Support NeoGAF

[Professor Beef]

Weeeee, we made it to Cosmo Canyon. Roto XIII managed to let us in, and we found out his real name is....uh, something, I think Snacky. Anyways, he thinks his dad is a douchebag, so we're going to follow Bugenhagen down into a spooky cave. Sounds...fun?

 

[Roto13]

Roto "Snacky" XIII. I should get my GAF name changed to that.

 

[Professor Beef]

I don't wanna hype it up too much, but I think Bugenhagen is Santa Claus.

 

[Emitan]

Can someone explain S-Level to me? In that lparchive.org play through he has S-Level 30 by the end of disk 1. I have 8.

 

[Professor Beef]

Can someone explain S-Level to me? In that lparchive.org play through he has S-Level 30 by the end of disk 1. I have 8.

That's your SeeD rank. It changes depending on certain things you do in the early parts of the game (like the Dollet Exam, for example). All it does is changes how much money you get periodically. You can increase it manually by going into the tutorial menu(?) and taking the test. You can take as many tests as you want up to Squall's current level, and failing the test does absolutely nothing.

If you want the answers quick, then go here.

 

[Professor Beef]

Made it to Nibleheim. Some jerks must've rebuilt it, because now I look like a big liar to my party members. And what's worse, Dark Schala yelled at me for opening her coffin.

EDIT: Wow, I should've used Yuffie/Kagari a long time ago. Her one-liners are so good.

Cloud: "Your turn."
Vincent: "No, I cannot speak."
Yuffie: Oh, that's ok. It was probably depressing anyway."

 

[Emitan]

Because of Boney I really want 4 Warriors of Light now. It sounds awesome. Top hatsssss

 

[Dunan]

Billy, there's a good guide to things that affect your SeeD rank here:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197343-final-fantasy-viii/faqs/19029

There are lots of events which, if played correctly, can raise your rank. You can also take exams to raise your rank. (Long ago I started an Annotated SeeD Test FAQ that explained why the answers were what they were, which makes the test much more interesting than just looking up the correct answers and entering them. The tests in fact tell you a lot about the game and the deeper stuff that you might not pay attention to normally. I should finish it...)

 

[xxczx]

Can't believe I've never noticed this before, guess we know where Yuna got her moves from in X-2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEc7wDzFExs#t=2m17s
(When Dona is talking, look bottom right)

Also for spoiler reasons, it's about 12 hours in at Djose Temple.

 

[Dark Schala]

That Tidus animation, lol.

Made it to Nibleheim. Some jerks must've rebuilt it, because now I look like a big liar to my party members. And what's worse, Dark Schala yelled at me for opening her coffin.

Hell yeah. I need my beauty sleep, you liar liar pants on fire.

Actually, this is pretty close to the truth. I'm incredibly moody in the morning. It is not my friend. I'm more of a night person.

Finished the events of the Edea assassination attempt, and Laguna took the stage again. Love the guy. Talking with Ellone and wandering around Winhill now.

Laguna is the best character in FFVIII next to Quistis, imo. I liked him a lot.

And I guess picking FFVIII was the right choice!

 

[Hanningfield]

Can't believe I've never noticed this before, guess we know where Yuna got her moves from in X-2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEc7wDzFExs#t=2m17s
(When Dona is talking, look bottom right)

Also for spoiler reasons, it's about 12 hours in at Djose Temple.

Hah, nice spot!

 

[Professor Beef]

Hell yeah. I need my beauty sleep, you liar liar pants on fire.

Actually, this is pretty close to the truth. I'm incredibly moody in the morning. It is not my friend. I'm more of a night person.

And the "sleeping in coffins" thing?

 

[Emitan]

And the "sleeping in coffins" thing?

everyone does that!

 

[Professor Beef]

Got to Rocket Town, and met with Billychu.

...He sure does hate Shera. >__>

 

[Emitan]

teehee :3

i'm a rascal

 

[Professor Beef]

teehee :3

i'm a rascal

You didn't even want to get married to her, you fiend!

Anyways, we crash-landed in the ocean because Billychu likes to cut corners with his vehicles, so now we're heading to some place called Wutai after Kagari mentioned it. I've got a good feeling about this.

 

[Emitan]

You didn't even want to get married to her, you fiend!

I totally forget the entire plot to that part. All I remember is some fat dude being hit by a bus or something.

 

[Professor Beef]

After we finally get our stuff back from that thief Kagari, we forgive her and get on with our lives and follow a hot tip about something called the "Temple of the Ancients." We have to go back to talk with Dio, the guy who runs the Gold Saucer, in order to get some more info, but he makes me fight like some modern-day Caesar. After I lose horribly he rigs the matches, he forks over the Keystone only for us to be stuck because someone (probably Gravijah, that fat cat) dun goofed with the upkeep of the tram system.

Gravijah pulls some strings, and we get to stay for free in the hotel. He and Billychu ask what's going on since they're not part of the Cool Crew™ who have been in the party since Junon. I do some explaining, and I'm rewarded with Billychu sleeping. >:|

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with ULTROS. :3

 

[ULTROS!]

Ultros is the best choice, Beef!

 

[Dark Schala]

And the "sleeping in coffins" thing?

Billychu's right. It's the in-thing.

I totally forget the entire plot to that part. All I remember is some fat dude being hit by a bus or something.

Hahaha, I will always love that part.

Oh FFVII, you amuse me so much.

 

[Professor Beef]

I went through a bunch of the game since my date with ULTROS (which ended quite abruptly, thanks to Gravijah being outed as a snitch). We managed to travel to the Temple of the Ancients and had to go through more obstacles than an episode of Double Dare. We ended up finding out Sephiroth's true plan, and even found the Black Materia! We couldn't actually remove it though, but Gravijah had a change of heart and decided to sacrifice himself to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon get the Black Materia out of the temple.

Boney, Kagari and myself were celebrating how awesome we were for getting rid of Gravijah, when all of a sudden Sephiroth shows up again and I give up the Black Materia Gravijah somehow screws things up again. >__>

After slapping Boney around, I get knocked out and dream about Boney. Normally that's not too weird, but this time Sephiroth was in it, and they were talking about a CITY of the Ancients now. So here I am in Bone Village now, getting ready to go on an excavation....yay. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can dig me a hole and put a nerd in it.

 

[Gravijah]

me and my giant moogle are so awesome

and by me i mean the robot cat i control from shinra

so i guess i'm controlling a robot controlling a robot

or maybe i control both at once?

 

[Emitan]

me and my giant moogle are so awesome

and by me i mean the robot cat i control from shinra

so i guess i'm controlling a robot controlling a robot

or maybe i control both at once?

maybe you don't exist

 

[Professor Beef]

Boney has been stabbed to death.

 

[Gravijah]

Boney has been stabbed to death.

that scene still gets to me 3;

 

[Roto13]

I was so happy when Aerith died. Fuck that doormat.

 

[Emitan]

I was so happy when Aerith died. Fuck that doormat.

 

[Rinoa]

Hells yeah. Also, I hate limit breaks that just prolong battles. Never once in my FF7 plays did I ever need her limits.. the difficulty level is so low.

 

[Aeana]

I felt awful at the time when Aeris was killed. It wasn't until later that I realized she was kind of a huge bitch. But that scene still gets me, regardless.

 

[Professor Beef]

I had Kagari/Yuffie in my party after the Jenova-Life battle, and her reaction was just so...sad. I know how most of the party members react, but I've never used Yuffie a lot in any of my playthroughs, so it was a bit surprising.

 

[Aeana]

Not using Yuffie is a crime.
You are a criminal, Professor Beef.

 

[Professor Beef]

Not using Yuffie is a crime.
You are a criminal, Professor Beef.

I'm using her in this playthrough though!

 

[jaxword]

VIII's Piano Collection:
The Castle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEzvEdbIHU

I always found Ultimecia's castle to be FF meshed with Castlevania.

Even the music sounds like Uematsu doing Castlevania's haunting tunes.

 

[Gravijah]

the castle is the best final dungeon music ever.

ok ok, one of the best.

 

[Aeana]

the castle is the best final dungeon music ever.

ok ok, one of the best.

I don't like that song very much.

Were I to list my favorite final dungeon songs, I most likely would not approach the Final Fantasy series at any point. Of the FF series, I would say that my ordering for final dungeon music would be... 10-2 > 1 > 3 > 2 > 6 > 12 > 13 > 4 > 5 > 8 > 7 > 9 > 10. Probably. Actually, it depends on which song you count as the final dungeon song of FF10. If it's this then my ranking stands. If it's this then it goes up in front of 10-2 as #1. But considering that it plays in an optional dungeon, it won't count even if it's awesome.

 

[Dark Schala]

Best Final Fantasy final dungeon theme is this.

 

[Gravijah]

speaking of awesome final dungeon themes, logic core from operation logic bomb

oh yuji suzuki you get no love ever.

 

[Dunan]

Best Final Fantasy final dungeon theme is this.

Concur. Isn't there a way to enter a small part of that place long before you're supposed to? I have a vague memory of doing that and spending several minutes cooped up in a tiny area, unable to make progress but being in awe of the music. ^^;

 

[Dark Schala]

logic core from operation logic bomb

This BGM is awesome. Suzuki's Data East stuff was pretty good. I don't think he does game composition anymore, though.

Concur. Isn't there a way to enter a small part of that place long before you're supposed to? I have a vague memory of doing that and spending several minutes cooped up in a tiny area, unable to make progress but being in awe of the music. ^^;

I believe you have to enter it to get the Aero Spell prior to going to Rope Bridge/Alive Forest?

That BGM is amazing, and Mystic Quest is just packed with fantastic music all around (from both Sasai and Kawakami). But I'm very partial to Sasai's work (not just for MQ, but the other games he worked on as well).

 

[Aeana]

I'm not really into most of Mystic Quest's music, but I do like a lot of Sasai's work on Treasure of the Rudras. ps if you haven't played Treasure of the Rudras, you're out of the club.

 

[Aeana]

Oh, and the best final dungeon music in an RPG that I guarantee nobody will mention but me: Alcahest. Jun Ishikawa, the Kirby composer, tackled something a little different in Alcahest and he did such an amazing job.

Incidentally, Alcahest also has one of the coolest final boss songs as well. But as far as Ishikawa's work goes, I don't think he'll ever outdo Battle with Marx from Kirby Superstar.

 

[Roto13]

Just beat

Spoiler

Barthandelus

in FF XIII. I remember having a lot more trouble with him last time I played this game. This time he went down easy. I guess because this time I know that buffs fizzle out after a certain amount of time, regardless of your battle speed.

 

[ULTROS!]

I though FFIX had the best final dungeon music, not mention the best looking one

Spoiler

Memoria + Crystal World though

.

 

[Dunan]

I'm not really into most of Mystic Quest's music, but I do like a lot of Sasai's work on Treasure of the Rudras. ps if you haven't played Treasure of the Rudras, you're out of the club.

The music is excellent -- I loved how each character's battle themes built off their field themes -- but the real joy in that game is playing Gideon Zhi's fantastic fan translation. I never finished the Japanese original

Spoiler

despite paying over Y4000 for it as an exchange student back around '98

and finally discovered the true greatness of it when the amateur translation came out. Again and again I was in awe of how well they handled that game. Not just the English prose, but some of the programming -- the construction of Mantra names was great. And they inserted a variable width font, even!

FFVIII update: start of Disc 2; Laguna and Kiros did some patrolling and reported back to Raine on the number of "Buchubuchus" and "Bunbuns" they vanquished. My first time through the game, I never noticed that these words (presumably invented by little Ellone) are actually Japanese onomatopoeia for the sounds of something oozing across a surface (thus a good baby word for Caterchipillars) and something beating against air, like a swinging baseball bat or beating wings (so those are the Bite Bugs).

Now for the Desert District Prison. No need to play endless card games to get a Rosetta Stone as my file has plenty, but I do want to pick up that Battle Meter addition. Aside from getting that, I never really enjoyed this segment of the game. I want to hurry up and get back to the Garden.

 

[Aeana]

Yeah, I played AGTP's translation a year or two ago and thought they did a really incredible job. It was already a game I liked quite a lot in Japanese; I'm glad they did it justice.

 

[jaxword]

Time for some fun FF trivia:

FF4: The airships are sci-fi references: the Enterprise is obvious, but the Falcon is a bit more subtle but clever once you get it. Also, the hovercraft can be used in the Underworld, but there's sadly nothing to discover with it.

FF5: Everyone knows Tetsuya Nomura designed monsters for this game. However, consider that this means that perennial favorite Gilgamesh was designed by him (though Amano apparently finalized the design for the featured character artwork). This is often overlooked in the whole argh nomura ruins everything argh.

FF6: Gau hates ships, but the cutscene that shows this is almost impossible to trigger. Also, it's possible to inform Duncan's wife of her husband's passing.

FF7: There's so many missable and unviewable scenes that new ones are still being discovered; for example, Palmer is a regular at the Honeybee Inn.

 

[Dark Schala]

Regarding Palmer, the evidence is all here in this Honey Bee Inn video (more precisely, at this point in the vid). Glancing at the playlist this video is in, there were a lot of unused things, it seems.

Speaking of Final Fantasy VII... look what I found on YouTube (possible spoilers). I chuckled a bit.

The music is excellent -- I loved how each character's battle themes built off their field themes -- but the real joy in that game is playing Gideon Zhi's fantastic fan translation.

Yes, Rudra no Hihou's music is awesome. Plus I loved the way the magic system worked in that game.

FFVIII update: start of Disc 2; Laguna and Kiros did some patrolling and reported back to Raine on the number of "Buchubuchus" and "Bunbuns" they vanquished. My first time through the game, I never noticed that these words (presumably invented by little Ellone) are actually Japanese onomatopoeia for the sounds of something oozing across a surface (thus a good baby word for Caterchipillars) and something beating against air, like a swinging baseball bat or beating wings (so those are the Bite Bugs).

I never made that connection before! It has the reduplication and a lot of what you'd see in FLA. Even Laguna says something to the effect of, "Including Buchubuchus and Bunbuns that Assistant Commander Ellone oh-so-hates". :O

Mind-blown. I knew I should've found time to replay FFVIII in the last few years.

 

[Electivirus]

I love using the -aga spells in Final Fantasy XIII. So satisfying.

I especially love the way the ground crackles with electricity when you use Thundaga, even after the attack's been finished for a few seconds.

 

[Cornbread78]

So random FF question of the day, is FFIV good for the DS? I picked up Etrian Oddesy 1&2, but they use the stylus too much, so I already am turned off and want to trade them in...

 

[Aeana]

So random FF question of the day, is FFIV good for the DS? I picked up Etrian Oddesy 1&2, but they use the stylus too much, so I already am turned off and want to trade them in...

Yes. It's fantastic. It turned FF4 into a much, much better game as far as I'm concerned.