a part of me is mad that sephiroth stole this nigga's thunder.

sephiroth had a purpose and everything.
he had a big ass long sword. nohomopause.
and he wore S&M outfits. which was the first of many homo FF character outfits.
i'm saying. dude was fucking brilliant.

but kefka. i mean. he said "i have no purpose in life. i just want to destroy the earth. i mean. sephie's sword couldn't even wink at the light of judgement, son. KEFKA HAD A CULT.

and even after that. sephiroth stole a lil bit of thunder from seifer, if he didn't pussy out after he cut one of your FUCKING SUMMONS IN HALF, he coulda been a contender.

like i swear seifer would have been the final boss of the game. they threw in that lame ass ultimecia bullshit. i'd have been satisfied with edea as a final boss. but noooo they decide to turn edea into a mother figure and (surprise!!) oh shit! we all stayed in the same fucking orphanage??!!?

ugh. anyway. after that, they could have made seifer somehow more powerful than ever, maybe even killing edea, him wanting to be a knight and all.


anyway.


kefka was a fucking loon.
sephiroth stole his shine.
seifer, due to wack plot development, made him out to be a pussy.
i never really played 9, but i hear it was fantastic.
X just fucked me up. I FOUGHT A 20 STORY VERSION OF THE MAIN CHARACTER'S DAD. how silly does that sound?

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

I thought how crazy it woulda been if after you realize that the GF's fuck with your memory(the reason that they couldnt remember they all were from the same orphanage), everyone then refused to use GF's after that point.....you could use the abilities out of battle but you couldnt call them during battle. That woulda been an amazing twist imo, I really cant think of many storyline changes which actually affect your gameplay. It woulda made VIII way better imo. The thing is the battle system was setup where you really didnt even need GF's if you utilized the junction system, so it woulda been a win-win situation imo(you get rid of a very stupid loop hole, show the poise of all the characters by refusing to use GF's, and still not have the game be affected much at all).


And Kefka was a crazy mugfucker, the best reason to ruin and control the world is to have no reason, thats some gangsta shit.

RPGs are so heavy on storyline and plot/character development.

then you get this main bad guy that basically has NO point or motivation behind his actions. and it turns out to be the best shit in the world.

he's like dr. evil if he dressed like andre 3000.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

>he's like dr. evil if he dressed like andre 3000.

LOL!

I still only have a VERY slight idea what you're talking about, but I gotta give it up for sparking my interest.

All those WoW talks @ work had made me numb.

...and even moreso, most RPGs and the ones made by Square.

FFXI is in the cellar with Mystic Crap, ITDO

but the FF series other than that have been a bench mark.

Dunno so much about 8 or 9, for varying reasons. 8 was just too easy to cheese, even if you didn't hack (though, having one part of the game locked out by an insipid Pocketstation game = BS), 9 was OK, but 10 (X) actually set the art of "role" playing forward, ITDO.

<--- "Blue Skies, Barfy Burgers, Girls!"

http://www.rareformnyc.com
http://www.myspace.com/shinobishaw
http://www.last.fm/user/ShinoShaw/

i wanted that guy on my team, do that shock thing

LEO was the fuckin shit, mayne.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

>i wanted that guy on my team, do that shock thing

Maaaaaaaaan, listen... *slams fist on table*

I been thinking this shit for nigh on ten years now. How are you going to introduce an ability like that, and dude gets murked immediately after?

fuckin' cocktease...

--Maurice

>kefka was a fucking loon.

not to mention the greatest fucking psycho laugh in midi ever

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

just straight up crazy.

they couldve settled for letting the words do the talking, but w/ incredibly small pixilated characters, they did an amazing job of making the characters expressive and giving them individuality.


they dont make games like this anymore..

No magic WTF

you could use magic in Kefka's Tower

in the Fanatics' Tower you can *only* use magic

easiest way to beat it is just use Moogle Charm

this has been the 5198 nerd PSA for the day

Umaro pwns all those magic using pansies in that tower though, and Magi Master thinks hes tight and shit with Ultima LOL, Life 3 you bastid.

no random battles is a must sometimes

1MP for all spells??? c'mon, what can possibly beat that

they both are pretty good esp considering you can trade one for the other in the coloseum, but by the end of the game, MP isnt nearly as much of a concern as the damage you wanna do...which means Ill take Gem Box any day.

would you ban me from OKsports if i put this ^ ^ in my sig?

I've already been exposed by bshelly for "Onslaught"

>I've already been exposed by bshelly for "Onslaught"

catch up dog

fighting w/o the moogle charm cause i wanted the experience (i never used mog besides for the moogle charm) and mp, got to the top, and got destroyed by the ultima.

i was so pissed.

>fighting w/o the moogle charm cause i wanted the experience
>(i never used mog besides for the moogle charm) and mp, got to
>the top, and got destroyed by the ultima.
>
>i was so pissed.
>

dont want to piss you off even more bro, but you dont get experience in the tower either

only MP for your espers

Did anyone kill the Brontosaurus thing in the forest, the one that casts Ultima on everyone?

Is it possible to kill Chupon in the Colesseum?

Why is this game the greatest fucking thing in the history of the world?

he's optional but there's no way you can beat him. he sneezes you away before he dies.



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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

takes a while though, you get an economizer i think.
good place to level up

We had Celes go 8 times(seriously) with Atma Weapon and Illumina with Scimitar and Genji Glove (meaning 8 hits of 9999 each time PER TURN so 8 X 9999 X 8) and Chupon still aint die, next turn he sneezed us. I mean you only get an elixir in the Colosseum if you beat him, but gotdamn, its been our(me, my older brother, and 2 cousins) life journey to somehow beat him.

the invisible->x-zone/death glitch on those 2 dinosaurs *hangs head in shame*

can't wait for the GBA version of FFVI

that forest is amazing though, id junction espers who give strenght/magic bonuses at level ups, and exp egg, and just pimp the party out.

after about an hour of fighting, i had maxed out sabins strength and terra's magic. she would do 9999 damage with fire 3. w/ her w/ a gem box, setzer w/ a gengi glove/offering and fixed dice/dice, and everyone w/ quick (setzer did 16 hits a turn, FUCK yo couch kefka), i got hit i think twice by kefka the entire fight.

I leveled him up even further by fighting these giant worm-looking things in a desert area (near Miranda I think), it would kill all my other party members with no trouble, but it couldn't touch Sabin.....Wow I'm a fucking nerd for remembering all that

It was such a giant leap in difficulty.

And whoever didn't save the ninja after going through all that is a SUCKER!!!!

--Maurice

kept worrying if i should wait for shadow lol

the ninja? Wtf kinda shit is that, Shadow cant be placed into 'just another ninja' category son. Hed slit his mama's throat for a nickel......




PS: and if you get that last line, you have my utter respect, esp if you can name the town it happens in.

>PS: and if you get that last line, you have my utter respect,
>esp if you can name the town it happens in.

It's been too many years, dude.

--Maurice

He saw Shadow chillin' in the bar and was shook.

>the ninja? Wtf kinda shit is that, Shadow cant be placed
>into 'just another ninja' category son. Hed slit his mama's
>throat for a nickel......

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

I remember the first time I saw that intro, with Shadow chilling at the bar, and I just knew Shadow was finna be a ridiculous cat(and who knew he would have such an interesting past?)

I find it hilarious how when you first meet him and pay for his services, he can leave your party at any time (is there any other character in the history of RPGs who has that IDGAF mentality?).

Well, I didn't find it hilarious the first time around. Now I know to save after every battle.

that shit was fucking TOUGH...but i was in the middle of finals and i knew i had to quit playing so i could study.

i think if i didn't stop playing, i'd probably be unemployed and poor but i would have BEAT THAT SHIT and had a story to tell about how FF ruined my life.

Nothing else is as hard as that area. The ninjas alone make it hard as hell (they're so fast that they dodge most of your physical attacks).

By the time you're ready to take on Kefka's Castle, your levels are so high that no one's really fuckin' with you like that.

I was talking to my friend about the game today, and he was saying how, for a challenge, he'd go into the end with only four characters and beat the game that way (for those that don't know, you can end up with something like 14 at the end). Which is real interesting since you HAVE to break up the total group into three parties, so you have one group of two characters, and, yes, two groups of ONE CHARACTER.

--Maurice

It doesn't seem possible....Setzer is weak as FUCK

That's nothing but trial and error. There are SO many instant death enemies later in the game.

--Maurice

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

The music was awesome too

--Maurice

I pwned that clown

illusory world?
dancing calcobrena??
the dungeon theme???

VI, VII & VIII all got nice tunes too

FFVI has

Zozo
Magitek Factory
THE OPERA (woot)
the best final battle theme in the series (better than One Winged Angel)
the ending theme to end all ending themes.

>the best final battle theme in the series (better than One
>Winged Angel)

i meant that in a good way, of course

Blackjack was my shit too

Mystery Train
Searching For Friends
The Empire (precursor to FFVII's Midgar themes)
Mystic Forest

Square soundtracks:
1a. Final Fantasy VI
1b. Chrono Trigger
3. Xenogears

the opening theme to Tactics is one of my favorites of all time.

as much, anyway

it was still good though

I still get chills when I hear the ending theme. Beautiful.

looked kinda wack to be honest, and at that point my phasing out of RPG play was in stage 2 at least

But still very good, and at the time it was one of the best-looking and -sounding games I'd ever played. A bit similar to Suikoden in that you can get something like 44 characters. Really emotional story, interesting battle system. It's also one of the few games to get a 10 from GameSpot, for what it's worth.

I'm still mad that Chrono Corridor will probably never happen.

The storyline and gameplay bogged down in the middle(esp when going after the dragons), the 44 characters deluded any real character development, and I could go on and on....it just isnt a compelling game compared to the top or 2nd tier RPG's.

.

when i finished the game w/o using the Chrono Cross (i didn't know)...and i was rewarded with just the credits w/o any form of ending! WTF kind of shit is that??!!

Booted up my PS2 with save files from 2001, and went through New Game+. The fastforward feature was very handy.

I think this game suffered towards the end when you were presented with walls of text and exposition, kind of like Xenogears (same writer), though not as bad as that. Even so, the journey to the true ending was a memorable one, and some of the scenes were quite emotional.

The graphics still look nice thanks to the art style, and the soundtrack by Mitsuda is pretty much flawless. Radical Dreamers makes me wanna tear up every time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBE3c9X0BoA

I think it's important not to compare this to Trigger too much, and just enjoy it for what it is: a true PS1 classic.

The music from the final battle was EPIC

upon closer inspection.

That game is just the shit. But yeah, that whole Jecht shit is like "WTF"

fuck no.


and fuck square for being lazy and throwing in that "fight all of your summons back to back" shit.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

aside from that blitzball crap they brought some cool features in like the sphere grid and changing party members mid-battle

>aside from that blitzball crap

I'll pass

>changing party members mid-battle

and it makes the game rather fun as a result.

Look up at the sky, "aw, shit, it's them gay ass Floating Eyes. where's Wakka at?"

plus it helps out when leveling up

i recently beat DQ8..i need a 'new' RPG to play.

The Doc waited a long while to cop, but it was worth it...

auron is no joke kid. pretty fun game, but square needs to step up thier writing and character team, the FF12 character looks MAD homo, get back to cool loners w/ big swords instead of gay pirates.

but shit, I really got interested in the game once I saw the battle system and 3rd person free-roaming view

not sure if you can steal genji armor or not from him yet though

the battle system reminds me of Vagrant Story and FFTactics and the graphics are amazing for a ps2

But after this post, i'm bout to play now.

Thanks.

>But after this post, i'm bout to play now.
>
>Thanks.

no.

please no.

worst 80 hours spent in front of a final fantasy game ever.
great graphics, i dug the characters.

but the gameplay was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

but then.

im that dude that never played VII.

i blame my old roommate, who said VII was wack and told me to play VIII.

fuck that guy

Its not as good as previous FF's, but its still really fun, especially the first 2/3's. Just make sure to make use of the junction system, esp magic-refine.

I just replayed it last year, and it was A LOT better than I remembered(or maybe it was because my hopes werent ridiculously high like the first time)

the story is engaging the first 2/3rds of the game. near the end it falls apart.

and the junction system is fun to play with.
you can go through the whole game without using a summon if you know how to work it.
shit quistis' shockwave pulsar is THE first (you get the eden GF later in the game) move or spell that breaks the 9999 HP damage barrier.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

but i loved it, squall is a great character. its EXTREMELY easy if you take the time to draw like a champ from enemies w/ good magic, and some of the characters are really worthless (quistis is not powerful at all), and its real difficult to power up your weapon (you gotta FIND the magazine, then find really random ass items? consult an faq for that sht), but the plot is good. the assassination scene is amazing, and the cgi opening is probably the GOAT. fun game. just when you get the spaceship, go to the islands closest to heaven and hell to draw powerful magic, and you can fly thru the game like deaths laxitive.

i thought the final boss was pretty tough though. if she steals a magic you got junctioned to your offense or defense, your screwed.

"But don't take my word for it!" (c) Reading Rainbow

--Maurice

LMAO!

http://www.digitpress.com/dpsoundz/mid/ff3kefka.mid

I suddenly have a bit of free time, and the Civilization isn't holding me over.

--Maurice

>I suddenly have a bit of free time, and the Civilization
>isn't holding me over.
>
>--Maurice

As in: Do you want Monochrome or VGA graphics?

Adlib or Sound Blaster!

THAT Civilization.

--Maurice

Then came the announcement of FFVI Advance...and color returned to my world.

muhfuckas had mobile castle's cause of the
wrath of Kefka.

But I still like Rubicon (the fire fiend) from
FF2 (in the U.S.), he talked a gang of shit
for someone with an obvious weakness.



www.myspace.com/mintallillness

>But I still like Rubicon (the fire fiend) from
>FF2 (in the U.S.), he talked a gang of shit
>for someone with an obvious weakness.
>
>

now that's class

.....or idiotic

not because i can't beat it (done did that when it came out), but because it's so friggin large and entertaining (no capcom-o). sometimes i just erase shit and start all over again...or even use the game genie haha.

I think it's cool to do your second or third time around, but definitely not the first time you play

though, The Doc was tempted to call that thunder Aeon in FFX "Gay-Den" on GP

Cloud - Tza
Barrett - Fatt Dogg
Tifa - Tifa
Red XIII - Drag-on
Cid - Madd Dogg
Aeris - Aeris
Vincent - Sadd Dogg
Yuffie - Yuf Daddy

hey i was like 14 & just gettin into rap ok!!

i don't do it nowadays, unless it's necessary (eg Disgaea, DQVIII)

>Cloud - Tza
>Barrett - Fatt Dogg
>Tifa - Tifa
>Red XIII - Drag-on
>Cid - Madd Dogg
>Aeris - Aeris
>Vincent - Sadd Dogg
>Yuffie - Yuf Daddy
>
>hey i was like 14 & just gettin into rap ok!!
>
>i don't do it nowadays, unless it's necessary (eg Disgaea,
>DQVIII)

him and david xanatos are some of my favorite villians

Murked the emperor and destroyed the world!

Folks tend to be half and half on the subject of Cyan (he happens to be my favorite character), but there's no doubt: THAT was fucked up... and really, really sad. Kefka was on some bullshit, mayne.

--Maurice

man i can't wait till i get home.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

X,Y, down, up

i'll feel like i'm 15 all over again.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

my favorite: right after you get the 2nd airship (which SUCKS that they dont have a shop on there, smoke bombs were my shit), go get mog and the moogle shoes. then go to kefka's tower. put mog in the first party, there will be no random battles, so you can just grab all the treasures you can find before the mini boss. go back to airship, move him to the 2nd part, rinse and repeat, then for the 3rd party. you can get that amazing shield that blocks like everything (aegis shield i think? im such a fucking nerd), and the fixed dice!!!!!!!! setzer is that shit man, get the offering and gengi glove, and once you get quick magic, hes hitting 16 times a turn, often with the fixed dice hitting 2-3 times for 7-9 thousand damage. plus, the dice are magical weapons that do damage directly to the enemy, so most weapon defenses or fast evade rates are nullified. you can kill about any enemy in the battle area using this method. sezter is that dude......

anyone ever cured the cursed shield? ive tried, that thing is amazing from what ive read....



dammit this game is the GOAT.

>anyone ever cured the cursed shield? ive tried, that thing is
>amazing from what ive read....

that was such a long time ago, too...

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

most of the games have had some real wack plot twists, and when did the characters get mad homo?

ok i get to be a spiky haired kid w/ a HUGE sword, a reclusive badass w/ a damn big sword that has a gun on it too, to a............mad homo looking waterpolo player. blitzball is like the gay olympics.

and The Doc almost likes him better than Zidane (who was kind of a fresh turn on recent lead characters), even though he was kind of a generic hero. Cloud looked cool, but after you went through the game, you were like... "You know, this dude here..."

Ditto for Squall. Squall was SUCH a disappointment. He started out cool, even if he was kind of a buttwipe, then he turns into a COLLOSSAL PUSSY. That game's central theme must be "Turning Pussy".

on Blitzball...the only thing The Doc found wack about it was the turn-based-ness of it all. It makes the games last for 10 000 years.

i bought it and am getting thru it, JUST to see the new cgi sequences.

anyone konw what scenes have the added movies? and how do they look?

There really arent any new CGI sequences lol, just that opening one.

after the credits roll

how can you play through that version twice though, what with the ridiculous loading times? -_-"

I heard there were some long ones for the CT port to PS, but I never noticed them for FFVI.

No one has memories of the other games like this. The only other RPGs that have inspired this much love on the board are Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger. MAYBE Knights of the Old Republic.

--Maurice

anyone saying FFVII is better is lying to themselves...

brought back memories fight Zeromus and shit. They made that version so much harder than the original that i had to so some serious levelling up at the end. I fuckin loved it. Now there's a whole gang of shit to do after you beat the game. It's definitely worth it. I can't wait to see what they do with FFVI when it comes out for the GBA

that was satisfying...let's see what the Lunar Ruins has to offer after i finish the game

but yeah, can't wait for FFVI Advance!!!

....and FFV Advance too, i guess (lol the middle child of the SNES FF brothers)

I was split between FFVI and FFVII, but the abomination that is Advent Children actually knocked FFVII down a notch for me. So let it be proclaimed: FFVI = GOAT

The unreleased Famicom game...how is it?

Since I'm such a fanboy I'll probably get the DS remake the day it drops, but it would be cool to hear some impressions.

the job system takes a minute to get used to, but if you've played FFV then you'll know what to expect pretty much. I think it was the 1st FF to introduce summoning

I love that game. Yeah, I said it.

I think once you get past the campiness, it has a lot to offer.

The intro when they are in the mechs walking to the town and then the music cues up.....AWESOME

or the first time I saw Sabins fireball attack

Aura bolt? Fire Dance?

the job system was great, esp the character-specific ones

the active battle system was better than any of the older games in the series, since it also showed how much time until the move is executed...you can switch jobs in battle too

this game is underrated, just don't expect a great story and you'll enjoy it a lot more

i gotta go back & do the Bevelle Underground sidequest one day

cause the deeper you go, the more insanely hard it gets. Some of those bosses and those dragons become common enemies..

and the last 2 bosses?! Forget about it! That shit takes strategy

...you can do in this game? I want to spend a disgusting amount of time finding shit, but I dunno what the secrets really are... I basically plow through every time.

--Maurice

i told about above. just fight with it for 255 battles.

uhm.

you can see shadow's flashbacks if you spend the night at an inn with him in your party.

if you cast vanish on an opponent during a battle, it'll make them impervious to physical attacks. but cast x-zone on them right after you cast vanish. watch what happens. and YES it can work on most bosses too.

there's a whole other lot.
but i'll look for them later.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/

at his master's place near the dinosaur forest? is that considered common knowledge?

i didn't know that until a while after i finished the game

but the best storyline one is sleeping in Inn's with Shadow and getting his flash backs. They are most likely to come at the Inn in Miranda if you wanna see all them in a more timely fashion.

by reading the monthly strategy guide included in Gamepro (ack)

these were pre-internet days

Now information spreads too quickly and easily with this gosh-darned internet gizmo *kicks computer*

trade them shits for exp eggs. get 3-4 of em.


go fight in the dinosaur forest (where brontosaurs appear), equip espers that grant mag/strength bonuses at level up, and after an hour your party will FUCK people up.


other useful strategies:
when leaping w/ gau the first time w/ sabin and cyan, stick around until you get stray cat.
the attack 'cat scratch' will do well over 1000 damage when everyone else is only doing about 3-400. templar also casts fir 2 for free.

read my above post for getting amazing weapons & armor w/ the moogle shoes.

i dont think its possible.

Yeah I said it...

I remeber FFVI more cause that was the one that broke me into the series, but FFVII is just about as damn fun. Sephiroth is that cool chill dude that will just mess you up if he dont like you, and Kefka just wanted the whole nine yards for himself and will take you out if your a problem for him.

thats right, read at game faqs that all the algorithms for blocking/dodging in combat is dependent on your magic evade %age.

Evade aint meant shit, Magic evade is what matters for both evades...but its fixed in the PS remake.

my homie in high school (he was into programming/algorithms/etc.) and he runs up on me after 1st period and he's like "DUDE DUDE DUDE. THERE'S A HUUUUGE GLITCH IN FINAL FANTASY III"


i was geeked.
and we were that much nerdy.
it was BIG FUCKING NEWS TO US.

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http://www.myspace.com/thievinstealberg
http://www.last.fm/user/planetinfinite/
"You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. "

C-Trigger was my 1st RPG. Yall got me ready to cop FFVI.

I let someone borrow my PS2 copy right after I got past the Zanarkland Ruins...never got it back. just spent quarantine playing the XII (beat this one a couple of times) and X remasters, and both still hold up.

+ one of the best, most focused stories in the franchise. the small party and linear path reinforce this; it feels like a real pilgrimage with legitimate stakes. there is some unnecessarily obtuse parts, but when it hits, it hits big. I love the idea behind Sin, and there are some crazy revelations in every act of the game. voice-acting remains solid (it was a big deal at the time). some of it is cringey, but that's also just the nature of JRPGs spoken out loud. I *don't* think Tidus is annoying and the character is overall fairly fitting for his situation.

+ sphere grid and battle system are so fun. for casual playthroughs, you can just get through each character's part of the grid without grinding and keep their individuality. and for the completionists, there's the ability to customize or max out everything. I wish they would bring back a full-on turn-based battle system again; there is actually a good bit of strategy to it. the way FF has being going, that seems further and further away though (XV, shudder).

- fuck me, the HD remaster was released in 2013 and we still can't skip cutscenes? and there are A LOT of damn cutscenes, several long ones before bosses. also, WHO TF thought up some of the dumb shit in the International/Remaster? having superboss dark aeons show up out of nowhere so you can never finish the cloisters of trials properly? not to mention a lot of the regular end-game content is stuck behind some inane shit -- the worst fucking Chocobo mini game of all time (and I didn't mind VII's breeding), dodging 200 straight fucking lightning bolts, etc. even if you want to grind more, getting the end-game treats can be pretty damn discouraging.

still a fun game, though. top five FF for me.

just finished it for the first time (back in '98-99 I was still playing Xenogears). I made a few attempts at starting VIII since then, but the first hour always turned me off.

this time it just clicked. the story is mostly well done, even the Inception-before-Inception "lost in time compression" bit, and the parts where you play Laguna are excellent. I liked Squall, too.

graphics are super impressive for the generation, with legit all-time scenes (the Galbadia vs. Balamb Garden battle, with that playable tracking shot? Kojima eat your heart out). Nomura was at his peak for character design and the world-building is absolutely sick (when you find out the Gardens are mobile? and Ragnarok is the best airship in the series). soundtrack is also Uematsu greatness, during his RZA-esque run while being locked in Square's basement.

and I fuck with the mechanics, once you get past the awful interface. no random encounters after the first third of the game. taking tests in the menu screen to get money directly deposited. grinding Triple Triad (yeah, it's the best FF mini-game) instead of battles. staying extremely low level, so your junctioning is extremely OP to the very end. I never used summons, never had to spend time drawing spells, and ran from nearly every battle that wasn't mandatory.

not the game really tells you how to do all that. so I get why it's divisive. but I'm a fan.

Uematsu was on fire from FF4 to 9.

Also agreed on Triple Triad being the best FF mini game, I managed to collect every single card.

for a decade, uninterrupted, is literally unbelievable in retrospect. as a kid you just took it for granted, but shit:

1991 - Final Fantasy IV
1992 - Final Fantasy V
1994 - Final Fantasy VI
1995 - Chrono Trigger (10 tracks)
1997 - Final Fantasy VII
1999 - Final Fantasy VIII
2000 - Final Fantasy IX
2001 - Final Fantasy X

>Also agreed on Triple Triad being the best FF mini game, I
>managed to collect every single card.

yep, even the PuPu card. I took the cheap way out and collected the Queen of Cards deck and Laguna card from the Card Club on Ragnarok, tho. winning the Laguna card from Ellone was damn near impossible (random/same/plus = winning 7-2, and her last card setting off a triple play or some crazy shit that flipped the entire board). the plus rule was clearly a set-up by the developers to make certain hands unwinnable.

>yep, even the PuPu card.

The thing about ignoring leveling up, overdrawing everything etc. is that you get a more outwardly "enjoyable", more importantly you have an experience with something like "momentum" behind it...


But when you've got 100 of everything on every character, at level 99, and the enemies are all throwing all-party magic and 2,000 HP physical damage at you in RANDOM encounters...FF VIII is a game I'll probably never play again but I used to play it practically weekly as a kid. It's step-child nature is what kept me from liking FF VII for so long.


If you don't understand what's going on, those Ragnarok aliens do be some assholes though.


~~~~~~~~~
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that people complain FFVIII "made" you do anything. it really didn't -- like you said, you could go the old-school route of power-leveling, maxing out stats with GF bonuses and stacking 100 Ultimas/Meteor/Full-Life/Triples. but with appropriate-leveled enemies, as well.

or you could just play cards and mod them into what you needed, never having to draw or spend time leveling if you just preferred going through the story.

I play RPGs more for the "experience" than the mechanics, so the latter option was right for me. but I think it's odd that the people who complain the game was too broken, are the same people who deride "linear" RPGs. nobody made you mod cards. you could spend every battle summoning, if you want.

they've released 1 through 5 so far; 6 is coming by end of the year it looks like.

I'm not that interested in 1-3, but I did just buy 5 with the intent of *finally* getting through it. I've tried 3 or 4 times; I could never stay engaged enough to get more than 8-10 hours into it. I've been trying since a fan translated ROM on an emulator, pre-localization.

however, the quality of life improvements (quick save every time you enter or exit an area, auto-battle based on your last action that speeds up grinding) are making me like it a lot more. the job combinations are interesting, kind of overpowered in many regards but the bosses have been decent challenges.

nothing beats the original artwork on a CRT, but since you can't really replicate that anymore, the new effects are welcomed. the screen tearing was obnoxious at first but I fixed that with a v-sync change on my graphics card.

the auto-battle is a major help get through V -- really most of the game can be summarized as one long grind for job ability points.

but I had fun. the job ability combos are definitely fun and you can get through the game with a ton of unorthodox ways. the stories and characters are just OK, acceptable for the time but mostly juvenile in retrospect (memory loss Galuf was the best thing going).

glad to have made it past the first 10 hours this time and add it to the trophy case.