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[KmA]

I just want to go on record saying that I did not think the laughing scene in FFX was bad. In fact, I thought it was rather endearing (the dub version, the japanese version can die in a fire). I felt like the forced laughter they did was something friends would actually do. Friends make painfully awkward jokes and do stupid mannerisms for no reason other than to bond with each other. It's clear how everyone but Tidus and Yuna are totally mortified by their weird ass display of lung prowess. And it becomes so much more meaningful that they are bonding over being total weirdos. Plus, Tidus just figured out

Spoiler

his dad is Sin,

so the change in tone was totally welcome. I loved it.


Ok, I'm done with my unpopular opinion.

 

[Seda]

I just want to go on record saying that I did not think the laughing scene in FFX was bad. In fact, I thought it was rather endearing (the dub version, the japanese version can die in a fire). I felt like the forced laughter they did was something friends would actually do. Friends make painfully awkward jokes and do stupid mannerisms for no reason other than to bond with each other. It's clear how everyone but Tidus and Yuna are totally mortified by their weird ass display of lung prowess. And it becomes so much more meaningful that they are bonding over being total weirdos. Plus, Tidus just figured out

Spoiler

his dad is Sin,

so the change in tone was totally welcome. I loved it.


Ok, I'm done with my unpopular opinion.

I agree with you, not-jaxword.

 

[SougoXIII]

I just want to go on record saying that I did not think the laughing scene in FFX was bad. In fact, I thought it was rather endearing (the dub version, the japanese version can die in a fire). I felt like the forced laughter they did was something friends would actually do. Friends make painfully awkward jokes and do stupid mannerisms for no reason other than to bond with each other. It's clear how everyone but Tidus and Yuna are totally mortified by their weird ass display of lung prowess. And it becomes so much more meaningful that they are bonding over being total weirdos. Plus, Tidus just figured out

Spoiler

his dad is Sin,

so the change in tone was totally welcome. I loved it.


Ok, I'm done with my unpopular opinion.

Hell, I don't even remember the laughing scene until I see everyone making a big deal out of it over the internet. Given its context, the scene is fine.

 

[Professor Beef]

None of my friends force out fake laughter.

 

[KmA]

None of my friends force out fake laughter.

Well then you have terrible friends

 

[jaxword]

 

[Narolf]

Bad plagiarism.

 

[Seda]

KMA must face jaxword (but not attack him) and only then will he become a paladin.

 

[Narolf]

Difference being, we already know how the story ends in that case.

 

[Dark Schala]

It'll be like FF4's story where I stop taking it seriously after a certain point?

 

[Narolf]

As much as I cling to Versus XIII's and the speculations it unfolds.

 

[SougoXIII]

KmA: 'I am a shadow. The true self.'

Jaxword: 'N..o. It can't be! You're not me!'

KmA: *Evil laughter*

Cue catchy battle theme with incomprehensible lyric.

 

[Meccanical]

So when will the inevitable jaxword and KmA battle to the death be scheduled?

 

[Narolf]

Wait for Versus' release to know the end of the story.

Hold on, wrong fan-fiction.

 

[Dark Schala]

I've been posting some FF8 retrospective thoughts to tumblr recently, adding one new entry every day or so. I'd repost it here if anyone is interested

http://sheilaknight.tumblr.com/tagged/heartilly
(click on "notes" to expand)

Huh. Never thought of it this way. This is succinct:

The use of motion actors and stunt performers was nothing new to the PSX era at the time. However, Yasuko Yokoyama (Rinoa’s dancer) and Wataru Hirano (Squall’s dancer) humanized the interactions between the two CG characters more than any regular pantomiming could ever do. There is a universal expression that dancers convey through their gestures and body language. Players knew exactly what Squall and Rinoa are thinking or feeling, whether they’re from Asia, America or Europe. Contrast this with the regular motion acting in the other CG movies, where certain expressions are either hard to interpret or don’t convey much of anything at all.

For some reason, I keep forgetting that that scene was mo-capped. In that respect, even though I don't really care much for CG/cutscenes, this post highlights the sort of thing I wish more cutscenes had: better animations and no dialogue/text to accompany what's being expressed. People can express far more through facial expressions and body language than they can with words, and this is generally what I like in games (which is why I often end up talking about Suikoden II's wonderful sprite animations, the innovations in FF6's sprite animations, Ghost Trick's animations, some of Mother 3's animations, fighting sprite animations (hell, let's just give the award away to SNK), some of Catherine's facial animations, etc.).

Scenes emphasizing body language more than relying on lexical matter just seem to go faster than the dialogue-based scenes and I still feel like I understand the characters far more than I could with reams of text or lots of spoken dialogue (because semantically, ambiguity can be introduced into the speech stream). Rather than making the body language supplement the dialogue (ie: in a reactive way), it should take precedence over the dialogue, imo, and tell the characters' story.

It's just like being in a room with someone else, and even though you're silent, you still understand each other because nothing needs to be said as it'll be redundant. Your expressions, gestures, and other body language tell the other person how you feel or what you want.

 

[Tizoc]

Final Fantasy XIII progress report #8
In the cave towards Tenjin Tower and while the regular robot enemies are easy, the 'leader' type is friggin' annoying.
Upgraded Vanille and Fang's weapons but haven't turned them into their 2nd form yet.
About to do Vanille's Eidolon battle soon, but overall aside from a few tough battles I've managed fine so far.

 

[ULTROS!]

Final Fantasy IX

I hope I'm not the only one who renames "Dagger" back to Garnet. Dagger is kind of a crappy name.

 

[Narolf]

Not the only one. Djidane has bad tastes.

 

[Bladenic]

Because it's the first version I beat, plus I like the font better.

And it has the scene where Celes gets slapped in it.

btw, I can't wait to rid myself of this avatar.

Inferior version, but it's your playthrough

 

[tiggerkiddo]

She's never in my party long enough for me to care...but now I feel like replaying that game...

 

[Bladenic]

Final Fantasy IX

I hope I'm not the only one who renames "Dagger" back to Garnet. Dagger is kind of a crappy name.

I did one time, the rest were Dagger. I think I may be one of the few who like Dagger as her name. Even SE has pretty much abandoned that name, she's always called Garnet.

 

[jaxword]

Funny thing about Dagger...it's a transliteration. The name she picks in Japanese is "Dagā", a romanticized English 'dagger.' So to them, that'd be a somewhat foreign sounding name.

Which means, to keep that theme going, the translators should have picked something like Kodachi or some other vaguely Asian word for short knife.

 

[ULTROS!]

Funny thing about Dagger...it's a transliteration. The name she picks in Japanese is "Dagā", a romanticized English 'dagger.' So to them, that'd be a somewhat foreign sounding name.

Which means, to keep that theme going, the translators should have picked something like Kodachi or some other vaguely Asian word for short knife.

Maybe I could call her Wakizashi or something. It would sound terribly off though.

 

[Tizoc]

Final Fantasy IX

I hope I'm not the only one who renames "Dagger" back to Garnet. Dagger is kind of a crappy name.

Dagger sounds like a fine name to me at least as a codename or such.

Funny thing about Dagger...it's a transliteration. The name she picks in Japanese is "Dagā", a romanticized English 'dagger.' So to them, that'd be a somewhat foreign sounding name.

Which means, to keep that theme going, the translators should have picked something like Kodachi or some other vaguely Asian word for short knife.

Heh never knew that, thanks for the info!

Maybe I could call her Wakizashi or something. It would sound terribly off though.

That'd be hilariously awesome...if not for the 8 letter limit =/

I normally just call her Dagger, but since that name gets dropped eventually, I'll prob. just call her Garnet in my playthrough.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Which game had the best blue magic? My vote goes to V because of how useful most of the spells were.

 

[Professor Beef]

Which game had the best blue magic? My vote goes to V because of how useful most of the spells were.

I think 7 did. Trine and Beta were enough to carry you through most of the game. 9 isn't bad, and 8 would be amazing if the Blue Magic weren't tied to Limit Breaks only.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Yeah VII had some really useful ones, I got a lot of use out of Beta and Trine.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

FFGAF, With the FF games being on sale on PSN, is there any reason to get the first Dissidia game, or just go with Duodecim? They're the same price for some reason.

 

[Narolf]

Go with Duodecim directly, it's pretty much Dissidia 1.5 in terms of content.

The first game's story is included in this one, so nope!

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Go with Duodecim directly, it's pretty much Dissidia 1.5 in terms of content.

Thanks, still, it's really weird they'd both be the same price.

Is Aerith worth getting as an assist? Oh, and love your avatar.

 

[Narolf]

Is Aerith worth getting as an assist?

As for Aerith... #DDFFCasual will tell you she is essential if you want to play Dissidia competitively. I really don't think she is, rather that Kuja does remain the best assist of the game overall. Surely she is nothing but a gimmick if you want to stick to offline play.

#DDFFCasual is the IRC channel I've referenced in my homepage.

Oh, and love your avatar.

Thank you kindly. Clinging to it myself.

 

[Tizoc]

I've never used Blue Magic in any FF. Well I did use some in FF9 with Quina, but otherwise...nah.

Speaking of which: Why do people hate Frey(j)a? She's my fav. FF9 character design-wise and moves-wise. ...and please don't tell me she was 'whiny' I've played the game a dozen times and she's always been confident and strong throughout the whole ordeal even after Cleyra was destroyed. If anything her subplot with Frately needed more insight or focus.

 

[Bladenic]

I've never used Blue Magic in any FF. Well I did use some in FF9 with Quina, but otherwise...nah.

Speaking of which: Why do people hate Frey(j)a? She's my fav. FF9 character design-wise and moves-wise. ...and please don't tell me she was 'whiny' I've played the game a dozen times and she's always been confident and strong throughout the whole ordeal even after Cleyra was destroyed. If anything her subplot with Frately needed more insight or focus.

What? She's one of the most popular characters from 9. Well, at least the most popular from the 4 losers that don't matter to the plot. Excluding Eiko.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Freya deserved more development after Burmecia.

 

[aravuus]

FF9 has no dislikable characters, they are all at least ok. Of course I hated Zorn and Thorn, but you're supposed to.

It is pretty much my favorite FF though, nails everything.

 

[jaxword]

I've never used Blue Magic in any FF. Well I did use some in FF9 with Quina, but otherwise...nah.

Speaking of which: Why do people hate Frey(j)a? She's my fav. FF9 character design-wise and moves-wise. ...and please don't tell me she was 'whiny' I've played the game a dozen times and she's always been confident and strong throughout the whole ordeal even after Cleyra was destroyed. If anything her subplot with Frately needed more insight or focus.

Not really hate so much as just generally ignored.

Likely a combination of:

-Female character that is not traditionally attractive
-Unrelatable to casual players with her arc. "Trying to get her amnesiac boyfriend to remember her" doesn't work for your average teenage male.
-Riverdancing rats. It was a stupid scene, let's be honest, it just was released just before the internet became big and thus wasn't picked up as a meme like Laughing.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

I never saw that scene to be basically riverdancing rats but I can see it now...darnit!

 

[Tizoc]

^I just see it the way the game presented it.

SPEAKING OF WHICH: FF9 has some really good body movement and 'actions', like when Zidane lights a match, and the scene where they plan their kidnapping in their airship was very well done.

Not really hate so much as just generally ignored.

Likely a combination of:

-Female character that is not traditionally attractive
-Unrelatable to casual players with her arc. "Trying to get her amnesiac boyfriend to remember her" doesn't work for your average teenage male.
-Riverdancing rats. It was a stupid scene, let's be honest, it just was released just before the internet became big and thus wasn't picked up as a meme like Laughing.

So...racism?

FYI I NEVER knew they were actually rats, I always thought they were dragons, and calling them rats was just a normal insult lol.
I also like the dance scene in Cleyra the music that plays is beautiful and one of my fav. tracks from the game.

 

[Kokonoe]

I didn't play FF9(apart from the first area) but I saw someone play bits of it, and the river dancing is great and I do like Freya's character design. I guess I'll see if I like her personality too whenever I get to FF9 on my FF crusade.

Really though, I like what I saw of FF9 and it is essentially FF1-2 which makes me even more-so like it.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

It wasn't an original dance but I give them props for giving Cleyra some character even if that got pretty depressing.

IX soundtrack is top stuff. I don't think there was one awful song.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Posted in the other thread, but those aren't as active as here. Anyone prefer the original FFT over WOTL? or is that pretty much superior in every way too?

 

[jaxword]

So...racism?

Can't tell if this is a joke about how everyone screams racism at the slightest critique on the internet or genuinely asking...

Posted in the other thread, but those aren't as active as here. Anyone prefer the original FFT over WOTL? or is that pretty much superior in every way too?

WOTL far superior. The only reason to prefer old FFT is nostalgia for the old butchered Engrish or the slightly easier difficulty.

 

[aravuus]

It wasn't an original dance but I give them props for giving Cleyra some character even if that got pretty depressing.

IX soundtrack is top stuff. I don't think there was one awful song.

It's goddamn fantastic. Square's/SE's games tend to have music so good I'll listen to it even after finishing the game.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

WOTL far superior. The only reason to prefer old FFT is nostalgia for the old butchered Engrish or the slightly easier difficulty.

LOL The PS1 classic is easier than WOTL? I mean, it's been years since I played, but it was still very difficult in spots,. Certain battles would be instant game overs for protect this character missions if you had characters that don't get turns right away. Wow.

Thanks though.

 

[jaxword]

LOL The PS1 classic is easier than WOTL? I mean, it's been years since I played, but it was still very difficult in spots,. Certain battles would be instant game overs for protect this character missions if you had characters that don't get turns right away. Wow.

Thanks though.

No, I said SLIGHTLY easier, and only because some of the job numbers are a bit higher in WOTL and there's a few extra story missions (which are easy anyways).

However, you'd probably not notice the numerical difference unless you're an obsessive grinder.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

It's goddamn fantastic. Square's/SE's games tend to have music so good I'll listen to it even after finishing the game.

Sometimes I don't even wait to get the game before I listen to the music!

That reminds me I still need the soundtracks to IV, VI, VII and VIII.

 

[Tizoc]

Can't tell if this is a joke about how everyone screams racism at the slightest critique on the internet or genuinely asking...

Genuinely asking actually.
Which brings me to something: FF9 has the MOST diverse species living on its world. There are dodo/bird like people, hippo people, fish people, half rar half dragon people, etc.

It might just be the ONLY FF so far that has such a thing, and it really adds to it being a fantasy world.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

No, I said SLIGHTLY easier, and only because some of the job numbers are a bit higher in WOTL and there's a few extra story missions (which are easy anyways).

However, you'd probably not notice the numerical difference unless you're an obsessive grinder.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. I probably wouldn't notice it too much since I played the hell out of the old one. Looking forward to playing this finally.

Oh, and Balthier. <3

 

[jaxword]

Genuinely asking actually.
Which brings me to something: FF9 has the MOST diverse species living on its world. There are dodo/bird like people, hippo people, fish people, half rar half dragon people, etc.

It might just be the ONLY FF so far that has such a thing, and it really adds to it being a fantasy world.

No, it's not racism.


And it's not the only FF that does that by a long shot. FFX is full of tiger-people, lizard people, fish people, bird people...

FF12 goes a step further and creates languages, cultures, and histories for the rabbit, pig, sheep and other anthropomorphic species.

And then there's whatever the heck's going on in the online games these days with the various nonhumans.

 

[Narolf]

FF9 has no dislikable characters, they are all at least ok. Of course I hated Zorn and Thorn, but you're supposed to.

It is pretty much my favorite FF though, nails everything.

None of them really stood out either. My top 3 favorite FFIX characters were Tarask, Kuja and Beate, in this order. Still, I wasn't able to relate to any of them since they were pretty much cardboard characters; they were too burlesque, in a word. Cloud, Squall and Noctis remain my absolutely favorite fictional characters since they feel human; especially Noctis, whom I relate to seeing how hot-tempered he is.

I know I've said several times in the past XIII was my third favorite FF, but it was more for light-hearted instigating purposes than anything. My ranking would actually be in the likes of...

VII/VIII >>> XIII/IX​

Definitely the PSX trilogy remains the best bet to indulge in the series.