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 Final Fantasy IX is an odd duck in a series that's nothing but odd ducks. After the huge success of FF7 and FF8, Square decided to go a different route by making FF9 a big ol' love letter to the awesomeness of the rest of the series. This game really embraces the "fantasy" aspect of the title, with a large variety of different races and monsters while embracing a very light-hearted tone for the most part. The characters are charming, the locations beautiful, the music fantastic, and the battle system...well, it's there. Overall it's a fantastic game and of course I aim to show it off the best I can. Expect the usual, with lots of music links, videos of the FMVs, and of course lots and lots of GIFs of the game's many wonderful animations. As usual, this is a game I played a good bit long ago and forgotten a lot about, so please tell me if I forget or miss anything cool or interesting, ditto for technical issues and typos. At the very least I hope to point out the many, many callbacks to previous FF games as they pop up. I very highly recommend checking out The White Dragon's Let's Play of this game. He does a fantastic job going through the game and it's one of my all-time favorite Let's Plays because of it.  Tag mild spoilers, don't post major spoilers at all. Mild would be stuff like future characters, unimportant bosses, and minor plot details. Don't post major plot spoilers, please. If you feel compelled to comment on a plot spoiler, write your post down in Notepad, save it, and then bring it up when I actually get to that plot point in the LP. Twitter - Useful for lurkers who want to follow when I update, or anyone who cares about crap like whenever I stream. Updates                                                                                    
Mega64 fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Nov 20, 2016 |
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Jul 6, 2015 01:24
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POTENTIAL SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON Orange Fluffy Sheep is doing a Level 1 run of the game! Definitely check this out!  CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER TWO: THEY REVOCER TEH PRENCESS BUT THEY DON'T CHAPTER THREE : "We have to not go in the ice cave because it is danger" and they went into the ice cave and Gitan got caught in a sealion and then he died CHAPTER FOUR: "Hold on," Kukri panicked. "We are driving right into a black waltz." CHAPTER FIVE: But now in the business district of the Lindblum Grand Castle he knew there were Zaghnols. CHAPTER SIX: Quark finds fork and swings "JREAK OUFF" it at black mage's throat hitting it in the nailed him. CHAPTER SEVEN: "Good shoot!" shouted Gitan at the glove man. CHAPTER EIGHT: "NO, NOT ALL OF TRENO!" Which swas target of where they were and it was nice place and my friend lives there. CHAPTER NINE: Gitan was explore for clues in old tree. Time to rock and roll, his thoughtedhead brightened him. CHAPTER TEN: When good Ratchel came back she wanted find her boyfrend but he leaved. "Fratley! You moved to Englind too soon and I did't say bye!" CHAPTER 11: The bandersnatches comes closer and then it gets shot. Where did climhazzard come from Beatrix! CHAPTER TWELVE: "Hey the " guy said. It was having bad day. "Sorry" and so Gitan went to his gargant and he flew away to be by himself at the outer continent. CHAPTER THIRTEEN: He was also eating her ♥ majresty a barbecued fish and silence soup and a rock-fisted potato stew but he also ate just bread. CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "i illh elp you" Bort say with the cry she was sad cause thoughts gitan was dead but it was zombie trick! CHAPTER FIFTEEN: And then when they landed on Treno aeverything was okay and they had a card game but while they were gone a hundred disasters happend CHAPTER SIXTEEN: A moogle eats a piece of dead pepper "this is pretty good" CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Gitan has a hard time getting into the kuja lair where the man had a gulug. "It's too late," he smiled. It was an evil smile that he held the gulug with. Ratchel trained at the forest until she was ready "I am ready" When she found Meltigemini CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: LOOK OUT RETCHEL CHAPTER NINETEEN: "And then Ragtimer coughed and a hundred blood came out then he went nothing and everyone sadded. One day they will all would learn to live their lifes without Ragtimer who was dead." CHAPTER TWENTY: An ship of ssteam travel tached down on the remotely desert of the planet that se4cretly was Terra but the ship didn't know because it is plot twist. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: "No, Gitan. You are the genomes" CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: "This is all because Kuja!" Gitan punched fist into air with angry. He was angry. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Gitan ran into to see what was noise and saw that it was naked Ozma. "Oh no, is Ozma!" CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: First he foght the Nova Dragging and hades but a whole bunch of chaoss too until he found teh Kuja. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Gitan laughed "Ha ha you are too slow this time you loving." THE END Gamesfreak13563 is doing a Perfect Excalibur II run! Also definitely worth checking out! TravelLog made some interesting posts about the characters and themes of the game. Worth a read! Dramatis Personae: Zidane/Vivi/Steiner/Garnet Dramatis Personae: Freya/Quina zfleeman did a review for Disc 1 of Final Fantasy IX! It's actually pretty cool, check it out (spoilers, obviously).   Zeikier shows off the skills a true Jump Rope King would have. Zeikier posted:This was a while back, but I was inspired. larchesdanrew takes my "Let's rename Garnet to 'Buster'" idea and runs with it. U-DO Burger has a delightful story worth sharing here. U-DO Burger posted:Thanks to this thread I started playing FFIX again a couple weeks ago. My 3-year-old daughter was watching me play and I tried to explain to her what was going on, and it seems she took in more than I thought. Zeikier shows what happens when Freya gets up with Zidane's posturing. Zeikier posted:So I decided to do a short comic: Winklebottom lives up to their name by depicting Kuja's. Winklebottom posted:
One NPC triggers a revolution that Orange Fluffy Sheep, CzarChasm, and FeyerbrandX all get involved in. FeyerbrandX posted:Can't let Brahne monopolize the war crimes. ApplesandOranges reveals the secret alternate eighth party member. ApplesandOranges posted:
Fister Roboto shows just why Orange Fluffy Sheep constantly got screwed by Stropers. Squarely Circle shows us what Orange Fluffy Sheep sees every time he closes his eyes post-Iifa Tree. Squarely Circle posted:A little late, but I've been wanting to draw something for the thread for a while, here's something to congratulate OFS on getting through the Iifa Tree. Squarely Circle also shows Steiner participating in his favorite past-time. Squarely Circle posted:Press X to eat pickles. bluerocker shows how things might have looked for the black mages at the end of the game. bluerocker posted:Sorry if this is messy. I wanted to get it out before the thread closed. Zeikier goes back to the end of Disc 2 and tells us how Vivi really feels. Zeikier posted:I was meaning to do this around the end of Disc 2, but here's Vivi in the Exposition Void bluerocker puts into picture what OFS was probably mumbling constantly during the Iifa Tree. bluerocker posted:
 Click here to see 48 avatars made during the course of this Let's Play! 
Mega64 fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Dec 6, 2016 |
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Jul 6, 2015 01:25
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 First off, let's show off the FMV that rolls at the start of the game. Note that a few pictures come up after the title screen, but I'll show those off at a later point in time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqU4fUKwT0o   Simple but nice logo. The crystal is there to say, "This is like those old-school Final Fantasy games with crystals and stuff" even though only half the games in the series to this point had anything to do with crystals. Also, as you expect from the series at this point this game has an excellent soundtrack that you should definitely listen to if possible. Anyway, once we start a new game, we're treated to another FMV. A couple neat tidbits here and there, but mainly it's another "Look at all these wonderful graphics" reel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H67UqNZ5uzw    In particular, it's a brief introduction to a character that'll be pretty important soon enough.   And of course to show off exciting imagery. After we finish all that, we meet our main character. ENGINE NOISES   Guess nobody's here yet... The hand icon means we have control now.  More on our menu in a bit, but let's mess with some config options.  I always go Memory. Run of course is always recommended.  And this is supposed to be a love letter to old-school FF titles, right? Gotta go with that classic blue since we don't have the "eye-searing neon chocobo abomination" FF6 option.  After a few seconds of wandering around, the game screams at you to light the candle in the middle of the room.  However, you shouldn't rush in this game. There are secrets galore.   And this is evident by there being two secrets just in the first room. I'm not going to show off all of them since a lot of these are just small items that aren't worth much, but I'll show off enough to demonstrate just how many weird little details there are in this game.  We've looted the room, so it's time to progress the plot.    Default is Zidane. I'm going with default names for this run.   From top to bottom, these guys are Blank, Cinna, and Marcus.  Hey, Zidane! You sure are late! Sorry. So, where's the boss? Ain't here yet.  Some GIFs will look a bit janky to get them under 2MB. Still think this GIF is awesome enough to be worth it. A good opportunity to warn you guys that GIFs are gonna be pretty large for this one, so this may not be a LP to view on mobile.   Anyway, a giant dragon man is now attacking us because of course he is.   Welcome to our first battle!  I won't go into too much detail right now. Zidane has his own skills, but all four of these characters have the ability "Steal."  Since our main character knows Steal, it's actually a big part of battles, especially bosses. Each enemy has four slots for steals, from common to rare. Of course, rarer items will be a pain to grab and take multiple tries, but there will be ways to mitigate this later. And not all enemies will have four items to steal. This guy only has three for instance.  One big perk compared to past titles is that you can steal all these possible items rather than get stuck with one. This is especially nice since bosses usually have some nice things to steal, usually letting you get items earlier than normal.  For instance, this guy has a rarish weapon that Zidane would love to make use of. It's gonna take a few tries to grab it, though.  Meanwhile, this fella has three attacks.  This attack is a bit stronger than his first attack.  His third attack is just embarrassing. I feel bad for him.   Cinna can die pretty easily because he's a chump. He's also got the worst offense of the four by far.  Eventually I get what I was looking for, the Mage Masher. This weapon is one of many that makes an appearance in several FF games, though usually it comes a bit later than the first battle of the game.  After that, it's just wail on the guy until he's defeated. He doesn't have much HP so you have to have really bad luck with steals to lose this battle.   Oh, my head! Go easy, you guys!ENGINE NOISES    You're lookin' a lot better! Gwahahaha! This is Baku, the leader of this lot. He was wearing a dragon mask and beating us up because that's just the kind of guy he is.    Tantalus, the infamous band of daring thieves (that's us), is headin' to the Kingdom of Alexandria... I'll take it from here, so listen up! And when it does, we're gonna put on our costumes...and perform "I Want to Be Your Canary," the most popular play in Alexandria! Break a leg, Marcus! 'Cause you're playin' the lead! Leave the actin' to me! Of course, the real kidnappers'll be Blank and Zidane! I can't stand oglops... But I'll manage, so don't worry about me. And that'll be your cue, Zidane! Yeah, yeah, kidnap Queen Brahne, got it.   You can repeat the Queen Brahne line 64 times and you'll get a small easter egg telling you to stop being a smartass. I'm not going to go through the effort though so let's go the canon route and kidnap the princess.  And let's close the first update off with one more FMV! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6SbQQW8xYg    A random black mage gets to experience first-hand the majestic presence of a giant freaking airship.  And so the giant playhouse airship flies to the giant sword castle because, of course, Final Fantasy.   And with that, welcome to this Let's Play of Final Fantasy IX. See you next update! Mega64 fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jul 6, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 01:25
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Awesome. I just started my nth playthrough last week and I haven't made it past the first dungeon yet. I'll be playing along. I wanted to do 60FPS for the GIFs but couldn't get the speed to match the original game's well. 30FPS is still plenty smooth and it'll be what I'll stick with unless size is an issue (like it was with Dragon Baku leaping in, had to reduce colors and cut to 15FPS but still looks pretty good). GIFs will be pretty big but as long as they're short enough they should look pretty good. Also, the idea struck me once again to do banners for update titles. Should be fun to do.
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Jul 6, 2015 02:36
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senrath posted:Did you try 59.94 FPS? No, but at this point I'm probably just going to stick to 30FPS anyway since the GIFs are big enough as is while still smooth enough, plus all the FMVs seem to be 15FPS anyway. I could record at 30FPS for a bit of convenience (unless there's a reason why I should go 29.97 or whatever instead)
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Jul 6, 2015 02:48
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Ubiquitous_ posted:Mega64, would you post some of the lost art of FFIX as we get to some of those backgrounds in-game? There's so much detail lost in the compression to PSX resolution ratios. If you haven't seen it, just put it into Google. I was going to link it, but it contains spoilers. I'll probably do some art updates just because holy crap, there's a ton of fantastic art for this game. FeyerbrandX posted:I have one complaint about the game as well. Well, not the game exactly. The only reason I bought a strategy guide in the first place was because I didn't have internet access at the time, else I would've just used GameFAQs like a normal person. So yeah, I wasn't happy with that loving piece of poo poo guide. That said, I still have my copies of the strategy guide and art book for some reason (well, the art book's pretty sweet). Don't know if this will work out, but since I'm on vacation and staying home I'm gonna try to have an update every day this week (but definitely don't expect that in the future).
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Jul 6, 2015 11:37
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   Today, we won't be dealing with Zidane's adventures.  Instead, we're gonna hang out with the pluckish little black mage we saw in that last FMV.  Welcome to Alexandria!    Here! You dwopped your ticket. Bye-bye!  This black mage is actually another of the eight main playable characters, though we won't know his name until the end of the update (unless you look at the Tindeck link).  The Wrist we stole from Baku earlier gives this fella some nice evasion boosts. Don't worry, I'll get into the gameplay mechanics in due time.  We can also take a look at our ticket. Something seems a bit off...  We can go south from the starting screen and find this large area with lots of people to talk to.  Most of Alexandria's populace is lower-to-middle class. There's actually a nearby city where the elite live.  Our character's a bit odd, as you might have guessed. He's clearly a black mage, but by all accounts he's a kid. He's also not a very talkative sort.   Funnily enough, all the kids in town are excited to see the nobles, while the nobles don't really want much to do with them.   I don't know why these guards feel compelled to switch positions. Also, we can't leave the city.  Alexandria has a predominantly female military. It's very reminiscent of Troia from FF4 with its exclusively-woman government and guard. And much like Troia, the male residents are all too happy to enjoy the sights.  There's also four different pieces of treasure in this area alone. Alexandria's pretty big and has a ton of treasure.  We also got our first card. More on those later. The other treasures here are a Potion, a Lizard Man card, and a Sahagin card.   How can you not love this.  Back to this screen. There's a couple of Potions hidden around here.  Rude.   As I said, kids are just crazy about nobles.  It's a jRPG, let's commence with the breaking and entering.    I'm not done with Ilia's dress yet. Come back later. Rahaha. Every year, it's always the same. You're spoilin' them grandkids, I say!  Ilia is the name of that nice girl that picked up our ticket for us. It also could be a re-use of the name "Elia" from FF3 but nothing really suggests a connection there.  Of course, we can loot a Potion and Fang Card from this place.  I feel terrible taking this from a senile old woman so I load state to give it back. Next screen:   He even has a fancy trumpet. There's more gil and another Goblin card here.  This is Hippaul. He's a lot like the other kids except he's a hippo-boy.  Sadly, I don't think our little friend is of drinking age.  But I feel he's content to chase birds instead anyway.   But it'll also be the last time we'll be so busy. We don't get any red mages in our party sadly, but a few of them do exist in this world. We can loot a Potion, Flan card, and some more gil from this bar. We're not even close to done with all this treasure!   You better head straight to the ticket booth in the square. You have to get your ticket stamped there before you can enter the castle.No treasure here, but there is a pretty nice and helpful guy. The actual people of Alexandria are pretty nice and friendly for the most part.   The item store is the only shop open right now. I've been finding so much stuff that I don't really need to buy anything.  And that includes cash.  Right in front of us is the ticket booth, but before we go see the show we've still got a good bit to explore.  To the southeast, there's a florist selling flowers to a noble couple. Play season must bring in a lot of commerce for this nation.  These two stores are the weapon and synthesis stores. I'll explain synthesis once we visit a shop that's actually open.  I'm so happy...  There is an Ether here. I imagine that will be handy for a black mage.   Have you tried looking on the ground? Our buddy's already accumulated a small fortune just picking up things off the streets from those clumsy nobles.  Heck, right in this shop there's a Remedy.  Hippaul's a doof.  We can't visit the castle at this time.  This is a better version of a Phoenix Down. More on these later though.  Next up, the inn.    What!? I don't believe this!!! I have a reservation, dammit!!!   (City people are so scary.)To be fair, I don't know if this place even has any rooms.  Apparently fish man can breathe just fine.  OH MY GOD  PLEASE  DON'T KILL ME  This game takes a page from FF7 by having a huge variety of minigames. Some are pretty fun, while others...are like the Jump Rope minigame.  It's pretty simple. Hit the button to jump the rope. If you miss, you're done.  The catch is the tempo changes the longer you play. The other catch is the only rewards are cards and a key item to prove to your friends and family that you actually wasted time playing this minigame. You get this by jumping one thousand times without failing. I'll pass.  Next screen has this guy.  He's kinda rude.  We've finally nearly explored every area of Alexandria. Just got another home to loot.   This is Ilia's home and thus this is probably her money.   I tried that last year. But them guards, they caught me lickety-split! Gwahaha! The people hanging out at the docks are less-than-pleasant to talk to.   Sure, we've got some good will already from cleaning up Alexandria's garbage, but what's one more nice deed? Sure thing.  Thanks! The last area we can visit is this church. Or rather half a church really. Surprising that the stained glass is still intact for the standing walls. There's a Tent and Potion here.   We can also steal Hippaul's cards and never use them.  As for the cat, it's all the way back next to the statue dedicated to stupid teenager.  It's a cat.  Come here!  Were you expecting a reward from a poor kid?   Because he simply forgot to give it to us. I'm gonna watch the play from the rooftop with Mittens! I'm sorry I stole your money and you don't even realize it yet.  We've done everything there is to do besides jump rope until I go unconscious from bashing my head against a wall. Let's go see this play already.   We can just show our ticket, but instead let's get some background information. What's showing today?  This year's performance is the masterpiece "I Want to Be Your Canary." The Tantalus Company is performing.What kind of troupe is Tantalus? They're star performers from Lindblum, the regency to the west, with accompaniment by Lav Layderce!What's "I Want to Be Your Canary" about? This play is a tale of romance between a noble and a peasant! You really must see it!Tell me about Alexandria! The Kingdom of Alexandria is a fine country, ruled by Queen Brahne.Who's Queen Brahne? Did you know Queen Brahne has a beautiful daughter, Princess Garnet?Tell me about Queen Brahne! Unfortunately, I've heard strange things about Queen Brahne recently.Who's Princess Garnet? Today is Princess Garnet's sixteenth birthday, you know!Tell me about Princess Garnet! Her Highness is a beautiful princess, and everyone in Alexandria loves her!Is Princess Garnet really that pretty? Why, she's the most beautiful princess in the history of Alexandria! Anyway, we've got all the info we're gonna get out of the guy. Let's show our ticket and see the show already.  What's this? There's something odd about this ticket...  ...Welp. Poor kid. Now, now. Don't cry. I know how you must feel. Here, I'll give you these. Do try to cheer up now, hmm? He then gives us Goblin, Fang, and Skeleton cards.  So we're kind of screwed out of going to a show now, but at least we can learn this game's card game! That's a worthy consolation prize, right?  You've been hammering the same spot for hours. Maybe you're just not good at your job.   And then Dante the whatever he is wanders off to the bar.   Wait...this guy is in an alley. Surely he's Alleyway Jack?   But I'll let you in to see the show if you become my slave! Well, we did come all this way... Sure. Awesome! Now for your first assignment! You go stand over there and see if anyone's comin'!  Looks clear to me. Awesome! Engage according to mission parameters! Like we have any moral quandaries about stealing at this point.    If you know who I am, you probably wanna challenge me to a card game, huh? Well... Why not? I finished one job already. Follow me, kid!And so the young boy followed the shifty-looking man who hung out in alleys to a seedy bar.   So he goes into a big tutorial about the card game before playing with you. I'll skip all this for your benefit. Instead, we'll play a quick game.  That's my job!   First, you pick your cards. We've got thirteen just from looting Alexandria. You can have multiples of the same type, and they can even have different stats and arrow lay-outs.  You pick five, your opponent picks five, and the first player is chosen randomly.  Tetra Master is a significantly worse version of Triple Triad. First off, if you play a card against an opponent, if you have an arrow pointing at them and they don't have an arrow on your card, you convert that card to their side immediately.  The stats refer to attack, defenses, and type of attack. It doesn't really matter because there's a large amount of arbitrary randomness added to rob any strategy out of this game.  Which is a shame, because this could be pretty cool if they didn't screw up how card fights work. If you have arrow vs. arrow, the two cards fight, which is where the stats come into play. Then comes a big chunk of randomness that can lead to a weaker card defeating a much stronger card. Whoever wins converts the losing card and any other cards its arrows are pointing at. You can have some pretty big swings that way.   Like so.   I still lost and end up losing a card. I don't care because I don't plan to ever play this again besides the one time it comes up in the story. You see, there's no incentive to play. In FF8, you could convert your cards into items and spells which you could then use to break the game in half twice-over. You can't do that here, there's not even any tournaments or anything besides a one-time deal. The only incentive is to up a card rank thing where you have 100 unique cards all with different arrow patterns and even if you get that the game glitches up anyway. Tetra Master sucks and let's stop talking about this terrible card game.  This is the only town where I'm called Alleyway Jack. I go by other names elsewhere. They're also just aliases, of course. You wanna know my real name? I'll tell you when you get better.You learn his name by getting a lot of treasure.  Always polite.   What kind of jerk would sell a fake ticket to a little kid!?Anyway, the rat kid's probably still waiting for us, so let's catch up with him.    It's very dangerous. You go first.If you insist...   That's Kupo. He's a moogle. Kupo! And this is slave number one! Try to get along, okay? Kupo! Pleased to meet you!Moogles have been a thing since FF3, made another appearance in FF5, and then became pretty popular in FF6 when we got a playable one who could dance and jump like a total boss. They were pretty much gone besides minor cameos here and there in FF7 and FF8, but they are back full-force for FF9. This game is full of moogle goodness.   And you can regain health if you have a Tent, kupo!That's because moogles are this game's save points. Even in the overworld you'll be calling upon a moogle to save for you.  Of course. Glad I can help, kupo!   We've got just one more matter of business before we finally see the play.  Kupo! Stiltzkin! Why that getup? You leaving, kupo? Yeah, and this time I might be away for a long time. I'll miss you, kupo. Now, don't you worry. I'll write. Okay, kupo! Well, I'm off. Take care! Oh, and say hi to Mosh in the castle for me. Was that a friend of yours? Yes, kupo. A very special one, kupo!!! Before we do that, let's go ahead and save.   Tent lets us restore HP and MP, of course. No need to do that yet. Save lets us save the game.  And every time we get this nice animation.   Mognet is a lengthy sidequest that there's no reason not to pursue since it usually follows along directly with the main plot.  Mognet is a mail delivery system between moogles! We can send and receive letters to and from moogles in other locations! Kupo! But delivery has been very sporadic lately! So I want you to help us deliver mail! Kupo! As I said, no reason not to. I have a favor to ask, kupo!  Doing Mognet is very simple. Just go to each and every save moogle you encounter and select Mognet until they won't do Mognet stuff anymore. Now we have a letter on the backburner that we don't need to worry about for the time being.  Now, I'd say with the busy day we had so far we've definitely earned a nice relaxing view of the play, right? Alright, the play's gonna start if we don't hurry! Lemme guess... You're afraid of heights, aren't you? It's okay! Just pretend you're on the ground! Come on, already! We're runnin' outta time! Don't worry! It won't fall! No point in worrying now, right? We can steal money from three different bird nests up here.  I don't even know your name! As the music suggested, it's Vivi. So your name's Vivi, huh? Kinda funny name... Puck's likely a Shakespeare reference. There's a ton of those this game, it seems. I'll let people more knowledgable than I point those out, though.   C'mon, let's go! Next time, we'll finally watch the play. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 19:38
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Here's something cool: July 7 marks the 15th anniversary of the game's release in Japan.
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Jul 6, 2015 22:44
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Hey Mega, would you mind getting rid of the "here" icon? I always found it distracting from the gorgeous visuals this games has. Kinda draws your eye to it. But that might just be me. Shouldn't be a problem. If anyone else has requests like that feel free to let me know and I'll probably be down to do them. Also, probably won't be making many avatars for this one since these GIFs are already big file size-wise and they take up a good bit of time, but I couldn't resist this one.  e: If people have avatar requests of any GIFs during the LP let me know and I'll do my best to make them. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 7, 2015 02:32
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Fister Roboto posted:You missed a neat little reference in the town square of Alexandria. Oh, nice. I'm not surprised I missed something like that (and probably a lot more). I'll try to show that off on my next visit in the area. Music Junkie posted:I'm aware that it's probably heresy, but I did like Tetra Master. I never did get one of every card, but I do like the designs on them. Some of the ones you can get are really pretty. Good to see an LP of one of my favorite FF games. I used to lose hours just playing around with sidequests. So it'll be fun to see how you tackle them, Mega. Even though the last update may not sound like it since I crap on two of them, I really do love the sidequests and minigames in this game. There's one that'll be in the next update that should be fun to do.
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Jul 7, 2015 12:15
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YggiDee posted:Blank has two-toned skin and stitches. Is he a zombie or a flesh golem or what? How many people did he used to be? Welcome to Final Fantasy IX! 
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Jul 7, 2015 16:04
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Today, let's start things off with another FMV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBZt57TD4Ek   Vivi and Puck manage to sneak it to the noble seats. Good for them!  OH CHRIST  Anyway, this is the same girl who was off dreaming about sea storms the first update.  And this is some random guy.   Anyway, the play is starting and everyone is happy.  Well, almost everyone. APPLAUSE   Tonight's performance is a story that takes place long, long ago. Our heroine, Princess Cornelia, is torn from her lover, Marcus. She attempts to flee the castle, only to be captured by her father, King Leo. When our story begins, Marcus, having heard of this, crosses swords with the king. And now, Your Royal Majesty, Queen Brahne, Your Highness, Princess Garnet...    Marcus! Thou hast lost even thy love! Fortune hath escap'd thee! For what end shalt thou live? For the sake of our friend... Let us bury our steel in the heart of the wretched King Leo!     Pray, sheathe thy swords! This villain is mine alone! Nay, kinsman! For I, too, have lost a brother to this fiend! What ho? Out, vermin! Away! Thou darest bare thy sword before the king!? All who stand in my way will be crush'd! Treacherous Leo, my kinsman's suffering shall not be in vain!  And so we get into a pretty sweet battle. So sweet I made a video of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htqz6e2jVOY   There's two guys that go down in a hit each.  This is no ordinary battle. This is a play battle.   So everyone can cast "spells" that do nothing but be fanciful. If you want to be efficient, you stick to physical attacks to bring the guy down to advance the plot.   If you want to put on a show for a bunch of virtual people that don't actually exist, you mix in some SFX spells to make it look awesome.    I think we know what the correct option is.  King Leo mixes in some physical attacks, but again, this battle is for show. You have to try to lose.  And so our noble heroes soundly defeat the evil king. Or alternatively, the Tantalus crew beat up their boss while he wears a king costume.   Come back!   Consider this, Zidane! If Prince Schneider were to marry Princess Cornelia, peace would reign over both their kingdoms! Tis foolishness! If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world! You can't spell "words" without "sword" so    So we get to our next minigame, and it's a fun if not frustrating one.   Blank tells you one of eight buttons to press, and you press it.   Each does a certain move. The face buttons have you do attacks while the directional buttons let you move or dodge. Of course, it depends entirely what Blank says.  After 49 or so prompts, the battle finishes.  You get one free noble, and you get one noble for scoring all 49 correct. For the other 98, you get one for getting the prompt right, and one for getting the right prompt quickly enough.  We can impress Queen Brahne but neither we nor the game itself cares what she thinks.  If you want, you can retry. And it's not a bad idea, because you can actually get some nice rewards for doing well. In particular, getting all 100 gets you a massive 10k Gil, which is a ton for so early in the game, and a Moonstone, which is handy for reasons. Honestly, I don't know if you get the 10k gil if you get them all the first time or if you'll still get the gil in future attempts. I just reloaded a save state any time in case of the former. I did rely a lot on that horrible guide when I first played the game...  Unfortunately, the highest I can get legit is 96, which I got several times. Might have something to do with input lag maybe? Or maybe I just suck. Anyway, here's a video of me getting 96 if you want to watch a nice spectacle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUmrMwF3Qbg  Eventually I cranked the FPS down to 10 and cheated my way to victory because as a Let's Player I'm allowed by law to cheat in my LPs.  Worth it for that money.     Yeah, but this helmet... What are you talkin' about!? My helmet totally reeks!      You still have the package, right? Alright! First, I'll go pour some sleep potion into Princess Garnet's teacup! And I've got a special something for the lovely queen!  Zidane and Blank have managed to sneak into Alexandria Castle. Now to abduct the princess. Hey, at least we're the ones doing the kidnapping for once.  ...the royal seats should be right above these stairs! Got it! Uh-oh! The scene where Marcus sneaks into Cornelia's chamber is about to start! Let's get this over with before the finale, okay?Now to carry out our mission.  Step one: Ogle some half-naked guards.  Step two: Ogle some more half-naked guards.   No, ma'am! Nothing to report! Very well. Continue your patrol. Yes, ma'am! At once, ma'am! Step three: Do our job.  ...Step two and a half: Ogle a pretty white mage.   Umm... Would you please let me pass? Oh yeah, one of Zidane's big character traits is that he's sixteen and of course obsessed with women. This white mage is a woman, so of course he's gonna stare at her face like a creepy goon. Let's see... Oh, no. You see... Excuse me? You were waiting for me? Yeah! I've dreamt of meeting you here ever since I was born! Do you mock me? No, of course not!... Then, I shall take my leave of you! Haven't we met before? No, I do not know you...   I... Are you serious!?It seems Princess Garnet spends part of her free time cosplaying as a White Mage. Better than a Berserker in this case. Meanwhile...    This is terrible! Our heads, Queen Brahne will have!  Meet Zorn and Thorn. Zorn's blue, Thorn's red. Zorn speaks normally, Thorn abnormally he speaks.  I know it is not the right way! Really, do you? I really do! Wonder, I sometimes do. N-Now is not the time to wonder!  N-Not the right way, I know! Do you really? Know I really do!!! I really wonder sometimes. Th-The time to wonder, now is not!  See the queen, we must!  An emergency, it is! A veritable emergency of terrible urgency! Very well. I'll see what I can do.  So, what exactly is the problem? Her Royal Highness... Princess Garnet... I see. Wait right there. This is Queen Brahne. She is a reference to the FF4 airship The Big Whale. Your Majesty, I'm afraid Princess Garnet has- Ah, yes... She did leave her seat awhile ago. Well, of all the... What could she be thinking!?  So, that goofy, easily-frustrated knight?  He's another main character. And he's one of the best characters in a game full of awesome characters.  Go find Garnet! Captain Adelbert Steiner is one of the few male guards of Alexandria. In fact, he's captain of the Knights of Pluto, which has a whole eight male members under him. He's also a giant oaf and I love him for it.     Huh? Where is everybody!?  What are you talking about!? There's only two of you!  I bring orders from the queen! Next time, Steiner goes on the offensive as we finish up the introductory section.
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Jul 7, 2015 22:13
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Oh man, I eagerly await more of these. Your rant about that FF8 guide was great. And obviously I'm not going for the super secret item you get for beating the game under 12 hours because that's a bit of a pain under normal circumstances, especially since I'm not doing FMV-skipping shenanigans.
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Jul 7, 2015 22:36
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Is it the actual song/description that has spoilers or the related videos? If the latter, you can use Polsy's site to filter those out. http://polsy.org.uk
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Jul 8, 2015 00:40
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I'm doing it again fyi. Or at least trying. I'd definitely be fine with it! Hell, my FFV thread evolved into a challenge megathread so I've got no qualms about other runs alongside mine. Still need to update that one soonish, actually.
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Jul 8, 2015 02:26
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Kalenn Istarion posted:So, I love FFIX, your other LPs, and TWD's LP of this, and I'm going to follow this regardless, but I'm curious what you're planning to do to present a fresh take on the game. Mostly out of curiosity as I'll read it regardless. Honestly, the big difference will be presentation, as my commentary's going to be pretty straightforward for the most part in regards to being informative and mixing in half-assed jokes. This will pretty much be another "let the game speak for itself" like the Mother 3 LP was. Though that said, there's already looking to be some great bonus content other people are contributing, and I'm hoping to start up with some art updates soon to show off all the crazy characters and locations. And of course it's a new opportunity to talk about this game fifteen years after its release, which is always fun. I wouldn't expect a lot of fantastic indepth story analysis on the level of the FF7 or FF8 LPs, though I'll likely dabble in that when it makes sense because it's fun to do. Mainly I'm aiming to show off a beautiful game the best I can and having some fun along the way.
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Jul 8, 2015 12:42
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 So now that we're back with Steiner, we're in control of the lug.   Steiner and his crew aren't really as well-respected as the other Alexandrian soldiers. Probably because Steiner's the only one who really cares about his job.   This is the other reward for doing well in the swordfighting minigame. Moonstones are limited quantity, so getting a free one this early on is nice. You get lesser rewards if you do worse, you only get the Moonstone for getting all 100 nobles. As for what it is and what it does, don't worry. Once I get through the introduction area I'll actually start talking about the gameplay.  In the meantime, we've got a princess to rescue!   Hey! I thought I told you to look for the princess! What are you doing here!? I told you nitwits to go search for the princess! To the left of the door is a piece of paper.  There are nine Knights of Pluto. Steiner's one, and we just talked with Blutzen and Kohel.  This is Mosh. Apparently if you're good at jump rope, he'll have a special letter. It's hard to be good at jump rope when you constantly trip and wear baggy pants like Vivi though.  Of course, Steiner doesn't know this is the princess. But that does sound suspicious, doesn't it?  This guy runs around enough that it's a pain to catch and talk to him.  Nor is he very helpful.  To the east is the kitchen.   This is the head chef of Alexandria. This creature is also a main character because why not.    Whatever, Captain. I'm so hungry...That's four. Yes, there's a reward for finding all eight.  On the lower levels you can access the libraries.  Doctor Tot is a character we will meet later because of the awkward way this NPC mentioned him. I wonder how many people remember Doctor Tot exists when thinking back to this game. You're trying to remember who Doctor Tot is right now, aren't you?   Right now? No way! Nitwit! You just joined us! Now, go find the princess, soldier! If you leave and re-enter...  That's five.  Eidolons are what this game calls its summons. More on that later.  As with this.  But if we fail to find the princess before the curtain falls, Her Majesty will be most displeased... And we will be the laughingstock of Beatrix and her retinue! Steiner really doesn't like Beatrix.  Good to know.  Care to have a seat, Captain? Now is not the time! By order of Her Majesty, we must go search for Princess Garnet! WHAT!?!?!? This calls for immediate action!!! Fair princess, be not afraid!!! Haagen is on the trail! That's six.  This is the tower where that one soldier said two Pluto Knights were. Only one here, though, and oddly doesn't have a name so he doesn't count. Might as well try the other tower.  Hmmm... Let me think about it. Go search for Princess Garnet! Yes, sir! At once, sir!And that's seven.   The final Pluto Knight is on the way to the top of this tower.  Oh! Captain Steiner, do you climb this tower for exercise, too? No! No! No! I'm searching for Princess Garnet! Is the princess at the top of this tower or not!? I want to reach the top, but at my age, I get so short of breath. Of course! All knights will obey!!! Then this guy will go over all the guys you found.  I'll summarize them here since all of them start with the same text up to "given orders to": * The double super-sleuths, Blutzen and Kohel. * Our most inspirational writer, Laudo. * The most famous artillerist in the realm, Dojebon. * The only man who can name all the girls in town, Weimar. * The knight with the knack for navigating the neighborhood, Haagen. * The winner of last year's cannonball race, Mullenkedheim. And this is Breireicht who knows all this stuff and spends his time running up stairs. This is the only time you'll get this information and it's important to know to succeed in a sidequest in Disc 3.   But we get a reward for now just for talking to all the knights. Not bad.  Anyway, to advance the story we must climb to the top.  No! I must persevere! The princess must be found!  It's Princess Garnet! Fun fact: Every step or stomp Steiner makes is accompanied by a metal clang. This guy would be abysmal at stealth. This is the cue for our next cutscene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgnJVtj0rnY     Garnet makes a blind leap to the shock of Zidane, but she knows what she's doing.  Steiner's in a blind panic at this point.   Gotta admit, this looks pretty fun for a planned escape. Though she's probably lucky she's not paste on the ground at this point.   Meanwhile, Steiner learns to fly.   ...but fails to stick the landing.     And so the Princess runs off, again...  ...and back again after she finds out it's a dead end.    This is Ruby. She's also a member of Tantalus.  Hold yer horses, there! You should at least say yer sorry! Please pardon me. I was in a hurry, you see...  And in comes Zidane.  This cowgirl's wilder than a buckin' bronco! Just let me talk to her, Ruby!  Luckily, the next room is also where we started the game.   (Wow. We really had to improvise. But hey, we got her!)  (Aww... So she figured it out, huh?) As you have no doubt suspected...the truth is that...I am actually...  I have a favor I wish to ask of you... Ahahaha. Poor cocky Zidane is thrown off-guard for a moment.   Aha... So that's what's going on... It doesn't take long for him to regain his composure, of course. Thank you. You have my gratitude.  Zidane's great because the game's not afraid to make him goofy. It's fun to watch him in action.  Don't worry, Princess. It's my friend Cinna! Oh, really? I am sorry. You startled me. Well, with a face like his, I'd be pretty shocked, too!  This way! Alright, we'll follow you!SILENCE    Note I've left out five or so screens of him running to various parts of the room saying "Princess?" over and over.  Sir! I'm sorry, sir! Hehehe. I thought this might happen... So I set up this escape hatch! Come on! Jump inside! I-I'll go first, sir! And so the least-successful jump-in-hole maneuver in modern fiction was executed.  Captain, sir! I'm stuck, sir! Grrrr! Blast it!!! Next time we will actually finish this section for real. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jul 8, 2015 |
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Jul 8, 2015 18:04
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ArchWizard posted:You mean 100 nobles, right? Correct! Fixed, thanks.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:26
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:What? Yeah, this was my experience in the last update.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:58
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ENGINE NOISES   This is nothing. I have been training to escape the castle, after all. What a waste. If only you weren't a princess... We have no time for idle banter. Come, let us move on!I've kinda forgotten what a self-assured badass Garnet was this early on. Then again, women in the PS1 FF games in particular are women of action.  So this one-time room has a gimmick to it.  We can turn the wheel left and right to get items to drop.  If you reduce the engine's power, you'll crash the ship!Turn it left, and Cinna tells us to turn it back right.  And vice-versa.  But we get a Phoenix Down and Phoenix Pinion out of it so gently caress Cinna. In the next room...  Princess! I, Steiner, have come to your rescue! Good work! This will be remembered as the Pluto Knights' finest hour! Hehehe!  You're not one of my knights! You can just... ...leave the princess...   So now we have Zidane, Cinna, and Blank (remember, he's the one who actually kept his disguise on for more than a minute) going against Steiner.  Steiner's a pushover. He has low HP and doesn't hit too hard.   But he does have some goodies to steal. We could've gotten a Silk Shirt from the play-fight earlier, but might as well get one AND a Moonstone.  The Mage Masher does essentially double the damage of Zidane's starting weapon.    After losing enough HP, Steiner pulls off a flashy move against Blank.    And proceeds to release all those Oglops Blank was holding on to.  Thankfully, Zidane and the princess are unfazed. Now's our chance! Come on!   And then Prince Schneider and his kingdom will be mine! Gwahahahaha! Why, my poor Marcus! Hark, lad. No matter how much thou dost treasure Cornelia...no matter how deeply she might believe she doth love thee...never shall I see her marry a peasant such as thee!   Hmmm... Okay! Princess Garnet, this way!   Ho? What's all this?  (Um...) (Marcus is Cornelia's lover!) (Yeah, you're doing great!) (Ahaha. I have studied drama, you know.) (Okay, guys. Let's keep going. Brahne's still watchin', after all!)   I wish never to leave thy side. Prithee, lead me from this place! See, King Leo? Thou shouldst give them thy blessing! Never leave his side, thou sayest? Foolish banter! I'll not allow it! Is that not so, Prince Schneider? Aye! And this traitorous crew, I will put to death!  Nay, Father! I shan't return! Cornelia... Trouble me no more. This wedding is for thine own welfare. Be mindful of that. Now is my moment of vengeance! For my parents, and for my love, Cornelia...    Mar...cus, forgive me. I still love my father... Prithee, forgive my selfishness, Father, and spare my sweet Marcus... Am I cursed never again to feel her soft touch!? O, cruel fate! Thou hast robbed me of all I treasure!  This year's show is splendid! Why did she have to die!? Why!?    I'm glad we climbed all the way over here. How 'bout you, huh?     Princess!!!    AUDIENCE NOISES  Princess Garnet! Let's get outta here! What... What is going on!? Captain, sir! We await your orders, sir! Princess! I'm afraid I cannot comply! Stubborn as always, aren't you? Come on, Princess. Let's ditch Sir Rustalot and get outta here!  Y-Yeah. I just tripped, that's all...  After all that, we've got Zidane, Marcus, Garnet, and Vivi against Steiner and a couple Knights of Pluto.  Garnet has both Summon and White Magic. I'll go into that a little later.  Vivi has Black Magic and Focus. Focus simply boosts magic power a bit. It has its uses.    Vivi has access to Fire, so he's able to contribute a good chunk of damage.  H-Hey! Come back here!The two Pluto Knights go down easily. Thankfully there's no steals for this battle since Zidane and Marcus are stuck with SFX, so we can focus on beating these guys down effortlessly.   Like all the other battles, you have to try to lose this one.  Good! Engine room is good to go! Alright!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssBa8bnJDCA    We don't know how much Queen Brahne knows, but she definitely knows something is up.    Looks like escape isn't going to be easy.  Nobles in this game are pretty ugly.   And of course there's a cannon that shoots a giant Bomb enemy, why not.   This battle is scripted. It ends in three rounds so you don't really need to do anything.  All that happens is Steiner attacks people while the bomb grows. And of course lots of conversation.  I'll not fall for such an old trick! Please, Steiner! Behind you! Surrender at once! It's a bomb! It's gonna blow! I'll not fall for such an old trick!  So much for Steiner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YYI_-Ceo4w   Uh... You do realize your daughter was on there, right?    Not that it matters since it wouldn't be much of a game if most of our party died in the first hour.  Of course, the Prima Vista's in pretty sorry shape at this point.    Queen Brahne clearly wanted more explosions in her theater-viewing experience.    Welp... We're done with the introductory section, but we're not out of danger quite yet...   I never imagined you would do such a thing. Perhaps you're not such a helpless little girl anymore...  Is our little experiment ready? Yes, Your Majesty. It is combat-ready. Easily terminate Princess Garnet, it can, Your Majesty. I need her alive! Seems we haven't seen the last of Queen Brahne. Next time, we'll start learning about the combat system and other gameplay mechanics. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 15:37
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zfleeman posted:Why did this happen? Because it was a freaking pain getting it under 2MB.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:11
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FOREST NOISES   Looks like Zidane survived, at the very least.   The Prima Vista...has seen better days.   Yeah, but the Prima Vista's wasted. Just our luck to crash in this forest... It's gonna get interesting... What do you mean, "interesting," Boss? I hear no one's ever made it outta here alive. Quit yer whinin' and get it under control! And get the wounded outta here! Alright! There's no way we can survive if all our stuff is toast. I'm on it!-----     They're lookin' for Garnet... Can't find her anywhere. Maybe she fell off... Got squashed under the ship. This is great. First we kidnap her, then we kill her. We'll hang for sure. At this time, Zidane finally decides to show up.  I can't believe you jumped off! You're nuts, you know that? I didn't jump off. I got thrown out from the impact. So, is everyone okay? Yeah. We've all got the devil's luck. But if we don't find Princess Garnet, we're all dead meat. Now it's time for a new mechanic.  Active Time Event is a system that lets you see other events that are happening at the same time elsewhere, kupo! Press the SELECT button when you see the icon flashing below. You can press the button anytime while the icon is flashing. ATE means you can view optional cutscenes involving people besides the currently-controlled character. There's usually no reason not to watch them. It's basically "Meanwhile..." made into a game mechanic for some reason.  Sometimes there's more than one. For now, let's watch this one.  Are you alright? I-Is it still coming? And that's it. Now we're in control of Zidane.  Alright. Today we'll get into the actual gameplay of this game. Every Final Fantasy has a gimmick to learning new abilities and spells, like materia or espers or jobs or whatever.  This game has you learning abilities from items. For instance, the starting dagger that Zidane starts out with teaches the "Flee" ability, which gives you a guaranteed run from encounters you can run from, at the cost of 10% of the gil you would've won from that encounter. You can still run as normal with L1/R1, of course.  The Mage Masher is nice enough to teach Flee AND Detect, but most weapon and armor upgrades won't be so nice. You can use the ability as long as you have the weapon or armor piece equipped. So if I get another dagger that doesn't teach either of these abilities, I can't use them any longer. The exception, of course, is if you gain enough AP from battles to permanently learn them. Detect and Flee both require 40AP to learn. Once they're learned, you can go to the next weapon or armor or whatever and learn abilities from there. General reception to this system is "meh" at best, as generally you'll need more AP to master abilities than you normally would spend fighting enemies in dungeons, and it can be annoying to be stuck with lower-tier equipment especially when the game incentivizes you to steal good stuff early to make use of it only for you to still need to hold off to finish getting this ability. On the other hand, a lot of abilities are pretty unimpressive anyway (Detect lets you see what items an enemy is holding, pretty pointless when you can just get a guide and use it to get a link to GameFAQs to get what the enemy is carrying), though obviously it's hard to tell what's good in a first playthrough. At any rate, it's not the best way to handle abilities in the series, and it is a bit puzzling that they reuse this mechanic for the Tactics Advance games. I don't mind it so much myself though so I'll deal.    The Leather Hat teaches Fire, which Zidane can't learn, so it's only there for defensive boosts. The Wrist and Leather Shirt also teach abilities, and Zidane can learn something from the Moonstone as well.  There are two types of abilities. Active are ones you use during battle, like Flee or Vivi's Fire spell. Passive abilities give you certain boosts, like extra damage against certain enemy types, status immunities, or buffs you always have like Auto-Haste.  Another useful thing is you can press Select to get more information on, well, anything. Beast Killer does 150% damage to beast-type enemies. Zidane also gets Protect Girls, which takes damage for girls if their HP is below 50% of max, and Flee-Gil, which nets you 10% of the gil you would've won from an encounter if you ran away normally (L1 + R1, not the Flee ability). To use passives, you have to equip them. Each has a cost depending on how strong the ability is, and each character has a set amount of crystals to spend that go up with level. Right now, Zidane has more than enough to use all three passive abilities, but of course that will change as play continues and passives build up. Finally, everyone has different passives, with the physical jobs getting more to make up for the relative lack of abilities compared to mages. There's some overlap, such as Zidane and Steiner both getting Beast Killer, but overall the passives will be geared toward that character's skillset. Zidane has stuff that affects Steal, Steiner's focused on dealing more damage to various enemy groups, Vivi's geared towards magic passives, and so on.  There's a moogle to save at here but nothing new with Mognet for now.   Anyway, nothing to do but to go looking for Garnet.   The Evil Forest is our first dungeon. The locals around here aren't big on elaborate names. Enjoy the music for a bit, because we're about to do our first random encounter!   This is a Goblin. They're one of the enemies that like to hang out in this putrid forest swamp.  Back attacks are still a thing. I believe there's a passive that stops this stuff.  The Goblin by itself is no threat, chipping away ~10HP a hit.  Steal is not a 100% success rate. Yet. There's an ability we'll get pretty soon that will change that, though.  Let's show off Detect since we'll never see it again otherwise.    Some of the abilities are pretty goofy-looking and make no sense. Welcome to Final Fantasy IX! If there's more than one item to steal, Zidane's mechanical eye-ball pal will tell us.   Anyway, I got the item so I'm content to kill this guy in one hit now and then use the Potion I just stole and could've skipped if I killed him in the first place.   Each character has a celebratory dance I can't show off because moving backgrounds are the bane of animated GIFs. After the different fanfare themes of FF7 and FF8, the classic one from the earlier games has returned. Enjoy.  There are two screens in the victory screen. First is EXP and AP, where you learn when people gain levels and learn abilities.  Next is gil and item drops. There are four slots for enemy drops, and each slot has a chance of dropping depending how rare it is, meaning theoretically you could get four drops from one enemy. Some enemies also have a chance of dropping cards for Tetra Master, which is its own separate drop rate.  Let's check out our inventory.  Potions are a bit different in this game in that they only heal 2/3 as much in the field, more rewarding you for actually using them in battle. Hi-Potions recover 450HP in battle, and Ethers recover 150MP in battle. Phoenix Downs revive a person at single-digit HP. Phoenix Pinions recover at around half HP, but they can only be used in battles. The rest I will assume you can glean since they're no different from other Final Fantasy games, though Tents have an interesting secondary use in this game that I'm sure will come up sooner or later.  You can also get information on weapons and armor, which is handy for looking up stuff like elemental defenses. Silk Shirts reduce Thunder damage by 50%! That might actually be useful!  This whole area is one screen and it's possible not to run into any battles at all. Next screen...  ...What the hell is that? Release the princess at once!!! Yeah, like it's gonna realy listen to you.   Meet Soul Cage. This fight's kind of a gimmick.    You see, this is our introduction to Trance.    I've heard of it before! Trance is induced by a surge of emotion. Alright, let's take him!Trance is FFIX's version of a limit break. It does different things for each character, which are generally pretty awesome. It generally adds up from taking damage, and higher Spirit stats lets it rise more quickly. The major problem with Trance though is that, unlike Limit Breaks in FF7 and FF8, you can't save it. If it activates, it automatically happens and will wear off at the end of battle. That makes it pretty terrible and end up being nothing more than a nice bonus here and there if it activates at a point where you'd actually use it. Trance is used up as you take actions in Trance, especially those related to Trance.   So this guy can absorb Garnet's HP. If Garnet goes down, Game Over. There's nothing to Steal, so let's skip to Zidane's Trance. For Zidane, his basic skill set is changed to Dyne.  His abilities are replaced with new ones that do large damage, albeit at the cost of MP. Tidal Flame is a trap for this fight since it's multi-target, which means it'd kill Garnet. We want Free Energy for this fight.    It does solid damage.  Steiner does alright damage. He'll shine later on.   After two hits of Free Energy, Soul Cage runs away with Garnet in tow.  What the heck? Where did they go? She's gone... How could I let this happen!? Don't worry. She's not dead yet. That monster was only a minion. He's probably gonna take her to his master. That means the princess might still be- Come! We must go find her at once!  THINK AGAIN.   Now Vivi's caught in one, and we don't have Trance to help out.    Vivi however is in a much better position to help out in frying this drat thing.  This thing will also absorb Vivi's HP, so it's good to keep him healed while Steiner helps wear this thing down.   Zidane wants to steal some items first.  Don't be afraid to use a Potion on Vivi if he gets low. He's your biggest damage dealer this fight. After enough damage...    Victory!  Are you alright?   ...Welp. That could've gone better. Next time, we do some soul-searching on the Prima Vista. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Jul 11, 2015 |
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Jul 10, 2015 19:18
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gbuchold posted:The "SFX" combat option being there for the real fight against Steiner is one of my favorite touches of the opening sequence. It would've been a fantastic touch if the SFX spells actually did damage to Steiner because he's dumb enough to believe they're attacking him with actual magic.
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Jul 10, 2015 19:33
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FOREST NOISES So, Vivi and Steiner? They're both alright, of coures.  Some of the monsters in this forest reproduce by planting seeds in other animals. And when the seeds sprout, it's hasta la vista: you become beef jerky. Um... A-Am I gonna die? No. You're gonna be fine. Here, drink this. It'll remove all the seeds from your body. -----    The princess...is in grave danger! Do you intend to ABANDON HER!? You're in no condition. Don't worry about the princess. The boss'll think of something. Get some rest. Yeah, and take that medicine I gave you. The princess's life rests in my hands. What can their boss possibly accomplish!? <Huff-huff-heave-heave.> God help me! -----  Monsters born out of the Mist are crawlin' everywhere. So what? There's nothing out there we can't handle. Yeah, but what are we gonna do about the wounded? We can take 'em with us. How are we gonna carry all of them? Trust me. We go out now, and we'll all get wasted.  We're gonna stay put 'til everyone recovers. You better not set one foot outside this ship. You got that!? I can't believe you're abandoning her! You're nothing but a big coward!And with that, we've got control of Zidane. If we talk to Baku again...   Bronze Gloves are heavy armor, which Steiner can use. They teach Antibody, which gives Poison immunity. Now that I've explained the ability system, I'll cover what each new piece of equipment will teach certain characters. Note this does not include characters we haven't met yet.   We've got several more ATE events to go through.  First, let's check in on Steiner.  The structure is in poor condition. Perhaps I can break out by ramming into the wall.  I'm still not feeling well...  H-How dare they write the princess's name on such a ragged doll!? Besides, the princess is not 15! She's 16! FOREST NOISES  The next one's pretty short.   Looks like Ruby was forgotten in that whole escape plan mess.  This one unlocks after viewing Steiner's ATE.  Huh...? drat! Where is it!? Man. How am I supposed to sleep now...? Poor little doll... The fire probably caught it.That's all the ATEs for now. Let's continue exploring the ruined ship.   Another Wrist. The only thing it teaches is Flee-Gil, which only Zidane and one future character can learn.  Why don't you go see him? I think he wants to thank you. Not before we loot an Ether and some gil first.  Th-Thank you for helping me. Ah, don't mention it. Besides, it was your black magic that saved the day. You know, you've got some major power for such a little guy. What's wrong...? Are you peeved at me because I called you little? Hey, you're a great mage with great powers, alright? I'm sorry. When that monster caught her, I couldn't do anything... Hey, don't worry about the princess. I'll get her back. I promise. Thank you, Mr. Zidane. Whoa, that's the first time anyone's called me "Mr." Just call me Zidane, alright? So Vivi's a bit unsure of himself. Hell, Zidane might be the first guy to ever say something encouraging to him.  Maybe I shouldn't have made that promise. I don't even know if I'll be able to find her...   I never felt so strange... I can't explain it... FOREST NOISES   This is Zidane. He pretty much sees himself a rogueish hero who wants to save the day. Plus, this quest is to rescue a beautiful woman. I don't think much changes if Zidane decides not to go, but that's not an option because that's not what Zidane would do. Zidane would play the hero.    I'm gonna take that knight and the black mage to find the princess. You're crazy! Man, you don't even know what's out there. Besides, there's no way the boss'll allow that. I know... Sheez... Why do you always gotta play hero? The boss is gonna kill you. Our quest now is to hand in our two-week notice now that've we got a new job in rescuing princesses. Beats our current job of pretending to rescue princesses.  He fusses a little from time to time, but he hasn't been all that bad.There's another Ether in this room. The game throws them at you at this point.    The Rubber Helm is a helmet for Steiner that obviously halves lightning damage and boosts magic defense. It can teach Steiner Minus Strike, a classic FF staple move which deals (Max HP - Current HP) damage. It's not that great considering Steiner can usually beat that with other attacks even at critical health.  We've already got a Leather Hat. It teaches Fire, which would be nice if Vivi's default weapon didn't already teach it. On the other hand, if you've got two different items with the same ability equipped, you learn that ability twice as fast. So it'd be nice if Vivi would get a new staff or helmet anytime soon. Otherwise, it's a nice defense bonus for light-armor wearers.  Anyway, let's get this over with.  Took you long enough... I fell asleep, darn it.  Gwahaha! I didn't ask you why! I can't blame you, though. She's drat beautiful. I guess that's reason enough!  ...Alright. Okay, get your butt over to the cargo room. We got more room there.  In order to quit our job, we have to kill our boss.    So, Baku.  He can do good damage, as high as 40 on a lucky hit. He can also waste turns face-planting.  Of course, he also has good items to steal.  This isn't what we want, though it doesn't hurt.  You'll want to use Potions for this fight unless you're ignoring his steals and have the Mage Masher. The regular daggers won't let you take him out fast enough. As long as you don't have hoarder instincts though you should be fine.  Eventually we get what we're after, the Iron Sword. This weapon for Steiner also can teach him Minus Strike.  After that, it's a matter of wearing him down.  FOREST NOISES   drat, that hurt! He pulled his punches 'til that last one. I unlocked the door to storage, so you're free to go talk to that knight. Now that we've successfully been fired, let's go recruit our team for our new business venture.   Silence! A scoundrel like you could never understand! I'm just overwhelmed with concern for the princess! If only you rogues hadn't kidnapped her... This is all your fault! If anything should happen to the princess, I will have your head! I'm gonna go look for her now. I'll let you come with me if you promise to be good.  Captain? I figured you were a private, what with that cheap, rusty armor... I just wanna save Garnet. Hmph...! You had better not be lying! Because if you are, I won't hesitate to kill you! Yeah, yeah. I'm counting on you, Rusty. Make no mistake. I'm only going with you to rescue the princess! I will deal with you personally when this is over! ...Whatever.I really love the dynamic between Zidane and Steiner, where Steiner is sternly lecturing and berating Zidane for his rogueish ways while Zidane barely bothers to even acknowledge his rantings while poking fun at him all the while. It really adds an air of lightheartedness to the proceedings. The game wouldn't have half its charm this early on if Steiner wasn't around for the other characters to play off of.  Why are you calling him "Master"? You fool. That black mage has uinimaginable powers... I don't want to get him involved, but alas, it can't be helped. We need Master Vivi's powers to rescue the princess. Alright, let's go talk to Vivi.I also really love Steiner's admiration for Vivi. I pretty much love everything involving Steiner, honestly. He's goofy and kinda dense but is also actually competent and loyal to a fault.  Seriously why does this ship have so many Ethers.   I don't know why the boss was laughing afterwards... Maybe you hit him too hard.Next up is Vivi.  Really!? That's great! Be careful, okay? Actually, we want you to come with us, too. Huh!? B-But I can't do anything. Hardly, Master Vivi. Your magic was highly effective against that monster. B-But...I'm scared. I couldn't even move last time. Please, Master Vivi. For the sake of Princess Garnet and all of Alexandria, I humbly request your assistance! Come on! You're a black mage, for crying out loud! Show us what you've got! ...Okay. I'll...try my best. Thank you, Master Vivi.After Zidane leaves...  Yeah? It's about your black magic. I wish to try an experiment.   Each character has two special abilities, like Zidane with Steal and then his thief skills, or Vivi with Black Magic and Focus. Steiner has Sword Arts to do stuff like Minus Strike, and his secondary is Magic Sword, which only shows up if Vivi is in the same party. It's similar to FF5's Mystic Knight, where Vivi casts a spell on Steiner's sword and it does boosted damage if the enemy is weak to that element, in addition to a slight offense boost depending on the spell. It's a straight-up attack though instead of an effect that lasts the entire battle, but combined with Steiner's already-impressive offense and it becomes pretty powerful.  I go ahead and give Steiner his Iron Sword, which gives him a nice offense boost. His base sword teaches Beast Killer, so I have him learn it from the Moonstone instead. Steiner is all about the passives, with his gear teaching the likes of Beast Killer, Bird Killer, Bug Killer, and Antibody.  The Leather Wrist we got earlier teaches Ice, and the Silk Shirt teaches Thunder. Thus we've already got the three base elements covered, though they aren't too necessary right now since Fire will take us a long way considering we're fighting forest enemies and all.  Better keep yer eyes peeled. I'm countin' on you to find the princess!Now to head out!  I can't sit around knowing a girl's in trouble. Goes against my nature. Whatever. You're full of crap. You're jealous that I'm gonna get me a sweetie pie. Pshhh... She's not even my type. You're always thinking about me...but I won't need a love potion to reel this one in. Why don't you get your mind off girls for a second? Cool. This'll really come in handy. Why am I always helping you...? Oh yeah. Here's a little tip from the boss. Hey, Blank, how do you set abilities again? Man, how can you forget? It's so basic. Thanks, Blank. I'll see you when I see you.
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Jul 11, 2015 16:29
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Xander77 posted:... Fixed, thanks.
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Jul 11, 2015 16:42
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zfleeman posted:I must have played this game when I was really, REALLY stupid, because I don't think I ever caught on to the whole ability system. Maybe I did, though. It has been a long time. FRAPS on ePSXe. There's no real reliable way to do in-emulator recording of PS1 games besides maybe PSXjin, which has its own problems once you let a video go above 2GB. Recording PS1 footage is kind of a pain in the rear end.
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Jul 11, 2015 20:13
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Also hey Mega, you gonna show off the secret/easter egg/whatever with saving on the map? Not sure what you mean unless it's the save moogle yelling at you for constantly bothering him or something.
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Jul 12, 2015 03:23
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My vacation's over, so updates are gonna slow down to two or three times a week now. Hope to keep a decent pace for this one at least. e: Also I'm taking today off from updating because why not. Should have an update tomorrow though.
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Jul 12, 2015 21:45
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mkwong98 posted:BTW Mega64, do you have any plan to finish your Harvest Moon LP? Which one?  Probably not for either of them, but I might always revisit them at some point. Depends what I feel like LPing after I finish this game.
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Jul 13, 2015 09:53
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  We've got a chance to stock up on some basic items before we head out.  We can also do some Mognet to get a new letter.   Ruby sounds like a nice girl! Kupo!Yeah, that's why all of Tantalus forgot her and don't even notice she's missing.  Time to rescue the princess. Let's check out the other enemies around here.  This is a Fang, another underwhelming starter enemy that dies easily.  Steiner and Vivi can wreck anything at this point, and the dungeon is short enough and Vivi has a large enough MP pool to keep it up. I end up having Zidane pretty much exclusively Steal because why not.   With the Iron Sword and Beast Killer, Steiner just did over triple this thing's HP in damage. He may be an oblivious goofball, but Steiner can loving wreck some god drat poo poo.  And dammit, he knows it.  Back at the screen where we fought Soul Cage twice, we've got another ATE available. Hopefully you'll recognize the following music!   Violinist: Yeah, let our music do the fighting against those monsters! Cymbalist: This oughta boost morale. Drummer: This is great! Trumpeter: Brrum, brrrum, brrrruuum!  I'm gonna go take a look around. Stay on your toes. We'll be leaving soon. A nice little scene featuring the band, none of whom are important enough to get anything close to resembling pictures. I don't even really know what they look like, or if they even pop up again later. Oh well.  Meanwhile, Steiner and Vivi are murdering the wildlife.   This is a Dendrobium, and by far the nastiest regular encounter here.    It has a party-wide attack that can inflict blind. Blind reduces hit rate by 50%, which is pretty bad for Steiner.  Time to try out Magic Sword, since it doesn't care about crap like Blind or Protect.    Magic Sword spells add a base attack and course give that element as well. Dendrobium happens to be weak to Fire, so Steiner ends up delivering nearly 400 damage to this guy at a point in the game where 100 from Zidane or Vivi is considered impressive. The only problems with Magic Sword is that it requires Vivi in the party (which is not a bad thing since Vivi can kick some serious rear end himself), both characters have to be in fighting condition, and Sword Magic takes from Steiner's horribly small MP pool, meaning it's something you really use for bosses. But that's fine since Steiner's regular attacks are still overkill for this stage of the game.   After a couple of screens we get a breather.  And a mandatory ATE. FOREST NOISES  Yeah, don't worry. We'll be outta here soon, too. Alright. I'll see you later. I'm countin' on you!  This is a nice place to rest. Not a bad grinding spot if we weren't already way overpowered for this stage of the game. Of course, a huge part of that is stealing stuff early, otherwise the difficulty balance would be more finely-tuned.  This is the moogle we have a letter for. So let's deliver it! A letter from Kupo? Thanks for the delivery! Kupo! Hmm? Princess Garnet? Didn't she just...? Oh, never mind. Kupo. After that, Monty also gets a letter from Stiltzkin.  A cold place... Oh, I know where he is! Kupo! There must be something strange going on.Monty doesn't need us to deliver anything, so that's it for Mognet for now.  As we get closer to the boss, the game slides over to show off this mysterious plant.  So, maybe you should heal up.  We're about to fight our first real boss, and that means the first time we'll get to hear the boss music!    So, this is the master. Princess!!! Alexandria would be disgraced if a mere bandit should rescue the princess. You think you can handle him on your own? ......   This is the Plant Brain.  As usual, first order of business is to steal from it. Due to its large HP pool of 916, Steiner and Vivi can get started on the killing.   Not that they need to put much effort into it.  It also has that Pollen move and uses it to blind Vivi and Steiner. Vivi's no biggie, but Steiner's kinda stuck with Magic Sword now. Or I guess I could use Eyedrops but I might need them later.   I'm trying to stall a bit of time so Zidane can steal. Focus boosts Vivi's magic stat by 125%. This can be done multiple times until Vivi's at 99 Magic. I could do sick damage that could one-shot this boss if I really wanted to. Maybe next time.  So, those Silk Shirts and that Rubber Helm that can reduce thunder damage? Those are actually handy for this fight!   Because if you don't have them then this hurts. Vivi's the only one protected for now.   And here's Vivi doing some solid damage. Zidane's actually the weakest member of the party, and he's no slouch either! Remember, even he can one-shot the Goblins and Fangs!  This guy also has physical attacks, but they're nothing to write home about.  Finally I get what I'm after. The Iron Helm teaches Steiner Bright Eyes, which gives Blind immunity, and Level Up, which boosts EXP gains. Both very useful abilities for him.   I actually let Zidane get knocked out because this triggers another event.  Step aside. I'll take care of this. Uh, I think we got this.  I even revive Zidane to get the end-of-battle rewards.  But sure Blank, you can land the killing blow and pretend to be a hero.  You smug motherfucker. FOREST NOISES  Zidane, give her the stuff. Princess, please try to drink all of it. Is she gonna be okay?  Sheez! We're gonna be surrounded! Let's get out of here! GO!     Blank's along for the ride right now. Not a bad opportunity to steal his stuff.    Along the way, there's these Plant Spiders that are chasing us.  They're not much of an issue.  They can cast Thunder as well, but it's not as nasty as the Brain's.   Something's wrong... What? The entire forest is coming after us.  And from here we switch to FMV mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6XxhU-GaZ8     As the Plant Spiders give chase, suddenly everything behind them turns to stone.  So, you know how Zidane subtly hinted he was going to play the hero and sacrifice himself for the good of the others?   Yeah, Blank's a dick like that.  You see, there's another part to Zidane. He's fiercely loyal and always willing to help others. So having a close friend sacrifice himself does not sit well with Zidane.    Of course, Zidane's also not an idiot and takes advantage of the second life given to him.  He even takes the time to make a wicked badass leap from danger.    Unfortunately, that's it for Blank. SILENCE   ----- FIRE SOUNDS   Have you nothing to say, you filth!? P-Princess!!! ...How did I survive...? You brought me here? It is my sworn duty to protect you at any cost. What are you talking about? It was Vivi's magic and my dagger that got you out of there, Princess. I thank you both.  And how dare you claim that you have rescued her!?  What a coincidence, eh? We went to snatch her, and she wanted to be snatched. Impossible! It's true. So what do you say, Rusty? Friends? Come on, let's just enjoy this camping trip while it lasts. The vicious monsters it spawns! The abnormalities it stirs in the mind and body! Princess, we must leave this dangerous place at once. You've gotta be kidding. She hasn't even fully recovered yet. Silence! Who asked for your opinion!? We're standing in a valley surrounded by tall cliffs. And last I heard, North Gate and South Gate were sealed off.  I think we should rest here for now.  ...Very well. Until the princess recovers, I will guard this place with my life. Sounds good to me.   ----- SILENCE  Good...thanks to that medicine you gave me. Could this be...? Vivi told me that we were able to escape because of your friend. ...His name is Blank. We must go help him. We can't do anything for him right now. But...I can't- I love how something like getting petrified is no big deal in this world. "Oh, my friend turned to stone. Oh well, no biggie, I'll cure him later." I mean, this game also has the petrification status effect and Gold Needles or Soft or whatever to cure it, but as you may expect this particular case takes a wee bit more than that.  According to the map that Blank gave me, there's a cavern to the south of us. Maybe we can get above the Mist through that cavern.  -----   I'm impressed, kupo! First time I've seen anyone escape from Evil Forest. You all must be strong, kupo! But don't get cocky, kupo. Lots of stronger monsters ahead.     You're gonna love this lecture. This is a tutorial of sorts for various other things we haven't really gotten to yet. An overview on battles, learning abilities, Trance, Moogles, and some UI stuff.  This is the Moogle that gives help on stuff in the menu, by the way. I'm gonna skip all this because I have covered or will cover it as I go.   SILENCE   With this flute, you can call us anywhere in the world, kupo. Press [SQUARE] to play it. Thank you.   Who goes there!? Your friends already left, kupo. Next time, we finally hit the overworld. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jul 14, 2015 |
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Jul 13, 2015 21:08
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Kheldarn posted:Missing a Steiner portrait here. Fixed, thanks!
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Jul 14, 2015 01:22
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Rarity posted:Guys, let's just pretend this page never happened. Agreed. That means shut the gently caress up about talking about it and talk about something else.
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Jul 14, 2015 19:47
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Poulpe posted:I remember being so excited for Tetra Master after Triple Triad and then completely ignoring it for the entire game because it made no sense whatsoever. I feel like this was the experience of most people. Still, I love the idea of "some kid's game permeated this world and everyone plays it", maybe later Final Fantasy titles will bring it back. (Wishful thinking with the way FF11-15 are FF14 does have Triple Triad so it's possible.
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Jul 14, 2015 20:19
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SorataYuy posted:As requested, topic change: You're probably thinking of these guys.
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Jul 15, 2015 02:31
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  First order of business: Click the Tindeck link right now. The overworld music is generally fantastic in FF games, and this is certainly no exception here. This is our first chance to explore the overworld. The Mist Continent is a pretty large continent and by far the most populated.  There's your overworld controls. The big thing is Square to Moogle.   Press it and Moguo will come from anywhere in the world to help you out, letting you save or use a tent.  Just don't be a jerk and waste his time, that would be rude.  A couple new enemies here, including Pythons.  They have a move called Rapid Fire that is just a boring old physical attack. Not nearly as cool as FF5's Rapidfire.  My plan of attack for randoms is to have Zidane steal 24/7, Garnet do essentially nothing since her attack is horrible and I rarely need her White Magic, and to have Steiner and Vivi do damage.  Steiner in particular loves his job.   Also these snakes can cast Thunder because why not.  But it's fine because Vivi can cast Blizzard, which this guy is weak to.  He also learns Fire. Unfortunately he has nothing else to swap to for the time being.  Garnet is a combo Summoner/White Mage, though she's a bit biased towards the former.  Buuuuut summons aren't relevant yet because they're ridiculously expensive. Right now Garnet has the Moonstone because it teaches Shell, which halves magic damage. Her starting Rod teaches Cure, Panacea (heals Poison and Venom), and Protect (halves physical damage). If I didn't end up becoming rather overleveled and have a ton of nice gear ahead of time these would be great to have, but I'm sure they'll become very helpful later on.  There's also Mus.  They hit you with their tail and I presume fart in your face.    They'll also fire projectile feces into your face.  I also forgot to check out the Key Items, which are actually worth looking at because there's flavor text.    So inspirational.  Preemptive strikes and back attacks are still a thing, and if a back is exposed the target takes 150% damage.   Cure is a bit overkill for this stage of the game, being pretty much a full heal even party-wide. It'll likely be much more appreciated later on though.  Our destination is the Ice Cavern, but we can make a detour to the west to visit this place. AMBIENT SOUNDS  Here's Zidane scratching his rear end.  I think this is the North Gate. It's beneath the Mist. It lies between Alexandria and Burmecia. Fresh footprints... And there's smoke rising. How dare they commit crimes in the name of Alexandria! I should like to arrest and punish them if the circumstances were different!  The cavern lies to the left of this arch. We'll follow the ledge!We can't pass through because the gate is closed for reasons.  We can loot some Eye Drops and a Potion though. We can also interact with the door.  (I can hear people...and something that sounds like metal grinding.) Anybody there? Th-That voice...! (What a sexy, husky voice!)  ...I sell medicine. Wow... It must be tough. If you'd like, I can help...  Oh, Zidane. Anyway, we can stock up on Potions here. Do you mind selling me some of your medicine? ...Sure. I only buy one to be charitable. I can easily steal 99 of these if I wanted.  I think I showed off Goblins before but I didn't show off how buff this guy is.  Steiner's gonna feel that one in the morning.  Anyway, on to the next dungeon, the Ice Cavern. WIND SOUNDS    What's up, Vivi? Have you ever head of the Ice Cavern? Sure... Is this the place? I think so... It's supposed to be near Evil Forest. ...I've heard of it. It's supposed to be a beautiful place, covered in ice. He said the cavern takes travelers to the top of the Mist. Bravo! Master Vivi's grandfather must be quite a scholar! We must thank him upon escaping the Mist! Oh... Forgive my indiscretion. Don't worry about it.    The Ice Cavern is our second dungeon. It's a cavern full of ice. So far the game is 100% accurate in regards to the contents of its dungeons.  Seeing the actual cavern is so much better than reading about it!  Can we get moving? I'm freezin' here.For someone who travels a lot, I'd expect him to keep a jacket or something on him. Or at least steal one from an enemy.  There's a lot of loot here, most of it consumables. I'll focus on the highlights. The next room over...   There's several of these odd-looking walls in this dungeon.  There's gotta be something behind it. Y-Yes? Can you break this wall down with your magic? I...I'm coming. There might be other walls like this... I'm counting on you, Vivi! S-Sure!There's just an Ether behind this wall, but the other ones have better stuff.  There's another gimmick that isn't explained in-game that catches people off guard. See that burst of air? They come and go over time in set places. If you walk into it while it's blasting, you're shoved into a forced encounter. No reason to mess with them if we can avoid them, right?   There are three enemies in this area, though I only ran into two of them. The first is the Cave Imp, which can be pretty pesky.  I'd show off how but Vivi one-shot them with Fire. Vivi can one-shot everything in this dungeon with Fire. These guys aren't even weak to it!  You're death incarnate, you deserve to be proud.  The other enemies are Flans.   They headbutt and cast Blizzard.   It triggered Zidane's Trance! Now we can-   Oh wait I forgot I had Zidane queued to Steal and Vivi to wipe the enemies already. Trance wasted!  I learn a good chunk of abilities while exploring this place. Vivi has already learned everything he possibly can, mostly because unlike Zidane and Steiner there's no good steals for him yet.  After getting the first chest (a Potion), Vivi can knock this thing down to get the second chest.  Which would be nice if we didn't steal one much earlier.  Behind an ice wall is an Elixir, which is always handy to have of course.  Cave Imps can do damage, of course.   It can also set characters to sleep. If Vivi gets hit, that means Steiner gets to do something until he wakes up.  A second Leather Wrist. Can't hurt.  The left leads to a save moogle. I accidentally go right first, which triggers plot. Don't worry, I'll show off the left path in the next update. For now, let's do plot stuff. INTENSE WIND NOISES  I...I'm coming.  I like Vivi falling.  I like Steiner's waddle.  I like Steiner falling so much I cropped most of the wind out of this GIF so it wouldn't be too big.  What happened to you guys?   Garnet refuses to fall, the jerk.  Garnet? She's out cold... -----  BELL RINGING  It's a bell ringing.  At this point, we regain control of Zidane.  We're solo though so you might want to switch to your best gear for this one.   Are you the one causing this blizzard?    Today, we're fighting Black Waltz No. 1.    And he's brought back-up!  I start off in the back row to reduce physical attacks by Wing. The Sealion will cast Blizzard and the Waltz can cast the basic elemental spells.  As you probably guessed, we're gonna dedicate some time stealing. The Black Waltz doesn't have anything special, just a Remedy and another Silk Shirt (which I actually don't need since I have three including one I took from Blank and Steiner can't wear it). The Sealion's Uncommon Steal is something definitely worth taking, though.  And I actually got it immediately after I got the Ether, which is nuts considering last time I played it took freaking forever. The Mythril Dagger is huge for Zidane. The damage upgrade is nice, but more importantly it teaches the passive ability Bandit, which causes Steal to always be successful. Before, we had to roll a random number up to our level and Spirit combined and beat a roll up to the enemy's level to steal. Now, we just steal, 100% guaranteed. Of course, you still have to roll to hit the item you want to get, and good luck if it's a rarer one. It's just now there's a bit less bullcrap to deal with.  I go ahead and steal from the Black Waltz too because why not. Also, these two guys are constantly hitting Zidane with attacks. So you know what this results in?  You want to kill the Black Waltz first, as it'll simply heal up the Sealion and then bring up another one if you kill the first one. Trance will let you kill him in one hit.    Black Waltz's HP was 223. Sealion's is 472. Thanks to Trance, we'll be skipping the nasty portion of the fight, Sealion solo.    The Sealion has a jewel that determines what attacks it uses. It starts blue, using Blizzard. When it hits yellow, it switches to Blizzara. And at red, it uses Tsunami, which does some nasty damage. So yeah, ending this fight quickly is advised.    So I do so.  And quite handily, Zidane finished learning the abilities from his current dagger, so he's already set to equip the Mythril ones!  Wh-Who's there? I've gotta go back and check on them! Next time, maybe our lazy teammates will wake up already geez.
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Jul 16, 2015 00:18
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zakharov posted:Given the speed that this LP is moving at I wonder if it'll finish before the 4-year-old FF7 LP Amusingly enough, I started my first LP the same day the FF7 one started. I've finished nine (soon to be ten) LPs since then. But I'm hoping to keep a pace of every other day, plus maybe extra ones for weekends. Hopefully I won't burn out in the middle of this one. L5 Death posted:I edited the gif just a tad for Zidane's butt scratching glory. Thanks for tweaking this, this is glorious and I may have to make an avatar out of this when I have more time. And I could put together a Wasted Trance counter, wouldn't be the first weird thing I kept count of in a LP and likely won't be the last.
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Jul 16, 2015 22:16
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Zeikier posted:This was a while back, but I was inspired. Marvelous! Added to the second post. I was inspired and made another avatar thanks to L5 Death's tweak on the existing GIF.  And then while working on getting screenshots for the next update I was inspired and made an avatar for myself. Anyway, new update should be coming sometime this morning hopefully.
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Jul 18, 2015 13:42
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  You! What just happened? It was no big deal. You're hiding something! Hey, nothing happened. You heard me. You...didn't touch the princess, did you? Just what are you accusing me of? ...My apologies, Princess. Well, I'm glad everyone is safe. Shall we move on? No... It's nothing.So just gonna keep that "randomly attacked by a rogue black mage" thing to yourself, huh? Eh, whatever.   Definitely equipping this and never taking it off again. Now we're guaranteed at least something when we steal as long as the enemy has something to steal in its common slot.  I forgot to come up here last time so let's do that.  There's a frozen moogle here.  So let's free it.   At least everything turned out alright.   Time for more tutorials.  Card Game just explains basic rules for Triple Triad. Since this is a short update, I'll go ahead and let the game discuss status effects and elements.  Your standards FF status effects are here and are as dangerous as usual, like Poison's kind of a non-issue, only hitting for 1/16 your Max HP, while Berserk's usually pretty bad unless it hits someone like Steiner since it boosts physical damage by 50%. Of these, Poison, Sleep, and Slow will wear off over time. That makes Stop especially nasty in this game since a stopped character can't act for the rest of the battle. It can be healed out of, though.  These are the really nasty status effects. Heat will kill a character if they do anything. Freeze will stop a character from doing actions and will result in death if they get hit with a physical attack. Fortunately, ice attacks heal Heat and fire attacks heal Freeze. Mini's worse than usual in this game because unlike in most games, Mini also reduces your magical attack by 50% in addition to weakening physical offense and defenses. Mini stays until the end of combat while the other two can wear off over time. All of these status effects go away at the end of battle. The next set however will stay after combat's over.  Petrify and Silence are the same as usual. Virus simply removes a character's evasion and causes them not to be able to gain EXP or AP in battle, which really sucks for obvious reasons. Venom is Stop except with the Poison effect for both HP and MP. Pretty nasty to have, though easily cured with Antidotes and Garnet's Panacea spell.  Darkness reduces hit percentage of physical attacks by 50% and nullifies evasion. Trouble transfers half the damage a character takes to all other party members, which is pretty nasty. Zombie essentially makes the infliced undead with the usual caveats associated (curing stuff hurts, instant death heals), except Zombies cannot achieve Trance and have their Trance gauge reset to 0, and also they can't gain EXP or AP. That's enough bad stuff, let's see the good in life.  Unlike in most games, many of these status effects will wear off over time. Auto-Life lasts until the end of battle, but the other three will all wear off over time. Auto-Life revives the character with 1HP, which is actually useful for certain situations, while Regen restores 1/16 Max HP every now and then. I believe Regen can be gamed a bit with this game's long animations and ATB system, but I don't know the specifics right now.  Protect/Shell reduce physical/magical damage by 50% respectively. Vanish has the bonus property of letting the user always hit enemies with physical attacks. Reflect has the usual "bounce spells" thing but there's a bit more synergy with it in terms of passive abilities that we'll run into later on. All of these effects can wear off over time.  These are your two countdown attacks. When the timer reaches 0, the target is KOed or Petrified.  If no characters can act, then you lose. Pretty simple. Now for the elements.  This is bog-standard stuff for a FF game, though in other games you'll usually have Poison instead of Shadow. Vivi will mainly have access to the three basic elements, though he also gets access to water and shadow damage later on. And that's it for Mogster's lessons for today.  We need to talk to this guy to continue the Mognet quest.  And with that, we're done with the cave! Time for another cutscene. WIND SOUNDS  Oh, the sun feels great! Look, there's a village. It sounds like you've been everywhere, Zidane. The only other worlds I've visited are in books.  You're a princess! You can't just go rushing in there. People are looking for you. You need a new identity. Besides, we're heading back to the castle. You leave her alone. And you will address her as "Princess" from now on, you silly peasant! Who do you think you are? I don't take orders from a stuck-up jerk like you!  And I do see Zidane's point. I need a new name... That? That's a dagger. All knives of that length are called daggers.  Princess! It's a weapon! Please be careful.  So while it's kinda obvious Garnet's a permanent character like the other three, this is the first time we really get a chance to name her. While I'm one of those who usually goes default for any game I play, I also usually keep her as Garnet simply because I like the name better than Dagger, even if it makes no sense in the narrative since she's trying to not be discovered (not to mention it makes the current scene look silly). But for the purposes of the LP I'll keep her as Dagger since it's actually kinda important story-wise.   And you can change it for some reason if you really want to. So now I have to remember to refer to her as Dagger so catch me if I mess up like I inevitably will.  Try to sound more casual. Like me. I shall try. No, no, no... Just say... "Alrighty."  Well... Let's go.  Got a whole new area to explore, including the start of a couple of side quests. I'll show off one in a bit.  While walking around, you may occasionally see airships flying about. A pretty nice detail in a game full of them. I think FF2's the only other FF that actually had an airship fly around you in the overworld.  There's a new enemy here, the Carve Spider. No big deal.  It has Potions and Tents to take from it. Pretty much every enemy at this stage has a Potion and a decent consumable like a Tent or Hi-Potion or whatever as an Uncommon Steal in case you want to put effort into it.  And of course it has an appropriate death animation.    It can also use Web, which inflicts Slow on a character. As you may expect, Slow sucks.  You might see Ore start popping up at this point. These have several functions I'll get to, though in battle they'll heal HP equal to "Number of Ore" x 4. That's less than a Hi-Potion though so you likely won't use them much for healing.  Now we can visit the other side of this gate. AMBIENT NOISES  And there's a guard to talk to here that we can't actually see the face of.  Let's try to pass through. You gotta have a Gate Pass to pass through here. There's no work here right now. Try again when they need construction workers.Now let's try to take a break.  Might as well wait. In the meantime, let's talk to the guard. South Gate is the border of Alexandria and Lindblum. We check every airship and person crossing the border. We're doing the best we can to keep the two nations safe. Have you ever been on an airship?If we wait a moment after asking to take a break...   She sells the same stuff we've seen by now. I take the opportunity to buy some Antidotes.  We can also rest here for 100 Gil. I don't know why we need to pay someone money to sleep next to a gate but sure, why not.  Next up, let's visit this hill next to the town.   Let's visit the house first.  This guy's part of a side quest we might as well kick off now.   I bought it at an auction in Treno. I have money to spend these days. What I really wanted was some rare coffee. My friend used to have one, too, but I bet he lost it in the incident... I'll give it to you if you get me some rare coffee. Really!? I don't lie. Let's see... If you find all of them, bring them back to me.So now we're gonna hunt for coffee for an old man so we can trade it for a model airship. Only in FF9. It'll be awhile before we can really do this, though, so it's on the backburner for now.   There's also this.  There's a Hi-Potion and some gil around here.  And nothing too interesting up at the top.  So, one last thing. There's a special battle around here (well, there can be a second special battle but I'll hold off on that for now).   We can encounter a Mu out here, but not just any Mu.  This is a Friendly Mu, and he kicks off the Friendly Creatures quest line. If you remember Magic Pots from previous FF games, these guys are like those except they're nice enough to not want your freaking Elixirs. This guy wants Ore, for instance, and it's not like we're doing anything with it.    You always want to give them what they want.  And then they'll give you a hint to who to look out for in the next part of the quest.  This guy also gives 10AP, which is enough to top off all the abilities I was learning.  Next time, we'll pay a visit to the quiet village of Dali. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Oct 21, 2016 |
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Jul 18, 2015 16:45
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This isn't the first time and probably won't be the last I mix the two up. Fixed now, thanks!
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Jul 18, 2015 17:14
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Acne Rain posted:Couldn't she have come up with something better than "whatever this thing here is". I wonder what name I should...ew, what did I just step in? Yuck, looks like dog poo poo. DogShit, huh... Uh, Garnet... I'm not Garnet, I'm DogShit now. Oh dear lord...
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Jul 19, 2015 12:44
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