Update time!

I've reached the Iifa Tree and have an acquired an Eiko.

Pros:
  • I love the Black Mage Village, it really becomes an interesting turning point for Vivi's character, and while it initially brings him comfort to know he's not alone, the fact it ends with him coming to the realization of his own mortality is such a gut punch.
  • Speaking of, I love the fact the Black Mages are simply trying to figure out hos to live and be normal. The ATE with the shop clerk studying how to be a shop clerk is amusing. I'm reminded how Nier Automata did something similar years later.
  • I managed to acquire Goblin Punch, but I was having some issues because Goblin Mages just weren't spawning for some reason.
  • The marriage ceremony at Conde Petie always makes me laugh. Between Zidane going all Beetlejuice and getting weird cold feet about Garnet going through the ceremony as strictly business, to Vivi and Quina hilariously following suit. The sequence is FF at best being fun and irrelevant.
  • Eiko's introduction is always more fun than I remember. For some reason, she's always one of those characters I feel like I should dislike more because she fall into the bratty spunky girl archetype I'm not fond of, yet here it works. I think part of the issue is that her theme song takes some cues from Yuffie's theme from VII, and that's where the malevolent association comes from. But Eiko is actually funny.
  • I did manage to get the best option for Eiko's cooking. Totally cheated with a guide though.
  • I did manage to get the Fairy Flute from the Hilgigars but I'll talk about that later.
  • I always forget how much of a lore drop Madain Sari is. Like I remember it being Garnet's true home, but I kind of forget how this location begins revealing the truth about Gaia, the source of Eidolons, and how this all begins to tie back into Kuja and Garland.
  • I always think Zidane and Vivi's bonding is really cute.
  • Speaking of, I love the scene in the Black Mage Village when Zidane opens up a bit and talks to Garnet about his own loneliness of wondering where he came from.
  • I forgot that Quina's excuse to leave the party so Eiko can join is because they are trying to eat Mog.
  • Look at Fenrir reappearing in an FF after debuting in FFVI. I think it's funny the devs cheated and added Golem into the game by having Fenrir summon him. So my summoner, summoned a summon that summoned another summon...?
  • I appreciate how the devs kind of switch up Eiko and Garnets ability lists. Garnet can't use her summons but has been steadily learning white magic up until now and has almost learned all of her spells because she spends the rest of the game re-learning all her summons instead. Meanwhile, the game kind of front loads all of Eiko's summons except Madeen while she'll largely be spending the rest of the game learning all her white magic.


Cons:
  • Yeah, getting Fairy Flute is a bitch. I either had better patience in the past or just better RNG, but it killed a whole evening trying to get it.
  • I've been meaning to mention this since the first entry on this list, but I'm not a huge fan of the new UI for the remaster. I don't like the menu screen being this rectangular mess that feels it needs to add defend and row to my list.
  • I briefly mentioned this before, and honestly, I'm not sure I feel this is completely a con to the game just yet, but the funky way ATB works in this game with the longer character animations creates some unique elements to this entry I don't really feel any of the other games have. Mainly status magic, whether a buff or debuff is greatly reduced in efficiency due to the mechanics of the game. Yet, it's not all for naught. It certainly makes auto skills useful and Auto-Regen especially is way more useful in this game than some other FFs I can think of due to the long animations allowing it to tick more often. Might Guards is more of a clutch move now when you kind of know a boss is going to do something dangerous it's next turn but no longer a useful tool for drawn out affairs. Yet it all turns into a weird rhythmic dance after awhile. While fighting Hillgigar I needed to cast Float to protect the team from Earthquake, but since only Garnet knew it, it turned into this kind of zen like state where I had to time her casts between the bosses turn just to make sure Float would still be active by the time it's next turn came up on the possibility it was Earthquake. It was strangely exhilarating up until the fight began to really drag on. So, I'm still on the fence on this one.
  • My god Garnet has the worst Trance mode of the party. Even activated I still haven't seen the full Ramuh animation since I initially used him. Can't wait until I get Boost. I think I've also have only seen the cover fire ability maybe once or twice over the course of every playthrough I've ever done of this game. Easily the worst Trance ability.
  • I am feeling the fact this game can be speed run to get Excalibur II because while I am having a blast, I feel like I'm going through the game too fast, so I've been trying my best to really savor it.