Board 8 > Andy Plays Final Fantasy IX

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andylt
05/15/21 5:35:21 PM
#1:


I - II - III - IV - (TAY) - V - VI - VII - (VIIR - DoC - CC) - VIII - Final Fantasy IX - X - (X-2) - XII - (RW) - XIII - (XIII-2 - LR) - XV - Tactics - (TCB)

*progressive spoilers shall follow*

After a Xenoblade sized break, it's time to continue my Final Fantasy quest with IX. This feels like the final truly beloved (offline) FF I have yet to play, but I know there's detractors too so I'll try to keep my expectations in check. I am a big fan of VIII and Tactics, and I like VII a lot (but not as much as most seem to) so I hope this rounds out the PSX games nicely.

I have heard things here and there about IX over the years, here's everything that I think I know: The game is a deliberate throwback to early entries in the series, Dagger = Princess Garnet, Zidane has a tail, Everybody Loves Vivi, Everybody Hates Eiko, Kuja is the big bad, Trance sucks, and I will have heard the names of all the playable characters at some point through SMFFFC. Now I think I have heard of a major spoiler about Vivi being a clone or something?, but I don't know if it's accurate and if so I know none of the context around it. That's everything I can think of, hopefully that's not too bad.

I'll be playing the remastered version on Switch. I'll probably start tomorrow and I'd like to ask beforehand: should I play with triple battle speed (or whatever it's called)? One of the common criticisms I've heard of the game is the really long battle intros, but apparently that option also speeds up the whole battle so idk. Also if there's any info that I should know about missable quests/summons/characters/scenes or the like I would greatly appreciate a heads up!

I hope this proves to be an enjoyable game and topic to follow, I am excited to experience this game!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Next up: Final Fantasy IX
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most_games_r_ok
05/15/21 5:41:09 PM
#2:


Now this is a topic I will actively participate in. Been waiting for this one.

Also, as much as I love the game, put on the triple battle speed. Battles are painfully slow, even towards endgame it can still feel slow.

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Leonhart4
05/15/21 5:45:16 PM
#3:


Yeah, the extra speed will come in handy as battles tend to be on the slow side.

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LordoftheMorons
05/15/21 5:49:15 PM
#4:


Tag! I was actually replaying this very recently; hopefully this will be incentive for me to actually finish off the disc 4 part...!

As far as increased battle speed goes I turn it on and off. If I'm grinding AP or something it's always on, and I always have it off for boss battles. For regular battles progressing through the game I'm not consistent.

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ZaziGuado
05/15/21 5:50:49 PM
#5:


Final Fantasy IX was the first RPG I ever played. I went into a local video game store asking for Ogre Battle 64 after I saw my cousin playing it at his house. They didn't have it, so the guy recommended Final Fantasy IX. Or maybe they did have it but I didn't have an N64 yet? I can't remember. Anyways, this is my tag.

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snowpork
azuarc is OP.
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htaeD
05/15/21 5:56:03 PM
#6:


FFIX is good.
Looking forward to this
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IGN: Pandora
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Murphiroth
05/15/21 5:56:50 PM
#7:


Tag.

Best FF. Trance does suck and the battles do run slow so triple speed is recommended except for maybe bosses.
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Mr Crispy
05/15/21 6:12:03 PM
#8:


Main thing I can think of is to not worry too much about being a completionist and some of the minigames or missables, since some of them are pretty awful/stressful and don't really have any sort of meaningful reward attached to them. Mainly thinking about the jump rope and the race minigame here. well, I think there's a trophy for the jump rope in versions with achievements, and I don't think there was a reward for the race minigame but it was ages since I played so someone could correct me if I'm wrong. Also there's an item in the final dungeon that is completely infeasible to get on your first playthrough because you have to speedrun the game to get it. (Do look up what it was when you do get to that point though)

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Not changing this line until I beat Seven Heroes (2/24/07) - Fulfilled 2/20/18
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LordoftheMorons
05/15/21 6:15:40 PM
#9:


Getting to level 80 in Hippaul racing gives you a useless (but missable) key item. You also get a particular Tetra Master card every ten levels, though all of those are obtainable through alternative means.

Jump rope isnt missable

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Congrats to azuarc, GotD2 Guru champ!
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Nanis23
05/15/21 6:25:29 PM
#10:


Finally

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wololo
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Grand Kirby
05/15/21 6:31:24 PM
#11:


Tag. I love this game.

The battle speed is slow as hell. Feel free to speed things up whenever you feel like it.

There's like 20 million missable things in this game. I would highly advise you not to worry about it or else you will go insane trying to get everything. (That said, you might want to make sure you buy the rods that teach third tier magic before you lose your chance. It's not an hard thing to get, but it's weird how that's one of the things that you can lose for good.)

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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan
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LeonhartFour
05/15/21 6:32:34 PM
#12:


Yeah, there are a lot of missables and bad mini-games. Don't feel the need to stick with Tetra Master if you're not digging it. There are zero tangible rewards for playing, unlike Triple Triad.

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Murphiroth
05/15/21 6:36:05 PM
#13:


There is one particular minigame that's worth doing as you play through the game, and I personally find that one pretty fun, and the speed up makes it even better.
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most_games_r_ok
05/15/21 6:38:32 PM
#14:


LeonhartFour posted...
Yeah, there are a lot of missables and bad mini-games. Don't feel the need to stick with Tetra Master if you're not digging it. There are zero tangible rewards for playing, unlike Triple Triad.
Do try it out once or twice though!

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andylt
05/15/21 6:46:27 PM
#15:


I'll try all the minigames at least once!

Thanks for the tips, I'll try regular battle speed at the start then speed it up if it's bad (I assume there's a button command or it's in the menu somewhere). I will also try not to worry about missables, I'll likely do a bunch of exploration anyway but it'll be nice not sticking to a guide worried about every tiny thing.

Mr Crispy posted...
Also there's an item in the final dungeon that is completely infeasible to get on your first playthrough because you have to speedrun the game to get it.
This is giving me Zodiac Spear flashbacks!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Next up: Final Fantasy IX
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Murphiroth
05/15/21 6:49:54 PM
#16:


Speed up is a button command, can't remember which. There's also a no encounters button and god mode button.

There are further cheats in the menu but those are even further gamebreaking.
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redrocket
05/15/21 6:55:16 PM
#17:


Tag

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It's like paying for bubble wrap. -transience on Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
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BlackDra90n
05/15/21 7:21:25 PM
#18:


Tag. Got the plat for this last year. There's a ton of missables so if you don't care about max completion I wouldn't worry about it.

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htaeD
05/15/21 7:53:01 PM
#19:


One minigami is clearly worth it for all the goodies though. Though I feel like you can do that one any time?
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IGN: Pandora
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Fiop
05/15/21 9:40:56 PM
#20:


As far as missables go, this is a game where you probably don't want to sell off too much old equipment. Sometimes old equipment is needed to craft new equipment and it's past the point where you could obtain the old equipment.

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"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude." - 1 Cor 13:4-5
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Leonhart4
05/16/21 8:23:48 AM
#21:


Yeah, old equipment usually can be synthesized into better equipment, so it's generally a good idea not to sell it.

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ninkendo
05/16/21 8:25:48 AM
#22:


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SeabassDebeste
05/16/21 10:45:54 AM
#23:


i'd join you but i still have to play paper mario!
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andylt
05/16/21 5:51:12 PM
#24:


SeabassDebeste posted...
i'd join you but i still have to play paper mario!
I was wondering if you'd be doing this soon!

OK and off we go! The prologue is pretty great, we get a brief intro telling us Zidane and his crew are going to kidnap the princess and soon we're bouncing around between a bunch of characters and learning the basics while performing what is basically FFVI's opera but now in 3D. I like the music, I like the environments, I'm split on the character designs so far (the non-human ones are great but the semi-chibi thing is still weird for me), and the gameplay is fine. The tone is lighter than most in the series, which works fine so far. This game is definitely very aware of the series tropes it is referencing. Weirdly there's very few battles in the opening hour.

There are a lot of minigames though! I am dreadful at jump rope, Tetra Master seems OK but I don't know how it calculates the numbers when the cards go against each other. I don't think I miss a beat on the staged duel but I only impress 99 nobles out of 100 (and Queen Brahne is 'quite' impressed). The setpiece of this whole opening is cool though, we're thrust right into things and quickly learn the basics of Vivi (adorable), Zidane (womanising thief, a very familiar trope!), and Steiner (adorably hopeless). Garnet actually wanting to be kidnapped is a great interesting way to introduce her, notably she is also the first face we actually see in the intro.

I also recognise the name Beatrix and I think the head chef becomes a party member later on, but clearly not right now. Weirdly we don't get to pick Garnet's name. I don't recognise the names of Zidane's cohorts, which does not bode well for them. The stage play is great, I like that Garnet goes right into it with basically being a drama major (typical!) and poor Steiner somehow fits in anyway. The ship gets shot down thanks to a Bomb (cool usage of that enemy) and we wind up in Evil Forest.

I'm getting the sense that the names of places here are going to be very literal! We know very little about the world so far, usually in these games we have an outsider who gets introduced to everything but not here. There are tidbits of interesting info though regarding the 'Mist' and whatever is going on with Queen Brahne. And here in the Forest is where I really get the full extent of just how slow the ATB is. 3x is a bit too fast for me right now, I wish there was a 2x option while I get used to things. Why is that bar so slow though!

One thing I really like so far is the Active Time Events system. Well I like the concept of them at least, the mind boggles at all the cool ways they could potentially implement this later on. I'm also fond of the Mognet, and the moogles actually providing a use for once. Worst thing so far- the owl in the background of Evil Forest that won't shut up every two seconds.

The princess gets kidnapped, Zidane quits his crew (I guess they might survive after all!), Steiner and Master Vivi join to rescue her, and as the forest gets petrified (?!) we lose Blank (whoops, never mind). I get to the world map and watch the very helpful tutorials on the various systems we have so far. The world map itself doesn't look very good sadly, I see why they abandoned the concept after this game.

We get to the Ice Cavern and I leave things there for now. Steiner and Vivi's friendship >>> Zidane lusting after Garnet. Also please stop bullying Steiner, Zidane. Cool game so far, I look forward to getting into the actual plot but the intro has successfully got me into the feel of things!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Next up: Final Fantasy IX
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LeonhartFour
05/16/21 5:54:53 PM
#25:


Active Time Events and Mognet are both really cool. I wish the series would bring back ATEs.

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Grand Kirby
05/16/21 6:59:43 PM
#26:


andylt posted...
we get a brief intro telling us Zidane and his crew are going to kidnap the princess
If you tell Baku that the plan is to kidnap the Queen, he'll yell at you and repeat his speech. If you do this 64 times in a row Ruby will enter the scene and complain:


Also, on a similar note, try using the Moogle Flute on the World Map and then say no to wanting to save your game multiple times in a row. It's pretty funny.

andylt posted...
Tetra Master seems OK but I don't know how it calculates the numbers when the cards go against each other.
So the weird thing about this minigame is that the rules and mechanics are deliberately withheld from you at first and you're meant to figure things out piece by piece as the game continues. That's probably one reason why the game is so disliked. There IS logic to it, but puzzling it out can be a bit frustrating (there also is some randomness to it as well, for good measure). Personally I do think the game is actually fun once you understand how it works, so if you have questions and don't want to spend the time figuring it out yourself just ask.

andylt posted... One thing I really like so far is the Active Time Events system.
I actually often forget that FF9 has this, but yeah it's really interesting. Lots of fun scenes in this game.

andylt posted...
Edit: Forgot to mention one of the ATEs played what I'm pretty sure is the exact theme for Rufus' Welcome Ceremony in 7. Weird!
Something to keep in mind is that there is a TON of references to past FF games in this one. They really had a lot of fun with it. Try seeing how many you can spot!


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Okay, I rolled a 14. What's that mean? Hsu
That you're a cheater. This is a 12-sided die. Chan
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Leonhart4
05/16/21 7:00:53 PM
#27:


Yeah, IX is a tribute to the series, so there will be references aplenty to all the previous games.

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banananor
05/16/21 9:16:44 PM
#28:


Are you on PC, switch, or some other platform?

I just replayed this on pc myself. The 3x button is such a godsend

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You did indeed stab me in the back. However, you are only level one, whilst I am level 50. That means I should remain uninjured.
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pjbasis
05/17/21 1:12:45 AM
#29:


Not very important but you can visit someplace else before the Ice Cavern. Might be an item or something.


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andylt
05/17/21 7:53:10 AM
#30:


Grand Kirby posted...
Personally I do think the game is actually fun once you understand how it works, so if you have questions and don't want to spend the time figuring it out yourself just ask.
I'll try it myself for a bit and if I'm getting nowhere with it I'll ask for some help. And lol Ruby, I did enjoy the ATE that is just her on her own back at Alexandria wondering wtf she's supposed to do now.

Probably a good thing that I'm coming to this after doing 4/5/6 so I can hopefully appreciate some more of the references.

banananor posted...
Although going to the pause menu to activate the speed boost isn't as convenient as f1
Yeah that is a bit annoying, I thought it was just for battle speed but clearly it's running around speed too and I don't really want to break immersion for that!

pjbasis posted...
Not very important but you can visit someplace else before the Ice Cavern. Might be an item or something.
I went to the gate where there was a small scene and a woman selling potions (and a couple of chests), didn't see anywhere else!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Next up: Final Fantasy IX
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Leonhart4
05/17/21 10:57:29 AM
#31:


Yeah, that's the place he was talking about.

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pjbasis
05/17/21 12:10:02 PM
#32:


banananor posted...
I've heard good things about the switch version. Although going to the pause menu to activate the speed boost isn't as convenient as f1

20 years later and still Chrono Cross remains supreme.

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most_games_r_ok
05/17/21 4:50:10 PM
#33:




andylt posted...
I went to the gate where there was a small scene and a woman selling potions (and a couple of chests), didn't see anywhere else!


Yeah going to buy those potions is a neat little area just because it contributes to the story every so slightly. Plus those potions. Don't need em but a chance to get 99 of them for fun.

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LordoftheMorons
05/17/21 5:15:02 PM
#34:


Potions are actually relatively useful in FFIX since you typically dont choose your party for most of the first half of the game and you often dont have a real healer.

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andylt
05/17/21 5:44:59 PM
#35:


Yes, Potions have been very useful so far!

The Ice Cavern is a simple place of course, but it's nice to be moving around 3D dungeons again. A status effect tutorial tells us about Slow, and I'm surprised to learn the ATB can actually get any slower. Zidane resists some kind of sleep spell (how, I wonder?) and he solos the first Black Waltz before Dagger picks her new name (I'm sticking to defaults but I wonder if there's any fun dialogue for switching it up anywhere!). There is a strange world map encounter with a creature called Mu, we give him an Ore and he tells us to say hi to Mr Ghost for him. OK!

At first glance Dali seems like your generic JRPG opening village, but we soon discover a factory line of seemingly empty black mages being hatched out of eggs that are formed using Mist somehow. I didn't expect this level of secretly evil stuff so early on! Guess that Vivi thing wasn't a spoiler after all. This is all very cool and of course horrifying, and I like the little world touches about this work being cheaper and more efficient for the locals than farming. Everything so far seems to indicate that class issues will be a major theme of this game, which I'm happy about. Worldbuilding is definitely a highlight so far! The game also successfully infuriates me by having the locals dismiss Vivi as 'it'. Very effective.

Poor Vivi starts questioning his existence and Steiner hopelessly tries to get things back on track. Steiner of course has his classist issues and simple notion of morality right now, but I like him quite a lot and I look forward to him having to confront the darker reality sooner or later. The Steiner v Zidane rivalry is getting old fast though, and I hope they either develop it or move past it soon. Steiner deciding to argue against Zidane getting the death sentence is a nice moment. Garnet trying to be common is fun too.

We wind up on an airship to Alexandria and the seemingly soulless black mages demonstrate compassion towards Vivi and sacrifice themselves to protect him from Black Waltz #3 (who seems like a victim/tool himself, only created to kill). Despite Dagger being absent from the party the boss here is no trouble thanks to Steiner and Vivi both entering Trance. The airship starts to crumble and I wonder if this counts as a reference to FFV's string of doomed air vehicles earlygame, but we get to Lindblum intact.

Regent Cid reveals he orchestrated the kidnapping of Garnet (and that his Oglops affliction is merely due to his wife lol), and she in turn reveals her plan to come here from the start to try to solve whatever issue is plaguing her mother. We also get some info on airships and they handwave away the possibility of war with Alexandria, which I'm sure is the last we will ever hear of such a thing! Zidane reunites with someone named Freya (I was very tempted to name her Ratchel), and this looks like a rather large location so I leave things here for now. Honestly I'm not a massive fan of Zidane yet, his obsession with Garnet/all women and cocky taunting of Steiner gets on my nerves a bit. But he is nice to Vivi and of course all heroes have to start their journey somewhere, so we'll see where he goes.

I also lose a game of Tetra Master 10-0 and lose all 5 of my cards. They're teasing out the rules but lots of it is still foreign to me.

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IX!
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LeonhartFour
05/17/21 5:54:06 PM
#36:


For the record, you should be trying to steal from every boss because almost all of them have stuff worth stealing (up to three items, although usually it's only one or two things worth stealing). The problem is that Zidane's steal rate is atrocious. Some thief.

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Fiop
05/17/21 5:55:51 PM
#37:


andylt posted...
Dagger picks her new name (I'm sticking to defaults but I wonder if there's any fun dialogue for switching it up anywhere!).
I named her "Garnet" and there wasn't anything unique, at least that I can remember.

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"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude." - 1 Cor 13:4-5
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mnkboy907
05/17/21 5:59:31 PM
#38:


I named her Mythril, because Zidane was using the mythril dagger stolen from the sealion.

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LeonhartFour
05/17/21 6:02:21 PM
#39:


also I never rename characters

I actually tried doing it for an FFIX replay once and it bothered me so much that I reset the game and started over within an hour

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Murphiroth
05/17/21 6:18:57 PM
#40:


Keep an eye out for other friendly monsters that request ore and gemstones. For that reason I'd hold on to any ore and gemstones you get. They give a bunch of AP and are tied to something you may or may not decide to do.
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Fiop
05/17/21 6:32:47 PM
#41:


Murphiroth posted...
For that reason I'd hold on to any ore and gemstones you get.
IIRC, don't the friendly monsters only require one of these? I think you only need one of each type for that sidequest, so you shouldn't need to hoard a bunch of them.

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LordoftheMorons
05/17/21 6:34:44 PM
#42:


All enemies (including bosses) have somewhere between one and four items to steal. The first item slot is guaranteed, the second is 1/4, the third is 1/16 and the last is an amazingly atrocious 1/256 (though Zidane eventually gets a skill to bump rare steals up to I think 1/16 as well; possibly 1/32). Early game there are a fair number of useful 1/16 boss steals. I believe all of the 1/256 steals you really want to get should be after Zidane has the opportunity to learn that ability (theres an infamous one before that that some people spend four hours making sure they get, but you can eventually just buy it anyway).

I really love the Black Waltz 3 cutscenes!

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Murphiroth
05/17/21 6:37:53 PM
#43:


Fiop posted...
IIRC, don't the friendly monsters only require one of these? I think you only need one of each type for that sidequest, so you shouldn't need to hoard a bunch of them.

Double checked and this is correct, it's only ores that sometimes require more than one.
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LordoftheMorons
05/17/21 6:40:05 PM
#44:


Several of the gemstones also power up associated summons depending on how many you have (and ore can be used to synthesize the different gemstones)

Moonstones are limited, I believe. Not sure about any of the other gemstones.

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andylt
05/17/21 6:44:29 PM
#45:


I have only ever renamed a non-avatar character once in a JRPG IIRC, and that was Red XIII's real name on a rerun of VII.

I've been stealing from every boss, but only the once. Didn't realise they could have multiple, oh dear. Thanks for the heads up Leon and LotM! I've actually been impressed with Zidane's steal rate so far, but I guess that's just him stealing the easy items.

Murphiroth posted...
Keep an eye out for other friendly monsters that request ore and gemstones. For that reason I'd hold on to any ore and gemstones you get. They give a bunch of AP and are tied to something you may or may not decide to do.
Don't worry, I will horde everything. Even in games where items say 'you can sell this for cash' I feel uneasy selling them.

I just got the synthesis tutorial before quitting so I'll mess around with that next time. Also forgot to mention but I like that Garnet has summons there already, her MP bar just isn't high enough to use them. I'm taking that as a Tellah reference!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IX!
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LordoftheMorons
05/17/21 6:47:41 PM
#46:


You might have been lucky; it rolls for the rarest item first, and then if that fails moves on to the next most common one, etc.

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andylt
05/17/21 6:49:45 PM
#47:


Ah, I see. Well none of the items have seemed like anything special, just armour that I could get at Dali anyway. I'll try to get at least two from future bosses (unless they're annoyingly tough).

mnkboy907 posted...
I named her Mythril, because Zidane was using the mythril dagger stolen from the sealion.
This is a cool name that fits in a JRPG world and is better than 'Dagger' tbh.

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IX!
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LordoftheMorons
05/17/21 6:49:46 PM
#48:


One other thing I forgot: I believe there's also an overall independent probability to fail (might be based on speed or something; not sure) that you can eliminate with another ability of Zidane's.

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htaeD
05/17/21 7:41:18 PM
#49:


Stealing is the bane of every bossfight
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most_games_r_ok
05/17/21 8:03:15 PM
#50:


Stealing sucks. Spent like 6 turns trying to steal the Mage Masher from the opening fight with Baku. With 4 thieves! Took so long Cinna and Marcus both died and Zidane almost did too.

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