OMG FF13-2 @ E3 STUFF

[Damian79]

Hopefully the characters dont annoy me this time...  who am i kidding i wont touch this either the gameplay just doesnt look interesting.

[naff]

And people wonder why the genre is in decline

It's not, that's just something westaboos love convincing themselves of when they get tired of pwning their bros in the latest CoD rehash.

Here's hoping FF13-2 is good, the original had some sort of promise at least but was really hurt by the linear design and absence of towns/optional stuff.

There's still some great action RPGs and SRPGs, compared to previous gens though from my perspective there's a real dearth of quality jRPGs on the HD consoles, I've taken the lack of good software and move to handhelds/wii as a fair indication that the few good jRPG devs left find it hard to weather the costs of modern game dev on HD systems. Indicating both genre decline and industry decline...? I think it's obvious that the genre is in decline relative to the PSX/PS2 era.

[magus]

and industry decline...?

this!

[Himu]

the reason for the lack of jrpgs on hd consoles is because japanese aren't playing on hd consoles, they're playing on portables

[TripleA]

What improvements are they making to FF13-2? Because it looks like the same outdated game that was released a little over a year ago.

[iconoclast]

And people wonder why the genre is in decline

It's not, that's just something westaboos love convincing themselves of when they get tired of pwning their bros in the latest CoD rehash.

Here's hoping FF13-2 is good, the original had some sort of promise at least but was really hurt by the linear design and absence of towns/optional stuff.

There's still some great action RPGs and SRPGs, compared to previous gens though from my perspective there's a real dearth of quality jRPGs on the HD consoles, I've taken the lack of good software and move to handhelds/wii as a fair indication that the few good jRPG devs left find it hard to weather the costs of modern game dev on HD systems. Indicating both genre decline and industry decline...? I think it's obvious that the genre is in decline relative to the PSX/PS2 era.

meh, aside from Devil Survivor, all of the best RPGs are still on console anyway.

*I still haven't played Knights in the Nightmare

[Himu]

It still does the animation, brand new. Whether it's short or not doesn't matter. Don't wanna see it 5 billion times.

The fuck are you defending SantaC this time? He is wrong as is you and magus. First time you do paradigm shift it loops the whole animation, every consequent time it's just 1 sec. Watch the Shaolong Gui movie FFS.

God you FF13 haters are so pathetic you make up shit.

We didn't say it was long. I even said it wasn't long. I still don't like it. It's annoying because the action doesn't stop if you paradigm shift, whether the animation is long or not.

[BlueTsunami]

SE can suck a fucks. Learn to Battle System you goofs!

[recursivelyenumerable]

The graphics somehow look downgraded.

And FFXIII's only good tracks are the battle themes. The rest is pretty trash.

I admire how consistent you are in your bad taste

[recursivelyenumerable]

as a bit of trivia, Nomura isn't doing the costume design this time, it's Isamu Kamikokuryo + Yusuke Naora. I've also heard a rumor that Hamauzu is on board again but this time it's more of an equal collaboration with Ryo Yamazaki and Mitsuto Suzuki, who just arranged some tracks in FF13 but this time are co-composers, but it's not confirmed.

[SantaC]

It still does the animation, brand new. Whether it's short or not doesn't matter. Don't wanna see it 5 billion times.

exactly, that's what I meant.


edit: and duckroll sucks, he probably work for SE. The guy praises them every chance he gets.

[Himu]

BTW CrapaC and Himuro, this post from duckroll on gaf explains exactly why FF13's battle system ain't no worse than the one from previous titles:

You're focusing on the wrong thing though. While auto-attack picks the best option for a given role, the roles in FFXIII are so specific that they are basically commands on their own. Changing the role to Commando, is similar to picking "attack" in an old FF game. Changing the role to Medic, is similar to picking a healing command. And so on. If you leave the role on Commando, and you need to heal, auto-attack isn't going to do jack shit. If an enemy is weak to chain attacks but not heavy physicals, auto-attack isn't going to do jack shit on Commando either. If you want to slow an enemy down, auto-attack isn't going to help you either.

This is what magus was trying to tell you all the time.

I understand all of this. I just treat it like FFX-2 commands, and the paradigms as dress spheres. I like the idea, but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. I'd probably like it a lot more if the battles were slowed down a bit and there was no auto-battle, period in combination with the ability to switch party members mid-battle and able to customize their ai ala gambits. Because between the party ai and auto-battle, it really does feel like a really hands off game to me.

That said, the battle system is the least of the game's problems as the battle system is fun, it's just that it gets really really tiring because that's all there ever is to do. If there was actual content in the game, maybe I'd like the battle system. Instead, I get battle system fatigue. I would deliberately skip enemies just to get to the next story scene. I found the game to be monotonous in terms of pacing and it felt like one big battle -> battle -> cutscene. Doing only battles ruined the battle system for me as while I think the battle system is fun, it's not deep or fun enough to stand on its own like superior dungeon crawlers (ie. Vagrant Story, Breath of Fire 5, Valkyrie Profile 2, Wizardry games, Etrian Odyssey, SMT games). It feels like over 75% of the game offers little to no challenge anyways, and this usually isn't a problem since that's very often the case in just about every FF since FFIV, but these other games (FF5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 12) offer things other than just battles. So you have a battle system with shit difficulty for over 3/4's the story when that's ALL THERE IS.

The result is unparalleled boredom and monotony.

Factor in the extremely limiting character roster that has you with a two-man party for over 25 hours, a story that constantly handholds you across the beaten path, a customization system that slaps you in the face if you even want to try something different until 3/4's into the story, dungeons and world that are literally one straight line with the exception of one area and you have a game that single-handedly does away with every thing I like about the rpg genre. It's fine that you like it, and I kinda like it too, but not understanding why people don't really prefer this method of play is pretty asinine, and trying to convince others that it's the same thing as before is just a joke.

[magus]

So you have a battle system with shit difficulty for over 3/4's the story when that's ALL THERE IS.

and vagrant story,valkyrie profile 2 and the original etrian odyssey (which i like to remember was the game with the skill that made you for all purpouse invincible) are instead ultra-challenging games? vagrant story is that game where "customization" means "i won't let you damage this boss until you grind me several lizards!" is that what you wanted from FF13,grinding enemies to have a shot at the boss?

do we want to talk about persona 3 and his "the enemies are never going to get a turn" battle system?

Factor in the extremely limiting character roster that has you with a two-man party

see this is another thing that makes me angry! so what? has anybody ever complained of that in dragon quest iv? no? is it because dragon quest iv is the holy classic rpg while final fantasy 13 is the evil new fangled game from belt and zipper nomura?

but not understanding why people don't really prefer this method of play is pretty asinine

it's not that i don't understand what you are saying,i don't understand why it's okay in rpg 1 and it's not okay in final fantasy 13

"all you do in random battles is picking auto-attack!"
OOOOOHHH SOMEONE JUST DISCOVERED THE AMERICA AND NOTICED THAT RANDOM BATTLE GET DISPATCHED BY SIMPLY PICKING THE ATTACK COMMAND OVER AND OVER,QUICK QUICK CALL THE NEWSPAPER,EVERYBODY NEEDS TO KNOW

[Himu]

I never said those games are ultra challenging. But they aren't brain dead either.

I like Dragon Quest IV quite a bit but Dragon Quest IV isn't a two man party for 20 hours, it's a two man party, then a three man party, then a one man party, then a two man party, and finally you get to have a full four man party in the final chapter. And DQ4 changes the scenarios often enough and makes them refreshing enough for this to not be a problem. Torneko's scenario is totally different from the twin sister scenario. On the other hand, playing as Lightning and Hope feels no different from playing Sazh and Vanille. The story should dictate how gameplay is changed, FF13 does not do this.

The argument isn't that all you do in 13 is press auto-battle, the argument is that the only thing FF13 has to offer are battles and I can use auto-battle to survive most encounters. That's a problem when the battles are the only thing you have going for yourself.

[magus]

Torneko's scenario is totally different from the twin sister scenario. On the other hand, playing as Lightning and Hope feels no different from playing Sazh and Vanille.

bbbbbzzzttttt
wrong!
ultimately you are still entering a dungeon,getting attacked by random enemies every few steps and getting out of it with whatever you need to progress so you can enter the next dungeon and repeat this all over

the argument is that the only thing FF13 has to offer are battles

this is like me reducing persona 3 to "random dungeons and simulator"

[magus]

well we wouldn't have this argument if those dumb asses would stop milking final fantasy
so there

[DarknessTear]

Masashi Hamauzu is an amazing composer. I hope he comes back for FFXIII-2 but the trailer music didn't even sound like Hamauzu's work to me very much.

One of the most amazing moments visually was seeing Cocoon look so close in the sky, and the overall atmosphere of Oerba.
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

Really, who writes music this amazing?
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

He creates ambient, atmospheric masterpieces.
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

This music made getting the Platinum trophy much more bearable.
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Himu]

FF13 has more than battles going for it.

Graphics, music, story (yeah), FMVs... this is not as much as FF12 offered (all that + splendid non-linearity, huge maps, challenging Hunts, mini-games!) but don't say it's only battle system!

Still 99.9% of the non-boss encounters could be dealt with using only 2 Paradigms: Tri-Disaster and Commando. This is pretty much a huge minus for... not exactly the battle system but battle scenarios.

Square MUST, somehow, make FFXIII-2 more challenging. The only challenge in FFXIII is (early) grinding Oretoises which is even non-required for beating the game!

They have a great battle system now give us monsters to use it on!

How isn't it only battle system?

There's no world to explore. There's no quests outside of marks (battles). That is literally the only thing the game has to offer.

Now usually, I don't mind this. I'm a big fan of dungeon crawlers. Etrian Odyssey for instance has not one single cutscene. It is just dungeon crawling and battlin' and I love that.

The way I see it, FF13 is a half-baked dungeon crawler without any semblance of dungeon design.

[DarknessTear]

Final Fantasy XIII is a very straight-forward game, but most other games in the series were the same, it was just less obvious. Where do you go first in a town in pretty much every game in the series? You go to the Weapon/Armor/Item shops and stock up with whatever you need. You never need to really talk to random people, and nobody ever has anything important to say in towns. Sure, it's fun to go around and find secret things in Airships, and I -really- want that in newer games in the series. It doesn't really hurt me that bad that it's missing in this game specifically, though.

The battles aren't very complex up until you reach the Steppe. The game really opens up from then on, to where everything before it seems like a really long tutorial level in the game. Sure, you can kill a lot of things using only auto battle, but a lot of later battles, you need to use strategy. I think to really appreciate the battle system you have to do Marks, though. Kinda sucks that the main game doesn't really give you that level of challenge, but nonetheless, I believe the battle system is fantastically done. I'm one of the few people who actually love this game, and I do realize it has faults and needs improvement, but I don't really think the bad far outweighs the good.

Overly long tutorial, needlessly convoluted plot, linearity.. doesn't really eclipse an innovative battle system which is deep and fun and a beautiful and atmospheric mesh of visuals and audio. Very few things honestly pissed me off about the game. (Lack of FF victory theme kinda annoyed me.)

[magus]

himuro going by your logic even suikoden 3 is a dungeon crawler and all there is to do is BATTLES

Kinda sucks that the main game doesn't really give you that level of challenge

nah i don't agree,every battle with barthandeleus (is that spelled right?) is way more harder than any mark

[DarknessTear]

Really? I never thought so. I had a far harder time fighting Attacus.

[Himu]

this is like me reducing persona 3 to "random dungeons and simulator"

Now you're being silly.

Persona 3 has:

- considering a weekly schedule (I would plan out my schedule on a weekly basis while playing)
- slinks (I actually made out an an actual schedule -- on paper -- in regards to what slinks I would do, this makes for very involving play)
- considering and weighing options (do I go to the dungeon tonight or should I just work on s links/skills?)
- battles
- loot and preparing yourself for the dungeon
- persona fusion and gaining of as many persona as possible
- a specific game flow and order of things, an addictive "one more day" kick
- quests via the velvet room with Elizabeth

and more. It's a game with a lot of variety in terms of content.

FF13 has:

- battles
- marks <--- battles
- no semblance of dungeon design, not that P3 did either, but it did have the "I'm on floor 152, I ran out of mp healing items and I'm almost out of mp, do I just keep going forward or should I bail for the night?" element, which is far more interesting than I can say for anything in FF13.
- Game flow is literally go down straight line and fight the whole game.

What other content in FF13 is there? Nothing. Except battles. I'd like to see you offer an argument that FF13 has something to offer other than battles. And for an rpg that bases its content solely on battles and dungeons, it can do a helluva lot better than that, any other dungeon crawler massacres FF13. FF13 is a very below average dungeon crawler.

To me, discussing FF13 isn't really a matter of discussing FF13 vs other FF games, but FF13 vs other rpgs and it barely satisfies.

I'm only mentioning these things in this FF13-2 thread because the only way I will ever consider buying FF13-2 is if they make an actual rpg out of it. Whether it's the dungeon crawl type or the adventure-y type. I don't care, so long as it's good and S-E should know that inciting interest in the sequel to the most ill received single player mainline FF pretty much ever with a pic that looks straight out the original FF13 is going to burn them. If anything, they should be telling us what's DIFFERENT rather than what hasn't changed.

[Himu]

himuro going by your logic even suikoden 3 is a dungeon crawler and all there is to do is BATTLES

Kinda sucks that the main game doesn't really give you that level of challenge

nah i don't agree,every battle with barthandeleus (is that spelled right?) is way more harder than any mark

Now you're being distinguished mentally-challenged.

And I'm starting to think you are.

Suikoden III has:

- battles
- over 100 characters to recruit
- mini games
- exploration
- over 50 characters usable in battle
- a highly developed skill system
- an 80-100 hour long behemoth with five different leads playable
- quests

It is a game with a lot of variety in terms of content.

Not being able to see the difference between FF13 and other rpgs makes you seem somewhat...simple. There are rpgs similar to FF13 though. They are namely, Vagrant Story, Breath of Fire 5, and Xenosaga 1 and I enjoy all of these tremendously, because they offer enough variety where it counts and enough interesting game ideas to make the games really fun. Not to mention they don't overstay their welcome. They are not 50-80 hours long, they are 15-30 hours.

But no, Suikoden III != FF13.

[magus]

Really? I never thought so. I had a far harder time fighting Attacus.

attacus is really easy as long as you have one guy tanks with a few physical resist slapped on him

Persona 3 has:

- considering a weekly schedule (I would plan out my schedule on a weekly basis while playing) <---- nah,you go to the dungeon,gets to the max floor,then the game cockblock you and says "GO SOME MORE!"
- slinks (I actually made out an an actual schedule -- on paper -- in regards to what slinks I would do, this makes for very involving play) <----------
- considering and weighing options (do I go to the dungeon tonight or should I just work on s links/skills?) <---- random dungeon or
- battles  <---- random dungeon
- loot and preparing yourself for the dungeon <------- random dungeon
- persona fusion and gaining of as many persona as possible <-------- which you don't really need to do
- a specific game flow and order of things, an addictive "one more day" kick <----- one more
- quests via the velvet room with Elizabeth <------ which most involve getting item trough battles

and more. It's a game with a lot of variety in terms of content. <-------- nope

"I'm on floor 152, I ran out of mp healing items and I'm almost out of mp, do I just keep going forward or should I bail for the night?"

that will happen only if you go fight around everything that moves,which you don't really need to do

I'd like to see you offer an argument that FF13 has something to offer other than battles.

borys already did that,plot,graphic,music these things are all important,heck i was hyped about persona 3 because it featured MYSTERIES ABOUT INVISIBLE HOURS and RAP BATTLE MUSIC,then the game just bailed on me "WE SHOULD WAIT FOR THE NEXT MOON,GO TALK TO THIS BORING GUY WHO HAS A CRUSH ON HIS TEACHER!"

[DarknessTear]

More features of Suikoden III

- Ugly marshmallow people
- Boring

[Himu]

I'd love that so much. It will never happen, though. One thing that COULD happen is if they made a fucking Triple Triad game where you explore the world getting the ultimate deck, has online play, the works. You come into your friends world and play him with your deck. Fucking awesome and I would play that game forever.

Darknesstear A lot of people complain about talking about npc's and that they never say anything important but I really like that. I like talking to npc's and exploring vista's with awesome artwork. For me, that's FF tradition as much as royal blue backgrounds and chocobos are.

I seem to be one of the few people whose main way of getting involved in an rpg story is not so much the cutscenes, but the world the game inhabits. rpg worlds are almost always more involving than the actual plot, because over the course of 50 hours, characters and worlds are developed. You grow attached to this imaginary place that exists only on a game disc and it's something I never grow tired of.

I'm going to guess the people who don't like talking to npc's and exploring towns in rpgs are right handed and thus, are boring people. I think devolving the core rpg experience of going to towns and exploring as just busy work kinda does the genre a disservice. We're talking about a genre with games that average in 40-80 hours in terms of length. If there's one thing rpgs need and do best at, it's content variety. It's fine people like the rpg formula pared down to its base essentials of nothing more than battling and cutscenes, but I expect a lot more from Square Enix.

[Himu]

Borys: what is that game?

borys already did that,plot,graphic,music these things are all important,heck i was hyped about persona 3 because it featured MYSTERIES ABOUT INVISIBLE HOURS and RAP BATTLE MUSIC,then the game just bailed on me "WE SHOULD WAIT FOR THE NEXT MOON,GO TALK TO THIS BORING GUY WHO HAS A CRUSH ON HIS TEACHER!"

Borys posted things that have nothing to do with gameplay and arguing with you is impossible. I'm done.

[DarknessTear]

The reason I don't talk to townspeople is because their dialogue is usually uninteresting/poorly written. They never have anything worth hearing. The only game that I talked to EVERY NPC was Earthbound. Can you guess why? Dialogue was awesome and hilarious.

[Himu]

There is always Datalog Himu...

See, I never read those things. I don't read those in bioware games and I don't read it in FF13. I think having an interesting world that I can't explore is the worst thing you can do, but what's almost as bad is that they made up this interesting world and put all the important details in a menu that I have to read, and when it comes to games, I get most of my nourishment from actually experiencing and interacting with the game world rather than reading the details in a menu. Like the rest of the game, it feels incredibly hands off.

[Himu]

The reason I don't talk to townspeople is because their dialogue is usually uninteresting/poorly written. They never have anything worth hearing. The only game that I talked to EVERY NPC was Earthbound. Can you guess why? Dialogue was awesome and hilarious.

FF tends to have great npc's though.

I mean, FF9 has talking hippos. You can't top that.

FF8 also has the best npc's in an rpg.

[magus]

More features of Suikoden III

- Ugly marshmallow people
- Boring

ahahahahahah

- over 100 characters to recruit

a lot of those characters will join your party automaticaly

- exploration

yes like the incredibly linear forest and the incredibly linear mountain! the game didn't even have a world map!

- a highly developed skill system

the game flat tells you out which skill are best to slap on your characters,why here you don't feel "LIMITED ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE ABLE TO CUSTOMIZE!"

- an 80-100 hour long behemoth with five different leads playable

wasn't ff13 problem that it was too long?
also isn't one of those lead a dog? heck do dog even counts?

- quests

i swear to god i can't remember a single sidequest in suikoden 3

It is a game with a lot of variety in terms of content.

you'll find a lot of people saying that suikoden 3 is "LINEAR,MONOTONE AND BORING" here's the first thing that popped out on google
http://www.kidfenris.com/suikoden3.html

those people are distinguished mentally-challenged and suikoden 3 is a good game

Not being able to see the difference between FF13 and other rpgs makes you seem somewhat...simple.

i am somewhat simple! give me kickass art directions and i don't care about any newfangled job system/weakness system/skill system/yoursisterisaslut system

[DarknessTear]

The reason I don't talk to townspeople is because their dialogue is usually uninteresting/poorly written. They never have anything worth hearing. The only game that I talked to EVERY NPC was Earthbound. Can you guess why? Dialogue was awesome and hilarious.

FF tends to have great npc's though.

I mean, FF9 has talking hippos. You can't top that.

FF8 also has the best npc's in an rpg.

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

Hahaha that's pretty awesome. FF8 and 9 did have pretty amusing dialogue.. it's kind of hard to pull some of that humor off these days I guess.

[Himu]

Even FF7, 10 and 12 had great npc dialogue. For instance, I loved the old man in FF10.

[magus]

Gone are the days of Final Fantasy VII, when players could explore a large world with optional areas and uncover secrets. * takes the linearity to the extreme: you can't even travel properly in this game. Most of the time you are simply taken to the next location automatically, and all you can do is explore the confined areas the game throws at you, advancing the plot.

bonus point to who can guess what there is in place of *
don't cheat by searching trough google!

[magus]

bbbzzzztttt
wrong!

[Himu]

Likely FF10. Either way, it'd be wrong. FF10 has a shit ton of quests and things to do and enough variety. I really enjoy placed like Luca and Guadosalam.

Man, what I'd give for an ps2 FF collection for 360

[SantaC]

FF8 has hands down the best towns also

 Dollet, Deling city, esthar timber etc

[magus]

pre-rendered background will always rock,it was a sad thing to see them die

personaly i always loved treno in FF9

anyway the * in question was

*drumrolls*

XENOSAGA EPISODE 1
and man it was an awesome game!
funny thing is that i can find less review bitching about it's linearity than FF13

the power of NOT being called final fantasy!

[SantaC]

pre-rendered background will always rock,it was a sad thing to see them die

personaly i always loved treno in FF9

anyway the * in question was

*drumrolls*

XENOSAGA EPISODE 1
and man it was an awesome game!
funny thing is that i can find less review bitching about it's linearity than FF13

the power of NOT being called final fantasy!

treno, wasn't that the "night" city? Yeah it was good, so was lindblum.

RIP PSX era FF  :'(

[Himu]

[SantaC]

also the accomplishment of dishing out multiple 9999 with lionheart never gets old. Was it Meteor or Ultima that you set to STR?

<3 Junction system. FF8 needs a sequel, too bad we will never see that 

[demi]

Yawn, putting me to sleep remembering how bad this was

[tiesto]

God I love prerendered backgrounds, it's the different camera angles that do it for me. I really wish we'd see an FF with hi-res prerendered backgrounds. It'd massively cut down development time, and still look great. I don't feel compelled to play cameraman when I'm playing a game, and it's not like having a fully polygonal world increased interactivity in the FF series (especially with 13), so why the hell not?

[Himu]

[Himu]

FF8 and FF13 had the greatest backlashes in FF series history I think. People were furious FF8 was not like FF7 and that FF13 was not like FF12.

Huh?

God I love prerendered backgrounds, it's the different camera angles that do it for me. I really wish we'd see an FF with hi-res prerendered backgrounds. It'd massively cut down development time, and still look great. I don't feel compelled to play cameraman when I'm playing a game, and it's not like having a fully polygonal world increased interactivity in the FF series (especially with 13), so why the hell not?

FF13 had multiple angles, actually. Really enjoyed those parts.

[Himu]

[magus]

personaly the thing that it bothers me the most about FF8 is that it fucks up so many rpg basic for no apparent reason at all

- enemies drop no gold,instead you have to take partake in some quiz that ask you if "fire monsters are weak to water attack"
- enemies level scale... what's the point of leveling up then?
- did i mention that the enemy that give the most XP gain is right at the beginning of the game? FF8 is that game were it's perfectly possible to be level 99 right at the start (did you know if you power level enough it's possible to kill the mech spider?)
- there is no ever a reason to cast a single spell,having them as equip it's just silly it would be like an rpg where you use money instead of HP,is it perfectly possible to triple the HP of a character by junctioning energiga to their HP right at the beginning of the game,it's also possible to have a character that will one shot almost everything trough junctioning death
- no equip to buy at shops,instead you get those magazine
- there is an item that makes you invincible making FF8 the rpg with the easiest optional boss ever

whole game has no rhyme or reason
 

[Himu]

most of your complaints are easily answered.

- Enemies not dropping gold doesn't mean much when you have seed level.

- Enemy levels scale but the higher your level the more challenging the game is. Fighting Ultimecia at level 100 with bad stats is fun as fuck.

- Who in their right mind would level up to 100 at the beginning of the game? Either way, I've beaten the mecha spider multiple times and mostly on low level runs with mediocre magic like thunder. See:




And this was done at level 9 without power leveling.

- Equip magic to your magic stat and spells are fairly useful. If you use your gf's right, certain characters won't even HAVE the str-atk ability, meaning they're going to be most likely magc based characters. By equiping gfs to specific characters with your own goals in mind, you can create whatever party you want. Arrange your magic so that what you have junctioned is at the back, and if you use the junctioned magic, draw some more.

You don't buy equipment, you don't use magazines either. You build equipment through weapon customization with specific materials.

[demi]

Look how nice and colorful and enjoyable 9 is. Great game.

[SantaC]

most of your complaints are easily answered.

- Enemies not dropping gold doesn't mean much when you have seed level.

- Enemy levels scale but the higher your level the more challenging the game is. Fighting Ultimecia at level 100 with bad stats is fun as fuck.

- Who in their right mind would level up to 100 at the beginning of the game? Either way, I've beaten the mecha spider multiple times and mostly on low level runs with mediocre magic like thunder. See:

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

And this was done at level 9 without power leveling.

- Equip magic to your magic stat and spells are fairly useful. If you use your gf's right, certain characters won't even HAVE the str-atk ability, meaning they're going to be most likely magc based characters. By equiping gfs to specific characters with your own goals in mind, you can create whatever party you want. Arrange your magic so that what you have junctioned is at the back, and if you use the junctioned magic, draw some more.

You don't buy equipment, you don't use magazines either. You build equipment through weapon customization with specific materials.

Man this brings back memories. FF8 was fucking awesome.

Fisherman's Horizon
Lunatic Pandora

balamb garden music 

[youtube=560,345]1eU0tRBHnE0[/youtube]

[magus]

heh, magus's feelings are hurt pretty bad here

you broke my heart oscar

- Enemies not dropping gold doesn't mean much when you have seed level.

if we want to tell the whole story,you don't even need gold to begin with since there is nothing to buy other than consumables which the game gives you plenty but it's just what they replaced with that bothers me a lot

seriously look at this shit

8 )
 Q. Under Zombie, you succumb more easily to Holy attacks.

how the heck i'm supposed to know that? why i'm supposed to know that,is there an enemy that uses both zombie and holy? heck is there an enemy that uses holy to begin with?

- Enemy levels scale but the higher your level the more challenging the game is. Fighting Ultimecia at level 100 with bad stats is fun as fuck.

nah ff8 is always piss easy,what's with the potion that make you invincible,the spell that let you spam braveheart like there is no tomorrow (the only spell you ever want to cast) and the fact that maxing your damage is as simple as taking some trip to the ultima draw point,and how you can get some uber-spells right at the beginning of the game by simply refining stuff
"bubububu if you don't use those" if i have to nerf myself purposely then i can make any game hard

i liked FF8 the first time i played it,fresh from FF7 and wanting another kickass rpg with pre-rendered background but today as a "game" i just see an incredible mess where they didn't have any idea on what to do,it's still has kickass location,good music and all those thing that were badass in PSX rpg

- Who in their right mind would level up to 100 at the beginning of the game?

the question isn't "who in their right mind would do so" because thanks to level scaling you don't even have a reason to do so the question is "why the heck the best spot to level up is right at the beginning?"

Either way, I've beaten the mecha spider multiple times and mostly on low level runs with mediocre magic like thunder. See:

doesn't the spider heal himself for like 3000 damage? that's a lot more than what you can do using thunder and attacking it at level 9,unless there is another way to kill it off that i don't know? besides i was just saying it as a curiosity,i tought most player just runned out? heck running gets you a sweet FMV,it's pretty clear that's what the game want you to do it

you don't use magazines either. You build equipment through weapon customization with specific materials.

Even though weapons can be upgraded without the magazine in which it is mentioned, it is useful, as it gives the player information on how many items are needed for the upgrade.

mmmmmmm.... i didn't know that

oh oh did i mention how whole abilities can be skipped because you didn't check to see if the boss had any GF equipped? and that dumb thing about prepping up the summon by mashing square like you are fucking takashi meijin? are we ok with all of this?

[Himu]

It's zombie. Of course you get hurt more from holy.

In any case, I find that FF8 is dependent on your mileage and how much you're willing to experiment with junctions.  With the right set up, the average boss kills my characters with one hit. Makes for very fun play.

I find FF6 and FF7 to be far easier than 8. 8 is easy, but I can actively make the game more challenging if I do it right by not equipping hp-j and stuff like that. That makes the game really really fun and because you have total control of how you control your stats, it's a real nice change of pace.

6 and 7 though...we were just talking about FF6 the other day in the Final Fantasy Something Awful thread saying that it's impossible to make it challenging. I can think of almost any FF that's easy as shit and make it more challenging with the right set up. FF6 though? That game is easy from the ground up.

[magus]

the only final fantasy that i would call challenging is 10,so many awesome boss battles

[Positive Touch]

and the moral of the story is: never waste your time arguing with magus

[magus]

that moral makes me look like the bad guy

spoiler (click to show/hide)

being the bad guy

[close]

[Himu]

the only final fantasy that i would call challenging is 10,so many awesome boss battles

10? Challenging?

The boss fights, I give you, but other than that? I'd say FF1 on nes and psx is challenging. FF12, can be challenging as it's a game about equipment and not levels. FF10 if you're talking about the bosses. FF4 can be challenging if you're underleveled. FFT is pretty challenging the first time you play it but easily breakable any time you play it after that.

Other than that yeah, FF is a pretty easy series and most of the fun for me comes in replays when I abuse the game out of the stratosphere.

[maxy]

bah,ff nerds

something for you

FF13-2 teaser trailer

http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6315324/

[demi]

THAT VID IS HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! HYPE

[magus]

yea i was talking about bosses

FF12 can be challenging because you are doing your stuff when suddenly *BAM* LEVEL 90 ELEMENTAL OUT OF NOWHERE

the funny thing is that when you try to find them later of course they never appear

[demi]