Final Fantasy Official Thread

[Hero-of-Time]

Another day, another crystal.

 

Yesterday I finally upgraded my characters. I had to do a quick search on Google to find out how, but at least it's done now. The character sprites look even better now that they are upgraded.

 

I also nabbed me an airship yesterday. It was great having a little more freedom while travelling, although having to find a spot of land I can actually land on is sometimes a pain. You land and then there is usually a long trek involved to get to the town or dungeon.

 

My characters are now level 42 and have just entered the Flying Fortress...

[Hero-of-Time]

Triple post!

 

After 17 hours of gameplay I defeated the final boss and the world has been saved.

 

I have to say I really enjoyed the game. Sure the story is very basic, but the gameplay is very old skool and is just the kind of thing I was looking for after playing The Last Story.

 

That's 3 FF games down this year, many more to go.

 

*heads to ebay to look for FFII on the PSP*

 

EDIT: Found and bought.

Edited March 5, 2012 by Hero-of-Time

[Grazza]

I'm reading, them Hero-of-Time.

 

Gotta say, I fancy playing Final Fantasy I-III (or I-VI, even). If I ever get a Vita and they're available for it as PSP downloads, I'll give them a go.

[Ike]

How much did you pay for FFII? It's on the PSN for £8. I got a 50% off code with another PSP game so I own both. Although the box got damaged while in the post.

[Hero-of-Time]

How much did you pay for FFII? It's on the PSN for £8. I got a 50% off code with another PSP game so I own both. Although the box got damaged while in the post.

 

£19.99 brand new and sealed, non platinum/essential version. I don't do digital if I can, I prefer to have a physical copy of the game.

[darksnowman]

£19.99 brand new and sealed, non platinum/essential version. I don't do digital if I can, I prefer to have a physical copy of the game.

 

Thats Cranky Kongtastic!

 

Glad you enjoyed FF. I knew you would but still feared you might not click with it. Would have helped no end that you played a remake. I reckon you would have figured out how to promote/ class up your party without consulting a guide if you pottered about the game world a bit more.

 

FF II is a different beast. Give it a fair shake before giving up on it, ok?

 

@Grazza FF 1+2 and IV-VI on GBA are great versions if you can get them, trust me. The Playstation Anthology versions are meant to be really laggy (even on the PSN) so they are worth avoiding. FF VI is on the Wii VC and aside from that game getting a new translation for the GBA remake, the Snes original is still hard to beat.

[Grazza]

@Grazza FF 1+2 and IV-VI on GBA are great versions if you can get them, trust me. The Playstation Anthology versions are meant to be really laggy (even on the PSN) so they are worth avoiding. FF VI is on the Wii VC and aside from that game getting a new translation for the GBA remake, the Snes original is still hard to beat.

 

OK, thanks, I'll look into them. If they became available for 3DS Virtual Console, that'd be very welcome.

 

Maybe I'm getting on, but PSN confuses the heck out of me. I've looked into it but I find it very hard to know what exactly I'd be able to download into my Vita if I got one. Apart from Final Fantasy, one game I've always wanted to play (that has been released on PSP) is Lunar: the Silver Star. I saw it in a Sega magazine once when it was being developed for the Mega CD, and the frames of animation enchanted me.

[Hero-of-Time]

So, I started Final Fantasy II yesterday and I havent a clue what's going on in terms of levelling up.

 

I see that there are no levels and no experience, yet I keep getting stat increases. Spells are a little confusing aswell. I assume anyone can learn them and the more I use them the more they level up? Does they same go for weapons?

 

I played it for about an hour and called it quits until I can get my head around what is going on.

[darksnowman]

Yeah, FF II is pretty radical in its levelling up. As you've guessed, spells level up the more you use them - one of the results of this is that when you get stuff like Ultima and Holy, they are inferior to the spells you've levelled up since the beginning.

 

All your stats level up the more they are used. Take a beating and your defence will increase, same goes for attack stats, etc. They may have ironed out all the glitches for the PSP release but it would be worth looking into as you never know what loopholes they unknowingly left.

 

Its a sound idea for a level up system but it just feels a little weird in practise. I hope you don't get too put off... I've played through FF II twice so its definitely a workable game.

[Hero-of-Time]

So, by the sounds of it if I want better HP and DEF it's best to just say, stand there and defend for a while and then end the battle, rather than attacking and ending it quickly?

 

Is there any downside to levelling the spells up early on in the game? I was just hanging around the first village, spamming my magic until I ran out of MP and then going back to the Inn for some healing.

 

Speaking of the Inn, do they charge you more the more HP you have lost? I could have sworn they charged me a hefty amount one time and then sod all another time.

[Grazza]

Yeah, FF II is pretty radical in its levelling up. As you've guessed, spells level up the more you use them - one of the results of this is that when you get stuff like Ultima and Holy, they are inferior to the spells you've levelled up since the beginning.

 

That reminds me of something else. Are there many other RPGs that use this system?

[Andyliini]

Is there any downside to levelling the spells up early on in the game? I was just hanging around the first village, spamming my magic until I ran out of MP and then going back to the Inn for some healing.

 

Speaking of the Inn, do they charge you more the more HP you have lost? I could have sworn they charged me a hefty amount one time and then sod all another time.

 

No, there really are no downsides. The only one I think is possible, at least in the Origins version, is to boost uo your spells, but not MP, that way, you'll quickly run out of MP, and if your HP/MP decrease to 0, and you revive it from there, there's no HP up bonus at the end of battle.

 

Yeah, the Inn takes money depending on your current HP/MP it's 1 gil for 1 HP and 4 gil for 1 MP.

[darksnowman]

H-o-T, what Andyliini says is good advice and something I'd forgotten. So watch out for that when power levelling some spells. You have too pure a mind when it comes to getting HP, a good way (aka exploit) to build your health is to get into a battle and beat on your own party for a while. I did that on my second play through and it does pay dividends if you feel underpowered.

 

That reminds me of something else. Are there many other RPGs that use this system?

 

Hmm... Pro Evo Master League? Yeah, not an RPG... erm...

Edited March 18, 2012 by darksnowman

[Hero-of-Time]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

 

I'm a little confused with what you guys said about magic though. I understand what your saying in that if I use magic, my powers level will increase and cost more to cast, but my MP will still be low. Doesn't my MP go up if I use magic though, or is there another way to increases that stat?

 

At this point I feel like i'm EV training on Pokemon.

[Andyliini]

There is this bug in the game, or at least there was in Origins-version. Let's assume you attack with Firion, and choose your target. Next is Maria's turn, since these old games didn't have ATB. Instead of attacking with Maria, cancel her turn, so it's Firion's turn again.

 

As you already know, the skill with equipped weapon increases every 100th attack you do with it. You could just cancels Maria's turn every time and return to Firion. This way you could easily attack 100 times in every battle. This also works for spells, so you could level up all your spells without consuming any MP. You could just level up too much by mistake.

 

That makes grinding way faster, me thinks.

[Grazza]

Hmm... Pro Evo Master League? Yeah, not an RPG... erm...

 

I've remembered now - Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Not a game I'm fond of, but you mastered each weapon the more you used it.

[darksnowman]

Have you given up on your FF II endeavours, H-o-T?

[Hero-of-Time]

Have you given up on your FF II endeavours, H-o-T?

 

Pretty much. I hated the levelling up system, it's hard to determine whether you are making progress or not. I also hate that stronger enemies are in the same areas as the weaker ones. Far too many times I was wandering around only to face enemies that took me out in one shot.

[darksnowman]

Oh, that sucks. I hope you feel the urge to go back to it some day.

 

(I think stronger enemies are off the beaten path. Its the games way of trying to keep you heading in the right direction and not wandering off somewhere you aren't meant to be yet.)

[Grazza]

Final Fantasy does have a way of doing that. In FFXII I entered a cave and was wiped out straight away. I know it's an RPG tradition of having stronger enemies at night and in caves, but it ruins the fun if you can't get away and just remember not to go back there for a while.

[Hero-of-Time]

I randomly popped in to the FF thread over on gaf and read this.

 

So yeah, Final Fantasy II is probably a lost cause for me. I've been playing the PSP version but I'm not enjoying it at all. The obscene random encounter rate/enemies per encounter coupled to maze-like dungeons with a ton of doors leading to empty rooms with more random encounters EVERY STEP YOU TAKE is sapping all the fun from exploring. Will it get better later on? I'm only in the Semit Falls (or something) and I've already had enough of this game ):

 

Hmm...if you're only at Semmit Falls, you've got quite a ways to go. If you aren't feeling it, it most likely won't get better for you. FFII is the one FF game that gets the most hate, I feel, and it's certainly not for everyone. Hell, it took 3 playthroughs (and countless attempts) for me to finally go "hey, this isn't that bad.

 

Glad to see i'm not the only one who has issues with FFII.

[darksnowman]

Man, you're such a pussy. Just play the game. If I can play it twice, you can do it once!

[Grazza]

LOL, some plain-speaking there from @darksnowman!

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, you're such a pussy. Just play the game. If I can play it twice, you can do it once!

 

Well of course you like it, you're Irish.

[darksnowman]

Well of course you like it, you're Irish.

 

I don't understand that... but thanks anyway!