Final Fantasy IX (PS4)

[Julius]

19 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Ah, Gizamaluke's Grotto, that makes sense. Neither Burmecia nor Lindblum, the truth lied somewhere in the middle

By the way, @Julius, I might be alone in thinking this, but I love that part with Dagger&Steiner that you're about to play now. Really like it when RPGs allow parties to split up for a different character dynamic.

Yeah that's my bad, got Burmecia's positioning mixed up, I should've just named the Grotto but I couldn't name it for the life of me when typing up my thoughts last night 

And yeah, I really liked when they did that in VI too early on and you got to decide what order you did things in (some of the later utilisations...not as much). Dagger and Steiner are abysmally low levelled compared to Zidane and company, but I'm sure that's just down to the way things have unfolded so far, looking forward to bringing them up to speed!

2 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Speaking of FFIX, has anyone seen the Moguri mod for the Steam version? The work that has gone into redrawing the backgrounds in HD is sublime.

FFIX was my first Final Fantasy game and it's nice to see it get this update from fans. If I had the Steam version and a reasonable PC setup I'd be all over this.

Yeah, looks terrific. I always love when fans manage things like this, but at the same time, can't help but question why Square Enix don't tidy their own games up that nicely when bringing them to modern systems. 

But I do question a lot of Square Enix's decisions, much as I love what I've played from them, so no surprise there 

[Julius]

Put a couple more hours in tonight, just left Cleyra. 

Spoiler

RIP Burmecian Soldier Dan. 

Great way to show how hopeless war is in that sequence with his family. 

Yeah, still really enjoying it. Story and pacing is picking up a bit now, and things have been much more interesting since Burmecia. 

Think I've found the most annoying part of the game, which is related to dialogue options. I normally press 'X' to initiate a new text box, then again to have it speed up and for me to read through it, which has worked everywhere in the game...except with dialogue options! I have lost count at the number of times I've done this exact same sequence and accidentally chosen a dialogue option. We're seriously lucky no-one has died as a result of this yet...

Just want to highlight how excellent the town music is in this game. The dumbfounded innocence of Vivi clashing with the mischief of Alexandria; the calm and relaxed border village of Dali, with its bedtime story styled melody; the simple nature but winding streets of of Lindblum; the tired and melancholic desperation of Burmecia; the chaotic locals meeting the classy nobles of Treno; and the traditional and stoic whimsy of Cleyra. A long way to go yet, I'm sure, but Uematsu has made a very convincing case so far for IX having the best town themes! 

Did I mention how awesome Vivi is before? I love just how courageous he's willing to be for the other characters, and how much Zidane likes to tease him about girls, but most importantly how protective Zidane is. 

As ever, looking forward to playing some more tomorrow. Everything unfolding on this airship sure is interesting - oh, and what a cutscene! 

Spoiler

Love the utilisation of summons as a plot device here, feels like it could be very central to the plot. Only one which sticks out to me is the same summon's story in VI. If this is what I'm in for...great stuff!

And while on the topic of cutscenes, crashing into the South Gate is absolutely the best so far 

 

[Julius]

Some more time in this evening, off to an excavation site next. That section I just got through is probably my favourite in the game so far. 

Spoiler

Obvious that Beatrix was going to change sides...but I am always a big fan of showing a character's power before doing so, especially in Beatrix's case where she wipes the floor with you multiple times. 

Sucks to see Lindblum in such a state. And always hurts to see Vivi treated as roughly as he is, especially for a character as young as he is. The game has a lot of important things to say I feel about generalising/stereotyping/prejudice, amongst many, many other things, but they've pulled it off really well so far. 

Character motivations on the table, a lot of character arcs starting to come to fruition, and the plot continues to get more interesting by the minute. Surprised by how dark this game is at times, considering the general tone of the game, but that stark contrast I'm sure will make for some more memorable moments. 

[Julius]

Had a busy second half of the week so didn't get back to the game, and only put in a couple of hours in yesterday, but sunk a lot of time into it today to make amends. 

Love this game. Just got the Blue Narciss...

Spoiler

So yesterday I picked up a chocobo, checked out Hot & Cold (not too bad if you speed things up a bit), big fan of the chocograph, had some fun tracking a few pieces of treasure down. Also love the chocobo theme in this game! So chilled out. 

Then after an hour or so, finally decided to head out to Fossil Roo, quite enjoyed the light dungeon puzzle mechanics, and really enjoyed the chase too. Stuff like that is Final Fantasy through and through! Was also nice to see a different variant of Gargant, really added to the believability of the world. 

Then it was off to Conde Petie, meeting these dwarves that thanks to their writing came off as having this hilarious Canadian-Scottish-Texan blend to their speech. Also helped that they were also hilarious, especially that guy with the dog getting suspicious of Zidane when he was describing Kuja. 

Speaking of whom: blend of Sephiroth and Kefka in appearance, with a theme super similar to both. Love that too. 

Black Mage Village was an awesome detour, it was nice to finally start getting a clearer understanding of Vivi's origin, and it was heartbreaking hearing about what the Black Mages had gone through. Never mind their deep conversations about life and death. I'm glad this game is asking big questions. 

Meeting up with Eiko was really nice (as was Freya and Quina, and getting Amarant down the road), so much depth to her backstory in particular, probably my favourite of the three new characters I'd recruited by that point. Has similar anchor points to Vivi I feel, which makes it so easy to invest in her. You spend a lot of time with her and the Moogles, and it's interesting seeing that dynamic play out in the group, with this chaotic good person with a crush on Zidane ready to just throw Dagger to the wayside 

Then it was off to the Iifa Tree, which was...an experience. I wish the Moogles had given us a warning that Magic Tags might be an idea in case we became undead, because I found myself going back to Morrison in Madain Sari to stock up immediately, completely by luck that he had some (aside: love how there's just the one Moogle in that group with an English name, gave me a good chuckle).

Another aside: Stiltzkin, best Moogle. 

Back at the Iifa Tree, after finally getting to the bottom, yeah that boss fight was... something. It's difficult because everything up until that fight had felt fair, but the battle against Soulcage was so...random, in that you having zero idea about it's skills was a difficulty spike in itself. I accidentally revived Soulcage instead of Vivi, though, and that was that 

Going back to Madain Sari again and hearing parts of the song before Zidane's moment on the boat with Garnet, and learning more about her past, was great (not so great when you learn what happened to her horn later, but whatever). And then everything that went down when Kuja turned up, Brahne dying, and having Vivi's internal monologue about hating the Queen but not wanting to see Garnet cry really touched me. Also, Bahamut and how summons are treated in this game is easily the best of the Final Fantasy games I've played so far: they're story relevant, and I know how to use them well. Makes it so much more enjoyable. 

Then there was a lot of downtime in Alexandria and Treno, which I adored. So necessary after so much plot advancement, lore drops, and a lot of battles.

The letter Eiko wrote for Zidane causing so much trouble, but also being a great storytelling device in that we learned so much about these characters through learning of who they want the letter to be from if it's for them. Seeing Vivi's place at long last. And Tetra Master is an awesome card game and I really enjoyed the short tournament. Have been challenging a few more NPC's than I did before after winning! 

Then it was rushing back to Alexandria for some awesome cutscenes, and some great contextualised grinding (I'm thinking of that segment with Beatrix and Steiner). I hadn't felt the need to grind in this game at all, so it's such a smart game design decision when returning to lower levelled characters to almost force us to grind through the story. It worked really well. 

And then yeah, back to Treno where we have successfully turned the Oglop Cid into Frog Cid, love it  now en route to Black Mage Village once again to find out what the deal is with the Black Mages who have aligned with Kuja. 

Oh and yeah I guess Garland is a thing. Guy's looking Vader-esque and I love it. 

I'm loving this game. Such great towns with awesome layout variety making them fun to explore, a killer soundtrack I'm sure I will continue to rave about long after I've finished the game, and a splendid cast. Everyone is getting their time in the limelight, and everyone has an interesting backstory and intriguing goals, with a lot of character development. 

Probably going to do a bit of grinding before I move ahead with the plot, just so everyone's on a level playing field after so long apart.

Can't wait to spend some more time with it 

[drahkon]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

Everyone is getting their time in the limelight, and everyone has an interesting backstory and intriguing goals, with a lot of character development. 

This is one of the things I like most about Final Fantasy IX. Every character has their backstory which you get to know over time and everyone also has great character development. This really helps when the entire group is together. They add so much and it just works. Nothing feels forced, everything is very natural

Also: Vivi is the best.
And also: Tetra Master is the best.
And also: the Chocobo minigame is the best
And also: I love this game

[Julius]

Continued the journey today...after a few hours spent grinding  

I remember there being difficulty spikes when the world opened up in VI and VII, and though IX had been very good up until then with no need for a grind, I figured why not? I'd probably end up grinding way more at the end of the game otherwise (literally spent 5-10 hours grinding in VI before the final dungeon), and with some characters in the high -teens and others in mid-to-late twenties, yeah, just seemed like the time. Spent a couple of hours grinding the core cast to around LV 40 (kind of last track when listening to the soundtrack and podcasts on the background!) before I caved and looked up the Grand Dragon grind to bring everyone else up to speed too. So suffice to say I shouldn't need to grind for a while 

Story is still awesome, characters are still great, and man I just love this world and this soundtrack so much. 

Spoiler

So after that grinding, took myself and the Blue Narciss over on to the Black Mage Village to learn that Kuja had promised he'd extend the life of the Black Mages who came with him. Man, I really hate that guy. Oh and the chocobo had finally hatched which I loved. 

Then it was meeting up with Kuja to go to a place called Oeilvert to carry out his dirty work because he kidnapped Eiko. Really nice dungeon design and aesthetic with the Gothic look it had going on, some really nice looking pre-rendered backgrounds to look at. Picked up the Gulug Stone after completely lucking out against the airship boss (with it being a no-magic dungeon I pretty much just spammed the normal melee attack), learned a bit more about the mystery behind what's going on with Kuja and Terra. 

Then it was over to his Desert Palace to finally free Eiko, except not, and then over to Mount Gulug to save her for real, but not before Mog's sacrifice. That was touching. Also need to mention just how awesome some of the summon animations are (Bahamut after getting Garnet!!!) at this point, been a lot of fun seeing those. 

Returned to Lindblum after freeing Hilda too, a lot of great ATE's to fill us in on what Tantalus and everyone else is up to, before Dagger went missing. Tracking her down in Alexandria and having her speak for the first time in hours - even without voice acting - gave me chills! Such a poignant moment. 

Oh and then we finally get an airship. Taking off in the Hilda Garde III and flying around is a blast, a lot of which is riding on its awesome theme, which has some very similar parts in melody and structure to Final Fantasy VI's airship theme. Which brings me to my favourite thing about the music in this game: while there are plenty of great new tracks, it all feels so grounded and familiar because it really is built off the back of Uematsu's previous works. I love that you can tell he went fishing in his old tunes and ideas to breathe life into IX's soundtrack, and I love that so much.

Also I need to mention A Place Called Home/Melodies of Life being plastered over absolutely everything - like a quarter or a third of the OST I would guess? It's so much more prevalent than VII's Main Theme or VI's/Terra's Theme, and that we constantly keep going back to that theme continues to almost build up a nostalgia for the song. 

It's absolutely genius. 

Have no idea how long is left, but still having a blast 

[drahkon]

Gonna hijack this thread for a quick question:

How long is Final Fantasy VI?

I'm nearing the end of my FFVII Remake playthrough and apparently Crisis Core: FFVII isn't that long. Not sure if I'd be up for another 60 hour JRPG so early after those two

[Julius]

8 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Gonna hijack this thread for a quick question:

How long is Final Fantasy VI?

I'm nearing the end of my FFVII Remake playthrough and apparently Crisis Core: FFVII isn't that long. Not sure if I'd be up for another 60 hour JRPG so early after those two

VI is probably 30 - 40 hours long I'd say?

I finished it with nearly 42 hours on the clock iirc, but that was also with a few hours of totally unnecessary grinding for an item (which was totally worth it)  so can definitely shave a bit of time off if you know what you're doing! 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

if you know what you're doing! 

Well, it'll be my first playthrough. And given how I play JRPGs...you gotta add at least 10 hours of grinding here and there

The problem I'm facing: There are approximately 6 million versions of the game...I'm leaning towards the PSP port.
Edit: Nevermind, I was confused. I think it'll be the GBA version for me.

Edited September 14, 2020 by drahkon

[Julius]

35 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Well, it'll be my first playthrough. And given how I play JRPGs...you gotta add at least 10 hours of grinding here and there

The problem I'm facing: There are approximately 6 million versions of the game...I'm leaning towards the PSP port.

Yeah that's fair enough, appreciate a good JRPG grind  it's funny because the only other turn-based FF's I've played so far had speed up options (the PS4 releases of VII and IX) so VI felt strange to go back to in that regard, but grinding is like comfort food so I didn't mind at all. 

I've read mixed things about the PSP port, I think it's based on the PS1 version which was included in Final Fantasy Anthology, and if so is infamous for its poor load times. I played it on the SNES Mini (basically picked it up just for that - worth it), but honestly the only other modern alternative that comes to mind is mobile...and those sprites are disgusting. 

And this is exactly why we need a I - VI Collection for modern consoles.

Especially now that VII - XV is on/coming to everything (minus XI as it's a shuttered MMO; XIII because of...issues with PC port hinting that there are going to be problems with porting it in general; and XIV because MMO) - it's time!

I just hope they use the original sprites, or otherwise just polish them a bit, because man does Square Enix make some poor decisions on that front with the modern sprites (FF on mobile and the recent DQ I - III ports). 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

23 minutes ago, Julius said:

I played it on the SNES Mini

Just did some "research" and apparently there's a so called "FFVI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition" and it is regarded as the "definitive version". I think I'll go with that.

But first...FFVII Remake Platinum and Crisis Core: FFVII. Will take me quite a while longer

[Julius]

3 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Just did some "research" and apparently there's a so called "FFVI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition" and it is regarded as the "definitive version". I think I'll go with that.

Yeah, I installed that on my SNES Mini (as well as IV and V after picking them up on the PS Store, just so I felt like they'd got their fair share out of me), but figured first time through I'd rather stick to the original version.

I read through the notes on that and the IV Namingway Edition though, and man do they have some good changes from a QoL perspective. 

5 minutes ago, drahkon said:

But first...FFVII Remake Platinum and Crisis Core: FFVII. Will take me quite a while longer

Nice! I'm saving the Plat for closed to Part II, just as an excuse to make sure I go through Remake again  always wanted to check out Crisis Core but haven't got a PSP, hope they port it one day! 

[drahkon]

39 minutes ago, Julius said:

(as well as IV and V after picking them up on the PS Store, just so I felt like they'd got their fair share out of me) , but figured first time through I'd rather stick to the original version.

Yeah, I did the same. I bought the PS versions ages ago but never played them
Now that I've hacked my Vita I'll just stick to the original versions (or patched).

 

[Jonnas]

11 hours ago, drahkon said:

Just did some "research" and apparently there's a so called "FFVI - Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition" and it is regarded as the "definitive version". I think I'll go with that.

Ted Woolsey translated the SNES original, leading to memorable lines such as "He'd slit his mama's throat for a nickel!". However, due to several constraints and limitations, there were also unfortunate misnomers such as "Ultima Weapon" becoming "AtmaWeapn". Just making the situation clear, in case you weren't aware of what that patch is supposed to be doing: it's re-correcting stuff like Atma Weapon, Ice3, Merton, or X-Zone into modern FF etymology, while otherwise keeping the Woolsey translation. And also putting the censored naked pixelated butts back in the game (which includes male butts, be warned).

The GBA translation provides a cleaner translation overall, but removes a lot of the original's charm in the process (and let's face it, most of the discussion surrounding FFVI involves the original script: nobody calls Atma Weapon anything other than that). The GBA does have pros, like a bestiary and some extra dungeons/bosses, but the music doesn't sound nearly as good (I'm also not a fan of the reduced screen size, but that might be just me, it's not a common complaint). There is a sound correction patch, so that flaw has an easy fix.

[Julius]

Put a couple more hours in tonight, pretty sure I'm quite close to the end now. 

Spoiler

Just escaped Terra. 

Not too many crazy things going on with the plot (yet), at least by FF standards. A lot of the stuff with Terra has been hinted at throughout (Zidane's origins, Kuja's origins, the cycle of souls, etc.), and I'm glad it has, just so that the story has felt cohesive. 

Plenty of charming and funny moments, and some solid boss battles (dragon followed by Garland followed by Kuja for a bit? Thank goodness I had that grinding session before!), most of them of course with the excellent boss battle theme. Man this soundtrack!

But most of this evening's session was about character progression and setting up what I imagine to be the final arc of the game, and I think it nailed so much of it. 

Tomorrow the plan is to grind for a bit, mostly for cash to splash on hunting down/synthesising better weapons (by the way, synthesis is great!) And to get my main party (Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, and Steiner) to a solid level count. Got one or two more abilities I want to learn before this final push too. 

Think there's a very good chance I finish this tomorrow night, unless something totally unexpected happens with the pacing and story direction! Can't wait 

[drahkon]

@Julius That OST truly is incredible. You have still two more tracks left. My favourite ones of FFIX

By the way, which version are you playing? The original or the "remaster"?

[Julius]

5 minutes ago, drahkon said:

@Julius That OST truly is incredible. You have still two more tracks left. My favourite ones of FFIX

By the way, which version are you playing? The original or the "remaster"?

Playing the version available on PS4, so I'm guessing like with VII it's a port of the PC remaster? 

[drahkon]

9 minutes ago, Julius said:

Playing the version available on PS4, so I'm guessing like with VII it's a port of the PC remaster? 

No idea which came first, but yeah it's a remaster.

 

[Julius]

Well, with tears in my eyes, I've just seen credits roll on Final Fantasy IX. And then spent 10 minutes listening to the Prelude, just taking it all in. 

Spoiler

So I forgot to mention the chocobo being called Bobby Corwen yesterday. Let's start there: it's awesome 

Started out with a bit of a grind to rake in a bit more cash to upgrade some of my weapons, then just caved and figured, hey, let's just go for it. Glad I did. 

Memoria was a very interesting dungeon. Surprisingly linear, but despite the frequent save points across its length, it still felt dangerous, as it was packed with high levelled monsters (honestly had more issues with some of those than some of the bosses along the way). Having the Four Chaoses appear as random encounters just upped the tension and stakes too, and those were some great battles. But yeah, my completely decked out supplies didn't last that long. Learning more about the backstory along the way was a good way to pace the dungeon, I really liked it. 

Then when things moved into the Crystal World is where it all started coming together for me, and feeling more like we were finally beginning the ascent to an epic finale. It's theme being a dark and twisted take on Prelude added this sense of familiarity, but also a whole lot of tension, as I made my way through. 

And then you find yourself at the end, come up against Kuja, and...find yourself battling Deathguise, the battle I had the most difficulty with, honestly because I just wasn't expecting it to open with Meteor and leave my party on the brink of death from the start. A lot of reviving and healing, that taking me surprise means I scraped through, and barely remember a time where I had my entire party available, which made it all the more memorable. Quite grateful that happened. 

Then it was onto Kuja, which was a bit of a smoother experience for me. Dark Messenger is one hell of a track, with that We Will Rock You-esque clapping and beat meeting with Kuja's classical and intimidating theme, with a little jazz thrown in there for good measure. Absolutely love that theme! 

And then...Necron. Uh, okay? Didn't really live up to the hype of a boss turning up out of pretty much nowhere. I'm also genuinely not sure if you can lose this battle, or if it just has poor AI, because I ended up with a party on incredibly low health, a petrified Dagger (in a party with Zidane, Vivi, and Steiner, my dedicated healer), Auto-Life already being used up AND accidentally nudged R2, and didn't realise for a few turns that I was on Auto-Play. It was just such a weird and pretty underwhelming battle. Also...any theme coming straight after Dark Messenger is going to struggle, and it didn't feel particularly special, even if I feel it does sound like an older FF tune in its style, which I appreciate. 

But then...yeah. The story wraps up. We escape the Iifa Tree, and Zidane wants to go back and save Kuja. No big deal, he'll be fine, right? He'll be back. Look at him dodging all those vines and branches, there's no way he doesn't make it out of there!

Yeah...no. 

But he'll come back right? Surely?

And then we got Vivi's monologue, and that music again, and I'm tearing up. Vivi was easily my favourite character in this game: incredibly relatable, innocent, but deep down, true to himself and his convictions. It sucks that he died, but at least he had his "kids" to at least stave off his loneliness. I hope others were there with him, and the biggest part of this that stings most is knowing he died with the knowledge of Zidane's death, but at least he had made peace with it. 

And then Tantalus returns for one final play, and we're wrapping things up. By the way, that nod to Cloud and Squall was so not subtle 

Who's that guy in the hood? Surely not Zidane, I mean, he's dead. We haven't seen all the members of Tantalus yet, it's a total bluff! 

Nope, they got me. Good. Garnet throwing everything to the wayside, rushing through the crowd...she got her happy ending. This was a game with a happy ending. 

Then we got those final few lines, and with tears in my eyes, Melodies of Life kicks in. 

Loved this game. 

Imagine whenever I next continue my FF journey it will be with X, but also kind of want to play the original and IV too. So we'll see what I'm in the mood for when that rolls around!

Can't imagine it'll be too long... 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

7 hours ago, Julius said:

Imagine whenever I next continue my FF journey it will be with X

You've never played FFX?

Also: You should go for the optional super boss in FFIX

[Julius]

2 minutes ago, drahkon said:

You've never played FFX?

Also: You should go for the optional super boss in FFIX

Nope, first time playing through the series! Only played VI, VII (and VII Remake), and now IX. 

And with optional bosses, the way I do it is if I don't come across it naturally, I'll probably take them on if/when I ever return to the game and go for a more complete run  but noted for next time, whenever that'll be! 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

Just now, Julius said:

Nope

Drop whatever you're doing. NOW. And then start up FFX. Gogogogogogo.  

[Julius]

Just now, drahkon said:

Drop whatever you're doing. NOW. And then start up FFX. Gogogogogogo.  

I actually picked the remaster up a while back and have it installed...but I also haven't played Super Mario 64, and 3D All-Stars is out Friday 

With Final Fantasy in particular, I'm trying to space it out just to give it room to breath. It's a really special franchise, and I love music in games and films in general, so couple all of that with strong stories, characters, and battle systems and I'm there. 

I also don't generally play games in the same franchise or genre back-to-back, for fear of getting burned out! And just to mix it up  I'd hate to end up halfway through X and for something else to come along I have more of an immediate desire to play, or just feel tired after 50+ hours of turn-based combat (generally doesn't happen when I stick with an individual game, like DQXI or Persona 5, but happened before when I want from DQXI straight into DQVIII). Heck, I even sometimes have the same issue just going from any other open world action RPG to another too, or with racing games, or platformers. 

I think I'll get to it before the end of the year though, probably in December, depending on how the PS5's launch window plays out 

[drahkon]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

With Final Fantasy in particular, I'm trying to space it out just to give it room to breath. It's a really special franchise, and I love music in games and films in general, so couple all of that with strong stories, characters, and battle systems and I'm there. 

That's fair.

But still...PLAY IT NOW!

[Julius]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

That's fair.

But still...PLAY IT NOW!

Completely off topic, but I don't like making speculation threads, and finishing IX has really put it at the front of my mind (and we've derailed this thread anyway ): if XVI is announced tonight, what would you want to see? Or what do you want from XVI in general? 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Julius