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[Lumpy Onion]

So random FF question of the day, is FFIV good for the DS? I picked up Etrian Oddesy 1&2, but they use the stylus too much, so I already am turned off and want to trade them in...

Best version of FF IV I ever played. Even if you have played other versions before there is a lot of new stuff. The augments allow you to tinker with your characters in ways the game never allowed you to before. The bosses can be brutally difficult at times and force you to think of a proper strategy. And even the normal battles towards the end will test you to the point where you will need to use all the abilities and spells at your disposal. And it has a great translation and the voiced movie scenes add a lot to spicing up the story.

Probably the best FF remake so far.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

So I finally decided to pick up a PS2 (again) and picked up FFX, FFX-2, Persona 4, and Tales of the Abyss since I'm on an RPG kick right now.

I played about 3 hours when I first had FFX, but now I'm back at the same spot as before, where Sin decimates Kilika, and I'm much more absorbed in the game.

 

[Emitan]

4 Heroes of Light is very good so far. Seems weird that people hate on it. What were they expecting?

 

[Aeana]

4 Heroes of Light is very good so far. Seems weird that people hate on it. What were they expecting?

I was expecting to be able to target my own enemies (and allies) in battle, and I was also expecting a game made in the aughts would not commit such design atrocities as characters leaving the party without warning and taking my items with them.

 

[Crash Station]

Put up some impressions for XIII-2 if anyone cares. It's the E3 build, so mostly stuff we know, but I was able to find out some interesting tidbits about monster recruiting.

 

[Boney]

I was expecting to be able to target my own enemies (and allies) in battle, and I was also expecting a game made in the aughts would not commit such design atrocities as characters leaving the party without warning and taking my items with them.

It's gonna be interesting to see how BD handles this stuff.

And even with it's quirks, I love 4wol, probably my favourite traditional rpg in ages.

 

[Dark Schala]

What do you think of the 4WoL soundtrack, Billychu?

I loved it. I felt compelled to import it as I didn't anticipate the soundscape to be so good. It's very charming, and I really liked the use of the main motif throughout.

 

[Aeana]

4WoL's soundtrack is excellent. Mizuta is absolutely one of my favorite game composers and I am so excited for him that he's been able to work on FF13-2. On the other hand, it means he wasn't able to work on Bravely Default, which is sad.

 

[Professor Beef]

I've been doing a bunch of other stuff so I haven't touched my FF7 file in a bit. I did get done with a little session just now.

Basically, after mourning Boney I had a hallucination about where Sephiroth might be. We decided to climb a mountain to get to a quaint little snow lodge where we found out about Boney's parents and how they got shot or something. Sooooooo as I'm getting ready to leave the mountain via some kid's snowboard that I stole, the Shinra arrive and I get punched because I forgot to hold a direction to dodge Elena's punch. >__>

After a snowboarding session that would make Shaun White hand over his medal to me, we continued with our mountain adventure until I crashed in some old man's home. After a bit of rest, Kagari and Billychu (Yuffie and Cid) joined me in climbing ANOTHER mountain to find Sephiroth. I'm two screens away from fighting some big two-headed thing, which should be easy pickins thanks to being invulnerable to the main three elements.

 

[MechaX]

I know this is out of left field, but I was following a Let's Play of FFIV The After Years on Something Awful.

Sweet lordy, is this game lazy. And I love the "twist" at the end of the game that

Spoiler

all of the crystals in the FFI-VI worlds (yeah, I know VI didn't have any crystals) were by some last survivor of a race to control evolution or something.

Who here as actually managed to play through it?

 

[Roto13]

I finished it on WiiWare, though it got fucking hard at the moon. So many bosses. I don't think it's supposed to imply anything about the crystals in those other games, though.

 

[Electivirus]

Eh, kinda wish Mizuta wasn't working on XIII-2. I've never been too fond of his work, though 4WoL wasn't too bad. I just hope he doesn't drag down the quality of XIII-2's soundtrack. But, hey, maybe he'll surprise me.

 

[Emitan]

What do you think of the 4WoL soundtrack, Billychu?

I loved it. I felt compelled to import it as I didn't anticipate the soundscape to be so good. It's very charming, and I really liked the use of the main motif throughout.

Soundtrack is great so far. Love the world map theme especially. Also, having critical HP music is a nice touch.

 

[Professor Beef]

Oh ULTROS....T_____T

We went through hell at the top of Mt. Gaea. Sephiroth basically made fun of me and made me go all comatose, so I ended up handing over the Black Materia. Right after that, the mountain went all explody, and I ended up falling into the Lifestream with Sephiroth's mako cocoon. That's not even the worst of it; Weapons started shooting out of the mountain like fireworks! Everyone crammed themselves onto Rufus' ship and sailed off.

A week later, ULTROS and duckroll were slated to be executed, but Gravijah decided to play hero and saved everyone by stealing the airship. With Billychu in command of it, we followed Roto XIII's advice and traveled to Mideel, where they heard a rumor that sometimes things washed up there from the Lifestream...like me! Poor ULTROS was so devastated to go on, so ULTROS is watching me back there while the rest of the party goes on to find some Huge Materia. First stop: Corel.

 

[Amibguous Cad]

4 Heroes of Light is very good so far. Seems weird that people hate on it. What were they expecting?

It's very different from your standard FF fare, but great if you're in the mood for something that departs from the formula.

 

[Mature]

90% of the reason I love 4HOL is it's charm. Despite it's various shortcomings, it still manages to be an enjoyable experience for me.

Speaking of which, i do need to beat it... time to pop it in.

 

[Aeana]

I don't know how anybody could hate these:

Flowers on the Battlefield
Jeweled Boughs
Eastward Bound
Run Maggot, Run
Wings of the Goddess
Sanctuary of Zi'tah
Bustle of the Capital - okay I can see how someone would not like this but it is awesome

I hellaheart Mizuta.

 

[Dark Schala]

The Final Fantasy XI soundtracks are severely underrated. They have some really great stuff.

I'm, like, hopped up on drugs right now (and thus super-drowsy) so I'll just repost what I posted a few pages ago with some additions omissions (since some were not composed by Mizuta).

Ragnarok (Wings of the Goddess)
Rabao (Rise of the Zilart)
Tu'lia (Rise of the Zilart)
Battle Theme 2
Kazham
Battle Theme 3 (Rise of the Zilart)
Belief (Rise of the Zilart)
The Celestial Capital
Tough Battle (the first one)
Hall of the Gods

Lots of good stuff on all of those soundtracks. Sometimes you've just gotta sift through the abundance of tracks to see what you like. Plus people can change up their composition style for a game. Maybe people might like his FFXIII-2 stuff.

He seems to be doing a good job so far. Apparently the catchy new Archlyte Steppe theme is his.

 

[perfect free]

I splurged on the FFXI Premium Box when it was released, despite barely playing the actual game. I love Mizuta's work on these soundtracks... especially "The Celestial Capital", which I'm chilling to right now. Unfortunately I haven't heard much else from him, and what I have heard didn't really impress me (Blood of Bahamut, and didn't he work on Parasite Eve II?). I'll have to check out the 4WoL music at some point.

 

[badcrumble]

Put up some impressions for XIII-2 if anyone cares. It's the E3 build, so mostly stuff we know, but I was able to find out some interesting tidbits about monster recruiting.

Neat!

I wouldn't be at all surprised if (in the end) some of FF13's cast members are recruitable as non-controllable monster-esque NPCs tied to a specific role. And I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame's party is Noel + Serah + Lightning + (monster).

 

[Stuart444]

I've been playing FFXIII recently, want to do one more playthrough before FFXIII-2 comes out and with all the games coming out in the next few months, I figured doing it now would be better than waiting til after Christmas.

Currently at Chapter 10 (start of it), hope to do as much as I can (including getting most/all trophies) before XIII-2s release

 

[Crash Station]

Neat!

I wouldn't be at all surprised if (in the end) some of FF13's cast members are recruitable as non-controllable monster-esque NPCs tied to a specific role. And I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame's party is Noel + Serah + Lightning + (monster).

Yeah, I'm thinking this is a possibility. Something like Symphonia 2 or Skies of Arcadia. It might contradict what the rep told me, but he was being pretty vague, so maybe not.

 

[jaxword]

I've been playing FFXIII recently, want to do one more playthrough before FFXIII-2 comes out and with all the games coming out in the next few months, I figured doing it now would be better than waiting til after Christmas.

Currently at Chapter 10 (start of it), hope to do as much as I can (including getting most/all trophies) before XIII-2s release

Good luck doing all the sidequests...I think doing all of those takes longer than an entire game playthrough.

 

[Roto13]

I've been playing FFXIII recently, want to do one more playthrough before FFXIII-2 comes out and with all the games coming out in the next few months, I figured doing it now would be better than waiting til after Christmas.

Currently at Chapter 10 (start of it), hope to do as much as I can (including getting most/all trophies) before XIII-2s release

I've been replaying XIII as well. I didn't quite finish it the first time. I'm actually enjoying it more the second time. I'm currently at Chapter 11 (on Gran Pulse) and it's nice now that the game has opened up. Last time I didn't take my time and do any sidequests so I was underleveled for the last few bosses (who killed me) but I'll be ready this time.

 

[Rinoa]

Re: FFXI tracks

Recollection is one of my lesser noticed faves, only played on certain scenes/quests.

 

[Professor Beef]

I got all the huge materia, and I've been doing sidequests before going back to the city of the ancients to continue the story.

Feeling kinda depressed right now with IRL issues, so I'm not going to bother with wackying up my description.

 

[Roto13]

FF XIII: Just beat

Spoiler

Barthandelus for the second time

and expanded the Crystarium for the last time before the end of the game. Think I'll max it out before moving on.

 

[Aeana]

FF XIII: Just beat

Spoiler

Barthandelus for the second time

and expanded the Crystarium for the last time before the end of the game. Think I'll max it out before moving on.

I am so glad that FF13-2 doesn't have story blocks on the crystarium. (._. )

 

[Dark Schala]

I am so glad that FF13-2 doesn't have story blocks on the crystarium. (._. )

Definitely. I'm looking forward to that. I like to unlock as many abilities as early as possible in a game, I guess.

Looking back on it after having the opportunity to tinker with the Vercingetorix, Attacus and Raktavija x2 battles since I had the entire Crystarium and all jobs for every character available for me to use, I would have liked the opportunity to tinker with Optima for nearly every boss fight in the game. Those were my favourite battles in the entire game, and I would have loved for more of those since I had lots of fun coming up with different strategies and ways to handicap my party (ie: no defender, one jammer, no poison, no slow, no defense boosters, etc when I maxed Crystarium) for those battles.

The boss fight difficulty in the core game was geared towards how much of the Crystarium you had unlocked at the time, so I guess that couldn't be helped.

Feeling kinda depressed right now with IRL issues, so I'm not going to bother with wackying up my description.

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope things get better soon.

 

[Roto13]

I am so glad that FF13-2 doesn't have story blocks on the crystarium. (._. )

Well that's good news. The fact that the only one character can learn Haste before that point in the game is a big hindrance. Especially in that particular fight. I almost got Doomed to death. I haven't really been following XIII-2.

 

[Professor Beef]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope things get better soon.

So do I.

 

[Link Man]

Wat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z-YjCJq23k

Spoiler

FF7 Bad Romance

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

4 Heroes of Light is very good so far. Seems weird that people hate on it. What were they expecting?

It is a light hearted FF game, way too light-hearted, it's just a matter of taste for me at least.

 

[Mature]

It is a light hearted FF game, way too light-hearted, it's just a matter of taste for me at least.

How do you mean "light hearted"? In the game I'm currently

Spoiler

helping a village littered in dead bodies from a debilitating plague. Meanwhile an evil apothecary is exploiting the village by selling the one cure at an extremely high price. One town's events in a whole world covered in darkness and evil.

That's not exactly sunshine and rainbows.

 

[Aeana]

It is a light hearted FF game, way too light-hearted, it's just a matter of taste for me at least.

It is no more light hearted than FF1-3.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

That's not exactly sunshine and rainbows.

 

[Roto13]

Man, money is so screwed up in XIII. I'm right at the end of the second last chapter. I've never bought anything and I've sold all of my components that "can be sold for a premium." I have 341,863 Gil. The last "premium" items I have in my inventory are Platinum Ingots. Three of them. I can sell them for a total of 450,000 Gil. That means with these three items are worth more Gil than I've gotten in the entire game.

 

[Shadow780]

New FFVII novel by Nojima coming.

/insertmoviejokebythesamename

 

[Diablos]

Oh wow, that's awesome.

 

[Kagari]

New FFVII novel by Nojima coming.

/insertmoviejokebythesamename

I'm more excited for this than for 13-2.

 

[Shadow780]

I'm more excited for this than for 13-2.

girl fistbump yo

 

[Sapphire Dreams]

How do you mean "light hearted"? In the game I'm currently

Spoiler

helping a village littered in dead bodies from a debilitating plague. Meanwhile an evil apothecary is exploiting the village by selling the one cure at an extremely high price. One town's events in a whole world covered in darkness and evil.

That's not exactly sunshine and rainbows.

Compare it to FF 7,8 or 10, and then you'll see what I mean.

 

[jaxword]

I'm more excited for this than for 13-2.

I wonder if thelifestream guys will be racing with berriblue to translate it first.

 

[Jibber Hack]

Old?

 

[Aeana]

Listening to the FF6 soundtrack this morning, still skeptical that Uematsu wrote it. I'm calling shenanigans and ghost writer.

 

[ULTROS!]

Urgh, I wish FFV would come out on US PSN soon. I want to play it (more like replay since I never completed the game).

Listening to the FF6 soundtrack this morning, still skeptical that Uematsu wrote it. I'm calling shenanigans and ghost writer.

Hey, he made nice and memorable music in VIII.

 

[Perfo]

Being this a FINAL FANTASY community thread I hope I can share here my collection with other fans out there, it's nothing special yet but check it out. I'm doing my best to keep it growing, this is my favorite saga yet and perhaps the sole reason why I still videogame today

If this post doesn't belong here, I'll remove it of course and I'll be sorry. I don't think I'm breaking any rules though.

 

[Roto13]

So I finally finished FF XIII yesterday. A few of the regular enemy encounters were totally trolling near the end.

Spoiler

You fight a boss that will absolutely murder you if you don't have a Sentinel, and the next regular enemy encounter is THAT BOSS AGAIN and another enemy. Come on.

I also did a few more C'ieth missions in the postgame after I beat the last boss. Really, I like that stuff more than I liked the main game. The game could use a better map system for it. You should be able to switch between areas of Gran Pulse without actually going to that area. (Basically the map should be more like Final Fantasy XII.) The map should also differentiate between active C'ieth Stones you've completed and ones you haven't. There must be a website with a helpful map system from FF XIII. I hope FF XV brings back a focus on hunts like FF XII. They're ok in XIII but you have to wait until really late in the game before you can even start them, thanks to all the linearity.

So speaking of helpful online maps for the FF XIII hunts, does anyone know where I can find some?

EDIT: Ha, I just noticed that unfinished stones slightly pulsate on the map while finished ones don't. Alright then, that helps.

 

[Boney]

Compare it to FF 7 or 10, and then you'll see what I mean.

*chuckles*

 

[Mature]

*chuckles*

Yeaaah, I don't know.