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Final Fantasy 6 for Android seems to have a major freezing glitch

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Update: The January 22 patch for the game fixes the issue, and the cutscene now plays without freezing.

Summary version: Final Fantasy 6 for Android has a major glitch that renders the game unplayable a little less than halfway through. Don't buy it until Square Enix addresses it.

In the recently released Final Fantasy 6 for Android at the scene in Thamasa just under halfway through the game, I and numerous others have encountered an unavoidable hard freeze at the moment where (FF6 plot spoiler alert)
Kefka tells General Leo that the image of Gestahl was an illusion.
The game hard locks and the only way to get out of it is to return to the home screen and kill the process.

At present, I've found no way to get past the freeze, and I've encountered no reports on the internet of someone successfully getting past it. This section of the game is a major story sequence that can't be skipped, effectively rendering the game unplayable past this point.

It's been reported to occur across a wide range of devices, and seems to be an issue with the game itself, not an incompatibility issue with certain hardware.

On the flipside, this means that Final Fantasy 6 for Android is, technically speaking, the first ever version of the game where
General Leo doesn't die.

So huzzah for that, I guess.

References:
Final Fantasy VI Android/iOS impressions thread
GameFAQs thread on the issue
 
I don't have one of the devices listed. Hurray. Also I won't buy till it goes on sale, which every FF on Android has almost a few weeks after they get released.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Further evidence that this is something of a serious issue: the game can't be screencapped properly once the glitch happens. This is the result:

RmFcaAd.png

The missing bottom half of the screen should be a dialogue box reading "That was an illu" but the screen grabber can't see it, apparently.

I don't have one of the devices listed. Hurray. Also I won't buy till it goes on sale, which every FF on Android has almost a few weeks after they get released.

That's not an exhaustive list of hardware it occurs on; it's only the ones that have been directly reported to have had the glitch occur. It seems highly likely that this is a universal problem that will require a patch to fix.

Bottom line: do not buy this game until SE says something about the issue.

Actually I think I should add a summary at the top of the OP.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
I would also like to once again put forward my suggestion that this game be referred to colloquially as "Final Fantasy 6: Hot Mess Edition".

I doubt Square gives a shit. Hell Chrono Trigger is still unplayable to like 80% of Android users.

Well this is looking like it might be an even larger percentage of users, so... I rather hope they elect to give a shit. Or two, if possible.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
So, not only is it ugly but it also doesn't work.

Great, just great.

It's really kind of impressive in a way, isn't it?

Can't nobody fuck up a port the way Square Enix can fuck up a port.
 
I am shocked that this incredibly well put-together product that seemed to have so much care poured in to it has what appears to be a major hole.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
This is probably why having fragmented hardware on Android is bad.

But in this case all the fragmented hardware seems to be in agreement, and what they are all saying in unison is
"Fuck this noise, Leo lives."

I'd be lying if I said I didn't kinda want an FF7 port with a roughly equivalent glitch now, honestly.
 

Cheeky

Member
I doubt Square gives a shit. Hell Chrono Trigger is still unplayable to like 80% of Android users.

Dont remind me, it baffles me that it just wont work on anything above 4.2(i believe) and it hasnt been fixed... ever.

This is probably why having fragmented hardware on Android is bad.
Nah, this is purely Square-enix. as said, Chrono trigger just wont work on devices past 4.2 even if they worked before.
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
Well upon fiddling a bit more it appears you don't need to kill the process, it actually dies all on its own a second or two after it loses focus when you return to the home screen. So it's not so much a freeze as a crash, I guess? I dunno the technical terminology 'cuz I'm not a QA tester.

Actually, on that note, this seems like an opportune time for a reminder:

Dear Square Enix,

I am not a QA tester.

xoxo
ixix
 

DonDraper

Banned
Well upon fiddling a bit more it appears you don't need to kill the process, it actually dies all on its own a second or two after it loses focus when you return to the home screen. So it's not so much a freeze as a crash, I guess? I dunno the technical terminology 'cuz I'm not a QA tester.

Actually, on that note, this seems like an opportune time for a reminder:

Dear Square Enix,

I am not a QA tester.

xoxo
ixix

I do come from a QA background and something like this is horribly incompetent. I get that's its hard to test across so many different devices, but you should at least have many of the flagship devices covered. At least! A progression breaker like this just says sloppy and poor QA and/or producers who didn't give a fuck. I bet dollars to donuts that the producers were aware of this issue and said "fuck it!", thinking it may be device specific and hoping it was just a small minority of devices.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Hopefully this shit is fixed for the iOS version.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I think you erred by reporting this as "hardware this is reported to freeze on" rather than assuming it freezes on all hardware, and simply listing exceptions if any are found. Are there any devices where users have gotten past this point successfully yet?
 
I think you erred by reporting this as "hardware this is reported to freeze on" rather than assuming it freezes on all hardware, and simply listing exceptions if any are found. Are there any devices where users have gotten past this point successfully yet?
I was wondering the same thing. Because if it's the case that it is impossible to progress further on any device, then...the game is fundamentally broken to the core, and Square-Enix didn't even test it at all to see if it worked.
 

CronoShot

Member
Chrono Trigger's been completely broken since 4.3 came out. They even have a little message on Google Play (with a typo, no less) saying it would be fixed "in the coming days." That was 6 months ago.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a fix.
 

DonDraper

Banned
I was wondering the same thing. Because if it's the case that it is impossible to progress further on any device, then...the game is fundamentally broken to the core, and Square-Enix didn't even test it at all to see if it worked.

It's entirely possible they barely did much testing. I've been part of Android releases with very little testing due to their lax submissions process. But a huge thing like this from a large company? I have no words for how low things have gotten for SE. So far remove from my fond memories.
 

SilverArrow20XX

Walks in the Light of the Crystal
As someone who works as a QA Tester for EA, I know what it's like to find an issue and have the devs say "Fuck it, that's not worth fixing", but an issue like this is ridiculous. A game ending hard lock like that is an A class bug that is a mandatory, top priority fix. We'd immediately be cross checking on other devices to see if it occurs on those too. With a team of at least 5 or 6 people on different devices playing the game for 40 hours a week, I highly doubt they wouldn't have found this issue. I also highly doubt that that "espier" typo wouldn't be spotted. I'm having doubts that this went through QA at all.
 
Reminds me of me having my Imported US FFIII (aka FF6. PAL user here) SNES cartridge crash through my convertor adaptor back in the day. Phoenix cave, and a guaranteed lock up halfway through the end sequence. Square Enix keeping it real for me!
 

ixix

Exists in a perpetual state of Quantum Crotch Uncertainty.
I think you erred by reporting this as "hardware this is reported to freeze on" rather than assuming it freezes on all hardware, and simply listing exceptions if any are found. Are there any devices where users have gotten past this point successfully yet?

Yeah, that was a mistake in retrospect. I'm just gonna edit that out because it seems to be making people think "If I don't have one of these devices I'm golden" instead of making them think "Well hot diggity, this is pretty much a universal problem, innit?" which is more what I was going for.

If anybody has gotten past this point they haven't said anything about it on the internet, near as I can tell.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
As someone who works as a QA Tester for EA, I know what it's like to find an issue and have the devs say "Fuck it, that's not worth fixing", but an issue like this is ridiculous. A game ending hard lock like that is an A class bug that is a mandatory, top priority fix. We'd immediately be cross checking on other devices to see if it occurs on those too. With a team of at least 5 or 6 people on different devices playing the game for 40 hours a week, I highly doubt they wouldn't have found this issue. I also highly doubt that that "espier" typo wouldn't be spotted. I'm having doubts that this went through QA at all.

For the love of God, tell me you didn't tested Battlefield 4, please.
 
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