Remove ads

Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Finished: Final Fantasy Tactics]

Reader mode
Jakobstj said:
...a thought occurs. Do we know that one of Krile's parents was in fact Galuf's kid? What if the reason her becoming the queen of Bal is uncertain is because she's not related to Galuf, she got adopted by him after her parents died?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Entirely possible, actually. It could just be a "couple in Galuf's service dies, he feels bad and adopts their kid as his grandchild" thing.

But at the same time, I kinda feel like... if it's a case where he doesn't have any other living heirs, why wouldn't the kingdom just go "close enough" and stick Krile on the throne once Galuf's gone? Heck, guy's in his sixties, they should already have plans for when he eventually passes, especially post-Exdeath escape where there's no guarantee he doesn't meet a violent end.
Etranger said:
That was really good! Having never really played the pre-VII FFs, I always thought of V as "the one that's not IV or VI," kind of an afterthought compared to two games everyone seemed to love. But this was really cool! Thanks as always for doing this, Omicron.

I'm excited for FF6, a game I know almost nothing about except a couple choice memes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
FFV is mostly an afterthought because it didn't originally get translated with FFIV and FFVI (or should I say for the old folks in the audience, FFII and FFIII). So it just didn't get that initial attention over in english speaking countries back in the age of the SNES. It's still a perfectly good game like basically every other Final Fantasy so far other than maybe FFII, just doesn't have quite that raw nostalgia factor for the same crowd that's usually going "oh boy remember FFIV/FFVI?"
 
Last edited:
So, now that the playthrough is finished, I want to give a special shoutout to the Final Fantasy IV Four Job Fiesta. (Website)

Every summer, there's a charity event where anyone can sign up to play the game with certain restrictions. While the exact restrictions vary depending on what mode you choose, the default is that you are assigned one job for each crystal. Specifically, whenever you unlock a set of jobs, at least one of those jobs must be present in your party at all times. Additionally, you are forbidden from using any job you haven't been assigned, with the exception of Freelancer right up until you unlock the Wind Crystal jobs.

Sometimes, you luck out and get Samurai or Mystic Knight. Other times you're playing the game with a guide open because you have a Berzerker and a Geomancer and you need to squeeze out every last advantage you can get.

As I mentioned, there are some different modes, and I want to definitely bring up the BESERKER RISK mode. You have to sign up for BESERKER RISK before the event starts, as the way it works is that for every certain amount of money - the amount changes every year - one BESERKER RISK player has one of their jobs overridden by Berzerker. If there are more Berzerkers to hand out than players playing in BESERKER RISK mode, then some unlucky player will be given another Berzerker, overriding a different job, and so on.

If you're thinking about playing, want to laugh at the poor Quadzerkers, or just are interested in general, go ahead and check it out!
 
Omicron said:
Mechanically, this is a massive step up as well. Neo Exdeath is finally using a trick that solves an issue of previous bosses: its body has four target markers, meaning his HP is split into four separate mechanical entities that have to each be destroyed to take down the whole monster; this reduces the impact of overwhelming single target attacks, as well as making multiple-target options more rewarding, so there's a reason to use Bahamut instead of Flare. Additionally, Rapid Fire's targeting is random, which means its total damage is spread out between each body part, so we can't focus down one body part at a time, somewhat blunting the overwhelming power of Rapid Fire combos. This is mechanically identical to Neo Exdeath just being four separate monsters as far as I can tell (each body section has its own turns and attacks), but it feels different thanks to the presentation.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There hasn't really been a good place to bring it up so here will have to do, but some of the bosses in the GBA exclusive Sealed Temple have another neat trick to get around Rapid Fire. They will have dummy targets that can not be directly targeted by the player but can be chosen for random effects, effectively giving Rapid Fire and Meteor a miss chance.
Zap Rowsdower said:
Fun fact: if a character was KO'd when you finished the final battle, they would be unable to escape the Void and would not get their "what they did in the year since" epilogue segment, only escaping/being revived at the Guardian Tree scene, being dead to the world for the interim year, with associated variations in who stands at the mountain looking into the distance and who narrates.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Specifically the priority for who narrates is actually Bartz, Lenna, Faris, and then Krile as the lowest priority. As seen in this playthrough though, Krile is set to the narrator when all party members make it.
 
So, fun fact, after the Dawn Warriors save you from Exdeath... you can just leave. If you exit the Interdimensional Rift, the game will state that the Void twisted time to before it sucked up everything so you can actually traverse the world.

Neo Exdeath Has some steals, Including another Ragnorok. As for why Neo Exdeath looks like that, the generally believed explanation is that the Void destroyed his Tree form, causing all the evil spirits sealed inside him to spill out.
 
Last edited:
Omicron said:
Okay, now this is some proper fucking final boss design. Not sure where all the naked ladies are coming from, but this horrible mass of squirming flesh with many faces and mouths helmed by a horned demon form is sick as hell. Out of all final bosses so far (Chaos, the Emperor, the Cloud of Darkness, Zeromus), this is easily my favorite.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It kind of looks like it might have originally been "All the Demons of the Rift mushed together", but the artists changed their minds in the process of translating that to a limited pixel budget. They got Melusine, Necrophobe and Twintania, tossed in a red lion for Unnamed Red Guy, then they were forced to confront the idea of representing the Giant-Headed Babies or Costco Beholder in their cool final boss and just threw up their hands and added some more scantily-clad pixel babes, why not.

Omicron said:
Krile says that 'everyone in Bal is worried, since they have no heir to the throne. Maybe I'll be queen! Yeah, in my dreams. But it would be pretty cool, though."

Which is a really weird comment considering that Lenna and Faris are over there in Tycoon ruling as queens, and Krile is Galuf's granddaughter. Sure, Krile is young, but that wouldn't mean she doesn't inherit, just that there is an initial period of regency until she comes of age, whereas she's strongly suggesting inheriting isn't in the cards at all.

There's only one possible conclusion: Bal is institutionally sexist and women cannot inherit the throne, something which Galuf never bothered to change even in his old age and knowing he had no heir.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well see, you'd think Krile would naturally be Galuf's heir, but if you recall he specifically bequeathed her his EXP and ABP when he died and she didn't get his mastered Ruler job or any of the associated commands like !Edict, !Diplo or !Pun, so there's really nothing they can do.
 
I'm actually kind of wondering if Galuf's kingdom operates on hereditary rule, as opposed to some other means of selecting the leader who just happens to have the title of "King". Occam's Razor says it does, and thus Krile's dismissal of her own chances of taking the throne is odd, but then we have to come up with all sorts of extra justifications and possibilities for why she feels that way.

pedanterrific said:
Well see, you'd think Krile would naturally be Galuf's heir, but if you recall he specifically bequeathed her his EXP and ABP when he died and she didn't get his mastered Ruler job or any of the associated commands like !Edict, !Diplo or !Pun, so there's really nothing they can do.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Would that be "!Pun" as in "Punishment", or "!Pun" as in "Dad Joke"?
 
Apparently, according to the wiki, the original concept is that Exdeath was going to be (as I mentioned previously) a former apprentice of Ghido out to resurrect an older bad guy- specifically that dude we're told the void was first wielded by, Enuo.

Neo Exdeath, apparently, in this original draft of the plot was going to be 'exdeath turns into a branch and fuses with the revived Enuo, thus becoming Neo Exdeath'.

So that's a thing.
 
pedanterrific said:
It kind of looks like it might have originally been "All the Demons of the Rift mushed together", but the artists changed their minds in the process of translating that to a limited pixel budget. They got Melusine, Necrophobe and Twintania, tossed in a red lion for Unnamed Red Guy, then they were forced to confront the idea of representing the Giant-Headed Babies or Costco Beholder in their cool final boss and just threw up their hands and added some more scantily-clad pixel babes, why not.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I do wonder what this implies about a lot of Exdeath's monsters and more dangerous goons. Were the monsters the spirits originally sealed inside him, who he gave a physical form? Seems like a good addition to V's themes.

Adloquium said:
I'm actually kind of wondering if Galuf's kingdom operates on hereditary rule, as opposed to some other means of selecting the leader who just happens to have the title of "King". Occam's Razor says it does, and thus Krile's dismissal of her own chances of taking the throne is odd, but then we have to come up with all sorts of extra justifications and possibilities for why she feels that way.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
"I was actually elected democratically, for life, after sealing Exdeath!"
 
Congrats on finishing the game! Not that it could really do much to fight back by the end, but still.

For one last silly PS1 translation: Exdeath's X-Death's ultimate attack in that version, rather than being Almagest, is...UltraGust. Which really does sound to me like the sort of thing you'd come up with if you had a single Excel file with the entire script and no way to access the devs to confirm anything.
 
Omicron said:
Not sure where all the naked ladies are coming from,
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, obviously the trees of the Guardian Forest are of the monoecious kind and Exdeath had his own case of gender going on when he presented as male.

In general sex in plants is a lot less either-or than it is in animals (and we already write very thick books about how varied it is for just us humans. Which to be honest is something that's kind of underrepresented in fantasy. We've had plant people running around since at least Greek mythology, and yet the only time people do anything gender-related with them seems to be some very specific subgenres of porn...
 
Maybe Krile is a bastard child, and Galuf's kingdom is really strict about the purity of the royal bloodline: if you have less than six fingers per appendage, you need not apply.
 
Omicron said:
Okay, now this is some proper fucking final boss design. Not sure where all the naked ladies are coming from,
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

GALUF: Yes, I wonder where he got all those hangers-on...Dorgann.

*flashback to a wild, demon-filled bacchanal amidst the forest presided over by an armored Exdeath casually tossing handfuls of gil over a group of cavorting forest nymphs*

DORGANN: You are never gonna let that gil-toss thing go.
GALUF: Nope.
 
That sounded like a really cool ending! All the mentioned variations are also impressive.

Actually kinda suck that VI is already happening. It's the one I actually kinda want to spend the time on myself, but I have been waiting for the Switch release. (Ever since getting a desk job I just don't vibe with playing games while being non-horizontal anymore.)
The port actually seems to coincidentally be releasing next week, but I just finished a big fantastic JRPG. On the other hand, If I don't play it right now I sure as hell won't get around to it for a while due to Tears Of The Kingdom, so even a Chrono Trigger interrupt wouldn't really save me...
Terrible problem to have, I know. Please include me in your prayers at your convenience:V But if I disappear from this thread it's due to that.
 
CeBrudras said:
Actually kinda suck that VI is already happening. It's the one I actually kinda want to spend the time on myself, but I have been waiting for the Switch release.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
What, don't just want to live FF6 vicariously through Omi for your first time through? :V

Totally get it though, I have to consider if I'm finally going to go back and finish IX before we get there myself... not to mention that post-X my experience with the series drops off real sharply.
 
Another notch on the revolver!

Omicron said:
I don't see any of this.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Fuck. The only time that happened to me was when using Zeninage. xD

Omicron said:

Ultimate power.​
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There it goes again.



Omicron said:
The free moments highlight in Bartz's journey are standing up to Exdeath in Ghido's cave, facing Kelger's Lupine Attack and, weirdly enough, perving on a sleeping Faris back at the inn?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Sakaguchi: "Yeah I dunno either. I was burnt out, man. Why do you think I had other people write the next game!?"

About Krile and Bal, maybe it's a matter of her not knowing or understanding all the legalese involved?
ArlequineLunaire said:
smh when no Pony Fantasy VI playthrough /jk

Edit: No really, that was an actual mod that existed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-hCAk_D4A8
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I played that one, back in the heyday of FIM when it was in the middle of its second season and it was actually fun. It's... bland. Very bland. "Eating MREs" bland. It only changed sprites and names, which do look nice so there's that, but that's all. It didn't even change any part of the lore or plot (at least not in any meaningful way that stuck to my memory), which is what it would actually have made it at least mildly interesting.
 
Last edited:
The most interesting part was the gameplay - it changed up who had what battle commands so only the unicorn characters could use magic, making it a sort of challenge run.
 
True, but I mean, when in the base game magic is already hugely broken, that's not a lot. It's basically negating the use of a cheating third arm, and something you can do by simply hard roleplaying the original characters.
 
pedanterrific said:
It kind of looks like it might have originally been "All the Demons of the Rift mushed together", but the artists changed their minds in the process of translating that to a limited pixel budget. They got Melusine, Necrophobe and Twintania, tossed in a red lion for Unnamed Red Guy, then they were forced to confront the idea of representing the Giant-Headed Babies or Costco Beholder in their cool final boss and just threw up their hands and added some more scantily-clad pixel babes, why not.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Solsticegelan said:
I do wonder what this implies about a lot of Exdeath's monsters and more dangerous goons. Were the monsters the spirits originally sealed inside him, who he gave a physical form? Seems like a good addition to V's themes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Huh, interesting. I never noticed that, but yeah, Twintania especially is clearly just right there.

If the tree went evil and became Exdeath because all these demons were sealed inside it… is Exdeath's army actually just his family? He's trying to make a home for his many mommies and daddies?
 
If it turns out the demons of the rifts are actually component souls of the gestalt being that is Exdeath, then I think we officially have found the system which was used to run the hypothetical FFV TTRPG campaign that later became the game, and it's not D&D, it's Exalted.*

*for the purposes of this discussion ignore that Exalted only came out a decade after the game's release
 
Congrats on beating the game, and doing so with all four characters still alive at the end. Any dead at the end of the battle still get revived (or have the possibility of being revived) at the end, but it's still a bittersweet ending should that happen, so yeah, it's great when they all come through.

As an aside, I'm looking forwards to FFVI, so I'll wait till you get started on that.
 
…Sinde the time to talk about FFV is about to end in favor of the Final Fantasy from my childhood, a part of me mulls over the whole 'Excalibur' situation with Gilgamesh.
Now, I dunno about attempting to chase this idea too far, but idly thought: 'Didn't Fate! Gilgamesh say something about getting a sword from the heart of a tree or something?' And linking that to FFV here, Gilgamesh getting the Excalipoor trapsword from Exdeath…
Well, not sure if I'm seeing something there or just mashing two ideas that just look simmilar together.
 
I still don't understand why Kabuki/Asura Musashibou Benkei is called Gilgamesh, of all things. I'm not sure Gilgamesh even has weapons mentioned in his Epic, he was more renowned for his wrestling abilities.

But then I suppose this series also has Shiva being a blue ice lady instead of any of the big pile of things Shiva is associated with, none of which, AFAIR, involve ice. Also I'm fairly certain he's one of the Hindu gods that is explicitly male all the time?

So yeah. Names are random in FF, I guess.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top