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For speedrunning 9 Freya is actually the best character since she actually pumps out the most damage with the least amount of time spent. Edit: Also Speedrunning 9 is sort of a thing the game wants you to do because Excalibur II.
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May 1, 2014 06:30
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TARDISman posted:The only problem I have with IX is that I never really felt like I had that much space for party variety. You had Zidane because he was the hero and Dyne was stupidly strong, you had Vivi because black magic was somewhat useful in that game and because he probably had the best story arc in that game, you had Steiner because he was hilarious and incredibly useful with Vivi, and you had Garnet because she was better at summons than Eiko while still maintaining fairly decent healing. I tried using Freya but she really couldn't get the same damage output as any of the other four, same with Amarant and Quina. Honestly, I had Vivi in the party just because I liked him, but I never really used him for much until I could get the Black Robe or whatever it was from chocographs that could give him Half MP, because most of the elemental spells are weak compared to the damage that Freya or Amarant could do, and the good spells drain like 15-20% of his MP at full cost. especially with their stronger weapons, which are easily gotten if you're doing the chocobo side quests anyway (and why wouldn't you? Chocobo Hot and Cold is one of the best minigames). Schwartzcough posted:I would not say Zidane/Vivi/Steiner/Garnet is better than any other given team. Maybe not. But it's the endgame party you use if you're not a heretic. 
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May 1, 2014 06:38
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TARDISman posted:The only problem I have with IX is that I never really felt like I had that much space for party variety. No Mercy: Deal non-elemental damage It doesn't even say "high non-elemental damage"--so much, in fact, that he can do 9999 fairly early with it with normal progression--and it just sounds like, I dunno, a physical attack that hits normally from the back row maybe? Its multiplier is based on your weapon strength, so you'll use it once with the lovely claws he can first learn them from and then you write it off forever. Oddly enough, I don't really like to use Steiner. He has some cool skills, but overall he's just boring and one of the hardest characters to do max damage with to boot because anything that lets him costs way too much magic for his poo poo ~250 at max level MP pool. morallyobjected posted:Honestly, I had Vivi in the party just because I liked him, but I never really used him for much until I could get the Black Robe or whatever it was from chocographs that could give him Half MP, because most of the elemental spells are weak compared to the damage that Freya or Amarant could do, and the good spells drain like 15-20% of his MP at full cost. Vivi's best spell is Bio with Reflect x2, bounced off your party with Auto-Reflect equipped on everyone. Max damage to every enemy every time, not even kidding. That costs, what, 16 MP? Fur20 fucked around with this message at 07:06 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 07:02
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I play with Amarant because he's cool.
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May 1, 2014 07:07
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Chocobo Hot and Cold is also overrated because of how much you have to play it before randomly finding the treasures you need. The best FF minigame is still probably marching in time on the TV broadcast in VII.
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May 1, 2014 07:13
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My major issues with IX are that it just seems to drag on foreeeeever in spots, the slow as hell battles, and I despise the "Learn abilities from equipment" system in every game that's used it.
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May 1, 2014 07:26
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The White Dragon posted:Vivi's best spell is Bio with Reflect x2, bounced off your party with Auto-Reflect equipped on everyone. Max damage to every enemy every time, not even kidding. That costs, what, 16 MP? Doesn't Reflectx2 take up like 16 ability points though? Though maybe Half MP takes up a similar amount, but either way it seems a little gimmicky to need Auto-Reflect on everyone too, when that is also pretty costly, as far as I can remember. Keep in mind, I generally don't get anywhere near max levels, so my AP pools aren't particularly deep (I don't even know how much larger they get at the upper levels, anyway). Great Lakes Log posted:Chocobo Hot and Cold is also overrated because of how much you have to play it before randomly finding the treasures you need. The best FF minigame is still probably marching in time on the TV broadcast in VII. I have never had a problem with playing more H&C. It's probably my favourite mini-game from the series, followed by Triple Triad (only with the right rules), Blitzball, and Sphere Break.
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May 1, 2014 07:29
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My first time through FF9 I did the standard Dagger/Vivi/Steiner. Wanted to switch it up when I replayed it on the Vita and did Freya/Amarant/Eiko. Eiko is a better Whitemage than Dagger, and with Holy boosting accessories Holy hits for 9999 against a lot of stuff. Freya can get her awesome Dragon Crest lance early if you keep stealing from the Ark boss, so not only can she hit 9999 very quickly but if you give her Holy boosting accessories her physical attacks will be really strong. Amarant can use Wind boosting accessories with his strong Wind claws for strong attacks as well. I never realized how good Elemental boosting stuff was in FF9. In general I didn't think about Trance at all when building a team because it's such a pain to store up and activate in FF9.
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May 1, 2014 07:31
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I really enjoyed FFIV DS (on my Android). It might be because I was coming off the horrible overhaul of FFVI Android, but the game seemed so polished and tight to me. It was definitely frustratingly difficult at parts, but a bit of good old fashioned grinding fixes everything. FFIV: After Years, on the other hand, is an abomination. Nobody play this game.
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May 1, 2014 07:48
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Best way to play FF is to just start from IV which is the first game that's arguably worth recommending and actually seeing for yourself whether or not you like the games. Listening to goons is hopeless due to dramatically different opinions, I'm pretty sure for the last few pages every game has had someone say it's their most favorite and someone else say it's their least favorite. Of course you should probably find out which is the best version of each game in this era of re-re-re-remakes.
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May 1, 2014 08:57
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IV was my first Final Fantasy game, so I enjoy it purely out of nostalgia. Either way, I wouldn't necessarily discount FF1. It's still pretty fun in a basic sort of way and it scratches that "I wanna play a game where I fight poo poo and me buying a copper sword is basically a major plot point" itch like the first twenty minutes of a Dragon Quest game, except that's the entire game.
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May 1, 2014 08:59
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Yeah, I would say Eiko > Dagger. Dagger has better stats and equipment, but Eiko has a stronger set of spells in general and almost nothing resists Holy anyway so Bahamut being non-elemental isn't even that big of a deal. Quina is the character I have the hardest time using because Frog Drop takes ages to reach a decent damage number, and his/her starting Spirit is just so poor for me. S/he has their uses, but I've never felt like I needed him/her.
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May 1, 2014 09:05
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Am I the only one who tries to mix up their party once you get the option in Disk 3? Sticking with one party always seems so boring in a game with multiple jobs.
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May 1, 2014 09:13
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ImpAtom posted:It's true. Aside from name recognition and some kickass music, FF doesn't really offer much over... hell, even other Square and/or Enix RPGs from the same eras. Like Xenogears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArkYNVPOVc Play that before bothering with any FF. It's pretty cheap on the PSN. e: People really need to stop comparing Eva and Gears. Now I've actually seen NGE, there is not a doubt in my mind the two have absolutely nothing in common except one or two very superficial similarities. If you don't like Xenogears that's fine but comparing the two is just plain, objectively wrong. NikkolasKing fucked around with this message at 10:42 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 10:34
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Or don't, unless you want an unfinished Evangelion RPG that doesn't even have gameplay to speak of for most of the second disc.
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May 1, 2014 10:37
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ImpAtom posted:9 has some problems both writing and mechanical. FF8 has a similar problem with Quistis. As soon as she steps down from being a SeeD instructor, she stops doing basically anything interesting at all. It's a shame, I liked her. 
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May 1, 2014 13:54
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A lot of FF games have that problem, like FFXII where Vaan and Penelo lose all reason to stay with the group only a few hours into the game.
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May 1, 2014 14:11
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I've never used Quistis in my party until this playthrough and I noticed she has a lot more dialogue in certain scenes than anyone else. I usually have a team of Squall, Rinoa and Selphie and Selphie never says poo poo. However if you take Quistis with you back to Garden instead of having her on the Missile Base Team, or with you into space, or with you to the Orphanage when Squall and Rinoa have their heart-to-heart, she has extra dialogue about/with Squall. There's a lot of missable characterization there depending on who you have in your party. Sending Rinoa on the Missile Base Team - which I did for the first time in a long, long while - nets you a scene where her and Squall have a happy reunion. Well, if you choose to say that. You can choose other more dickish options, but I am a nice guy. NikkolasKing fucked around with this message at 14:16 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 14:12
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Golden Goat posted:A lot of FF games have that problem, like FFXII where Vaan and Penelo lose all reason to stay with the group only a few hours into the game. I dunno, they are orphans who live in a literal sewer. I think they only reason they need to continue with the party is that. Sky-pirating seems pretty sweet in comparison.
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May 1, 2014 14:19
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Captain Mog posted:I didn't like XII one bit. The battle system felt like a WoW-style MMO, the setting was bland and the characters/plotline fell a bit flat. The battle system was jilted and weird, like if you're going to have a real-time battle system then go all the way with it, Tales style. Don't have it be some mess where you select "attack" and stare at your enemy for ten seconds until you finally attack. The idea for the Gambit system came from American football in which two teams push the line of scrimmage in their favor through opposing plays until one team scores or loses control of the ball. The idea in FFXII wasn't about so much about blindly letting the game auto-battle for you it was about finding the one right 'play' or gambit combination which would enable you to win with minimal intervention. The idea of hard counters isn't new to RPGs but FFXII lets you fine-tune your macro strategy for each area. Much of the depth comes from unlocking gambits and finding the right combination for each area. It was actually the inspiration for the tactics system in Dragon Age. Unlike FFXIII, in FFXII you get a lot of control over how much or how little you want to micromanage the gameplay. It's one of the reasons I had hoped the battle system's designer, Hiroyuki Ito, would get a chance at heading a major FF game by himself rather than acting as an assistant designer. However, SE has favored story oriented who can write a scenario for their big budget games rather than someone like Ito. I guess they have him handling the design for the custodian department since no one has seen him since. maou shoujo posted:FF8 has a similar problem with Quistis. As soon as she steps down from being a SeeD instructor, she stops doing basically anything interesting at all. It's a shame, I liked her. She leads a support team away from an important assassination mission in order to apologize to a civilian/former client she insulted. It's as if she didn't have the patience to make that apology after the assassination would occur. That's pretty interesting.
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May 1, 2014 14:19
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It's pretty obvious from her later dialogue (all the stuff you can easily miss basically) that Quistis only snapped at Rinoa because she saw her as a romantic rival for Squall. Rinoa might have been acting stupid but Quistis' motives were far more selfish and stupid too. I figure that's why she felt guilty.
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May 1, 2014 14:24
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Quina beat Necron for the first time for me after holding the line solo for ages. Quina rules.
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May 1, 2014 14:39
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Just finished up FFX for the first time. I got spoiled like crazy on it, but in the end I think it held up quite well! Things I think are cool: the Fayth and summoning, the whole spiral of death thing and Tidus saying "Anyone can do it if they try" after doing the Jecht shot for the first time. I booted up FFX-2 right after and wow! People are actually using their faces to emote and make expressions instead of being stoic doll-people! Was that in the original game, or did the remake team just give X-2 just that little more love? Also, why didn't anyone tell me about the hot rod motorcycle airship?
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May 1, 2014 14:44
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Emzedoh posted:Also, why didn't anyone tell me about the hot rod motorcycle airship? Probably because the owner/pilot is one of the creepiest dudes in the franchise.
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May 1, 2014 14:45
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Only two characters in Final Fantasy VIII matter, and that's Squall and his love interest,
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May 1, 2014 14:59
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Emzedoh posted:Just finished up FFX for the first time. I got spoiled like crazy on it, but in the end I think it held up quite well! Things I think are cool: the Fayth and summoning, the whole spiral of death thing and Tidus saying "Anyone can do it if they try" after doing the Jecht shot for the first time. I started up X-2 and noticed this as well. Maybe because there were only 3 characters they put extra effort in there? I dunno.
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May 1, 2014 14:59
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Sunning posted:It's one of the reasons I had hoped the battle system's designer, Hiroyuki Ito, would get a chance at heading a major FF game by himself rather than acting as an assistant designer. Didn't Ito direct FFIX? I know he's done a lot of co-designing. Also they have him on iOS duty to my knowledge.
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May 1, 2014 15:00
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The White Dragon posted:IV was my first Final Fantasy game, so I enjoy it purely out of nostalgia. FFI is genuinely a pretty decent game but it's got a lot of bad versions. The NES version is famously buggy and broken and the GBA and beyond versions are just badly balanced as they shoehorned in stuff FFI wasn't made to contain (like the virtually unlimited healing the MP system allowed) and became a boring cakewalk that rob FFI of most of the reason to actually play it. The FF Origins version of FFI, IMO, is simply the best way to play the game. It's still got it's flaws, but it's basically the NES version with prettier sprites and all the bugs hammered out and it's actually a pretty decent game once, y'know, half the spell lists work, weapon elements acquire correctly, the Master stops being a direct downgrade to the Black Belt, and what have you.
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May 1, 2014 15:13
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They can do whatever they want to re-balance or unbalance FF1, just give me back my proper Fighter sprite goddammit. And FF1 will always be awsome. No needlessly complicated plot, not dozen buzzwords to try and remember, no obnoxious bullshit, just a classic game of DnD. Kill poo poo, take their loot, claim victory from atop a pile of mangled corpses. Flytrap fucked around with this message at 15:48 on May 1, 2014 |
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May 1, 2014 15:42
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Nihilarian posted:Only two characters in Final Fantasy VIII matter, and that's Squall and his love interest, Someday I'll tell you about my romantic dream! Lapdog.
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May 1, 2014 15:45
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I'm playing FFV and I forgot how amazing Clash on the Big Bridge is.
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May 1, 2014 15:46
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Nihilarian posted:I'm playing FFV and I forgot how amazing Clash on the Big Bridge is. The whole sequence when you first get to the second world is amazing.
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May 1, 2014 16:07
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kirbysuperstar posted:Someday I'll tell you about my romantic dream! Seifer just wanted to be Laguna. It is very telling of the two best characters, one of them is trying to be the other one.
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May 1, 2014 16:10
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Nihilarian posted:I'm playing FFV and I forgot how amazing Clash on the Big Bridge is. It's so amazing, they pretty much recreated the experience in FF14. Hopefully a future patch will release an Extreme version so there's reason to keep running it besides re-experiencing how awesome it is.
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May 1, 2014 16:10
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Mega64 posted:It's so amazing, they pretty much recreated the experience in FF14. Yoshida has outright said as much. There should be a new difficulty of Battle on Big Bridge every major patch (so 2.3, 2.4, etc).  And yes, it is a faithful recreation, up to and including acting like he's defeated at 50% HP and then putting up Haste/Protect/Shell and using Jump right after.
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May 1, 2014 16:13
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Oh my god reset data makes the stupid Al Bhed Psyches unbeatable. Got a 1-0 lead then suddenly 3 goals in a row before I could touch the ball to do the goalie trick. Somehow they managed to lose to every other team in the league so it doesn't matter thankfully.
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May 1, 2014 16:17
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THE AWESOME GHOST posted:Oh my god reset data makes the stupid Al Bhed Psyches unbeatable. Got a 1-0 lead then suddenly 3 goals in a row before I could touch the ball to do the goalie trick. I'm in the process of getting Wakka's stuff and I enjoyed my first league but now I don't care and just want his stuff. The only part I dislike really is the randomness factor. If I had to play like 3 seasons and a tournament to get everything, no save scumming or data resets necessary I would happily go along. But having to manipulate stuff like this is an unfun pain
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May 1, 2014 16:31
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Kyrosiris posted:Yoshida has outright said as much. There should be a new difficulty of Battle on Big Bridge every major patch (so 2.3, 2.4, etc). I hope that he uses a new weapon each difficulty level. Oh, and I hope we actually get to meet the REAL Enkidu too.
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May 1, 2014 16:31
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Emzedoh posted:Just finished up FFX for the first time. I got spoiled like crazy on it, but in the end I think it held up quite well! Things I think are cool: the Fayth and summoning, the whole spiral of death thing and Tidus saying "Anyone can do it if they try" after doing the Jecht shot for the first time. It's probably, and ironically, the opposite: FFX-2 wasn't as high of a priority as FFX, so they didn't update the models and textures (as much). Which works out in its favor, as the new FFX models look, if you ask me, not great. To be fair, the originals aren't *great* either, but I would argue they look better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CksHxWmKVBk&t=15s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gPZ63gkgUQ&t=615s And yes, there's certainly an improvement in facial animation in PS2 X-2 compared to PS2 X.
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May 1, 2014 16:32
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Last Celebration posted:Am I the only one who tries to mix up their party once you get the option in Disk 3? Sticking with one party always seems so boring in a game with multiple jobs. The mixing up that happens to do the desert castle/Oeilvert section about fulfills my desire to switch up my party. I tend to do slightly different parties for that part each time I go through the game.
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May 1, 2014 17:08
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