FFCC Japanese trailer, tell me what you think?

[Tagrineth]

Which is why I used Kimhari for mugging/stealing

Kimahri is much more useful when taken down other paths though, i.e. Tidus's (another character for Cheer. Dammit, that is so useful...), or Auron's (need another beat stick? Done.).

Heh GP Toss aside, Zeromus/ExDeath could smack you alround silly even at level 80-90+, with the best weapons, etc. The ATB system gets mucho credit here for keeping these battles IMMENSELY fast paced (ie: Virus-All / Big Bang / Cure 4 / Life 2 Rydia / Bahamut / Big Bang / Flare / Life 2 Rydia / Big Bang / [Virus kills off Rosa] / FUCKKKKKK~!K~K~@~)

Yes. Zeromus is maddeningly hard on FF4 HardType. Everyone who calls the ATB system "Turn-based" needs to try FF4 HT... gods, that game got so ridiculously frantic at times. And Zeromus has to be the most twisted end-boss I've ever fought (Hardtype only - on FF2 US, he got dumbed down too much; even in FF4 Easytype he's still moderately hard).

ExDeath is more cheap than truly hard though... for example, his constant onslaught of Break spells. But, if you use GP toss, the fight lasts all of 5-10 minutes.

And if you use Quick, you can win before he can blink. =) Good thing that spell was removed...

Hell I even got my Rydia Meteo (very high level), and Zeromus could still whipe out your party if you made a single mistake.

Rydia learns Meteo at level 60.. and it's useless - it's way too expensive and takes an obscene amount of time to cast (that's one thing that should have been in future FF's, that was taken out after 4 - casting times. Makes the stronger spells a whole lot less cheap).

Case in point, power leveling up your characters / getting their ultimate weapons doesn't necessarily mean You Win, should the opposing bosses still be programmed to be HARD ( @ Kefka, Sephiroth, stupid Witch chick , etc). In V, even with all 4 guys at super high level w/X-Magic, Mimic, etc ExDeath will Fuck You Up fast (not to mention the Omega Weapon, dear god). I don't know if the mobs/bosses in FF IV/V gained levels with your characters, but they never ceased to put up a chellenge, regardless of how Uber your party was.

Kefka can be pretty hard if you're at a low level. Omega WEAPON was intentionally berserk, and remember FF8 had the stupid enemy level = your level system which makes everything else way too easy.

FF8 was the only FF game with variable enemy levels.

Also, most of the enemies/bosses that are "always hard" are hard because they're cheap (like Exdeath's break).

And finally, FF6 could be VERY VERY hard if you don't powerlevel, but FF6 had the 'guaranteed-kill' loophole that works on almost all enemies - either Vanish/Doom or Vanish/X-Zone on living enemies, or Life on undead (that still works, but the broken Vanish was removed immediately).

I understand the need to appeal to the mass market by removing certain barriers (ie: difficulty), but atleast give us Final Fantasy Vetrans a choice :?

I agree that difficulty settings should be included. Maybe the games could check how many other FF's are on your mempack, and then check how far they are, and vary enemy difficulty based on that? Like, if you're a mega-veteran and beat all the PSX FF's (including the remakes), FFXII can offer really incredibly insane challenge equal to FF4 Hardtype at its worst?

 

[Tagrineth]

Didn't know anyone else like FF5. I like FF5 more than 4,6. I think I still have the SFamicom catridge along with SMW, as my most played games during SFamicom days.

Most people don't get through FFV's first world, so they don't get the REAL story to the game (and it really does have a great story IMO). It's like FFVII... the only part of the story mentioned on the back of the box is the basic AVALANCHE resistance vs. Shin-Ra faux-plot, which gets tossed to the wayside in favour of the REAL story after about ~5-7 hours.

 

[V3]

No I wasn't talking about story of FF5, I just like the job system of that game.

 

[zurich]

Most people don't get through FFV's first world, so they don't get the REAL story to the game (and it really does have a great story IMO). It's like FFVII... the only part of the story mentioned on the back of the box is the basic AVALANCHE resistance vs. Shin-Ra faux-plot, which gets tossed to the wayside in favour of the REAL story after about ~5-7 hours.

Don't forget that FF V had GILGAMESH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best Supporting Villan EVER.

Kimahri is much more useful when taken down other paths though, i.e. Tidus's (another character for Cheer. Dammit, that is so useful...), or Auron's (need another beat stick? Done.).

But again, the random mobs and bosses were so easy, that you didn't need to do that :?

Yes. Zeromus is maddeningly hard on FF4 HardType. Everyone who calls the ATB system "Turn-based" needs to try FF4 HT... gods, that game got so ridiculously frantic at times. And Zeromus has to be the most twisted end-boss I've ever fought (Hardtype only - on FF2 US, he got dumbed down too much; even in FF4 Easytype he's still moderately hard).

Heh I used to have a ZSNES save spot right at the final battle of FF IVht, souped up characters and all. Man, talk about an exercise in dexterity I lost it when my HD died though... anyone know where I could download a similar save?

Rydia learns Meteo at level 60.. and it's useless - it's way too expensive and takes an obscene amount of time to cast (that's one thing that should have been in future FF's, that was taken out after 4 - casting times. Makes the stronger spells a whole lot less cheap).

Coulda sworn it was level 72. No matter though, Bahamut > Meteo anyways In later FFs though, Magic more or less became useless. After V, Melee was always more time/damage efficient than magic. I mean, why do Ultima when you had quad slash/Genji glove where each hit does 7000? Heh.

Also, most of the enemies/bosses that are "always hard" are hard because they're cheap (like Exdeath's break).

Wouldn't really call Zeromus cheap. ExDeath was queer cause he could banish your characters (a la Ruby Weapon, also cheap), but the Ryuu Dragon (the boss in the Cleft of Dimension guarding the Ragnarok) was honestly _hard_. There were alot of other boss mobs that were genuinely tough, like the majority of the monsters in the Lunar Palace/Crystal Caves & Cleft of Dimension.

I think alot of the problems in later games had to do with making melee overwhelmingly powerful in later games (quad slash/slash all type of stuff), as well as toning down the raw HP/level/attack power of the mobs. Like Saban or Celes could kill Kefka in one round.. (9999 x2 [two weapons] x 4) but even Cecil with the Crystal sword couldn't top ~7k on Zeromus most of the time. I guess I mean that the classes got horribly unbalanced in later games

I agree that difficulty settings should be included. Maybe the games could check how many other FF's are on your mempack, and then check how far they are, and vary enemy difficulty based on that? Like, if you're a mega-veteran and beat all the PSX FF's (including the remakes), FFXII can offer really incredibly insane challenge equal to FF4 Hardtype at its worst?

What if you played VII and VIII on the PC?

Don't think its much of a stretch to just have Easy/Normal/Hard/Uber options

Oh, also to V3/Maskrider/our other Asian friends, how was FF X-2? Hard?

 

[V3]

Sorry to disapoint but FFX-2 is on the easy side. Still a pretty good continuation to FFX though.

 

[zurich]

Sorry to disapoint but FFX-2 is on the easy side. Still a pretty good continuation to FFX though.

Blah, well as long as it has a good story/voice acting, I'm happy. (Although the girl that voiced Yuna in English makes me cringe)

 

[Tagrineth]

Don't forget that FF V had GILGAMESH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best Supporting Villan EVER.

+one of FF's best tunes, hands down.

But again, the random mobs and bosses were so easy, that you didn't need to do that :?

Got one word for ya: Overkill.

Heh I used to have a ZSNES save spot right at the final battle of FF IVht, souped up characters and all. Man, talk about an exercise in dexterity I lost it when my HD died though... anyone know where I could download a similar save?

www.zophar.net

Coulda sworn it was level 72. No matter though, Bahamut > Meteo anyways In later FFs though, Magic more or less became useless. After V, Melee was always more time/damage efficient than magic. I mean, why do Ultima when you had quad slash/Genji glove where each hit does 7000? Heh.

Agreed. Melee needs to be cut back severely.

Wouldn't really call Zeromus cheap. ExDeath was queer cause he could banish your characters (a la Ruby Weapon, also cheap), but the Ryuu Dragon (the boss in the Cleft of Dimension guarding the Ragnarok) was honestly _hard_. There were alot of other boss mobs that were genuinely tough, like the majority of the monsters in the Lunar Palace/Crystal Caves & Cleft of Dimension.

Don't call Zeromus cheap?

He gets his turn between every ~3 of your attacks (and you have FIVE characters), he sometimes takes his turn twice in a row, and... well... two words: Big Bang. (one time in HT I was SOOOO close to winning... but he used Big Bang twice in a row, then used it again right before Rosa would've used Cure4)

And like any good optional boss, the Ryuu boss (I don't like Ryuu Dragon - sounds like a mistranslation: Ryuu *means* Dragon) has a trick to beating him in one round =)

I think alot of the problems in later games had to do with making melee overwhelmingly powerful in later games (quad slash/slash all type of stuff), as well as toning down the raw HP/level/attack power of the mobs. Like Saban or Celes could kill Kefka in one round.. (9999 x2 [two weapons] x 4) but even Cecil with the Crystal sword couldn't top ~7k on Zeromus most of the time. I guess I mean that the classes got horribly unbalanced in later games

Totally agree.

What if you played VII and VIII on the PC?

Don't think its much of a stretch to just have Easy/Normal/Hard/Uber options

If you played through them on the PC, and have a PSX/2, why haven't you played through on the PSX/2 yet?!

 

[zurich]

If you played through them on the PC, and have a PSX/2, why haven't you played through on the PSX/2 yet?!

My soul was owned by QuakeWorld/TF at the time Besides, the graphics are _much_ nicer on PC Dare I sound like a snoby PC Gamer, but nothing looks nicer than Knights of the Round w/4x FSAA & Anisotropic filtering THATS overkill haha.

At some point when I actually have money, I plan on getting FF VII, FF Origins, FF Chronicles, and (grudgingly, just to be complete) FF VIII on PSOne. Heh a PSOne memory card that actually works would be nice too (my piece of trash Nyko one that the CompuCentre lackey sold me only holds 1 save before corrupting).

 

[Grall]

Tidus definitely wins the prize for hottest male in a video game, heh. (Imagines him barechested... *swoon* )

I may have picked the worst of times to put the game on the shelf but hell, when the first couple hours are so UTTERLY linear and TOTALLY unoriginal and boring, can you really blame me? I mean, EVERYTHING up until then has been done to DEATH already in the FF series, all FFX is missing is an EEVIL empire lead by an EEVIL emperor with an even EEVILLER (optionally: CRAZY) emperor's henchman. *SIGH*

That would just have made Square's rip-off of themselves even more complete than it already is. All the games since FF6 have felt like revisions of the previous installments, nothing really new, nothing revolutionary at all. No wonder they seem to sell less and less for each generation. PEOPLE GET BORED, plain and simple.

It's not fair to say my criticism lacks merit, because obviously the plot and overall game design is HIGHLY derivative and (I've said it), unoriginal. The differences between recent FF games are minor, while the similarites are major.

I will try to pick it up again though some day when the weather's really bad or something, but I guess it won't be in a hurry. FF4 is still the highpoint of the whole series IMO, and the music plain rocked. The Mysidia theme for example with the elders or the caves on the moon, I used to go there just to listen to it and have it in the background... There were other nice places too but these are the ones I remember most distinctly.

And Tag, regarding FF5 on emus, sure they might have run the game okay from a compatibility standpoint, but at that time my PC was just so damn slow it was no fun PLAYING it! SNES isn't easy to emulate and back then emus were even slower and the CPUs pathetic compared to what we got now. AMD K6-166 @ 208 isn't exactly a speed demon you know.


*G*

 

[zurich]

Bling bling.

Got a save with level ~52 characters at the end (hard type). Just schooled the hell out of Zeromus.

<- The man.

Its a pity that site doesn't have a save file right before Gilgamesh (bridge fight) :?

 

[V3]

It's not fair to say my criticism lacks merit, because obviously the plot and overall game design is HIGHLY derivative and (I've said it), unoriginal.

FFX plot is more like Grandia 2, IMO, than its 3 previous FF.

The differences between recent FF games are minor, while the similarites are major.

That's like saying every computer D&D games are mostly the same. Its true though

 

[zurich]

That would just have made Square's rip-off of themselves even more complete than it already is. All the games since FF6 have felt like revisions of the previous installments, nothing really new, nothing revolutionary at all. No wonder they seem to sell less and less for each generation. PEOPLE GET BORED, plain and simple.

It's not fair to say my criticism lacks merit, because obviously the plot and overall game design is HIGHLY derivative and (I've said it), unoriginal. The differences between recent FF games are minor, while the similarites are major.

Actually if you think about it, 4/5/6 were closer in plot and gameplay to 7/8/9

The crystals theme, midevil environments, Empires, UberEvil Badguys, etc. Infact, plot wise, you could argue that 5 was a sequel to 4 (Crystal Champions that imprisoned a great evil).

Really, if you look at it objectively, X is the freshest story to come out of Square in ages. But you wouldn't know since you haven't played it

As I said, I'll give you that the first handful of hours are quite slow, but the rest of the game picks up dramatically. Its still linear, but the story is good enough that you'll get sucked in, big time. And, like londonboy said, once you get the airship its open season.

The story arc is done quite well actually, with Auron explaining who/what Sin is a good ~8 hours into the game, but not understanding the full rammifications of that until ~35 hours in. Really keeps you coming back to learn more, especially to find out how Tidus fits into everything. I also like how 75% of the game or so is narrated, up until the 'camp' scene when it becomes present tense. Pretty slick.

 

[Rodéric]

ouch !
Forgot two games !

Grandia 2, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, FF6, FF4, FF7.

Much better

I'm expecting much from FF:CC on the NGC, a revolution in the FF series...

 

[Tagrineth]

Tidus definitely wins the prize for hottest male in a video game, heh. (Imagines him barechested... *swoon* )

No way! Sephiroth and Link beat him hands down =) Tidus has that 'dolphin-face' look, he's ALWAYS SMILING DAMMIT! ^_^;

I may have picked the worst of times to put the game on the shelf but hell, when the first couple hours are so UTTERLY linear and TOTALLY unoriginal and boring, can you really blame me? I mean, EVERYTHING up until then has been done to DEATH already in the FF series, all FFX is missing is an EEVIL empire lead by an EEVIL emperor with an even EEVILLER (optionally: CRAZY) emperor's henchman. *SIGH*

You weren't paying attention much

That would just have made Square's rip-off of themselves even more complete than it already is. All the games since FF6 have felt like revisions of the previous installments, nothing really new, nothing revolutionary at all. No wonder they seem to sell less and less for each generation. PEOPLE GET BORED, plain and simple.

Well, kinda. FF6 and 7 have many parallels... but 9, for example, REALLY raised the bar and added a level of mass destruction not really in the previous installments (the only previous FF that 'destroyed everything' right in front of you was FF5 - ExDeath pulling everything into Mu - and I don't really count FF6's World of Ruin because stuff still existed in that...).

But I agree that FFX is the most original story out of Square in a very long time.

It's not fair to say my criticism lacks merit, because obviously the plot and overall game design is HIGHLY derivative and (I've said it), unoriginal. The differences between recent FF games are minor, while the similarites are major.

Well, the battle engine more closely resembles Evolution's than FF's, TBH.

And Tag, regarding FF5 on emus, sure they might have run the game okay from a compatibility standpoint, but at that time my PC was just so damn slow it was no fun PLAYING it! SNES isn't easy to emulate and back then emus were even slower and the CPUs pathetic compared to what we got now. AMD K6-166 @ 208 isn't exactly a speed demon you know.

Hahaha... my P-MMX 233MHz ran it fine =)

 

[Paul]

I'm an "old school" FF gamer, so the following may come off as bias.

Final Fantasy: AWESOME, I played and beat this game when I was 7 years old it was my first FF, hardest one too.

Final Fantasy 3: I got a Supernes later and got this game after I used to borrow it from my friend for weeks at a time, the BEST ff in the series and one if not my favorite game of all time.

Final Fantasy 7: Awesome stuff, this was IMO the last great final fantasy game.

Final fantasy 8: Bleh, played a little of it decent. Fmv's were good.

Final fantasy 9: Sucked, totally. What the hell were they thinking? It was just.. bleh they tried to bring the series back to it's old school form but it's obvious they tried too hard.

Needless to say I didn't even buy 10.

Final fantasy is over, it ended with FF3/7 IMO. The main people who play FF now are the newschool people who cought on via FF7/8. This doesn't hold true for EVERYONE I know though.

It's either chrono trigger or FF3 for my favorite game of all time, I can't decide.

 

[Plasmatics]

WTH happened to this thread? Oh, right, it was derailed by fanboys complaining about other people being fanboys.

When did this forum start sucking? People ought to be handing out bans.

I think the game that this thread is supposedly about looks better every time I see it. Wasn't all that interested at first, but I'm becoming more and more so as time goes on.

 

[zurich]

Paul, you didn't play 4 (2)?

Not much of an oldschool FF gamer then

Should atleast try 10.

 

[Paul]

Oh I played 2 alright Silly I forgot to mention it my mistake.

But no, I'm not going to play 10, FF is over for me. No FF in the future will rival FF3, never will.

 

[zurich]

But no, I'm not going to play 10, FF is over for me. No FF in the future will rival FF3, never will.

Ok

 

[Paul]

It sounds arogant I know but it's just the way I think about FF games now.

Man oh man, why can't Square make chrono trigger, FF3 for GBA? I would run out and buy a brand new GBA if they did this.