> Anyone else taking some time off work for this one? I am!
It will be 9pm for me :) I’m off for summer break (work at a school district) and I’ve been playing TotK with my son this summer. Gonna he hard to peel me off Zelda but gonna try it out tonight
> Because he's the type to just bum rush through a game just to sell it at a semi-highish
> price and get to the next one as fast as possible.
If I truly enjoy the game I will 100% it but ya pretty much true. Besides Resident Evil 4, Dead Space and Kirby there hasn't been anything I wanted to 100% this year and even then with Kirby I couldn't stand to do the extra hard Magalor challenge mini games so i didn't really 100% it.
> Didn't mean to spoil it for you or anyone. Figured if it wasn't story related it
> wasn't a big deal to post. My bad.
Was just curious, not upset :) But yeah I am a little weird about spoilers. Will probably steer clear of this thread for awhile. I hate when I know that any given media has a great twist or an amazing or bad ending, I consider those spoilers haha
Any companies that do mail orders really need to start offering a boxed shipping option. I have had to return so many things to Amazon or Deep Discount because they just toss them in the flimsiest mailer they can and ship it out.
On the other hand, it's a rare occasion I have to contact RightStuf's customer service (and they pretty much always ship in a box).
> F'ing Best Buy ... Deluxe Edition shipped in a bubbler, and the box is jacked up
> - and they're sold out, fun.
So dumb. Reminds me of my friend's Zelda switch OLED. In a box with an air cusion sitting neatly on top. It's either that packagers don't care or don't understand what it means to package an item adequately.
FFXVI is really good so far. I’m already drawn into the story. I prefer the more serious/dark tone, although it’s impossible for me to not laugh when people are riding off to war and giving heroic speeches while riding chocobos.
> FFXVI is really good so far. I’m already drawn into the story. I prefer the more
> serious/dark tone, although it’s impossible for me to not laugh when people are
> riding off to war and giving heroic speeches while riding chocobos.
Absolutely. First time in awhile that I felt more engaged in the story and characters. They haven't (yet) gone in any crazy complicated/oddball direction that they tend to do.
Another FU to GameStop. Their prebuy bonuses have to be claimed in store. Didn't know this until I got an email late today saying my game is delayed. They truly are the worst. I bet they are all gone, just like the TotK stuff. Frustrating.
> The GameStop employees very obviously were keeping the Diablo pre sell items. I heard
> one of them ask “how much do you think we can sell them for?”
I've probably told this story on here before, but the TL;DR is that I pre-ordered Diablo III with them, stopped by the store after work on the way home the day that it dropped, and they seemed absolutely dumbfounded/annoyed that I was there to pick it up. "We didn't think you were coming in..."
It's 6PM on release day. Why the fudge not? We're not all poopsocks that are going to show up at midnight. Couldn't be that you wanted to flip it on eBay for $300, could it?
I just found out that an FFIX remake is real and happening. That gets me pumped.
I friggin need to finish the OG game. I've mentioned it in this thread before, but I played the first 1/4 or so of the game like 50 times (which was enough to solidify it as one of my favorite games of all time for the world building alone), then played like half of it on my OG PSP 1000, and finally made a big ol' dent in it when it released on Switch before taking an extended break and having no idea what I had to do when I returned to it.
This was the last time I played, from last November:
theJaw wrote:
> Alrighty finally back in the FFIX swing. Just beat the Taharka boss from Ispen’s
> Castle before saving. Gonna finally plow through this thing.
Turns out I wasn't entirely back in the swing haha. Hopefully when I throw it back on sometime this weekend, I won't be completely lost again and will ACTUALLY finally "plow through" that thing.
XVI story and characters are absolutely fantastic, probably some of the best in the entire series. The more mature and dark theme is a welcome addition. Top notch voice acting really helps the story engagement.
While it (so far) isn't the typical weird and complicated story (yet), there's a surprising amount of depth in the history of the people and land that comes through really well in the little snippets of interactive reading through each section (accessible elsewhere as well). Even though it's easily accessible, I do find myself getting some of the background and families mixed up. Has a bit of a Game of Thrones like feel to it. I just keep smiling and noding, hoping it'll click soon, haha.
The fast pace is fun and all, but honestly... Not digging the linear elements nor the action fighting. It's an evolution of XV and all, but I want more turn base or something even closer to X/XII. Just finding that the button mashing is getting a bit old.
Still, it's a damn good game overall (so far)! It absolutely feels like it's going to get continually better and better.
Going to take my time on this game. I am finding it enjoyable though the early side quests aren't great they do get better. I found it odd that some dialogue has no audio but that isn't a major issue and enjoy the inclusion of a library since I didn't get some concepts from the demo as much not that it is important. Combat is proving a bit odd to me square and triangle for magic bursts and lunge while using high DPS cooldown specials seem to be the strategy. Using the dog in combat seems difficult though as I am finding myself just spamming the same directional arrow unless my HP tanks for cure. I know there are timely rings but those seem overpowered.
The dog timely ring is fair game and just avoids another finger smashing session. The combat is fun and all, but I wasn't wanting Devil May Cry. I wouldn't pick this style of combat over others but it's what we got.
Bravely Default, Triangle Strategy and some others are turn based and likely cost a pretty penny to make. Super Mario RPG is coming out to alongside a ton of other turn based RPGs. I am unsure if any of them are Triple A in cost though. I am finding it is going more indie as of late and many of the games only require 10k-1000k to break even nowadays for the genre. I fear the availability of online guides and builds ruin the strategy involved.
The All Bark and Playthings side quests in FFXVI are dark! I’ll give them credit. After the worst set of protagonists in FF history in FFXV, they got the tone right this time for the most part.
> I fear the availability of online guides and builds
> ruin the strategy involved.
These are really easily avoided though. Just don't read/ watch them.
It's not like plot spoilers which you can casually read mid paragraph (he's Luke's father!)... a strategy or build usually will take a bit more explaining.
This game needed a deeper system. Weapons don't have additional effects that changed combat and just increase stats. I would have liked going for a more ranged build possibly instead of being forced to go more close combat all the time. I don't feel like playing the game again. Not to say it is a bad game but it is lacking in replayatability to me and customization which I feel RPGs need. It also is mostly depressing most of the game minus some moments. I don't like some combat elements. It reminds me of Nier where I tried to shoot and hack and slash at the same time which I found extremely difficult. I like doing the most amount of damage possible with the dog and just find me button mashing.
> This game needed a deeper system. Weapons don't have additional effects that changed
> combat and just increase stats. I would have liked going for a more ranged build
> possibly instead of being forced to go more close combat all the time. I don't feel
> like playing the game again. Not to say it is a bad game but it is lacking in replayatability
> to me and customization which I feel RPGs need. It also is mostly depressing most
> of the game minus some moments. I don't like some combat elements. It reminds me
> of Nier where I tried to shoot and hack and slash at the same time which I found
> extremely difficult. I like doing the most amount of damage possible with the dog
> and just find me button mashing.
I agree, the overall gear/inventory was just ... weak. You pick up tons of mats throughout the game, skip 80% of the new store inventory, for a random upgrade that never really feels like anything changed, sans the sword appearance. I haven't changed any of my accessories in ages either.
Really feels like they could have a much better craft/upgrade system. Like they tried, and then cut it short due to time/budget, something, and left it half done.
I was at like 250k in gil and like, what the hell am I supposed to do with this? Seems like it serves no purpose, except to buy the soundtracks ... which I finally started doing, hope this doesn't bite me.
Overall, the game feels more like a walking sim to be honest.
I was cautiously excited about this until the preview that came out a few days ago. The game presents too little of the story content, and you need to pay to progress through the chapters at a decent rate, after the "honeymoon period" at the start of the game.
49 hours into XVI. Feels like I'm nearing the end (just collected my last power, all side quests and hunts completed up to this point). As expected, story went a little into the deep end but honestly not bad. The overall story, acting, character development has been surprisingly good. I'm actually really interested to see how they conclude the story and the reasoning/drive behind the main antagonist.
My biggest gripe is that the combat is just so insanely repetitive at this point with no real creativity or fun anymore.
Still, enjoying the game. Looking forward to wrapping. Haven't looked at the trophies yet, not sure if Plat is insane or not. Honestly I just hope there's some kind of end game big challenges in store.
Getting the urge to go finally play the Zodiac Age.
I just fought very early boss marboro man plant guy- the music is great. If this is the boss combat song I’m psyched to continue. It feels very generic ARPG excepting the clearly FF music. I definitely prefer ys IX gameplay.
Well, damnit. Almost end game in XVI. Looking at trophies, got everything I can do... Two require a NG+ play through. How dumb, thats gonna be a hard pass.
I’m just really getting into it and… it’s very boring. I like the music and… the … music. Gameplay is very shallow, feels like a boss fighting game with walking in between. Only 4 hours in and not understanding how this met acclaim yet 15 got trashed. It makes me want to shelve it and put the time into XIV instead. And I just may.
XVI may have the longest credits of any game. Sooooo many names, how the hell do they turn a profit when paying this many damn people for multiple years? My God.
Overall, I really did enioy the game. Combat got boring, lots of really slow walking Sim areas, but the story/world/characters, made it worth my time.
47/50 trophies, can't get the other two unless I do NG+. Wrapped up in 57 hours (truly felt ike double that).
I debate NG+, but realistically... Maybe in a year or two. Happy to be done. Time to move onto Aliens, Calisto, Hogwarts, TotK... And then Spiderman, Wonder, Mortal Kombat, Jesus too many still.
> XVI may have the longest credits of any game. Sooooo many names, how the hell do
> they turn a profit when paying this many damn people for multiple years? My God.
Spider-Man PS4 has three hours of credits. I think the only games that can top that are those Kickstarter projects that thank all the individual donors.
> FFXII The Zodiac Age is free on PS Plus. Think I’ll finally give it a fair shot
> sometime soon.
I recently restarted this (second time), really want to commit to it. Finished original back on ps2, but never Zodiac. Seems like it's totally worth it.
I remember enjoying XII back in the day, but explicitly remember not using the combat system as intended as I wanted to keep everything manual. Really need to get this on the priority list.
Just so hard to replay something when there's so many huge games on the backlog these days.
Playing FFXII correctly feels like playing all characters in an mmo with no noobs that stand in fire. You can setup how the heals are done and when / which status effects are removed, which DPS is used, who they focus etc. it feels really well done but you definitely have to commit to understanding and setting it up. I know other games have tried this but it just looks and feels perfected here.
Been playing XIV since the 2.0 beta with the wife, we find it pretty easy on our time and no worse than other games unless you let it be (it can be more time consuming than playing Cat Quest in co-op for instance).
How on Earth are they going to do a decent remake of IX when VII is going to take half a century to finish? I'm worried this is going to be like the FF8 Remastered release, where they AI-upscale some textures and squeeze it into an under-optimized PC port.
So I'm guessing 9 will be a game "remade" with graphics on par with about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on Gamecube and not Final Fantasy VII Remake.
I would rather they turn that 9 upside down and remake 6 from scratch. (it was 6 for PS1, originally known to North America as 3 for Super Nintendo) I'm wondering why they never did it. Are they afraid it won't sell well enough when the word of mouth would be they're remaking one of the greatest Final Fantasys of all time that several generations of gamers never played? I find that hard to believe. Instead the ones that were already developed in 3D are the only ones to get any love.
> So what is Ever Crisis? Google says some Gacha Game. Boy they're really milking FF7
> to death
Yeah I'm still confused too. Guess it's a mash up of all the overall FF7 games and story lines, the highlights or some crap? Sounds like a cliff notes version of all the games.
>> So what is Ever Crisis? Google says some Gacha Game. Boy they're really milking
> FF7
>> to death
>
> Yeah I'm still confused too. Guess it's a mash up of all the overall FF7 games and
> story lines, the highlights or some crap? Sounds like a cliff notes version of all
> the games.
A cliff notes version of an extraordinarily long RPG sounds pretty amazing. All the good story snd character development bits and none of the tedium/grind? I would be all in on that.
Except if its a gacha game it's probably all tedium and grind, and instead of the actual good bits you get reminders that the good bits exist and you are playing a dumb gacha game instead. Or at the very best, playing the same handful of good bits over and over ad nauseum until you are more than sick of them, and eventually you will unlock the next good bit.
> A cliff notes version of an extraordinarily long RPG sounds pretty amazing. All
> the good story snd character development bits and none of the tedium/grind? I would
> be all in on that.
>
> Except if its a gacha game it's probably all tedium and grind, and instead of the
> actual good bits you get reminders that the good bits exist and you are playing a
> dumb gacha game instead. Or at the very best, playing the same handful of good bits
> over and over ad nauseum until you are more than sick of them, and eventually you
> will unlock the next good bit.
>
>
Agreed, I barely remember the actual stories in the surrounding games/movies ... so if they pull this off to tell a cohesive universe story ... could be cool!
This morning, it actually doesn't look too terrible. Last night, it was excruciating. After twenty minutes of cold running water, an ice pack, and burn gel, it's a bit tender but manageable. It's right at the controller contact zone, though, so I should probably give it another day or two.
MrBean wrote:
> Kommie wrote:
>> So what is Ever Crisis? Google says some Gacha Game. Boy they're really milking
> FF7
>> to death
>
> Yeah I'm still confused too. Guess it's a mash up of all the overall FF7 games and
> story lines, the highlights or some crap? Sounds like a cliff notes version of all
> the games.
That's the way they originally proposed it, and naturally, the fan base rejoiced. It included games and storylines like Before Crisis, which either haven't been released here or are no longer accessible.
Naturally, when the game finally dropped on mobile, it was full of gacha mechanics that make progression either incredibly slow or incredibly repetitive.
I guess Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition wasn't a big success, or they probably would have just re-used that business model.
> I wonder if I have played my last new FF game.. I didnt like 15 and now I didnt like
> 16 either :/
>
>
>
I feel the same way. There hasn't been a turn based FF since X-2 came out in 2003. They have abandoned what made the series great a long time ago and unless they decide to go back I may be done although I loved FF7 remake and can't wait for Rebirth. The non-remade new games have been a disappointment for me though since X. It's not only about being turn based either, it's just that none of the new entries feel like traditional Final Fantasy games at all so don't call it Final Fantasy. Just because it has a fudging chocobo doesn't make it a Final Fantasy.
What pisses me off is Square Enix had no problem making Dragon Quest 11 which felt like a traditional Dragon Quest game and was turn based, but they can't do that with FF.
Square-Enix has decided that every Final Fantasy release has the potential to be a "cultural event" like they were in the PlayStation years. Regardless of whether or not that's true (it's not, IMO), they push for faddy, real-time, action-oriented designs in hopes that a number of new fans will be sucked into Atomos' maw. Longtime fans are going to buy the game anyway, or at least greatly outnumber the purists that realize the series smells different now and are no longer interested.
Dragon Quest, on the other hand, was never as big in North America as Final Fantasy. Especially since the Dragon Quest art style is a lot less expensive to develop than Final Fantasy constantly pushing the envelope (enough so that they can develop assets for three wildly-different art styles and include all of them in the same game), they're probably happy making that core audience happy and collecting that reliable dollop of income than trying to turn Dragon Quest into Call of Duty.
> Square-Enix has decided that every Final Fantasy release has the potential to be
> a "cultural event" like they were in the PlayStation years. Regardless of whether
> or not that's true (it's not, IMO), they push for faddy, real-time, action-oriented
> designs in hopes that a number of new fans will be sucked into Atomos' maw. Longtime
> fans are going to buy the game anyway, or at least greatly outnumber the purists
> that realize the series smells different now and are no longer interested.
>
> Dragon Quest, on the other hand, was never as big in North America as Final Fantasy.
> Especially since the Dragon Quest art style is a lot less expensive to develop than
> Final Fantasy constantly pushing the envelope (enough so that they can develop assets
> for three wildly-different art styles and include all of them in the same game),
> they're probably happy making that core audience happy and collecting that reliable
> dollop of income than trying to turn Dragon Quest into Call of Duty.
>
>
Isn't Baldur's Gate going to win GOTY or is a nominee. It's a turn based game that isn't catering to COD fans or any other type of fans and selling really well. I don't buy that making Final Fantasy an action game means more sales anyway. It may not have happened yet but sooner or later classic rpg lovers will protest with their wallet and I don't see anyone going "I hate rpgs but I'm going to buy Final Fantasy because it's more action oriented now". To me it's an exercise in stupidity. And I mean no disrespect to people that enjoy 15 and/or 16 for example if you enjoyed it great I just don't think you bought it in hopes of a pure action game but maybe I'm wrong.
It's like Resident Evil 5 came out and there was a big discussion about it being more like a third person COD shooter than a horror game especially when you played as Chris. The game sold well but I doubt it was because people that previously had no interest in the series went "Resident Evil is not scary anymore and I can go pew pew so I'll buy it" it was more like because it was the first HD Resident Evil and it had co-op.
> Isn't Baldur's Gate going to win GOTY or is a nominee. It's a turn based game that
> isn't catering to COD fans or any other type of fans and selling really well. I don't
> buy that making Final Fantasy an action game means more sales anyway. It may not
> have happened yet but sooner or later classic rpg lovers will protest with their
> wallet and I don't see anyone going "I hate rpgs but I'm going to buy Final Fantasy
> because it's more action oriented now". To me it's an exercise in stupidity. And
> I mean no disrespect to people that enjoy 15 and/or 16 for example if you enjoyed
> it great I just don't think you bought it in hopes of a pure action game but maybe
> I'm wrong.
>
> It's like Resident Evil 5 came out and there was a big discussion about it being
> more like a third person COD shooter than a horror game especially when you played
> as Chris. The game sold well but I doubt it was because people that previously had
> no interest in the series went "Resident Evil is not scary anymore and I can go pew
> pew so I'll buy it" it was more like because it was the first HD Resident Evil and
> it had co-op.
Baldur's Gate III is the sequel to one of the most celebrated hardcore PC games of all time, which was released a whopping 23 years ago. Pent-up demand + great word of mouth - two decades of watering down the franchise with more lukewarm spin-offs than The Walking Dead on AMC = you win 2023.
And yeah, I totally agree the "change everything, win friends" approach is at best inefficient, at least ineffective, and at worst destructive. But the people who know that in the gaming industry - Hell, in most digital industries - are the ones taking orders from higher-ups or buying the end product, not the ones making decisions.
Nah its time for a new old school Final Fantasy Tactics style game. Instead we will probably get Final Fantasy 7 dating sim or something (if dead by daylight can do it anyone can...)
> Didn't you beat Baldurs Gate 3 and get the platinum? That game has got to have more
> dialogue.
BG3 is not droning cut scenes at all. And I can rapid fire through that dialogue almost instantly without feeling lost in story or read at my pace or elect not to see it at all. A game that requires 20-30 minutes of exposition before any actual gameplay will lose me every single time. Maybe just dialogue is the wrong term- non playable exposition and dialogue is more what I remember being so hard to stomach with triangle strategy. When I got to the first actual gameplay I was not willing to commit. Pretty boring.
i mean i even finished 16, though it was non traditional there were some interesting things, but it fell apart down the stretch and at the end. didnt like the standard mode, turned on the auto combo almost immediately, i dont want final devil fantasy may cry. i didnt find dmc or similar games fun even back then. and was unsatisfied with the last few hours. not the target audience anymore and thats the way it goes with things sometimes.
its not about it being turnbased only either, sometimes i just cant make myself play BG3, even though i want to play it more, it feels like work sometimes.
For me personally the biggest thing missing from FF titles recently is a sense of achievement. I do t feel like I’m making much progress and there’s nothing I’m grinding to earn. If it wasn’t for trophies I wouldn’t feel very fulfilled at all with the last few. 12 may have been the pinnacle of scratching that progression itch. Not sure why that was something that needed to go away. Even the 7 remakes have so far had a materia system that felt rewarding.
Didn't neg ya, but I'm not sure I love that. I suppose it's fine as long as the cities and story beats we all expect are in there.
It is a little wild that fans have been legit begging for an FF7 REMAKE for years and years, and then Square decided to give them a "remake" that seems pretty hellbent on being an entirely different story at the end of the day haha
@theJaw agreed and thought the same at first... But, they already showed us that they were expanding. The world (hopefully) will be way bigger, and we will need more cities, I think? I dunno, I'm still torn over the whole thing but I'm not upset that they're going further. The original will always be there...
Still, I would have preferred just a straight out updated original.
The first DLC is pretty short. It has some good boss fights particularly on FF mode. You can also grab some good gear - but it’s obsolete early in NG unless you’re on FF mode.
This one is a mixed bag. The story starts very slow and the pacing is a mess for quite awhile. When it does pick up- it’s a typical WTF is going on modern FF convoluted mess of existential philosophy and overlong dialogue that I mostly just wanted to skip through. It’s not helped at all by the fact that combat takes 3/4 of the game to really come together- and you don’t even have all skills or ability to mix and match any skill to your set until you “master” them with skill points- so you may never be able to do this on 1 playthrough.
The game is saved by the second playthrough- unfortunately it is a long game and rushing through / skipping cut scenes it still clocks in at about 30 hrs or so. The second playthrough ups the difficulty, opens up the inventory and crafting system and gives you access to all all skills and the ability to match any skill with any base eikon once it’s mastered. Leveling never feels like it really matters. Sometimes enemies are 10-15 levels ahead and still feel trivial. This game went from a 6/10 to an 8/10 for me after a second playthrough.
It’s unfortunate that they decided to lock the full experience behind a full playthrough- most likely won’t see it.
Another mistake imo is using the easy mode items they give you at the start. One of them automatically performs all dodges and pet skills, one of them allows you to just press 1 button to perform any move chosen by the CPU etc. these completely trivialize all but 1 or 2 end game encounters. The combat system is quite good and pretty fun once you learn it well. I’m thinking lots of folks used these and really dumbed it down made it boring.
Technically this game is one of the few that seems truly “next gen” this year. The visuals and seeing it in action are jaw dropping. The music is standard setting, the use of the dual sense is genius as you learn what each shake is queuing you up for. Seriously the battle music on certain bosses will give you chills.
The boss battles overstay their welcome frequently. I know this may be unpopular but damn- some of them require 30-45 minutes of play time to finish.
It’s a good game but does not feel at all like a mainline FF entry for me. It would have been a great spinoff or new IP. I can truly say I enjoyed FF XV better as a FF game. Lots of old standby enemies, spells, items, weapons- just are not here.
You can mix and match eikon skills in first play. I didn't do a NG and I was able to do that, base game pre updates too.
I enjoyed the combat system for a decent amount of the game but after a while it was just so repetitive and boring that I turned on easy mode just to get through it.
Overall I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. Just go back to making final fantasies the way they used to be!
> You can mix and match eikon skills in first play. I didn't do a NG and I was able
> to do that, base game pre updates too.
>
> I enjoyed the combat system for a decent amount of the game but after a while it
> was just so repetitive and boring that I turned on easy mode just to get through
> it.
>
> Overall I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. Just go back to making final fantasies
> the way they used to be!
Only if you master the skill fully can you use any skill with any eikon. You’d need to grind quite a bit to open most of it in first play. I did max out the ones I used. It took over an hour of grinding with accessories to get those. I didn’t have all skills maxed (not necessary at all but a trophy) until very end of final fantasy playthrough.
> Would love a true throwback to the SNES days with IV and VI.
>
> We're already getting a VII Remake, but would love something that feels more like
> IX. I always pinned IX as the last of the truly great installments.
IX is and forever will be my favorite FF. I was interested in FFXVI because it went back to the medieval vibe but from comments here and videos I’ve seen, it looks like they went a little too “grimdark” (for lack of a better term). Almost seems like they wanted to do a Dark Souls/FF mash up.
I need the fun, colorful world of FFIX or even X back. IX in particular just has such a balanced sense of humor that fits the characters, but can also bring the tone to a darker place during the more dramatic moments. I really wish they’d go back in that direction, and with classic turn based battles. It’s like they introduced Octopath Traveler to satiate classic FF fans — and those games do rule — but playing FF isn’t the same with the more action oriented gameplay.
> |>> Which games from the past would you want the series to resemble?
>>
>> Would love a true throwback to the SNES days with IV and VI.
>>
>> We're already getting a VII Remake, but would love something that feels more like
>> IX. I always pinned IX as the last of the truly great installments.
> I've been wanting to play IX for a couple years now. Gotta return to VIII and finish
> that sometime.
Man, I have still never finished VIII and it drives me insane. I think I'm on my 4th play of it when it was released as the HD remake on the Switch, I've got to have 30+ hours into it and I stopped playing when my second kid was born. I HAVE to go back and finish that, but now I feel like I need to start all over, again.
>> |>> Which games from the past would you want the series to resemble?
> |>>
> |>> Would love a true throwback to the SNES days with IV and VI.
> |>>
> |>> We're already getting a VII Remake, but would love something that feels more
> like
> |>> IX. I always pinned IX as the last of the truly great installments.
>> I've been wanting to play IX for a couple years now. Gotta return to VIII and
> finish
>> that sometime.
>
> Man, I have still never finished VIII and it drives me insane. I think I'm on my
> 4th play of it when it was released as the HD remake on the Switch, I've got to have
> 30+ hours into it and I stopped playing when my second kid was born. I HAVE to go
> back and finish that, but now I feel like I need to start all over, again.
I think if I continue I'll get back into it. I wouldn't want to restart. Have to collect all those cards again :P. (I'm thinking about the card mini game more than the progress I made in the main game itself)
Seriously, I spent too much time playing that card mini game compared to the main game itself.
the more we see about rebirth the less excited for even that i am. final fantasy may really be over :( I cant not play it at this point, but i am not liking much that im seeing. I know its a sequel playing into alternate realities and timelines merging due to sephiroths meddling, but still. I am just clinging to Kitase's words that the core is going to be there. maybe i am still just pessimistic from being disapointed in 16. do agree 16 would have been really good as a non final fantasy game.
I prefer walking in blind and not paying attention to the news about the content. If the reviews are bad I make a choice to avoid it or the game isn't something I would enjoy. Granted I still buy a lot of the lower quality games.
> I prefer walking in blind and not paying attention to the news about the content.
> If the reviews are bad I make a choice to avoid it or the game isn't something I
> would enjoy. Granted I still buy a lot of the lower quality games.
Similar with how I approach games. I go even a step further. If it's a game I think I might want to play, I as much as possible avoid anything about the game. I'll decide if I don't like it by playing it.
Dunno. The combat system in the remake felt pretty darn good when it got rolling. That house battle was epic. I’m looking forward to more of it- it’s better / more fun than the old school turn based game imo.
I don't have a problem with the new combat system, other than the fact that there are ways to "break" it - like, Tifa being able to blow up stagger levels with her combos - that seem impossible to figure out on your own without (a) watching tutorial videos on YouTube, or (b) trying random bullcrap until numbers go brrrrr.
Then again, I feel like I have that problem with lots of modern games. FFXVI included.
I've been playing FFXVI and I can't tell if I enjoy it or not. The story is interesting (GoT-style), but the action gameplay is fairly repetitive. VII Remake's battle system is much preferred by me. The side quests are lame.
> I've been playing FFXVI and I can't tell if I enjoy it or not. The story is interesting
> (GoT-style), but the action gameplay is fairly repetitive. VII Remake's battle system
> is much preferred by me. The side quests are lame.
The side quests are definitely an afterthought. A few later ones are better, and a few have pretty hard hitting stories. The combat absolutely improves as it opens up- but it’s not fully open until very late. They designed with intentions of two playthroughs and that was a mistake imo.
So beat ff16 last night. Apparently I missed some interesting side quests with main characters. I hate how they handled side quests in this game. They start off really lame and the rewards suck that you aren’t really incentivized to keep doing them. And then apparently there are some rather good ones you do if you check your missives towards the end of the game
Anyways. The story was good, but every major twist was extremely predictable and I knew it was gonna happen or be a thing. Maybe that was intentional and they weren’t meant to be twists? Idk
Combat was great and terrible and the same time. Boss fights, hunters marks and 1 on 1 encounters were awesome, but the basic fights with mobs were boring and uninteresting. The Eikon fights were cool to look at but they were hyped up as each being totally unique and they just weren’t all that different from each other.
Can’t wait for ff7 rebirth! Never got around to playing the dlc for remake so gonna have to do that soon
> Apparently I missed some interesting side quests with main characters. I hate how
> they handled side quests in this game. They start off really lame and the rewards
> suck that you aren’t really incentivized to keep doing them. And then apparently
> there are some rather good ones you do if you check your missives towards the end
> of the game
>
> Anyways. The story was good, but every major twist was extremely predictable and
> I knew it was gonna happen or be a thing. Maybe that was intentional and they weren’t
> meant to be twists? Idk
>
> Combat was great and terrible and the same time. Boss fights, hunters marks and 1
> on 1 encounters were awesome, but the basic fights with mobs were boring and uninteresting.
> The Eikon fights were cool to look at but they were hyped up as each being totally
> unique and they just weren’t all that different from each other.
>
> Can’t wait for ff7 rebirth! Never got around to playing the dlc for remake so gonna
> have to do that soon
I'm in the last quarter of the game I think. I've done all the side quests and hunts as they've been made available because I'm OCD like that. Except for an S rank hunt where I got killed pretty quickly.
I agree about the combat. Only some bosses posed some challenge where you couldn't just button mash the whole time. The Eikon fights were just glorified set pieces to setup plot. They were pretty to look at though on my OLED.
Ditto about FFVII Rebirth. After playing XV and XVI, it really shows how great FFVII Remake was IMO. Intergrade is worth playing for sure.
Antoniodin Banderas was the first fight that gave me a significant amount of trouble. Up until that point, though, other than a few hiccups when I was still learning timing, the length of the fights was more oppressive than the actual difficulty.
I finished FFXVI over the weekend. I pretty much had been playing via remote play on my Steam Deck the last couple weeks.
The game was...okay. Very polished. Story was great to start..but then went the way GoT did (meaning not good). Side Quests weren't fun. Some of the story bits from the side quests were great. Great world building, but incentives not great. Hunts were easy. I much more enjoyed FFVII Remake.
The Rebirth demo dropped today. I was planning on waiting until the main release to play, but there are bonuses if you import save data from the demo to the retail game, so I changed my plans.
Calling it now: there's going to be some nigh-impossible trophy based around the
Piano Hero minigame
as the spiritual successor to the squat challenge in the last game. Super happy to see an old Final Fantasy tradition/trope revived, though.
Finally picked FF9 back up on Switch to continue my seemingly never-ending playthrough. Like I've said a million times -- the first disc alone places that game on my all-time favorites list but I've never beaten it. I just beat the Earth Guardian on what would be Disc 3 so I can enter Shimmering Island, which I hear is the point of no return for FF9. So it looks like I'm entering the endgame.
Anything I should make a point to do before entering Shimmering Island? And once the story is over, I imagine that's that, right? There's no way to continue exploring the world/collecting cards and whatnot post-game?
This jives with my memory. It's been decades since I've played FF9, so I don't remember if there's a big story turn that significantly messes with your access to the World Map, but I don't believe so.
Final Fantasy VII is going to be my first Final Fantasy. I just don't know which version to play first.
All the conversations I've heard about Remake and the upcoming Rebirth, make me want to play those, but I just ordered a physical copy of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII Remastered - Twin Pack on Amazon.
I'm curious what you guys think I should do? I'm considering playing Remake first, then the original, then Rebirth and eventually the 3rd entry. Without spoiling much, would I be foolish not the play the original first?
Final Fantasy VII Remake seems like it'd be a great game for a newcomer - it's gorgeous, has an incredible soundtrack, and the battle system is great - but the final chapter is going to seem at best weightless and at worst confusing if you haven't played through the original.
If you're going to play a version of the 1997 original, the advice I've heard repeated is to get the PC/Steam version and mod the crap out of it with 7th Heaven. The most recent console releases are all fine and aren't broken in any way, but the mods add a bunch of tech and graphical improvements. (There appear to be some that add new content as well, but I don't really care about playing someone's fan fiction.)
The big advantage the PS1 original has over the modern ports is that the menu half of the screen runs at 60 FPS. That's it. If you're not planning on playing on an analog screen, you won't be missing much if you play an unmodded port.
Stay away from the original disc-based PC release. It's trash. Buggy, ill-performing, and awful MIDI imitations of the soundtrack.
As I was playing, I kept thinking about how movie critics have complained about all the different versions of Batman we've had over the years, and how each filmrunner feels the need to re-tell the "parents get shot, Bruce falls down a well" story anew with their own flourish without actually adding anything to the story itself.
We've seen the Nibel Reactor survey told... how many times now? It's played out in the original game, Crisis Core, Ever Crisis, and now in Rebirth; it's called back to in Remake, Advent Children, and heck even cameo appearances like Ehrgeiz and Smash; and in some of those games
we see it twice - once as it actually happened, and once as Cloud remembers it
I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing - the whole point of a remake is to see a story painted in a new way - but having just replayed Crisis Core last year, I had a hard time silencing the annoying voice in my brain saying "Wait, this didn't happen... this didn't happen... this didn't happen..." every time we encountered a new story beat or a detour.
I guess you can just handwave it all away and say either "Well, Cloud made most of this stuff up anyway" or "The Arbiter of Fate is gone so the story is being rewritten" but still...
One more detail I noticed that's probably not a spoiler but I'm going to tag it as such anyway:
When you're on the bridge approaching the Nibel Reactor, tilt the camera up to look at the sun. Cloud's hair will turn black. I'm sure this is just an engine side effect and not anything else, but that got an emphatic point out of me.
> Then consider doing one of the recent remasters of 7- it has high speed, cheats etc
> so you can at least see it all quickly.
>
> Then do the pretty new remakes. And finally work on all the rest starting with xii
> and IX.
>
> FYI all ff stories are self contained so you do not need any prior knowledge to play
> any of them.
>
I really want to start with 7. Why do you recommend starting with some of the older entries? You said it yourself that they're self contained. Just curious!
Renaissance2K wrote:
> Final Fantasy VII Remake seems like it'd be a great game for a newcomer - it's gorgeous,
> has an incredible soundtrack, and the battle system is great - but the final chapter
> is going to seem at best weightless and at worst confusing if you haven't played
> through the original.
>
> If you're going to play a version of the 1997 original, the advice I've heard repeated
>" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">7th Heaven. The most recent console releases are all fine and aren't broken
> in any way, but the mods add a bunch of tech and graphical improvements. (There appear
> to be some that add new content as well, but I don't really care about playing someone's
> fan fiction.)
>
> The big advantage the PS1 original has over the modern ports is that the menu half
> of the screen runs at 60 FPS. That's it. If you're not planning on playing on an
> analog screen, you won't be missing much if you play an unmodded port.
>
> Stay away from the original disc-based PC release. It's trash. Buggy, ill-performing,
> and awful MIDI imitations of the soundtrack.
I already have a physical copy of the Switch version on its way to me. My plan for that one is to use the ability to turn off random encounters conservatively, and just try to enjoy the game.
I plan to play both, but I'm thinking the remake might be a better way to get more invested in the story and characters. Since it's a 1/3 of the story, and the ending will leave me confused, maybe it's best I play remake first?
> I plan to play both, but I'm thinking the remake might be a better way to get more
> invested in the story and characters. Since it's a 1/3 of the story, and the ending
> will leave me confused, maybe it's best I play remake first?
It's really hard to follow up on this properly without spoiling anything. Just go for it. They're both great games, and you'll have fun.
Remake covers so little of the original's story that even if its ending doesn't make sense, you can spend an afternoon playing the original to catch up and understand why. It took me barely over five hours to do exactly that.
Edit: I take it back. You'll still have questions if you do that. But it'll still be fun, lol
>>" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">7th Heaven. The most recent console releases are all fine and aren't broken
>> in any way, but the mods add a bunch of tech and graphical improvements. (There
> appear
>> to be some that add new content as well, but I don't really care about playing
> someone's
>> fan fiction.)
>>
>> The big advantage the PS1 original has over the modern ports is that the menu
> half
>> of the screen runs at 60 FPS. That's it. If you're not planning on playing on
> an
>> analog screen, you won't be missing much if you play an unmodded port.
>>
>> Stay away from the original disc-based PC release. It's trash. Buggy, ill-performing,
>> and awful MIDI imitations of the soundtrack.
>
> I already have a physical copy of the Switch version on its way to me. My plan for
> that one is to use the ability to turn off random encounters conservatively, and
> just try to enjoy the game.
>
>
> I plan to play both, but I'm thinking the remake might be a better way to get more
> invested in the story and characters. Since it's a 1/3 of the story, and the ending
> will leave me confused, maybe it's best I play remake first?
IMO that is the real spirit of final fantasy- The old school pixel wizard style. And those are by far the best stories of the pixel versions and perhaps all around. You can’t miss them- then you can see how they changed it up with the pre render BGs etc in 7 for the psx.
>" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">|>> 7th Heaven. The most recent console releases are all fine and aren't broken
> |>> in any way, but the mods add a bunch of tech and graphical improvements. (There
>> appear
> |>> to be some that add new content as well, but I don't really care about playing
>> someone's
> |>> fan fiction.)
> |>>
> |>> The big advantage the PS1 original has over the modern ports is that the menu
>> half
> |>> of the screen runs at 60 FPS. That's it. If you're not planning on playing on
>> an
> |>> analog screen, you won't be missing much if you play an unmodded port.
> |>>
> |>> Stay away from the original disc-based PC release. It's trash. Buggy, ill-performing,
> |>> and awful MIDI imitations of the soundtrack.
>>
>> I already have a physical copy of the Switch version on its way to me. My plan
> for
>> that one is to use the ability to turn off random encounters conservatively, and
>> just try to enjoy the game.
>>
>>
>> I plan to play both, but I'm thinking the remake might be a better way to get
> more
>> invested in the story and characters. Since it's a 1/3 of the story, and the ending
>> will leave me confused, maybe it's best I play remake first?
>
> IMO that is the real spirit of final fantasy- The old school pixel wizard style.
> And those are by far the best stories of the pixel versions and perhaps all around.
> You can’t miss them- then you can see how they changed it up with the pre render
> BGs etc in 7 for the psx.
I mean, I've been following Final Fantasy since I was a kid, I've just never given it a fair chance. I've tried a few of the old school ones on PSP back in the day.
When I think “Final Fantasy,” I think PSX era, and especially the gorgeous hand-drawn matte painting backgrounds in FFIX. Something special about that style. I wish they’d do just one more that way.
The franchise lost me gradually after VII. And x was the low point for me. IX is one I need to revisit. I finished it at launch and never went back. I think if I had to pick one to get the “vii” rebuild treatment I’d pick IV. That one is just so all around great.
The og FFVII is a beautiful game, visually. Even with the blockiness of the character models, the world itself is fantastic to take in. I think once I finish FFIX and FF7 Remake, I'll fill the time until Rebirth with some og FFVII too.
That said, I also foolishly restarted FF Tactics Advanced last night. I've played the tutorial of that game roughly a million times but never got much further past it. I have wild nostalgia for the snowball fight and the following scene of the kids reading their book in Doned's bedroom. I first played that part of the game via PSP emulation in ...the bathroom of my childhood home of all places... while a snowstorm took place outside. So I was watching snowflakes fall outside my window while the same thing was happening for the kids in the game. Just a memory that stuck with me.
ANYWAYS the story is a little wild for FF Tactics Advanced, at least the little that I saw. It seems that the characters are from the "real world," because they've now mentioned the "game series" Final Fantasy twice, and the main character mentions how it's his favorite game. A little bit meta before being meta was a common storytelling technique. Honestly don't know if I love that, and I'm not sure how it plays out over the rest of the story (if at all), but the game is gorgeous to look at and I dig the strategy/RPG battle mechanics, so I'm gonna try to plow through it finally.
Tactics games have the obligatory WTF is going on overblown political war and peace drama endless dialogue. The meat is usually great but I need meds to get through them.
> I just downloaded the demo, skipped all the cutscenes, and saved my game. Huge waste
> of bandwidth, but at least I get my bonus doodads.
oh nice, that's all you gotta do?
I did see somewhere that you can pickup in the game from the end of the demo. So it's not really a waste of time yeah? You're just getting 1-2 hours into the game ahead of time right?
> I did see somewhere that you can pickup in the game from the end of the demo. So
> it's not really a waste of time yeah? You're just getting 1-2 hours into the game
> ahead of time right?
It will either start the retail game from where the demo ends, or at the point Cloud begins telling the story, you'll have the option to skip.
I think it's the latter because
the demo begins with a short escape cutscene and then abruptly jumps to the Nibel mission flashback with a Cloud voiceover. I think that initial escape cutscene in the demo is a truncated version of a sequence in the retail game. It may just be a long cutscene, though.
>> I just downloaded the demo, skipped all the cutscenes, and saved my game. Huge
> waste
>> of bandwidth, but at least I get my bonus doodads.
>
> oh nice, that's all you gotta do?
>
> I did see somewhere that you can pickup in the game from the end of the demo. So
> it's not really a waste of time yeah? You're just getting 1-2 hours into the game
> ahead of time right?
I honestly don't know the full restriction, but most save game bonuses I've seen in games just check to see if the save file is there. Shenmue 2 is the only one I can think of that more or less carried forward from the first game if you had a file present.
I never looked into it until now, assuming well known, but kinda crapty nothing carries over from part 1 to part 2. Assuming it won't be a cohesive play through until it's done and we get the re-remastered remake deluxe phoenix down ported mobile edition on PS8.
The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo update launches tomorrow at 4am PST / 1pm CET.
This unlocks "Dawn of a New Era" where you'll be able to experience an open area near Junon and includes content unique to the demo. The update improves visual fidelity in Performance Mode.
> |>> New demo content is worth checking out! Didn't realize they were bringing Hunts
>> into
> |>> this.
>>
>> Is the unique content worth downloading the demo now, despite I won't be touching
>> it until I finish Remake?
>
> Doubtful. Can't hurt tho, doesn't ruin the experience to just install it and play
> till you can save.
I'll probably just wait then. I don't care about cosmetics, and hardly care to 100% anything anymore. I think I'll be okay not having a demo-exclusive item.
I'm nevous that the Grasslands is gonna be like the one open area from FFXIII-2. This is pretty sizable area for the opening of the game ... I would have thought we would be moving around more early on. Odd.
I skimmed one or two reviews that said the best way to play the game is to focus on story content during your first playthrough, and then go back and explore the extra content afterward. The story journey is supposedly excellent, and the open world content is fine but nowhere near as satisfying as the main thread.
It's hard to ignore all those pings glimmering on the screen and the sense that I'm missing something, but going to try to focus and just keep the train moving.
15 hours in, overall pretty impressed with it. Love all the enhancements to the combat. I question how big the world is though. Don't want to look it up.
> I've been dreading that sequence since the game was announced.
>
>
After failing multiple times I ended up looking it up online you only need a break 100,000 (for trophy and something else) which I think I had like three or four mess ups.
> Does the Queen's Blood card game have any benefit except for just being a side game?
> Like does it help you with stats or something?
>
> To be honest I'm just not interested in it, I felt the same way about Gwent in Witcher
> 3.
I didn't like it at first, triple triad was better... But it's grown on me, quite a bit.
I'm 20 hours in, you'll need good cards for a main mission but could probably be fine with what you have plus what you can buy. I'm sure it'll have more relevancy later but like others, more a mini game that turns into a game of it's own. It does keep getting better though.
So much sexual innuendo. That and the amount of times they say crap and ass. Almost feels like teenage boys had a big part of the script.... Or old pervy dudes. The original obviously had this too but they really emphasized in this one.
I have yet to receive my copy from SE store. Someone was asking about their shipping. I expected this- but it’s slated to arrive Wednesday- that’s really bad. At least I’m not ready to play it yet.
What's everyone else thinking? Thought more would be chatting about it.
30 hours in, keeps getting better. Definitely need to mix up side with main and not focus too heavily on either or.
Loving the depth of customization, crafting, always something to do (LOTS of mini games), the synergy abilities, but more importantly... The depth of the characters. They've really much further developed beloved characters so well.
The music at Mt. Corel is frigging fantastic. Definitely some 80s vibes going on.
Only bummer is that it'll be over and have to wait another four years! Hope part 3 is even longer. I'd assume we'll get another intermission type dlc to hold us over (and net some more revenue).
Wish I would have replayed the original beforehand, been a solid decade since last play. Hoping someone makes a proper story and scene comparison of the game in due time.
Finding it kinda hard, a lot harder than Remake. But I don't think I'm all that great at open world rpgs. The only one I ever beat, if it even counts, is Breath of the Wild. I'm at Ch. 2 the boss in the swamp and got stomped. I guess I just need to level up more in the Grassland but the enemies don't give you much experience.
Beaten my fair share of rpgs, just beat Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth the other day which can be hard at times. Beat Persona 5, beat the original FF 7. Witcher 3 seemed cool but got stuck on a boss (sorta like I am currently with Rebirth) and just never picked it up again.
Interesting, I was gonna comment that it feels a bit too easy overall. Are you regurally switching between characters to maximize your atb? Managing different materia to give yourself variety? Synergies are huge as well!
I only did about 1/3 of grasslands before moving on. Once I got to the third area, I went back and finished the second area. Now I'm feeling a bit OP'd.
The key is really switching between characters mid fight to maximize your atb more than anything.
> Interesting, I was gonna comment that it feels a bit too easy overall. Are you regurally
> switching between characters to maximize your atb? Managing different materia to
> give yourself variety? Synergies are huge as well!
Switching characters helps a lot. Build ATB, use an ability, switch to another character and do the same while that ability fires.
Those unlockable no-MP elemental abilities also fix a huge annoyance with the original's battle system. Oh, you're fighting a boss that's weak to fire but you only have the other elemental material equipped? guess_ill_die.jpg
I'm doing the same thing I did with Final Fantasy XVI: I prioritize the story during my "nobody bother me" gaming hours, and do the open world filler stuff during pick-up and play moments. I binged on Friday and charged through Kalm, the Grasslands, that first cave (good lord, I loved the music in that cave...), and am now in the beginnings of Junon. Fast travel makes it easy to pop back and forth between the main quest and the exploration content, but I'm annoyed I can't warp back to the Grasslands where I did literally no side quests and have to stick with the Greater Junon content.
Oh well. Still having a blast, still super unimpressed by Sephiroth's voice actor.
@Renaissance2K that's a solid strat with juggling side vs main. I'm too distracted in games like this to always get the shinnies but I've been doing ok this time, as many do feel... Fluffy. Got burnt out finishing Junon, have most of grasslands done, and only some of Costa.
Current area I'm in has some crazy hard QB games. Gotta get better and managing a deck with attacking cards.
Chapter 9, 40 hours in, been doing wayyyy too many mini games and side quests. There's just too much, to the point that it's feeling like filler material just to make it a 100 hour game.
> First game was kinda rough until the last couple of chapter bosses.
I just finished Chapter 6 of Remake P1 and I'm enjoying it. Sure there's a lot of "filler" but quite a bit of it is character-building on specific characters who appeared more one-dimensional in the original release.
>> First game was kinda rough until the last couple of chapter bosses.
>
> I just finished Chapter 6 of Remake P1 and I'm enjoying it. Sure there's a lot of
> "filler" but quite a bit of it is character-building on specific characters who appeared
> more one-dimensional in the original release.
>
It’s definitely got more / better story- but it felt like a walking sim visual novel until the last few battles that actually made you use the battle system. There were a few good early fights on hard- the house especially.
Without spoilers, I'm 20 something hours in, 100% in the first two zones and am just about to start the official parade in Junon.
- Characters/story are obviously great - I like that the side quests are loosely tied to a specific character to further develop their bond to Cloud. - The side quest stuff thus far I feel is engaging and varied. It's the kind of stuff I enjoy finding more of. Specifically, Protorelic quests and finding rare beasts are fun. - Quite enjoy the Queen's Blood card game - The minigames and battle sims have been just challenging enough, without being rage-inducingly hard for no reason
- I need more Queen's Blood depth. There just isn't a big enough card library and they set you up with just the types of cards you need to beat the next challenger. - Though warranted, I don't like being forced to use Assess on each new enemy as your first attack. It's just busy work and takes up a much needed materia slot that you need to make sure your active group always has. For me, when I want to take a break from Cloud, I need to move Assess to another.
@incubus421 QB is gonna get a lot better. More cards come into play soon. The leveling challenges aren't all that hard, but there's an area where they ramp up majorly.
I’m going to platinum this once I receive it and finish P3 plat. I’m not thrilled about having to open the hard mode by completing it (like remake) but I’ll be doing everything.
I didn’t like the condors OG. I really do not like trophies buried behind content that would otherwise be ignored - but I’m often pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it or how much more complete the experience is. This is particularly true with hard modes etc.
This is a really awesome overview of all things Jenova (pre Rebirth). Played original 3x and this is a better explanation than anything I've gathered by playing over the years.
The whole Aerith matter... Had no idea the Jenova element here, mind blown.
> Without spoilers, I'm 20 something hours in, 100% in the first two zones and am just
> about to start the official parade in Junon.
>
>
> - Characters/story are obviously great
> - I like that the side quests are loosely tied to a specific character to further
> develop their bond to Cloud.
> - The side quest stuff thus far I feel is engaging and varied. It's the kind of
> stuff I enjoy finding more of. Specifically, Protorelic quests and finding rare beasts
> are fun.
> - Quite enjoy the Queen's Blood card game
> - The minigames and battle sims have been just challenging enough, without being
> rage-inducingly hard for no reason
>
>
> - I need more Queen's Blood depth. There just isn't a big enough card library and
> they set you up with just the types of cards you need to beat the next challenger.
> - Though warranted, I don't like being forced to use Assess on each new enemy as
> your first attack. It's just busy work and takes up a much needed materia slot that
> you need to make sure your active group always has. For me, when I want to take
> a break from Cloud, I need to move Assess to another.
>
Now closing in on 37-38 hours, some things have changed.
Queen's Blood did open up and new and interesting strats can now be used. Matches are tougher, the puzzle matches are fun to figure out.
Ran into a couple mini-games that getting the best prize on were an immediate nope for me. Welcome back to sit-up HELL! So glad this time around it doesn't appear to be tied to a trophy.
Just landed at the coveted Gold Saucer last night. Excited to play this evening!
@incubus421 yah the final sit up match is driving me nuts. Gave up after a few tries. Will come back later.
Gold saucer is pretty awesome. Most events are too easy unfortunately, still a really awesome reimagination of a standout part of the OG.
The QB matches get pretty damn tough though. Plan on coming back there soon as I've leveled up quite a bit and have a new solid deck I've been working on.
I got to zone 4 last night and excited to see how it plays out. I fear it's going to be the less interesting area so far.
> I DON'T WANT TO PLAY THE QUEEN'S BLOOD TOURNAMENT ANYMORE.
Two and a half hours later, it's all over, and I won. Not really sure how I pulled it off, except quitting immediately if I didn't get a good mulligan and trying to take over as much of the board as I could as fast as possible.
Even then, the opponents have such crazy synergy, they can drop a single card and win back all three rows in a single round.
I hope that's it. I half-expect Sephiroth to smoke himself into being once again and say, "I'm waiting, Cloud... for you to play me in Queen's Blood."
I really enjoyed that Rocket League game that you play with Red XIII, though it's unfair as balls (no pun intended) when the second ball comes into play.
I thought about replaying the first disc of OG FF7 during February to prepare for Rebirth. In practice, I think only fuzzily remembering the details is working in Rebirth's favor.
Case in point: the boat from Junon. My chronicles of the first half of that chapter are chronicled in the posts above. The second half was great - love the minimalist remix of "Hurry!", by the way - but as I stepped into the Cargo Hold, I suddenly remembered
"Wait... Doesn't Jenova show up on this boat?!" And then a minute later, we saw her arm.
I was excited enough to charge a battery between my teeth.
Oh boy. I’m glad I did not play the demo. So far I’ve shimmied ledges, slow walked anytime I try to go off the scripted path, slow climbed multiple ladders, toddler climbed up cliff faces, slow turned a valve so many times … and my favorite- slow walked under a fiery log that (telegraphed as it was) fell on me and made me limp the next 1/2 mile- slower than normal slow walk. Come on man. Mom had zero chance.
The combat and music are strong but the obnoxious hour building traversal mechanics persist. I view this series as a test of patience between boss fights thus far- I hope I’m so wrong about the next dozens of hours.
I do have big doubts that an open world will add anything meaningful- akin to Elden Ring.
>> Oh boy. I’m glad I did not play the demo. So far I’ve shimmied ledges, slow
> walked
>> anytime I try to go off the scripted path, slow climbed multiple ladders, toddler
>> climbed up cliff faces… and my favorite- slow walked under a fiery log that
> (telegraphed
>> as it was) fell on me and made me limp the next 1/2 mile- slower than normal slow
>> walk. Come on man. Mom had zero chance.
>>
>> The combat and music are strong but the obnoxious hour building traversal mechanics
>> persist. I view this series as a test of patience between boss fights thus far-
> I
>> hope I’m so wrong about the next dozens of hours.
>>
>> I do have big doubts that an open world will add anything meaningful- akin to
> Elden
>> Ring.
>
>
> gotta inflate that game time somehow!
I get it. It’s very pretty, they worked hard, I should relish it. It feels like it disrespects my time. Reading about all of these mini games… I’m not sure why I’m doing this even.
Typing this as I slowly crawl toward burning dying villagers. I’m coming!!!
> They were both fun, made ya explore and pursue alternative paths.
>
> 67 hours, 51% trophies. Not looking up the trophies though. Whatever happens, happens.
>
> Wanted to be done by today. Damn work and kids!
Had a very free and open week this week/end with kids' sports transitioning from winter to spring. I played this game entirely too much! Back to it next week with concerts/practice/etc, so I don't know how soon I'll finish the story. 75ish hours and 55% of trophies
Zone 4 was esthetically pleasing, but not fun to get around. Zone 5 was a lot more fun I thought, but less aesthetically pleasing aside from the sprawling vistas. A bit easier to navigate since fast travel points are well placed. Played most of zone 6 last night. Fun to get around, highly saturated with the collectible stuff as it appears to be a smaller zone.
I hit a score of 83 in Queen's Blood last night. New personal best. Took a look at the trophies to see what I'm in for in New game + / hard mode, and I think there will be a few things, much like the first game, that will be frustratingly rewarding to finally get that sweet platinum trophy.
@incubus421 holy hell man, you got ahead! I was on such a good pace but last week had too many fam things. Agreed on both 4 and 5. I just did all the side quests in 5 (went wayyyy too and about to head into town. I'm sad as it clearly feels like there's not too much left...
83?!? Wow! I still have the gold saucer QB games to do. I finally converted to more of a replace my own cards deck and it's added a lot more fun to the mix.
So far I’m enjoying the battle system tons. The open world is still up in the air- so many fast travel points that it’s redundant feeling.
The battles have been a bit imbalanced so far especially as far as the healer goes- ATB fills very slowly unless you actively control your healer and the options are very limited so far. Anything that hits hard and fast is a sure death unless you out level it- I don’t remember ever feeling this imbalance with remake or the DLC. The healing felt like it kept up with content through and through.
@Feeb wait till you get radiant ward for Aerith. I have autocast heal on everyone as I don't have any one person as a designated healer or support. I like having variety and it works quite well.
> @Feeb wait till you get radiant ward for Aerith. I have autocast heal on everyone
> as I don't have any one person as a designated healer or support. I like having variety
> and it works quite well.
This is what I did too. I think they’ve kinda balanced around that whereas before a single big healer was almost mandatory to stay up. I hate the feeling of a required materia slot being used- there are more slots though it feels and less useful materia so far. They also seem to want you to absolutely control every action of everyone ( which was definitely a thing for endgame high difficulty before) more so than early remake.
I actually haven't played much for healing spells in this game. I think I only have two characters that even have healing materia equipped. Aerith is still set to auto cast it. Instead, I balance this with a couple more characters that have the item materia equipped that increases efficacy and the one that doesn't consume the ATB meter after [x] item uses (that one is grossly OP).
I'm sure more healing materia will come into play as I head into those super difficult combat sim bosses in the end game. For now, combat is challenging but not annoyingly so. I've pretty much had no rhyme or reason to materia equipping. My approach: whoever has a free slot or a maxed materia gets the next new one I find. I swap out whenever a materia hits max level. I seem to recall that the more maxed materia you had at the end of remake part 1, the better. I think I got burned in the first game for this. Was there a shop/reward for this?
Just stating the obvious here, but the combat is definitely about moving from character to character for a few ability uses each. It's the only way to take full advantage of the powerful synergy abilities and it keeps the aggro flowing smoothly. Still, it's fun to try to hang in there with a single character and perfect block attack after attack.
I’m specifically trying to prep for hard run and endgame by leveling materia like HP and MP up, precision defense, healing, magnify etc. these are the ones I needed 3-4 at max for the previous titles. Items is definitely a place I usually ignore- aside from ethers- but with the new synthesis and that materia you mention this may be part of the new balance.
Even on hard mode - most- of the previous two could be cruised by equipping proper materia etc and focusing your main toon. This one definitely wants you to use the full system to its max most every tough fight. This was one of my biggest gripes for remake and integrade- the combat system does not shine or get used to its full potential unless you played the hardest stuff. It felt so much better and deep in those instances. I’m loving this system so far. But I am brute forcing it mainly.
@Feeb ... you're a mad man. Replaying this on hard (not the fact that it's hard), but the time commitment. I don't think I could do it, at least not for awhile while other games are burned down.
90 or so hours in Rebirth now with only a couple of chapters left. What a journey! It's better than the first remake, it's better than XV & XVI, Strangers of Paradise, etc. basically anything FF that has come out since maybe XIV for me.
Staying on top of side quests and mini games to work as close to the platinum trophy as possible before going for the ending of the story.
It'll be bittersweet when it's over, but I'll be happy to have my time back...I've hit this game way too hard.
I’ve been surprised at how easy the mini games are from what I’ve heard. The only one I had to retry a few times was the frog jumping. Otherwise they seem to be pretty fair.
> I’ve been surprised at how easy the mini games are from what I’ve heard. The
> only one I had to retry a few times was the frog jumping. Otherwise they seem to
> be pretty fair.
For the most part you can get a full clear of each mini game in 1-3 tries. There are definitely a few that I skipped the first time they were presented and they're going to be a reeeeeal nuisance for the platinum.
You can at least set the piano tracks to the slowest speed and still get the A rank for the trophy. I was thrilled you don't need the S/star rank. I still found the input to be a bit finicky especially when you have to hit a double note in the same track. It always takes my one movement for both notes resulting in a Good/Great and then a Miss.
The final sit-up challenge (why is this back!?) and the brawler game may well be the death of me... Much like the last game, there are at least a few particular combat sims that look to be troublesome.
I finished the fort condor minis before I learned that you can turn that one down to easy and it gives you a much faster action gauge. Some of those were seconds to fail if I did them perfectly. I’m sure that would make it much easier.
>> I finished the fort condor minis before I learned that you can turn that one down
>> to easy and it gives you a much faster action gauge. Some of those were seconds
> to
>> fail if I did them perfectly. I’m sure that would make it much easier.
>
> Well dang, I missed that you can change the difficulty on Condor as well. Played
> through all of them on normal I guess.
Yep. It makes your pieces come waay faster. You can basically send a troop and spawn everything on top of the boss almost immediately. No biggie but the fourth one was a nail biter on normal difficulty hard for me.
Beat the story reeeeal early this morning, like 3am. If I do go back to finish up the trophies it won't be anytime soon. All that's left is tedious, frustrating, and/or filler. I'm completely content with how the game ended and can't wait for the last game to arrive. I don't want to sully my overall perception of the game...just fantastic. 100+ hours and and I couldn't put it down. I'm not sure a game has ever held my attention so intently for that long without me thinking 'damn, let's get on with it already' at least a few times.
Ugh I'm jealous. I was getting a solid 10+ hours a day when I took a couple days off work but I've fallen behind. Early ch12, lots of new stuff appears to have opened. I'm excited to finish yet don't want it to end!
