Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@Jimmer-jammer @LtSarge There's also the fact that people can use the spells/abilities in the game in very different ways, so the combat can be different for everybody. I'll be honest that I use them just randomly at times for the ones that don't take very long to cool down, but instead of using draining my supply of potions all the time, I will use the Limit Break and Flames of Rebirth to help with healing a lot. Sometimes combining Flame of Rebirth with Gigaflare to offensively drain their Stagger bar.

While I eventually stopped reading any updates from Vivian and just checked in on her just to have the dot go away, I do appreciate all of the little things as well. It helps that I love Western RPGs and this is very much like them, with those small touches along with a large group of characters that you interact with and get to know well throughout the course of the game. I understand not everybody will care enough to get invested, but Horizon Forbidden West is probably the last game of this scale to really accomplish the sense of getting to know various side and main characters in the game and do it so well like FFXVI. I think that does it even better, especially with some of the actual tasks and such, but I still appreciate what they've done in FFXVI.

I haven't used the Active Time Lore system much as I go to Harpocrates every time I'm at the Hideaway, but I do appreciate the fact that it's there. It mildly reminds me of the feature on Prime Video where it shows you who is in each scene and such.

I can't really comment on the whole moments part much since I unfortunately neglected most of the series. I have finished Final Fantasy 7 Remake twice, Final Fantasy XIII, Crisis Core Reunion, and obviously XVI soon enough. I played VII and X, but never finished either as I likely got stuck and then just moved on. I was a different gamer back then, and without YouTube to look things up then, I would just move on unlike what I would do now. I will try my best work through the series from VII onward at some point over time (VII after Remake's whole story is done).

I intended to follow up with a reply and forgot to but I definitely agree with the frustration of this phenomenon. Review bombing and review propping is one of the unsettling parts of user reviews. I don’t see it on here, but definitely on parts of social media and Metacritic. If someone’s upset about one singular aspect of a game, it’s automatically a 1/10, or if it’s a sequel to their favorite series it’s an automatic 10/10 even if the game is broken.

More so, this is a huge problem in politics and general social discourse. What was once radical political extremes is now just the accepted “left” or “right”. I seem to be one of the few moderates remaining; the analytical middle shrinks and people scamper to join the radical positions. I’m pretty sure this is how war begins.

Anyways, I’m way off topic and I know that your FF analysis is complete (or at least on hold) but I do think most Push Squareans are solidly nuanced and appreciate constructive criticism and evaluation. And both the disapproval I’m seeing and the praise for FF16 (yours included) has all the appropriate logic and reasoning behind it. It’s great to read everyone’s take. And of course, occasionally with art it’s just flat out difficult to explain why we like or dislike something. But I think it’s healthy to try.

Got a little session in this afternoon and really enjoyed the Typhon boss fight, as well as the cinematics that followed. I’m maybe 15 hours in or so… and I’m honestly thinking it’s the best game I’ve played this year. It has all the hallmarks of a big Sony first party blockbuster but with that extra Japanese flavour. Feels like a Naughty Dog or Sony Santa Monica FF game… and while I’m aware that is blasphemy to the hardcore… it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.

Took me a while but I finally finished XVI - including everything that could be done in a single playthrough (so the only remaining trophies are for beating hard mode and fully upgrading all skills).

Very epic. The final blow of the final boss fight was very satisfying

@KilloWertz That’s a good use. In some of the more intense battles, managing potions and health becomes a real concern! I’ve been down to the wire, relying only on Torgal’s Heal ability to glean that but of available health back. I’m constantly managing cooldown times, the limit break gauge and my opponents will gauge in a give and take manner in the hope that I’ll line up a stagger with big damage abilities at the ready. Magic bursts and precision sics and ravages are very effective at breaking the opponents will quickly also. Always thinking ahead of what to do next. It’s very engaging!

@colonelkilgore Glad to hear it! In my opinion it keeps getting better and better. Cid is such a great and memorable character, which from a narrative perspective, makes the rest of the game work that much better. Ramuh’s feat, Blind Justice, is a weird one that I think I’m finally figuring out. It works as a damage multiplier as far as I can tell (maybe someone can confirm this). As in, once the enemy is tagged with the little ball of lightning, attacking them ignites and chains damage around to any other marked enemies but it seems to be based off of the type of attack you hit hit them with. After tagging, I’ll usually Phoenix Shift up and use a sword rather than a magic attack as it seems to chain higher damage. I’ll have to test this theory with more powerful Eikonic abilities as it could be a good way to essentially buff your damage from a powerful attack on staggered enemies.

In my quest to play every Final Fantasy I started FF8 last night. That leaves 9 & 16 (ignoring 11 for now unless they make an offline version).

Only an hour in but could someone explain the GF system to me? How do I heal outside of items?

I grinded a little as I got destroyed by a T-Rex in the woods lol & the GF’s are levelled up a fair bit. When I go into their options it says ‘complete’, but I don’t seem to be able to add any base spells to the command bar atm. Are these just passive bonuses?

Also given how the trigger system is based on real time input it doesn’t make much sense to play the game at 3x speed unless when grinding, right?

@Fight_Teza_Fight GF are like accessories that you can equip magic to, to buff your strength, magic etc. The more magic you have in the bank, the bigger the buff. The problem/"problem" is for the best result you want to have 99 of that magic banked, and it takes time to draw that many from enemies (although it's a lot better with 3x speed).. and then if you have 99 of something like cure, you'll inevitably be using those, so you'll need to keep drawing them or you'll gradually lose the benefit of having it equipped to a GF. (there are enemies around that you can draw cure from, so you shouldn't need to rely on items only for healing).

On top of that you have the enemy scaling which means it's easier to just try to keep a lower level and abuse the GF system.

The weird way you earn Gil is just the icing on the weird FF8 cake.

@kyleforrester87 Well did not expect it to work like that. My natural inclination is to grind in a JRPG, so thanks for the heads up!
Sounds interesting to say the least.

@Fight_Teza_Fight the GF system is a great idea but in practise has a few problems is all, mainly that drawing 99 magic’s can be annoying.

As for level scaling, the more you level the harder the enemies get, but they also get better magic, which gives you the chance to draw a bunch of it to junction it with a GF to get you better stats. So in that respect I think levelling up can be important, but essentially don’t bother grinding experience for levels, just grind to draw magic so you can have the strongest benefit from junctioning as that’s where your power will come from.

Great session (on FFXVI) today and I’d imagine I’m around halfway through now (maybe a tad more)… just finished off Titan once and for all (epic fight btw). Still really enjoying the combat, with the addition of new Eikon abilities and such… and the narrative is just right up my street tbh.

@Fight_Teza_Fight To add to what Kyle said;

1) You only obtain spells through drawing. Sometimes you'll find draw points in the world but mostly you'll get them from enemies. Using sleep and then spamming draw is a useful but tedious method. It's always worth checking what you can draw from an enemy each fight; new spells will show as ?????? but in some boss fights there will be GFs that you can draw and that is your one chance to get them! It doesn't really highlight that they're anything special so doubly check any unique enemy you face.

2) Junctioning is a big part of the game and what Kyle alludes to. You'll want each character to have a GF that allows you to junction a spell to HP otherwise you'll be in trouble. Different stats respond best to different spells so HP will always do best with health spells for instance. Then think about how you'll use character to determine what GFs you use. E.g. Zell is great for physical attacks so you'll want to be able to junction spells to strength for him.

3) Have a good luck at what skills you can unlock with your GF. Boost should be a priority so you can maximise their attack strength. But there are some neat abilities. I think it's Quezacotl who has an ability to turn Triple Triad cards into items. This is great as 1) it is great for getting loads of items, especially if you use it on super rare cards (I think one unique card turns into 100 Elixirs!) but 2) it lets you clear your deck of rubbish cards which is really useful if the random rule is in play so you don't end up using terrible cards. Some skills only become available once the GF is at a certain level.

It's a bit of a weird system but one you get used to. And I highly recommend the Triple Triad game!

@Fight_Teza_Fight Best game ever, whenever it released. I absolutely love FF8 and not for the reasons others do. FF8 has level scaling, so don't go mad levelling, it's not worth the time.

Funnily enough the FF8 guides on game faqs are some of their most lauded. The game can be as complex or simple as you want. FF8 is easy as FF games go. No enemy needs a particular strategy other than whacking them over and over or obvious counters to certain nerfs. The depth of FF8 is ridiculous for a ps1 game if you fall into the rabbit hole though, so if you are just playing for the series sake - just go for the GFs and ignore Triple Triad and anti levelling.

Now onto junctioning.
The terms used for junctioning in game are weird. So heres some tips; Always have a GF equipped to a character, they gain xp during battle and additional abilites unlock for each GF. The passive abilities later on are some of the best in the series. So find a GF - equip it to a character - press Auto under the junction menu - this tends to work well mostly - then move the most powerful magics to attack and health. Similar to Fifa Ultimate team when you are moving magic the stats change in real time, so you can see how it effects your stats in a similar way to team chemistry in Fifa.

You can stack GFs onto 1 character. Some GFs offer similar buffs later on so you can have a team out with every stat boosted. If you are only playing through FF8 once. I would recommend using a GF guide on how you obtain them. You wouldn't want to miss Doom Train! FF8 is all about the GFs, in total there are 16 obtainable.

Magic
There are 50 different magic types and you can only hold 32 for each character. So if you come across Apocalypse or Ultima - bin those fire spells and Junction the better magic ASAP. Each spell has a different power rating - so a lowly cure spell won't boost as much as cura which won't boost as much as curaga. Each spell held maxes at 99 in your inventory. So for the best stats you want 99 of whatever spell for max boost. So draw, draw, draw.

You gain held magic by drawing from enemies or spots in the world. It's almost always best drawing from enemies as the world spells tend to be low power level bar a few special places on the map. (Islands inaccessible until you get some transport).

Use potions and don't hoard them like other ff games. Make sure to stock up on potions, tents and health stuffs at the shops. You will gain abilities to cure via later GFs.

Triple Triad
The greatest card game in gaming, until the rules change and you have no idea what's going on. Try it by all means, vanilla Triple Triad is great. But once those stupid rule changes come in, it's becomes impossible without a calculator and trust me - I've done that and still lost.

The reason I love FF8 is it was the first game I could chill with in a similar way to people who still play Diablo 2. You can get into a routine of drawing everything and anything. FF8 after the initial shock of the systems is a cakewalk. From the wage system, ranking up via questionnaires, the GF animations. Such a great game. Pity the story goes absolutely mental. Disc 1 is pure quality. The latter discs, not so much. Good luck Teza, have fun and bear with it!

Wrapped up Final Fantasy XVI today after 87 hours and I'm not sure how I feel about the ending at all. I figured I'd put the discussion in here rather than the review thread.

@KilloWertz Congrats mate!

@LtSarge He did heal him, but they never did show him actually being revived. If he was, why not show it? Honestly, why have the ending be so ambiguous? There's no need for that. To give you every reason to get attached to the characters thank to the many side quests and story as a whole, they should give you even a bit of closure. It honestly feels like you only got half of the ending, because technically you never see Joshua be revived or Clive actually dying. It's an absurd way to end the game, and if Clive actually died, that's a pretty crappy and unnecessary way to end the game too. Just show what actually happened. There's no reason to get cute with the storytelling all of a sudden for the ending.

Probably the most fun day of gaming I’ve had in 2023 today. Real close to the end now… just killed Odin so epic! Think I’ve gotten close to my perfect set up now (though I haven’t tried Odin’s abilities yet). Combat is just a pleasure to partake in and the narrative… is so far up my street, that it’s past my house! Awesome!

@colonelkilgore It’s really great, isn’t it? I’m over 110h on my play through 😬 What’s the setup you’ve settled into? Mine is:

@Jimmer-jammer My other discussion about my feelings on the ending of Final Fantasy XVI right after I beat it kind of died quicker than I had hoped, so what are your thoughts on what I said about it? https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/ps_general_discussion/final...

@Jimmer-jammer sorry dude, had to wait til I got back on the game as couldn’t remember what all the moves were called, so I’ve been using:

There are probably much better set ups I’d imagine but I’m finding this combination fun.

@KilloWertz I’ve yet to actually roll credits on the thing 😂 Feels like I’ve been in the 90% completion range for an age. Needless to say I’m getting my money’s worth! Think I only have the last main mission left so when I finish it I’ll gladly jump in on the discussion.

@colonelkilgore No worries! That seems like a fun setup. I really like Titan’s feat and ran with that for a long while but Cold Snap ended up slotting in its place for me. The perfect Cold Snap to Permafrost to Rime to Phoenix Shift to Burning Blade to Precision Ravage to Dancing Steel to Zantetsuken 😅 combo has been a zinger for me! If I can get a half stagger in, I’ll usually try to fit Gouge in there too. I haven’t even learned Gigaflare yet but it looks pretty sweet. I’m really hoping we get some more content from this game at some point but I fear it will be a one and done. One can hope anyways.