Current Events > Final Fantasy full(ish) series playthrough topic *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Now that the Pixel Remasters are out on Switch, I'm gonna do something I've always wanted to but never got around to it, and play (almost) every Final Fantasy game in order.

1-6 will be the pixel remasters, then 7, 8, 9, 10 and 10-2 on the Switch, skipping 11 because I don't want to sign up for an MMO again, then 12 also on the Switch, the 13 trilogy on PS3 (may have to repurchase the first, I can't remember if I had it digitally or if I had the physical and lost/resold it -- either way I need to buy 13-2 and 13-3), skipping 14 because I spent ten years on it and don't want to get sucked back in, then 15 and 7 Remake on the PS4. If I have a PS5 by then, I'll switch to that version for 7R, and also play 16.

Hopefully at some point Tactics gets released on something I can play it on so I can add that to the list as well.

Anyway, spent about five hours in FF1PR today, and I didn't realize just how short this game was and/or how easy the Pixel Remaster made it. In a single play session I killed Garland, stole the pirate ship, got thoroughly upset at the Marsh Cave and overstocked on Antidotes, gave the crown to Astos and killed him, did the Crystal Eye --> Jolt Tonic --> Mystic Key trade series, backtracked all over the place to unlock doors and get gear, helped a dwarf turn a peninsula into an island, killed a Vampire, and saved right outside where I'm about to stuff a ruby into a giant.

Busy, busy afternoon.

My party's a Warrior, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage, named after their counterparts in the novelization (in order Setro, Zauver, Flora, and Teol) and oh boy is it an effective combo. Even the Mages seem to have pretty decent physical attacks with the right gear, albeit it takes both of them attacking something at the same time to take it down while Setro and Zauver can solo it.

Gonna play more after work, and maybe just beat FF1 in two days. That wouldn't be a bad way to catch up on my quota for the year after Digimon Survive took a month longer than I had anticipated (which is entirely my fault on that one, I got lazy)

Do 8-10 all have remasters?

HorizonXI is a thing that exists if you are so inclined.

I'm kind of jealous of you playing these for the first time. The only one I have left to play (of the main series) is VI.

Leanaunfurled posted...

I'm kind of jealous of you playing these for the first time. The only one I have left to play (of the main series) is VI.

Oh they're not all first-time playthroughs for me. 1, 2, and 3 are (well, I played a bit of 1 back in the day, but never got far), 5 will be a first-time after a certain point, and 10-2, 12, 13-2 and 13-3 I never touched. Every other game I've played either to completion or damn near.

This is just going to be my first time marathoning the series as a whole.

Hopefully at some point Tactics gets released on something I can play it on so I can add that to the list as well

people are still predicting a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster based on a Nvidia leak from November 5, 2021
https://screenrant.com/final-fantasy-tactics-remaster-rumor-leak-nvidia/

spent about five hours in FF1PR today, and I didn't realize just how short this game was and/or how easy the Pixel Remaster made it

it is not that short. The game is straightforward, without many secrets to puzzle you, and events happen quickly. You still have a lot of game ahead of you

got thoroughly upset at the Marsh Cave and overstocked on Antidotes

the Marsh Cave is what I remember most about the game, because all of the poisoning can make it a frustrating dungeon, if you don't stock up on antidotes

My party's a Warrior, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage

I considered that party, but the Thief cannot steal in this game, and the ability to flee battles doesn't appeal to me in this game. I believe that I'm going to go with 2 Warriors, White Mage, and Black Mage, even though the Thief/Ninja's weapon Masamune is the mightiest weapon in the game

I also want to play through Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel remasters in order, but I'm going to do it more slowly than you because I also want to work on science fiction books

hexa posted...

I considered that party, but the Thief cannot steal in this game, and the ability to flee battles doesn't appeal to me in this game.

The Thief can't steal, but it does absolutely fucking beastly damage because it gets more hits per swing than the Warrior does. I'd also say the guaranteed flee is very handy, it definitely saved me on my first foray into the Marsh Cave when I realized I was very unprepared on Antidotes and needed to gtfo without fighting anything to get poisoned by.

It also helps for avoiding fights that just aren't worth having your Black/Red Mage spend spell slots on, like the Green Slimes in that same cave that require a spell to kill and give fuck all as a reward.

He's also going to be very useful after the job upgrade when I can teach him Haste and buff both my physical DPS in one turn.

I completed the Bestiary outside of the Chaos Shrine, which is the first 7 foes of the game. In the process, I reached Level 6 on all protagonists, and I earned my first Playstation trophy, Apprentice Warrior -- defeated 100 monsters. 70.9% of players have earned this tropy, which makes it the second-most-common trophy, after defeating the first boss, which 75% of players earned. And I streamed my adventure on Twitch, 18 minutes long. One viewer watched all 18 minutes

The next task is the Chaos Shrine. I shall try to fight all foes in the Chaos Shrine, which are numbers 8 through 12. Oh, and there are 3 treasure chests in there, too

I tried to do this a number of years ago, and I hit some burnout at FF8. And I wasnt doing a playthrough on every game like you are doing, it was just FF1-10.

Just got the Pixel Remasters myself. Not sure if Ill hammer them all out in succession, because I wanna platinum them all (got them on PS4). Doing it will be a piece of cake on FF1, but looking at some of the trophies on the other games, I wonder if Ill regret it as I hunt for a pink tail in FF4 - something Ive never actually gotten before.

As for FF1, I used a random number generator to pick my team. I got Thief (named Robin), Thief (named Hood), White Mage (named Dazzle) and Black Mage (named Shade). I always get nervous about taking a thief in FF1 because my mind always thinks that its still the NES thief, which was preeeeeetty bad. Theyre much better in the remakes, though, as TMOG mentioned.

Quick update while I take a poop break

A little over two hours more logged on FF1. So far tonight I've discovered Sadda's pot den, returned to the Earth Cavern and killed Lich, got a canoe, realized it was time to pull up my big boy pants because the difficulty just spiked, and now I'm in Mt. Gulg, aka the worse place on the goddamn planet.

In the Pixel Remaster have they fixed the Thief to work properly?

the Thief in Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster works very well, much better than the Nintendo Entertainment System's Thief. Some people believe that the new Thief is more effective than the Warrior. The new Thief delivers hits more hits per round than the Warrior, has higher accuracy and evade, and can flee battle very well

hexa posted...

the Thief in Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Remaster works very well, much better than the Nintendo Entertainment System's Thief. Some people believe that the new Thief is more effective than the Warrior. The new Thief delivers hits more hits per round than the Warrior, has higher accuracy and evade, and can flee battle very well

Making up for decades of total misery? Lol

TMOG posted...

Quick update while I take a poop break

A little over two hours more logged on FF1. So far tonight I've discovered Sadda's pot den, returned to the Earth Cavern and killed Lich, got a canoe, realized it was time to pull up my big boy pants because the difficulty just spiked, and now I'm in Mt. Gulg, aka the worse place on the goddamn planet.

*laughs in Ice Cave-ish*

Jeff_AKA_Snoopy posted...

Making up for decades of total misery? Lol

The GBA version of the Thief was pretty good.

McMarbles posted...

The GBA version of the Thief was pretty good.

I recall that Ninja was pretty damn good for sure, don't remember much about Thief.

Still, very good to know.

Killed Marilith, got the Levistone from the Cavern of Ice, went back to the dwarves because I remembered one of them mentioned wanting some but it turns out he's not the guy I need to actually bring it to. Now some friends want to play Phasmophobia so it looks like I might be done for the night.

TMOG posted...

A little over two hours more logged on FF1. So far tonight I've discovered Sadda's pot den, returned to the Earth Cavern and killed Lich, got a canoe, realized it was time to pull up my big boy pants because the difficulty just spiked, and now I'm in Mt. Gulg, aka the worse place on the goddamn planet.

The volcano never really bothered me Id agree with this:

McMarbles posted...

*laughs in Ice Cave-ish*

That place gave me chills (pun intended) when I was younger. Sorcerers could just change your day completely with an ambush followed by 1-hit KOs to your whole party. Absolutely hated them.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/5/AAEqD0AAEZyT.jpg

Also, for sometime now, Ive enjoyed playing FF1 with a bit of an order breaking sequence. After the Earth Cave, I prefer to do the following:

Ice Cave > Get Airship > Rat Tail/Promotions > Underwater Shrine > Sky Palace > Volcano

It just feels satisfying to go through the volcano much later than intended and beat the absolute crap outta everything in there.

I actually had zero problems in the ice cave aside from getting frustrated with the ice cracks.

Mt. Gulg, however, can fuck off with its lava floors and birds that cast an instant kill on you. Once again I became VERY glad that the Thief lets me always run from combat, because I took off every time I saw those birds.

I also want to know who the sick bastard is that put all the ice-resistant armor in the fire dungeon and all the fire-resistant armor in the ice dungeon.

pixel remaster 1 is a really shitty gimped version of the game that makes it way too easy, that's probably why you're able to breeze through it

the game was never very long though

https://youtu.be/1jgWx10CDoo

For those who want a fairly comprehensive idea of the changes made. Maybe some minor spoilers?

12.5 hours of playtime, and nearing the end.

Got my airship, got the rat's tail, fed it to Bahamut and he made my party grow up. After that I met a robot, bought a fairy, released a fairy, got oxygen water or something, ride a barrel to the Sunken Temple, met mermaids, killed Kraken, helped a nerd learn a new language, used that language to get a chime, climbed a tower to a sky castle and killed Tiamat.

After lunch I shall rename all my characters to "Jack".

Well I dont remember the last time this happened to me, but crossing the bridge to Tiamat, I got WarMechd. I couldnt tell you the last time I had to fight it when I wasnt actually hunting it.

It fucked me up something fierce. First turn Nuke basically took out everyone. Thankfully, the remaster allows you to retry from the start of the bridge. I mopped the floor with Tiamat but Ill need to level up quite a bit to take on ol Mechy again.

Final Fantasy 1 is finished!

After a brief detour to the wizard cult's sex circle to discover that the plot has been about a time loop all this time (and also some implication that the Warriors of Light are also time travelers with amnesia?), I went and had a dwarf forge Excalibur for me, and then entered a Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp to go Huey Lewis and the News - Back In Time.

The Chaos Shrine was longer than I thought, but I was able to grind quite a few levels on the way down to the final boss, ending at level 52 by the time I finished the boss rush and made it to Garland/Chaos. Easily the hardest fight of the game, Teol wound up in a death cycle for a few rounds until I was able to keep him on his feet, but his magic honestly didn't do too much to Chaos compared to Setro/Zauver's physical attacks, so I mainly kept him as support.

One thing I learned from this playthrough is that a lot of FF1's magic is fairly useless. I don't think I ever tried putting a status effect on anything after my first use of Sleep resulted in everything that got hit just attacking in the same round anyway, and figured out after a while that it's better to just buy a big stack of items for curing status effects than to spend a spell slot for a White Mage to cure it.

It did get pretty easy toward the end of the game when I finally got some items that let me cast spells for free, and I wound up using autobattle for random encounters after setting the commands; Setro and Zauver did their physical attacks, Flora used the Healer's Staff to keep everybody topped up with free Heals, and Teol used the Gauntlet for free Thundaras. It was painfully effective.

Anyway, probably gonna take the rest of the night off, but starting Final Fantasy 2 tomorrow before my D&D game.

Final level/playtime:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/7/AABrRdAAEZ8f.jpg

Congrats

As a sidenote, I'm really glad I went with the original soundtrack option. The arrangements are nice to listen to in the Music Player, but they really don't fit the actual game's design imo and I think they would have felt out of place.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, it's actually to blame for this marathon lol

I don't recommend doing all your game saves on a single save file -- File 1, as pictured above. It is possible for a file to become corrupted. If your single save file becomes corrupted, then you lose all of your progress in the game

Nah gotta live life on the edge

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Any game save file can become corrupted. For any video game

However, the Pixel Remasters have an autosave feature. If your manual save becomes corrupted, merely load your autosave file, and you are fine

Nice job, TC.

Did Chaos give you any trouble, or did you steamroll him?

Also, just curious - have you beaten all numbered FFs previously?

Grats, TC!!

TMOG posted...

Nah gotta live life on the edge

^5 Just like me fr fr

The_Popo posted...

Did Chaos give you any trouble, or did you steamroll him?

As noted above, the only real trouble I had with Chaos was that Teol (my Black Wizard) was in a death cycle for about five or six rounds. He died, I rezzed, he was targeted and died again, I rezzed, Chaos used an AOE, he died, I rezzed, Chaos finally decided to focus on somebody else long enough to get him properly back on his feet. Other than that, it was pretty much a stomp.

I did get concerned when his opening move was to heal himself for 9999 before taking any damage, because I was certain he was going to do that again once his health got low and then I'd basically be back to the start of the fight. But instead he just remained aggressive and my healer was easily able to keep up while the other three burned him down.

The_Popo posted...

Also, just curious - have you beaten all numbered FFs previously?

Before now, only 15. I got very close on a few of them (4, 7, and 10), but I was young and unfocused and moved on to something else before actually fighting the final boss. There are also a few on this list I haven't played at all -- 2, 3, 12, and the sequel games to 10 and 13.

I'm actually pretty excited to start 2 tomorrow, partially due to its reputation. Considering that I actually do kind of like 8 and 13, the other two "bad" ones, I'm very curious to see how I feel about 2.

Oh damn, then I apologize about one of my earlier posts, talking about how I got WarMechd. I thought youd played them before, or most of them before. Now Im more curious about this topic than I previously was.

Also, in case you still arent aware about what I was talking about in the room where you fight Tiamat, its just a long, skinny bridge way all the way to Tiamat. Along that bridge, you have a 1/64 chance of fighting WarMech - arguably the hardest fight in the game. Its up there with fighting Chaos, particularly for that point in the game, when you are still weaker than youd be at the end game (they made Chaos much tougher in the remasters compared to the original NES game, so Id say Chaos is decidedly better now, although WarMech still hits like a damn tank).

You usually wont fight WarMech unless youre specifically looking to fight it, so if you encounter it unexpectedly, it can be a bad time for your party.

https://youtu.be/W2o45u37HpQ

As for FF2, the remasters fixed some of the most glaring issues that the game initially had. It isnt perfect by any means and it still has plenty of flaws, but Id say its a decent game now. Still the weakest entry of FF1-6, IMO, but its decent.

I hope you enjoy it!

Ohhhh so THAT'S where Warmech is

I knew about it but thought it was going to be a boss you'd encounter like any other, I didn't know FF1 had a secret boss fight like that, that's pretty cool

Got a little over an hour into Final Fantasy 2 before I got hungry and decided it's break time lol

For all the people warning me that it was bad, I'm actually kind of liking it so far. A lot of stuff feels like a step up from the first game, especially the story and character dialogue -- it already feels more like the Final Fantasy games I'm used to.

Spent a lot of that hour grinding for gold so I could buy extra weapons and get the four basic spells for my core three party members, and it also gave me a good excuse to set up a solid base for my stats. Right now I'm building off of their initial proficiencies and setting Firion up as an all-rounder that can attack, heal, and cast magic; Maria with a magic focus but also trying to make sure her bow hurts; and Guy as a physical brute that I'm probably going to give a lot of buff/debuff spells, since his actual Magic stat sucks. Probably going to also focus them on their default weapons (sword, bow, axe respectively) but also let them train in others when I'm able, since it seems like the weapons proficiencies cap at certain levels; I'm guessing these will increase either at specific story points or as their raw stats increase. Either way, I don't see the harm in letting them learn a lot of weapon types.

ANYWAY as far as story for this hour, I didn't expect that it would open up with my party getting wiped out, and then after I woke up and got rejected from the rebel army, I went back home and dodged some imperials (although my dumb ass decided to talk to the first one I saw, even after being warned to stay away) and found Scott, who gave me his ring before he died. I showed the ring to Gordon, showed the ring to Hilda, and then Minwu joined the party to make me feel woefully inadequate. Now I'm in a port town and, after a quick sloppy joe break, about to grind more gold to get Guy those aforementioned buff spells now that they're for sale.

Bought Guy some defense magic, took a boat ride, met Josef, then raided a mythril mine to rescue the Great Thief Paul from an unlocked room. After that I fought the first boss, a Sergeant, for some Mythril. Another boat ride to return to home base and the blacksmith used it to make some new weapons and armor for me to buy, although you'd think the rebel army wouldn't charge its own soldiers for new equipment. Capitalism at its finest.

My new mission is to go take another boat ride and blow up an airship named the Dreadnought, which I'll get to after I get back from D&D tonight.

Also I'm a little unclear on what Magic Interference actually *does*. I figure that it's a bad stat to raise and I want to avoid it on my casters, but what does it do? Fail chance? Reduced damage? Longer cast times? All of the above?

Or is it really not even something worth worrying about and I should just armor Maria up anyway?

I earned the platinum trophy for Final Fantasy 1. This means that I defeated all of the individual monsters in the game, including Warmech, which was the most difficult

In my playthrough, I only wiped out once. It was my first encounter with Warmech, at level 37. I prudently decided to let him go for the moment, and come back later after Chaos. In my second battle with Warmech, I was victorious, at level 50

I am moving on to Final Fantasy 2

Just shy of 5 hours on the playtime, so here's a status report.

I went to go blow up the Dreadnought, but showed up late and it blew up every town I've already visited instead. After my colossal failure I picked up the pass and went to report, Minwu left the party and after a bit of backtracking on the rental boat I learned about Sunfire, then the Goddess Bell, then went to go recruit Josef's help (and as a party member), got his snowmobile, went to the Snow Cavern, Guy speak beaver, killed the adamantoise, got the bell, killed Borghen, and then Josef sacrificed himself to prevent an Indiana Jones clich.

Overall I think I actually really prefer this game to the first one so far. It feels like a huge step up, especially in storytelling. I also like the little touch of seeing airships flying around at random to make the world feel more alive.

Whoops, I just found a PS4 copy of Type-0 that I forgot I owned.

*sighs and adds it to the list*

TMOG posted...

Also I'm a little unclear on what Magic Interference actually *does*. I figure that it's a bad stat to raise and I want to avoid it on my casters, but what does it do? Fail chance? Reduced damage? Longer cast times? All of the above?

Or is it really not even something worth worrying about and I should just armor Maria up anyway?

When you cast a spell, your Intelligence statistic contributes to bonus damage for the spell. Magic Interference reduces this Intelligence damage, especially if you wear heavy plate armor. So your spells don't do as much damage

Personally, I'm going to armor the characters up anyway, but Magic Interference is a factor when choosing one armor over another

I wanted to hunt a bird named Sprinter before I headed to the port town of Paloom via canoe. I was able to find a Sprinter in the ruined town of Fynn, but because it has an encounter rate of only 1 in 64 (1.6%), it took me 40 minutes. However, I now have a complete Bestiary before Paloom

This evening I shall shop in Paloom, and then hunt some more monsters outside town

Hired Cid's airship to go to Kashuan Keep, where I dinged the bell and then met Gordon inside. He joined the party and while most of his stats weren't bad (22 in everything), his HP was incredibly low, so I put him in the back row for a while until that number came up. Sadly I didn't have a bow to give him, but I did have an extra Blizzard tome, so he became a backup mage to Maria.

Anyway I raided the keep and fought the Red Soul at the end, which was a bit of a frustrating fight since it took very little physical damage and was healed by everything else, so it was just a drawn-out slugfest. Grabbed a torch and put the Sunfire in it and then teleported out of the keep to see Cid's airship get captured by the Dreadnought.

I went south a little and grabbed a chocobo, the first intro of them in the series, to ride back to Altair, where I learned that for some reason Princess Hilda was also on Cid's airship and got kidnapped. By this time Gordon felt solid enough that I moved him to the front lines, where he actually did some solid damage, but I still bought him a few more basic spells because why the hell not, they're 150 gold each and I had 20k+. Even if he leaves the party on the way out of town I won't feel that financial hit.

A long trek to the north (where's my goddamn chocobo) and I found the Dreadnought, flashed my pass to get past the guard, and then found out that the other soldiers inside are still hostile even though I have the proper credentials. I released Hilda and Cid from their cell and made my way through the airship, and everything was going fine until I reached that floor with the Hill Gigas, which I fought not once, not twice, not thrice, but four goddamn times in a row. If I were a smarter man I would have just started running after the first fight, but I was greedy for stat gains and just kept going.

After the fourth Hill Gigas fight, I was pretty drained. Out of healing items, everybody was out of MP except for Maria (who had 29 left), and thought to myself "you know what, I'll bet there's a boss in front of the engine." I tried to use Teleport so I could use a Tent/Cottage (whatever they're called in this one) and go back inside, but Firion couldn't cast it, so I figured I'd just walk my way all the way to the front... but the Dark Knight was blocking the door and wouldn't let me through. I really didn't want to load my old save and lose all the progress I made if I didn't have to, so I marched all the way back down to the basement, running from just about every fight because I was on fumes and wanted to save what little I had for whatever boss was waiting for me...

...but there was no boss anyway. Fuck me in the face.

SO.

I get back to Altair, have a very needed rest at the inn, the king is dead, Gordon leaves the party to run the army, and Princess Hilda has now locked herself in her room hee-heeing to herself, so yeah, she's obviously an impostor.

Now it's time to go get dragoons and wyverns from Deist.

TMOG posted...

After that I fought the first boss, a Sergeant, for some Mythril

I have just defeated the Sergeant, and returned to town of Altair