Board 8 > Leonhart plays lots of Final Fantasy games! [spoilers] [nostalgia] [squall]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Sorry, too much Third Strike Online the last couple nights!

Hopefully tomorrow!

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Still too much Third Strike Online, but I will play some FFVI tonight!

(Hopefully)

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Yes, please hurry back to a game JZ cares about!

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Well, I could always post my 3SO YouTube uploads in this topic for everyone to enjoy!

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"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

noooooooo

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Yesssssssss


Anyway, once NCAA Games finishes up for the day, I'm going to start this thing up.

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Plaaaaaaayyyyy videeeeeeeooooo gaaaaaames

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Whoo, Mog get!

Now I'm off to try to persuade the Espers to help our cause! The best way to prevent the Empire from taking over the world is by unleashing Armageddon again, after all!

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"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

The people of Thamasa are jerks.

Also, this is apparently not where I'm supposed to be right now, whoops. So much for far east end of the Empire!

It's the far east end of the southern continent, which is not quite as east as Thamasa!

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lol FFVI towns how am I supposed to remember any of them.

I have no idea.

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"I can set you free, mate."
"My freedom was forfeit long ago!"

Oy, been so busy this week. Might not have time to play again until Saturday.

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See. you are playing a real game because it has x potions

X-Potions that I will likely never use.

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Ever.

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I should be able to play tomorrow after this busy weekend!

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Hey, I'm actually going to play the game now! Seriously! I'm on the loading screen right now!

You know, I was thinking about maybe attempting some sort of LP for the games after this. I have no clue how to do one, but I could research and figure it out! I think somebody asked if I was going to do one back at the beginning of this topic, and I'm thinking it might be easier to log my thoughts that way than typing them out. Plus, you can see how bad I am at FFT!

Questions, comments, concerns, etc.?

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"I can set you free, mate."
"My freedom was forfeit long ago!"

So I finished the dungeon leading up to the door to the Esper World, which is just a generic lava area with not much going on, but it has some great treasures! I got me another Genji Glove (which is going right on Celes as soon as she rejoins the party, but Terra will make good use of it until then), and I got me a lightsa--er, the legendary Atma Weapon! Use the Force, Locke! No boss at the end of this dungeon, which was rather surprising. Kefka shows up as we start to open the door, revealing that it was all just a trap to let Terra go with us so she would open the door of her own volition. Then we have to "distract" Kefka as the door opens, which apparently consists of landing any one attack of my choice. Uh huh. The Espers begin flying out of the door, and it seems the War of the Magi is on once more. The door then closes back up and boulders fall in a neat little pattern, barring us further access. We decide to head back to the airship, where we learn the Espers headed for Vector. As we approach, the Espers start attacking the airship, so we lose control. So I guess we have to make another long walk to Vector.

I dunno if it's just me, the game, or what, but it seems like the older I get, the more irritated I get with random encounters and think they should remain a thing of the past. Maybe it's just FFVI with its high encounter rate and the fact that you fight the same two or three enemies over and over again in any given dungeon, or maybe it's just because I don't have as much time to game any more as I get older, so I don't want to waste my gaming time fighting random encounters. Hard to say. Maybe it's some modern games that are doing away with random encounters that's lessening my patience with them in older games. That was one of the things I loved about FFXII and FFXIII. Your enemies were always on screen and (for the most part) avoidable. That's why it kind of irritated me when Square said that they would be bringing back random encounters (at least in some way, because there are clearly situations where you can initiate battles on your own) for FFXIII-2 because apparently they think gamers enjoy the thrill of not knowing when you're going to get into a battle. I'd like to say that Square is starting to lose touch with what gamers really want, but these are the people who thought we wanted a 17-year-old bishie as the main character of FFXII over a 30-something rugged war veteran, so this isn't a recent trend.

But whatever, let's press on.

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"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

To think, I worried that leaving town for a weekend would make me fall behind on this.

Well, I didn't really worry, so much as take note of the possibility.

Okay I didn't take note as much as I did just realize it now.

...I'm just mocking your slow rate of progress

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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny

We reach Vector, which is in ruins after being devastated by the Esper attack. Gestahl apparently wants to meet with us to discuss ending the war and cooperating with us to get the Espers to understand that the Empire no longer wants to fight. Apparently, Kefka has already been imprisoned for war crimes as well. This all seems too convenient, and at least the party is smart enough to realize that instead of trusting Gestahl at the drop of a hat. His dialogue seems forced, although I'm not sure if it's just the quality of the writing or if he's just not supposed to sound completely sincere. We're also supposed to talk to as many soldiers as we can before supper (because Gestahl says we have some CELEBRATING to do. Celebrating what? The fact that the Espers are wreaking havoc on the world? I mean, I guess it's supposed to be celebrating the "end of the war," but that felt kind of awkward to be celebrating while the Espers are still out there going crazy!), and I manage to talk to 20 of them. I'm assuming that was all of them because I went everywhere I could within the Imperial Castle.

When we sit down with Gestahl, we're given all sorts of dialogue choices in response to just about everything he says. I'm not sure what sort of effect this has on anything, so I don't put too much thought into my answers. I just go with the one I like best. He did test my memory on which question I asked him first, for some reason. Anyway, he wants me to accompany General Leo to Crescent Island (Whoo, Skies of Arcadia reference...errr, sort of) so Terra can negotiate with the Espers. Locke agrees to go along with her while everyone else stays behind to do some reconnaissance. We also get rewarded for talking to so many soldiers in three ways: All soldiers withdraw from South Figaro, all soldiers withdraw from Doma, and we're allowed to take all the treasures from the Imperial Base near the Esper Gate. Sweet.

Well, off we go to Albrook, probably with a stop by the Imperial Base along the way!

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Heck yeah, got Locke to do his Desperation Attack

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I think they were right about the 17-year old bishie though.

This is a Japanese company after all.

Man, that was a pretty nice stash at the Imperial Base.

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Well, we get to Albrook and meet up with General Leo (By the way, the hair on this dude's sprite bothers me. I'm assuming it's supposed to look like some sort of military crew cut, but it just looks dumb). He says that he's hired a couple of other people to go along with us, another Imperial General and a mercenary. I wonder who these two could be...! Sure enough, it's Celes and Shadow! We're not leaving until tomorrow, so he's made arrangements for us to stay at the Inn for free tonight, whoo-hoo!

Locke and Terra try to talk to Celes, but being the mature adult that she is, she gives us the silent treatment and runs away. Shadow also assures that although he's working for the Empire, he won't "garrote" us, whatever that means (Time to look that up. Hmmmm...I...see. Well, it's definitely comforting knowing that Shadow won't be doing that to us!). We stay at the Inn, and in the middle of the night, Locke walks outside to find Celes standing there. For some reason, this is the scene I associate her theme with. Can't really explain why, maybe this was the first scene where I really noticed it or something (By the by, I love the piano arrangement of her theme: Locke tries to apologize for doubting her loyalty, even if it was just for a moment, but she once again gives him the silent treatment and runs off. I personally think Celes overreacted here, but I suppose I can understand why she would be hurt thinking a man she was coming to trust and care about doubted her intentions. Plus, she is, in fact, a woman, so there's that.

Then we get to Terra's infamous "What is love? Baby don't hurt me" scene. Ironically and embarrassingly enough, this is also the scene that I associate with the Awakening version of Terra's Theme. Terra understandably feels isolated and alone in her unique situation being half-human and half-Esper, and she wonders if she'll ever be able to love and be loved in return. Leo assures her that she's still young but he understands how she feels. It's scenes like this that make me think of Terra as the main character of the game because she's the central focus of most of the game's major themes.

Shadow shows up after Leo leaves and warns her that there are people out there like him who have killed their emotions. He also tells her that she has to find the answer to her problem within herself. After Terra walks off, we are treated to a somewhat comical scene of Locke getting motion sickness. What is it with JRPGs and lead male protagonists getting motion sickness? Locke gets it, Cloud gets it, Yuri Hyuga gets it...Okay, that's just three, but I'm sure there are more! As he resists the urge to hurl with Shadow standing by, he says, "Watch your mouth, O shrouded one." Hmmmm...

In the morning, Leo divides us into two teams. He's going with Celes, while Shadow will be going with Locke and Terra. Celes tries to say something to Locke, but he reverses the tables by ignoring her and walking away. This relationship is getting complicated!

Well, we'll save Thamasa for tomorrow since it's getting late.

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Cloud doesn't seem to have it in AC!

Maybe because it would make him seem too upbeat and comical!

You don't get motion sickness as easily when you're the one driving!

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Nobody ever answers my questions.

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I'll answer the next question you ask.

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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny

What should I have for dinner tomorrow?

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You should have cheese ravioli with some strawberries for dessert.

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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny

Locke gets it, Cloud gets it, Yuri Hyuga gets it...Okay, that's just three, but I'm sure there are more!

Suikoden 5's main, off the top of my head. And like you, I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting since it's so minor.

I dunno if it's just me, the game, or what, but it seems like the older I get, the more irritated I get with random encounters and think they should remain a thing of the past.

The arguments here are pretty solid. I don't think FF6 is especially bad about it by any stretch (in fact, its enemy variety is far ABOVE that of the average RPG, with nearly 300 different randoms whereas few other games exceed 200), so I I think your arguments about how it's probably related to your shrinking available time combined with modern games showing the alternative are probably correct.

I'm personally not super-annoyed with random encounters (I do consider visible ones to be superior, but not by a huge margin); to me the truly key thing is having some measure of encounter control. Some of it should be provided by the game: don't put enemies in areas where I'm trying to solve puzzles (most games figured this out by the PS2 era, e.g. FFX keeping temple cloisters random-free). But I also think games do better when they provide some method of controlling encounters to the player, be it repels such as in Pokemon or Radiant Historia's "vanish" technique which made you temporarily invisible. Wild Arms 4-5 provided a variation I particularly enjoyed, which was to have a switch in each dungeon which, once activated, allowed the player to turn off or on encounters at a whim; activating this switch involved either solving a puzzle in the dungeon or fighting a mini-boss.

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Maybe FFVI is better about random enemy variety on the world map, but the enemy variety is extremely limited in dungeons so far. I was literally fighting the same two enemies over and over again in that last dungeon.

I think I don't mind random encounters as bad as long as either the rate isn't very high or the battle system is fast enough that I can end them in 10 seconds or less.

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Shoulda started with VII.

Nah, FFVI is fine. It's worth more of a replay than any of the other pre-PS ones anyway!

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I actually prefer longer encounters myself. Chances are unlikely I'm making interesting decisions in 10 second fights! Of course, if they're longer I want proportionally fewer of them. And they should pose at least some challenge. Long but easy encounters are terrible in large numbers.

Sealed Cave... is weird. It actually has five enemies, but three of them are only fought in the first three (very short) screens. For the massive screen that makes up the large majority of the dungeon, it's just Zombones and Ings, and yeah, that gets really repetitive. Probably the worst spot in the game for that, so I can see why it weighed on you.

Most other FF6 dungeons don't have that problem at least. I'm struggling to think of a dungeon that has less than 4 enemies (well, the extremely short Figaro Cave has 3), and most of the big dungeons (Floating Continent, Cyan's Soul, Phoenix Cave, Fanatics' Tower, final dungeon) have 8 or more.

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Leon, don't forget to play Xenogears.

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Well, it seems like the groups of enemies are divided into sections. Like, when I was in Zozo, I fought the same two or three enemies over and over again if I was outside, and a different group of two or three enemies if I was inside.

But grinding, stat building, and stuff like that generally isn't fun for me in RPGs, so I prefer to get through random encounters as quickly as possible so I can get back to the good stuff. FFX is one of the rare exceptions in that regard, one of the rare games where the battle system is almost always fun. I'd say XIII as well, but I probably more enjoy that because randoms are usually lightning fast (LOL get it?).

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From: The Real Truth | #338
Leon, don't forget to play Xenogears.

Don't worry. I will.

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So will I at some point...

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...and me as well.

Yes, we will all forget.

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"I couldn't stand a day without a past or future. I need to live each moment to keep fighting here and now."

Oh ho ho

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"Why must we always choose between certain death and probable death?"
"I'm in an epic battle to the death, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!"

Happy 12th (American) birthday, FFVIII! Whoo!

Missed FFVII's 14th (American) birthday a couple days ago.

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Do a challenge run of X
either tidus only or no sphere grid!

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I don't do challenges.

I like to enjoy playing games.

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Challenges of turn-based games are pretty boring.
I don't like to grind for items and then pray to the gods of luck to win.

Nuzlocke things are pretty fun though.

From: LeonhartFour | #346
I don't do challenges.

I like to enjoy playing games.

Depends a lot on the challenge (and the game), really. Personally, I practically consider it "improper" to play Mega Man/X games while using weapons, energy tanks and the like given how much more fun I have playing without that stuff, and SCCs in FFT tend to be pretty fun (although some are admittedly pretty bleh). The FFX stuff is pretty uninteresting to me though.

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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny

I don't mind Buster Only challenges and stuff in Mega Man because that doesn't really feel like you're gimping yourself. It's more like you're just not taking advantage of things that make the game easier.

Most of those challenges, it's just like intentionally gimping yourself.

I also don't care about the job system enough to try SCCs and the like in FFT.

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"Why must we always choose between certain death and probable death?"
"I'm in an epic battle to the death, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!"

From: pjbasis | #347
Challenges of turn-based games are pretty boring.
I don't like to grind for items and then pray to the gods of luck to win.

Nuzlocke things are pretty fun though.

tidus only has you grind for like.. one item, and that's for the final boss (stoneproof)

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