FF-related stuff

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

Rabbits, eh? Hey that reminds me of Setzer's Lagomorph. What is that thing, anyway? I know it's rabbit-like, but what is it really? Lagomorpha is the genus for rabbits or something, isn't it? *Has been a while since he took Biology*

Speaking of Setzer, has anyone ever been in a battle, used Slots, got three BAR, and had it summon Crusader? Go go gadget Merton! Melted my party on the spot. Any other funny FF deaths for you guys?

~Wolfgang

[Brainiac]

Speaking of Setzer, has anyone ever been in a battle, used Slots, got three BAR, and had it summon Crusader? Go go gadget Merton! Melted my party on the spot. Any other funny FF deaths for you guys?

Slots. Ugh. I've got a death for you, but it's not funny.

FF7. Temple of the Ancients. Boss battle with the Red Dragon. Cait Sith Breaks with his Slots Limit. I get two Cait Sith slots and I click on the third...and then the Slot keeps rotating to the Bar, causing Joker Doom!

If you ask me, if the All Over Slot can't be forced, the game shouldn't force Joker Doom, either. I have kept Cait with Dice ever since.

EDIT: And here's the Wikipedia entry on the Lagomorphs (Scientific order Lagomorpha).

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

I have kept Cait with Dice ever since.

That's funny, because I keep Cait Sith in the airship whenever possible. Consequently, I haven't seen many of his slots. I wonder if the All Over slot would kill Magic Pot without needing an Elixir. I'm sure someone has done it at some point. I also wonder, along the same lines, if Great Gospel could prevent your characters dying from Joker's Doom. Doubtful because it's probably just an instant "Game Over" thing, rather than a "kill everything" thing, isn't it? I've never gotten it, myself, so I don't know how it reacts.

~Wolfgang

[Angelus3K]

I'm waiting for FFIII to be re-released, I own all the others except FFXI which isnt even out in the UK yet!!

I'm probably in the minority here but my fave FF is VIII.

[PumpkinChick]

No, I don't know much about XII. Just that there's a bunny girl.

She's a Viera, and she'll thank you to keep that in mind. I take it you haven't played Tactics Advance, then?

Ah yes, I forgot that XII is supposed to take place in the same world as Tactics. I have played Tactics a bit, but tactical games aren't really my cup of tea so I never got very far in it. I've seen some news articles on XII, but never did more than skim them so don't know a lot about the game. I don't like to keep up with the details of a new game until it's really close to coming out. Cause I tend to get overly excited and in turn depressed because I have to wait so long. Then I do stupid things like importing Japanese versions of games when I can't read Japanese.

[Angelus3K]

I don't like to keep up with the details of a new game until it's really close to coming out.

Yea lol plus FFXII got delayed by a YEAR!!

[Jafar]

FFT was awesome. It perfected the Job System perfectly. You ought to finish it so that you can have fun with the perfectness of the perfect Job System.

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

FFT was great. Some of the battles were impossible if you were ill-prepared (Riovanes castle, anyone?) but all in all it was a very fun game to play through. I liked the Job system in FFT and FFIII, but for some reason I didn't in FFV. Dunno why. *shrugs*

I'm waiting for FFIII to be re-released, I own all the others except FFXI which isnt even out in the UK yet!!

Now, when you say "own", do you mean "own" in the Angelusque dialect, or "own" in the traditional English sense?

I'm probably in the minority here but my fave FF is VIII.

Well, I'll join your minority. FFVIII is easily my favourite of the 10 that I've played.

~Wolfgang

[Brainiac]

Ah yes, I forgot that XII is supposed to take place in the same world as Tactics.

Tactics Advance, actually. Both Tactics and Tactics Advance are set in a land called Ivalice, but from what I've seen, XII is more like the TA Ivalice. However, considering all the political intrigue that I've heard about in the gam, the XI Ivalice may be a fusion of the Ivalice of both games. All I know for sure is that the Five Races of FFTA will be preserved.

FFT was awesome. It perfected the Job System perfectly. You ought to finish it so that you can have fun with the perfectness of the perfect Job System.

I don't know about perfect, but it's pretty much as good as it gets! Personally, I found the plot and characters to be the far greater element of the game. As to the perfection of the Job System, I did like the FF5 Ability System (that's right, not Job System); I found ability combination to be highly useful. Plus, if I hadn't gotten experience with the Mimic Job Class, I might have completely missed Gogo's hidden ability in VI...

I'm probably in the minority here but my fave FF is VIII.

I do know some people who would thrash you for saying that, but I won't. I like FF8, but being the perfectionist I am, it cost me more money than the others since I just had to import a PocketStation. Personally, I think VI is my favorite, but I find enjoyment in all of the games (except the evil that is Mystic Quest... ).

[Angelus3K]

Yes I do OWN them lol

As I've said many times I only buy stuff which is worth it!

Final Fantasy Origins (I & II)

Final Fantasy Anthology (IV & V)

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy X

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

Yes I do OWN them lol

As I've said many times I only buy stuff which is worth it!

PHOTOSHOP'D!!! Only kidding. Hey, I just wanted to make sure we were speaking the same language here, that's all!

Plus, if I hadn't gotten experience with the Mimic Job Class, I might have completely missed Gogo's hidden ability in VI...

True, although Gogo wasn't nearly as useful as the other characters to me because he couldn't get the levelup bonuses from Espers (neither could Umaro, but Umaro is just so damn cool in his own right!) and was therefore weaker than the other characters who could do the same things. Even if you gave him SwordTech, Blitz, and Tools, he wouldn't be as useful as Edgar, Cyan, or Sabin (okay, yes, you could do that so you would only need one person who could do all 3 instead of 3 people, but I still would rather use those three instead of just Gogo). His real "bonus" IMO came in the form of simply being able to copy the last command made, especially if I was able to get Sabin's Bum Rush to WORK instead of ****ing it up like I did 90% of the time!

I do know some people who would thrash you for saying that, but I won't.

Too many people disliked FFVIII because they were expecting a mere extention of FFVII. I admit that I was, too, and the first time I played through it I wasn't too thrilled about it. "WTF? No treasure chests?! No MP?!?!" That kind of stuff. I put it away for a while and later restarted the game without trying to imagine it as FFVII in another box, and ended up enjoying it immensely. I've played it dozens of times since then and it still remains one of my favourite games to this day.

~Wolfgang

[Angelus3K]

I'm probably in the minority here but my fave FF is VIII.

I've played it dozens of times since then and it still remains one of my favourite games to this day.

W00t! I'm not alone!

[PumpkinChick]

FFT was awesome. It perfected the Job System perfectly. You ought to finish it so that you can have fun with the perfectness of the perfect Job System.

Eh...I just don't like that style of battle mode so wouldn't enjoy it. The battles last too long, get on my nerves, I lose interest... Maybe I'll make my husband play through it at some point so I can watch, but I'm too easily frustrated by battle modes where you have to move around and control a billion different characters. That may make me sound lazy, but eh...I just don't like strategy/tactical stuff.

As far as FF8, that's probably my 3rd favorite FF game. I like it a lot better than most people's favorite, FF7... I never liked 7 all that much (don't flame me please ^^; ). Plot makes a big difference in how much I like a game, and 7's plot just didn't do much for me. Also it was way too easy to make yourself basically invincible in FF7 with some well-placed materia.

But FF8... I loved the plot, characters, etc.. I wasn't a huge fan of the GF/draw system though, that's the only thing I really disliked about the game I think. It made things very challenging though, especially if you're like me and hated drawing spells, so never really worked at getting your characters all super strong through junctioning. Cause that makes the final boss almost impossible to beat. Lucky for me, Rinoa's dog (can't remember its name) killed her for me.

[anathoth8]

I really liked FFVIII, too. Like PumpkinChick, I wasn't too fond of the draw system, but I did like the GF system. I liked how the GFs and characters related to eachother and acted differently depending on who they were junctioned with. I think the other reason that I like it is because it was the first one that I ever played.

FFXII, according to Game Informer is "most succinctly described as a single-player MMORPG." It is single player, but designed to feel like an online game. If you have ever played any of the .Hack games, you will get the idea. The battle system seems to be similar to FFXI, with the exception that you control all the characters. Should be interesting.

[Jafar]

I didn't like VIII. VII was okay and V and VI are my favorites. I don't think VIII had enough fantasy. Thats one reason I like IX. More fantasy.

[Angelus3K]

VIII was more Sci-fi fantasy thats why I loved it!!

[Brainiac]

VIII was more Sci-fi fantasy thats why I loved it!!

I think it was VII that coined the term "sci-fantasy," though it may even predate that...anyway, I think that interesting battle between science and nature is what really made VI, VII, and VIII (though it had a different degree of focus in each).

I must admit, IX was amusing for me; I just loved all the references to the previous games (who can forget the infamous "No cloud, no squall..." line).

As to disliking VIII, I agree that a lot of people disliked it simply because their first FF was VII and, as a result, they expected more of the same. However, those of us who had played others were willing to accept innovation. Honestly, I thought VIII was a good game; no comparison to VI, but still good. Most of my friends gripe about how "weak" the love story is, especially since it's supposed to be the focus. THe other weakness is the lack of development of the final boss, just like in IX. Honestly, after the well-developed Kefka of VI and Sephiroth/JENOVA of VII, VIII and IX's final bosses were quite a letdown.

FFXII, according to Game Informer is "most succinctly described as a single-player MMORPG." It is single player, but designed to feel like an online game. If you have ever played any of the .Hack games, you will get the idea. The battle system seems to be similar to FFXI, with the exception that you control all the characters. Should be interesting.

If XII is indeed structured similarly to the .hack games, I will definitely like it. While the .hack games as a whole were far from perfect and the 4-game split annoyed me quite severely, I did enjoy the style of it and the sense of only seeing a fraction of a truly massive (heh-heh) World.

Considering all the variant views on the best FF, perhaps we should have a poll?

Oh, and Angelus, since the PAL releases of the SNES FF ports were different from ours, I wondered if you ever got the PS1 Chrono Trigger remake (since there was no PAL-region release, as far as I know)?

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

THe other weakness is the lack of development of the final boss, just like in IX. Honestly, after the well-developed Kefka of VI and Sephiroth/JENOVA of VII, VIII and IX's final bosses were quite a letdown.

With that much, I will agree. Kefka and Sephiroth were great ending bosses, and each in their own way. You could tell that Kefka was pure evil (and comic relief at the appropriate time, so it's easy to see why most FF diehards will name Kefka as the best FF villan), and Sephiroth was just horribly misguided, but you really got to know both of them early on in the game and learned more about them throughout. You don't even hear about Ultimecia in FFVIII until Disc 3, after the Garden fight. Then when you fight her it's like, "Uh? Who is this chick and what's the deal with all of the 'k''s?".

I did, however, like the love story in the game. It was quite touching, to me at least.

I must admit, IX was amusing for me; I just loved all the references to the previous games (who can forget the infamous "No cloud, no squall..." line).

My favourite reference was the remixed FFI Earth Cave/Volcano music that was played in the Mt. Gulug (or Gurgu Volcano, if you want to get technical). The first time I played it I found myself humming along and had to stop myself and think, "Wait a minute...how come I already know how this song goes?!"

~Wolfgang

[Erpy]

I agree on the villains. I thought Edea was a much better and more sinister villain than Ultimecia. (who didn't even get an FMV, go figure)

I did have a bit of a deja-vu when Edea mentioned being controlled by the villain who we get to see only at the end. (FF4 anyone?)

Also it was way too easy to make yourself basically invincible in FF7 with some well-placed materia.

Well, FF7 isn't the only game where you can turn your characters into cheap-asses. I didn't play all FF games, but the ones I did play:

FF5: X-fight combined with the ninja's two-handed can get you through most battles just fine, especially when coupled with the (otherwise inaccurate) drain swords. And if there's undeads, a couple of requims will get rid of them.

FF6: Offering+Gengi Glove+ Atma Weapon and Gem Box+Economizer+Quick+Ultima. (+ Life3)

FF7: Most ultimate weapons did 9999 damage and 2x cut/4x cut added to the mayhem. Then there's KOTR, which can be W-summoned and mimed.

FF8: Once you can manufacture aura stones (after the space sequence), you can just degenerator everything to death. And there's always Lionheart and the "Great Calamity Symphony".


FF4 was the exception to the rule, although it's still possible to exploit a game mechanism to train some of your characters 4x as fast as usual and kill mid-game bosses in one or two hits with a well-placed flare/holy/meteo. (although meteo's vastly inferior to flare)

[Angelus3K]

Oh, and Angelus, since the PAL releases of the SNES FF ports were different from ours, I wondered if you ever got the PS1 Chrono Trigger remake (since there was no PAL-region release, as far as I know)?

As far as I know there is no PAL release of the Chrono Trigger remake like you said but I do have the NTSC versions of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

FF5: X-fight combined with the ninja's two-handed can get you through most battles just fine, especially when coupled with the (otherwise inaccurate) drain swords. And if there's undeads, a couple of requims will get rid of them.

That's what I used, too, except when I got to Neo X-Death I got my ass handed to me because I didn't have anyone with shields and everyone kept hitting the wrong damn target! I ended up using the 4x hit ability and using $toss (that ability is the BEST in that game as far as I'm concerned) instead of 2-weapons and the fight went fairly easy.

FF6: Offering+Gengi Glove+ Atma Weapon and Gem Box+Economizer+Quick+Ultima. (+ Life3)

Kefka is the only end boss I know of that you can kill in one attack. Chaos in FFI comes close, if you have a level 50 Master/Black Belt, but it still usually takes a few hits, but with a Genji Glove + Offering and someone with good vigor (enter Bismark), it can be done even without Atma Weapon. Ever tried beating him in one attack using Genji Glove + Offering with 2x Chocobo Brushes?! What an embarassing way for a super-villian to die - by a 10 year-old girl thwacking him with paint brushes! FFVI's characters were probably the most overpowered in the FF series, by my count, because all of the others had at least one optional superboss that made it worthwhile to deify your characters, where as FFVI didn't. FFV had Omega (I've still never beat him), FFVII had Ruby and Emmy, FFVIII had Omega Weapon, FFIX had Ozma (never beat him, either), and FFX had Nemesis(sy), the Dark Aeons, and Penance (for those with the PAL release). FFVI's "hardest" boss was Kefka, and he could be beaten with "normal" characters as most ending bosses should. FFVI needed a mega-boss, IMO.

FF8: And there's always Lionheart and the "Great Calamity Symphony".

Never heard of that. What is it?

FF4 was the exception to the rule, although it's still possible to exploit a game mechanism to train some of your characters 4x as fast as usual and kill mid-game bosses in one or two hits with a well-placed flare/holy/meteo. (although meteo's vastly inferior to flare)

Out of curiosity, which exploit are you referring to? I once trained Dark Knight Cecil and the twins to about level 60 (I was surprised when Porom learned White and Palom learned Meteo ) on Mt. Ordeals (fun, since I was using a LOT of cure potions to kill stuff before the twins got strong enough to handle them). By the time I went high enough to get Tellah in the party I was around level 60, and every character that joined me after that, with the exception of Edge and FuSoYa, were at or around that level, too. Yang was unbelievable. He could insta-kill anything in the tower of Bab-Il by simply using Kick. Is that the exploit you mean or is there another one?

~Wolfgang

[Erpy]

Never heard of that. What is it?

It's the better variety of "Armageddon Fist". (certainly someone who visits GameFaqs boards must have heard of that one) Rather than alternating between punch rush and booya, you alternate between booya and heel drop. Not only are they easier to perform, heel drop is also stronger than punch rush. As long as you keep using those quick two-key moves instead of the longer finishers, you can get...what...50+ attacks in one duel, making Zell the ultimate damage machine.

Out of curiosity, which exploit are you referring to? I once trained Dark Knight Cecil and the twins to about level 60 (I was surprised when Porom learned White and Palom learned Meteo ) on Mt. Ordeals (fun, since I was using a LOT of cure potions to kill stuff before the twins got strong enough to handle them). By the time I went high enough to get Tellah in the party I was around level 60, and every character that joined me after that, with the exception of Edge and FuSoYa, were at or around that level, too. Yang was unbelievable. He could insta-kill anything in the tower of Bab-Il by simply using Kick. Is that the exploit you mean or is there another one?

Yep, that's the exploit I'm talking about. Except you wasted many hours by having Porom learn White/Holy and Palom learn Meteo.

You probably know that all characters who join you have fixed starting levels. Rydia has 1, Cecil has 18 or so? A few characters leave your party and then return later. (Yang, Rosa, Cain and Rydia) If their level upon their return was fixed too, this would cause a glitch. For example, if Rydia's returning level was a fixed 35 and you trained her up to level 40 at the beginning, she'd lose experience. That's why FF4 secretly awards the experience gained to the departed characters as well. The trick of the exploit is to kill anyone who won't be useful in the long run. If a monster battle gives Cecil, Palom and Porom 1000 exp, then those 1000 xp are also given to Rosa. If you kill Palom and Porom off, Cecil and Rosa both gain 3000 xp. So basically, this is what you want to do:

- Rush through the first part of the game while Cecil is a dark knight. He'll restart at level 1 anyway after the test on Mount Ordeals. Only level up if you really can't win a battle.

- Once on Mount Ordeals, deal with the Earth Fiend and get promoted to paladin. Make certain you have bought paladin gear in Mysidia.

- Kill Palom, Porom and Tellah off. Start fighting with Cecil alone. Soon, he'll be pretty buff. Mount Ordeals is the perfect level-up spot, since Cecil's new weapon eats enemies for lunch.

- Go to Baron and get Yang. Like Cecil, he'll be really strong. You can use him for a while, or you can kill him off since he's not a final party member.

- Play the game until you reach the tower of Zot. Get the flame sword.

- In case Yang is still alive, kill him off. Keep fighting with Cecil alone until you fight a granny who summons dolls. Kill all the dolls and wait until granny summons a new one.

- Put a weight on the confirm button and have lunch. Occasionally, the timing screws up, but most of the time, the granny will summon another doll before Cecil gets his next turn, causing him to keep killing only dolls. Once you get tired of it, kill off the granny and watch Cecil get 6-digit experience. This number is also awarded to Kain, Rosa and Rydia.

- Once you're bored, you can get Rosa and Kain, who will be uber characters as well. They won't be at the exact same level, because Rosa and Rydia need more xp to level up than the guys do. I think Kain levels up fastest.

- Of course, since Edge doesn't leave your party ever, he starts out at a measly level 20 and he'll be the wimp of the group. You could give him some individual training with monster groups who can be taken out with a single bolt skill.

- When Fusoya joins and you can afford to lose him, kill him off, so your four remaining characters (and Kain in the background) get more xp.

[Wolfgang Abenteuer]

It's the better variety of "Armageddon Fist". (certainly someone who visits GameFaqs boards must have heard of that one) Rather than alternating between punch rush and booya, you alternate between booya and heel drop. Not only are they easier to perform, heel drop is also stronger than punch rush. As long as you keep using those quick two-key moves instead of the longer finishers, you can get...what...50+ attacks in one duel, making Zell the ultimate damage machine.

Ah, okay. I've never heard it called that before, but that is what I use when I use Zell. And I don't usually visit the FF boards at GameFAQs any more (too many "OMG Is Zell ghey?!?!" or "Why BHPL is useless..." (FFX) topics ).

Yep, that's the exploit I'm talking about. Except you wasted many hours by having Porom learn White/Holy and Palom learn Meteo.

Indeed, but when I did it it was a LONG time ago (before FFVI was even released here in the states, causing me to spend the majority of my free time playing FFIV to death ) so I didn't even know the glitch existed until I joined back up with Yang and saw how insanely strong he was. Paladin Cecil wasn't very strong, either, because I was levelling him up as a Dark Knight, not a Paladin, so it was really only my supplemental members that were burly. I was really only testing to see how strong Dark Knight Cecil would get and what spells, if any, the twins would learn. I guess since their classes are "Black Wiz." and "White Wiz." it would make sense that they eventually learn all the spells. It was just kind of amusing to see Palom fry Milon Z and Caignazzo with Flare.

~Wolfgang

[Migs]

FF7 - just rocked
FF8 - never beat it, but I loved the assassination plotline and cutscenes
FF9 - never played
F10 - almost as good as FF7, awesome cutscenes, GREAT story, loved the twists (like the religion turning out to be bad guys)
F10x2 - heard it's different gameplay than F10, so not interested in playing... should I?

My experience is pretty much the same.

FF7 - Awesome. Very deep plot, and very memorable.
FF8 - I liked the game, right up until that awful love-in-space scene. After witnessing that, I couldn't bring myself to finishing the game, even though I was near to the end.
FF9 - Never played it.
FFX - I'm quite fond of this game, and I would actually place it above FF7. The voice acting is quite superb, and the storyline is remarkably well-done.
FFX-2 - Haven't played this either.

FF6 is seriously enjoyable and will probably always be remembered as one of the best games ever released on the SNES, but it's too freakin long. I logged countless hours playing it, and finally reached the end but never managed to beat Kefka. I got distracted by something else (can't recall what) and never took the time to finish the game. I really have no desire to replay through the whole thing again.

Another series I'm quite fond of is Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest). There are complete unofficial ROM translations for DQ5 and DQ6, and they're remarkably good. DQ5 is really nice, surprisingly not too long, and has a captivating, memorable story which uses the passage of time in a pleasing manner. DQ6 is actually quite a longer game, and has a good share of twists to keep the game interesting.

[Adol]

Hmm.. I never tried that leveling up trick in 4
I might have to try that. I remember that they had a similar trick in VI, when you are on the rafts with Bannon, there is a point where you can just go around and around endlessly, getting into two or three easy fights on each trip. With cursor memory and Bannon using heal every turn, it got really easy to just keep pressing the button every now and then and just zipping around all the time getting high levels (of course, you don't have any espers at this point, so you will be losing some of the deifying you can do later, but I never cared for deifying). Locke will be at a low level, but everyone else gets pretty buffed.
I personally really enjoyed FF IX, I don't see why more folks have either not played it or not enjoy it. I've always seen the third FF game on any console as thier best work on that console. I found FF VI better than IV or V. I found IX to be much better than VIII or VII (although I really enjoyed both). I'm looking forward to XII, I found X to get good. I haven't played XI (comp can't run it (well), no broadband adapter for ps2 nor do I even enjoy MMORPGs).