Board 8 > Boko plays through the Final Fantasy series

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've always wanted to play through all of the FF games. I think I'll take advantage of some of the free time I have during quarantine/furlough to knock some of it out now. Main series only. I think I'll play FFI through FFX in order, and finish with the best FF at the end. Any ideas on if I should play any other ones? I'm willing to consider, but 11 games is already fairly ambitious for me.

I've only actually beaten FFIX, X, and T before, so I don't really know exactly what to do in each game. I know a bit about most of them, though.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/wiki/whichversion

I'm using this FAQ to help me determine which version of the game to play. Currently playing through FFI on the PSP, really enjoying it. If I didn't have a "speed up" feature, I honestly probably would have given up before making this post.

Below will contain spoilers as I go. Please refrain from spoiling me on plot/strategy unless I ask!

My party in FFI is:
White Mage
Warrior
Warrior
Warrior

lol. I really wanted to have 2x of a class, and I just decided to make this party. To be honest, 4x Warrior would have been fine, this game isn't particularly difficult in combat and I don't ever actually need to heal (well, the white mage has to heal himself in boss fights). I have the earth and fire crystal and have to find 2 more; but I have no idea where to go now, so I'm gonna have to talk to everyone again and try to figure it out! The canoe took me a while to find.

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Tag, this really is quite ambitious. Any of them you haven't played at all before?

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This one, FFI.

I just found Bahamut! I am still so lost, have the air ship but no clue how to proceed.

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FF1 literally is wander in circles for hours on end if you dont know where to go a classic experience

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i did this last year - stopped at IX because i talked myself into doing excalibur ii run but then never felt in the mood for that sort of challenge

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MajinZidane posted...

I've always wanted to play through all of the FF games. I think I'll take advantage of some of the free time I have during quarantine/furlough to knock some of it out now. Main series only. I think I'll play FFI through FFX in order, and finish with the best FF at the end. Any ideas on if I should play any other ones? I'm willing to consider, but 11 games is already fairly ambitious for me.

Play XII, XIII, and XV imo

You'll have to move X to the end though to finish with the best FF though

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greengravy294 posted...

FF1 literally is wander in circles for hours on end if you dont know where to go a classic experience

Dude I have NO IDEA where to go next. I just when down like 10 levels of some kind of Chasm and had to beat two really tough bosses. I thought I was super overleveled, but I actually wiped three or four times on the first one. Poison attack dealt a lot!

Those bosses would not be doable without my White Mage. White Wizard, actually.

Steiner posted...

i did this last year - stopped at IX because i talked myself into doing excalibur ii run but then never felt in the mood for that sort of challenge

Oh please don't give me ideas and convince me to do an Excalibur II run :(

Or a full Level One file. UGH. WHY.

MZero posted...

You'll have to move X to the end though to finish with the best FF though

My favorite FF is FFT! Although I haven't beaten most.

I'll tell you what my least favorite FF is. This one.

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MajinZidane posted...

Dude I have NO IDEA where to go next. I just when down like 10 levels of some kind of Chasm and had to beat two really tough bosses. I thought I was super overleveled, but I actually wiped three or four times on the first one. Poison attack dealt a lot!

Those bosses would not be doable without my White Mage. White Wizard, actually.

Oh please don't give me ideas and convince me to do an Excalibur II run :(

Or a full Level One file. UGH. WHY.

My favorite FF is FFT! Although I haven't beaten most.

I'll tell you what my least favorite FF is. This one.

I was being cheeky cause X is objectively the best my favorite!

I have beaten every mainline Final Fantasy except, ironically, FFI. Have started FFT several times but never got very far

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FFV is the best.

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Well, I currently have 3/4 crystals after doing some kind of underwater thing. I think I spent 30-40 minutes trying to find a specific point on the world map to drive my boat to because I know I unlocked something and I need to find the mermaid, or something.

Not having an overworld map to look at has been, honestly, reeeeeeeeeeeally tough. The map is too big to easily memorize, and I'm trying to trial and error my way to where I need to go and it's not easy! Gonna go to bed and probably try again this weekend. Ugh

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MajinZidane posted...

Oh please don't give me ideas and convince me to do an Excalibur II run :(

my post was meant to inspire exactly the opposite! the problem was that 1-6 i've all only played between 0 and 1 time through before (except for 4 which i've done maybe three times), but once i get to 7 i've played them all a million times and wanted to do something to freshen it up. ended up too daunted though

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Steiner posted...

i did this last year - stopped at IX because i talked myself into doing excalibur ii run but then never felt in the mood for that sort of challenge

I hate that Excalibur II exists
Almost as much as Hippaul

Black_Hydras posted...

FFV is the best.

Yep

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Hippaul is just button mashing, mostly.
Now those two little brats who think it's funny to play skip rope...

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Physically impossible button mashing at the higher levels!

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Steiner posted...

my post was meant to inspire exactly the opposite! the problem was that 1-6 i've all only played between 0 and 1 time through before (except for 4 which i've done maybe three times), but once i get to 7 i've played them all a million times and wanted to do something to freshen it up. ended up too daunted though

Haha, okay good. I still have a Level One file on my PSX if the memory card is still alive that I got halfway through. That was not particularly fun, and I didn't even get to the really grindy parts (stealing X times, "killing" X dragons I think?).

Black_Hydras posted...

FFV is the best.

LordoftheMorons posted...

Yep

Well, hopefully I make it far enough to experience it! I think I played it shortly for the first time just before creating my namesake AIM account, and then didn't play very far into it after that.

I don't know/remember who Hippaul is.

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There is a world map you can check.

It's just hidden. You have to press like select + b or something and only in the airship maybe. Also it's certainly not too big to memorize

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Lu pa. Lu pa.

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let me know when you get to XIV. It might take a while.

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I am not super into ff but I am tracking this for quality bokbob content

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pjbasis posted...

There is a world map you can check.

It's just hidden. You have to press like select + b or something and only in the airship maybe. Also it's certainly not too big to memorize

WHAT?!

I'll look into that later when I get on.

I agree with you, but after getting lost so many times last night maybe it's just too big for me to memorize. :(

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MajinZidane posted...

Well, I currently have 3/4 crystals after doing some kind of underwater thing. I think I spent 30-40 minutes trying to find a specific point on the world map to drive my boat to because I know I unlocked something and I need to find the mermaid, or something.

Not having an overworld map to look at has been, honestly, reeeeeeeeeeeally tough. The map is too big to easily memorize, and I'm trying to trial and error my way to where I need to go and it's not easy! Gonna go to bed and probably try again this weekend. Ugh

we used to draw our own maps for these games (but not FF1, Nintendo Power had a sweet guide that everyone used)


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Lucavi000 posted...

let me know when you get to XIV. It might take a while.

lol, probably not gonna do the online games. Should I go past X tho?

Hi @Tom_Bombadil , welcome to a world of fun

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MajinZidane posted...

I agree with you, but after getting lost so many times last night maybe it's just too big for me to memorize. :(

We'll just say it was too big for you to memorize after only so many hours and when you rightfully didn't expect to need to.

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Oh hell yeah tag

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MajinZidane posted...

Should I go past X tho?

XIII-2 is excellent but XIII is both required reading and really bad

Actually just finished my first playthrough of XV over the weekend and I enjoyed it a lot... but objectively it's one of the most troubled games I've ever seen and is basically impossible to earnestly recommend. If the whole game was as good as its best parts it would potentially be my favorite Final Fantasy but holy cow so much went wrong with it.

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Tceles Nottub B

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neonreaper posted...

we used to draw our own maps for these games (but not FF1, Nintendo Power had a sweet guide that everyone used)

@neoneaper : no joke, I considered this. I split the map into 8x8 boxes in my head and was going to draw stuff, but decided against it.

How's it going nowadays, my man?

Xiahou Shake posted...

XIII-2 is excellent but XIII is both required reading and really bad

Actually just finished my first playthrough of XV over the weekend and I enjoyed it a lot... but objectively it's one of the most troubled games I've ever seen and is basically impossible to earnestly recommend. If the whole game was as good as its best parts it would potentially be my favorite Final Fantasy but holy cow so much went wrong with it.

If/when I approach later Final Fantasy games, I'll revisit this. It sounds like an alright game and I so own it; got it as a Christmas gift and it's still in the package. Actually, fun fact: I'm about 2-3 hours into the FF7 remake, lol. While I've never really played and beaten a bunch of FF games, I still consider myself a huge fan of the series.

Welcome aboard @trdl23 and @JeffreyRaze . Is that supposed to mean something to me? Maybe when I find the Rosetta Stone it'll make more sense.

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MajinZidane posted...

I don't know/remember who Hippaul is.

Just an NPC with a really dumb button-mashing minigame that's only available for a limited amount of time, making me feel obligated to finish it before proceeding with the game (and inevitably giving up because I'm physically incapable of doing it fast enough)

I also think XII is very good (though obviously opinions are mixed).

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MajinZidane posted...

While I've never really played and beaten a bunch of FF games, I still consider myself a huge fan of the series.

tbh don't see how you can call yourself only beating three games in the series.

Imagine someone only playing super mario 64, galaxy, and odyssey and thinking they're some big mario fan

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I mean maybe if they named themselves Koopa_The_Quick but their friends called them Rosalina I might agree

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wow I had no idea you never finished our game

you're in for a treat!

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pjbasis posted...

tbh don't see how you can call yourself only beating three games in the series.

Imagine someone only playing super mario 64, galaxy, and odyssey and thinking they're some big mario fan

Nah, I still follow the series intently. I've still played most of the games. I also consider myself a baseball fan, but I sure as hell don't watch very many baseball games. Watch highlights, go to a few games, and play fantasy baseball though. I still know more about the series than the average non-b8er roaming around. :)

@Bartzyx : hahaha, it's one of the ones I'm looking forward to.

Let's see if I can finally find that spot on the map tonight.

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... I literally found it already. This took me SO LONG the other night. Wtf? lmao

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The online games are great! It seems like everyone who starts these kinds of projects makes skipping those part of the plan and Im just wondering why.

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Lmao that was supposed to be sarcastic

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JonThePenguin posted...

The online games are great! It seems like everyone who starts these kinds of projects makes skipping those part of the plan and Im just wondering why.

Haven't played XI, but XIV is definitely great

I think it's just that they're a much bigger commitment

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Is Shinryu possible to beat? I think I accidentally did a sidequest. This boss is incredibly tough. I also fought Gilgamesh, but didn't get the Excalibur afterward. Was I supposed to steal from him or something?

I don't think I'm going to want to put in the time to do any of the online games. I just don't think it'll be fun to grind through the story and I don't really want to do any endgame stuff.

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Don't remember about FF1, but in FF5 you want to steal from Gilgamesh each fight.

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Alright, so I found this Dr. Unne guy. I know he's the guy who is going to give me the Rosetta Stone to talk to people in that Southern Hawk village, but he didn't give me anything. Huh? I guess I need to have some item in my inventory to trigger a conversation with him. I'm not sure what I need, then. Don't really have many leads now on where to proceed.

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I managed to figure out what to do. I ended up having to talk to everyone in all of the cities for information. Some lady in Crescent Lake told me that the Sunken Shrine had gold, riches, and a tablet with ancient languages on it if I believe the legends. Well, lady, yes I do. Only problem is that I had already cleared that dungeon, I thought? I went back anyway, re-checked every room and found the Rosetta Stone. Felt pretty dumb after that, but was somewhat satisfying to track down the item even though I missed it on the first pass through. I also found some pretty powerful Diamond equipment while I was there.

I went to Unne, learned Luferian, talked to them and acquired the item I need to enter the Mirage Tower. Unless there is a lot of stuff I'm missing that I don't know about, I should be able to clear the tower then finish the game in my next playthrough.

While I don't know exactly what is coming, I did used to watch this A LOT about a decade ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc32Znoj8dk

I watched it last night, too, hoping for a clue about where to go in the game lol. It didn't help, but was still fun. Heavily recommend a listen, especially of the first five minutes. You can stop after that if you'd like, the beginning is awesome. But I know that I need to find Garland again somehow, or maybe it's Chaos?

Let's see how our favorite clan of three Warriors and a White Wizard do next time!

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Should have played the PS1 version tbqh

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WazzupGenius00 posted...

Should have played the PS1 version tbqh

@WazzupGenius00 How come? I don't really know what the differences are. I do own the PS1 version somewhere.

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Might want to plan on two more play sessions, TBH. One for the mirage tower, one to finish.

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Don't remember about FF1, but in FF5 you want to steal from Gilgamesh each fight.

FF1 didnt have any thievery mechanics, despite Thief being one of the starting classes.

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The MP system in the original game and the PS1 version is significantly different from later versions. Rather than having a big pool of MP to cast whatever spells you wanted, each level of magic had its own pool of MP and each spell only cost 1 point from that pool. You had to be a little more judicious about when and what to cast. It adds something unique to this game that you dont have in any other entries. It doesnt have the bonus dungeons, but those arent that great in this game anyway. For FF2 I think the PSP is better than the PS1, though.

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After starting up today, I was able to pretty easily clear the Mirage Tower. While I was in there, I found a key item, which I knew would let me get a legendary sword. Well, it was the EXCALIBUR!

Chaos Tower was pretty easy to find; I knew I was fighting Garland again, so I went back to the very beginning. After traveling 2000 years into the past to fight Garland, I mean Chaos, I ran into some trouble.

The fight took 45+ minutes. I used 30 phoenix downs, every x-potion, turbo ether, elixer in my inventory (let's say 10-15 total for all of 'em), 20-30 hi-potions and 10-20 ethers. And I lost. It was absurd! My warriors didn't deal any damage at all, one of which dealt 8 damage on some of his attacks. The warrior with Excalibur became my main attacker, and the one dealing 8 damage was on item-duty as the party's chemist. Wizard was rotating between Holy (the best damage output I had), Curaja, and Full-Life. I started using any item I could find to try and keep things going; strength drinks, items that cast spells like blaze and flare, hermes shoes, any stat boosters I could find. But it wasn't enough. Chaos would cast Curaja on himself and heal 9999 and he slowly whittled me away until I had no more phoenix downs and my White Wizard couldn't keep my party up.

That was grueling.

After a break, I tried again. This time, I used all 15 strength drinks on two of my warriors, with a constant stream of Healaga. After less than 8 minutes, and without Garland casting Curaja a single time (!!!), I won the fight and beat the game. What a difference in the way a battle played out. Why didn't he cast Curaja? I don't care, I beat him this time and finished the game.

Final Fantasy: beaten

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yayyy

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Thanks, Bolo! I'm going to start FFII soon!

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Oh boy ff2 is really something
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What was your endgame level?

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