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[tiggerkiddo]

Can't make a larger comment right now, but I like FFII. It's the one FF game that I thought primarily benefitted from remakes and ports. FF1, by contrast, just became incredibly easy outside of the PSX port.

Basically, you need to know that everything is weak against Toad.

You're the first person I know who likes that game.

 

[qq more]

Wait, is it that game where you can hurt your party members for EXP?

 

[Hot Coldman]

FFII gave us that amazing comic from Chris Kohler that I can't be arsed to dig up right now.

 

[Dark Schala]

Wait, is it that game where you can hurt your party members for EXP?

Never ever do this. Play the game normally. That's why people hate this game when no grinding is necessarily required.

I like the narrative and soundtrack very much.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Wait, is it that game where you can hurt your party members for EXP?

You whack your own people to increase your stats, yes.

 

[Dark Schala]

FFII gave us that amazing comic from Chris Kohler that I can't be arsed to dig up right now.

one million yen - edited the right one in.

You whack your own people to increase your stats, yes.

While you can do that, it's not the most efficient way to progress through the game.

Whenever people talk about grinding in RPGs in general, it just strikes me as odd because you don't need to do it at all, lol.

 

[qq more]

one million yen

Yeah, this is actually how I learned about this. Hahaha.

"at long last a Final Fantasy game as good as Nintendogs."
LOL

 

[Hot Coldman]

I never said anything about ranking XIII-2 over TWEWY. My thinking was that I should probably put TWEWY on the list because I enjoyed everything else about the game but the story. It's just a lot of the times, I put a lot of weight into the story and it's tough for me to enjoy a RPG without a compelling story.

Ah, sorry, I misinterpreted your post.

I can understand why you'd put a lot of weight on story, so many games are just full of it and it can be a pain to ignore. TWEWY is definitely one of those games. Hell, most Square games are.

But I really liked the story in TWEWY. Like, really enjoyed it. It had a brilliant cast that hit all the right notes (the emo character actually grows up, the characters with mystery aren't covered in heavy-handed "intrigue" and are notable for other traits first and foremost, the villains are just hilarious yet somehow still formidable), and I enjoyed the rules of the world they created, their awesome spin on purgatory legend and the madness of urban life. It captures the imagination in a way I don't think Square has done that well since FFVII. Even the ending was good- and I was expecting utter game-ruining nonsense.

Plus those secret reports revelations and clarification are so good.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Never ever do this. Play the game normally. That's why people hate this game when no grinding is necessarily required.

I like the narrative and soundtrack very much.

People hate the game because it's really not all that fun to play through, it's a very frustrating game that is well known for brutally punishing you for walking off the path.

 

[Dark Schala]

People hate the game because it's really not all that fun to play through, it's a very frustrating game that is well known for brutally punishing you for walking off the path.

And that's a neat aspect of game design that I kind of like. You know you're not supposed to be there because the game is designed that way with its enemies, but you're completely free to experiment and figure out which spells/skills are effective (like the Toad spell killing the final boss, for instance).

But I'm weird, remember? I like high difficulties, like Noi would probably tell you.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

And that's a neat aspect of game design that I kind of like. You know you're not supposed to be there because the game is designed that way with its enemies, but you're completely free to experiment and figure out which spells/skills are effective (like the Toad spell killing the final boss, for instance).

But I'm weird, remember? I like high difficulties, like Noi would probably tell you.

I don't really see that as high difficulty but a cheap way of increasing difficulty. Just like those small empty rooms with the insanely high encounter rate and tough foes.

 

[Kokonoe]

These were my impressions I posted on GAF.

So I'm playing FF2 for the first time, and in the grass near the town I run into 5 humongous bombs that do 300 and 400 damage while my character with the most hp has 40 HP. Looks like I'm in for a treat.

The icing on the cake for me was that when I finally found out what kind of ridiculous child crafted invisible path where your whole party doesn't get annihilated in one hit, found the correct town that had the first cutscene, the first NPC on the left of the town (which your instincts would tell you to go talk to) starts a battle which causes you to once again die in one hit.

Whoever crafted that game was off their rocker.

What I don't like about this game is that it's exactly like a Dimps Sonic game, die a billion times first and then you finally get somewhere.

 

[Dark Schala]

Yoshi's Island
The high water mark for all 2D platformers, especially Mario games. Incredible art style, a strong sense of character, interesting premise, and every level is unique. And for a franchise typically known for boring, repetitive boss battles, Yoshi's Island's bosses are still some of the best Mario bosses ever.

Someone post a picture of the battle where you fight Raphael on the moon because that's my favourite.

I don't really see that as high difficulty but a cheap way of increasing difficulty. Just like those small empty rooms with the insanely high encounter rate and tough foes.

I always saw that omake content that I have no idea why Square added. I won't deny that there are aspects of the game design that I dislike, but every time I play that game, I've come to like it more, especially from a narrative perspective.

I wrote this last year, though that was when I didn't want to rank FF games at all.

4. Final Fantasy II

I guess you could say I like FFII because I like Suikoden and other political narratives like that? Aside from the great music, I thought the narrative was pretty good. I think it can be improved in some areas (in terms of pacing), but I liked it. As long as you play the game without beating up your party members in an attempt to level up quickly, it becomes less of a chore to get through. I'd like to think it's one of the darker FF narratives, but gets overshadowed because of its battle/ability system.

A lot of people I know say it sucks, but on the other hand, a lot of people haven't played it because they heard it sucks. Or they didn't play it the way it was meant to be played (ie: not hitting your party members to level up). Sure, the system is flawed and easily broken, but I enjoyed it. But it isn't fun to beat up on your party members for most of the game because it gets boring, and sometimes doing this raises your stats disproportionally.

I mostly like it for its plot, though. It introduces a few musical themes (chocobo theme), traditions, and plot elements (death, war, betrayal, mission failure, etc) to the series. I think it's the FF that benefitted the most from later ports/remakes... and that it unfairly gets a lot of hate.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Basically, you need to know that everything is weak against Toad.

 

[Noi]

I like FFII's narrative, themes, music, etc, but it remains the one non-MMO in the series that I've never beaten cause I'm not a fan of the mechanics behind it. I'll play through FF1 NES three times over before mustering the motivation to play any version of FFII.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

While the story is kind of minimal, it is pretty dark considering the death count the Emporer racks up. I don't remember much about the soundtrack at all (Played a lot of it on the bus/light rail to college when I was younger so I turned the sound down) but I may give it a listen.

 

[qq more]

Someone post a picture of the battle where you fight Raphael on the moon because that's my favourite.

Done

 

[Shadow Hog]

I remember when I first fought that boss (on the GBA port, if it matters) that I thought he looked like a weird, black-haired, orange-skinned Captain Caveman thing.

Took me a while to realize the nose was a beak, and it was actually a bird.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Someone post a picture of the battle where you fight Raphael on the moon because that's my favourite.

Ironically I took this very screenshot when I re-beat the game back in September.

 

[qq more]

MY SNAPSHOT IS BETTER

 

[Hot Coldman]

Someone post a picture of the battle where you fight Raphael on the moon because that's my favourite.

 

[qq more]

okay you sort of win

lacks mustaches though

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I can't believe we went through an entire two Galaxy games and we didn't get a single Ralph the Raven fight. I mean, it was BUILT for that shit. Hell, the second one even had Yoshi, so there wasn't any excuses. You could had an amazing lookin' Yoshi's Island art style Galaxy, too.

For fuck's sake, Nintendo

 

[Kokonoe]

....words alone cannot describe the beauty of such imagery.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Raphy the Raven was a BOSS.

 

[Sciz]

http://i.imgur.com/uQD3Mms.png[IMG][/QUOTE]
It warms my heart to know that I didn't have to make this joke myself.

 

[qq more]

but no one cares for my mustached moon and yoshi

/wrist

 

[Shadow Hog]

okay you sort of win

lacks mustaches though

 

[Hot Coldman]

SCOOPS SCOOPS

HAAGEN-DAAAAAAAAAZ

 

[Eiolon]

I installed the Sonic Generations demo from Steam last night to introduce my 5 yr old to real gaming (not that Leap Frog shit). Man this game is extremely beautiful and it was pretty fun. Worth the $30 for the full game? He did pretty well though I question the difficulty as he didn't even die once.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Generations Green Hill Zone is easy as hell.

Sonic 1 Green Hill Zone, on the other hand...

 

[tiggerkiddo]

but no one cares for my mustached moon and yoshi

/wrist

Show me your version of Gargantua BLAAAAAAARGH

 

[Sciz]

I installed the Sonic Generations demo from Steam last night to introduce my 5 yr old to real gaming (not that Leap Frog shit). Man this game is extremely beautiful and it was pretty fun. Worth the $30 for the full game? He did pretty well though I question the difficulty as he didn't even die once.

GHZ is a tutorial stage through and through. The real meat's in the rest of the game.

 

[Seven Force]

Pfft, like Yoshi can beat 1000 years of Pizza.

I can't believe we went through an entire two Galaxy games and we didn't get a single Ralph the Raven fight. I mean, it was BUILT for that shit. Hell, the second one even had Yoshi, so there wasn't any excuses. You could had an amazing lookin' Yoshi's Island art style Galaxy, too.

For fuck's sake, Nintendo

This.

Come to think of it, the Galaxy games would have been the perfect place for a Tatanga boss fight. Total missed opportunity.

 

[Dark Schala]

All of these screenshots are the best.

One looks like it comes from an awesome Newgrounds port
One comes from the SNES version and is rightfully adorable
And the last one is the HD Wii U version with TV show tie-ins

All perfect in every way.

Edit: though I have to question why Raph's moustache is at or above his eyes in the newgrounds one.

I installed the Sonic Generations demo from Steam last night to introduce my 5 yr old to real gaming (not that Leap Frog shit). Man this game is extremely beautiful and it was pretty fun. Worth the $30 for the full game? He did pretty well though I question the difficulty as he didn't even die once.

Awww. I always find this stuff kind of cute.

Generations certainly does get harder in later stages, so don't worry about it.

 

[Hot Coldman]

You're thinking of Red Donatello, Seven.

 

[Shadow Hog]

This.

Come to think of it, the Galaxy games would have been the perfect place for a Tatanga boss fight. Total missed opportunity.

And BAH BAH 2 should've had Wario show up. I mean, the entire game's about grabbing as many coins as you possibly can (for pretty much no reward, at that), and the one Nintendo character who's all about that doesn't make an appearance. Shameful.

 

[Kokonoe]

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Well now we know where yo curleh moustache went to...it got blown the *beep* UP!

 

[Seven Force]

You're thinking of Red Donatello, Seven.

That never gets old.

And BAH BAH 2 should've had Wario show up. I mean, the entire game's about grabbing as many coins as you possibly can (for pretty much no reward, at that), and the one Nintendo character who's all about that doesn't make an appearance. Shameful.

Oh yeah, completely forgot about that. Such a shame.

 

[qq more]

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!

 

[tiggerkiddo]

*Bleep* the Moon.

 

[Shadow Hog]

The Eclipse Cannon isn't powered by the Chaos Emeralds. It's powered by Piccolo.

 

[qq more]

Show me your version of Gargantua BLAAAAAAARGH

yossy fiting blarg

 

[Dark Schala]

not frowny enough

1/10 for effort

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I love his angry crayon eyebrows

 

[Dark Schala]

Way better than Angry Link and Angry Kirby eyebrows.

Gargantua Blargg has just the right amount of angry.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Must be that Asian BLAAAAARGH

 

[qq more]

Blah! It's a masterpiece! I'm an artist so I should know what's masterpiece when I see one! My art pieces are just misunderstood!

 

[ViewtifulJC]

I was thinking about some of my favorite games from back in the day, and how I'll probably never be able to experience them again. There was this one kick-ass game my local pizza place had called "Lucky and Wild". It was light gun game, two buddy cops fighting bad guys. The hook of it was that the entire game was played out through car chases. You actually sat down in this car like machine, and while each player had a gun, player 1 had a steering wheel, brake, and a gas pedal!

It so interesting to play, usually my brother and I, with me steering. You can shoot up a lot of the obstacles like bombs and barrels and molotov cocktails, but when your car is getting really damaged or just want to get the hell out of the way of something big, I'd have to drive around it, but at the same time had to focus on shooting people, too!

It was a very humorous game, too. There were these funny little action movie one-liners the game speakers would make from time to time, and Lucky and Wild themselves were always making these goofy reaction faces in the rear view mirror. It was an great arcade game.

But because of the way it's set up, you really can't get the full experience without replicating the entire thing. There were never any homeports, and good luck finding this damn thing in an arcade(or an arcade anywhere).

I wonder about the future of game preservation. Are you just gonna rely on emulation to save everything? And what about the really huge several GB+ games? Or things like Lucky and Wild well the full experience can't be grasped with your keyboard or dualshock controller. I think a lot of games are just gonna be lost in time, living on in your memories.