Final Fantasy Megathread: I, Jack, will knock you all down

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Final Fantasy Megathread: I, Jack, will knock you all down

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Sapozhnik posted:

The way I remember it SD3's combat was basically a button mashing clusterfuck with the occasional spell thrown in and your AI partners just kind of did whatever. So I dunno, these changes seem like a definite improvement.

Pretty much yeah. There�s also the fact that the designers made like half the bosses in the game do massive counter-attacks to magic, so the game itself subtly encourages reliance on button mashing physical attacks.

It�s one of those things you might not notice immediately, but once you realize it, you see that it�s loving everywhere.

The game still manages to be quite fun because they did a good job making that button mashing enjoyable...but even as a big fan of SD3, it�s hard to argue with modifying the system.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2020 10:20

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:05

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

dracula vladdy AF posted:

To be totally honest, you can get through the game without any card shenanigans or AP grinding at all and it's still probably the easiest game in the series. So long as your GFs are learning refinement skills and you always see what a boss has to draw it'll be cool. I think folks in general tend to overstate exactly how far a person needs to go in breaking the game, the card stuff in particular seems like a huge waste of time and energy given how simple the game is.

Yeah, if you're talking just in terms of beating the game, absolutely. Buy Tents for Curagas (HP), stock up on some Fish Fins for Water (Strength), use Wizard Stones from the guaranteed boss drop, and then maybe supplement it all with refining a couple cards here and there for particularly valuable items for refining; boom, done. Use multi-hit limit breaks like Zell or Irvine constantly and you're set. Heck, even if you really want to shatter the game by getting Quistis and Zell cards early, we're talking about like an extra hour of cards; not like hours upon hours here.

The reason people usually run card shenanigans isn't because it's needed to win the game, it's because it's legitimately fun to play the card game.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2020 17:28

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

The White Dragon posted:

actually the real reason you avoid gaining levels in the beginning of the game is, if you go above lv10 before you reach galbadia garden, you can't get the drop parts for the lionheart on disc 1 and will have to wait until disc 3

True, though this would be a more compelling reason if upgrading your weapon was actually worth a drat. Like, sure, it unlocks the Lionheart finisher which is cool, but from a �winning the game perspective�? A level 15 team with good junctions is going to be ending most battles before the boss threatens you regardless if you�re rocking the Lionheart or the base weapon.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2020 20:03

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Relax Or DIE posted:

jrpgs taking too long to give you a full party, whatever that is in a given game, has always been a pet peeve of mine. it's not really based in anything real, i just always feel like a game is dragging its feet until you get a full team

Like, if you're going to have a ton of characters, so some join halfway through the game, sure, but at least give me the max number early on. It just doesn't feel like the REAL game is started till I've got a full group of 3/4 in the battle screens.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 00:23

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Mantis42 posted:

Is FF3 (NES) worth playing? It seems pretty hard and idk if I want to invest a lot of time in it if it's not even considered good.

It's pretty fun, it's the origin of all sorts of traditional FF staples, and I generally enjoyed playing it a couple times. However, it definitely shows its' age in a lot of places and there's literally nothing about the gameplay/mechanics that wasn't done similar-but-better by FF5. You might enjoy it, but you definitely won't miss anything by skipping it either.

It's also worth noting that the DS version is near-universally considered to be worse and more tedious than the original NES version due to a bunch of changes...but unfortunately that's the version that's been the basis for all modern ports AFAIK (mobile, PSP, PC).

# ¿ Apr 21, 2020 20:56

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Harrow posted:

Long post asking for advice about Final Fantasy VIII incoming:

Here's what I'd suggest:
1.) Play the game normally with respect to regular battles. No constantly using Enc-None, no abusing Card to keep levels down, no slamming Tonberry LvDown to ensure you get single-digit XP, none of that. Just an ordinary run through dungeons like you would if you were playing any other JRPG.
2.) Restrict yourself only to junctioning spells that you could Draw at any given time. Don't actually force yourself to exclusively collect Magic via Draw since that's boring as poo poo, but don't allow yourself to junction anything until you've actually seen it in the Draw menu from a regular enemy. This provides a nice natural increase in your power - over time, you'll be able to draw better magic due to levels and tougher enemies, but you'll never get wildly overpowered.
3.) Cast Magic normally like as you would if it was any other FF - spells for healing, status magic to sleep enemies, elemental magic for damage, etc. Don't just sit on 100 of magic for stat purposes, cast them like you would if you were playing with Vivi or Eiko or whatever.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2020 18:37

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

dracula vladdy AF posted:

Frog Drop definitely has one of the crappier formulas in the game. It's kind of funny, if you look at lots of guides for the game, particularly specific ones for taking on Ozma and the like, they largely suggest Quina should be doing damage through Frog Drop, which is just bonkers unless you are way, waaaay higher level then you really should be. I get the impression that a lot of people (myself included, up until recently) haven't really played with Quina all that much, Blue Magic has really limited options in terms of doing consistent damage without needing to jump through hoops.

Frog Drop is basically useless throughout the entire game, barring weird challenges like "No Equipment" or whatever. In normal scenarios, the damage done by Frog Drop will be outclassed by even regular physical attacks with the latest fork. It's only when you (a) level up like crazy and (b) intentionally grind Frogs beyond just "I'm near a marsh, let's do this" that Frog Drop can really put out damage and if you're willing to put forth that much effort, it's completely superfluous.

And really, that's kind of the case for most of the Blue Magic in FF9. If you know exactly what you're doing, there are ways to make it incredibly useful to the point that Quina can basically carry the team at certain points (Limit Glove, Night), but it's pretty unimpressive for a typical player running the game normally.

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Apr 27, 2020

# ¿ Apr 27, 2020 17:41

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

TommyGun85 posted:

ugh I'm getting nightmare flashbacks of that awful FFIX guide I bought with all that PlayOnline bullshit.

The weirdest part about the PlayOnline garbage is that the game/guide was released in late 2000, when "go to a website" was a non-trivial exercise for the average home user. Most internet users still had dial-up which was slow and might mean tying up the phone line, plenty of people only had one computer in the household which was typically not in the living room with your TV, nobody had smartphones, and wireless internet existed but was still mostly for bleeding edge power users. I mean, I have to assume it was primarily targeted at people who were gamers enough to actually stick around Square's website after getting information but not gamers enough to know about GameFAQs or their ilk....but it's not a particularly viable idea when it likely requires your user to stop mid-game for a solid 5-10 minutes every time you just want to know where a Stellazzio coin is hidden or whatever.

Also, if you really want flashbacks, Kotaku wrote a nice article on it a few years back in case you've forgotten just how bad it was. Worth a read.
https://kotaku.com/the-worst-strategy-guide-ever-made-1702827492

EDIT: Actually, there was another linked article by Kotaku explaining how strategy guides were written, which also includes a bit of information on how the FF9 one ended up being so lovely.
https://kotaku.com/how-final-fantasy-ixs-strategy-guide-turned-out-so-horr-1834809621

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Apr 28, 2020

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 03:25

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Sakurazuka posted:

The Yojimbo calculation is insanely complex and based on a hidden friendship stat that involves how many times you've summoned him and how much you've previously paid to him.

It's also based on what you told him when he first joined and asked you what your goal was - if you said anything other than the phrase like "To kill the strongest enemies", then getting Zanmato against any boss/Dark Aeon/etc becomes much more difficult.

And no, this choice can't be changed after you made it. You thought that was just a toss-off question to develop Yuna's character/motivations? Sucks to be you.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 21:33

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Rosalie_A posted:

--Running everyone around the grid picking up all the stats you can will more than put one high enough to farm all the Area and Species Creations, which enables you to pick up stat spheres and max out your stats trivially. At that point, there's no higher for you to go.

Yep. There's basically only two settings for the Monster Arena Creations: (1) When they first unlock through normal gameplay so you can't actually beat any of them OR (2) You used one of the various AP tricks to unlock a shitload of AP and went through the entire grid system so you can steamroll all of them.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2020 22:47

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

NikkolasKing posted:

I liked Customization. If you can't get the Celestial Weapons because gently caress everything about FFX sidequests, you can just make your own ultimate weapon.

Customization would be cooler if they hadn't locked so many abilities behind items that are a pain in the rear end to collect, crazy high quantities of common items, or stuff like Skill Spheres which you really want to actually use.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2020 12:10

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Agents are GO! posted:

Also fun about skills: if you dont manual control skill learning, you could lose skills forever, because GFs can learn more skills than there are slots for them. Yes, you can erase skills, but if you dont have an empty slot when you unlock another skill, what happens?

This is only an issue if you use items to manually teach your GF's extra abilities - GF's naturally learn exactly the same number of abilities as they have slots for.

The usual answer is to simply erase the 'standard' commands of GF/Magic/Draw/Item on the GF's you're teaching abilities to, because all GF's come with these naturally. So as long as one of the GF's you have equipped still has these commands, it's then redundant on all your other equipped GF's. There's also the benefit that these are the easiest abilities to replace (since they're buyable from a shop) so even if you later need to rearrange your 'typical' GF setup, you can usually find a way to make it work.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2020 13:48

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Elephant Ambush posted:

This and use the speed up button liberally.

I'm replaying it now and playing on x2 speed is smooth and fast-paced, without being overwhelming. So much so that it honestly feels like x2 speed is the default setting of how the game is meant to be played, with x4 used as a speed up and x1 being used as slow-mo.

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Apr 30, 2020

# ¿ Apr 30, 2020 22:59

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Vermain posted:

Wakka also fights with a loving ball, something that no one either notes or commentates on. I get it's a make-believe fantasy world and all, but a ball?

Harrow posted:

I mean, imagine how strong he must be to throw blitzballs that hard underwater. I bet it fuckin hurts if he beans you with one of those things. And that's before he gets the one that's covered in blades

It absolutely would hurt. My old college roommate went to high school with Brady Quinn, five star prospect and future NFL first round draft pick. Roommate was a trainer for the team and said there were multiple times that receivers would come in after practice complaining of hand injuries because Brady threw the ball so drat hard...and that was as a high schooler, throwing to people who knew the ball was coming.

There�s also the famous video of MLB pitcher Randy Johnson hitting a bird with a fastball during a game and the bird literally explodes.

# ¿ May 7, 2020 04:21

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Ohtsam posted:

IX has periods where you can just plan avoid having Quina if you don't go to the swamp iirc.

One period, yeah. The optional parts are basically Disc 1 and part of Disc 2. Normally you pick up Quina right after leaving Lindblum and they stay in the party until Cleyra before running away but you aren't actually required to do so.

However, when you go back to the swamp to leave the continent, you pick up Quina again and this time they are hard-required for their nose to lead you to the hidden underground passage. At that point, Quina is a permanent party member and with you forever.

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 21:09 on May 7, 2020

# ¿ May 7, 2020 21:00

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Dr Pepper posted:

Really status effects are pretty useful in the vast majority of Final Fantasy games it's just that they've been very bad at actually telling you when they work.

Or something like in FF12 where once you get the Nihopalaoa you forget using any status effect abilities and just toss Remedies at enemies.

Similarly, when they don't work, they're typically very bad at telling you why - did blind fail because the enemy is immune, because *all* bosses are immune to blind, or did I just flub the innate accuracy on blind's innate accuracy roll? And how many turns do I want to waste trying to figure this out by casting blind again when it's not clear whether it'll work better next round?

# ¿ May 8, 2020 17:39

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Harrow posted:

If I were to suggest one major edit to the FFVIII script, it'd be to maybe, uh, revise that orphanage twist a bit.

It definitely serves a purpose to a certain degree. Revealing that Edea was the kind, caring matron of the orphanage where Squall lived as a child is a good early look at what's really going on (Ultimecia possessing sorceresses to enact her will) and adds some tragedy to her character. That part works just fine.

Where it all gets hosed up is that everybody but Rinoa was there. The whole goddamn cast minus one grew up at the same orphanage and everyone except Irvine forgot because GFs eat your memories. And then the thing is? None of that poo poo ever comes up again. It's important that Squall was at that specific orphanage, but not everyone needed to be for the story to work. And it feels like the "GFs eat your memories" thing was added specifically to make that twist make sense, because that sure as hell never matters again, either.

To me, the weirdest part is that "you were all kids who grew up together!" doesn't even add anything to the story. Squall's story is defined by being abandoned by Ellone; there's a reason why all the scenes with Squall are him just standing outside crying in the rain because the other kids don't even matter to his character. As for the rest of the crew, it's basically just copying the exact same character dynamics and pasting them on 5-year olds, so that doesn't really accomplish anything either.

If anything, it's a pure negative to the story - both because it introduces the enormous plothole of "GF's eat memories" and because it means that the whole "oh no, we have to fight Matron" dynamic falls completely flat the instant you-the-player remember they just admitted they forgot all memories and emotional ties to Edea.

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 20:22 on May 11, 2020

# ¿ May 11, 2020 20:20

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

cheetah7071 posted:

because it's super bizarre to have a villain who you never meet until the last hour of a game and who barely has an impact on the narrative, and time travel is a great storyline conceit for showing characters at different points in their lives

To be fair, bringing in a random villain who you don't give a poo poo about is practically a FF staple - Dark Cloud, Zemus, Ultimecia, and Necron all do it to various degrees.

gigglefeimer posted:

To me, it's a literal way of expressing how damaging it is to not have ties to other people. Squall and company are playing out the same childish behaviors because they were robbed of their childhoods by being child soldiers. I mean, look at how well Ultimecia does for an example of someone without a connection to others.

I don't think they were "robbed of their childhood" though. Sure, they're being trained to fight and cast magic and stuff, but on a day to day basis, Balamb Garden looks like basically any other boarding school. The students have dorm-mates, play cards for fun, chit-chat in the lunch room, skateboard enough that there's actually written rules about it, go on ~~make out sessions~~ dates in the training center, plan festivals every single quarter, a well-stocked library that all students are free to borrow books from, get magazine deliveries, attend prom, have winter vacation, and so forth.

And we even see this directly for our characters too - Selphie in particular has a bunch of friends at her old school, while Quistis is part of card club and Zell sees his mom regularly. Squall may be a total loner with no connection to others, but that doesn't fit the rest of the SeeD crew.

# ¿ May 11, 2020 21:37

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Schwartzcough posted:

I love FF9, but gently caress some of the pointless minigames like Jump Rope and Hippaul racing.

I actually like the fact that all of FF9's mini-games are low stakes and optional - Jump Rope and Hippaul Racing have basically no benefit, the fight sequence provides a bit of an early boost but is replaceable unless you're doing a speedrun or some kind of challenge, and the only card battle that matters can be won by pure luck/stubbornness if you're willing to retry via save/load a couple times.

# ¿ May 12, 2020 19:51

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

gigglefeimer posted:

Funny because that message rang loud and clear to me. Squall and co. are shown to be immature, highly emotional wrecks who are barely holding themselves together while they tackle world changing events and existential crises, as a direct result of their young age and positions they've been thrust into.

Are they really emotional wrecks?

Squall certainly is hosed up and Seifer is as well, but the rest?

Selphie is portrayed as a completely normal extrovert. Zell is fairly normal except for having a short temper. Quistis is wildly underqualified to be an instructor, but hell, show me a 18-year old who wouldn�t be. And Irvine�s most notable quirk is that he freezes up about murdering people in cold blood which, uh, actually seems more mature than the alternative.

# ¿ May 13, 2020 01:09

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Arrrthritis posted:

While I see your point, i'm baffled at it because 3 also exists.

Nah, the original NES version of 3 isn't bad. It's fairly fun to play through, it's the origin of a bunch of series staples, it's got a few interesting mechanics. That said, I would probably describe it as not particularly necessary to play through. If you enjoy the old NES-style RPGs, you'll probably enjoy it, but you won't really miss a ton by skipping it either.

Unfortunately, the remake made a lot of changes that made the game worse and actually ruined some of the interesting mechanics, so the above doesn't really apply unless you're willing to track down the NES version and mess with fan-translations and blah blah.

# ¿ May 14, 2020 15:01

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Lord Lambeth posted:

I'm not super wild about the FFX combat system but maybe it gets way better once the sphere grid is filled out.

How early in are you?

If you're only in the introduction where you're Tidus+one other character, then yes, it will improve. The system is designed around you swapping characters and using their special skills, so until you get several more characters, the system doesn't really shine. But if you're already through the introduction where a bunch of characters all join near-simultaneously so you've got 5+ characters, then I don't think you'll revise your opinion just because you advance further in the grid and get an extra Status Attack or Fira instead of Fire or whatever.

# ¿ May 14, 2020 16:21

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Thinking about replaying FFX (Steam PC version). Any interesting or fun mods out there? I would like some increased challenge since I really like the battle system...but hopefully not to the stereotypical Difficulty Mod Style where the stats are just cranked to the point that every battle is just a slog of crazy HP.

# ¿ May 15, 2020 20:26

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Veib posted:

In Dragon Quest games (all of them?) you keep EXP and items but lose half your total gold

Worth noting that this penalty usually isn't nearly as steep as it sounds. Usually the first thing you do in a new town before setting out to the next dungeon is buy equipment, so the 'half your total gold' you're losing is primarily drops you got from fighting monsters on the way...so you're still ahead financially compared with just losing all progress and getting kicked back to your last save point. Most (all?) of the recent ones also have banks where you can deposit your money and protect it from the death tax.

# ¿ May 17, 2020 13:21

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Mega64 posted:

The funny thing is Square learned their lesson from the original, which is why no later game with jobs has a penalty when you switch.

Then 3DS comes along and makes the penalty significantly worse because their lead has insane theories when it comes to game design.

And really, the original barely even deserves the word 'penalty' because it was so irrelevant. There were also Capacity Points that were needed to swap jobs, but they were plentiful enough that it was never a limiting factor unless you were swapping all four character's classes simultaneously or literally swapping every single dungeon or something like that.

There was a 'job skill' that affected your stats in the existing job and I guess that could also theoretically discourage job switching, but the impact on your stats was so small that it wasn't worth considering. Like, we're talking "every 4 job levels gets you an extra 1% chance to hit and damage" levels of irrelevance.

# ¿ May 20, 2020 16:58

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Jack-Off Lantern posted:

You can retry it taking the Boat again, tho I don't think that's possible until Luca is done

Correct. It was like this in the original too.

And you can score without Jecht Shot - you just need to set it up so you can break one defender and then use Sphere Shot (which Tidus starts with). The actual shooting score might even be higher than JS�s set value too. It�s also possible to score with Wakka and Venom Shot, just much tighter on time.

# ¿ May 23, 2020 11:10

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

cheetah7071 posted:

wait does that only happen cause Zell kicked the machine

lol

Yeah, pretty much. Zell kicking the machine saves you a bunch of Steam Power, but makes all those scripted battles appear.

# ¿ May 24, 2020 02:06

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Vichan posted:

NORG is such a strange thing, he sort of comes out of nowhere, gets defeated and is barely mentioned again.

The biggest thing is that NORG needed a bit more explanation ahead of time. It wouldn't need to be a ton, but even just super-minor modifications would really tie things together - maybe have him present in the graduation scene with a small speech about Garden's profitability, a few random name-drops from Garden Faculty, and maybe some offhand comments by Xu or the Doctor during the riot/missile crisis. He serves a role in the current plot as-is, it's just that he appears from nowhere because you don't really hear about him.

# ¿ May 27, 2020 17:23

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

100YrsofAttitude posted:

Any pertinent advice for VIII or will I be fine just jumping in? Unlike 7, I know very little about 8 aside from Gunswords, King Emo Squall, and that there's Rinoa and a teacher so it'll be nice to discover what I feel is often treated as the George Harrison of the PS1 games.

You'll generally be fine just jumping in. Only a couple thoughts:
1.) The card mini-game is surprisingly fun, definitely give it a shot. And almost every NPC plays, so definitely ask around.
2.) Don't worry about the fact enemies level up with you. People flip their poo poo over this (even playing casually!), but it's a small enough impact that it's not worth stressing about.

# ¿ May 31, 2020 16:56

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

gigglefeimer posted:

The sphere grid system is just the job system (Yuna=White Mage, Lulu=Black Mage) but even more linear since you pretty much go along your designated path throughout the game. Also X-2 has like 3x as many job classes as X.

Yeah the normal sphere grid is extremely linear for each character except Kimhari until near the end of the game. There are a few tiny side branches where you can go a couple nodes out of your way for a stat boost, but it�s like 2 nodes that you go, grab the stat boost, then get back to the straight line.

It seems more interactive, but for most of the game, it plays about as proscribed as an old school RPG where the stat gains and spell learning is fixed on a set table - thanks to Sphere Locks keeping people in their set area, cool spheres to unlock other stuff not being available till late, etc all keeping your characters mostly set on a path.

Kimhari has the opportunity to pick other grids, but since you don�t have a good way of jumping around until late-game, in practice, he either (1) gets a bunch of low level poo poo from several other people�s grids and is not great at anything because he doesn�t go deep anywhere OR (2) focuses on one grid and is basically a duplicate character (�Wakka, but with worse stats since he�s always a few sphere grid levels behind on that grid�).

# ¿ Jun 6, 2020 21:20

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

The White Dragon posted:

wait how does he make it easier? iirc ice 2 is listed as a water spell but its actual in-code element is technically Ice so you can't solidify the boss with it

Ice and Water both work perfectly fine for the desert boss. I don�t think Marle/Magus �Ice� and Frog�s �Water� are even considered different elements; they both seem to get lumped in together for purposes of resistances.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2020 00:36

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Agents are GO! posted:

I remember interviews with developers prior to Cross' release where there were increasingly intense this is not a sequel to Chrono Trigger statements but apparently nobody was capable of accepting or believing that.

Myself included.

Might have been easier to accept if it wasn't named Chrono Cross, very clearly linking the games. The marketing of "last game, you traveled through time; this game, you're traveling through dimensions" probably didn't help either.

Oh, and maybe don't have ghost Crono, Marle, and Lucca show up halfway through and complain about how your actions affect Chrono Trigger.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2020 17:48

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Sakurazuka posted:

I've always loathed the law system in FFTA and never made it far because of that, at least in 2 it got toned down to just being for bonus stuff.

I've always thought the concept of the law system could actually be pretty cool by forcing you to adapt rather than simply rolling out more or less the same team every time and just relying on your few favorite skills. And theoretically, the laws could introduce an extra strategic dimension to a strategic player thinking about how to rules-lawyer through.

But FFTA executed it horribly. Enemy formations are set up with unique skill sets that are exempted, the laws are generally more on the "pain in the rear end" side than the "interesting" side, a number of rules only work against the player, and IIRC at least a few laws were vague enough that you could break them without realizing it.

Joey Freshwater posted:

My embarrassing FFT story is that the first time I played I didnt realize you could put more dudes on the board than just Ramza and Delita so I kept getting my rear end kicked in the first battle.

It wasn't just you; I used to post at the FFT Gamefaqs board years ago and this came up often enough that it was pretty much the first item listed in the FAQ.

MagusofStars fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jul 2, 2020

# ¿ Jul 2, 2020 22:30

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Leal posted:

Look at all these abilities with effects to help you strategize your combat abilities!

Oh but not on this boss. Or that boss. No not that boss either. Look if there is music playing that isn't the same as the trash mobs then don't bother.

The really interesting thing here is that many bosses in the FF series actually are vulnerable to status effects.

It's just that you can't tell unless you either repeatedly waste turns trying out a bunch of different status spells or have the guide/FAQ open as you play. And let's not kid ourselves here: In most FFs, the storyline bosses just aren't worth it; with rare exceptions, you can usually just :effort:

your way through with raw damage and healing.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2020 20:01

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

Gripweed posted:

Oh, that's what you meant by mods. I was imagining something different.

If you were hoping for difficulty mods or balance mods, those exist for the Steam versions. Wouldn�t recommend it for a first play through, but if you�re replaying, some of them can be interesting - there�s even some that completely change systems like removing magic refine from FF8 or limiting who can equip FF7 materia so its a pseudo-job class system.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2020 22:43

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

NikkolasKing posted:

I gotta say, I've never seen X criticized for a bloated cast. One of X's greatest strengths is the party dynamic. Everyone is always saying or doing stuff all the time. The obvious exception is Kimahri but it is literally his thing to be stoic and he doesn't say a word for the first ten hours of the game.

But I don't think anyone felt useless in X. Everyone had a job to do in both gameplay and story. Nobody just ceases to mater and gets no real plot resolution like Freya.

I mostly agree with you, but I'll quibble by noting that Kimhari doesn't really have a gameplay purpose.

In theory, he's flexible and can be whatever you need, but with each grid having the really good stuff packed deep, it doesn't really work. In practice, he ends either being "clone of _____ but a bunch of sphere levels behind" or just "enters a couple different low level grids and has a variety of starter spells but is pretty bad at everything".

Honestly, the best way I've found to use Kimhari is to start with Rikku's grid for an extra Steal/Use, then circle over to Tidus for an extra Haste caster (or go the other way, whatever). He's still redundant with this setup, but those abilities are at least useful to have extra copies.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2020 12:41

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

gigglefeimer posted:

Eiko too, really, and it's extra weird that the game with fixed classes would add a redundant White Mage/Summoner late in the game.

It's especially odd given that Eiko could have been a Time Mage/Oracle style class without much revision. Let her keep the ability to summon for storyline reasons, but change her main command to a mix of the already existing status/stat raising spells, take the Demi and Comet style spells from Vivi, maybe tweak the spell list a little more to add some classic Time Mage spells like Quick or whatever, and you're basically there.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2020 16:11

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

grieving for Gandalf posted:

the closest thing to this in actuality I think is the weapon shop in Treno has a monster the owner keeps that you can fight. maybe the rewards change across discs?

Yes. Basically, every time the story forces you to Treno, there�s a new monster and different reward, plus a �after you get the airship� prize. But once you kill the monster and get the prize, you�re done until the next time; it�s not a full-fledged battle arena like FF6 or FF7 where you can run it a ton of times for different stuff.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2020 21:02

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

OhFunny posted:

I don't see what a FFX prequel could explore. We know not just how Braska, Jecht and Auron's pilgrimage ends, but how it plays out from Auron's reminiscing and his memory orbs.

Exactly.

Story-wise, I think that would have been a lot less interesting than the internet imagines. FFX actually showed off a lot of pieces in parts of the journey along the way (Auron's dialogue, Jecht spheres, various comments made by people Yuna encounters), plus all the key story beats of the end of the story have been described. So basically the writers would be forced to backfill areas between a lot of preset events that need to happen, which usually ends up with a very disjointed story and character development that doesn't really flow.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2020 13:35

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:05

MagusofStars: Mar 31, 2012

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

Oh that's right I keep on forgetting that Tifa used the R-word back then

morallyobjected posted:

it probably helped that they weren't voice acted, so no one ever actually had to "say" it (plus you only saw it if you chose to climb the stairs, so it's possible you never saw Tifa saying it at all), whereas FFX was the first one with voice acting. incels of the day also got really weird about people being a pure waifu from the first one, as far as I remember, so you had that going on too, especially with how she changed for X-2.

The r-word also wasn't considered in nearly the same light back in the mid 90's. It was used in various network TV, mass-market movies, etc and generally used as a stronger/more offensive version of "stupid"...but most of society didn't view it as a slur and not even close to the same level as various four-letter words - hence why Barrett and Cid's cursing got bleeped out as $#&! while Tifa's wasn't.

It's nice to remember that even as 2020 continues to suck, society as a whole has improved quite a bit in the past couple decades.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2020 13:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Final Fantasy Megathread: I, Jack, will knock you all down

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