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Captain Vittles posted:Esper is a slang term for an ESP User. Woolsey used the term because it fit within the character limit, definitely sounded distinctive, and kinda-sorta reflected the Espers' status as vaguely-human-like things (well, formerly human things at least) that use supernatural powers. Yes it's a tremendous stretch but so what, it's way better than Phantom Beasts. Square also used the term Espers in the older SaGa games, though they were translated as Mutants for the FFL games. Though it's interesting to note that the back of the box for Final Fantasy Legend actually refers to ESPers. Espers is actually a term Japan likes a lot which is probably why Woolsey chose it. You saw it a lot in media from that era.
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Jul 25, 2013 05:45
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ImpAtom posted:Espers is actually a term Japan likes a lot which is probably why Woolsey chose it. You saw it a lot in media from that era. Japan had a pretty big "esper" fad in the late 80's, early 90's period didn't they? Quite a bit of manga about kids with psychic powers can be traced back to around that time. Now, of course, JoJo put the best spin on the idea with Stands, which, in case one forgets, started off as a idiosyncratic way of depicting ESP visually. I do think SaGa dates from about then.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:06
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Azure_Horizon posted:You're best off skipping the entire game altogether. You miss nothing. Personally I thought FF8 had the most interesting and chillaxed atmosphere. It's got this early 2000's feel that, combined with the soundtrack, makes it one of the more interesting settings in the series.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:10
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T.G. Xarbala posted:Japan had a pretty big "esper" fad in the late 80's, early 90's period didn't they? Quite a bit of manga about kids with psychic powers can be traced back to around that time. Now, of course, JoJo put the best spin on the idea with Stands, which, in case one forgets, started off as a idiosyncratic way of depicting ESP visually. Yeah, it was everywhere. Even Phantasy Star used it IIRC.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:13
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Calaveron posted:Personally I thought FF8 had the most interesting and chillaxed atmosphere. It's got this early 2000's feel that, combined with the soundtrack, makes it one of the more interesting settings in the series. An empty box with good music isn't an setting. It's a slightly less boring elevator ride.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:13
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Calaveron posted:Personally I thought FF8 had the most interesting and chillaxed atmosphere. It's got this early 2000's feel that, combined with the soundtrack, makes it one of the more interesting settings in the series. It's a setting with areas completely slapdashed together with no coherent feel or tone. It sets up a setting and does supremely little with it. Coincidentally, FFXIII has this same issue; at least it's absolutely gorgeous whereas FF8 definitely shows its age.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:16
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T.G. Xarbala posted:Japan had a pretty big "esper" fad in the late 80's, early 90's period didn't they? Quite a bit of manga about kids with psychic powers can be traced back to around that time. Now, of course, JoJo put the best spin on the idea with Stands, which, in case one forgets, started off as a idiosyncratic way of depicting ESP visually.
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Jul 25, 2013 06:28
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:An empty box with good music isn't an setting. It's a slightly less boring elevator ride. FFVIII does have the logic of making most of its areas reasonably travellable for the average citizen - a train system between most of the major towns, actual footpaths with no monsters on then, and ports between Dollet and Balamb. The only odd ones out are Winhill, Trabia and Shumi Village, I think. Esthar is also closed off but they're supposed to be xenophobic in the first place. Compare that to FFVII, where simply going from one town to another makes it seem like you're going through rivers, monster-infested swamps, large swaths of oceans or a forest that rejects anyone that doesn't have a magical instrument. I think the only places that are reasonably close by to each other in safety are Midgar/Kalm and Junon/Costa del Sol.
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Jul 25, 2013 07:33
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Honey Badger posted:FFVIII had the most forgettable playable party for sure. Zell seemed alright when I was younger but he's basically just a shittier Wakka looking back now. The main character's dialogue was like literally 1/3 comprised of "...", to the point that the antagonist (Seifer) ends up being infinitely more interesting (he also has one of the better and more realistic character arcs for an FF "villain", imo). It's always good to see other people who liked Seifer as much as I do.I remember posting in Leovinus' current FFVIIILP (which probably won't be finished as far as I can see) that Seifer was probably the only well-written character in the game and I hold by that. People always say they want FFVIII but with Laguna. I like Laguna as much as the next guy but Kiros and Ward would make awful side characters and Laguna can't hold up a game on his own. Even if you don't care for Raijin or Fujin they would at least contribute. And so I say I'd love an FFVIII starring Seifer, Raijin and Fujin.
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Jul 25, 2013 10:27
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Oh. So...that's how you're going to handle all eight main characters still being relevant to the plot. Well poo poo, if I'm going to have to put up with Alba in cutscenes anyway, then I may as well switch my main party up. Sol, you're back in. Sorry Glaive, I like you more but Sol has more utility to bring to the table.
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Jul 25, 2013 12:58
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Another reason FF9 is the best FF = Zidane and Vivi take a leak on the 500 year old lost city of the summoners.
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Jul 25, 2013 17:24
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Thievery posted:Another reason FF9 is the best FF = Zidane and Vivi take a leak on the 500 year old lost city of the summoners.
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Jul 25, 2013 17:33
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DACK FAYDEN posted:That cutscene made me wonder if all the Black Mages had "equipment', or just the prototype. And then the ending made me wonder why the prototype was able to have kids. When you're pondering the philosophical implications of whether a child wizard from a fantasy video game has sexual organs or not, you can say 'penis.' We're all adults here.
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Jul 25, 2013 17:51
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Once you go black mage...
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Jul 25, 2013 17:53
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Thievery posted:Once you go black mage... White mages cast like this, while Black Mages cast like this!
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Jul 25, 2013 17:54
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NikkolasKing posted:People always say they want FFVIII but with Laguna. I like Laguna as much as the next guy but Kiros and Ward would make awful side characters and Laguna can't hold up a game on his own. That's because Laguna is meant to be a foil for Squall. The whole point of having him and those dream sequences where Squall's mind gets shoved back in time is to highlight just how screwed up in the head Squall is compared to his father. Yeah, Laguna's kind of a dork, but otherwise he's a well-rounded, mature individual. Squall, on the other hand, is a broken person who tries to project the facade of a cool, mature individual.
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Jul 25, 2013 18:22
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W.T. Fits posted:That's because Laguna is meant to be a foil for Squall. The whole point of having him and those dream sequences where Squall's mind gets shoved back in time is to highlight just how screwed up in the head Squall is compared to his father. Yeah, Laguna's kind of a dork, but otherwise he's a well-rounded, mature individual. Squall, on the other hand, is a broken person who tries to project the facade of a cool, mature individual. Yes, because a well-rounded, mature individual totally tickle tortures a friend of his that just had his vocal cords torn out  Seriously, what the gently caress is up with Laguna and tickling people? 
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Jul 25, 2013 18:24
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Squall makes "broken people" look supremely boring.
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Jul 25, 2013 20:29
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Cervixalot posted:When you're pondering the philosophical implications of whether a child wizard from a fantasy video game has sexual organs or not, you can say 'penis.' We're all adults here.
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Jul 25, 2013 20:46
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NikkolasKing posted:It's always good to see other people who liked Seifer as much as I do.I remember posting in Leovinus' current FFVIIILP (which probably won't be finished as far as I can see) that Seifer was probably the only well-written character in the game and I hold by that. I always want to like FFVIII's cast, because the potential is there. Having a bunch of orphans get snatched up to train as unquestionably loyal mercenaries, wiping their memories with GFs in the process, is an interesting premise. Realistically, Cid should have been a villain; the fact that Edea gets possessed and thus a chain of events goes down that "justifies" SeeD existing is only a coincidence, and if not for that there would be no debate over whether raising a child army of assassins is ethical or not. It would also serve as a legit reason for Squall to behave the way he does, in addition to abandonment issues (though I think they tried to keep that angle under wraps for a bit too long), but the way the game handles everything just squanders all that potential again and again. I can't remember anyone in the game questioning the morality of the Gardens or using GFs. Giving us that conflict early could have made Squall a bit more sympathetic, but we just think he's a dick until we learn about his past (a past he doesn't even really remember), and by the time we know everything it's like disc 3 and my opinion of his character has settled in already. There are brief flashes of inspiration with characters, like Selphie's brainwashed naivety being kind of terrifying and violent sometimes, and Irvine's breakdown when he's about to kill Edea (though I think his character is basically completely wasted aside from that scene), but it's too few and far between. Then you toss in the fact that everyone coincidentally grew up together, which wasn't really a necessary plot point at all, and the villains just get progressively shittier and more removed from the plot we are actually exposed to and...so on. That's why Seifer kind of stands out, because he is really a more realistic portrayal of what the SeeD process would do to an impressionable teen with no sense of identity. He's a sympathetic villain and he's refreshing because he's one of the few FF antagonists that is a human with human faults, and he doesn't magically transform into some overly-generic metaphor of a monster. Arguably, his view of the SeeDs as evil isn't even all that wrong - he kind of pulls off what Star Wars couldn't with the whole "boohoo the Jedi are the real evil ones in my opinion" thing. It's even worse because Seifer and Squall are actually a lot alike, but Seifer's neuroses manifest themselves outwardly while Squall's manifest inwardly; it just happens that playing and watching a supremely introspective character with social disorders isn't much fun.
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Jul 25, 2013 22:54
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Honey Badger posted:it just happens that playing and watching a supremely introspective character with social disorders isn't much fun.  begs to differ (yes I know he grows out of it). TWEWY sequel, where are you?
chumbler fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Jul 25, 2013 |
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Jul 25, 2013 23:02
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The difference between Squall and Neku is that everyone basically either encourages or ignores Squall's neuroses, while the entire cast of TWEWY takes potshots at Neku and calls him out on his poo poo.
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Jul 25, 2013 23:19
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FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that?
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Jul 25, 2013 23:26
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Yohan Kebab posted:FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that? Why do you think people still talk about 4?
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Jul 25, 2013 23:26
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Yohan Kebab posted:FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that? I don't think so. My first FF was FF1 though so v  v
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Jul 25, 2013 23:28
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dis astranagant posted:Why do you think people still talk about 4? Space whales?
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Jul 25, 2013 23:28
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dis astranagant posted:Why do you think people still talk about 4?
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Jul 25, 2013 23:30
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dis astranagant posted:Why do you think people still talk about 4? Because the 3DS version is fun. 
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Jul 25, 2013 23:36
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Yohan Kebab posted:FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that? I'll admit I'm this way a little bit with FFX.
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Jul 26, 2013 00:00
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Pasteurized Milk posted:Space whales? That reminds me, why did alternate world maps stop being a thing? In FF7 there was a whole undersea area that (admittedly) didn't have much but it was still cool, then FF8 and FF9 didn't have anything, and we lost world maps entirely with FFX. Bring back world maps! Let me go underwater, underground, and to the moon again! It's just more places to stick additional content! Personally I think FF8 missed the opportunity to actually utilize a goddamn dragon spaceship and the established fact that monsters live on the moon and space stations exist.
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Jul 26, 2013 00:22
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I really, really miss world maps, it's true. It just feels like even though it isn't so, the game is so open world. A positive quality of FFD. One of few.
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Jul 26, 2013 00:33
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Yohan Kebab posted:FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that? There's a reason for me calling FF6 my favorite game ever, and that's having played 1 and 4 when they were first released.
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Jul 26, 2013 01:23
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Yohan Kebab posted:FF8 is the first FF game I played and nostalgia dictates I will never look at it objectively. I just can't, I've replayed it about 5 times and loved every single playthrough. Surely everyone has a FF game like that? This is me with 5. I actually hate the first Final Fantasy I played though because 10 is a pretty bad game, but hey.
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Jul 26, 2013 02:30
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I have to applaud Matrix Software, they loving outdid themselves with the encounters in the last dungeon. Enemies who hit for half my party's HP, status effects galore, mountains of HP, bullshit Death and HP-to-1 skills. And the creme de la creme loving random encounter boss refights. Those are special. My Moogle Charm doesn't prevent those. The funniest part was when I got Hermes Sandals. An accessory that gives auto-haste. Yeah. Like hell I'm taking off my sweet, sweet status protection for that.
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Jul 26, 2013 04:45
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SSNeoman posted:I have to applaud Matrix Software, they loving outdid themselves with the encounters in the last dungeon. Enemies who hit for half my party's HP, status effects galore, mountains of HP, bullshit Death and HP-to-1 skills. And the creme de la creme loving random encounter boss refights. Those are special. My Moogle Charm doesn't prevent those. Those aren't random. They're only once and always occur on that row or column of tile the first time. Barudak fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jul 26, 2013 |
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Jul 26, 2013 05:08
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Endorph posted:It having the best Cid? Dude's the only person in the entire world with sunglasses.
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Jul 26, 2013 05:29
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Azure_Horizon posted:You're best off skipping the entire game altogether. You miss nothing. I shall remember this. Replaying 7 atm on steam!
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Jul 26, 2013 07:03
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The thing with FF8 is that there is an awesome game there, which just happens to be trapped within a terrible game. Like, the second CD is just excellent fun. Almost every scene (other than perhaps the boring FH) feels awesome, you're breaking out of a prison here, holding off an invasion there, sneaking into a military base there. By contrast, the first CD is boring as gently caress and the third CD alternates between being annoying as hell and making no sense. And the final dungeon is awful. The junction system could have been interesting except it's so ridiculously easy to exploit that there's no point. At least they had the good sense to include an option to skip random encounters altogether, and scale bosses to your level. It's the only way to play FF8. As for the characters, I didn't mind them that much. It's actually kind of refreshing playing as a party of uniquely flawed individuals. Every one of them has crippling personality issues that cause no end of problems throughout the game. None of the "good guys" come out looking that good which is pretty interesting. But yeah, that's the thing with FF8. It's got a potentially interesting premise, potentially interesting game mechanics, and potentially interesting characters, but it spends way too much time failing to deliver on that potential. I still love it though 
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Jul 26, 2013 07:35
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cmndstab posted:Like, the second CD is just excellent fun. Almost every scene (other than perhaps the boring FH) feels awesome, you're breaking out of a prison here, holding off an invasion there, sneaking into a military base there. Of course, the fact that said prison break takes place in something like ten or fifteen identical, circular rooms doesn't help my impression of the sequence.
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Jul 26, 2013 07:40
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CD2 would be passable if it wasn't for the insulting breakage of logic that occurs in the Missile Base.
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Jul 26, 2013 08:06
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