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Obligatory "if you haven't played FF6, you owe it to yourself" post because it's on like every system ever released and has a unique self-aware plot that you can either get into/totally ignore/relentlessly mock for equal amounts of fun. It's like the "I just got a PS3, what game should I play? Valkyria Chronicles!" of the FF threads.
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May 13, 2012 17:54
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My first FF was 8 (well, it was actually 3 but I only played it for a few minutes), and my favorites are 6 and 10. Now, 6 bears a striking resemblance to best jRPG ever Chrono Trigger (and even shares a number of art assets with it), so maybe some of that magic has rubbed off on it. But 10 really was an accomplishment IMO apart from any other RPG/anime trends.
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May 13, 2012 18:07
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Ditto the DQ > FF for NES titles. I'd like to get back into some of the sprite DQ's but time, effort, etc.
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May 13, 2012 20:01
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The FF10 remake is just upscaling it to HD, not any new models or renders and probably with the same voice tracks. I was kind of meh about it when it might have been an actual effort, but now that I know it's just extra pixels I'm definitely uninterested.
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May 14, 2012 18:55
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I'm watching beloved Mel Gibson classic movie What Women Want right now, and I'm noticing that the music playing as Gibson frantically searches for the suicide case sounds surprisingly like the music in FF13 when a character is going over his/her internal monologue during their allotted "character arc" scenes. In a way, it really helps tie the emotions of the movie together. Can't believe I've never noticed that before.
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May 20, 2012 21:14
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Pesky Splinter posted:Which songs are they (if you know)? The kind of sad, slightly frantic one. Can't get to YouTube right now, but I'll try to look it up a little later if I get the chance. Overall I think the music in FF13 was good. It was interesting without demanding your full attention, which is just perfect for a game, and there were enough tracks and they were long enough to not feel repetitive. Special props to that one song that plays first when you enter the Arc on Cocoon. I'll contrast that with the voiced songs from FF13-2. drat, the last thing I need is to be getting yelled at over a casio metal track. What Women Want doesn't have good music either, except for that one sing that I mentioned.
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May 21, 2012 06:52
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The FF13/What Women Want song I was looking for is apparently Atonement. Now that I'm looking through these, I really liked Dust to Dust and also Will to Fight. I think these are all songs that played at some critical moment in the story, with Atonement coming in at (more than one?) character arc moment, Will to Fight first appearing at the Arc when it starts to become clear that Cocoon isn't all that it seems, and Dust to Dust playing at (what I think is the most gripping part of the story) when you first enter Oerba. I dunno if the weight of the story at those points make the songs stick out in my head, or if the songs themselves did it.
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May 21, 2012 08:32
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I think everyone can agree that FF13's overall story is trash. But what that discussion misses is that the character-on-character stories are actually really good (even by the standards of other media) and they're a beautiful meeting of gameplay and storytelling. The Hope-Snow story (Snow unintentionally killing Hope's mother, and not knowing that Hope is her son) is excellent, with one character unintentionally antagonizing the other, with the FMV of the interaction between Hope and Snow, Snow saying all the wrong words. Additionally, Snow and Hope's default abilities perfectly complement each other, as if to suggest that they really should be in the same party but can't. I mean, the Hope-Snow story was really, really good. The Vanille-Sazh story (that Vanille caused Sazh's son to become a l'cie but Sazh doesn't know it was her) was also great. Vanille's character is all about concealment and Vanille-Sazh along with Vanille-Fang give you the impression that all the pressure of keeping the stories straight (as well as intentionally walking into death) is starting to take their toll on Vanille. When the party splits and it's just Vanille and Sazh alone, this really ups the tension because you can see the weight that Sazh is carrying around and Vanille's failed attempts to come clean. Vanille and Sazh also have complementary abilities, but unlike Hope-Snow they spend most of the game together. Vanille-Fang (that it was Fang, not Vanille, that became Ragnarok) is similar to Vanille-Sazh story in that is deals with concealment. However, in this case Vanille is cast in a good light because she has taken it upon herself to play the integral part in saving Cocoon even as it means certain death for herself. The Serah-Snow-Lightning triangle is full of dualities, and "becoming a l'cie" is clearly a thin veneer for death in this context, and the contrasting attitudes for acceptance are personified in Snow and Lightning. I consider concealment a minor theme in FF13, because each story has some character concealing something from another and the progression of the game necessarily reveals the secret. Perhaps the main story is saved a little bit in that regard, by keeping up the theme when it's not clear who or what is responsible for the last moments of the game. But really, the character interactions in FF13 are a high point in the series and videogames generally. It's just a shame that they're buried under a game that's very, very poorly designed in other respects.
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May 22, 2012 09:22
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Oxxidation posted:Except that rather than resolving naturally, all the character arcs in FF13 sputter out and die when everyone makes a big monologue and gets over their issues near-simultaneously in Chapter 9, reducing them all to multicolored exposition dispensers for the rest of the game. That, plus the introduction of Barthandalus, pretty much kills the story dead. Snow carrying Hope on his back was on Cocoon, I seem to remember Vanille and Sazh's arc closing around the same time, but Vanille's secret with Fang came out in Ch 11(?), and Serah-Snow-Lightning persisted all the way into Pulse. Yeah, after the character arcs were done, they should have shifted to the main line story better, but those moments when the character arcs were center stage really were good. Like, the presentation, setting, animation and gasp the voice acting in those parts were really top notch. I can't say that the other post-FMV FF's really compare in that regard. Yeah, the rest of the story is poo poo and there's a ton of other problems with FF13, but they did do that one thing right, and really right. It's part of the reason that I'm not so interested in FF13-2, because without decent character interactions, I really don't see how I can get through 80 hours of FF13.
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May 22, 2012 11:53
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RagnarokAngel posted:The early characters get like Terra, Locke, Celes, Edgar and Sabin are really deep and great. I agree with you about Mog, but Cyan? The train sequence was really touching.
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May 25, 2012 06:33
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The difficulty curve stuff can be avoided by simply avoiding encounters. If you already "get" the paradigm system, you can avoid almost every fight except bosses in the first part of FF13 and not even break a sweat until the second Barthandelous encounter, and I imagine that you could do the same for FF13-2. In the case of FF13, it makes the 20+ hour first part better because you just spend less time on it and get story bits faster.
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May 26, 2012 09:36
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Endorph posted:Wait, so I'm the only one who would totally wish for pink hair and magic? In that order? I'd take long flowing blue hair + cape.
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May 29, 2012 06:07
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Yar The Pirate posted:I think the laughing scene has a much deeper meaning than most of the internet gives it, especially after you find out what Yuna is ACTUALLY going through when Tidus finds out about Sins big secret from Auron. Yes, I unironically think the laughing scene is touching and emotional. I'm with you bro. I didn't even know the laughing scene was A Thing To Hate until I started reading about FF10 on the internet. It seems to fit so well in there, with an oblivious foreigner trying vainly to cheer up a death-bound local who is too gentle to break the truth to him. Also... penguinmambo posted:10's creepiness works because the game is never really couched in the flags/cliches associated with a dark storyline, everything is beautiful as gently caress and looks like a tourist's wet dream. ...is spot on. Grimdark sucks not because things that are dark and grim suck, but because the people in charge of aesthetics are so seeped in trite poo poo that every iteration of grimdark is derived from another. "Derived" isn't even the right word, more like there's a secret convention that determines what clichés to use in a genre and it's attended by everyone in the gaming industry and they all swear a blood oath to not introduce new stuff. Having a story about literal destrudo based in a destination location is genius, and whoever thought that up probably got killed by the other guys from the secret grimdark convention.
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Jun 7, 2012 11:11
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Yeah, the characters in FF10 are pretty bad. I can't even remember the personal stories of any of them outside of the main two, and even now I'm struggling to remember what happened in Yuna's life that isn't connected to the mainline quest. On the other hand, the themes are presentation are really good, and combined with the gameplay means FF10 is in my top 5 jRPGs. And I always called him Seemore Guido, which is closer to the original intent of the artists I believe.
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Jun 7, 2012 11:48
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Tae posted:Besides Kimahri and I guess Rikku (because spunk is always hated), I'm not sure what makes the supporting FFX horrible other than their design. They're just flimsy and one dimensional and not really interesting. The most compelling non-mainline story in the game is, what? Rikku's relation to Yuna? Lulu's childhood love? Khimari's, something? I dunno, they all kinda suck and I can't even fully remember them despite FF10 being my second best FF. That leaves the mainline story to do all the work, and luckily it's a really good mainline story. FF10 is sort of the exact opposite of FF13 when it comes to mainline/sides story focus. FF13's mainline is crap but it's character stories work really well, while FF10's character stories suck but it's mainline story makes up for it.
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Jun 7, 2012 17:54
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Azure_Horizon posted:In every way besides the plot. My favorite gameplay from the series. What actually changed for the better in the gameplay? The paradigm system seems entirely the same as in FF13, and the ambush button mashing thing just makes fights easier. In general, I'd like to see some more emphasis on equipment in FF's. With the paradigm system, and the AI always using optimal elements, the player can forget entirely about the differences between water/fire/earth/etc damage types, and in FF13 I ended up with a ton of useless damage-type-specific equipment (as well as bufF/debuff specific equipment) that I would never use because everything is so streamlined. It's sort of funny that actual, gameplay-affecting equipment collecting has gone out with window in favor of non-consequential monster goodie collecting. It's actually not funny, but I couldn't think of any other way to describe it.
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Jun 11, 2012 08:25
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In battle, the d-pad is way easier to use than LS anyway, if that makes a difference. LS is only used for the camera in the overworld, and since the game is designed on-rails, the camera automatically chooses the best angle anyway.
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Jun 13, 2012 10:39
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der juicen posted:I'm an hour in, I guess I haven't started the Paradigm shifting yet. The beginning is really slow. Just treat it like a movie. Enjoy the scenery (because it's really good scenery) and take in the character-on-character interactions. If it helps, you can avoid almost all the non-boss fights in the beginning and not have anything to worry about. It makes the first part go a lot faster. Also, make sure you "get" the paradigm system, because the boss fights really test your ability to exploit them.
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Jun 14, 2012 07:45
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I'm having fun though! It's also a really pretty game.
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Spiritus Nox posted:And if you did automate paradigm shifting, what would be left for the player to do? I'm not in favor of automating paradigm shifting, but... The classes that most need human input are SAB/MED/SYN. The CPU is simply terrible at managing these. You'll get useless buffs when fighting, weird debuffs that don't make any sense (and CPU-SYN refuses to stack debuffs! gently caress you!), and CPU-MED always heals the lead character last why would they do that in a game the ends when the lead character, and only the lead character, dies?? gently caress! If you're spending your time controlling a COM/RAV lead character, you're doing it wrong.
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Jun 14, 2012 07:51
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FF fans are fickle fuckers, probably worse than Silent Hill fans. Are you fighting every single monster you see or are you skipping them and just running for the bosses? I'm just trying to figure out where "6 hours in" is.
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Jun 14, 2012 10:19
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der juicen posted:10 hours into XIII and I am continuing to enjoy it. The story is kinda strange and I skip the past cinematic, but I'm really loving this battling poo poo. I think I got past my first real boss, the Onion looking fucker in the bioweapons level. That fucker takes forever. And I don't like Hope, but Steve Harvey is pretty cool. Onion fucker is pretty beasty. He makes a re-appearance later on as a normal enemy, too.
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Jun 16, 2012 07:50
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:Just the other day they said that FF11 has been the most profitable of all the FF games. If games are anything like movies, determining profitability is basically impossible. Who gets paid what money from which pocket turns accounting into a nightmare and in the end you might as well just make up numbers. Also, there's lots of non-main game FF7 spin offs, movies, blah blah that probably generated enough to put it over FF11.
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Jun 26, 2012 09:17
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Whoops, I forgot FF11 was the first MMO. I always get FF11 and 12 confused, for some reason.
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Jun 26, 2012 10:42
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Mill Village posted:[FF7] helped JRPGs become immensely popular for the rest of the PS1's days into the PS2 era. FFIX did nothing like this at all. I kinda don't think this. There were tons of jRPGs both before and after FF7, and tons are loads of jRPGs before and after FF9. I don't think FF7 had a noticeable effect on the popularity of the genre. Perhaps there seems like less on the flagship systems, but that's only because there's many on handhelds.
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Jun 27, 2012 08:03
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[FF7 talk] That's what I remember. I remember thinking of FF7 (well, actually FF8 but let's roll with it) as, "oh, it's like Dragon Warrior in 3D" not "This is a new thing."
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Jun 27, 2012 08:51
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