Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

So I figured what the heck and bought FFIX. I am not sure when I will get around to playing it or if I will like it, given that I have hated the FF series since VII. But I heard this one feels more like the order games.

@Tasuki yeah it does feel like the older ones, even to the point where you have 4 party members instead of 3

also look at this guy, if that doesn't scream classic FF i don't know what does

(moving from another thread--sorry! didn't know there was a designated FF one)

So why do you guys think Square keeps milking FFXV?

Don't get me wrong...FFXV was a fun game. But I wouldn't call it remarkable enough to warrant an entire expanded universe. The world and lore for it aren't anything special, at least when compared with Ivalice, Spira, or Gaia, and its characters are pretty bland compared with other casts in the series. I wasn't too much of a fan of FFXII gameplay-wise with the gambit system, but at least most of its characters were memorable.

Is square actually making a good deal of money off the spinoffs games, movies, etc., that it is producing within the FFXV universe? If not, couldn't its time better be spent working on other games, or the next game in the series?

@Kogorn733 sorry in advance for the long reply but there are several points you touched upon!

For the updates to the game itself I just think Tabata and team really love their project and want to realise the vision they had for it even if they were forced to meet a deadline and get the game out last year. They had been working on XV just a little more than 3 years after receiving the terrible task of making a functional game out of a lot of pre existing assets Nomura and his team created for Versus XIII and I think it's almost a miracle the game turned out as it did. I am totally convinced they could really give us a fantastic game if charged with the next FF project from the start.

Then you have Square Enix's will to try this new game as a service trend for things like the comrades expansion, the timed Quest, timed events etc. I don't mind. The next FF won't come out before they released the remake of VII in three episodes (developed by a totally different team)... They have time to spare and experiment a little.

I am not a fan of the expanded universe thing in terms of movies/anime and other medias... I think their angle with this is to create a lot of "entry points" to the XV universe and make different kind of people become invested into it.

Finally, I just played the two games almost back to back and I personally think Noctis & C simply overshadow the cast of XII in the charisma department. Though I like XII its Ivalice setting, the cast striked me (again) as one of the blandest in the series - Vaan and Penelo aside, I can't even say that I actively dislike them as I do with others (like Squall or Serah and Noel) they just don't elicitate a strong emotional response in me. The four Bros? Endearing as hell. True buddies. I also find the world very unique and interesting...can't say I played any other game with a similar setting. The lore is but a missed opportunity since it's not explored too much.

@Kogorn733 "So why do you guys think Square keeps milking FFXV?"

@Kogorn733 because the game went through at least 3 different versions and game engines multiple rewrites and at least 2 different teams over the span of 10 years so Square need to make their money back

besides they aint "milking" it, that term gets thrown around FAR too much these days, it's ONE game being supported via DLC, it not like they are releasing a game every year with little to no changes like Call of Duty or Fifa and still charging full whack, THAT is milking

if you think releasing DLC over the course of a year is milking then games like Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Skyrim or pretty much ANY MMO must be doing it too right, .......No of course they aint it's just the way the industry works now, games cost a tonne to make and they have to recoup the cost somehow

@johncalmc yeah maxing out all the sphere grid thing really time consuming - the closer thing in XII is probably completing thr bestiary, you need all the rare monsters for it and need to make them spawn I'm very specific ways...

@Feena I had a read of a guide and it said I was best to tackle the trials first since most of the monsters feature in that in some capacity. Then mop up the rest. So that's my current plan. I've got all the espers barring two now. Just got to get Ultima and Zodiark. I think I'm underlevelled for that though. I've got myself trapped in the hidden area of the Henne Mines, ran out of MP items so I can't heal, and have no viable means of escape other than running. Dull.

@johncalmc maybe use charge or drain for thr MP! Zodiark and Ultima are "interesting" fights (*bites pillow and screams)

Fun fact time! you can actually play Final Fantasy 9 in 2 Player (Combat Only) It was never mentioned in the manual =P

http://nbalive-hack.com/

O.o oh I didn't know! Ty

Ah I did try that once.

Second fun fact, which takes me back to the second post I made in this thread:

http://kotaku.com/13-years-later-a-new-final-fantasy-ix-quest...

Also if you look at the water fountain in the hallway on the way to the lift in the midsection of Lindblum castle, Zidane mentions there being no where for the medallion to go. I read today that's apparently that's a Resident Evil 2 reference, which is fun lol.

LMAO gotta love the first RE chapters when we were surrounded by zombies and picking up absolutely random things like dragonfly combs and medallions

@Feena Yup. Kinda made sense in an old mansion though. No idea why the police station in the sequel was full of obtuse puzzles lol

The Yiazmat fight in Final Fantasy XII is absolutely awful. Like 10/10 awful. It should be stricken from the record. Anyone involved in creating it should be going to prison.

I don't understand what it is with Square Enix and superbosses. I thought the massive turtle in Final Fantasy XV was real bad, but Yiazmat was like "hold my beer." The problem is that the fights are fantastically long drawn out and very difficult to actually lose, meaning there's little to no enjoyment one can glean from them. I don't understand why you'd create a battle system which essentially means that the game plays itself, and then create a boss with a billion HP that takes forever to kill, and then give it an attack that just randomly kills one of your party meaning that you can't even just set up your gambits and then go to the pub while your party kills it. You have to sit there reviving your leader should he/she be bumped off every twenty seconds or so.

Awful.

Anyway, it's dead now, so I'm doing the trials and then I'm pretty much headed to platinum city for FFXII. All in all, having never played it since the PS2 days, and having always declared it the worst Final Fantasy game I'd ever played, I've warmed to it considerably playing it a second time. The story is way more entertaining than I remember, and the characters are a lot more likeable than I recall. The battle system is still a bit pedestrian, but I have definitely enjoyed my time with the game, aside from fighting Yiazmat.

I forgot how terrifying Atomos is in FFIX. Great cutscene.

@johncalmc in the original he was actually pretty though (on top of the annoying HP) cause the techs to lower strength and defense weren't there and nice equipment was way harder to find... on top of that you couldn't speed up the game. Not a nice memory. I quite like the game and its combat system though, it still feels modern now...

@ApostateMage it's awesome

@Feena The new version is a bit of a double-edged sword, though. In the old one I seem to recall that everyone could learn everything but they just learned it in a different order (correct me if I'm wrong though, it's been years since I played it). In this once, because you pick jobs, you can lock yourself out of certain skills if you're not careful. I realised this when I Googled, "Is there any way kill Yiazmat quicker" and discovered that the technicks Wither and Expose would be useful, only to then seconds later discover that not a single one of my characters could use either skill.

@johncalmc yeah there was just one huge board. With the new system you get more statistic buffs and can be more effective in your role but yeah you need to plan or you could end up gimped in some ways. Though (of course lol) there are communities devoted to finish the game using just white mages, just black mages etc.

@Feena I thought I'd done a pretty good job with spreading out the jobs but apparently not. I've just been looking at what trials are still to come and my heart sank. I'm at 86 (the one with the pirates). Apparently I have to fight Zodiark again which is irritating.