Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)

Gavinmad said:

I think 4 told a much better story, and having a smaller non-customizable cast was a big part of that. Also the only "significant" death in FF6 was General Leo, who wasn't even really a playable character. FF4 is an absolute bloodbath in comparison, you lose several playable characters and although most of them survive in the end (rip Tellah) none of them rejoin your party and the game feels like it has much higher stakes than FF6. Hell even FF5 (which the vast majority of us didnt play until at least the PS1 era) had a playable character death.

And speaking of feels, goddamn Palom and Porom gets me every time, especially the enhanced scene in the DS remake.

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It's funny b/c Tellah is really the only one that dies in 4, Edward, Yang, Palom/Porom all survive in the end, so I never got that "higher stakes" feel, really. Better story is debatable, although I kind of feel you on the size of the cast being a thing. I think 6 does a great job at giving enough spotlight to enough characters to make an ensemble cast of characters that big work as well as it can...but part of the reason I like 7 more than 6 is it's definitely more focused protagonist v. antagonist story. Terra seems like the protagonist of 7, but you could easily argue for Celes or Locke to some degree, too. Even Edgar somewhat. Some people prefer the games with the large number of party members more, I think I prefer somewhat smaller than what 6 did.

I guess I prefer more than just having the locked party members/size that 4 brings, but don't need as many options as you end up with in 6.

Araxen said:

I never knew about the apartments. I'm going to have to check it out!

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There are multiple versions of the housing zone, I found empty apartments towards the bottom of the list, I think I was in ward 23 out of like 25.

I always saw 6's 'main character(s) as being terra, lock and celes. i feel like the story shifts between them back and forth as the game goes on.

man i played 6 a lot. i feel like i played that, secret of mana, phantasy star 4 and shining force more than all other games in that era combined.

... said:

I always saw 6's 'main character(s) as being terra, lock and celes. i feel like the story shifts between them back and forth as the game goes on.

man i played 6 a lot. i feel like i played that, secret of mana, phantasy star 4 and shining force more than all other games in that era combined.

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Locke is the protagonist of part 1 and Celes is the protagonist of part 2. Those are the characters who lead the party and dialogue.

Terra is the main character in both parts as a lot of the story revolves around her.

Merrith said:

It's funny b/c Tellah is really the only one that dies in 4, Edward, Yang, Palom/Porom all survive in the end, so I never got that "higher stakes" feel, really. Better story is debatable, although I kind of feel you on the size of the cast being a thing. I think 6 does a great job at giving enough spotlight to enough characters to make an ensemble cast of characters that big work as well as it can...but part of the reason I like 7 more than 6 is it's definitely more focused protagonist v. antagonist story. Terra seems like the protagonist of 7, but you could easily argue for Celes or Locke to some degree, too. Even Edgar somewhat. Some people prefer the games with the large number of party members more, I think I prefer somewhat smaller than what 6 did.

I guess I prefer more than just having the locked party members/size that 4 brings, but don't need as many options as you end up with in 6.

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In most cases you don't find out about their survival for a fairly long period of time and the only presumed dead person who rejoins your party is Rydia. I don't know how you don't get a higher stakes feeling from 4 when Palom and Porom remain statues until right near the very end of the game, Edward is too frail to adventure with you anymore, Cid is too frail to adventure with you anymore, and Yang is too frail to adventure with you anymore (on account of being in a coma).

FF6 needed to be about half-again as long to get proper character development for that enormous cast, rather than brief easter egg side quests in the World of Ruin.

FF10 has the best high stakes because they gradually reveal how 2/6 characters and possibly one other are in mortal peril if the quest succeeds which makes the ending extremely tense.

Then they actually go through with it and 2/6 characters die, you only manage to save one of them.

Deaths in the other games are very sudden which is a totally different feeling and I never actually thought another party member would die in FF5 or FF7. FF4 I played half of before my ROM save got corrupted, I wasn't that invested it in honestly.

Gavinmad said:

In most cases you don't find out about their survival for a fairly long period of time and the only presumed dead person who rejoins your party is Rydia. I don't know how you don't get a higher stakes feeling from 4 when Palom and Porom remain statues until right near the very end of the game, Edward is too frail to adventure with you anymore, Cid is too frail to adventure with you anymore, and Yang is too frail to adventure with you anymore (on account of being in a coma).

FF6 needed to be about half-again as long to get proper character development for that enormous cast, rather than brief easter egg side quests in the World of Ruin.

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Well one, I never really gave a shit about Edward, he was kind of whatever as a character. The twins were actively spying on you at first when they join your party, and aren't with you long enough to make you care about them all THAT much, or at least I didn't. Yang/Cid cared about a little more, but the early to mid game you're swapping party members in and out so much they never feel like "core" characters the way Cecil, Kain, and Rosa do.

I actually agree with you that the game could have used more time, although mostly for more Kefka development. I still think he's one of the most overrated villains in the series (although not bad...6 is still my 2nd favorite FF). I get what they were going for with the really open World of Ruin just tying up loose ends with a lot of little secrets to find, but I think of how much better Kefka would actually be as a villain and how much stronger the story could be if there was more interaction between the party and him somehow in the whole 2nd half, rather than him just sitting on his tower of trash until you're so OP you just walk up and wreck everything with ease (another thing 6 has against it in some ways...combat was broken as fuck, could cheese or overpower stuff far too easy).

Chris said:

FF10 has the best high stakes because they gradually reveal how 2/6 characters and possibly one other are in mortal peril if the quest succeeds which makes the ending extremely tense.

Then they actually go through with it and 2/6 characters die, you only manage to save one of them.

Deaths in the other games are very sudden which is a totally different feeling and I never actually thought another party member would die in FF5 or FF7. FF4 I played half of before my ROM save got corrupted, I wasn't that invested it in honestly.

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It's ironic, because with 7 Remake details came out that Nojima literally wanted to kill off most of the party in 7 when you come back to Midgar late in the game, only having the 3 main party members (either that you chose or that the game picked, not sure which) surviving while everyone else got killed parachuting back into the city.

Merrith said:

It's ironic, because with 7 Remake details came out that Nojima literally wanted to kill off most of the party in 7 when you come back to Midgar late in the game, only having the 3 main party members (either that you chose or that the game picked, not sure which) surviving while everyone else got killed parachuting back into the city.

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Holy shit that would have made the game dark.

I'd have said that FF6 was my favorite until I did a low level (until you get the good +stat espers) run last winter. What a fucking mess that was to milk a couple more levels out of Bismark.

Arbitrary said:

Holy shit that would have made the game dark.

I'd have said that FF6 was my favorite until I did a low level (until you get the good +stat espers) run last winter. What a fucking mess that was to milk a couple more levels out of Bismark.

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Yeah it was kind of crazy when Nomura revealed that and Nojima was like, oh yeah, we were going to do that. Definitely would have changed the dynamic completely. I don't know if that meant they still would have killed Aeris/Aerith off earlier in the game, too, or if that's what they ended up doing instead, but fuck.

Koushirou said:

Fucking spoiler central here, fuck. I haven’t played any of those older ones.

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You spoony bard!

I guess I’ll play X. I have it somewhere. Man I have a fuckton of games people bought for me that I never played. I think my copy is ps2 though and I’m almost 100% sure I don’t have a working ps2

Anyone have a list or guide as to which gathering resources to be on the lookout for to make gil?, im trying to do it manually but there is just so many different mats. Im just leveling the gatherers in tandem at the moment and the Class quests are carrying but would be helpful for when its done.

Honestly it is going to vary greatly by your server. With all the new sprout influx, you might want to check low or mid-tier materials. Some of the quests for crafting require HQ hand-ins for ARR and HW, so you might be able to turn quick profits if you place some of those up if the pricing history or supply doesnt seem oversaturated

Juvarisx said:

Anyone have a list or guide as to which gathering resources to be on the lookout for to make gil?, im trying to do it manually but there is just so many different mats. Im just leveling the gatherers in tandem at the moment and the Class quests are carrying but would be helpful for when its done.

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This varies server to server, and remember that you can travel to any other server on your datacenter and still buy from there (but not sell). I will say a lot of older mats that I had random stockpiles of were spiking in prices a little this past week. Made a few mil selling stuff. Usually it's stuff like ores, ingots, cloth, etc. The most used types for the level ranges as others I assume are leveling up their crafting/gathering with. Might want to check whatever mats Ishgard Restoration stuff uses for whatever level range of materials you're gathering, since I believe most people use that to level nowadays. Not sure if it's faster overall than the triple turn in leves, but yeah.

Merrith said:

This varies server to server, and remember that you can travel to any other server on your datacenter and still buy from there (but not sell). I will say a lot of older mats that I had random stockpiles of were spiking in prices a little this past week. Made a few mil selling stuff. Usually it's stuff like ores, ingots, cloth, etc. The most used types for the level ranges as others I assume are leveling up their crafting/gathering with. Might want to check whatever mats Ishgard Restoration stuff uses for whatever level range of materials you're gathering, since I believe most people use that to level nowadays. Not sure if it's faster overall than the triple turn in leves, but yeah.

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Ishguard resto is kind of hit and miss, espically sense all the servers have finished most ppl doing it now a days are working toward the flappy dino mount.

Leves are still king for leveling , as well as GC Turn-ins and Beast tribe quests.

Folanlron said:

Ishguard resto is kind of hit and miss, espically sense all the servers have finished most ppl doing it now a days are working toward the flappy dino mount.

Leves are still king for leveling , as well as GC Turn-ins and Beast tribe quests.

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Yeah I've always thought the triple leves were the quickest, but I know the Ishgard stuff was big for awhile and people still use it to level (I never really participated outside of relic tools stuff in Diadem). GC Turn ins and Beast tribe for whatever level range just nice quick stuff can do in addition to the leves or Ishgard stuff.

Maybe (probably) unpopular opinion... EQ2 had some of the best housing and tradskilling (furniture). Once Nagafen died, leaving my house and everything was the next worst part.

Also, FF4 and 6 were my favorites but don't sleep on 9. It was solid. It gets lost in FF conversations.