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[Natetan]

Oh god, I'm so underleveled in IV CC. I'm at the Sealed Cave, and Rosa doesn't even know Reflect yet. ;-;

I need a place to grind. >.<

The easiness of IV makes it great for speed running. You can basically run from every single random battle in the entire game and do just fine. Do some leveling up really easily with the mecha dragons using fusoya and his weak spell and you're golden.

I love speed running FFIV. It really adds A strategic level to battles.

And you shouldn't need to do the sealed cave if you've done everything 'correctly'

 

[StuBurns]

Because they were still in SNES-sprite mode when it came to characters and writing. Like, you take those battle models and put them in the world and none of the jokes or animations would work well at all.

Even if VII got remade, they'd need to keep the chibi-style for outside of battles or it wouldn't be authentic VII at all.

Now, they could definitely use more polygons to make those chibi-style models look better, like they do in the FMVs that use that artstyle.

If and when there is a remake, they won't have SD dudes in towns.

 

[Gravijah]

i'm sort of stalling my ff7 playthrough because i'm at the end of disc 1. :'/

 

[Heropon]

The party recieves the call of duty. Their next mission is to destroy an armed aircraft called the Dreadnought before the empire ends building it. The man in charge is a traitor known as Borghen. The party doesn't use the airship to go to Bafsk so they do a little of grindless training by the way.

The rebel army has spies in enemy territory and Firion contacts with one of them. They cross the town's sewers just to find that the empire has completed the Dreadnought: Mission Failed!

Luckily, the party finds a pass to board the Dreadnought. This may come handy.

Thanks to not using public transport to reach the Dreadnought, the aircraft causes havoc around the world.

The king's condition has worsened, so Minwu has to care of him. Farewell.

New mission:
-Discover how to destroy the Dreadnought

The party visits the inventor of the first airship, Cid the First (that Final Fantasy Origins retcon doesn't count), so they can discover a weak spot: The key is the sunfire. Thanks to a series of meetings with important people they discover: Goddess's Bell=>Egil's Torch=>Sunfire.

Next stop: getting the Goddess's Bell in the Snow Cavern. They go to Salamand to visit Josef, who lived with his daughter. Owing a debt to the troop party, he gladly accepted their pleas for help. They headed for a cavern in the snow field. Before going to the cave they need an snowcraft that is conveniently hidden in the Semitt Falls. This must be the Pokémon trainer's snowcraft, how can it fit a chest or someone's pocket/bag?

Let's get some easy money in the snowcraft's minigame.

The rebel army has the most unsuspected members. One of them tells them how to get the bell. With Josef's help, the troop defeated the Adamantoise in the snow field cavern and acquired the Goddess Bell they needed to enter the empire's castle Kashuan's castle.

On their way home, they fell into a trap set by a traitor. Josef gave his life to save the troop. Death counter: 2. Borghen's last words sure are enigmatic, aren't they?

Historian's explanation: Although Josef's death was not reported to his daughter, the manner of his death speaks for itself. This is the story of a true hero.

Now that the party has the Goddess Bell, they can enter Kashuan. They find Gordon inside (If you'd have been in Altair, Josef would be alive now, you &%/!!" ).

Gordon annoys more than helps in their exploration. Finally, they find Egil's Torch's room. Before they can get the treasure a monster attacks them.

Thanks to SpecialItem(2) they get SpecialItem(3). Let's destroy things! In their absence, Hilda gets in trouble and gets captured by the Dreadnought.

Fast travel!

They go to the Dreadnought and thanks to their pass they can sneak into it. The first thing they do is rescue the princess.

Afterwards, they do the thing they know the most: destroying things. Mission complete!

After the mission, the king gives his last will in form of tasks to Firion, Minwu and Gordon and then he increases the death counter (3).

How will we go to Deist? The answer waits in Paloom. Thanks to the help of this lady we can get to Deist! Maria gets worried for no reason.

Or not. She was a liar, after all. I'm having a déjà vu with this battle.

After being embarrasingly beaten, Leila joins the party and all of them use the ship to go to Deist.

There's only two people and a wyvern in Deist, but no one can understand the wyvern, so they have to get a pendant in the northern cavern to speak with him.

When they talk to the Y Burn, he gives them the last wyvern egg. They go to the northern cavern again to put the egg in a spring.
I hate that Yellow Soul battle, they cast weak spells that consume more time than anything and it's worse if there's an ambush, that is quite frequent.

After killing the gang of the chimeras, they can put the egg in the spring.
END OF DISC 1...not yet.

The wyvern increases the death counter (4) and this chapter ends.

 

[Gravijah]

pink is an amazing color

 

[Heropon]

pink is an amazing color

I know, . But I chose that color because it was the logo's color.

 

[Aeana]

I think I'm going to just play the DS version of FF4. I'm about 1/3 through the PSP version and I'm so bored.

 

[Heropon]

I think I'm going to just play the DS version of FF4. I'm about 1/3 through the PSP version and I'm so bored.

Is it because FF4's semi-inexistent growth system?

 

[Aeana]

Is it because FF4's semi-inexistent growth system?

That's one of the reasons, as I mentioned in an earlier post, yeah. I just... I don't know, I'm weird - I've never been a big fan of the original FF4, and it's actually the only FF game I don't really like that much. But considering that I actually love the DS version, clearly the reason has to do with the (complete lack of) difficulty and/or lack of character customization. Or something. I dunno. I've still beaten the original FF4 like 10 times, heh.

 

[Gravijah]

I know, . But I chose that color because it was the logo's color.

that's what you tell yourself.

you actually chose it 'cause it's amazing.

 

[Heropon]

That's one of the reasons, as I mentioned in an earlier post, yeah. I just... I don't know, I'm weird - I've never been a big fan of the original FF4, and it's actually the only FF game I don't really like that much. But considering that I actually love the DS version, clearly the reason has to do with the (complete lack of) difficulty and/or lack of character customization. Or something. I dunno. I've still beaten the original FF4 like 10 times, heh.

I think I've beaten FF4 more times than any other FF, but it's low in my favourite FF list. I wonder why.

that's what you tell yourself.

you actually chose it 'cause it's amazing.

Yeah, it was an excuse.

 

[Natetan]

Another good tip for ff2, give Richard the sun blade before he dies. He can 'deliver' that strong sword to the psp added content part of the game. It will be quite strong! Plus frionel will get the Excalibur just after that in the normal game making the sun blade worthless!

 

[Dark Schala]

I think I've beaten FF4 more times than any other FF, but it's low in my favourite FF list. I wonder why.

Same. I don't care for the narrative much, but it's probably the FF I've played the most, and probably the FF I own the most [versions of]. I want to attribute it to being the FF that really got me into the series since I didn't care about FF1 all that much...

Anyway, I finished FFXIII-2, took a break from FF in general by playing Tintin (should go back to Sonic Generations and replay some levels so I don't get rusty) and a bit of TotA 3DS, and I think I'm ready to jump back into my playthrough of FFMQ.

I think next up was the Ice bits. Those happen to... not be my favourite bits of the game because they're so long, so I guess that's why I didn't want to get back to it so quickly.

 

[Foffy]

Hey dooders and doodettes. I was thinking of going through the series in chronological order (including in-universe chronology, like Crisis Core before FFVII) so I figured I'd start with the original. The earliest game I've beaten in the series is IV, so the first three are a more older, less story driven breed. Obviously, I'd be doing the first one (PSP remake) so what should I expect? Does it have sidequests? Is it long? All I can assume, like many old school RPGs, there are many instances of mandatory grinding.

 

[Locke_211]

I think it's a case of Uematsu ripping himself off without realizing it. He's done it many other times! Check out the song that plays in the background of the AWAY site and see if it sounds familiar after a while.

It's a recontextualisation of the thematics of Gau living in the wilds. The airship gives all the characters and the player the same openness and freedom that Gau enjoyed living on the Veldt.

(I just made that up and haven't played FFVI for 10 years, but it sounds good)

 

[Locke_211]

Hey dooders and doodettes. I was thinking of going through the series in chronological order (including in-universe chronology, like Crisis Core before FFVII) so I figured I'd start with the original. The earliest game I've beaten in the series is IV, so the first three are a more older, less story driven breed. Obviously, I'd be doing the first one (PSP remake) so what should I expect? Does it have sidequests? Is it long? All I can assume, like many old school RPGs, there are many instances of mandatory grinding.

I'm not an expert, but I played 1 and 2 for the first time when the PS1 versions came on (Chronicles?) and liked them both. 1 has a lot of grinding, but is great fun and only 20-25 hours, so it's still very do-able. There's one side-quest, though if you want to beat the game manageably, it's very recommended. 2 was surprisingly great - I really enjoyed the level system and it's the first one with a more developed narrative, with some twists and proper named characters with some backstory. Think it's the first one with Chocobos too!

3 I've not finished and might well be the first sticking point. It's if anything harder than the first two, while being lengthier, so if you do give up on one, it's more likely to be this than 1 or 2.

 

[Electivirus]

Eh, ragequit FF IV after losing over an hour of progress. I'm just gonna start on the After Years. I've beaten IV enough already. >_>

 

[Dark Schala]

Foffy, to add to what Locke said, FFI isn't very long, and since you're playing the PSP version, there are extra dungeons you can do like the Soul of Chaos dungeons (each elemental dungeon becoming available as you defeat the corresponding elemental fiend in the main game), and the new Labyrinth of Time dungeon available after you defeat all Four Fiends.

I like the newer versions of the game a lot better than the NES version, but the PS1 version of the game, I think, is more balanced. The PSP (and GBA) version is easier than the other two versions, so you may not have to do a lot of grinding (I generally don't).

2 was surprisingly great - I really enjoyed the level system and it's the first one with a more developed narrative, with some twists and proper named characters with some backstory. Think it's the first one with Chocobos too!

I like you. FFII is one of my favourites.

It isn't for everyone, but I really like it.

 

[Locke_211]

Foffy, to add to what Locke said, FFI isn't very long, and since you're playing the PSP version, there are extra dungeons you can do like the Soul of Chaos dungeons (each elemental dungeon becoming available as you defeat the corresponding elemental fiend in the main game), and the new Labyrinth of Time dungeon available after you defeat all Four Fiends.

I like the newer versions of the game a lot better than the NES version, but the PS1 version of the game, I think, is more balanced. The PSP (and GBA) version is easier than the other two versions, so you may not have to do a lot of grinding (I generally don't).


I like you. FFII is one of my favourites.

It isn't for everyone, but I really like it.

Thank you People complain the level system is senseless, but to me it's probably the most sensible of all levelling systems. I mean, in other games, your magic gets better every time you level up, even if you never use it. Why would it? In this game, you use your magic, your magic increases. It's VERY open to abuse, but fun and interesting. The game is also part of the same trend as Zelda II, when in the NES days a sequel was supposed to be mechanically very different and innovative, before the idea of a sequel was reshaped as something that should be similar to the ones before.

 

[Suairyu]

If and when there is a remake, they won't have SD dudes in towns.

Then expect either things like Honeybee to be gone or for them to fall flat on their face.

So much of the game's humour and tone relies on those SD models.

It won't be a remake but a re-imagining. Which could be okay, I guess, it just won't be anything like the FFVII everyone loved.

 

[StuBurns]

Then expect either things like Honeybee to be gone or for them to fall flat on their face.

So much of the game's humour and tone relies on those SD models.

It won't be a remake but a re-imagining. Which could be okay, I guess, it just won't be anything like the FFVII everyone loved.

I think regardless it wouldn't be that. For so many people the reason 7 was such a landmark event was because they didn't know games could be that then, we hadn't seen anything of that grandeur. People talk about high budget games now, that game cost $45M in 1997. For something to have the kind of impact FF7 had now seems impossible.

In some ways, that's one of the reasons I don't think they should ever give it a full remake, because no matter how good it is, if it's the best game ever made, it still wouldn't be good enough for a lot of people, and it could taint the legacy that game has left.

 

[Entropia]

I'm about to enter the Cyclone in my FF2 playthrough, I guess this is the final dungeon?

Though I like the way that you can customize characters in this game with what they equip, what magic they use, etc. it seems that in order to properly level magic the only thing they can use is magic.

 

[Ourobolus]

I'm about to enter the Cyclone in my FF2 playthrough, I guess this is the final dungeon?

Though I like the way that you can customize characters in this game with what they equip, what magic they use, etc. it seems that in order to properly level magic the only thing they can use is magic.

Hey, that's where I am now too!

And no, it's not the final dungeon. Still...three more dungeons to go?

I still can't believe I've actually enjoyed this playthrough. It hasn't felt like a chore yet. Although now that I have Ultima, Flare, and Holy, I feel like I should level them somewhat, and that will be annoying.

 

[Johnas]

I finally finished my FFI (PS1 FF Origins) playthrough last night, it was a lot of fun. It was the first time I've played that version, and it's been so long since I played the NES game that I don't remember if it was a quicker playthrough or not. The NES game always felt really long to me when I was a kid, but I finished this time in around 21 hours, which isn't too bad. Not nearly as quick as the challenge-less GBA game, but more fun for sure.

Now I start FFII, which I've never played beyond a few hours at the beginning. Is the Origins version preferable to the Dawn of Souls version, or the other way around? I think I'd rather play it on Origins, like FFI, but I know the game can be frustrating due to the leveling system. I do not plan on abusing it by attacking my own party members.

 

[Johnas]

Well, I went ahead and started up FFII on Origins, and I'm really liking it so far. It's only so often that you get to play a "new" 2D FF game.

I'm particularly enjoying the music, I hope it maintains this level of quality.

 

[Natetan]

Well, I went ahead and started up FFII on Origins, and I'm really liking it so far. It's only so often that you get to play a "new" 2D FF game.

I'm particularly enjoying the music, I hope it maintains this level of quality.

Dawn of souls version! The added content is actually pretty fun.

Glad so many people are enjoying FF2!

No real need to grind for those new spells. You should have several items by that point that cast spells. You only really. Need the fire spell to be strong if at all. And the cure spell I guess. One cool thing about ff2 , you can use the life spell on the whole party!

Basically I don't grind other than going down to mysidia to get the nice items down there and casting change on the weak enemies during the long hike to the Mythril/snow cave areas.

 

[Johnas]

Dawn of souls version! The added content is actually pretty fun.

Glad so many people are enjoying FF2!

I'm gonna stick with the Origins version for now, but I appreciate the response. I didn't care for FFI's extra content in the GBA game, for what it's worth, but maybe FFII does it better.

 

[Kalnos]

So, I have never played Final Fantasy 3... is the DS version worth playing or is it inferior to a patched rom of the original?

 

[HiddenWings]

So, I have never played Final Fantasy 3... is the DS version worth playing or is it inferior to a patched rom of the original?

It's different, but it's worth playing on its own merits (exception: the LONG, LONG final dungeon). I can't speak to all the differences as I haven't played the original.

Anyway, FF5. I've been a bit lax since it's final project time here, but progressing nicely through the second world. I certainly know where I'm headed next...

 

[Heropon]

Let's return to Altair to see if there's something to do. It seems Hilda has a strange behaviour and Firion takes that chance to entice her, or is she the one who is interested?

TRAP! It seems the recued princess was an emperor's pet. After some failed confuse-inducing techniques the snake bites the dust. What an embarrasing situation.

Surprise, surprise, the real Hilda is in Palamecia. Let's rescue her and kill that evil emperor. Gordon insists in going with the group. I don't complain, Leila and Gordon are equally useless.

After a long trip through the desert, Gordon and his lackeys enter the colosseum. Another trap, the emperor releases a behemoth to fight the party. The poor critter dies in a matter of seconds.

After a failed attempt to assassinate the evil emperor the party is captured by the baddies.

Afortunately, they are rescued by Lucca Paul. In their way out, the random ambushes give a littlae amount of problems.

Hilda is waiting in one of the cells. Love is in the air <3 <3 <3. Barret convinces the party that they should go in two groups, as that travelling all of them through the fields would draw the attention of the enemies. Gordon and Hilda exit the place together.

After a long trip, the party goes to Altair. Gordon and Hilda haven't been wasting time: the rebel army will retake Fynn. Gordon shows his super ultra deluxe tactics with a strategy that only one of the most intelligent people in the world could have thought. The empire is doomed with Gordon's skills.

The party get into the castle through a series of tunnels, caves, mines and sewers the front door. After feeling empty for a grand total of five minutes, Leila fills the deep hole left by Gordon. The party finds and kills the castellan. He had a name so he should be some important person.

Next mission: Ultima
-Objectives: Waste time so the enemy can destroy things again.
-Real Objective: Get some ultimate magic.
-Quest chain: white mask + black mask =>crystal rod =>tower (tome)

Let's get some information about how to get the white mask hidden in the castle. Paul tells the troop where is the secret passage. He doesn't know that we aren't collectors, we're adventurers.

The mask is easily obtained. Next step: The black mask.

The party visits a cave in a faraway island. In the deepest depths they find a group of monsters guarding the mask.

Gotcha!

The party places the masks in a statue in Mysidia and in a doppelganger so they can get the crystal rod.

In this cave the legendary Osmose Tome is waiting for us. I think this spell is more relevant to my interests than Ultima, but Hilda wants some ultimate power, so the quest continues. At last, the crystal rod is ours.

The bad luck attacks the ship.

It seems Leila is dead, I'm sooooo sad. The party finds a good replacement.

Crystal rods are so easy to find, why did we have to do all those things to get one!!!????? The party defeats a worm and gets back their ship.

After all the misfortunes, the party goes into the Mysidian Tower.

Our heroes fight a series of transforming wizards during the ascent.

It seems Gottos is a species of monster and not a famous castellan, what a disappoinment. Is the White Dragon the first optional boss in Final Fantasy? I think it's weak to fire spells so I burninate it.

Minwu is waiting in the last floor and uses all of his vital energy to break a seal. It's sad dying for nothing as I won't use that Ultima spell much. Death counter: 5.

In the Ultima Tome room they find a series of stat booster orbs. Unfortunately, one goes to the new guy.

Let's tell Hilda our results. It seems that something bad has happened while we were in our leisure trip. Leila is alive but the arbitrary headcount limit repels her of our group, great!

The princess informs us of all the casualties caused by an evil cyclone created by the evil emperor. How evil! Let's get the legendary Boss-slayer sword.

With some proper equipment, the party calls the last wyvern so they can settle things with the cyclone.

The building is full of monsters and playful dragons. The party tames them all.

These are your last words, ya' murderer. Mateus is a coward, so he sends his minions to defend him. But that is useless, he is crushed like a bug.

YESSSSSSSSS! The emperor dies and everyone is happy.

Party time! Why are Gordon and Hilda in reversed positions? Is Gordon the real princess?

Happiness isn't permanent, a new enemy rises: Leon, the new emperor. The soldier without name pulls the switch and increases the death counter(6).

We need something to enter the castle, so we visit uncle Cid. The first Cid dies and he gives us an airship (7).

Thanks to Cid's gift the party can sneak into the castle.

The party reunites with Leon and the evil emperor. He's so evil that he tries to kill us all.

Ricard sacrifices himself so the others can scape, no!!!!!!!!! you were a good partner. This teaches us one lesson: if you are a crappy character, you survive. The pandemonium emerges in the place where Palamecia was.

Leon is the newest and last addition to the party. Our lovely heroes go to Deist and tell the woman and the kid about Ricard's sacrifice. The reward is the mighty Excalibur.

The group goes to defeat the emperor, but they have go through the jade passage if they want to go to Pandemonium. In this place, they find a series of magic chests with monsters in them. Thanks to the blood sword, they die easily.

The party reaches Pandemonium. They try to fight all the bosses in there, but the Iron Giant hides well.

The final showdown against the emperor, who will win? The blood sword makes this final battle easy.

You are no match for us, loser. That wasn't very climatic.

Everyone is happy thanks to the hard work of Firion, Maria, Guy, Leon and the dead partners. The alive can see for a brief time some Star Wars ghosts.

Woo, 1991, what a coincidence.

THE END

Next is FFIII. As I can't take direct screenshots, I think I'll update progress sometimes.

 

[StuBurns]

I don't have any fancy screenshots, but I've been playing thru FF7, for the second time, and the first was around 2000, so it's been a long time. I'm not far in, but I thought I'd write a little about the game thus far:

Reactor No. 1
The game really begins masterfully, no messing around, straight in to a really intense, explosive opening. I forgot my dude who got his leg stuck so I had to go back, and while I did have a few minutes to spare, it felt pretty intense. Meeting the infamous flower girl was surprisingly cool, that image is so burnt into gaming culture, and having had it remade on PS3 in 2005, it was like a moment of time travel or something.

Sector 7 Slums
It's the flashback to Cloud and Tifa, knowing how the game goes makes the relationship thing a little more meaningful ironically. I can't remember if I knew what happens later when I first played it, but I certainly do this time, and it makes me want to pull toward Aeris even more (Aeris or Aerith? I'm a little confused about that to be honest).

Reactor No. 5
Despite what was an unprecedented budget for the time, they still find smart ways to reuse assets that's a nice twist on that opening, although I'd have preferred there be a little longer between the two.

Sector 5 Slums
Aeris appears once more. I think the game has dated badly in a lot of ways, but they did a pretty good job of making her cute, but stubborn, without being spoiled. She's already hinted about Jack, but she didn't go into it, I didn't think you get that as early as this.

Wall Market
Kind of moronic. People (myself included) bitched about FFXIII's removal of towns, but holy shit is this crap monotonous. Stupid too, but whatever, it's relatively brief.

Train Graveyard
Just kicking it with my girls, you know how we roll... Yeah, I'm doing this based on the section titles in a FAQ, not sure why this one even got one, it's just a few screens.

Sector 7 Pillar
In my head FF7 was really dark, but beyond the visual design, that's not the case for the most part, this is the first part of the game that really tried to portray a bleak situation, it's somewhat effective I'd say. While the game looks terrible, my head does a strange job of abstracting detail that isn't there. For example when Aeris is being taken by the helicopter, you can't see to what degree the guy hits her, or if he even does, but in my head it was some dramatic butt of his gun type thing.

Sector 5/6 Slums
I loved how Aeris' mom addresses you on your return, maybe it just stumbled on it's subtlety, but her dismissive 'Cloud was it?' says so much about that situation without being melodramatic. After that however, you have that horrific jump onto some swinging pole, which plays on one of my bigger issues with the game.

Shinra Building
The start gives you the option of tackling this dungeon in two ways, the main doors, or the back entry. I took the back entry, and holy shit that staircase. It's not evocative, it's not smart, it's not fun, I can't understand why it's there. Horrid. The dungeon on it's whole is pretty crazy for the 'modern' Final Fantasy series. There hasn't been a FF dungeon of this scope since that I can think of. Felt more like an old school Dragon Quest dungeon. On the way out you have that terrible bike sequence (that I loved at the time), the boss fight after was my first death, I pressed the wrong button so I didn't give anyone materia.

And then freedom...

In so many ways the start of FF7 was really bold, they moved the series in an artistic direction completely new, they blew the scope way out of the possibility for many of their competitors, they have this grand world to let you access, but they keep you rooted in one city for so long before you see the world map. I don't know how much you can really see at that point, I ran straight to Kalm, saved half way thru the obscenely long 'cutscene' showing Cloud's past.

I think FF8 is better, it's far more cohesive, I prefer the world, the art, it all looks thought out from the start, I'm finding the dichotomy of design in FF7 really bizarre, and the frequent flip in tone unjustified.

I just finished XIII-2 a week ago, I've played a few hours of XIII, a few hours of VIII, I'm not sure I will be going back to VII any time soon, I've kind of burnt out over the last month, but I'm glad I checked in to see how it held up. In so many ways that game is incredible, and while I flip back and forth over a potential remake, I do think I'd like to see it, while I think it would ultimately piss off a very large amount of people, I think the fundamentals of an incredible game are there, and I'd love to see it get the HD treatment.

 

[FrontalMonk]

In so many ways the start of FF7 was really bold, they moved the series in an artistic direction completely new, they blew the scope way out of the possibility for many of their competitors, they have this grand world to let you access, but they keep you rooted in one city for so long before you see the world map. I don't know how much you can really see at that point, I ran straight to Kalm, saved half way thru the obscenely long 'cutscene' showing Cloud's past.

This was something I loved about 7...I hadn't played a FF since 1 on NES when I got my hands on it, and hadn't heard anything about it until I saw a commercial on TV...When I started playing it I thought the entire game would take place in Midgar, and then when you left after spending so much time in that city and it opened up the world map...I can't even tell you the feeling of wonder I got when I first saw the world map and how everything I'd done up to that point was just a speck on the map. It's something I've missed in most of the recent FF games and so desperately wanted to see (I've termed it "zooming out to the big picture" and it was my only real problem with FFXII).

 

[Ultratech]

So, FF2 update:

-Went on wild goose chase for White/Black Masks.
-Got Crystal Rod. More importantly, got Osmose (the true Ultimate Magic!).
-Swallowed by Leviathan. Only in there for a few minutes before escaping with new gear.
-At the Tower of the Magi. Yay?
-Armor is still for chumps and shitty guest party members.

You'd be surprised just how far you can actually get with no real armor other than Thief's Gauntlets (needed for Agility + Evasion). Party is also starting to break the 1000 HP barrier. MP is around 110-120ish.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Last time I finished right after the Tower of Owen. With the whirl in the sea gone, it's time for some sailing!

First stop: Gisahl.

Of course, there are chocobos in this town. Also: I learnt of the terrible secret on how the Fat Chocobo stores all your precious items.

Next stop: Ancients' Village.

Challenge accepted!

Took some time to enjoy the view.

You made me ride around the world for THAT?

Last stop: My actual destination, wait no......

That's better. That rock sure looks like there's no way around.

Oh, how I love crippling myself. At least it's not needed for the dungeon itself.

Boss fight! Nothing special, very easy fight.

And done. Finally I got the missing horn. Somehow this reminded me of Futurama.

Something is following me, though.

Back attack! Not nice, almost finished off my whole party. The menu screen is from when I left the dungeon, sure was close.

That creepy shadow is even sleeping next to me. Well, and now he's got two horns.

Done for today, next up: the fire cave.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Heropon,

What version of FFII is that? It's beautiful.

 

[Zerokku]

Heropon,

What version of FFII is that? It's beautiful.

Its the PSP version.

 

[Jucksalbe]

Since I like to go back and see what other people wrote for games I'm now playing, I compiled all posts of people playing in this thread. I hope I didn't miss too many.


Final Fantasy

Aeana PSP: Part 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4
Scythian PSP: Part 1, 2, 3
perfect free iOS: Part 1, 2, 3
Cyan NES: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
catchan PSP: Part 1, 2
BreakyBoy PSX: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Jucksalbe PSP: Part 1, 2, 3, 4
kswiston PSP: Part 1, 2, 3, 4
Heropon PSP: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
IdreamofHIME : Part 1

Final Fantasy II

Aeana PSP: Part 1, 2, 3, 4
Goli PSP: Part 1
Heropon PSP: Part 1, 2, 3

Final Fantasy III

Aeana Famicom: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Jucksalbe Famicom; Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
stupei DS: Part 1, 2, 3

Final Fantasy IV

Absoludacrous PSP: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Jucksalbe PSP: Part 1, 2
itzknickknac PSP: Part 1
Goli PSP: Part 1, 2, 3
Aeana PSP: Part 1

Final Fantasy V

HiddenWings GBA: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Labadal : Part 1, 2, 3, 4,

Final Fantasy VI

Vamphuntr PSX: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,

Final Fantasy VII

Gravijah : Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Lindsay : Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
StuBurns : Part 1

Final Fantasy VIII

SFGamer : Part 1

Final Fantasy IX

Billychu : Part 1, 2, 3
Lactose_Intolerant : Part 1

Final Fantasy XIII

Rahxephon91 : Part 1, 2

Final Fantasy Tactics A2

Labadal : Part 1, 2

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

Goli : Part 1

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (Legend)

Jucksalbe SNES: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Dark Schala SNES: Part 1, 2, 3

Seiken Densetsu / Final Fantasy Adventure / Mystic Quest

Jucksalbe SGB: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Bonus: If you want to take screenshots on your PSP, follow Stumpokapow's instructions here and here.


Can you link to multiple posts in one link? That would make it a lot easier to read whole playthroughs.

 

[Aeana]

Dang, son. That's cool.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Just makes me realize that Vivi is the best FF character of all time. OF ALL TIME!

 

[Kaori's Babydaddy]

Is there a PSP emulator that I can play I and II on?

 

[Wilsongt]

So I have been playing FFII while waiting to get sleepy at night. So far I am 6 hours into the game. I just picked up Leila and made it to Mysidia to get some better equipment. Grinding for money right now.

 

[charlequin]

So, thankfully, the Dreadnought (I think that's which dungeon it was, anyway) is just some kind of global nadir of stupid encounters in FF2; doing that dungeon (and sitting through all the interminable DARKNESS IV BREAK IX CONFUSE VIII STUN III crap that makes every fight take forever) made me briefly loathe the stupid thing, but immediately afterwards everything turns for the awesome: lots of really fun dungeons, way fewer obnoxious encounters, etc. (I also finally dragged my ass down to Mysidia at this point, which made quite a difference.)

I'm about to head into the Jade Passage now, and this playthrough has definitely done a lot to rehabilitate my image of this game (which was previously formed primarily through a pretty brute force and unpleasant playthrough of the Origins version like ten years ago.) At this point, I'm pretty positively inclined to the game as a whole, buuuut:

Thank you People complain the level system is senseless, but to me it's probably the most sensible of all levelling systems.

I can't agree at all. FFII commits a cardinal sin of character leveling systems, in my opinion, by making it so that all that sunk equity from what you've already done makes any future efforts at branching out pointless. The best demonstration is spells -- you're constantly getting new spells in the game, but unlike just about any other FF (where you can immediately start using those spells on your best characters and get their full effect, which in turn encourages you to diversify your ability use and play around with different options) those spells start out objectively shitty (level 1) and the only way to make them potentially useful (outside the few that already perform their function okay at level 1 like Life, Warp, etc.) is to constantly grind them up through time-consuming, pointless use until they get good. Even at the end of the game, you get these ultimate spells (Holy, Flare, Ultima) and unless you go out of your way to spam them they'll be far inferior to the Fire you've been using since the very start of the game.

Also:

Though I like the way that you can customize characters in this game with what they equip, what magic they use, etc. it seems that in order to properly level magic the only thing they can use is magic.

This is my experience as well. During this playthrough, all of my party have exceptionally high stamina (presumably from all those obnoxious status effects they were constantly getting afflicted with) and pretty good strength from frequently attacking, but nobody has almost any agility (which in turn means it's literally impossible to run away from fights -- I've tried for seven consecutive turns without once succeeding), their magic growth has been extremely underwhelming (despite using spells in most fights throughout the game), and the only way I've gotten people's MP to reasonable levels is by manipulating them (via Minwu's Sap early on and Osmose later.) It doesn't help that you're effectively penalized for choosing to heal out of battle -- it'll level your cure spell but not your Magic stat or your MP.

Aeana advised me that with a few specific efforts early on you can basically play the PSP version entirely normally and it'll be balanced, and that's definitely true, but I don't feel like it's particularly customizable at all and the range of "normal" you have to work with is extremely limited; if I'd wanted anyone to be particularly great at magic (or have the ability to run away from fights, etc.) I'd have had to play very abnormally to make it work.

 

[Natetan]

So, thankfully, the Dreadnought (I think that's which dungeon it was, anyway) is just some kind of global nadir of stupid encounters in FF2; doing that dungeon (and sitting through all the interminable DARKNESS IV BREAK IX CONFUSE VIII STUN III crap that makes every fight take forever) made me briefly loathe the stupid thing, but immediately afterwards everything turns for the awesome: lots of really fun dungeons, way fewer obnoxious encounters, etc. (I also finally dragged my ass down to Mysidia at this point, which made quite a difference.)

I'm about to head into the Jade Passage now, and this playthrough has definitely done a lot to rehabilitate my image of this game (which was previously formed primarily through a pretty brute force and unpleasant playthrough of the Origins version like ten years ago.) At this point, I'm pretty positively inclined to the game as a whole, buuuut:



I can't agree at all. FFII commits a cardinal sin of character leveling systems, in my opinion, by making it so that all that sunk equity from what you've already done makes any future efforts at branching out pointless. The best demonstration is spells -- you're constantly getting new spells in the game, but unlike just about any other FF (where you can immediately start using those spells on your best characters and get their full effect, which in turn encourages you to diversify your ability use and play around with different options) those spells start out objectively shitty (level 1) and the only way to make them potentially useful (outside the few that already perform their function okay at level 1 like Life, Warp, etc.) is to constantly grind them up through time-consuming, pointless use until they get good. Even at the end of the game, you get these ultimate spells (Holy, Flare, Ultima) and unless you go out of your way to spam them they'll be far inferior to the Fire you've been using since the very start of the game.

Also:



This is my experience as well. During this playthrough, all of my party have exceptionally high stamina (presumably from all those obnoxious status effects they were constantly getting afflicted with) and pretty good strength from frequently attacking, but nobody has almost any agility (which in turn means it's literally impossible to run away from fights -- I've tried for seven consecutive turns without once succeeding), their magic growth has been extremely underwhelming (despite using spells in most fights throughout the game), and the only way I've gotten people's MP to reasonable levels is by manipulating them (via Minwu's Sap early on and Osmose later.) It doesn't help that you're effectively penalized for choosing to heal out of battle -- it'll level your cure spell but not your Magic stat or your MP.

Aeana advised me that with a few specific efforts early on you can basically play the PSP version entirely normally and it'll be balanced, and that's definitely true, but I don't feel like it's particularly customizable at all and the range of "normal" you have to work with is extremely limited; if I'd wanted anyone to be particularly great at magic (or have the ability to run away from fights, etc.) I'd have had to play very abnormally to make it work.

I guess you're right. The first time I played it normally it was frustrating and the stat spells drove me crazy. Going to mysidia with Minh wu and simply using change after that as you walk between towns after that is enough to remedy it (status effect spells never work or never cast on me because the enemies never get the chance), enough to make the game fun for me. You are right it is unnatural way to play the fame but I still enjoy it

Actually what was worst for me was the castle basement. For whatever reason the undead could hit me soooo hard and my agility was terrible because I wasn't using shields. Now that never happens.

 

[Lindsay]

i started 7 and 10 recently and was wondering this too. it feels like with pre-rendered backgrounds in 7 they would be able to have the higher polygon models on field rather then the higher polygon models only in battle. maybe there are some technical aspects i'm missing?

If characters were displayed in towns & the field with their battle models, then NPCs to would need massively improved models. That was prolly a reason right there why they stuck with "chibi" stuff outside of battles.

i'm sort of stalling my ff7 playthrough because i'm at the end of disc 1. :'/

That happened to me to ;.;

pink is an amazing color

Seconded! Really makes the posts stand out!

What the heck ? Nice job on that list btw!

 

[Dark Schala]

Jucksalbe, I salute you for compiling and indexing all the playthroughs. That&#8217;s fantastic.

Forgive the lengthiness of the post, but I haven't updated in FOREVER.

Last time on Megaman Legends Gaiden, Megaman healed the world&#8212;or a part of it&#8212;in Majora&#8217;s Mask fashion (only he can&#8217;t turn back time and it wasn&#8217;t a poisonous swamp).

So now he journeys to the Tower of Babel Focus Tower to get to Aquaria.

: Focus Tower

We meet Master Roshi on his Flying Nimbus again.

You know, I think he&#8217;s a bit of an asshole for making us do all the dirty work for him, but there&#8217;s nothing better to do, I guess.

Anyway, remember how I said we needed the Sand Coin otherwise we couldn&#8217;t progress? Each new area is locked off by a door that corresponds to a coin. We need the Sand Coin to unlock the door to Aquaria. If we didn&#8217;t get, we&#8217;d have to go aaaaaaalllll the way back to the Bone Dungeon, get it, and then come all the way back here. There&#8217;s also a bunch of bombs in that treasure box, so that&#8217;s why you don&#8217;t need to buy bombs in this game. They replenish when you enter/exit the Focus Tower, so it&#8217;s very easy to get x99 of them.

You will notice that I have the axe equipped. This is because it&#8217;s stronger than the bombs. The bombs&#8217; damage is distributed over a group, it treats the enemy as part of a group. Even against a single enemy, it sometimes isn't as strong as the other weapons, and I feel like I'm wasting one whenever I find myself in that situation. Not to mention that Bombs' damage does not level up as Megaman levels up at all. The attack power of the Axe, Sword, and later on another weapon, increase, though. This is why, in many cases, it&#8217;s better to use a weapon that isn&#8217;t the Bomb.

We also get the nifty Fire spell in this portion of the Focus Tower. Usually, we get spells that are handy-dandy in areas that we&#8217;re supposed to go to next. Gosh, I wonder what Fire&#8217;s strong against?

I think Gorons live here.

We get to Libra Temple and meet a girl wallowing in self-pity. Her situation seems terrible, but I don&#8217;t really like her &#8220;it&#8217;s hopeless, utterly utterly hopeless&#8221; angle. It&#8217;s rather irritating. Positive attitude! Especially when I took the time to say, &#8220;HI!&#8221; to her.

Oh, shut up. Your mood sucks. I bet that Phoebe girl who Master Roshi mentioned is cooler than you.

This is Phoebe? But she&#8217;s such a downer. And she&#8217;s&#8212;as you&#8217;d expect&#8212;better equipped and much stronger than Megaman. Let&#8217;s check her Equipment out.

So basically, Phoebe is much better than us at almost everything. Her magic stat is much higher, and thus her spellset is better than ours since she has access to the first Wizard spell we&#8217;ve seen in this game: Thunder. She has access to Heal, Cure, and Life--all of which are quite important, particularly when she's under Auto control. But we want to control her manually instead. She&#8217;s also faster than Megaman, thus giving her the first action in battle. She comes equipped with a Magic Ring (strong vs Mute) and a Mystic Robe (Water/Ice Resist; Wind Resist). She also uses a Cat Claw, which inflicts Poison and Paralyze on enemies who don&#8217;t resist it.

Rather than go to Aquaria right away, I decide that it&#8217;s best that Megaman try to level up by going to battlefields. Also, you win a Magic Ring from one of them, which prevents Mute/Silence. Very helpful. Phoebe has one of those equipped as well, but it&#8217;s more important for her than it is for us since she&#8217;s our main spellcaster.

: Aquaria

This is Frozen Aquaria. Basically, there&#8217;s nothing to do here other than sleep in the Inn and buy old Steel Helmets, which gives us +4 DEF.

We go to Phoebe&#8217;s house to discuss Matters of the Utmost Importance.

Why are monsters always so smart? Stealing important stuff as usual.

On our way to the Wintry Cave, we encounter Sonic the Hedgehog. Too bad he's weak against Fire. Sorry, Sonic.

: Dungeon of Ice

I hate this place. It sucks. I dislike all of the winter dungeons in this game because they're so damned boring and they generally overstay their welcome. Enemies are littered nearly everywhere. It's nice to spam magic at them, but if you've only went through the Bone Dungeon just once, you only have 3 Seeds to replenish your magic. Most of the time, I rely on physical attacks and save my MP for bosses. It's easier that way.

On our way through the dungeon, we fall off a cliff. Phoebe decides to save herself while Megaman falls to his doom. She climbs down and decides to give the claw to you since she already saved her own butt from disaster.

Because the Cat Claw is now in Megaman's hands as opposed to Phoebe's, the Attack Power increases (Megaman has a higher Strength stat than her; the Claw's base attack power is 2). Claws are mostly used to traverse over the field when you need to climb walls or reach other plateaus. They can also inflict status effects, but you'll mostly use this in endgame since the endgame variation of the claw can instakill some enemies.

I've decided to go with the Axe for now because it has a higher attack power, and some enemies happen to be resistant to both Poison and Paralyze. Not all of them, but quite a few of them in this dungeon.

Phoebe also gets a weapon change to a bow and arrows, which comes with an attack power of 82, is strong against aerial enemies, and can inflict blind on some enemies. It's incredibly useful because Megaman doesn't get ranged weapons like that.

The boss over there, but the outer graphical layer thick sheet of ice is blocking our way, so we need to find somewhere else. Like under the ice.

The boss isn't hard. Surprisingly, it is NOT weak vs Thunder or Fire. Because Phoebe's magic stat is pretty high, though, you can get away with spamming Thunder each round and whacking it with your Axe and Claw. Do not cast Quake on it because it's very resistant to Quake attacks. Have Phoebe kill off the Sparna enemies with her Bow/Arrow, too, because they're aerial enemies. Monster scored quite a few crits against Phoebe, so that's why she's dead. Doesn't matter since she doesn't get XP.

Skipping forward, we go to the Libra Temple and the Life Temple.

...*eyeroll* IT'S HOPELESS UTTERLY UTTERLY HOPELESS. I didn't capture it, but we encountered Master Roshi on his Flying Nimbus. He gives us a tiny little bag of Wakewater and Phoebe thinks this can revive the town. LOL. Oh, in case you were wondering, the Life Temple is here:

Alright. Whose bright idea was it to build a temple on a cliff which can only be accessed by a teleportation device and fill it with the tiniest pond of miracle water?

*snort*

Well, at least she's not going on about how it's hopeless anymore. But more Ice Dungeons? But they suck.

Next time, I try not to find the tedium of the Ice Pyramid boring. And Megaman plays Pushmo for a level or so.

 

[charlequin]

You are right it is unnatural way to play the fame but I still enjoy it

Yeah, I'm definitely enjoying the game, but I do really, honestly think the character advancement system is a failed experiment. Later games that try to do the same thing tend to tone down the "learn what you do" element quite a bit, and even ones that are good in general tend to have problems with ability grinding (Grandia) or incomprehensibility (The Last Remnant) that more "normal" systems don't run into.

 

[ULTROS!]

Guess I'm holding off FFIII for now as I decided to play Wild ARMs 3. So the FF game that I'm playing right now is FFXIII.

Don't throw a rock at me for dedicating FF's anniversary with this game.

 

[Entropia]

Just about done with FF2, I did Palamecia and got Leon (RIP Ricard). Hopefully I should have this beat tonight and then it's onto FF7!

 

[HiddenWings]

Since I like to go back and see what other people wrote for games I'm now playing, I compiled all posts of people playing in this thread. I hope I didn't miss too many.


<I'm_an_awesome_person.list>


Can you link to multiple posts in one link? That would make it a lot easier to read whole playthroughs.

This is really nice, could we get a link to it in the OP maybe?

 

[Ultratech]

I'm about to head into the Jade Passage now, and this playthrough has definitely done a lot to rehabilitate my image of this game (which was previously formed primarily through a pretty brute force and unpleasant playthrough of the Origins version like ten years ago.) At this point, I'm pretty positively inclined to the game as a whole, buuuut:

I can't agree at all. FFII commits a cardinal sin of character leveling systems, in my opinion, by making it so that all that sunk equity from what you've already done makes any future efforts at branching out pointless. The best demonstration is spells -- you're constantly getting new spells in the game, but unlike just about any other FF (where you can immediately start using those spells on your best characters and get their full effect, which in turn encourages you to diversify your ability use and play around with different options) those spells start out objectively shitty (level 1) and the only way to make them potentially useful (outside the few that already perform their function okay at level 1 like Life, Warp, etc.) is to constantly grind them up through time-consuming, pointless use until they get good. Even at the end of the game, you get these ultimate spells (Holy, Flare, Ultima) and unless you go out of your way to spam them they'll be far inferior to the Fire you've been using since the very start of the game.

Yeah, I can agree with that. Nothing better than getting Ultima then finding out you have to level it up like everything. -_-
Even then, a good chunk of said Magic is not that useful (most status effects), and you pretty much have to spam magic in fights to get it or MP to level up at all. (Without resorting to shenanigans.)
It is kinda funny though that the game has a crap-ton of spells that can cause Instant Death for enemies (but not always for you).

Something interesting I found out not too long ago is that equipment can gimp Magic. (Apparently most items have Int/Spirit penalties. Not sure how the updated games handle this.)

Also:

This is my experience as well. During this playthrough, all of my party have exceptionally high stamina (presumably from all those obnoxious status effects they were constantly getting afflicted with) and pretty good strength from frequently attacking, but nobody has almost any agility (which in turn means it's literally impossible to run away from fights -- I've tried for seven consecutive turns without once succeeding), their magic growth has been extremely underwhelming (despite using spells in most fights throughout the game), and the only way I've gotten people's MP to reasonable levels is by manipulating them (via Minwu's Sap early on and Osmose later.) It doesn't help that you're effectively penalized for choosing to heal out of battle -- it'll level your cure spell but not your Magic stat or your MP.

About the only way you can reliably gain Agility is to equip Shields and Agility boosters (Thief's Gauntlets). I think it has a chance to increase when you're the target of a physical attack. But basically, Agility and Evasion go hand-in-hand. Another thing that helps is wearing Light or no armor at all, since most armor has weight penalties that slow you down.

Aeana advised me that with a few specific efforts early on you can basically play the PSP version entirely normally and it'll be balanced, and that's definitely true, but I don't feel like it's particularly customizable at all and the range of "normal" you have to work with is extremely limited; if I'd wanted anyone to be particularly great at magic (or have the ability to run away from fights, etc.) I'd have had to play very abnormally to make it work.

I've sorta been doing this on my current GBA playthrough. I think it's probably a bit harder to customize/specialize your characters in the newer versions since you can basically just hit Attack and kill everything regardless. Right now I have have a pseudo Black Mage, Buffer, and White Mage, but they have high Weapon Skills (since you run into so many damn fights), so most things go down without too much trouble. In the original version, you pretty much had to customize your characters due to the way the stat system worked. About the only real things that separate my characters apart are their spell selections.

My thoughts above....