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[Stumpokapow]

Missed one ATE in FF9. Fuck.

Okay, did all four bonus dungeons in FF1 for the GBA and got the ultima weapon for my knight. Ready to head into the final dungeon. In total, the extra dungeons took me ten goddamn hours of gameplay. Kind of annoying. Again, the worst part is fighting one-shot kill weak enemies but still having to run into them every four seconds in these extra dungeons. Awful design IMO. :-/

I've never played the bonus dungeons but the game design is so spare to begin with that I can't see what they would do that would actually be good. Like, FF10's post-game content is good because the battle system has a lot of head room for different techniques and setups that you would never explore during the real game. You can even argue that FF6's post-game dungeon does this. But FF1? No way.

 

[JCV]

So I feel like replaying FF7. Is there any reason to get the Steam version if I already have the original PS1 version that I could play emulated (except for achievements)?

 

[Man God]

Missed one ATE in FF9. Fuck.



I've never played the bonus dungeons but the game design is so spare to begin with that I can't see what they would do that would actually be good. Like, FF10's post-game content is good because the battle system has a lot of head room for different techniques and setups that you would never explore during the real game. You can even argue that FF6's post-game dungeon does this. But FF1? No way.

FF1 bonus dungeons are there primarily for the boss fights, which are okay. The PSP version adds an additional ultra uber dungeon which is okay, the challenge still isn't great once you learn which buffs to apply to your party.

FF2's bonus dungeon is amazing. All of your dead characters beat up the "good" version of the final boss and free the afterlife. Really fun mode.

FF 4 probably has the best stuff with all the character specific content and some interesting bosses.

FF 5 has some interesting skill challenges and the uber versions of Shinryu and Omega are fun, plus the Necromancer is a fun reward but would have worked better as a New Game+ feature, because if you can beat Enuo you really don't need another class.

FF 6 is all about the boss fights. Hard versions of the dragons plus the Czar Dragon finally making an appearance? It's fun to do once.

FF 4 DS has the two lunar fights and gives you 3 playthroughs to get prepared for it. It's a one trick pony but a good one at that.

 

[Alucard]

Missed one ATE in FF9. Fuck.



I've never played the bonus dungeons but the game design is so spare to begin with that I can't see what they would do that would actually be good. Like, FF10's post-game content is good because the battle system has a lot of head room for different techniques and setups that you would never explore during the real game. You can even argue that FF6's post-game dungeon does this. But FF1? No way.

I think I'm mostly annoyed with the Earthshrine dungeon, which has ten floors and four boss rooms at the end...but you are taken outside the shrine each time you beat one of the bosses, meaning you need to do the same dungeon FOUR TIMES to complete it properly.

 

[kromeo]

Any love for FF Dimensions? I got $15 sitting in my Google account to blow on a game.

It's not the worst hing I've ever played but I can't remember a single town or dungeon from the game

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Finished up mastering every single dressphere with every girl in FFX-2 last night. Had to get through the Youth League Cup in the Monster Arena to get Gippal and Baralai's Blue Bullets with Rikku and Paine. There are some pretty brutal fights there. I managed to win the cup once since Nooj somehow managed to lose to Lucile. I can't beat him at all though. He's just so fast and spams super strong attacks.

Next up is the Via Infinito. Gonna prep the remaining boss Oversouls before I go in. Then it's time to Oversoul every enemy in the game to get that The End garment grid. Its Finale ability looks like it'll help tremendously on NG+ for the harder Arena fights. Though I'll probably just be using monsters on that playthrough.

 

[Alucard]

Finished FFI at level 78 on the bus home from work today. The twist of Garland actually being Chaos from two thousand years ago was a legitimate surprise, and the whole thing being a story about closing a time loop was also a neat and unexpected twist whose logic probably breaks down when you start thinking about it too hard, but it was a nice little touch at the end of the game.

Overall, a positive experience and I'm glad I can now say that I've played and beaten FFI, but I don't know how often (if ever) I'll go back to this. The rate of random battles is TOO DAMN HIGH. (Keenan Thompson voice here)

On to Final Fantasy II. Won't be shy about using GameFAQs with this one if I feel stuck.

 

[Lindsay]

This can't stop What from going back to Wutai this time! The double quoted Leviathan Scale works as advertised by getting rid of fire! Which opens up two treasures! A weapon for Zenny and a materia that steals in addition to whatever moves linked with it!

Over in Kalm the Guide Book gets redeemed for an Underwater materia... which lets ya breathe underwater! Dunno what thats supposed ta be good for.

Seems like? Haven't ya gone outside? It sure looks like the rockets being worked on!

Wait, an npc not in the Shinra plans loop? An given the current stage of it someone in Rocket Town of all places??

Friggin' gawkers.

Oh no ordinary soldiers are guarding the rocket. What ever shall the team do.

Maybe use Bad Breath to frog 'em among other effects? These are beyond joke fights by now so lets treat 'em with no respect! Seriously though where is SOLDIER? They're woefully underdeveloped and underutilized in this game.

Goddamn T forces his way into the party and with that brings the return of dialogue window based party/menu management. Its been a really long time since we last saw that!

What can stop an chat with the gawkers but not leave the area. Lame! Also lame is using "There" instead of "They're".

Rudes waiting up top with a couple more regular soldiers but he's no threat. Sense+Steal as Well snags the real high quailty armor Ziedrich offa him. It don't got any materia slots but it is really strong!

Inside the cockpit Goddamn T gets informed of the situation and is like "ta hell with auto-pilot I'ma fly this thing myself"!

What objects to the plan of having the huge materia slam into Meteor but Goddamn T wants ta go along with Shinras plan.

Shera worked fast today cause the auto-pilot is up and running which prompts Palmer to press the launch button, sans any countdown or fanfare at all.

No aborting this launch! Its liftoff for reals!

Goddamn T achieved his dream of making it into space only to find out him and his rocket are on a locked in crash course with Meteor! Meanwhile Mr Meows takes the time ta rub it in their faces that he's not in any danger personally.

Before heading to the escape pod Goddamn T says What can take the materia after all. Thing is, theres only 3 minutes with which ta input the right password. A stressful time limit + hints which aren't exactly coming out at a quick enough pace leads to What failing under pressure. The materia gets even more securely locked away an thats that. Kinda anti-climatic after the past 3 failures briefly made the party out to be dead.

We know Goddamn T is fine with leaving people to die from earlier but now we know he includes himself in that. Course What isn't going to give in so easily even if Goddamn T is calling him stupid.

Shera was right all along! An she happens ta be onboard to help Goddamn T out and get the first of what should be many, many apologies from him!

The escape pods in perfect working order to thanks to her! Which is of great relief to Goddamn T! Sadly this is the extent of the space adventure. No landing on Meteor or fighting space monsters here ;.;

An the rocket loaded with all 4 huge materia an who knows what else slams right in Meteor!

That big boom made quite the spectacle for the people down on the planet to witness!

The explosion cracked Meteor something good but wasn't near enough ta wipe it out completely. Maybe sending another dozen rockets with materia bombs its way would finish the job?

Oh right... the resources and capacity ya pump out more rockets and materia bombs prolly don't exist. Everyones right ta be down in the dumps about now!

Times like this where everyone was rooting for a Shinra win are weird times indeed.

While What is being all mopey, Goddamn T's been thinking about how the planets pretty small when looking at it from space. His speech reignites most of the partys passion to protect it!

Do now what? idk. Goddamn T did some good thinkin' but the plannin' parts still in progress.

but y tho? Just because they heard the planets scream they should go seek advice from him? Every other time they went to him for advice he didn't give shit. Heck one time he accused 'em of wrong-doing!

Outta the blue need to go see the old man and sudden random backstory for him? I smell a death flag!

Oh an the pilots level hit double digits! Nice!

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Finished the Via Infinito and met the 96% checkpoint. Trema took forever since I missed the Invincible accessory. I kinda cheesed him and Chac. For Chac I just stunlocked her with Trigger Happy and she didn't get a second turn.

For Paragon and Trema I pushed my defense through the roof using the Valiant Luster GG and popped a Stamina Tonic to give me 9999 HP, and used Two Stars for 0 MP cost, then just spammed Mega Potions with my Alchemist and laid into them with my Mascots 99 MP abilities. Even Ultima and Meteor did less than half my health in damage. Pretty much impossible to lose.

Update: Just got the Monster Master Trophy after oversouling every enemy in the game. Finished up the last several enemies after around 3 hours of not saving. Returned to the ship. Then I decided to save on a whim before talking to Shinra. Then a power surge shut off my PS4 less than 5 seconds later. Holy shit I'm glad I didn't talk to Shinra first. I can just imagine the power going out while the "Received the "The End" garment grid" message is on the screen.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Reached 100% completion of my FF9 game (beat Ozma, won 100+ distinct Tetra Master matches, one of each Tetra Master card, Zidane at level 99, everyone knows every ability, Chocobo beach quest, 99 frogs, Ragtime Mouse, everyone has the best gear they're gonna get).

I missed one ATE, so I won't get the all ATEs achievement. I figure I'll try to do that during an Excalibur II playthrough (beat the game in <12 hours).

The problem is two remaining achievements:
- Kill 10,000 enemies (my 100% file at 50 hours has killed 1,400)
- Chocobo Hot and Cold Level 99 (my 100% file is Level 42)

These feel like they're going to be an obscene grind. I don't even know where to begin. Kill 10,000 enemies will definitely involve finding a location where random battles have 2 or 3 enemies, but even then it's 3000-4250 more battles, and each battle has gotta be around 10-12 seconds even on 5X speedup. So that'd be 10 hours of grinding on the low side. A thread on Steam suggests a guy who did it averaged 720 enemies an hour in the most enemy-dense place in the game, that'd be about 12 hours for me.

I would guess the Chocobo Hot and Cold grind is more like 1 level every 1.5-2 minutes, or around 2 hours of grinding.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

Reached 100% completion of my FF9 game (beat Ozma, won 100+ distinct Tetra Master matches, one of each Tetra Master card, Zidane at level 99, everyone knows every ability, Chocobo beach quest, 99 frogs, Ragtime Mouse, everyone has the best gear they're gonna get).

I missed one ATE, so I won't get the all ATEs achievement. I figure I'll try to do that during an Excalibur II playthrough (beat the game in <12 hours).

The problem is two remaining achievements:
- Kill 10,000 enemies (my 100% file at 50 hours has killed 1,400)
- Chocobo Hot and Cold Level 99 (my 100% file is Level 42)

These feel like they're going to be an obscene grind. I don't even know where to begin. Kill 10,000 enemies will definitely involve finding a location where random battles have 2 or 3 enemies, but even then it's 3000-4250 more battles, and each battle has gotta be around 10-12 seconds even on 5X speedup. So that'd be 10 hours of grinding on the low side. A thread on Steam suggests a guy who did it averaged 720 enemies an hour in the most enemy-dense place in the game, that'd be about 12 hours for me.

I would guess the Chocobo Hot and Cold grind is more like 1 level every 1.5-2 minutes, or around 2 hours of grinding.

How tough is getting Excalibur II? A typical FFIX playthrough is what, 40 hours? Is it difficult speedrunning through the game?

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Just got the 100% ending. Just missing the 99999 Damage and Complete 1 Fiend Tale trophies from the main game.

Started my New Game Plus and realized that I'd need to slog all the way through the Via Infinito again on this playthrough to capture the boss creatures there......so I booted up final save from my first playthrough and captured creatures for the first time. I had to reset a few times and win an L Pod from the Grand Cup, but I captured Black Elemental, Concherer, Chac, Paragon, and Trema. If I'm right, this means I won't have to descend below Cloister 20, which I was gonna do anyway for the Crimson Sphere there. Gonna rebeat the last boss and restart my New Game Plus tomorrow with level 1 superbosses in my party.

 

[Seyob]

Does anyone know what's the difference between the Ultimania Scenario, Ultimania Battle and Ultimania Omega for most FF games?

 

[kromeo]

I just beat Hojo and there's absolutely nothing in the following cs that even remotely implies Cloud and Tifa having sex on the hill, is that something that was lost in translation from the Japanese?

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I just beat Hojo and their' s absolutely nothing in the following cs that even remotely implies Cloud and Tifa having sex on the hill, is that something that was lost in translation from the Japanese?

Literally all she does is leans on his shoulder and says feelings can be expressed with more than words. This happens only if you've been nice to her the whole game. People jump to conclusions. There was a deleted scene that had actual implied sex where Tifa left the chocobo stable looking disheveled.

 

[demu]

Umm, the scene right after that on the Highwind heavily implies they had sex, in the high affection version, that is. Tifa asks if they were watching, then literally has a breakdown, when she realizes they indeed saw it.
In the low affection version she asks if they were listening. She then looks a little bit embarrassed, but whatever, it was just talk. So, yeah.

Spoiler

Sex is canon.

 

[kromeo]

Ahh don't think I've ever got the other version.. I was going for Barrett in the gold saucer date this time but ended up with Yuffie...

Don't think I can be bothered with weapons or gold chocobo, just want to wrap the game up and start on VIII

 

[SOLDIER]

Literally all she does is leans on his shoulder and says feelings can be expressed with more than words. This happens only if you've been nice to her the whole game. People jump to conclusions. There was a deleted scene that had actual implied sex where Tifa left the chocobo stable looking disheveled.

First, there are two scenarios that can happen here, depending on whether you have enough affinity points (the game tallies them silently, you can't actually check) with Tifa. If you don't, you don't get the whole conversation and the general tone is a "just friends" vibe.

If you do have the required points, much of the dialogue is more romantic in context (a lot of "you've been there to support me" kind of lines), but the KEY moment is this:

Cloud: "There's a lot I want to tell you, but now that we're alone like this, I can't think of anything to say."

Tifa (lowers her head): "Cloud, words aren't the only way to tell someone what you're thinking."

(Cloud lowers his head in thought, then slowly lifts it back up as he stares at her, as the meaning finally hits him)

(Fade to black)

Even if you didn't have the comical "You were watching?" bit afterwards, this alone is blatant enough.

Also the person who wrote this scene (Masato Kato, who also wrote Xenogears...where is he now and why isn't Square using him more?) outright confirmed the intentions of this moment, saying he wanted to convey a more adult romance rarely seen in JRPGs at the time.

It's my single favorite romantic moment in the whole series, both in subtlety and how tragically real it feels (they love each other but don't have the courage or time to sort out their inner demons. With this possibly being their last night alive, they choose to give into their lusts and leave out the baggage for another time).

I deeply, deeply hope the Remake manages to reproduce the magic of this conversation without compromise.

 

[Stumpokapow]

How tough is getting Excalibur II? A typical FFIX playthrough is what, 40 hours? Is it difficult speedrunning through the game?

40 hours is probably about right. This run of FF9 was my third or fourth ever, but I had forgotten a lot of stuff. I did 100% the game as I played, so I took time to do Hippaul racing / Jump rope / get all the Blue Magic as I was playing. I used the 5X speed multiplier when I was grinding or exceptionally bored with slow combat animations, but otherwise didn't use any boosters. My in-game time for my first fight of the final boss was 37 hours, that's with basically everything done including all Chocographs. I went back and did all the Ozma, Tetra Master, Level 99, etc. stuff and that puts me at 45 hours. So I would guess 40 is a good approximation for someone's first casual playthrough if they do some but not all of the late game content.

The Excalibur II playthrough is high risk (in that if things don't go your way you'll die), but it's not too hard if you plan. Because Zidane gets flee early on, it's pretty easy to escape random encounters, bosses can be beaten low-level no problem, there's an unlimited GP trick so you can still buy equipment.

This might be hard to believe, but it's actually possible to do what amounts to a 100% run of the game up to Excalibur II, missing nothing, and still get there in time. A speedrun of the game beats the final boss in about 9 hours, and that contains maybe 45 minutes of content after the Excalibur II cutoff point. That's on a PS2 with fast load turned on.

On PC, the reduced load time, option to turn off camera pans at the beginning of battle, automatic run option, and ability to skip FMVs buys you a lot of safety. That's without using the 5X speed booster, which doesn't affect your in-game time, and so could be used to do e.g. world map traversal and other sections far faster.


Edit: Just wrote an auto hotkey script to do Let The Bodies Hit the Floor III. It holds down the left button, running in place against a wall, and then mashes a every 20 miliseconds for 10 miliseconds. So far so good. I'll stop it and go save every hour or so.

 

[kromeo]

Don't remember Sephiroth being quite that easy, 2 highwinds and he was dead...

 

[kromeo]

The ending credits have the ff12 main theme, never picked up on that before, probably the first time I sat through them

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

First, there are two scenarios that can happen here, depending on whether you have enough affinity points (the game tallies them silently, you can't actually check) with Tifa. If you don't, you don't get the whole conversation and the general tone is a "just friends" vibe.

If you do have the required points, much of the dialogue is more romantic in context (a lot of "you've been there to support me" kind of lines), but the KEY moment is this:

Cloud: "There's a lot I want to tell you, but now that we're alone like this, I can't think of anything to say."

Tifa (lowers her head): "Cloud, words aren't the only way to tell someone what you're thinking."

(Cloud lowers his head in thought, then slowly lifts it back up as he stares at her, as the meaning finally hits him)

(Fade to black)

Even if you didn't have the comical "You were watching?" bit afterwards, this alone is blatant enough.

Or, you know, any other degree of lesser physical affection like cuddling or kissing. Most people don't bang outdoors before their first kiss. I mean, they live together in AC, so it's pretty obvious they're in that kind of relationship. I'm jut not convinced it happened there.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Or, you know, any other degree of lesser physical affection like cuddling or kissing. Most people don't bang outdoors before their first kiss. I mean, they live together in AC, so it's pretty obvious they're in that kind of relationship. I'm jut not convinced it happened there.

I didn't believe it at first either, but the writers have actually confirmed that's what they tried to suggest with the particular scene, so it's not just speculation.

We actually discussed this very same thing earlier in the thread, I believe. I think I linked the interview myself, but don't have the link at hand.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I didn't believe it at first either, but the writers have actually confirmed that's what they tried to suggest with the particular scene, so it's not just speculation.

We actually discussed this very same thing earlier in the thread, I believe. I think I linked the interview myself, but don't have the link at hand.

Right. But then they changed the scene, and along with it, the implication. They thought it was too risque. Just because the original plan was to have an obvious implied sex scene, doesn't mean the new scene that merely implies romantic affection also implies sex. The original scene had them in a much more private area too rather than outside under the Highwind.

 

[BlazeBreak]

Reached 100% completion of my FF9 game (beat Ozma, won 100+ distinct Tetra Master matches, one of each Tetra Master card, Zidane at level 99, everyone knows every ability, Chocobo beach quest, 99 frogs, Ragtime Mouse, everyone has the best gear they're gonna get).

I missed one ATE, so I won't get the all ATEs achievement. I figure I'll try to do that during an Excalibur II playthrough (beat the game in <12 hours).

The problem is two remaining achievements:
- Kill 10,000 enemies (my 100% file at 50 hours has killed 1,400)
- Chocobo Hot and Cold Level 99 (my 100% file is Level 42)

These feel like they're going to be an obscene grind. I don't even know where to begin. Kill 10,000 enemies will definitely involve finding a location where random battles have 2 or 3 enemies, but even then it's 3000-4250 more battles, and each battle has gotta be around 10-12 seconds even on 5X speedup. So that'd be 10 hours of grinding on the low side. A thread on Steam suggests a guy who did it averaged 720 enemies an hour in the most enemy-dense place in the game, that'd be about 12 hours for me.

I would guess the Chocobo Hot and Cold grind is more like 1 level every 1.5-2 minutes, or around 2 hours of grinding.

Yeah, those two achievements are obscene. I stopped my playthrough a bit less complete than yours a few months ago for new releases, no Ozma and lv99 yet, but did just about everything else, a ton of grinding, and was probably in the 1100 range.

Hot and Cold is completely unnecessary since there are a number of other achievements that require playing it, and you're left in the low 40s with no need to grind more besides the achievement.

They couldn't quite find the perfect niche with the achievements. FF7 was far too basic with its (beat the game, get the best stuff, max out). FF8 was better in that they included some sidequests, particularly a few of the meatier ones that may not otherwise get attention because they don't have big rewards tied to them, but also dove into min-max hell (not leveling up Squall at all, but also lv99, plus the 10k kills). FF9's overall are the best but maybe dive a bit too far into the game's wealth of content. Besides the above two, it's ridiculously easy to miss a few ATE... at least you can keybind the jump rope minigame, putting an achievement on the Nero Bros shuffle was fucking evil.

(Though speaking of the Nero siblings, considering how deep the achievements dig into the game's nooks and crannies, I'm half surprised there wasn't one for the in-and-out of Memoria a dozen times quest that nobody even knew existed until a few years ago)

 

[Stumpokapow]

Finally.

(Though speaking of the Nero siblings, considering how deep the achievements dig into the game's nooks and crannies, I'm half surprised there wasn't one for the in-and-out of Memoria a dozen times quest that nobody even knew existed until a few years ago)

Yeah gotta love a sidequest that people notice 12 years after release because someone translates an obscure Japanese guide, which is the most annoying and frustrating side quest in the game, and gives you nothing besides minor dialogue about characters no one likes. LOL.

 

[Alucard]

Final Fantasy II is breaking my brain. What the heck kind of system is this?

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Started doing all the Fiend tales starting with Chac. I figured the Via Infinito boss stories would be related to the people they were in the main game. So Chac should be Yunalesca, but they're all completely unrelated.

Final Fantasy II is breaking my brain. What the heck kind of system is this?

Best thing you can do is pick a role for each character at the beginning and stick to it. Whoever you give swords should always use swords etc. It takes a long time to gain proficiency with everything. This also means black magic is basically worthless since every spell needs to be leveled separately. Cure is the only important spell tat actually relies on potency, so as long as you have a character regularly use it you're gold. Other white magic like protect and blink seemed to work fine even though I only ever really used them on bosses.

Your HP, strength, defense, and everything should all progress naturally and keep you pretty much on a comfortable level wherever you are, or you will get to that level after surviving just a few battles.

As long as you don't experiment with the battle system you'll never need to grind and you'll easily clear all the content. Kinda backwards, I know.

 

[Lindsay]

Something big went down in Rocket Town again? Then like last time lets immediately revisit it! And catch wind of a new Shinra plan! Although the blowup Meteor plans failure was maybe an hour ago at best, they're already up to preparing an all out assault.

?? Is the localization falling apart the further we move through the game? Truly this game was a predecessor to Xenogears in more ways than one.

Can it truly be called Rocket Town now that theres no rocket? Can't even go to the launch pad anymore. Regardless of any of that, talking to the old man some more will net ya Goddamn T's ultimate weapon!

This dude says something big is going down in Midgar but the party just flew past there and there was no cannon in sight. An how do these people know about Sephiroth? After failing to execute You and This did Shinra then go and divulge info about him?

The buildup to the war against Sephiroth is heating up! Has common ground been achieved? Will What and the others be fighting alongside Shinra dudes before long?

Sheesh. The people of Gongaga have given up all hope an gone full "bring us the peace of death" now. o.o;

So they show up at Bugenhagens place and he gives his BS line about coming to him for advice right? However this line
of dialogue and its box are seriously hurtin' me.

But ya, the whole partys together thinking an they remember how Look said she could beat Sephiroth AND save the games localization! Sadly she's gone now and so we get stuff like whatever Goddamn T's trying ta say.

An now the old mans demanding they take him onboard their ship and go to the Ancient City. How dare he! He didn't even give advice this time either, they did all the thinking!!

I think I finally get it. Once ya enter into a conversation with someone the height/width of their dialogue window is set in stone. Its position as well. Still haven't figured out the whole dialogue window overflowing beyond the game screen border though. Zenny makes a good point here btw. Alot of materias magic could be helpful in everyday life.

Mr Meows: bearer of bad news. He told Elmyra? This really makes it seem like he had her abducted and not just Marlene. Oh and... "an'told"? Ya can replace spaces with apostrohpes? An'now I'ma adopt that language quirk!

Okay he's even got the evil laugh down. I'll accept him being named Dracula.

Normally ya can only plop the airship down on green grassy ground but here they throw ya bone an make it so ya can land here instead of going through Bone Village and the stuff beyond it!

Holy "might" stop Meteor? It might "also" mean the end of all life anyway? Aren't the any better an'more reliable options ta turn towards?

So that useless junky materia Look had was potentially all powerful all along? Who knew?! Whats apparently forgotten that he has a materia which lets ya breathe underwater. All he'd need to do is equip that, a flashlight, and dive into the lake an'scrounge up that materia. They notice a clue to something written on the ground near the altar here. A place where the sun won't reach?

Midgar...? The skys all dark around it an super early in the game it was noted that the sun doesn't reach the slums. Checked around in there, thought maybe the junk dealer in Sector 6 may have the key but nothing of the sort was found here.

Bugenhagen help plz. Underwater? So maybe in the lake where the white materia fell?

Or ya could go jump in a lake. But no, Whats determined to have a flashy new ride!

 

[Alucard]

Started doing all the Fiend tales starting with Chac. I figured the Via Infinito boss stories would be related to the people they were in the main game. So Chac should be Yunalesca, but they're all completely unrelated.

Best thing you can do is pick a role for each character at the beginning and stick to it. Whoever you give swords should always use swords etc. It takes a long time to gain proficiency with everything. This also means black magic is basically worthless since every spell needs to be leveled separately. Cure is the only important spell tat actually relies on potency, so as long as you have a character regularly use it you're gold. Other white magic like protect and blink seemed to work fine even though I only ever really used them on bosses.

Your HP, strength, defense, and everything should all progress naturally and keep you pretty much on a comfortable level wherever you are, or you will get to that level after surviving just a few battles.

As long as you don't experiment with the battle system you'll never need to grind and you'll easily clear all the content. Kinda backwards, I know.

I'm waiting to get someone with black magic in my party, but I'm 2.5 hours into it and still haven't seen anyone...just got one guy in the early going who's a powerful fighter with white magic, but I think he's going to be temporary. I feel like I basically have three fighters/warriors and a temporary white mage in my party right now. :-/ Hoping this changes soon. Just got the mythril in the early going and am going back to the rebel base at Altair...

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

I'm waiting to get someone with black magic in my party, but I'm 2.5 hours into it and still haven't seen anyone...just got one guy in the early going who's a powerful fighter with white magic, but I think he's going to be temporary. I feel like I basically have three fighters/warriors and a temporary white mage in my party right now. :-/ Hoping this changes soon. Just got the mythril in the early going and am going back to the rebel base at Altair...

I usually give one of them a bow and put them in the back row and teach all the white magic I learn to them. They won't be as good a healer as Minwu when you first see him, but they'll be healing for huge amounts by late game.

 

[PixelatedBookake]

I just finally beat FF9 today and what a game. Definitely the best FF game holy shit. I've got FFX & FFx-2 to play next, then it' onto finishing FF3, then FF4, then FF12. It'll be a long journey

 

[SOLDIER]

Or, you know, any other degree of lesser physical affection like cuddling or kissing. Most people don't bang outdoors before their first kiss. I mean, they live together in AC, so it's pretty obvious they're in that kind of relationship. I'm jut not convinced it happened there.

Wouldn't they be kissing and cuddling during the sex?

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Wouldn't they be kissing and cuddling during the sex?

First base.

 

[Psychotic_Mantis]

Final Fantasy II is breaking my brain. What the heck kind of system is this?

I beat FF II for the first time this year. I actually ended up really enjoying it...after hearing everyone claim it to be the worst in the franchise.

I will admit I did the cheat/break system where you attack yourself to up stats. I didn't abuse the system, but it helped me get to a level where I wasn't getting crushed in the game.

I enjoyed II more than III which is not a popular opinion. I beat III on DS and that last dungeon was an absolute nightmare. I enjoyed the battle system, but I don't think I would ever touch the game again due to that final dungeon.

I have beaten I, II, III, XIII. I have started IV, VI, VII, X and XII. I have a lot of work to do.

 

[Alucard]

I usually give one of them a bow and put them in the back row and teach all the white magic I learn to them. They won't be as good a healer as Minwu when you first see him, but they'll be healing for huge amounts by late game.

Is it possible to use white magic now? I thought the tomes you buy were only for one-time use in battle?

I beat FF II for the first time this year. I actually ended up really enjoying it...after hearing everyone claim it to be the worst in the franchise.

I will admit I did the cheat/break system where you attack yourself to up stats. I didn't abuse the system, but it helped me get to a level where I wasn't getting crushed in the game.

I enjoyed II more than III which is not a popular opinion. I beat III on DS and that last dungeon was an absolute nightmare. I enjoyed the battle system, but I don't think I would ever touch the game again due to that final dungeon.

I have beaten I, II, III, XIII. I have started IV, VI, VII, X and XII. I have a lot of work to do.

I still really liked III despite the last dungeon...probably because I grinded like hell and had all my characters at their max levels. It much easier to handle at that point. I spent a lot of time just levelling up in the dungeon without ever thinking of advancing in it until I felt comfortable crushing enemies in random battles.

I have to say that I do like having a fairly grounded story in FFII so far. And the sense of exploration and adventure is better than FFI at the moment.

 

[Alucard]

I just finally beat FF9 today and what a game. Definitely the best FF game holy shit. I've got FFX & FFx-2 to play next, then it' onto finishing FF3, then FF4, then FF12. It'll be a long journey

I'm looking forward to replaying FFIX one of these days. Really enjoyed it when it first came out.

After II, I'll pick up an eBay copy of FFV for the GBA, then move on to either X-2 or XII.

 

[Ultratech]

Is it possible to use white magic now? I thought the tomes you buy were only for one-time use in battle?

You can do two things with Tomes. You can use them in the Menu to permanently teach a Character that Spell (starts at Lv1), or use it in Battle for a mid-level version of that Spell (but that's one-time use only as you've found out).

The only important Magic you really even want to invest in is mostly the Attack Magic (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Poison, etc.), Heal Magic (Cure, Life, Esuna, Basuna...even if the latter two are a pain to level), and Support Magic (Blink, Protect, Haste, and Berserk).

Status Magic is a major pain to level and generally isn't worth it...save for shenanigans.
Teleport can be used to insta-kill enemies; leveling it up makes it more effective (and is surprisingly good).

Best thing you can do is pick a role for each character at the beginning and stick to it. Whoever you give swords should always use swords etc. It takes a long time to gain proficiency with everything. This also means black magic is basically worthless since every spell needs to be leveled separately. Cure is the only important spell tat actually relies on potency, so as long as you have a character regularly use it you're gold. Other white magic like protect and blink seemed to work fine even though I only ever really used them on bosses.

Your HP, strength, defense, and everything should all progress naturally and keep you pretty much on a comfortable level wherever you are, or you will get to that level after surviving just a few battles.

As long as you don't experiment with the battle system you'll never need to grind and you'll easily clear all the content. Kinda backwards, I know.

This is pretty solid advice for the most part.

Just don't worry about having to max everything out...it's probably not going to happen in normal run and it's WAY too much hassle.

Also, toss some Shields on everyone and move them to the Front Row.
This way, you can build up their Evasion and Agility (unless you want one of your guys to be a Mage stuck in the Back Row).

 

[Fou-Lu]

Just beat Bravely Default which is basically an FF game. I really enjoyed it, even with the later parts of the game being a bit of a drag. It ended on a high note, that's for sure.

I might play Lightning Returns or X-2 after Xenosaga Episode III, but I am also considering giving the Japanese version of FFIII a shot.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

In Final Fantasy VIII I remembered it's kind of weird how they just throw the space part in out of nowhere. You travel to Esthar to find Ellone because Squall believes she'll know how to save Rinoa. They arrive and Dr. Odine tells them to meet him at the Lunar Gate (Didn't even say it's out of the city. I get confused by that every time), and when you get to the gate they tell you to get on the pod and you find out it goes to space through Squall's dialogue choices.

Like no one mentioned we had to go to outer space? Is Ellone up there? No one asks questions. That's a weird transition there.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Finally.



Yeah gotta love a sidequest that people notice 12 years after release because someone translates an obscure Japanese guide, which is the most annoying and frustrating side quest in the game, and gives you nothing besides minor dialogue about characters no one likes. LOL.

40 hours is probably about right. This run of FF9 was my third or fourth ever, but I had forgotten a lot of stuff. I did 100% the game as I played, so I took time to do Hippaul racing / Jump rope / get all the Blue Magic as I was playing. I used the 5X speed multiplier when I was grinding or exceptionally bored with slow combat animations, but otherwise didn't use any boosters. My in-game time for my first fight of the final boss was 37 hours, that's with basically everything done including all Chocographs. I went back and did all the Ozma, Tetra Master, Level 99, etc. stuff and that puts me at 45 hours. So I would guess 40 is a good approximation for someone's first casual playthrough if they do some but not all of the late game content.

The Excalibur II playthrough is high risk (in that if things don't go your way you'll die), but it's not too hard if you plan. Because Zidane gets flee early on, it's pretty easy to escape random encounters, bosses can be beaten low-level no problem, there's an unlimited GP trick so you can still buy equipment.

This might be hard to believe, but it's actually possible to do what amounts to a 100% run of the game up to Excalibur II, missing nothing, and still get there in time. A speedrun of the game beats the final boss in about 9 hours, and that contains maybe 45 minutes of content after the Excalibur II cutoff point. That's on a PS2 with fast load turned on.

On PC, the reduced load time, option to turn off camera pans at the beginning of battle, automatic run option, and ability to skip FMVs buys you a lot of safety. That's without using the 5X speed booster, which doesn't affect your in-game time, and so could be used to do e.g. world map traversal and other sections far faster.


Edit: Just wrote an auto hotkey script to do Let The Bodies Hit the Floor III. It holds down the left button, running in place against a wall, and then mashes a every 20 miliseconds for 10 miliseconds. So far so good. I'll stop it and go save every hour or so.

I love Final Fantasy IX and have played it about 16 times, but fuck that shit!

 

[Alucard]

You can do two things with Tomes. You can use them in the Menu to permanently teach a Character that Spell (starts at Lv1), or use it in Battle for a mid-level version of that Spell (but that's one-time use only as you've found out).

The only important Magic you really even want to invest in is mostly the Attack Magic (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Poison, etc.), Heal Magic (Cure, Life, Esuna, Basuna...even if the latter two are a pain to level), and Support Magic (Blink, Protect, Haste, and Berserk).

Status Magic is a major pain to level and generally isn't worth it...save for shenanigans.
Teleport can be used to insta-kill enemies; leveling it up makes it more effective (and is surprisingly good).



This is pretty solid advice for the most part.

Just don't worry about having to max everything out...it's probably not going to happen in normal run and it's WAY too much hassle.

Also, toss some Shields on everyone and move them to the Front Row.
This way, you can build up their Evasion and Agility (unless you want one of your guys to be a Mage stuck in the Back Row).

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffff. Wasted a few hours without building up magic. Ah well. Better late than never. I'd read about the attacking your own characters trick to build up defensive stats. May use it a bit. We will see.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Also, toss some Shields on everyone and move them to the Front Row.
This way, you can build up their Evasion and Agility (unless you want one of your guys to be a Mage stuck in the Back Row).

I always just go straight to dual wielding with everyone and never bother with shields. Throw my healer in the back row with bows. Just normal play through all the content had me easily strong enough for all content including Phrekyos/Deumion in the PSP version.

I'd read about the attacking your own characters trick to build up defensive stats. May use it a bit. We will see.

You can really inflate your HP pretty quickly that way, but it's really not necessary at all.

 

[Alucard]

I always just go straight to dual wielding with everyone and never bother with shields. Throw my healer in the back row with bows. Just normal play through all the content had me easily strong enough for all content including Phrekyos/Deumion in the PSP version.

You can really inflate your HP pretty quickly that way, but it's really not necessary at all.

Yeah, I haven't been having too much trouble so far. Did some grinding right at the start to get my HP up and to get my weapons to stop missing. Seems like things are better now. Need to grind a bit to collect some gil so I can get mythril for everyone in the early going. The cost of it is kind of ridiculous this early on. Ah well.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

Did 65 fiend tales today. All of the ones available in Chapter 1 plus the Via Infinito bosses I carried over. It goes so fast when you never level YRP after the intro. A single battle in the simulator is enough to finish an entire party's tales.

Yeah, I haven't been having too much trouble so far. Did some grinding right at the start to get my HP up and to get my weapons to stop missing. Seems like things are better now. Need to grind a bit to collect some gil so I can get mythril for everyone in the early going. The cost of it is kind of ridiculous this early on. Ah well.

Oh yeah. I usually farm enough to fully upgrade in each town, which probably helps my stats a lot.

 

[PixelatedBookake]

In Final Fantasy VIII I remembered it's kind of weird how they just throw the space part in out of nowhere. You travel to Esthar to find Ellone because Squall believes she'll know how to save Rinoa. They arrive and Dr. Odine tells them to meet him at the Lunar Gate (Didn't even say it's out of the city. I get confused by that every time), and when you get to the gate they tell you to get on the pod and you find out it goes to space through Squall's dialogue choices.

Like no one mentioned we had to go to outer space? Is Ellone up there? No asks questions. That's a weird transition there.

I dunno what is it with the PSX Final Fantasies and space. In FF7 and FF9 in made sense with the overall plot. But in FF8 it felt like the didn't know what to do with space in the plot so they just threw it in there. They place importance on the Moon throughout the game but decide to focus more on time shenanigans instead.

 

[kromeo]

I finished VII for about the 10th time and my views on it are the same as always, great game up until the northern crater (first visit) but far less interesting after that. The translation also seems to gradually get worse towards the end of the game...

Not sure I like the difficulty balance in the game, a lot of bosses hit hard compared to 8 or 9 but they all have tiny hp, if you go all out with your best attacks the fights are over in a few turns

6th best mainline Final Fantasy

 

[Stumpokapow]

I dunno what is it with the PSX Final Fantasies and space. In FF7 and FF9 in made sense with the overall plot. But in FF8 it felt like the didn't know what to do with space in the plot so they just threw it in there. They place importance on the Moon throughout the game but decide to focus more on time shenanigans instead.

Technically FF9 doesn't go to space (Terra is more like in a pocket dimension coincident with Gaia, rather than in outer space outside Gaia).

I think what you're seeing here is that in a lot of these games, they have the broad strokes of the plot, they start developing particular areas, environments, and events, and then they stitch together all of those into a coherent story. So a lot of stuff is probably a left-over from a draft where certain events were more or less important. Both FF8 and FF9 have weird exposition dumps at the very end of the game that massively add to the complexity of the plot up until that point, and I assume some of that is them just not getting there in terms of actual development.

Some day I'd like to read all the ultimania stuff to see if there's any insight to be gleaned there.

 

[SOLDIER]

Has there been any mention or hints of any FF-related announcements at Gamescom besides FFXV?

I'm really hoping for more re-release announcements as well as Opera Omnia getting localized. I'm especially hoping that it might also get a PC or PS4 version.

https://youtu.be/NrwOMFblshc

You could totally scale that up no problem.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Technically FF9 doesn't go to space (Terra is more like in a pocket dimension coincident with Gaia, rather than in outer space outside Gaia).

I think what you're seeing here is that in a lot of these games, they have the broad strokes of the plot, they start developing particular areas, environments, and events, and then they stitch together all of those into a coherent story. So a lot of stuff is probably a left-over from a draft where certain events were more or less important. Both FF8 and FF9 have weird exposition dumps at the very end of the game that massively add to the complexity of the plot up until that point, and I assume some of that is them just not getting there in terms of actual development.

Some day I'd like to read all the ultimania stuff to see if there's any insight to be gleaned there.

I've probably played IX more than anyone, but where is said that Terra is in another dimension? The Ultimania?