The Final Fantasy Mega Thread - Now playing FFXV

Ritley · Aug 4, 2017

So yeah, you just mashed X. We got it bro

DrSpooge · Aug 4, 2017

For me the good vastly outweighed the bad for IV through XII --even VIII. They all, a the very least, make my top 30, and the best - VI (and Tactics) - are top 5. I reserve my ire for XIII, XIII-2 and especially XV.

Fadaar · Aug 4, 2017

Japanese game devs, or maybe it's just Square, hard-on for an 'identifiable' (read: little whiney boy band looking bitch) protag is completely retarded. Japanese males can't be that wussy in reality can they?

joz123 · Aug 4, 2017

Phazael said:
I think Cloud was one of the worst protagonists in a FF game to exist and that FF7 is overrated because people who came into the series in the PS1 era (especially early edge lord anime types) worshiped Sephiroth, who was the first major American exposure to that type of anime villain. My favorite protagonists were Cecil from FF4 and Celes from FF6. If Square's marketing department didn't have such a hardon for Japanese boy band knock off characters, Auron and Basch would have been the protagonists of their respective games and on the same level. That's not even getting into Ramza, Denim, or Lance (FF-Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and Knights of Lodis, respectfully) who eclipsed anything in the main Square titles. FF7 marked where the main writer started going insane (think his parents died or something) and writing weird shit, causing it to be a committee written thing from there on out. Its also where it stopped being medieval worlds (mostly) and became full on JPOP video nihilistic world stuff, though both 9 and 12 dialed that back a little.

But seriously where is this character development you are talking about? Cloud went from "I think I am Zack for some reason" to "guess I will bang Tifa since Aeris is dead and we are about to die at the crater", with a lot of nonsensical crazy in between, like the cross dressing stuff and Sephiroth somehow magically being able to control him because he was Trans-Zacking that hard. Vincent had the better story arc and more interesting background and he was an optional character.....

And yeah, any game where I can farm three easy to get things and instantly hit max level in three arena fights less than halfway through the game is pretty much a busted system (FF10), because at least the stat linking in FF8 required you to go around and get enough Espers (and the right ones) to cover all stats for three characters. FF10 also had some of the most retarded mini games, all of which were essential to get the ultimate weapons or breaks for characters (seriously, only an Asian would think dodging a billion lightning bolts for an item is fun and fuck underwater soccer). The real issue with FF8 was the enemies scaling with your level making generic character levels meaningless and incentivizing people to NOT ever use magic in the game. Hmm, now that I think of it, Tidus might be the worst protagonist ever in a FF game, the imaginary son of the imaginary friend of the dude who should have been the main protagonist, if the marketing faggots at Square were not calling the shots.... The "laugh" scene might be the cringiest thing I have seen in a game (until ME:A came out) all time.

Confirmed Tanoomba alt. Also you didn't follow the story if you think Cloud was a shitty protagonist.

Phazael · Aug 5, 2017

I followed the story. It was shitty. Cloud was shitty and pretending to be his friend for over half the game. It just looks a lot less gay, in nostalgic retrospect, because Advent Children was cool to watch and made Cloud a lot less insane (but just as emo). Seriously, the guy was a dick waving amnesiac asshole with mommy issues. His faggotry pretty much set the pattern for all the shitty lead characters that followed. Squall shared some of his issues, but was his own man and his story was about learning about his past and father, while falling in love over the course of the story, in a story about time travel where history was essentially repeating. The side characters in FF9 were fairly terrible, though, compared to most of their FF7 bretheren. Like, maybe Quistis was the only tolerable one and Zell was arguably the most annoying character prior to 13 to ever exist in the series.

Where FF7 was good was that you pretty much knew who the villain was the entire game (FF8, FF9, and anything post FF12 fumbled severely here), which really is why that game was so well liked since Sephiroth is every anime fanboy's wet dream (I liked him at the time, myself) complete with his own badass theme music in Italian. Though the best of the series (FF4 and FF6) pulled bait and switches, their antagonists were well defined with graspable motivations. I think Kefka was probably the best executed antagonist in the entire series, since you had the Emporer as a fake out and he was a lunatic engineered being who shared an origin with Celes.

Folanlron · Aug 5, 2017

8 has grown on me over the years, story wise anyway. Junction system is still garbage and it's tied with FFII for worst leveling system.

Rezz · Aug 5, 2017

Fadaar said:
Japanese game devs, or maybe it's just Square, hard-on for an 'identifiable' (read: little whiney boy band looking bitch) protag is completely retarded. Japanese males can't be that wussy in reality can they?

This has been covered a couple of times, but I'll help out~

The modern japanese male aesthetic is that of a well dressed effeminate man. Skinny body, well coiffed hair, no facial hair... this is the japanese ideal aesthetic in recent years. Not "wuss" but not the more rugged badass that we westerners are generally used to.

This has been a thing for over three decades at this point. Just look at any of Yoshitaka Amano's FF illustrations; he's generally referenced in art direction in every game, and his art style reflects the less rugged look as a default.

Kriptini · Aug 5, 2017

Yeah but at least Cecil has shoulders.

Ritley · Aug 6, 2017

Got the hang of the cure list RNG manipulation. I have no idea how someone figured this shit out to begin with. Definitely works though, got Gendarme in about 10 minutes even though I'm probably not going to use it since it's so OP

spronk · Aug 6, 2017

Ritley said:
Got the hang of the cure list RNG manipulation. I have no idea how someone figured this shit out to begin with. Definitely works though, got Gendarme in about 10 minutes even though I'm probably not going to use it since it's so OP

yeah that cure rng pattern detector thing is insane, whoever figured that out is a genius. i grabbed that seitengar after a while, just wanted to finish the game and not spend hours fighting trash

I just finished FFXII zodiac tonight after a few weeks of playing on and off. i'm not a huge final fantasy fan, only played 7 and a little bit of 14 and 15. I enjoyed the combat and classes of 13 but man the story and characters were utter crap. I looked at what it would take to get the platinum trophy and fuck that shit, just the Mist Walker trophy (quickenings) seems retarded as fuck to try and get, spent about 15 mins failing miserably and reading up it seems like it can take hours and hours and is 100% RNG and "quicktime reflexes" dependent, which is the one thing I absolutely detest in games.

overall its not a game I truly enjoyed, I kinda liked the MMO grindy aspects of it but I don't think I would ever want to play a game like this again, especially with such a incoherent and weaboo plot. At times I felt like I was playing the star wars prequels in final fantasy form.

Ritley · Aug 6, 2017

spronk said:
yeah that cure rng pattern detector thing is insane, whoever figured that out is a genius. i grabbed that seitengar after a while, just wanted to finish the game and not spend hours fighting trash

I just finished FFXII zodiac tonight after a few weeks of playing on and off. i'm not a huge final fantasy fan, only played 7 and a little bit of 14 and 15. I enjoyed the combat and classes of 13 but man the story and characters were utter crap. I looked at what it would take to get the platinum trophy and fuck that shit, just the Mist Walker trophy (quickenings) seems retarded as fuck to try and get, spent about 15 mins failing miserably and reading up it seems like it can take hours and hours and is 100% RNG and "quicktime reflexes" dependent, which is the one thing I absolutely detest in games.

overall its not a game I truly enjoyed, I kinda liked the MMO grindy aspects of it but I don't think I would ever want to play a game like this again, especially with such a incoherent and weaboo plot. At times I felt like I was playing the star wars prequels in final fantasy form.

Yeah I think I'm about to just finish the game. Will probably get the last two espers and then finish it off, ain't nobody got time for all of those hunts.

I did enjoy the game for the most part, but just drags on too long with all of the side shit that is more tedious than anything

Ritley · Aug 6, 2017

For anyone that wants to use the cure list RNG manipulation, here's the site I used. Works pretty well, you'll definitely need to go to the forum listed on the site to understand how it works if you don't already know.

FF XII – RNG Cure List

DrSpooge · Aug 6, 2017

Had a nasty stomach bug that's prevented me from playing this much, so I'm just gonna start a new game with more careful job selection. Thinking

Vaan Shikari/Breaker
Penelo Red Mage / Archer
Ashe Black mage / monk
Basche Knight / Bushi
Balthier Uhlan / time mage
Fran White Mage / machinist

I know the job combos are pretty standard, but have I assigned them to appropriate characters?

a_skeleton_00 · Aug 6, 2017

Basch shouldn't be your Tank combo but he'll still be ok just a little lower defense cause of shitty VIT

Vorph · Aug 6, 2017

Yeah, Vaan definitely wants Knight/Bushi in that setup. Not just the VIT, Vaan also has way more MAG than Basch, and Knight is a decent healer with Curaga and Curaja.

Phazael · Aug 6, 2017

Basch is fine in that role (which I view as DPS, not tank). If you are looking to break the game, the Ninja/white mage combo with max evade busts most of the game, really. Not a fan of the White Mage machinist, due to the inability to get all three swiftness ranks in that combination, but some people swear by it. Black Mage Monk combo is really strong, with the right esper unlocks.

DrSpooge · Aug 6, 2017

I'm half-inclined to just not use s machinist and replace it with a second shikari. Bad idea? Machinist seems kinda bad.

joz123 · Aug 6, 2017

Mach/whm is good mainly for the hp and so you can use a gun since it doesnt depend on str

Merrith · Aug 8, 2017

Phazael said:
I think Cloud was one of the worst protagonists in a FF game to exist and that FF7 is overrated because people who came into the series in the PS1 era (especially early edge lord anime types) worshiped Sephiroth, who was the first major American exposure to that type of anime villain. My favorite protagonists were Cecil from FF4 and Celes from FF6. If Square's marketing department didn't have such a hardon for Japanese boy band knock off characters, Auron and Basch would have been the protagonists of their respective games and on the same level. That's not even getting into Ramza, Denim, or Lance (FF-Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and Knights of Lodis, respectfully) who eclipsed anything in the main Square titles. FF7 marked where the main writer started going insane (think his parents died or something) and writing weird shit, causing it to be a committee written thing from there on out. Its also where it stopped being medieval worlds (mostly) and became full on JPOP video nihilistic world stuff, though both 9 and 12 dialed that back a little.

But seriously where is this character development you are talking about? Cloud went from "I think I am Zack for some reason" to "guess I will bang Tifa since Aeris is dead and we are about to die at the crater", with a lot of nonsensical crazy in between, like the cross dressing stuff and Sephiroth somehow magically being able to control him because he was Trans-Zacking that hard. Vincent had the better story arc and more interesting background and he was an optional character.....

And yeah, any game where I can farm three easy to get things and instantly hit max level in three arena fights less than halfway through the game is pretty much a busted system (FF10), because at least the stat linking in FF8 required you to go around and get enough Espers (and the right ones) to cover all stats for three characters. FF10 also had some of the most retarded mini games, all of which were essential to get the ultimate weapons or breaks for characters (seriously, only an Asian would think dodging a billion lightning bolts for an item is fun and fuck underwater soccer). The real issue with FF8 was the enemies scaling with your level making generic character levels meaningless and incentivizing people to NOT ever use magic in the game. Hmm, now that I think of it, Tidus might be the worst protagonist ever in a FF game, the imaginary son of the imaginary friend of the dude who should have been the main protagonist, if the marketing faggots at Square were not calling the shots.... The "laugh" scene might be the cringiest thing I have seen in a game (until ME:A came out) all time.

If Celes can be protagonist from 6, then Vaan doesn't have to be the protagonist in 12, it can be Balthier/Basch.

As for the Cloud/7 hate, I know it's become the cool thing to do the last 10-15 years, but there are plenty of us who started back at FF1 that still thought 7 was an amazing leap for the genre in general, and especially the series (not to say 6 wasn't great, it was). That transition from 6 on SNES over here and 7 on PS was pretty much the golden era of Final Fantasy. I wish I had gotten to play 5 earlier back then, but going through 4, to 6, to 7, the progression was just better and better for me. I'm sure there are plenty of people who didn't like 7's story, but the twists with the Cloud/Zach/Sepiroth connections was pretty damn awesome back then...and still enjoyable to play through today, even if the graphics really haven't held up. "nonsensical crazy" just sounds like "I don't feel like liking it, so I'm going to call it shit".

Most players of 10 weren't going to be able to hit max level in 3 arena fights, and casuals would never even come close to that. The Sphere Grid was a very nicely done leveling system for the most part, and the combat in 10 was pretty damn good. While I won't agree about all the mini games in 10 (people who whine about balloon dodging on the choco are just bad), I'll agree the lightning bolt thing was pretty stupid...and I can get people getting sick of blitzball (although I didn't mind it to be honest, was just a grind for Wakka's ultimate). Hell Auron didn't need to be the protagonist, everyone still thought he was a badass and even most of the people that complain about 10 for various reasons all pretty much love Auron.

Magic and leveling systems were the big turn off in 8 for me, although like a lot of the later FF games imo, the story would have it's good parts, then sort of lose steam as you went along (8, 9 as soon as you left the Mist Continent, 12 at about the midway point, etc).

Folanlron · Aug 8, 2017

I started FF with 1, then got to play 2-5 at my friends house(Japanese family, moved stateside for work)

I like 4-6 better then 7-15(They all have decent stories(some of the characters are lame though but, maybe that was the idea) mechanics are about all the same, just minor differences, except fucking 8 and 2, what drugs were they on when they designed thoose system... I have too wonder.

The Final Fantasy Mega Thread - Now playing FFXV

Karazhan Raider

Blackwing Lair Raider

That guy

Potato del Grande

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard

Trakanon Raider

Mr. Poopybutthole

Vyemm Raider

Karazhan Raider

FPS noob

Karazhan Raider

Karazhan Raider

Blackwing Lair Raider

Silver Baronet of the Realm

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard

Blackwing Lair Raider

Potato del Grande

Golden Baronet of the Realm

Trakanon Raider