shinra for using materia to save the world when you're doing the exact same thing!
Yeah the huge materia stuff really is a big plot hole. I mean at least Shinra are actually using it. You steal it from them and... what? It just sits in Bugenhagen's observatory. You can't even get anything out of them until you've done a crazy amount of work. You can't get Master Summon until you have all the summons but if you have Knights of the Round then you sure as hell don't need Master Summon to beat Sephiroth.
Yeah, have always hated the Big Materia plot, even when I was about 11 years old I was like " uhm, wtf game " ??? And then the game shows clips of sad, heartbroken and disappointed people, because there's no materia in the rocket anymore and it fails to even scratch the meteor. Depressed and hopeless people, because of Cloud and the group. Not Shrina. It's almost like Barret and Cloud didn't want to give Shrina any credit for anything ? So they risked everybody dying so Avalanche could be the heroes instead ? Wtf ?
Too bad you hate Yuffie though, Fynn, always thought that was a interesting character, as she's a teen that just doesn't know how to deal with her town basically turning into a tourist attraction after a big war, and somehow believes that materia will solve all her problems and is addicted to materia, almost like it's a drug to her. She wants materia, so bad, that she's willing to trick and lie to friends ( like real life drug and gambling addicts, though FF VII does it in a over-the-top Loony Tunes cartoon tone ) Always found her coping methods interesting. If you take her to Aerith's death, she just clings to Cloud and shakes her head in despair- Yuffie is just a confused and lost teenager, that doesn't understand how to cope with the heavy parts of life yet imo.
Idk, it's just characters like Yuffie that make me think:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YIjjm9hgQMY/maxresdefault.jpg
Aerith's death is pretty important because she kinda saves the world by dying.
But she never intended to die. That's a big thing, too. She had no interest in being a martyr, she had so much planned for her future.
Is Cloud's breakdown more impressive in the short-term? Definitely. But Aerith's death has quite the impact as well. Perhaps the impact is just felt in more subtle ways than "well the world is smurfed now."
When you get right down to it, Aerith is easily the most important character in the party besides Cloud. Even after dying, she never stops being relevant to what's happening.
I agree. I'm just surprised on how much her death's impact on the characters (and the narrative too, really) is downplayed, to the point of not really being there for the most part. Her character, on the other hand, is important throughout, even after her death.
This translation, Jesus
Cait Sith is suddenly talking like he's from the Deep South for some reason
My feelings towards Cait Sith are the same as your feelings towards Yuffie.
See, I actually find him amusing
But the inexplicable accent change is just... I mean, it's still better than parts of dialogue not making sense
Honestly, out of all the re releases, VII is the one that would have used a solid re translation the modt
If its the part where he's revealed to be Reeve, then there is a reason for the accent change because in the Japanese script Reeve speaks with one type of dialect while Cait Sith speaks in another, but when he gets razzeled by the events with the Sister Ray and Rufus' death, he accidentally switches the accents (hence the comment Heidegger and Scarlet make) which reveals to Cloud and company of Cait Sith's identity.
Granted, it's still a shoddy translation since Cait Sith's speech was barely given any accent through most of the game, but that's still most likely why that scene is a bit weird.
BUt... Reece doesn't speak that way at all!
Seriously, who translated this! I mean, I know Alexander O. Smith was involved, but could this really be the work of the genius responsible for the exquisite English scripts for Vagrant Story and FFXII?
Alexander O. Smith's first Square game was Final Fantasy VIII. In fact the highly criticised translation of VII is the main reason Square reformed their localisation process and invested more into a dedicated team. Smith was involved with VIII through to XII.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
It was actually translated internally from what I hear, but as Fox mentions, Square didn't have an actual localization department at that point.
Well that's pretty smurfed up!
Anyway, went for the final battle with as little preparation as I could. Cloud is level 50, Barret and Tifa are level 49, and I haven't maxed their limits. Still, managed to get to the final stage, only to hit a very big doze of bad luck and got killed. I'll try again later today. Think I'm gonna win this time. I just found out way too late that Safer Sephiroth is susceptible to slow. The other two pre-final bosses were really easy.
Just started VIII and WOW is that opening cinematic still beautiful or what?
You don't waste any time!
Yeah, it's still pretty awesome. I love the whole setup in Balamb Garden
THis is a marathon, sweetie. I have no time to waste
*FmarathonQuote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Those are some yellow numbers on that screen, Fynn.
Anyway, FFVIII. One of those games I've wanted to play, but I'm not sure how I'd feel playing it. I'm not a fan of the junction system from what I hear. Doesn't it basically relegate magic to boosting your stats, as opposed to... you know, using it?
Honest question Fynn: how does the earlier Final Fantasies treat magic compared to some of the later instalments? In some of the Final Fantasies I've played, magic was either inferior to physical attacks or more awkward to use. Like FFXII: great combat system, but I never particularly used magic all that often as it has a charge time AND a special 'command queue' thing. FFX was very good in balancing magic and physical attacks, up until endgame, where it loses out to physicals.
The numbers are yellow because I got in the finishing blow right after a Super Nova, which always reduces your HP to 1/16 of your current amount :p
Magic is everything in VI. That's why if you take the time to teach everyone every spell, you are completely and utterly invincible. IV was cool in that magic had a charge time but was really powerful, so there was a nice balance. V did away with the charge time but added the Time Magic school for the first time, so that was interesting.
Junction is awesome, honestly. And of course you can use magic normally as well, even if it's not really optimal to do so. But summons are pretty broken so they make up for that.
Also, guys - some tips on not missing GFs and getting the best weapons asap, please!
Apparently you can abuse Triple Triad to card mod some ingredients to get the best weapon for Squall, but you'd have to consult a guide for that. As for the GFs? I don't know. Use a guide?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
And Squall totally reminds me of my brother as he is right now. He's about the same age, similar hair, and the limited responses like "I guess" are pretty much how he talks. I also pretty much always pick the nicer dialogue choices, so the similarity is a bit bigger than it would have been otherwise
You're going to need screws and steel pipes for pretty much everything you're going to want. So when you encounter Wendigos, fight a bunch of them and get as many steel pipes as possible. You also need 6 steel pipes to get Doomtrain so get 10 or so. Geezards give you screws.
Card mod and Mug will assist you in your goals.
GFs are mostly hard to miss but you will need to remember to DRAW them from the following battles:
- Siren. Draw from Elvoret at the communications tower during the Dollet mission.
- Carbuncle. Draw from the Iguions in Deling City during the parade.
- Leviathan. DRAW-FROM-THAT-NO-GOOD-NORG
- Pandemona. Draw from Fujin in Balamb.
- Alexander. Draw from Edea during Garden battle.
- Eden. Draw from Ultima Weapon in the deep sea research center.
Just make sure you always draw from bosses to not miss some of the GFs, even then, it's possible to get them in the final dungeon if you do miss them, but most of the GFs are easy to obtain with the possible exception of Doomtrain since he requires picking up certain items and taking it to a certain place.
Squall's weapons are the only ones that really matter since the upgrades for the others are minor compared to how important Junction is. Whereas Squall's Limit Breaks are directly tied to his weapon. All you need for weapons are the ingredients for the upgrade, you don't even need the Weapon's Monthly issue to unlock them.
Honestly, while there are several smaller quests you can easily miss out on, the game is really good about not missing any gameplay opportunities, so I wouldn't really stress it. What you should be focusing on is doing the Library Girl sidequest for Zell, or rescuing the kid from the train in Timber, or getting more backstory from the Mayor of FH. Those are the things that are easy to miss.
Oh, and remember to look around for all the Weapons Monthly magazines. You can only build better weapons if you've found the magazine it's in. Absolutely make sure you don't miss the First Edition.
Looking forward to FVIII as well! I'll be jumping ship again when you reach FFIX though
I assume you won't be doing much Triple Triad? Just gonna motor on through?
You don't actually need the magazine, just the ingredients, though the magazine does tell you what the ingredients are, so they are super useful if you're not bothering with a guide.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fox
Also, Ray Bomb is one of the hardest Blue Magic spells to get for Quistis, because it's a rare item that only drops from a certain enemy when they are a certain level. So if you happen to be poorly leveled, you'll need the Lv. Up/Down abilities and some scan spells to finally get it.
lol just lost all my cards. All of them.
Does that answer your question, Bub?
Eeehhhh, sou desu ka?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf KannoYou don't actually need the magazine, just the ingredients, though the magazine does tell you what the ingredients are, so they are super useful if you're not bothering with a guide.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fox
Also, Ray Bomb is one of the hardest Blue Magic spells to get for Quistis, because it's a rare item that only drops from a certain enemy when they are a certain level. So if you happen to be poorly leveled, you'll need the Lv. Up/Down abilities and some scan spells to finally get it.
I must have been remembering wrong. I thought they never appeared in the shops until you found the magazine... It has been a couple of years since I played FFVIII though.
Note to self: rectify this.
The weapon shows up if you have the necessary resources even if you don't have the magazine; how else do you think people get the Lion Heart on Disc 1? =P
For your own sanity and for the sake of some game balance, always have a character focus on attacking. It'll limit your drawing rate significantly.
But drawing is so much fun!
My problem with Triple Triad was that I always loved it, but also sucked at it.
Well, now I got the Ifrit card. And I bullied the hell out of the guy that took all my cards. And now my deck is filled with cards that have lots of sixes and sevens and I actually KEEP WINNING HELL YEAAAAAAAHH!H!!!!!!!
Also, the Junction system is so good. It's scratching all of my gameplay itches that I have been missing since beating FFV.
I am having so much fun you guys
Yup, that sounds about right. I was pretty surprised myself when I replayed the game on PC and it was just so much fun.
Too bad levelling characters is kind of the opposite of what you should be doing due to level scaling. Because I wanna keep levelling up my GFs!
Speaking of GFs - I know I can junction more than one to a character, but is there a limit as to how many? Or could one character theoretically have all the GFs junctioned to them? Also, are the abilities available to the GF dependent on level, abilities learned, or do you never get more at all?
Alright, time to adjust my hipster glasses
I'm really not a fan of VIII's soundtrack
I enjoy the regular battle theme and the boss theme, but other than that, I feel that Uematsu kind of experimented a lot here with some much more ambient stuff and it didn't really work out. Also, the Balamb Garden theme does nothing to me, and I know that's a fan favorite. The melody is really simple - even primitive - and there's just too much bells and weird synth for it to make me think of anything other than, uh, hospitals? For some reason?
Also, don't get me started on Man With the Machine Gun. Waaaay too much 80s synth, and not in a cool way like in SMTIV. Though here, I really think this is because it's a really poor arrangement rather than poor composition, because the symphonic version is very nice.
Here's hoping Wolf Kanno doesn't hate me for this ^^;
I will totally troll you for not liking Man with the Machine Gun, as well as your inability to appreciate FFIII's score. Other than that, I agree that VIII's OST is a bit underwhelming and easily my least favorite of the PSX generation.
Leveling GFs shouldn't be too much of an issue since they will get the bulk of XP if they land the finishing blow. Use abilities like Card Mod as well to get around the XP issue.
You can actually equip every GF to one character if you want, only your Magic Stock has a set limit and even that is rather generous.
:omgomg: My thrid fav game ever :omgomg:
I unfortunately can't give you too many tips because I'm not the expoity-mcgee type when it comes to this game and I hate Triple Triad and the card mods and all dat.
I personally decide before hand who gets what GF's, and then I divide the magic in to three sets and swap those over depending on my party. But I keep my GFs to one particular character each. Like Shiva is always on Rinoa (when she joins my party) so even if she isn't in my party, Siva will still be junctioned to her. This isn't practical, it's just one of my deals. Dat GF loyalty.
Oh yeah, you do have your GF compatibility bars that change based on who uses them and the other GFs they use. So keep an eye on that if you care
FFVIII is a Bad Game but I'm replaying it to, only I'm using a mod that changes the gameplay to actually make the battle system fun. FFVIII's gameplay has a bajillion problems but first and foremost among them is how terribly easy it is.The FF series is not known for difficulty but FFVIII is a special case of being made for babies. Mentally challenged babies at that. Junctions are so unbelievably broken that it's impossible to NOT break the game as long as you are seriously collecting magic. Then there are the stat+ abilities. HP, MAG, STR +80% What were they thinking?
As for collecting weapons, once I went on a Triple Triad card collection frenzy. Before I even went to Timber, I had Squall's second strongest weapon. Card Mod is obscenely broken. Abyss Worm cards + T-Magic RF = 20 Tornado's per Card. Mod 1 Abyss Worm into Windmill and then T Mag RF into I think 20 Tornadoes per Windmill. Tornado is pretty much the best junction spell at this point. You can work on getting Flares and Meteors but that's way harder. If you are the right level, you can draw Flare from Tri-Faces at the Balamb Garden MD Level near the start of Disk 2. They're rare encounters though.
Dollet has the Random Rule. I forget how exactly but make sure you abolish this rule. It involves running back and forth from Dollet to Timber and playing with the guard near the city entrance.
You need a guide to do the Card Queen sidequest. It's stupid.
When you get to Disk 2 and get back to the Garden, make sure to defeat teh CC Club quest. That involves finding the various members of the club and defeating them at Triple Triad. They all have really good cards but the real reward for this is they have infinitely respawning rare cards on Disk 4. You have no idea how useful this is. Well, I mean, you don't need this because vanilla FFVIII could be beaten by a toddler but it's still nice to have I guess.
Did you defeat the GIANT MECHANICAL SPIDER? I neve rhave until this current playthrough.
You should have Tents? I believe the game starts you off with 5 of them? L Mag RF turns them into 10 Curagas I think, or maybe 20. Junction Curaga to HP and enjoy nothing being able to kill you, ever.
The music in this game does suck pretty hard, though. FFVIII easily has the blandest world in FF history (because it's basically just 90s Earth) and Uematsu seemed to take inspiration from this blandness. All the town themes are as hallow and lifeless as the towns they belong to.
You know, for someone who hates FFVIII so much, you seem to play it with surprising frequency. ;)
I wanted to play Persona 3 as you know but I forgot my PSN password and Sony won't send m ea goddam reset password email no matter how many times I request one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
So I need something to do. I noticed the mod I played of VIII had been updated and altered for the PC version and I wanted to give the new version a try.
The reason I hate VIII is because it had so much potential. It is not a game devoid of quality. It just needed some tweaking. Lots of tweaking but still, there is a great game buried in there.
Like, the reason I love this mod is because the battle system is actually interesting. All the refining and mods and turning items into magic and magic into items and stuff? Very neat concept. Problem - FFVIII is so piss easy you don't need to do any of that. There is depth to VIII's battle systm but it is depth most people won't see because you don't have to.
I liked that I had to learn about how to manage Crisis Levels and other little details because those little details are cool.
As for the story, you know I love Seifer. He's a legit great character. I never get tired of seeing him.
I almost feel as if I've put off playing this game because Triple Triad is a rather involved, major sidequest that affects various things. Like, I remember playing Triple Triad on EoFF once and got absolutely hammered. I don't think I'd ever get the hang of it.
At least FFX-2's Sphere Break could be beaten with a computer programme to assist me. How the hell am I even going to attempt Triple Triad? And doesn't FFIX have something like it?
Damn, have I been avoiding these games because of a card game?
I am honestly flabbergasted by how many people I meet who can't play Triple Triad. It's not that difficult to figure out, even with the advanced rules.
Triple Triad is still far and away my favorite minigame in *any* game I've ever played.
Also you know what's broken? Chocobo World is. On the PC version, it literally removes all limits on your power as soon as you get access to it. Thanks to a glitch you can eternally deliver items from it without losing them on the Chocobo World side, allowing you to get infinite stat ups, potions, well just about anything really. And you can let that game run by itself automatically if you know how.
I love Triple Triad but hate the advanced rules. Sometimes simple is better, and especially when Random comes into it I flip the desk.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
Quote:
And doesn't FFIX have something like it?
Yes what happened was they took Triple Triad and said "Now we have made the perfect mini card game how do we make it a bit worse?" So now what you have is a slightly harder to understand Triple Triad with dice rolls determining success. Imagine if when playing chess instead of just 'taking' a piece you rolled a dice to see if your take was successful. That's Tetra Master in a nutshell.
Honestly, Triple Triad is completely, 100% optional. I beat the game fairly easily the first time without even winning one card battle
I beat it everytime without winning a card battle
Already got five GFs! Woohoo! I think I'm only missing Brothers and Carbuncle from Disc one, and the rest are on later disks, I think?
I'm starting out by teaching Diabolos Darkside because I just want some more variety in my party's abilities. Also, since I've started really doing amazing in Triple Triad, I taught Quetzalcoatl (I called him "Quetzalli" after another summon from earlier because I could not stand to look at that terrible spelling) Card and am now teaching it to refine cards, because that supposedly gives you a lot of neat things!
So I'm off to Timber now. Thanks for the tips, Pumpkin. Though I probably won't be paying attention to compatibility much - at first, at least. I'm gonna stick to three builds that I'll just exchange between the party members I get, and when I can finally stick to one party, that's when I'll build up their compatibility. I'll probably go with Squall, Rinoa, and Zell. Squall and Rinoa are a must because adorbs and Rinoa's limit breaks actually encourage you to use magic, but the third character is still kinda up in the air. I kinda want it to be Zell because he's more focused on physical stuff and whatnot, so that'd be a cool way to balance that, I think.
Yeah you should only be missing those two from disc 1 I think
Final Fantasy eighhhhhhhht yeeeesss :love:
I'm at Timber, btw! Had my first Laguna flashback. Also, Timber uses the Same rule which I still don't really get :O Still, it's not bad. I just hope the Diff trade rule doesn't spread :/ How do I get All to spread?
As best as I can recall, you gotta find the Queen of Cards because her Trade Rule changes all the time if you just keep opening up the TT menu but then exit. So challenge her to a card game but then exit out before starting the game if she's using any rule other than All. Once All does come up, actually play that game and win. Go start a card game with some other NPC and see if they're using All. If they aren't, head back to the Queen and repeat the previous steps until All always comes up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
This MIGHT work for other NPCs too...I'm not sure. Maybe you can try to challenge them repeatedly until All comes up but I never did that. Whatever rule you play repeatedly with will be the one that everyone uses though so just don't play the game if Diff or whatever comes up instead of All.
In any event, unless you sent the Queen to Dollet or Deling City, you won't be seeing her again this disk.
I... didn't
*Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays*
I guess I'll wait for the later discs for that :p
Got to Galbadia Garden. Shiva just learned refining ice magic. I got 87 Blizzagas.
I'm that person who just gets stuck in a TT hole for hours. I love it!
Also boo you all for dissing on the soundtrack!
I suppose I'll expand on this. The actual mechanics involved are a little too complicated to explain here, but there are two primary ways to spread the card trading rule you want.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken LoverAs best as I can recall, you gotta find the Queen of Cards because her Trade Rule changes all the time if you just keep opening up the TT menu but then exit. So challenge her to a card game but then exit out before starting the game if she's using any rule other than All. Once All does come up, actually play that game and win. Go start a card game with some other NPC and see if they're using All. If they aren't, head back to the Queen and repeat the previous steps until All always comes up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
This MIGHT work for other NPCs too...I'm not sure. Maybe you can try to challenge them repeatedly until All comes up but I never did that. Whatever rule you play repeatedly with will be the one that everyone uses though so just don't play the game if Diff or whatever comes up instead of All.
In any event, unless you sent the Queen to Dollet or Deling City, you won't be seeing her again this disk.
1. Single Spreading: You move the Queen of Cards to your desired area. Whenever you play the QoC, the trading rule in the area is randomized. You can use that to easily get whatever trading rule you want in the area she's in. Note: Just to make things more confusing, the trading rule in the area is NOT the same as she uses in her games with you. You need to play other players to see what rule is prevalent in your area.
2. Global Spreading: You play the QoC in any area until she uses the trading rule you want her to. Then you play against other people in the area over and over again (simply challenging + aborting on the TT screen is enough, you do not need to actually play). As you do this, the trading rule in this region will spread to other regions.
Both ways are kind of hard to control since the way the QoC moves is frustrating and the random spreading to other regions is, well, random.
One thing I do feel the need to point out regarding the All trading rule though is that as you play it will eventually 'degrade' into the next lower card trading rule which is either 'Direct' or 'One'. So you might end up with Direct accidently in some regions as you do this. With Diff this doesn't happen as Diff always only degrades into 'One'. Although similarly to how All and Diff degrade, you can also always degrade 'Direct' into 'Diff' or 'One' by playing more games. Although that Direct trading rule might spread to other regions in the meantime...
I recommend just doing some Global Spreading but with Diff instead of All. I prefer to avoid having to deal with Direct as much as possible, and Diff, more often than not, still gives you 4 or 5 of the enemy's cards if you win. =P
Got to disc 2. Had a small heart attack because it looked like the data on my vita memory card got corrupt, but everything went back to normal after a reboot.
I honestly forgot how strong the cast of this game is. Sure, there's the shared backstory cop-out, and the way people keep passing the idiot ball to each other is just mind-boggling, but I actually get the feeling that these are people who are interacting with each other and they all have a specific chemistry with each other - which is much more than I can say about VII's cast which felt very bland in comparison.
Maybe part of that is thanks to the translation, though. It's sooooo much better this time
Ugh
The memory card is acting up. Checking if transferring stuff to another card will help matters.
Who has been hating on the soundtrack for FFVIII?? It's one of the strongest ones!
I think it's one of the weakest. Granted, it has a few good tracks - like the main Battle Theme, Force Your Way, Maybe I'm a Lion, or The Extreme - but I'm just pretty underwhelmed by things like Man with the Machine Gun (good composition, weak arrangement, symphonic version is MILES better), Balamb Garden (boring), Blue Fields (bleh) and a whole bunch of weird synth stuff that just sounds incredibly uninspired. Uematsu was experimenting with more electronic sounds and ambient here, and it doesn't always work, sadly. The best tracks here are those that are fairly in-line with his usual 80s rock-inspired stuff (see again Force Your Way, Maybe I'm a Lion, etc.). Overall, though, there's way too little really enjoyable stuff among the plethora of weak tracks, and even those aren't really Uematsu's highest highs. I think VIII has one of his weakest FF soundtracks (along with III, which was just eh even though it wasn't that experimental, or IV, but at least IV had several tracks that are actually super iconic in my eyes). This is especially glaring because it comes after V, VI, and VII which are all easily Uematsu's greatest soundtracks made for the series.
Fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
:monster:
Denial. The first stage of grief.
I love Blue Fields
:stare:
Stop being a grouch!
I just... there's a lot going on in my life now, okay? :whimper:
I REALLY THOUGHT SQUALL WAS DEAD, YOU KNOW!! :G
Shh, it's okay, we're here for you :grumppat:
Here, listen to some Blue Fields to help calm you down and cheer you up
:stare:
Escaping the D-Prison and...
Did Zell just give Squall a blowjob out of gratitude?
Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
And Squall never gave consent so I think Zell should be kicked out of SeeD for sexual misconduct and/or assault.
He didn't really object much, though. Just gave him a playful little bonk on the head. I think he liked it.
SO apparently the rocket base is way more fun if you DON'T slam on the keys randomly. At least I think that's what it was. I didn't remember sneaking around with the lights off.
Also, now I'm getting the B-Garden movin'! Which means I'll be getting Leviathan soon! :D
Ya know... I swear there's about a billion different ways to get through the rocket base. I've played that game half a dozen times and I seem to get a slightly different experience at that part every time.
If that's true, then that's really awesome! :D
ALSO! GUYS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I think I'm actually gonna be able to see the Queen of Cards again. Which means... I CAN GET THE ALL RULE TO SPREAD!!! :ongoing:
The Missile Base section is definitely one of the more underrated parts of FFVIII in terms of being pretty fun and having lots of things to do.
The funky guitars were also cool
See, I do think VIII's soundtrack is good. Just one of the weakest in the series. But that's still a very high bar.
Of Nobuo's work, I would honestly say X and XI are his weakest works personally. Course he didn't do all of the pieces for either OST and in the case of FFX, I prefer his stuff over the other composers but they're still the weakest for me. VIII's OST is like Chrono Cross and FFXIII's OST for me. Great when you listen to them by themselves but they often suck as soundtracks because it's difficult to remember when any of them play beyond major themes that get overplayed or irritating tracks. It just doesn't work as a soundtrack to me but musically I find the album is not so bad.
For me it's mostly a matter of really poor arrangements. And a lot of tracks that are just pointless filler.
Oh, and look at Blue Fields for example - the Symphonic version and piano version are really nice because they don't have that weird Jamaican drum thing playing the main melody. The Oath and Fisherman's Horizon - same thing. And every arrangement of Eyes on Me that isn't Eyes On Me is incredibly boring.
Guys, we need to start up a charity, for Fynn, he needs better ears. :ohdear:
50 cents a day, so Fynn can enjoy the FF VIII soundtrack :cry:
My ears are fine, maybee. I am actually a trained musician! I know how painful it might be to accept that you're wrong ;)
Srsly,though, it's still good. It's just that most other FF soundtracks are miles better
Beat four tonberries!
16 more to go
Beat the tonberry king!
Got stuck behind the car in Balamb lol
So im at the orphanage scene and... it's really not as bad as I remembered?
I've always loved the orphanage bit, because it makes it like everybody is within a non-blood related family. It's like saying that family doesn't equal to blood relation.
Just make it so not EVERYBODY expect Rinoa grew up in the orphanage and it would of been a fine and cute plot-twist. Remove Quistis and Seifer imo.
Also, there's something curious about this game that I really haven't seen people comment on, which is weird.
But has anyone noticed how naked the espers are in this game?
I mean, Shiva is wearing nothing but body paint - which is still better than what Ifrit and Siren got, since apparently the only thing protecting their modesty are their pubes! :stare:
My issue with the orphanage is not that everyone grew up together, but rather that they forgot about it due to the GF. There's no good reason for the en mass amnesia apart from to hide the fact that Matron is Edea, but that could have been handled in a different way. Also I hate massive coincidences, so the fact that you join up with SeeDs from Trabia (Selphie) and Galbadia (Irvine) during your adventure and by an astonishing twist of fate they were both in your little orphanage group as well just stretches my suspension of disbelief beyond breaking point.
Honestly its a real shame they didn't just have everyone remember each other from the orphanage from the start, it could have made for some really interesting group dynamics
Meh. I'm not too bothered, since there is an actual in-game explanation. Plus, the scene itself is really nice.
Got the Ragnarok, so I'm basically done with disc 3. Time to farm some Malboros and get all those Espers and best weapons!
Here's some thoughts, since I made a lot of progress since my last update.
- I'm surprised with how cohesive and well put-together the story is. Honestly, VIII was one of those games I was least looking forward to, and it ended up being one of the coolest parts of this marathon, in part because of how well the plot is done.
- Though it has its quirks, I still think that overall it feels much more polished than VII which had really high highs, but incredibly low lows. I guess the fact that this is one of those entries where large parts of the fanbase consider it a "black sheep" makes me more lenient towards it.
- Disc 3 has a similar problem to VII's Disc 2, but not quite to the same extent. Like I said, the orphanage scene may have been heavy-handed, but it was subtly set up and I think it works fairly well. The stuff, here, however? Suddenly we're going to space? And then there's this big block? And apparently monsters come from the moon and they're about to fall but this hasn't been brought up by anyone until now even though it totally should have been because HOLY CRAP A MASSIVE CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN AND PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT IT!?
- No track embodies how I feel about the soundtrack better than the Esthar theme. It's a very nicely composed track, but the arrangement is just bafflingly terrible. Owl hoots and whistles? Seriously, Nobuo? That's how you want to introduce this marvelous high-tech society?
- That Ragnarok scene was unnecessarily padded. I like that there was a gimmick to beating the monsters, but it got incredibly irritating that only after beating half of them twice already that only then the game decided it should tell me how this thing works.
- I wish Edea could stay in the party for longer
- OK, seriously. What is up with Adel looking like a 12-foot-tall male bodybuilder? I'm mostly asking you here, Wolf Kanno, since you've probably read an Ultimania or something (it's kinda your thing). I don't even mean a story reason or anything, I just mean design-wise. What was Nomura's reasoning for this? I'm genuinely curious, since this was always one of those really interesting things about FFVIII that never get a proper explanation.
I guess this means I'm due to disappear again soon as I haven't played FFIX!
What the hell are you waiting for?
Also, easily the worst airship theme in the series
Your guess is as good as mine with Adel, the Ultimania is just a glorified strategy guide for the most part with some information and in VIII's case, barring an extra story about the myth of Hyne which never amounts to anything in the game proper, most of the meaty new info the guide provides is for the various vehicles you see in the game. There is a lso little tidbit stuff like Sorceress' having normal lifespan and Angelo's gender, but nothing the game doesn't tell you proper. Even the 20th/25th guides don't really reveal anything you couldn't figure out by playing the game proper.
The problem with the Orphanage twist for me is that A) It's so subtly hidden in the game that it is incredibly easy to miss most of the foreshadowing for it, so it always feels like it comes out of nowhere. None of this is helped by the fact that a good chunk of the events/info is hidden in optional stuff you can do in the early section of the game and probably ignored to get the plot rolling. B) The revelation never comes into play again. It's just used for the silly shock value and to set up the idea of a personal connection with Edea, yet the concept itself is really cool but poorly utilized, it would have been more interesting to deal with the ramifications of using amnesia inducing spirits than drop into the equally poorly explained time travel nonsense that is Ellone and Ultimecia. It's kind of the hallmark of Nojima's writing where he comes up with these bizarre plot hole inducing ideas for the sole sake of getting a shallow shock out of the player, but he never stops to really think about the ramifications of the idea. It's why I always compare him to M. Night Shamalyan (sp?).
Also, the Ragnarok may not have my least favorite airship theme, but it is easily my least favorite airship, it's so damn slow and clunky to use which is a real shame when you compare it to how fast and smooth the Blackjack/Falcon and Highwind were in the previous games.
Agreed on the airship. And the writing, honestly. Of course the orphanage sequence isn't handled well (though this twist can be handled well, as evidenced by Persona 2) but I still think it's not really that bad, now that I play these in order. We've had to stomach bulltrout all this time you guys. In V and VI and VII too. I just think that we were all a bit older by the time VIII came out which is why it bothered us more. The whole "not thinking about all the ramifications" really brings back that whole huge material fiasco again...
The series has never had excellent writing but for VIII, I kind of feel the issue was that they had three different story scenarios to work with and instead of just choosing one and making the most of it, they just haphazardly threw it all in and made a muddled mess. It has too many ideas and no one to prune it down and leave only the best. IX has a similar problem but I felt it did a better job making it not feel quite as disjointed.
I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that I have the ultimate weapons for my main three and have obtained Bahamut. I also got a bunch of Energy Crystals from Elnoyle and stacked everyone's HP with Holy. Squall now has 9999 HP and 255 Str. I am now on my way to face Ultima Weapon.
The bad news is that because it took a lot of effort to look for all those things, Squall's level is now 65 :(
Oh, it turns out I can apparently get infinite stat boosting items now that I have call shop and all the refinement abilities. I guess that'll help a bunch!
Hooray for good game balancing! \0/
I mean, honestly, I still think this is only an option for the very patient. I still don't know if I'll actually have enough of that to really go through with it. Plus, there might really not be a need for it.
Nooooo the FF VIII airship theme is my fave
:ohdear:
Well now
Discussions of the VIII soundtrack have been a total trainwreck so far :p
Speaking of total trainwrecks, I like 'The Mission' and wish they used it more.
I mean no trains actually got wrecked in that mission but you were on a train so it's mostly relevant.
Also IMO "The Stage is Set" is so good it makes up for any other deficiencies in the soundtrack (not that I believe there are many but, you know, devil's advocate and all that ;))
They were okay, but really, I think there are a lot of tracks that serve the same purpose that came before and later that just do it much better.
Remember, guys, I still like this soundtrack. Anything with FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC is pretty good, tbh. It's just that throughout most of the game it's the bland tracks that play. And all those baffling instrument choices... :roll2
Haha yeah no. It's insanely tedious. If you do ever feel like stat-maxing for some reason, play the PC version and use Chocobo World. Otherwise just get some good junctions going and you won't need it. With your stats you shouldn't have any trouble against anything besides Omega Weapon and Ultimecia anyways (maybe Ultima Weapon if you don't kill it fast).Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Ah man. Refresh my memory. Why do I have to beat Ultima Weapon fast?
Ultima Weapon is a glass cannon, mostly. He won't do much damage to you with his regular moves if you have good defenses, but he's fast and his attack pattern is random. One of his attacks is notably Light Pillar which deals 9999 damage and you can do nothing to reduce it except use Defend to nullify the damage. So technically there's nothing except chance stopping him from putting out constant Light Pillars leaving you with no room to counter attack. (It doesn't happen though)Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
On the other hand, a single Lion Heart will kill him instantly. So there's that. Really he should be no problem whatsoever.
Wow
One Lion Heart was actually enough!
Told ya =P
Yeah, the real challenge for me with Ultima Weapon is drawing 100 Ultima spells from him without killing him first. I remember Omega being surprisingly easy to fell as well compared to other super bosses in the series.
Ok, I may totally diss this soundtrack, but the Time Compression theme is just gorgeous
It totally should've replaced Blue Fields as a map theme on Disc 4
I WILL PERSONALLY MURDER THE PERSON WHO THOUGHT THE ORGAN PUZZLE WAS A GOOD IDEA
When it comes to the soundtrack for FFVIII, how can anyone not mention the Triple Triad music? "Shuffle or Boogie" is probably my least favorite track in the entire series, and its creator deserves death far more than the creators of any of the puzzles from Ultimecia's castle.
I like Shuffle or Boogie! I can play the piano version too! Kinda. A bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyblade
I'm pretty okay with Shuffle or Boogie. It's catchy and has an arrangement that's inoffensive enough compared to some other tracks
Done! Ultimecia was much easier than I remembered.
Moving on to IX!
Everything's easy with Lion Heart! Did you use the ultimate cheese combo? (Meltdown + Aura + Renzokuken/Lion Heart)
You'll catch up to me fairly quickly on IX, I'm only at Dali and moving slooooow as I'm playing Neptuina at the same time.
Exactly :D Zell helped out with his limits. Went down in no time.
Also, guys, the jingle that plays when you pick up an item is identical to the Chrono Trigger one!
Uh I actually said no to the rat kid and he's gone
Wat do
GAME OVER
That I have never experienced this problem makes me concerned about how readily I accepted the offer to become a slaveQuote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
He was standing by the ladder later. TBH, I was really worried I wouldn't be able to progress for a moment XD
I also just realised that apart from that very first action where you keep a lookout for him there's nothing that you actually do as he 'slave'. I mean he even carries the ladder!
He's still not the nicest person
YEAH FFIX :omgomg::omgomg::omgomg::omgomg::omgomg:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Best playthrough of FF9 ever :lol: short but sweet
So I've reached Dali and I really don't have much to comment on other than I'm just melting inside. Back when I was a kid I could only emulate the old games and would constantly fantasize about what a 3D FF would look like abs from all the info I had available at the time, IX looked like it had everything I was looking for. After playing it, I was not disappointed. It's a great tribute to the pre-VII games that creates its own unique identity. And I love every second.
Thanks to you and night fury, I'm now played ng through VIII. All while I was playing through XV I was itching to play VIII since it's been a while since I've played. Used to be a game I played through yearly. I'll probably be itching to play ix while I read your playthrough I'm sure.
Glad to see this is still going! I'll be back commenting more when you reach FFX :D
Same, can't wait to hear some thoughts on FFX.
Well he doesn't like FFX so you better be looking forward to it being torn to shreds!
Yeah I dunno if I'm really gonna be looking forward to his FFX thoughts all that much ^^;
Oh well I'll just have faith that he finally realizes that his opinion has been completely wrong all this time.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, if he says too many mean things about Final Fantasy IX we might have to ban him from the franchise before he even starts playing X.
At least when it comes to the characters and story. The game systems are fair game as a lot of them kinda suck - even though it is still my favourite game ever. I'm also on IX at the moment, just finished disc 1.
I gotta say... the battle system in general frustrates the hell out of me. The 'jobs' are completely broken for the first 1/3 of the game until you finally get some summons, Trance is awful, the ATB is too slow, the 'Steal' system is infuriating, animations take too long. If a party member has 'Confuse' and you tell someone else to hit them to remove the status, if they die before your turn the one who was gonna hit them will hit SOMEONE ELSE IN YOUR OWN TEAM.
Sorry this has been lacking in updates, guys. I'm still visiting my parents so I haven't had the time to really write anything substantial here, but I am playing the game and making substantial progress and I'm almost done with disc 2! I'll have a mondo update ready when I get back home summing up all my thoughts on stuff that has happened up until that point. So far I can say that this is easily the best game of the PSX era and that the narrative is almost as well-paced as IV's. This is also actually the FF I know the least because, despite the fact that I love it, I've only played and beaten it once, while all the others I've at least played more than once.
And guys, X may be one of my least favorite games ever, but I still have good things to say about it! I'm not a monster. I mean, it's not XIII, at least!
But yeah, don't be expecting to hear a lot of nice things. Remember I went into VII fully expecting it to be great and look how that playthrough turned out :3:
The opposite could happen though!
I've played it again fairly recently, actually
So I doubt it
Fynn logic:
"Ugh, FFX, what a dissapointment" > keeps playing it
"I love FFIX!" > plays it once
I know, right?
I can't even explain it myself
Also guys, let's face it - you aren't here just to hear me praise the games you love. You enjoy it when I talk trout too ;)
Yeah, trash-talking is one of the best bits of LPs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
True enough. I mean, if everyone agreed with me all the time, who would be left to feel smugly superior over?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
You're providing a vital service
Final Fantasy Stockholm Syndrome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pumpkin
Funny. I could say the same thing about you, but I try to be a nice guy :)Quote:
Originally Posted by FoxTrue enough. I mean, if everyone agreed with me all the time, who would be left to feel smugly superior over?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
You're providing a vital service
Okay, time for the promised update!
- Got all the way to disk 3 in the week or so that I've been playing. And I think I know now why I've only played this once compared to other FFs - I-VI are much less dense in dialogue and event scenes than VII-X, so that makes them easier to beat. And IX has been consistently inaccessible for me for the longest time, since I had emulators and the handhelds for I-VI, had VII and VIII on PC, and then the PS2 for FFX. So I basically had all these FFs to pick up for all the free time I had until high school, which is when I got a PSP and bought FFIX. At that point I was much better at games and once was enough for me to beat it (up until that point it always took me at least two tries to beat a game), and once I beat it, I moved on to other games since I didn't really have enough time to replay older ones. So there we go. I liked IX better than X, but simply had far fewer opportunities to beat it.
- The story flow is very balanced so far and I enjoy that the overall feel of this game is like a combination of FFIV and FFVI, with a small taste of what FFXII will be like. You can definitely feel this is a Hiroyuki Ito game and by God, this man needs to make more FFs, for all of our sakes.
- Most of the music is amazing. There are of course the ever popular choices of Vamo Alla Flamenco, Vivi's theme, and all of Beatrix's themes, but I'm actually much more impressed by the more subtle, Medieval/Renaissance-inspired tracks, thanks to all those Music History classes I had back in music school. I love the title screen, the South Gate theme, the Cleyra settlement theme for how authentic they feel in their modal arrangements and limited woodwind instrumentations. And then there's the Gizamaluke's Grotto theme that sounds very early-baroque and it made that dungeon so much more enjoyable. On the other hand, we have a lot of weird tracks that really bring the soundtrack down. While I enjoy the fact that it's an homage to old FF battle themes, I thinkg the main battle theme sadly fails in being nice to listen to otherwise. It's mostly just too slow, which just further emphasizes how slow the battles are. And then there's tracks like the Black Mage Village theme that just cause me physical pain. I do like the Tetra Master theme much more thatn Triple Triad's, though, due to how soft it sounds, and I also think the boss theme is criminally underrated. We haven't had such a tense-sounding boss theme since FFV, and that one's also one of my favorites!
- Speaking of, I really adore Tetra Master. Yes, it has a big random element to it, but that's the fun part, really, since you can't really exploit the system easily because there's always risk involved. The game is also much more clear with its rules with no weird and terrible rules accidentally spreading because you played someone different, and the game board being bigger as well as the added arrow mechanic really make this game so much more fun to me than TT. I am a bit sad, however, that it no longer influences the rest of the game in any way. Then again, maybe it's for the best that it's self-contained?
- The battles are slow but I've gotten used to them and that doesn't bother me anymore. I like that stuff like regen actually benefits from it since the long wait times for the animations don't actually stop the regeneration process.
- This game is also giving me huge Chrono Trigger vibes, in a very good way. The beginning at Alexandria where you have so much to do with Vivi really reminds me of the Leene festival. Much like CT, FFIX really rewards you for exploration and looking over every little nook and cranny. The maps - both dungeon and town - are very robust and there's tons of places and content to get lost in. If you know Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite game of all time, you will understand why this makes IX so enjoyable for me, and why a certain other beloved installment that lacks this is so low on my personal list >.>
- Not wild about the party splits that happened throughout the first two discs, to be honest. Sure, they did a great job with helping flesh out the characters (one of the best casts in the series, might I add - I even like the controversial Amarant, Eiko, and Quina), but I am pretty miffed that Steiner and Freya are lagging behind. I mean, I couldn't play them at all for almost one full disc. Also, Quina just keeps joining and leaving, doing whatever s/he wants! No, ser, I will not have it!
- Speaking of Quina, s/he's incredibly fun. I never felt like their comic scenes were out of place or anything. It's just so refreshing to essentially have this embodiment of chaos and indulgence following you around and just rolling with everything you do. The wedding scene literally made me cry. And s/he's the best named blue mage in the series, no contest. Not only is eating a monster so much better than counting on the enemy to use one specific move on one specific character, but the selection is amazing and tons of spells are available early on. I only need six more spells to have the complete package. And not only are many of the spells very useful, making Quina a perfect replacement for Dagger, Vivi, or both, s/he's also a good melee fighter! Win-win!
- Not a fan of the world map design. I kind of talked about this with Wolf when I played VII, but I get the feeling that FFVII is really the last FF to have a fully interactive world map that encourages exploration. The map is big and rich with a lot more places to explore than VIII, for example, but you're still kind of limited in where you can go at specific times, making the map way more fragmented than the older games. Also, it's kind of a bummer that literally 1.5 of the four continents have any civilization on them. It's justified in-story, I know, but it still would have been cool to have some more towns to explore.
- Moogles are the best save points ever and I literally can't fathom why they haven't kept this in for every single FF after this one.
- Zidane and Dagger's romance is pretty cute and though I enjoyed Squall and Rinoa a lot as well, you can tell that this love story was written by people who already learned a lot more about this specific motif. It also helps that it doesn't take center stage.
- I don't know if this is because I missed something or anything, but it was just so weird that it wasn't until disc 3 that Dagger got any other summon besides Ramuh. And then suddenly Tot gives her Shiva, Ifrit, Leviathan, and Atomos? Why couldn't I get at least part of the others earlier? That would have been really rad.
- The graphics are still great and the art style is one of my favorite in the series along with XII's and the other Ivalice games. Nowadays it reminds me greatly of Bravely Default, and that's a very good association to have.
I'm enjoying you enjoying IX :)
Have you played any Chocobo Hot and Cold yet?
Yeah, but I'm not focusing too much on it. It's pretty a'ight
Ok, I kind of hate Oeilvert, especially since I don't know how to pronounce it. I have no idea which way to go in order not to miss anything and suddenly enemies just take much longer to beat???
Not sure what you're fighting in Oeilvert, but if you come up against 'Epitaphs' a soft will insta-kill them.
I also dunno how to pronounce it. I've always said "Ol-ee-vert" but I know that's wrong, it's just how it looks at first glance. According to FF Wiki it is pronounced œjvɛʁ (uh-ii-vehr)
I expect it's supposed to sound French or something. And no, it's mostly the ogres. They're not exactly tough, but they slice away big chunks of my HP and I have to spend s lot of time either using potions or relying on Reis's Wind.
Oeil means eye and vert means green, so it's green eye, I guess. Which would be like what Fox said up dere
I'm more tsun than dere ^^Quote:
Originally Posted by Pumpkin
Only at Cleyra on my playthrough at the moment. One of the few points of the game I'm not particularly keen on (the absolute worst bit though is Fossil Roo). I dunno what is it about Cleyra, all the plot stuff surrounding Beatrix is really good but I just hate it as an environment to explore.
Doing the candle puzzle in Kuja's castle now. It's pretty cool and I've noticed my characters have very little more abilities to master, so that's pretty awesome, I think!
That said, as much as I'm enjoying myself, I kind of can't wait for this marathon to be over so I can play other games. Playing nothing but FF for a while can get a bit tiring. Which is a bit weird when you consider I had no such feeling with Dragon Quest when I played all of those in succession and still yearned for more, especially since those games are far more similar to each other mechanically.
I expect I'll finish IX over the weekend since we have Firday off here, and I hope two weeks is enough for me to beat X since I'll be getting DQVIII on the 20th :p
:Oo:Quote:
• Speaking of, I really adore Tetra Master. Yes, it has a big random element to it, but that's the fun part
What's the matter, BoB? Salty that I'm good at a game you aren't? :spin:
Who said anything about how good I am at it? It's RNG. You can't be good or bad at RNG. I'm pretty good at Triple Triad, which actually relies on you being good. xD
No, I stopped playing it very early because of the random element. Why play a game that can beat you no matter what when you can play a game that relies on actual skill? I mean, there aren't even any rewards to playing Tetra Master. The moment I discovered that combined with the RNG element, I just stopped playing TM immediately. It just lacked any kind of fun for me. No sense of achievement when you (or RNG) do well, just a sense of happening to have luck swing your way on that occasion with no benefit to having luck swing your way. Just a bizarre minigame to me.
Poor BoB. Doesn't realize working around the RNG is a skill ;)
Just got the airship, btw. Which means we're almost done here
Working around RNG is not a skill. xD It's luck. You can increase the odds in your favour but it is still RNG. It's the same reason I grew out of playing Snakes and Ladders. Once you realise that it's just random who wins, the game becomes a lot less fun. Honestly, it's a shame, though. I'd love to have seen Triple Triad with so many cells, and certain cells blocked out. But they ruined it with randomness + no reward.
And for what it's worth, I was quite good at TM. I just got no sense of achievement from my wins whatsoever... exception: The ones you have to do in order to progress story at some point (I think?), I got the sense of "thank God I don't have to play TM anymore and can continue the story".
Except the RNG only decides direct card duels, and TM has way more aspects to it!
Having all these aspects doesn't make it more enjoyable to me. I mean, complexity for the hell of it doesn't always work right. I just wish they'd have done it as they did with TT - skip the RNG bit and make cards useful in the regular game, give us a reason to collect. But if you like it, power to you. xD
If you want to actually annoy me, though, look to Hot & Cold. Man, now that is a game that got me salty.
I do like Hot &a Cold. Pity I don't have time to really dig into it. I really need to finish this game ASAP now as even though I'm really enjoying it, it's starting to wear on me a bit and I really need to be done with this marathon because I really, desperately need to play something that isn't FF
Take a break, dude Xx
BUT I NEED TO GET THIS DONE
Also, do you guys think it's okay if I just stick with Dagger, Vivi and Steiner for the rest of the game?
Also, should I replace Dagger with Eiko? I like Dagger more as a character, but those extra white magic spells are nothing to sneeze at
I like Hot and Cold conceptually, what I don't like is spending a billion hours not finding a gorram Chocograph.
Fynn - I almost always end up using Zidane/Dagger/Vivi/Steiner for the entire game. They're a really strong combo, easy to use, familiar and good characters. Eiko can be useful in certain situations but it's pretty rare that you miss her. Dagger ends up with basically everything you could need anyway.
What about Full Life?
Are you planning to fight Ozma? Because if you're just doing the standard game I don't see any situation where you'd be so desperately and completely almost dead that you'd need Full Life instead of a normal phoenix downQuote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Just made it to Memoria. IX has hands-down the best penultimate disc of all the PSOne FFs, with everything making sense within the context of the game and having the least badness of all. The You Are Not Alone scene, however, was incredibly forced. I get what they were trying to say, but it really came across as sloppily put together.
Defeated the four fiends... again...
Guess it's time to kick Kuja's butt! Hope I'm ready!
OMG I FINALLY DID IT!!!
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_6285.jpg
It took me six or seven tries! I was about to throw in the towel!
So now it's time for X, huh...
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang, but with a whimper
Necron really is a jerk unless you have all the necessary auto abilities equipped, at which point he's an unbelievable pushover!
If you fail you have to do Kuja again as well don't you? I'm never sure how I feel about that in these games; on the one hand it's really cool as it makes the tension of the second phase that much higher. On the other... it's infuriating when you're struggling. I think on balance it's fine in, say, FFVIII where you go straight from phase to phase in one fight, but in IX you've got a long cutscene in the middle so that's not acceptable.
OOOOH BOY TIME FOR FFX
https://68.media.tumblr.com/a625dbc5...bkd9o1_400.gif
Going with the expert grid
Like a boss :cool:
How bold. How daring. How expert.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Guys
There are so many butts in this game
Zanarkand fashion is pretty out there, isn't it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Not Zanarkand, though! I've seen the most of Rikku's and Kimahri's so far, so at least they're keeping it equal l-opportunity!
I really liked the sphere grid of X. It had me think on how I wished to build each one, however I can see how it would make them all feel the same. Plus X has Blitz Ball! I know you're not a fan of X. Hope it isn't pure torture for you.
OK, just about to reach Kilika. Had to leave for work so I had to put my Vita to sleep right after beating that big fin thing. So far, while I'm still not a fan of the whole "you must use X character against Y enemy" because I feel the game really doesn't utilize this mechanic well, I quite like the fact that battles go by fast. The Expert Sphere Grid actually makes me think about how I should develop my characters, which is pretty cool.
The story actually starts out pretty strongly - it's the later, more ham-fisted segments that I take issue with - though the lack of voice direction is apparent from the start. I still think all the main voice actors are actually really good on their own, but you can tell they're not really told what to do and everyone sounds like they came from a different show. I actually like JAT as Tidus (and yes, that's TEE-dus :colbert:). As I insinuated earlier, the camera work is incredibly clumsy. I have no idea whether all the butt shots are intentional fanservice, or just total ineptitude on the part of the developers who never how to think about how a movie-like scene is meant to play out. That said, the CGI cutscenes are nicely directed and have aged fairly well. In general, the HD graphics look really good on the Vita.
I am so glad the music got redone. With the new arrangement, the absolute worst battle theme in the history of JRPGs may still be the absolute worst battle theme in the history of JRPGs, but at least it's much more bearable with a lot more "oomph" to it. Other than that, I like that it's an actual piano playing the Zanarkand theme this time around, and the new guitar duet for Besaid village is very welcome.
Btw, can anyone tell me what exactly differentiates Energy Blast and Energy Ray? Valefor is the only aeon to have two overdrives and so far they seem to be mechanically identical? What?
Also, hello there, mini-map! It's fun that you decided to appear now, in the game that probably needs you the least (well, apart from XIII, I guess, but that game had one AS WELL!). Where were you when I neede you the most? Like in FFIII? Hm?
Energy Blast gives you a chance to hit the monster again from memory. You're making me want to replay this game and do the Expert Sphere Grid- even though I'm European and had the Expert Grid from the beginning, never done it. Always felt like I was awful at games, and would screw it up.
Energy Ray is faster but weaker, while Energy Blast is slower but I think tied for the strongest single-hit aeon overdrive in the game (if only Valefor had the Strength to back it up).
Found the kid that wants to be a blitz ball!
Reach for the stars, kiddo
Just lost the blitzball tournament
The lousiest, most frustrating piece of trout mini game I've ever had the displeasure of playing. Good thing I'm never touching that again. And I don't care that Wakka won't have his celestial weapon. He can bite my shiny metal ass.
I really like Blitzball - probably my favourite mini-game in the series - but I strongly dislike the forced Blitzball match. I hate how long it takes for everything to happen because you're being interrupted by cutscenes and events every 5 seconds.
To me, X has the single worst selection of mini games in the entire series. I miss Tetra Master.
What else has it got? Lightning dodging... yeah that's pretty terrible. Chocobo race... I hate that more than anything in the universe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fynn
Here's a thing that happened to me one playthrough - I may have told this story before. I was trying to get the item I needed for Tidus's celestial weapon, so I had to hit the 0:00.0 time on the Chocobo race. Fair enough. So I suffer through it for god knows how many attempts until finally, success! 0:00.0! And I got a smurfing Turbo Ether for my trouble.
Whoever used a < instead of <= in their code, or checked their floating point to an extra point of precision... they are my nemesis for life.
What else does it have mini-games wise... Cloister of Trials? Yeah, hate that. Monster arena... I liked at first but became horrendously tedious.
I think I'll agree with you on everything but the Blitzball.
I actually like the trials
The rest can die in a fire and Blitzball is just... I have no words.
Okay. Real talk.
How in the heck did the blitz season just start, Wakka? We just took part in championship finals.Last time I checked, that's how you end a season!
I think it was a tournament to open the season. Kinda in reverse, I guess. I think the tournament you're forced to play is some special one to celebrate Yu Yevon or something. I don't know, it's been ages for me, roll with it :p
FFX has the worst set of mini-games ever. It is sooooo bad. I repeated that forced game like four times to win the cup. And those cutscenes, gosh, I don't think you could skip them either. That took a damn long time.
I think it's more like, they needed it to be finals to build tension, but they needed it to be the beginning of the season to let players play blitzball during the game. It didn't occur to them that you can't both have your cake and eat it :roll2
To be fair, Blitzball Tournaments are like literally all the damn time during the season. Not that that excuses the lousy writing, mind you =P
Yeah, I'm OK with that aspect of it. Football does the same thing; you have a main championship that runs every week for months and months, plus some tournaments on the side. Having a season opening mega-tournament before the championship proper gets underway seems a perfectly reasonable thing for a sport to do.
What is NOT reasonable is when Wakka walks in and says "Alright boys, we've been seeded! Two wins, and we're the champions!" The Besaid Aurochs - who have never won a game ever and presumably only qualify for this tournament because there are literally only like... 8 populated areas in Spira - got seeded. Go. to. hell.
Just did the operation Mi'ihen thing. I don't know why, but this part always felt super boring. Partly because Mushroom Rock Road is just so incredibly bland in terms of presentation, and partly because I can't be made to care about the Crusaders storyline no matter how much the game tries to make me.
Something I don't get - they said on more than one occasion that the Crusaders have been rejected by Yevon (Seymour himself confirms it, saying that though their and the Al Bhed's mission is against the teachings of Yevon but they long for the same peace as Yevonites so it's okay), but the game also says the Crusaders have been called that since they've been taken under Yevon's wing, and Kinoc is explicitly stated to be one of the four Maesters who is in charge of the Crusaders.
This is a huge discrepancy. Of course, you could explain it away that this operation is only conducted by a specific group of Crusaders that have decided to use Machina to defeat Sin, but not authorized by the church of Yevon. But Kinoc is there and it looks like it's pretty much an operation that has been prepared by the higher-ups - so Maester Kinoc. Also, Wakka hates the Crusaders because apparently they've rejected Yevon's teachings (and then there's the fact that his brother was one and died), but this doesn't make sense since the Crusaders are a part of the Yevon church and are run by Kinoc!
Who in the hell wrote this trout!
At this point, it seems like the most logical thing would be to just create a subsidiary of the church that can go against the teachings should the Maester in charge deem it a necessity to make things better (which is still a farce since Kinoc has pretty explicitly stated he's doing it to give people a false sense of hope). So if this has been verified by the church - to the point that, again, they have a Maester run a whole thing - HOW IN THE HELL HAVE THE CRUSADERS BEEN REJECTED BY YEVON?!
That's why this whole subplot was pointless. Sure, we needed to see how undefeatable Sin is, how much destruction it causes and that Tidus can feel Jecht, as well as hinting at the corruption of the Yevon clergy, but there's plenty of scenes later on and earlier that drive that point home anyway. This, coupled with the fact that the bland environment here is so padded out, makes it easily the least interesting part of the game for me so far. The death of the Crusaders ultimately rings hollow to me because it seems like the writers had no idea what to do with them in the first place and failed to make me interested in any one of the characters from this faction - even though this had huge potential, considering Chappu and stuff.
Have I mentioned that I love Kimahri? Because I do. The moment we hear him speak for the first time is so heartwarming because you can tell he cares a lot about Yuma and this whole thing and in general has a heart of gold even if he doesn't use lots of words to express it. And then there's his "Pick spot. Shut up. Wait." which is just perfect.
Too bad he's really hard to make useful. I really wish he had his own section of the Sphere Grid...
Agree that Kimahri is great. I agree and disagree with Blitzball. I honestly don't know if I love it or hate it. xD
Definitely agree with Fox regarding the other minigames though. Horrid. Especially chocobo racing, or whatever the hell they call that thing.
Sidenote: For anyone who likes Lulu, or just the general backstory of FFX, I encourage you to check out Guardian, a comic which seems rather true to the story. It covers the journey of Lulu and I found it to be really well done so far. The first 90 pages are all what I'd consider to be pre-Tidus, so pre-FFX.
Kimahri is as good of a character storywise as he is in combat. Uncharismatic and uninteresting. Sorry!
You just can't appreciate the charm of a stoic, Psy ;)
I get it, though. Not everyone has the capacity to appreciate a good stoic.