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So what's stopping you in the Standard Sphere Grid from diverting course and sending whoever onto another path? I think I remember reading ESG has everybody start in a middle area or something so it makes it easier to go wherever and do whatever but if you really wanted to, is there anything keeping characters confined to their normal routes in the SSG?
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May 14, 2019 21:35
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I know it was already fixed for the Steam/PS4 versions but fixing Vaans hosed up abs might be my favorite qol improvement in the Zodiac Age
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May 14, 2019 21:46
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NikkolasKing posted:So what's stopping you in the Standard Sphere Grid from diverting course and sending whoever onto another path? Mega64 posted:It's really only 1-3 that have no side quests (and even then 3 does have an optional dungeon). Most of the summon stuff in 4 is optional, and even 13 has hunts once you reach Pulse. The rest generally have a good amount to do that steadily increases with each iteration. Every other FF it's like you run through 2/3 of it, get an airship, and can find some optional dungeons/optional fights now.
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May 14, 2019 21:51
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NikkolasKing posted:So what's stopping you in the Standard Sphere Grid from diverting course and sending whoever onto another path? Key spheres. Most of your opportunities to jump from one character's corner of the grid to another's are gated by them. But it also sorta begs a "what's the point?" Stuff like grabbing black magic on Yuna right at the beginning is handy, but ultimately you want someone who can cover everything (because the game's enemies and bosses are designed to call for specific characters and their spells/abilities/stat distro) so you're mostly just shuffling paths between characters or gimping yourself and making some encounters unduly hard by messing with it, in the normal game anyway.
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May 14, 2019 21:54
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None of the other Final Fantasy games completely eliminated towns/NPCs/downtime the way 13 did and that's a big part of what kept me bouncing off it for a long time. It did a lot to make 13 feel less like an actual world. Now that I've wrapped up 15 + dlc I'm starting up a new playthrough of 12 and you get more world building in the first twenty minutes than practically the first ten hours of 13.
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May 14, 2019 21:54
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Mega64 posted:It's really only 1-3 that have no side quests (and even then 3 does have an optional dungeon). Most of the summon stuff in 4 is optional, and even 13 has hunts once you reach Pulse. The rest generally have a good amount to do that steadily increases with each iteration. Technically class progression in FF1 is optional though I'd be hard pressed to imagine someone not completing that quest on their first playthrough, even blind
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May 14, 2019 21:57
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Re: the linearity thing, I don't think there's anything wrong with people "getting drunk on" the World of Ruin or the optional content density in FF7. FF5 is also super thick with optional, nonlinear content - the last third of the game is basically the prototype for the WoR - it's just that not many Americans played it until recently. There's a reason 5, 6, and 7 are all popular answers to "what's your favorite Final Fantasy game?" among those who've played most of them. People like sidequests and poo poo. Content and choice are good, who knew? Baku fucked around with this message at 22:02 on May 14, 2019 |
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May 14, 2019 22:00
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DrNutt posted:I know it was already fixed for the Steam/PS4 versions but fixing Vaans hosed up abs might be my favorite qol improvement in the Zodiac Age I still don’t understand how that one got past the art department in the first place. No one looked at the ab texture and went “hold up, that doesn’t look right”?
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May 14, 2019 22:04
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HD DAD posted:I still don’t understand how that one got past the art department in the first place. No one looked at the ab texture and went “hold up, that doesn’t look right”? "Well technically there's a skeleton inside everyone so it makes sense that Vaan looks like a skeleton."
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May 14, 2019 22:06
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No. 1 Apartheid Fan posted:Key spheres. Most of your opportunities to jump from one character's corner of the grid to another's are gated by them. Well in addition to Lulu needing Magic nodes desperately, I was mainly thinking of Rikku's grid. Teaching other characters Use and Steal would help greatly. Just make things faster if nothing else while collecting those precious, precious items. I think Kimahri can do that but...it's Kimahri. Oh well, I'll see what happens. No. 1 Apartheid Fan posted:Re: the linearity thing, I don't think there's anything wrong with people "getting drunk on" the World of Ruin or the optional content density in FF7. FF5 is also super thick with optional, nonlinear content - the last third of the game is basically the prototype for the WoR - it's just that not many Americans played it until recently. Clearly X-2 and XIII-2 should be the most beloved since they are about 70% sidequest. But I agree. I think the important part is balance. Too many or too few sidequests can really throw off the pacing.
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May 14, 2019 22:12
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NikkolasKing posted:Clearly X-2 and XIII-2 should be the most beloved since they are about 70% sidequest. Honestly, I think X-2 would've been a popular game if it had different themes/wasn't a sequel and didn't get tarred with the "girly game" label, and XIII would be much more popular with longtime fans if it had XIII-2's leveling mechanics (just with a party of 6 instead of monster catching) and less linear structure. But overall I agree with that. JRPGs hit their sweet spot somewhere between totally linear, cinematic experiences and the freedom-to-be-bored of open-world western games, and most of the best Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy titles are what they are in part bc they live in that sweet spot.
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May 14, 2019 22:21
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XIII-2's leveling felt like a huge step back from XIII's to me. XIII needed towns with npcs you can return to and in general a few more sections like Nautilus with downtime and for those sections to be expanded bigger than Nautilus which is a non-combat hallway before becoming a combat hallway. Its why the only sidequest that isnt combat is in Oerba, because its the only "town" you can return to.
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May 14, 2019 23:30
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Barudak posted:XIII-2's leveling felt like a huge step back from XIII's to me. Oerba was a nice little rug pulling moment for me. "Finally a town! Oh." At least I got to fix Vanille's little robot buddy. 
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May 14, 2019 23:36
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DrNutt posted:Oerba was a nice little rug pulling moment for me. "Finally a town! Oh." At least I got to fix Vanille's little robot buddy. Also it has probably a Top 5 best track in the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Dgj83Q-50 It's sort of the Zanarkand moment of XIII only with none of the build-up and consequently less emotion. But I appreciated the music persisting during battle and there being no victory fanfare. The song is re-used in XIII-2 as we watch Noel wander the earth alone and wait to die and it's better there.
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May 14, 2019 23:48
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DrNutt posted:Oerba was a nice little rug pulling moment for me. "Finally a town! Oh." At least I got to fix Vanille's little robot buddy. Oh yeah the rug pull with Oerba is great, its just too bad it meant you dont get a town/non-battle sidequests.
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May 14, 2019 23:53
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DrNutt posted:I know it was already fixed for the Steam/PS4 versions but fixing Vaans hosed up abs might be my favorite qol improvement in the Zodiac Age I like the idea of Vaan as a kid who drew abs on with a marker.
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May 14, 2019 23:54
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Gologle posted:Why is it called The Sister Ray? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vUNddDbJ-k
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May 15, 2019 00:15
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No. 1 Apartheid Fan posted:FF5 is also super thick with optional, nonlinear content - the last third of the game is basically the prototype for the WoR - it's just that not many Americans played it until recently. Minor nitpick here: FF5 came out in Japan in '92, and in America in '99 - 20 years ago. It's been available for Americans for far longer than it hasn't.
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May 15, 2019 00:24
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Twenty (official) years of FF5 is not enough FF5.
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May 15, 2019 00:28
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Fister Roboto posted:Minor nitpick here: FF5 came out in Japan in '92, and in America in '99 - 20 years ago. It's been available for Americans for far longer than it hasn't. While that's absolutely true, not coming out on SNES in the America during it's original release and having a hampered lovely PS1 port with an awful translation really hindered it from having the same kind of nostalgic popularity that any any other FF game that came out in it's time here got.
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May 15, 2019 00:35
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The line "ain't no gettin' off of this train we're on until we reach the end of the line" is extremely dumb and feels like it belongs more in a capeshit movie than a game where the MC just murdered his girlfriend.
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May 15, 2019 00:40
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Gologle posted:The line "ain't no gettin' off of this train we're on until we reach the end of the line" is extremely dumb and feels like it belongs more in a capeshit movie than a game where the MC just murdered his girlfriend. uh. scarlet isn't cloud's girlfriend
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May 15, 2019 00:42
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In fact, pretty much all of Barret's lines are extremely problematic. He talks like a thug, not the country bumpkin he is.
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May 15, 2019 00:44
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Barrett is definitely one of those characters written to an archetype, rather than to their actual history. I don't altogether mind it, because the sort of character his history says he should be is all over RPGs, while the character he actually is definitely isn't. Granted, he's not a great depiction of that character. But he's not a bad attempt for 90s Japan.
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May 15, 2019 01:25
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Apparently most of his "Mr. T" stylings were added by the translator. He apparently talked like a normal "tough guy" in the Japanese script.
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May 15, 2019 02:09
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 , according to Tim Rodgers at least, he's written completely differently in Japanese.
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May 15, 2019 02:17
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Barret is a sociopathic salesman who starts a terrorist group in order to make an energy source he has a monoply on come back into use and succeeds. If you buy his country bumpkin poo poo youre one of those I could have a beer with him voters
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May 15, 2019 02:32
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So anyway I finished the FFVII LP and that was really well done. drat.
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May 15, 2019 03:47
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Gologle posted:The line "ain't no gettin' off of this train we're on until we reach the end of the line" is extremely dumb and feels like it belongs more in a capeshit movie than a game where the MC just murdered his girlfriend. Yeah that's kind of the point.
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May 15, 2019 04:02
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So I started up the Steam version of Final Fantasy IV as I wanted to replay FFIV and with the free enterprise randomizer, rather try something other then the SNES to PSP version. I beat the DS version around release and enjoy it then, but I am really liking it a lot more this time. I do like the challenge it offers compare to the normal game. I dread the Golbez and Dr Lugae fight as they were both cruel, but other then that I like this release as a nice remix of the game, like how Ocarina of Time has the Master Quest. Do wish I can figure out how to move spells around, as I hate having crummy spells like cure on top and having to scroll to get cura.
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May 15, 2019 05:43
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Having played a decent chunk of VII in Japanese some time ago, Barret was rough-spoken in the original but yeah most of the swearing and Mr T. stuff were added in the translation. I seem to recall most instances of him shouting "&!#@!" or whatever being like the equivalent of "Bah" or some grunting noise in the original, it was actually pretty funny.
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May 15, 2019 10:34
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Tch...!
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May 15, 2019 13:14
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Rirse posted:Do wish I can figure out how to move spells around, as I hate having crummy spells like cure on top and having to scroll to get cura. You need to hold the confirm button down for a second or two on the first spell you want to move until it either starts or stops blinking, it's really fiddly. Nice for moving Sirens to the top for late game farming as well.
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May 15, 2019 14:43
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Also say what you will about the DS remake, the ability to assign anything to the auto battle script is so nice. It no Gambits after coming from Final Fantasy XII, but really useful so you don't just have Rydia and Rosa do melee.
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May 15, 2019 16:48
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There's an interview on Kotaku with someone who worked making guides for BradyGames, and of course the FF9 guide came up.quote:Schreier: In your book, you talk about the Final Fantasy IX guide, which I’ve described as the worst strategy guide ever made. It was deliberately left half-complete, designed to send readers to the now-defunct website PlayOnline.com for info and walkthroughs. Can you explain for our readers how that turned out the way it did? Was there resistance from BradyGames and the writers involved? The only reason I bought that guide instead of using GameFAQs was because I didn't have internet access at the time. Thanks, Square. 
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May 16, 2019 19:48
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Since FFXIII doesn’t have towns, what’s your favorite Final Fantasy town? I’m a big fan of Black Mage Village in FFIX. It has a really sad story, and Bobby Corwen is adorable.
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May 16, 2019 21:26
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I feel like it's hard to compete against Midgar, if you count the entirety of it as a single town. Other than that, I have a soft spot for Lindblum from FF9, just on general aesthetics and design.
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May 16, 2019 21:36
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Mega64 posted:There's an interview on Kotaku with someone who worked making guides for BradyGames, and of course the FF9 guide came up. This has probably been discussed a bunch before, but what kind of things did they leave out of the guide? Was it just missing a bunch of optional stuff, or was it like only 1/2 or 3/4ths complete or something?
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May 16, 2019 21:42
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Ventana posted:This has probably been discussed a bunch before, but what kind of things did they leave out of the guide? Was it just missing a bunch of optional stuff, or was it like only 1/2 or 3/4ths complete or something? Literally every single paragraph is "Want to know how to beat this boss/find this item/do this sidequest? Check PlayOnline!!!!!!". I think there's a whopping 2 or 3 things in the guide that you couldn't glean yourself from just playing the game.
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May 16, 2019 21:48
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Open Marriage Night posted:Since FFXIII doesn’t have towns, what’s your favorite Final Fantasy town? Eruyt Village from FFXII. 
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May 16, 2019 21:52
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