Honestly, the creation of Mist as a protective measure to preserve the greenery makes sense, especially if you assume that FFIX is a stealth sequel to FFVII (after everyone died).
See, by this point Gaia runs on truly ancient (Ancient even) hardware, which just doesn't cut it for modern trees. The inhabitants, therefore, have three choices: make everything a barren desert with zero distinguishing features, stick mountains everywhere to break lines of sight or indeed cover everything in mist, so you don't need to render plants before someone actually approaches them.
Truly, Gargantians were wise to work within their limitations yet still produce a rich, memorable environment.
Maybe the Mist is a toxic gas that makes monsters weaker, not stronger, and it was pumped into the valleys of the Mist Continent to lower monster Levels so it was a safer place for people to live.
Maybe the Mist is a toxic gas that makes monsters weaker, not stronger, and it was pumped into the valleys of the Mist Continent to lower monster Levels so it was a safer place for people to live.
We go through Gizamaluke's Grotto, handing a Kupo Nut to Moguta on our way. While we're there, I decided that we've grown in power enough that it might be time to try the wildlife up top again…
Never mind, they have Actual Dragons that can one shot the entire party.
Once upon a time, there was a gaming company called Wizards of the Coast which published a trading card game named Magic the Gathering. Now, this trading card game was old and successful, one of the most famous of its kind. But it wasn't enough for Wizards of the Coast. Magic needed to make money for the dear shareholders. Thus, they printed more product and they started doing crossovers with popular franchises. Business boomed like never before... but that still wasn't enough for the company. So, they laid off thousands of "redundant" employees.
There are probably some lessons to be learned from this, but more likely they'll just start looking for the Promised Land of AI automation instead, so, you know. For now, I'll just give a summary of some interesting leaked cards representing the games we've already finished (so no IX) because I like talking about MTG and I like procrastinating even more. The first leak we've gotten so far is a leak for the starter kit, which has a lot of underpowered and uninteresting cards, but there's some interesting stuff in there.
Rosa, Steadfast White Mage - 3W - Legendary Creature : Noble Human Cleric - Reach; At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. It gains lifelink until end of turn. (2/3).
Fairly generic supportive healing card for a fairly generic leading lady. It's interesting I guess to see the confirmation that she's a noble unlike Cecil "ambigiously a foundling" Harvey?
Barret Wallace - 3R - Legendary Creature : Human Rebel - Reach; Whenever Barret Wallace attacks, he deals damage equal to the number of equipped creatures you control to defending player. (4/4)
One of 7's best characters appears as a draft uncommon. From the number of his card, it looks like this is his main set version. Barret deals direct damage to your opponent's face, something I feel that he definitely wishes for in his endless fight against Shinra's minions. I think it's also a nice representation of how Barret has long-ranged attacks and his history as a leader. A simple card, but a nice one.
Police, they're being cheeky about series numbers again! Paired with a picture of Cloud wielding it and just begging to be put into an equupment deck which likes cheating costs. Essentially a worse version of the already-existing Argentum Armor card, which makes sense since Wizards doesn't want to put chase cards into a productfor new players.
Ultimecia, Menace of Time - 4UU - Legendary Creature : Human Warlock - Whenever this creature enters, tap all creatures your opponents control. Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, draw a card. (4/4)
Ultimecia gets a boring overcosted starter set "rare", as typical for these sorts of things. Her mass tap-down effect is likely a reference to her introduction in Deling City, where she ambigioously hypnotizes everyone.
Xande, Dark Mage - 2UB - Legendary Creature : Human Sorcerer - Menace; Xande gets +1+1 for each non-creature, non-land card in your graveyard. (3/3)
Feels like it could be better if it included creatures, but I like overall the idea of Xande becoming stronger the more your graveyard gets filled, as he just sees more and more of the inevietability of death driving him to desperation. Besides, I don't really see much else interesting to do with Xande (which is why unlike Ultimecia I'm doubtful he's getting a main set card). The man didn't even manage to become the villain representative for all the crossovers.
Suplex - 1R - Sorcery - Choose one: 1) Suplex deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead; 2) Exile target artifact.
They did it. They did the meme as worse sorcery-speed Abrade. I think maybe the "exile" part is related to how Sabin kills a bunch of ghosts and presumably sends them to superhell the hell you only find if you die? Also, the art is literally just Sabin bumrushing a train, as you do.
Sephiroth's Intervention - 3B - Instant - Destroy target creature. You gain 2 life.
The iconic moment of Sephiroth killing Aerith is now a draft common, just so that everyone can always see the trauma, you know? And somewhere out there a bazillion nerds planning to build Sephiroth decks wept in knowing that a card with his name and face on it is basically unplayable
Laguna's Dreams - 1U - Instant - Scry 1 and then draw a card. Flashback 3U.
The Laguna flashbacks are represented through cards with the well-established "recast from graveyard" flashback mechanic on them, which, like, in hindsight extremely obvious!
The Return of Evil - 4B - Sorcery - Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield with 2 +1/+1 counters on it.
The obligatory draft resurrection spell is Exdeath T-posing because Exdeath is a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain and always living his best life. You go! Plus, of the games we've played so far I think he has the most emphasis on being a resurrected evil from the past. A lot of villains get killed and then show up again, but only Exdeath has the sheer balls to need to be put down three whole times before he finally gets exiled from reality.
And finally... all basic lands in the Starter Kit are surprisingly full art, three different variants for each land, instead of the usual picture frame. Crunching the math, 5 types of basic land times 3 variant full-arts evenly turns into 15 lands, one for each game except 16 which only released partly through development. Still, despite its late introduction, there's still one 16 spell clearly visible in the starter kit. Each land is a representation of an iconic spot from that game, and overall I'm pretty happy with their picks.
Plains are the basic land of white, associated with civilization and wide expanses.
Final Fantasy 7's Seventh Heaven, in Midgar's slums. A slightly weird pick which is carried largely by Tifa's reassuring nature as the owner of Seventh Heaven... before Shinra crushes it all.
Islands are the basic land of blue, associated with progress and the sea.
Final Fantasy 8's orphanage by the sea. Yeah, probablhy jsut because it's one of the most famous seaside locations.
Swamps are the basic land of black, associated with death and rot, which is really quite unfair because swamps are incredibly life-filled ecosystems in their own right.
Final Fantasy 2's jade passage, in the style of the remasters where it's more alien-looking.
Final Fantasy 5's ship graveyard. Excellent pick. That dungeon isn't the most complciated, but it's still a memorable setpiece of a place utterly beset by death and rot.
Mountains are the basic land of red, associated with fire and rocky heights.
Final Fantasy 1's Mount Gulg, complete with the Warriors of Light clearly venturing through it. It looks like a black mage, a thief, a white mage, and a warrior. Tragically no red mage to commit munchkin crimes.
Final Fantasy 4's Mount Ordeals, where Cecil found himself and was reborn. Specifically, we got a good shot of the shirine Cecil spoke to his father's soul in and an idea for what it'd actually look like outside of SNES limitations!
Final Fantasy 6's Mount Kolts, where we meet best himbo Sabin and defeat his traitorous fellow disciple. It's the most generic-looking of the mountains (could be any traditional Chinese art inspired landscape), but I suppose that's just how the assignment turned out.
And because I know Omicron can't directly look at the leaks without spoiling himself on unplayed games...
G'raha Tia and Magitek Scythe are technically rares, but they're not mainset, which is why they're so... unexciting, I suppose. We're definitely guaranteed to get at least one more G'raha Tia in the commander deck, probably as the Crystal Exarch backup commander.
Cloud Moogle - 3WW - Creature : Moogle - Flying;Whenever this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Plainscycling 2. (2/3).
White Auracite - 2WW - Artifact - When this artifact enters, exile target non-land permanent an opponent controls until this artifact leaves the battlefield. Tap -> Add W.
G'raha Tia - 4W - Legendary Creature : Cat Archer - Reach; Whenever one or more creatures or artifacts you control are put into the graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card. This ability only triggers once per turn. (3/5).
Magitek Scythe - 4 - Artifact : Equipment - When this equipment enters, you may attach it to target creature you control. If you do, that creature gains first strike until end of turn and must be blocked thus turn if able. Equip 2; Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Sahagin - 1U - Creature : Merfolk Warrior - Whenever you cast a non-creature spell, if at least 4 mana was spent to cast it, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and it can't be blocked this turn. (1/3)
Fairy of Il Mheg - 1U - Creature : Fairy - Flying; Whenever this creature attacks surveil 1. (2/1)
Also, the full-art basic land is a Swamp depicting Midgardsormr's corpse.
Well, when it comes to Wizards of the Coast making bad decisions, always remember they're owned by and under a lot of pressure from Hasbro which is, if anything, even stupider.
Once upon a time, there was a gaming company called Wizards of the Coast which published a trading card game named Magic the Gathering. Now, this trading card game was old and successful, one of the most famous of its kind. But it wasn't enough for Wizards of the Coast. Magic needed to make money for the dear shareholders. Thus, they printed more product and they started doing crossovers with popular franchises. Business boomed like never before... but that still wasn't enough for the company. So, they laid off thousands of "redundant" employees.
You forgot to mention how, while still shipping to Brazil and Portugal, they stopped printing cards in Portuguese. The leak is in Spanish for a reason.
You forgot to mention how, while still shipping to Brazil and Portugal, they stopped printing cards in Portuguese. The leak is in Spanish for a reason.
The thing is, I also play Magic the Gathering. And the Final Fantasy set, in addition to being one of the things I'm most excited about for MtG this year (in complete opposition to my usual stance on Universes Beyond, because I'm a hypocrite) is going to be fully Standard-legal and playable on Arena. I'm not banning myself from playing MtG for the next four years for the sake of this LP, so potential spoilers featured on cards from the FF set are just something we're going to have to be dealing with.
The thing is, I also play Magic the Gathering. And the Final Fantasy set, in addition to being one of the things I'm most excited about for MtG this year (in complete opposition to my usual stance on Universes Beyond, because I'm a hypocrite) is going to be fully Standard-legal and playable on Arena. I'm not banning myself from playing MtG for the next four years for the sake of this LP, so potential spoilers featured on cards from the FF set are just something we're going to have to be dealing with.
So the coming games will include the spoilers of whatever bits of art or lore snippets they decide to print on the cards? That only sounds like a good thing to me
I mean the wild speculation is already one of the funnest parts here, wild speculation with MtG cards pinned onto the corkboard sounds like an even better time
You will never escape this thread. This is your burden. This is your life. This is your reality. You should never have started it. You can never stop. This is your final fantasy.
EDIT: Looking through what's leaked, and most of the spoilers are stuff that's either common knowledge (Aerith dies), stuff he's already seen or is aware of (FFXIV + references), or is pretty obvious from the start (FFX spoiler: Seymour's a shithead). Now if they spoil something like MAJOR FFX SPOILER: Tidus and the Farplane, I think that might be a bit out of pocket.
Ultimecia gets a boring overcosted starter set "rare", as typical for these sorts of things. Her mass tap-down effect is likely a reference to her introduction in Deling City, where she ambigioously hypnotizes everyone.
Also her intro in Timber, where she made the party stay still while she called Seifer a little baby who wasn't growing up. Also possibly G-Garden, where after the throw-down she apparently does something to keep everyone busy while she hops into Rinoa.
Well... If you decide to take "up to date with FF" to mean "Final Fantasy as a franchise" instead of just "Numbered Final Fantasy games + Tactics," Omi may already be doomed. ;P
((I'd be all for it: for one, I would love to see how Theatrhythm can be showcased in a Let's Play format. ))
You will never escape this thread. This is your burden. This is your life. This is your reality. You should never have started it. You can never stop. This is your final fantasy.
I mean, we've moved from FF1 to FF9 in less than three years. With FFT added in there, call it 9.5 games completed in that time, so clearly three more years we should expect Omicron to be ready to just finishing up the ninth game after FF9.
Well... If you decide to take "up to date with FF" to mean "Final Fantasy as a franchise" instead of just "Numbered Final Fantasy games + Tactics," Omi may already be doomed. ;P
((I'd be all for it: for one, I would love to see how Theatrhythm can be showcased in a Let's Play format. ))
Here hoping!!!
But in all seriousness while we all would absolutely adore Omi getting to experience and share everything FF until we catch up to most recent FF and they decide to keep going it will remain a wishful dream.
But if I had to chose non mainline media they would be Stranger of Paradise,FF4 the After Years( my inner completionist and lore hound demand them to complete the story of 1 and 4) and The Spirits Within(my first and only piece of FF media that i actually owned and completed)
But if I had to chose non mainline media they would be Stranger of Paradise,FF4 the After Years( my inner completionist and lore hound demand them to complete the story of 1 and 4)
FFIV is already completed, there is no story to complete and therefore the only thing any sequel to it could add would be nothing interesting and, in the worse case scenario, a retread of the original with the serial numbers filed off and a lot of nonsensical changes to established canon just to make itself look better. There is nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, in playing "After Years", is what I'm saying.
If I was seriously suggesting non-mainline games, I'd suggest Stranger of Paradise, Type-0, and World of Final Fantasy. The most complete and able to stand on their own spinoffs.
...instead I suggest Final Fantasy Explorers, Revenant Wings, and Mario Hoops 3-on-3.
If I had to pick one it'd be FFTA 'cause it'd be the perfect excuse to plug my own Let'sRead Nah, Omi's got enough on their plate with just the mainline games
Okay, if we're throwing out spinoffs, I absolutely need to throw two gil into the pile with: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.
((It has my favorite remix of Battle on the Big Bridge in the entire franchise! Though uh, the name of the remix is a big spoiler so I can't link it in good conscience in the same sentence.))
... "Updated rerelease in 2019?" Well, yes, but that requires me to want to give Every Buddy! the time of day, and I absolutely refuse to acknowledge that atrocity. What happened is that, while the gameplay, translation, and content had been shored up and improved upon significantly, at least from everything I've saw... They also messed up with the presentation of the atmosphere and story, making the Wii version feel superior as the version I was familiar with first. I'm sure someone who starts with Every Buddy and checks out the Wii version afterwards wouldn't feel nearly as strongly as I do.
Okay, if we're throwing out spinoffs, I absolutely need to throw two gil into the pile with: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon.
((It has my favorite remix of Battle on the Big Bridge in the entire franchise! Though uh, the name of the remix is a big spoiler so I can't link it in good conscience in the same sentence.))
... "Updated rerelease in 2019?" Well, yes, but that requires me to want to give Every Buddy! the time of day, and I absolutely refuse to acknowledge that atrocity. What happened is that, while the gameplay, translation, and content had been shored up and improved upon significantly, at least from everything I've saw... They also messed with the presentation of the atmosphere and story, making the Wii version feel superior as the version I was familiar with first. I'm sure someone who starts with Every Buddy and checks out the Wii version afterwards wouldn't feel nearly as strongly as I do.
We're playing Every Buddy! right now, and I mostly agree with you about atmosphere, story, and gameplay! Every Buddy trumps on gameplay almost (but not entirely) across the board, while Wii trumps on story and atmosphere across the board. Remains to be seen which one I'll prefer in the end but that's a while off. Wild set of changes, really wild. This is the first time in the series where I felt I had to start a playthrough of multiple versions to do all the comparisons for my blog, because things kept falling through the gaps of a Wii Longplay, the changes are just that extensive!
