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FINAL FANTASY Community Thread: XV Mainline Entries and Counting
- Thread starter Kagari
- Start date
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MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Oh I have to leave?
Meccanical
Member
You don't have to leave but you do have to stand on the other side of the room so we don't catch your crazy.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
I'm just waiting for you all to leave your weapons unattended so I can claim them as my OWN!
What do I fall under for being an VIII fanatic?
Ganon Dragmire
Member
Do you now about that new XIII novel? Noel talks about what happens to him before Light returns.
Yay, just beat FFVI for the first time! The epic Kefka boss sprite did not disappoint.
So, some condensed lttp thoughts:
1.) stills holds up really well, but that kinda goes without saying.
2.) The spritework is really incredible throughout, and the effects used for spells were much than I expected.
3.) The way the game opens up about halfway through was great and something I felt was sorely lacking from X when I played that a few months ago. It felt so great putting clues together from exploring around the map and finally nabbing that item or party member you've been searching for. I get why some people wouldn't like this, since not everyone has the time to hunt down NPCs for obscure clues, but there was nothing too egregious.
4.) The soundtrack is better than any other FF I've played so far (4, 10, 10-2, some 9) and might even be better than Chrono Trigger.
5.) The difficulty felt appropriate. I got annihilated plenty of times, but usually changing up tactics was enough to proceed. I did a little grinding in Dino forest before attempting the final area but if I'd been better about rotating my party members it probably wouldn't have been necessary. Also on that note, the battle system was nice and fast so even a little grinding was okay.
6.) Story was simple, but good for the era and more competent than X. The characters were hands down better.
Overall, I'm glad I took the time to finally play through it.
So, some condensed lttp thoughts:
1.) stills holds up really well, but that kinda goes without saying.
2.) The spritework is really incredible throughout, and the effects used for spells were much than I expected.
3.) The way the game opens up about halfway through was great and something I felt was sorely lacking from X when I played that a few months ago. It felt so great putting clues together from exploring around the map and finally nabbing that item or party member you've been searching for. I get why some people wouldn't like this, since not everyone has the time to hunt down NPCs for obscure clues, but there was nothing too egregious.
4.) The soundtrack is better than any other FF I've played so far (4, 10, 10-2, some 9) and might even be better than Chrono Trigger.
5.) The difficulty felt appropriate. I got annihilated plenty of times, but usually changing up tactics was enough to proceed. I did a little grinding in Dino forest before attempting the final area but if I'd been better about rotating my party members it probably wouldn't have been necessary. Also on that note, the battle system was nice and fast so even a little grinding was okay.
6.) Story was simple, but good for the era and more competent than X. The characters were hands down better.
Overall, I'm glad I took the time to finally play through it.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
So I gave VIII a shot a couple days ago and I actually liked the gameplay more than VII's. I just really don't like the Materia system. It levels slowly (15 hours in and I have yet to level a single Materia. 2000 AP, my ass. And it's not like your Materia gains XP across the board either), it's rather limiting in so far as you get a single ability per materia, and it's just a pain to set up. I don't know, maybe I just grossly misunderstood how to use the Materia system, but the Junction system seems much more flexible and versatile. Then again, I've only gotten 3 hours in, so maybe other issues arise as time goes on. However, I like the fact that once you draw a spell, you can immediately use it, and you can use all the spells at your disposal (so I was able to use 6 spells with Squall after only 2 hours compared to a single spell or two with Cloud and I'm able to do this for all characters. However, I can see running into the issue of "everyone is basically the same" later on if the game isn't balanced well); I like that there's a more interactive component with the R1 trigger for Squall's gunblade; and I like that you have some say in how your GF levels and that it levels pretty quickly.
15 hours in, you should have at least leveled up the All materia. But overall, I think your materia still levels faster than the rate at which you'd usually get higher level magic (well, in relation to overall game length). You can get weapons that double or triple the AP gain for any materia set in its slots, if it's really too slow for you.
It can be limiting, especially as you have to waste an additional slot if you want it to target multiple enemies/characters, but you get plenty of slots anyway. Later on, you can have materia that incorporates all commands of one type in one materia (but only as a result of much grinding or the hardest sidequests), which then again leads to ridiculous overpowered characters with huge command menus. It's not all that balanced, but that's part of the fun.
If I remember it right, you can swap a whole set of materia between characters, so once you got your character set up, you'll probably only want to make small chances here and there anyway.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Eh, we exist. It's just... what is there left to say about her (or XIII in general)? It's not like there is a rule against discussing XIII related stuff in this thread, it's just that most of the frequent posters here have already discussed it to death. By all means, if you want to discuss her, or anything XIII related, go ahead.
Damn. I had started playing FF8 a few years ago, but from what I remember, the game was painfully slow. And ugly. I didn't even complete the Fire Cavern.
I might get FF9 for my Vita instead, that one looks cool.
What happened to that rumor about PS1 emulation on PS4 with native 1080p rendering for select titles?
The steam version of FF8 doesn't look half bad and it can render at 1080p. It should look good on Vita too, FF8 that is.
The higher resolutions won't make the pre rendered backgrounds look less pixelated or blurry, it only improves on 3D stuff.
I've played both. It's a pretty great game.
EDIT: As I recall, FFL2 is much like FFL1 in that the party's gear is all expendable. That is to say, swords have a limited number of uses etc. You choose your party at the game's beginning from one of the four races of FFL: Human, Mutant, Robot and Monster. Incidentally, that's the party I went with: Human Male, Mutant Female, Robot and Monster. Humans are jacks of all stats who play how you would expect a nondescript RPG hero to play. You can give 'em magic, weapons, whatever, they'll always fare decently. Mutants are balanced more toward magic, but deal decent damage anyway. The big deal with mutants is that they learn abilities themselves, which is a bit of a complicated process you might want to read up on so it doesn't seem totally random. Doing it right will net you someone with good skills. As a bonus, Mutant spells, unlike magic, can be refilled by using the Inn. (Inns cost more depending on how much you need to refill, though.) Monsters are wild cards because some of them are shitty magikarps and others are practically Mewtwo. Like Mutants, some monster skills refill at the inn, but they cannot equip weapons, iirc.
But the real game breaker is the robot, because the robot's stats are all determined by what you give it, and it can equip as much as it can carry and stack it. So if you want your robot to be a tank, equip him with like, four suits of armor and only one weapon. If you want to be a fragile killing machine, four swords/guns and only one suit of armor. At the end of the game my robot had all the best gear on him and was subsequently far, far more powerful than the hero.
The game is also difficult. Maybe not the DS version, which I regret to say I haven't made it far in because I have so many video games to play, but the GB version was really, really hard because new gear was always really expensive so I felt like I was constantly underequipped. I ended up cheating for the best stuff in the game and STILL had a rough time of the final boss.
MAGI in this game are also a big deal because they predate Magicite and Materia as the crystals your party can equip to grant them new abilities. Unlike Magicite or Materia, though, these abilities only remain while your MAGI are equipped.
To be honest, FFL2 is my favorite of the three, although it loses out to FFA for best "Not really a Final Fantasy" GB Final Fantasy game. I love the world, music, and story much more than I did 1 or 3.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the music. That's about the only part of FFL2 that I know. It's even the only OST to a Game Boy game I ever bought (even if only digitally), it's pretty great. I hope the remake's music is equally good.
Thanks for your impressions. Ripping is still gonna take some time. :-/
Thanks for your impressions. Ripping is still gonna take some time. :-/
So my order didn't charge because of the preorders. I'm kind of worried now because if it all won't ship until the preorders are over, that means I won't receive CC until October 31st.
I might have to cancel the squall figuring and replace it with something actually releasing.
Put VIII on higest speed and the game is pretty fast.
Then again, get Steam version and you can play it even faster, heh.
I might have to cancel the squall figuring and replace it with something actually releasing.
Put VIII on higest speed and the game is pretty fast.
Then again, get Steam version and you can play it even faster, heh.
Burning Blood is one of the best songs. Just, period.
Final Fantasy Type-0, Chapter 8, End of Round 1.
So, on the one hand it's best to simply say that there is a lot of disjointed feeling, a huge information dump, and a rather rushed feeling to this final chapter. FWIW, the cast feels every bit as lost as first time players must. I think part of this, though, is due to the fact that
this is technically only half way through the game.
the Akashic records
the first play through
"bad end" it makes more sense, even if it is more of Square's really questionable VN framework that doesn't work as well in an RPG.
bonus scene that plays after you clear the game pretty much solidifies that you're not done and that they did not intend for this to be seen as the actual end of the game.
begin new game +, Arecia's dialogue with Ace before class has been changed, so that she tells him about Code Crimson. Code Crimson is Parliament's plan to get Class Zero killed, but Arecia presents it instead as "optional missions" for Ace to undertake. Clearing all of it is necessary for the rest of the story and for the True Ending. The confrontation between Arecia and Tiz is also fairly interesting because Arecia herself seems surprised by much of what's going on.
So here are some things one might consider complaints, assuming that
Type-0's second half doesn't fill in the gaps.
The Akashic records are introduced very late for something that is a big deal to the game's "finale". I think it's intentional, though, that you don't know, because Cid taunts you about not realizing how many times you have come to the final dungeon and died there over the course of the entire dungeon. You don't realize what's going on and what the Akashic record stuff is all about until Arecia drops the bomb after the credits: all of this has happened six million plus times before.
The final boss is impossible to lose. No ifs, ands or buts about it, I really hope that gets changed for the HD version. I get why its done, but there needs to be a Braska's Final Aeon in addition to the Yu Yevon fight, y'know?
Although the final dungeon can be cleared as early as level 35, some rooms of it are still annoying at level 99.
Although Gilgamesh being in the final dungeon is cool, it isn't explained. Really the Trials are not explained at all. Are you going to the Four Kingdoms, or is this all just phantoms conjured by Cid?
Who is Arecia? What is the Lulusath Crystal? What's REALLY going on here? I assume that these last ones are questions that must be answered in the second round of the game.
The final boss is impossible to lose. No ifs, ands or buts about it, I really hope that gets changed for the HD version. I get why its done, but there needs to be a Braska's Final Aeon in addition to the Yu Yevon fight, y'know?
Although the final dungeon can be cleared as early as level 35, some rooms of it are still annoying at level 99.
Although Gilgamesh being in the final dungeon is cool, it isn't explained. Really the Trials are not explained at all. Are you going to the Four Kingdoms, or is this all just phantoms conjured by Cid?
Who is Arecia? What is the Lulusath Crystal? What's REALLY going on here? I assume that these last ones are questions that must be answered in the second round of the game.
Now let me briefly go over everything I love about the game's "finale".
First of all, the Final Dungeon is Multi Party and that shit is my jam. Second of all, Celestia is the best. Girl does all the coolest shit. I'm also pleased with the way the game decides to handle death at the end. I don't know that the "forgetting the dead" thing is quite used as well as it could, but I'm satisfied with it. The ending to the game still chokes me up every damn time. I also think Cid is a great villain in that he's never once human. Before the change happens he's a political figure beyond the party's reach, and after he's some horrifying L'Cie that mocks the cast. For a game where the decision to be human is pivotal, it's good to have a man who is so utterly inhuman at every step of the way be the villain.
As a final note, although I rejected becoming a L'Cie (you have to to get the right endings) I am going to use the L'Cie cheat code this time through because I think it is just dreadful that the game includes specific points on all party members where they have been branded but you can completely fail to ever find those depending on your choices. Or rather, L'Cie costumes are cool so I'm using them this time through.
As a final note, although I rejected becoming a L'Cie (you have to to get the right endings) I am going to use the L'Cie cheat code this time through because I think it is just dreadful that the game includes specific points on all party members where they have been branded but you can completely fail to ever find those depending on your choices. Or rather, L'Cie costumes are cool so I'm using them this time through.
In the end I feel that the experience is a little disjointed, but the ideas are still so good that I can't help but love the game in spite of its flaws.
Great character and great avatar!
I need to replay Final Fantasy IX. Still my favourite game, but it has been so long since I have played it. Love this track and the orchestrated version is pretty good too.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Gonna add my 2 cents.
The GILGAMESH you face in what I dub as Pandemonium isn't the real thing but does embody his thoughts and feelings. The real GILGAMESH either is consumed by the Rift or willingly opens it and goes through it. In fact the very weapons and armaments GILGAMESH has is a direct illusion to a very old game called the FF Legend.
Thanks for making it translucent!
It's my first time playing the game. Not done yet, but I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorites. So few games have made me feel the way FFIX has.
I played through it a few years back when they came out with a translation for it.
Pretty cool little game.
What Corvo said was pretty much spot on.
Some tips though:
-Humans are pretty flexible stat-wise and have weapon mastery with different types of weapons. So the more you use X weapon, the better proficiency you have with it. (More damage and whatnot.)
-Mutants, as noted by Corvo, can learn skills on their own. You might have to look this up a bit, but it's highly determined by monster rank.
So if you save before like a major boss, your Mutant could learn a powerful ability after the fight.
-Monsters are a bit of a mixed bag sometimes and there's a lot of 'em.
There's an encyclopedia to try and keep track of all the possible evolutions and ranks of monsters.
There's also a chance it can mutate when it changes form and get more powerful abilities.
Don't mention it! And hey, it was a learning experience for me as well.
tiggerkiddo
Member
After I saw the Cactaur cup Wazzy bought, I knew I had to buy one too!
Wait,
what's different about Gilgamesh's weaponry in Pandemonium? I know he has a different arsenal during the bonus match, but I didn't think he had anything different during the battles in Byakko and Pandemonium from what he had during the clash on the Big Bridge?
Also, what weapon does he have that's a reference to FFL? I know he has a rocket gun, but I didn't think he had a chainsaw. Unless his massive blade is the King's Sword?
Also, what weapon does he have that's a reference to FFL? I know he has a rocket gun, but I didn't think he had a chainsaw. Unless his massive blade is the King's Sword?
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
I have to say that I am extremely ambivalent to the idea that they hide such important info as well as force a second run through just to understand the story. That sounds along the lines of the XIII-2 Ultimania/Novella shenanigans. I don't know... maybe it's just because I don't trust SE when it comes to the FNC story anymore.
Remember that this is my fourth playthrough, so my perceptions are kinda totally all over the place. I don't think this is a matter of them hiding things so much as things not being told in the right order. And while I don't deny that forcing a second playthrough in order to get the whole story kinda whomps, I want the record to show that 1) You CAN beat it and feel like you've understood enough. The "Bad" ending is actually perfectly fine, and people may well accept it as better than the "Good" ending. There is a scene which is unlocked following the end credits which explains more or less enough to leave you only feeling that
the Akashic Records thing is an unfortunately pulled out of nowhere piece of information, rather than a plot point brought up far too late.
the time loop can be understood well enough from Cater's frequent deja vu if you're paying attention.
It isn't like XIII-2 in that you need DLC or untranslated novels to get what is going on. For the most part you don't even need to turn to the game's datalog to understand what happened in your playthrough, aside from the post-credits scene, which should've just played automatically. It also isn't like Bravely Default because Round 2 is significantly different from round one. As in, I'm pretty sure almost every mission in your second playthrough is different from the ones in your first.
I'm not going to pretend it's perfectly executed, but it isn't horrible. It's nowhere near as bad as the rest of the FNC.
Haha yassssssssssssssssssss!
I won't receive mine until October but the cups are pretty cool. I hope they release more with FF characters.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
His armaments is the King's Armor, King's Shield, and the King's Sword. And he hails from Genbu of which a Rift portal is similar to a Black Orb. Think about it for a minute. Also it's clear because the one you face in the trials has a different name and the model is partly corrupted with black and green parts on the armor. Has nothing to do with anything from what he uses in the battles.
PowderedToast
Junior Member
finally playing LR and honestly this must be the most conceptually brilliant game of the past few years
after XIII-2, which i enjoyed for its broad themes but disliked how it was bit all over the place, LR feels like they really had their heads screwed on and were much more focused. 500 years of stasis, 13 days left to save everyone and help them to become at peace within themselves, it's just a wonderful device to explore the cast in a different way. and not just that, but how it's reflected in the gameplay structure only makes feel more cohesive and resonant.
sazh, snow's and vanille's stories are especially great. this aspect alone justifies the continuation of these characters after XIII's perfectly self contained story.
as a big XIII fan I am very happy
after XIII-2, which i enjoyed for its broad themes but disliked how it was bit all over the place, LR feels like they really had their heads screwed on and were much more focused. 500 years of stasis, 13 days left to save everyone and help them to become at peace within themselves, it's just a wonderful device to explore the cast in a different way. and not just that, but how it's reflected in the gameplay structure only makes feel more cohesive and resonant.
sazh, snow's and vanille's stories are especially great. this aspect alone justifies the continuation of these characters after XIII's perfectly self contained story.
as a big XIII fan I am very happy
Meccanical
Member
Jesus christ Under the Weight kicks all kinds of ass.
tiggerkiddo
Member
It's good but the Before Meteor soundtrack makes me ask, WHY did they change it.
PowderedToast
Junior Member
after finishing LR I am convinced that that the term 'chaos' is a poor approximation of what the Japanese script intended to convey.
can anyone weigh in on the Japanese word used and how else is could be translated? maybe I'm wrong. I'm reading that the pronounciation slightly changed between XIII-2 and LR, that doesn't inspire confidence
Ganon Dragmire
Member
from the ffwiki
The term is capitalized in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, but not in Final Fantasy XIII-2, despite the terms referring to the same substance. In the Japanese Final Fantasy XIII-2 the term is written as Kaosu (カオス
I'm going to need you to prove to me that the Japanese version of FFXIII explains who Etro is without using the Vercingetorix entry. Cuz otherwise I remain in adamant disbelief.
You know, normally when a large group of people have the same impression of a game, there's something behind that.
Just reached Lost Continent in FFIX. I found the gear for Vivi to get Water finally in the Desert Palace. Looks like water is the strongest element in the game? Or is that just until I get Lv. 3 elements? It's pretty expensive, at 22 MP.
Speaking of water, Leviathan is awesome. My favorite of the summons yet, although I still haven't seen Atomos and Ifrit (I have the gear for them, though.)
Speaking of water, Leviathan is awesome. My favorite of the summons yet, although I still haven't seen Atomos and Ifrit (I have the gear for them, though.)
Eventually you get some ridiculously overpowered non-elemental magic like always, but I think Flare is the strongest elemental magic.
I let Quina eat one of the enemies in the palace and s/he learned Lv. 4 Holy. That's probably the strongest thing in my arsenal right now, but I haven't used it yet.
tiggerkiddo
Member
I thought Doomsday was stronger?
Quina hasn't eaten much. I'm about as good at remembering to do that as I used to be with stealing (when I was younger and I played these games I rarely took the time to steal).
So I don't have much. Doomsday is probably stronger, I just don't have it yet.
Edit: Whoops, that's embarrassing.
It is, but I don't think it's elemental.
SuperChoco
Member
It's Dark, which makes it great as a strategy for Vivi as a healer since you could equip items on everyone that absorbs dark.