For what it's worth, Chrono Trigger also exists on Steam (and mobile). Doesn't have the monster arena minigame from the DS version, but frankly it was pointless and tedious, and I never bothered with it even on the DS.
Also I'd recommend at least the Trials Of Mana remake, since I think it's much more fun than the original, although it's not part of any collection. The Secret Of Mana remake (also not part of any collection) is a wash, because it's the original game remade in 3D graphics with the gameplay almost completely unchanged, so there's no difference between playing the original or the remake.
The Secret Of Mana collection of three games is probably better value for money, though, especially if you want to stick with "pixel graphics".
Fair, I actually forgot Chrono Trigger was also on PC. Might have lumped it in as "bad port" at some point like how the original PC/Mobile versions of FFV/FFVI were... well, I'm told the gameplay was still the same, but boy did I hate the graphics.
As for Trials of Mana, I've heard the remake is good, but at the same time I think Omi's sort of been trying to go with original-ish versions of each game he plays? Granted that's probably partially because one of the easiest ways to start this entire LP process was to just go "buy entire collection of first 6 game remasters", and those just happened to not have the extra content from some of the other versions.
Completely unrelated, but the official Square Enix Music Channel on Youtube just appeared on my recommended Youtube videos, and TIL FFV Lenna's name is apparently supposed to be "Reina".
(I forget if this thread had mentioned it before; it's been a long thread.)
Fair, I actually forgot Chrono Trigger was also on PC. Might have lumped it in as "bad port" at some point like how the original PC/Mobile versions of FFV/FFVI were... well, I'm told the gameplay was still the same, but boy did I hate the graphics.
Oh yeah, I hear the original release of Chrono Trigger on PC was "bad port" all around. Not just graphics and fonts, but also game crashes and instability. But by the time I played it (many years after the port's release), I had no issues whatsoever. (Well, I don't really mind the font, but apparently it's a major issue for some players.)
Yeah, I definitely want to do Tactics, and it's been brought to my attention that Chrono Trigger is another Square classic that is really conversant with Final Fantasy and the JRPG genre as a whole that I should play as part of this, and the list is growing ever greater and greater...
That is super fair and Chrono Trigger is just generally a lovely game. For FF6 it's just kinda interested because 'Modern take on FF6( on a Nintendo console)' kinda became a genre on its own within the last ~15 years. If JRPGs were shorter it could have been a fun flashforward.
Omega is from the movie "Let There Be No End". Most fans ignore it because it's not from the manga, so the events there are not allowed to matter to the overall plot and are instantly forgotten anyway. The story is also pretty weak, clearly serving as thin justification for the fight. Like, it hints as some cool shit that would recontextualize the entire story up to that point, but is too afraid to commit to anything, so all we get is implying implications.
The centerpiece fight, admittedly, is very well-choreographed. Bigger budget allowed the animators to forgo the use of canned footage, which became increasingly common as the series went on (double-Bahamut is cool, but c'mon, it's in every episode now) and really stretch the established abilities of the protagonists, including some blasts from the past like the reappearance of the Bone Mail, which was neglected for the last ~50 episodes (only to be completely useless, lol).
I flunged once, one time, against my friend who had less experience, played worse than me, and had a worse deck, but who had one Fog card (fog! no one plays fog!) which turned my "kills you twice over" attack into nothing and then instantly killed me now that I had no blockers available. The trauma is burned into my brain to this day ensuring that I will never, ever do it again.
I'm sorry @Omicron, but this story really makes you sound like an anime villain who gets beaten within the first three episodes by "this one cool trick the Protagonist figured out" and spends the rest of the series planning revenge.
You know, analyzing this let's play through the lenses of anime cliches is surprisingly fun.
Hey, @Omicron you do realize that by giving Bartz the turbo-combo you've played right into shonen nonsense that's rightfully criticized? He's the character who fits the role of the bland shonen protagonist the most, and now he has the ultimate power, which none other possesses, allowing him to just style on most enemies and requiring bullshit opponents just to challenge him a bit and making him just plain better than his nominal peers and the most important character in almost every scene.
You've created an Ichigo, @Omicron He's half-spellblade, half-ninja and half-ranger. I hope you're proud.
And then you went and gave Lenna the best stats, so she's nominally stronger than Bartz, and now she can even use the same cool technique as him, except in practice she's worse in almost every way and is forever doomed to play a second fiddle to him.
Completely unrelated, but the official Square Enix Music Channel on Youtube just appeared on my recommended Youtube videos, and TIL FFV Lenna's name is apparently supposed to be "Reina".
Sadly one game that @Omicron would have to say a number of things about in terms of what it means and all that is one that is from the right time periode, but from the wrong Developer. I am of course speaking about Terranigma, one of the few SNES RPGs that came to Europe, but not to the US back in the day.
We had Illusion of Gaia, though. I played the hell out of that game back in the day, but that one wasn't an RPG. More of a Zelda action/adventure. I know the trilogy is pretty loose, but I'm still surprised the genres are so different.
We had Illusion of Gaia, though. I played the hell out of that game back in the day, but that one wasn't an RPG. More of a Zelda action/adventure. I know the trilogy is pretty loose, but I'm still surprised the genres are so different.
Sadly one game that @Omicron would have to say a number of things about in terms of what it means and all that is one that is from the right time periode, but from the wrong Developer. I am of course speaking about Terranigma, one of the few SNES RPGs that came to Europe, but not to the US back in the day.
Just the amount of subjects that one could discuss condensed into that one lone game is enough to make one suspect of black magic being used to make it (instead of the hellish crunching that was already in full swing around that time ).
There's word from an old Enix America producer about why it only came here to EU. Basically it was a combination of the PSX coming up, Nintendo not having the N64 ready yet but demanding full loyalty, saturated market and previous commercial mediocrity making Enix (who was Quintet's publisher in America) think that they should consolidate their efforts. So Enix America went out, and with it Quintet's reach, just in time to fall into irrelevance.
(Here's a great documentary about Quintet that brings that quote at about 1:03:30. Beware of lotta bigga spoilers of their games)
It's not just called that in the west, the actual original title is Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden -- it's explicitly a Final Fantasy spinoff. The first one's a bit meh, imo (limitations of the system more than most things, probably), but the second and especially the third? Some of the straight up best and most beautiful games on the SNES... and probably my favorite OSTs not just of the SNES as a whole, but all gaming flat out. To date some of my most beloved music of any format and form.
... the 3D remake is dead to me, though. It looks... okay, but okay in 3D versus goddamn gorgeous in 2D is just. It's not a good trade.
Not sure where you're getting the Sarisa one from, because as a native Hebrew speaker, it doesn't mean Princess in Hebrew...
The only meaning in Hebrew that I've ever heard for Sarisa is as a translation of the hoplite spear of the same name.
"Saris" means Eunuch, but there is no female equivalent for obvious reasons...
(The most common term for Princess in Hebrew is "Nesikha", while Prince is "Nasikh")
Not sure where you're getting the Sarisa one from, because as a native Hebrew speaker, it doesn't mean Princess in Hebrew...
The only meaning in Hebrew that I've ever heard for Sarisa is as a translation of the hoplite spear of the same name.
"Saris" means Eunuch, but there is no female equivalent for obvious reasons...
(The most common term for Princess in Hebrew is "Nesikha", while Prince is "Nasikh")
Got it from TV tropes, so perhaps I should have taken that with a grain of salt. "Faris", however, does mean "Knight" (or more accurately, "horseman", but it still mostly fits)
Also, Sarah is a name of hebrew origin (like John), and it means princess. From Sarah to Sarisa isn't that big a jump, is it? Especially in the "Japanese writers using foreign names wrong" field that a lot of fantasy videogames names found themselves in.
Or it could just be the standard 'Japanese attempt at western-ish name' that got us Bartz and Galuf and Krile. Like, Lenna is Rena in Japanese, and Krile is Kururu. You could just as easily have Faris called Saris originally, given she's Farisu and Sarisa. Or have her called I dunno Fars and Sars, which are just as accurate to the hiragana as Krile is to Kururu.
Honestly given 'Battsu' (Bartz), I'm gonna go with 'they threw syllables at a wall and picked the combo that sounded cool to them'.
The names are probably supposed to evoke German, though, given all the surnames and middle names.
Got it from TV tropes, so perhaps I should have taken that with a grain of salt. "Faris", however, does mean "Knight" (or more accurately, "horseman", but it still mostly fits)
Also, Sarah is a name of hebrew origin (like John), and it means princess. From Sarah to Sarisa isn't that big a jump, is it? Especially in the "Japanese writers using foreign names wrong" field that a lot of fantasy videogames names found themselves in.
Alright, we are in the final section of the Interdimensional Rift (when saving the game it is literally referred to as "the Final Floor"); and our confrontation with Exdeath grows closer by the second -
Wait a minute, what's this?
GILGAMESH!!
So of course the first thing I see upon spotting the coolest man alive is go straight to talk to him which, unfortunately, immediately triggers a fight.
Uh-oh.
Impressively, Gilgamesh was able to survive this long within the Rift, on his own, which is again a testament to him being genuinely really strong when not facing the protagonists. Unfortunately, it looks like he's kind of lost the plot in the midst of fighting all the monsters in the place, and is somehow mistaking the party for dangerous rift monsters.
Fortunately, the "battle" (which is more of a scripted encounter) only lasts a few turns before he comes to his senses.
"Zounds! This is no beast, just Bartz!" Gilgamesh says. 'Zounds.' He actually says 'Zounds.' I love him. "I don't like it here, you know…" he continues, "Creepy monsters lurk around every corner, and I can't find the way out. Cripes…*sniffle* I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown!"
It is objectively funny that this giant eight-armed man wielding multiple deadly weapons who is currently stuck into this universe's closest approximation of Hell and has been surviving there for like a third of the game is nearly crying like he's a lost little kid who can't find his mom at the store.
What's even funnier, though, is that he then asks the group "How did you get here - or rather, how do you get out of here?" and Bartz LITERALLY JUST POINTS HIM TO THE EXIT
He was right next to the exit this entire time, poor guy.
Awww, that's sweet. Bartz's reply is a non-committal "..." to which Gilgamesh replies "Oh, yes, I forgot, you've got that whole saving the world thing going on. Phooey. Well, if you make it out safely - Hah! No ifs about it. I'm certain we'll meet again."
"Hasta la bye-bye!" he concludes before absconding. I love his language.
…that's actually really sweet???
God. I wasn't expecting Gilgamesh to have a genuine emotional plot beat, but there it is, Gilgamesh expressing sincere belief that the protagonists will defeat Exdeath (his former boss!) and then hopefully wishing for them to go on adventures together as friends, only finding himself not daring to actually say the word 'friend.' Like what the fuck. Here I am, actually rooting for Gilgamesh and for the heroes to accept his friendship despite their past differences. I don't know what to do with that information.
(I did steal the Genji shield off him, though, don't worry.)
Anyway, with Gilgamesh escaping the Rift and no longer blocking the way, we can move on with our venture through the Rift.
Which is where my enjoyment of the game's mechanical side, already starting to weaken, take a nosedive. Here is a typical Rift encounter:
Random side note: this game doesn't have standard Behemoth, only the "King" version, which is an odd twist. And they have a very funny answer to any attempt at using magic against them:
Because they are most often encountered in pairs, any use of a spell or a summon results in two Meteors, which is a quick way to wipesville. Of course, once you know that this is because of the magic weakness, it's easy to get around by just having Faris and Krile sit out the fight, which isn't a great feeling? Apparently Berserk nullifies their counters but how would I know that without a wiki. Anyway, that's how I TPK the moment I set foot in the Rift. Reload, fight them 'correctly,' and here's what happens:
It doesn't give any XP.
The same is true of every enemy within the Final Floor.
Such as this cool Crystal Dragon which has a sick design.
So.
Enemies do give out ABP, which would be great, if I were still trying to master any Jobs. But all my builds are complete and frankly I don't feel like grinding Thief for an incremental Agility boost on everyone or whatever. I designed Lenna wrong I guess, whatever. I just want to be done. But the thing is, since ABP doesn't matter, and Gil doesn't matter (I have more than enough to buy anything I like on the off chance I ever return to the merged world), and they don't give XP, there is literally no point in fighting any of these guys. They are an actual, genuine waste of time. They exist only to interrupt my play with work. They are a chore, and they exist for the sole purpose of annoying me. They offer no reward, and no fun.
Which is the point at which I just give up.
Fun fact: remember how Masamune has a specific effect that makes it so the character equipping it always starts the fight with a full ATB gauge? And remember how Bartz was a Thief for a while, long enough that he could master Scram? By combining these two facts and hitting A (the autobattle key) the moment a random encounter starts, I get the next best things to a Repel:
Systematically escape from every fight before it even starts. Fuck filling out the Bestiary. I am officially done.
Oh hey, what's in that chest?
…fuck you, game devs.
Okay so, as one might expect from a fight that starts with my characters equipped with the wrong abilities (Bartz has Scram, Lenna has Mug from the Gilgamesh fight), the wrong gear, and not fully healed, this battle against the game's second superboss, Shinryu, goes as well as one might expect.
After taking a break and reloading the next day, properly equipping everyone and all that, I run into a new problem:
Shinryu deals vastly higher damage than even Omega. He also has no elemental weakness (meaning I can't abuse Spellblade), and he absorbs Holy (meaning I can't use the Holy spell or a non-Spellblade buffed Excalibur). Several of his attacks are party-wide one-hit kills without the proper defenses.
I tweak my equipment to give myself better odds - I have two Coral Rings, so I equip one on Krile and one on Bartz so they absorb Tidal Wave. Unfortunately, Tidal Wave is not the only weapon in Shinryu's arsenal:
Roulette is an instant kill on a random party member, Lightning hits for 25% of max HP (targets everyone), it even has Atomic Breath! And my best weapon, a Bartz who buffs with Flare and attacks with Rapid Fire, only deals 2k damage per hit for about 16-20k total damage:
Meaning he has to go three or four times in order to actually hope to take down the beast, and cannot even afford to take a turn to use a Phoenix Down on Krile. Bartz makes a valiant attempt at replicating the results of the Omega fight, being the last man standing carrying a victory by the skin of his teeth, but ultimately his damage isn't high enough and he can't pull it off.
At this point it is growing apparent that I can't defeat Shinryu with strategy as things stand. I can reload repeatedly and hope at one point I get lucky in the specific pattern of attack he decides to use, but that's about it. I have no other shot at victory.
Does that make Shinryu the true hardest boss of the game, harder than Omega?
Well, not really. But the reason why not is kind of annoying.
This is me teleporting out of the Interdimensional Rift, taking the airship and flying all the way to the Phantom Town to buy some specific equipment.
Yes, this does mean I have to go through the entire Rift again on the way back.
Fighting the Iron Giant while we're at it, just to see if it is special extra-difficult like it is in previous game. It is not.
Thanks to my new Masamune + Scram strategy, it's at least not as painful as the first time around. It's just time consuming. Put on some podcast episode (I like to listen to Behind the Bastards, personally) and just go with it.
However, if you've been following very closely, you might realize that this new strategy of telling the game's random encounter system has one drawback: the Brave Blade is now worthless. I have escaped so many times its attacking power is now +77, which is nothing at this stage. This is not something I had thought about. It wouldn't have changed anything if I had, because fuck dealing with this final stretch of the game on its own terms, but I do have the nasty surprise of Lenna's attacking power taking a massive hit when I next get into actual combat. Whatever, I swap her some other endgame sword and just accept that Lenna doesn't even have that edge going for her anymore.
And then we're back. I equip everyone with Coral Rings, meaning they are now immune to both Tidal Wave and Atomic Ray, and Angel Robes, which provide some other immunities, and I swap Krile from Mime to Freelancer, losing one ability slot so I can equip her with Masamune and immediately cast Hastega at the opening of the fight, then I jump into another confrontation.
There is some satisfaction to opening with an omnibuff/Meteor combo.
Immediately afterward I summon Golem for its Earthen Wall, being able to absorb at least one, if not more of Shinryu's direct physical attacks, each of which deals 2k-3k damage and is also a OHK for whomever they land on otherwise.
Coral Rings negate Tidal Wave and Atomic Ray, Golem negates physical attacks, I have one character with the Ice Shield in case Shinryu uses his Ice Storm move, Lightning 'only' deals 25% HP damage so it's only dangerous as a finisher on already weakened characters, Ribbons make everyone immune to Demon Eye (petrifies, which killed Krile in an earlier fight) and Instant Death (Roulette, also did the same; I think Shinryu just doesn't like Krile very much, not relatable), and an Angel Robe armor makes everyone immune to Poison Breath and Zombie Breath, two of Shinryu's less-used but still dangerous attacks. My characters are also lv 41, which isn't a multiple of either 2 or 3, so Level 2 Old and Level 3 Flare are useless. That leaves his only working move as "Mighty Guard," an admittedly formidable self-buff that grants him Shell, Protect and Float.
So, is Shinryu harder than Omega?
Not if we judge from the fact that I defeated him with my entire party at full HP.
Shinryu isn't a strategic problem, he's a logistical problem. He is gear-gated. You need to have the right items to disable his attacks, and if you do, he is trivial to defeat. If you don't, he's essentially invincible. The only way you could survive his opening move of "two Tidal Waves back to back before your ATB gauge is full" is if you have immunity to Water damage or are lv 90+.
I mean, I'm sure big brain player for whom this game is old hat do have better strategies to defeat Shinryu without abusing immunity gear, but it's what I did. There is apparently a Dragon Lance which can be stolen from either the Jura Aevis from the previous area or from the Crystal Dragon in this one and which deals massive damage to Shinryu, but it has a 3% drop chance, so while I did give it a decent shot I moved on after wasting twenty minutes on grinding those guys for it, and in the end I didn't actually need it.
Ultimately a letdown compared to Omega. And that is the second superboss of the game defeated - fortunately, unlike Omega, Shinryu doesn't reward us with just a status symbol (although he does also provide that), but also with Ragnarok, back again to feature once more as the "strongest blade in the game (that isn't a full-power Brave Blade or Chicken Knife)," which will serve as a consolation prize for Lenna.
Alright. We're almost at the end now. But from a quick headcount of how many Rift Demons Exdeath addressed in a previous screenshot, there is precisely one demon left that we haven't fought, so when I bump into a suspicious light on my way to the final screen, I immediately suspect treachery:
…I'm not sure the devs knew what 'Necrophobe' was when they made that enemy. Like, 'phobe' means 'fear of'; "necrophobia" is the fear of death. Necrophobes are people who are afraid of either dying or dead bodies, depending on whom you ask; it's not a name that really strikes terror into the heart.
Well, anyway. Necrophobe proudly proclaims his invincibility thanks to the four barriers protecting him and, indeed, as long as these barriers are on the field, Necrophobe is immune to all harm. However, the Barriers themselves are not immune to damage, and though they cast Flare, making them relatively dangerous, party-wide damage like summoning Bahamut or Syldra quickly destroys them, leaving Necrophobe unprotected.
"You've left me with no choice!" Necrophobe declares, "Have a taste of my true power! It's all-you-can-eat!" then proceeds to cast Flash, blinding party members, before proceeding to fight with normal attack and Vacuum Wave, Exdeath's old damage + Sap move. All in all, not much to write home about, especially once Libra reveals that he is weak to all elements.
At least, nothing to write home about until we get him at low HP, upon which…
Clash on the Big Bridge kicks in.
Surprise Gilgamesh appearance?!
"Surprised to see me?" Big G declares, "If I'd left you in the lurch I'd look like a jerk for all of history!"
God, it's genuinely incredible seeing this jock/bro style of dialogue coming out of a giant multi-armed horned monster man. Truly boyfriend material.
Necrophobe responds "Hmph. You've got a big mouth. If you're so eager to fight, then you can be the first to die!" and starts attacking him, giving me my one opportunity to steal the last missing piece of Genji gear -
Kind of a dick move but he won't hold it against me.
Gilgamesh's sprite turns towards Necrophobe, challenging him to "do his worst," for he can't hold a "birthday candle" to the blazing flame of Gilgamesh's winning spirit. Necrophobe proceeds to unleash repeated attacks against Gilgamesh, which he heals himself from every time while continuing to monologue, addressing each of the protagonists and offering them one last word of validation before their big final battle. To Krile, he tells her grandfather was truly strong; to Faris, he says "try falling in love or something, you might learn a thing or to about yourself," which feels sexist but I can accept that Gilgamesh would have some jock-ish backward views he's never questioned before and I forgive him; to Lenna, he says she is always caring towards animals, and tells her to never lose that heart of hers. And to Bartz…
I find that a fascinating character statement, because it basically sums up Bartz's two personality traits - "you're strong and fun to fight" and "you have great friends," which aren't things about his personality as such, but what they are is the defining feature of every generic shounen hero out there. Bartz is not a deep character, and his personality only really comes through in the people around him, and how he relates to them; even the weirdly sexist comment about Faris is referring to something about her, her wants and desires - the Krile comment about Galuf can be put down to the fact that Gilgamesh doesn't actually know Krile, they've barely met, but it's also alluding to the weight of Galuf's legacy that she must take on as a too-young child. But Bartz only truly exists in reference to others; as long as he has his friends to bounce off of, he's fun to watch, with some genuinely endearing moment, but if you take that from him he lacks a drive or fundamental character traits.
It… actually reminds of a particular moment in Endwalker that I can't talk about here. Well, okay, Gilgamesh's entire thing here is reminding me of several moments in Endwalker that I can't talk about, so let's put a pin in that for in like three years when I'm LPing EW, and move on, because it's time for…
…a dramatic sacrifice?!
GILGAMESH NO
GILGAMESH NECROPHOBE IS ACTUALLY INCREDIBLY WEAK ONCE HIS BARRIERS ARE GONE I CAN LITERALLY TAKE HIM DOWN MYSELF THIS IS COMPLETELY UNECESSARY GILGAMESH PLEASE
God.
He truly died as he lived: doing something incredibly flashy and dramatic that was both completely pointless and incredibly dumb. I can't even be mad.
So long, Gilgamesh. You were truly the best character in this game and a joy to watch every time you appeared on screen, and your appearances in the Rift almost made this whole slog tolerable.
Fs in chat, gang o7
The "light" Necrophobe was referring to keeping from us is this here save point, the last in the entire game. All the demons are dead, all the loot is gotten, as far as I know, there is nothing left in front of us but the final battle against Exdeath.
Which makes this a good point to stop, as I have not yet played this part, and this post has reached its maximum image count.
).
