Final Fantasy 3 is the last mainline Final Fantasy to do the blank slate party. I suppose if Omicron does some of the side games like eg Crystal Chronicles (though that's really meant for a multiplayer experience and would normally only have you naming one character per player) there's some in there, but while some of the later games allow naming or renaming, (or rather most do as far as I know), none ever again quite like the first 3.
So here's what you may not know - I was caught in the same deadly trap as Omicron of being gifted the Pixel Remaster bundle. Unlike him I did not own myself by committing to a six-game-long (at minimum) LP series, though I was threatened with having to draw art for my crimes instead. I'm currently ahead of him by one whole game and though I pressed pause in honour of his need to take a cross-country trip, immersing my brains in that much Final Fantasy at once left my brains scrampled egg. Instead of a brain there is a crystal. So to commemorate this undetaking the both of us have set out upon, as the only two blessed psychopaths with the will and the free time to shotgun the entire history of one of the best and most enduring RPG franchises in the world, with Omi's permission I present to you the only good part of Final Fantasy 2;
So here's what you may not know - I was caught in the same deadly trap as Omicron of being gifted the Pixel Remaster bundle. Unlike him I did not own myself by committing to a six-game-long (at minimum) LP series, though I was threatened with having to draw art for my crimes instead. I'm currently ahead of him by one whole game and though I pressed pause in honour of his need to take a cross-country trip, immersing my brains in that much Final Fantasy at once left my brains scrampled egg. Instead of a brain there is a crystal. So to commemorate this undetaking the both of us have set out upon, as the only two blessed psychopaths with the will and the free time to shotgun the entire history of one of the best and most enduring RPG franchises in the world, with Omi's permission I present to you the only good part of Final Fantasy 2;
King Midas is down. The """"Earth Crystal"""" is broken. The airship is free to leave harbour. It's time to explore the Formerly Sunken Continent.
First off, though, a brief return to Amur, to check if we have any new dialogue following Goldor's demise - there are a couple lines about our victories, but most intriguing is this:
"World's largest city home to the fastest airship ever made" sounds like a gimme for our next plot-critical destination. But, you know me: first, we'll do some exploring of the map to find points of interest, new towns, and the like.
Free, free at last!
Mysterious city located in a valley in the mountains next to a lake, sadly inaccessible right now.
OwO, what's this?
This sunny little seaside town is Duster, and it's a very special place - populated largely by Bards and Geomancers. The Geomancers deliver some basic lore/mechanical explanations about their discipline, but the Bards are way more interesting - because they actually have individual songs that they sing to you in-character, with the BGM shifting to match!
This is so cool.
It's basic lore and gameplay hints - I am pretty sure the references to Leviathan, Odin and Bahamut are hints as to where to look for special unlockable summons (which incidentally neatly ties Evoker/Summoner and Bard lore together), but they're delivered in a really cool, characterful way, properly building hype for these awesome beasts in the way your ordinary townsfolk dialogue can't quite grasp.
Also it's not afraid to balance that out with some comedy:
Yes, the "item found" and "chocobo riding" themes play when you prompt these guys. I love it.
Geomancer stuff isn't particularly relevant to me at least for now, but I take this opportunity to buy a new, better Harp for Quaver, then I'm on my way.
Elsewhere, we found the town of Replito, home of Evocation!
This guy is a beginner Evoker who's stuck casting the lv 1 summon, Chocobo, whose main noteworthy feature is that it instantly runs away upon summoning. Which, I will admit, I find pretty funny. Keep going, my guy. You'll find your way eventually.
Another instance of gameplay-relevant lore being found in two locations at once in case you don't explore thoroughly; the presentation here is much less cool and novel than the singing bards, but contains a lot more information. Also, they managed to fit a guy called Noah in a game with a prominent flood, nice.
And now, since I've found the village of Evokers, it means it's finally time for Rushanaq's big transformation!
So.
Summoning.
Summoning has been a staple of the Final Fantasy franchise ever since, well, this very game: the world is home to powerful beings, and some individuals with the right affinity or powers can summon these beings to help them in battle. I think most of the time it's a class- or character-specific thing, I remember how FFIX had two Summoning Girls with different backstories, but my first Final Fantasy was FFVIII - which, uh, is a weird introduction to the series if you haven't played it. In FFVIII, summons are core to the entire mechanical identity of the game. Every character 'binds' Guardian Forces to themselves and draws power from them, and can summon them for special attack in battle. To me, the 'departure' from this in other games was jarring in a way FFVIII itself must have been for most players.
The way it works in FFIII is interesting, seeing as it's the franchise's first experiment with the concept. Summons are spell-like abilities; you buy the first ones from a shop, with money, like any spell, and you equip them into your magic menu, like any spell. Of note: in what is some kind of distant prelude to FFVII's materia, and unlike the previous game, spells are physical, swappable item. If I give Rushanaq the Fire spell, it's 'equipped' in her magic menu, and if I tell her to unlearn it, the Fire spell goes back in my inventory, ready to be taught to another character. Summons work the same way, and use the same menu, which means Rushanaq has to forget some of her Black Mage spells to equip her new summons:
Here, 'Icen' is the spell that summons Shiva, and serves as the lv 2 summon. There is one summon per spell level, and using them consumes a spell slot as normal. Note that the magic inventory is job-agnostic - Rushanaq still knows Fira and Thundara, but is unable to actually use them as long as she's a Summoner, and similarly would not be able to summon Shiva if she swapped back to BLM.
The five Summons available at this stage are Chocobo (lv 1), Shiva (lv 2), Ramu (lv 3), Ifrit (lv 4), and Titan (lv 5), covering the ice/lightning/fire trifecta plus a new Earth-elemental summon and also Chocobo, which is a joke.
Incidentally, another weirdness about starting the franchise with FFVIII - if you're familiar with the franchise, you probably think of Ramu, the old dude with a staff who casts lightning bolts at people, as the franchise's iconic lightning summon. But my introduction was different: it was this cool-ass bird instead:
Which, honestly, the bearded dude in the other games was a step down. Also, fun fact? While this guy is called Quetzalcoatl in Japanese and English, the French localization made the inexplicable decision to change its name to Golgotha, which I gotta say I find pretty metal.
So, how do Summons work?
Well, first we should correct the question into "how do Summons work for an Evoker?" Because, according to one NPC in Replito and also the wiki, summon mechanics work differently for Evokers and their later upgrade, Summoners. For an Evoker, the first difficult-to-wrap-your-head-around detail is that summons are essentially random. Each summon has one of two effects picked at random, which affects either the whole enemy screen or a single randomly chosen enemy. So, for instance, when I summon Shiva, I can get:
Mesmerize, which inflicts Sleep on all the enemies (with a failure chance; it will never successfully put all enemies under, count more on half the screen at best), or:
Icy Stare, which will inflict ice-type damage to a single opponent. This damage is not insignificant; Shiva is a lv 2 spell but deals damage in excess of Blizarra, a lv 4 spell… But you don't control the target.
Other summons work the same way: Ramu casts either Mind Blast (paralyzes all enemies) or Thunderstorm (hits one enemy for Lightning damage), Ifrit casts either Healing Light (massive heal on all party members) or deals massive damage to a single opponent. Titan… hits one enemy for huge damage either way, I guess.
This makes summons tricky to reliably use, but far from useless. Against normal encounters, paralyzing half the field is really good, although the status effect side is never reliable; the random target on the damage effect is an annoyance when you're trying to dispatch mobs efficiently but the damage is considerable so you don't mind too much (Ifrit hits for like 1,500 dmg at this stage, far more than anything else in my arsenal). They're more problematic against bosses, where if you roll the status effect your Evoker might as well not have bothered acting this turn. So Summons are a bit of a gamble, but flipping a coin on whether Rushanaq will be the uncredited MVP of a given fight or flail around uselessly seems perfect for her, isn't that right, Rushanaq?
Ramu and Ifrit. I forgot to use Titan.
I'm also interested by the aesthetics of summoning, however. Because, considering the limited framework the NES and the fairly faithful if much higher-production value Pixel Remaster are working with, FF3 manages to lay the groundwork for how the visuals of summoning are going to work for most of the games I remember playing in the series: the summoning character does their chant until their turn is up, does their casting animation, then the whole party disappears, the summon appears on the screen, and they perform their attack. A lot of that seems intuitively obvious, but considering that this is the first instance of summoning in the series, isn't necessarily? Like - just the fact that Ifrit gets two named attacks that he is visibly performing himself does so much to sell the idea that you are calling upon a powerful, individual entity that is going to use its own magic as suits its whim (the random factor), rather than being a Black Mage with a slightly different flavor. It would have been very easy to have Ifrit's attack animation be labeled 'Ifrit' and make it look like a fancier Fira. I don't know what prompted the original decision to have the party disappear from the screen during the summoning animation - I suspect the devs ran into the limitations of how many sprites can feature on screen? Although that can't be it, since Ifrit's Healing Light actually has the party on-screen the whole time - but whatever the case, the idea that the entire party is leaving the stage for their summon to take the spotlight and wreak havoc similarly emphasizes its sheer power.
All of this combines to make Summons visually and thematically really compelling - even the randomization factor feeds into the idea that the Evoker is a novice summoner, not yet capable of fully controlling the power it's calling upon, being only able to bring forth the divine spirit (and also Chocobo) and to dive for cover while it runs rampant.
Ahem. Anyway, Rushanaq is cool now.
Don't push your luck.
Once fully equipped, it's off we go again to explore new locations on the map. There are a lot of Chocobo Forests, and one intriguing cave…
It would appear we've found Noah's dream-bound disciple - not that we can do much for her right now; interacting with her sleeping body brings up a key item prompt, but we don't have anything that would wake her up, so we'll leave it be for now.
It's finally time to head to Saronia, the largest city in the world. And, uh, in the series so far.
This is Saronia. It's the first time in Final Fantasy that a settlement that's supposed to be notably large in-setting is represented as larger on the map. Well, I tell a lie - as early as FF1, Corneria occupied a few more 'tiles' than smaller villages, but it's nothing compared to Saronia, which is larger than the screen can capture at once. Mechanically, the game does this by using this 'floor' tile of cobbled ground that does not have random encounters to separate these 'house' tiles, and when you touch one of the tiles, you enter a 'town' that is, within the narrative, one district of the massive city of Saronia, with the gigantic castle in the center. It's a pretty elegant way to navigate the limitations of the game to create a sprawling capital city like nothing in the game before - which is especially appropriate in FF3; in FF1 the world had been on the decline for a long time so it made sense even Corneria was a small city, in FF2 the world had already been mostly conquered and the most powerful capital city was Palamecia, which is home to your enemies and so you never visit as such, but in FF3 the apocalypse happened all at once, a couple weeks ago, and you just undid it.
This is, I realize now, the first time we see a Final Fantasy world that is presented in its moment of thriving. The apocalypse looms, yes; disaster just struck, certainly; monsters roam every unprotected corner of the map, absolutely; but all of this is recent enough that everywhere we go find prosperous, populous settlements, kings that rule beyond a single city-state, trade routes, functioning armies, all of it having been just struck by some calamity or another that it is yet in your power to solve. Castle Susano has been cursed by a djinn to turn its population to ghosts… but like, a few days ago, not in the distant past of some Sleeping Beauty story where the castle has laid haunted for decades as the world forgot it. Castle Argus was deserted as Hein uprooted the Elder Tree and turned it into a flying fortress… but like, recently enough that he's only now starting to send raiding parties to abduct the citizenry and build up towards his own goal. Goldor has been a wealth-obsessed robber baron for a while, but he hasn't even yet started to be a threat to the life and livelihood of others; at the time we meet him he's still just some petty lord whom we're going after only because he impounded our ship and may or may not have one of the Crystals.
As for Saronia…
Well, it's not gonna fly nearly as well anymore.
Yeah, so, the gates of the city were closed, so I was investigating to see if I could land in the moat around the dungeon, when I flew over the cannons and got instantly shot down.
R. I. Fucking P. the Enterprise. We crashed in the courtyard of Castle Saronia, somehow still alive, shipless and with no means of getting out.
That one took me by surprise, let me tell you.
But at least now we're inside Castle Saronia, where things are… uh… going well.
The King of Saronia has divided his army in two, and is about to have them fight each other to the death.
You know, that's actually got me curious. This is the… second, I think? Time I see this specific idea, of a mad king dividing his army in half and having them fight to the death, in Japanese media - the other time is a brief mention in Barragan's backstory in Bleach. It feels like a trope, but if it's drawn from some tale or legend, I have no idea what it is. If you're familiar with it, I'd be interested to hear about it.
In any case, not much we can do here, and the path to the castle is barred:
So, time to explore the city of Saronia.
A useful tip for later, I assume.
Across all four districts of Saronia, townsfolk dialogue is fairly consistent: the king has gone mad, he's closed off the city and every important building (I need to remember to check out the library of Saronia), the shops are all closed, he's having anyone who speaks out about his actions put to death, and everyone is generally having a very bad time.
There's word that the king's son doesn't share his madness, and for his protests, was exiled. And, looking for the local tavern, what do we find but…
For some reason I find it extremely funny that these guys use a 'punk' sprite with purple mohawks and sleeveless tops, but when they enter a fight, they're knights in golden armor. Like, what's that about? Anyway, they're promptly dispatched.
Exiled by his father for speaking against his madness, Prince Alus has nonetheless come back at the risk of his own life to try and talk some sense into the king. He asks if we can lend him our aid and, of course, we say yes.
The whole thing appears to be a repeat of the Hein scenario, as the king's trusted advisor is not what he seems to be:
Unclear whether Minister Gigametz…
…
Gigametz? That's definitely some weird rendering of 'Gilgamesh.' Not much to do with that information, though. It's unclear whether Gigametz was a plant from the start insinuating his way into the king's court under a disguise, or whether at some point he was replaced with Garuda in disguise. It's also interesting that his shadow looks like 'the mythic Garuda' - is it some ancient entity that's pledged its cause to the darkness but recently, or was it created in the image of this legend? We're unlikely to find out, unfortunately.
Also, while it's reasonable for Alus to decide to keep his identity hush-hush following the fiasco with the Gold Knights, it's extremely funny that his sprite doesn't change:
Yeah, my dude, you're totally inconspicuous in your hermine-hemmed royal coat wearing a crown on your head.
Alus proves pretty handy to have around, though. All those old robed dudes are some kind of sages or advisors, and both recognize him and trust in him to save the kingdom from his father's folly, and they have the gifts to help out:
With the Dragon Mail and the Wind Spear, I have enough to outfit Mimi as an up-to-date Dragoon, which is good, because according to legend as relayed by the townsfolk, "only a Dragoon can defeat the avian monster Garuda."
And just in case you feel like one Dragoon isn't enough, Saronia has enough to outfit a whole party:
The Dragon Spire is mostly there for basic mechanical purposes. If you haven't leveled a Dragoon so far, it provides monster encounters you can grind some job levels against, and at its top there are a dozen chests containing Dragon Mail, Dragon Helms, and spears:
Other than that, it'd be a stretch to even call it a 'dungeon'; it's just a series of extremely small floors that you just climb up in order. With that much gear, I could turn the entire party into Dragoons, but given that Mimi has been one since our arrival on the Formerly Sunken Continent and is now job level 22, I don't feel the need - I'm pretty sure a balanced party with one leveled DRG will serve me just fine if not better than turning everyone else in job level 1 DRG or grinding a bunch.
With the prince in tow, we head back to Castle Saronia, where the unexpected happens:
Okay, so, I know what you're thinking, "this is suspicious," but really you're just thinking too hard about this and being overly cautious. This isn't suspicious at all. You know what is suspicious? THIS:
YEAH SURE I'LL JUST TAKE A FUCKING NAP RIGHT THERE IN THIS UNPROTECTED CHAMBER IN THE CASTLE OF A KING KNOWN TO BE INSANE AND ADVISED BY AN EVIL BIRD MONSTER. SURE. WHY THE FUCK NOT.
Setting aside how silly a decision that is, Alus and the Warriors of Light decide to make this a sleepover. No, I'm serious.
The lights are turned down, they're in two beds next to each other (ignore the fact that all four WoLs are piled up on top of each other in the same bed), having Deep Meaningful Conversations by the candlelight. This is a slumber party. We're just having a slumber party on our way to fight the King. Beautiful.
Except just as they go to sleep, a figure enters the room, and…
WHO COULD HAVE POSSIBLY PREDICTED THIS.
I mean, the attempted murder, not the attempted suicide. Predictably, the King was outright mind-controlled, but 'Gigametz' pushed his luck by trying to compel him to kill his own son, and as the only way of escaping his power, King Saronia turned the knife on himself. This prompts Gigametz to abandon his scheming and decide to solve the problem with brute force instead:
So. Garuda.
A powerful foe, with thousands of HP and a Lightning attack that hits the entire party for about 200 damage. Thankfully, Rushanaq's summons prove actually helpful (beside a couple misses with Ramu trying his Mind Blast on Garuda, which is ineffective), with Ifrit's Healing Light healing the whole party and Ramu's Thunderstorm hitting Garuda for like 900 damage. Quaver recently unlocked a new song that reduces damage taken by the whole party, so between it, Minuet buffing their attacks, and Paeon giving some healing, the party is well protected, meaning Mimi is free to just do her Dragoon thing. Which, hm.
Yeah.
A single Dragoon jump hits Garuda for over three thousand damage, deleting a third of its HP. With Rushanaq's summons, Tsugumi's Aero, and Quaver's magic attack to fill in the blanks, it only takes two Jumps to destroy him. This isn't even difficult.
Even with its overall more upbeat, light-hearted tone, FFIII is not without its small tragedies. Granted, King Saronia's death isn't on the level of Desch, who spent a lot of time with the party members and whose death genuinely hit, but it still works well at conveying that this story has stakes, some people will die, and the darkness's work leaves scars upon the world even if its apocalyptic designs are thwarted.
It's weird, though. Like, the flood happened, yeah? Everyone was petrified and then forgot that it happened when we freed them? What was Garuda's role in this? Assuming he's another minion of Xande, was he already manipulating the King before the flood, or was he sent afterwards when it became clear the first apocalypse wasn't going to stick? Was he petrified, and did he also forget about it? It's all very curious.
Well, that'll be enough for today, I think. It's interesting that Garuda is presented as male in this version - a bird-themed antagonist or summon named 'Garuda' is one that will crop up in later entries in the series but, as far as I'm aware, consistently as female? It's an interesting shift.
I like the theme that's developing of 'these evil *cough*Four Fiends*cough* monsters are doing The Evil Vizier Schtick'. It's goofy and weird in a way that I appreciate from an FF game; yes, that lich is totally a good dude and the fact he bursts into random bouts of maniacal cackling is, uh, just a condition he's got. Yes, the advisor named 'I Can't Believe It's Not Gilgamesh' is definitely not a ripped Mesoamerican bird-man/Brazilian Carnival dancer, ignore all the feathers and the fact he casts an absolutely fabulous shadow, he's just your regular dude. Not birdy at all.
I'm also enjoying all the little gimmick fights we're seeing, it makes class changing seem much more interesting and useful than 'ok, the first crystal gave me Lancer, the next one will give me Dragoon, and then the next one after that will be Mighty Dragoon, and then the one after that will be High Holy Mighty Dragoon With Extra Cheese And A Side Of Chips'. It incentivises you to fiddle with party composition, especially as the PR doesn't have the 'do X battles to actually get the job to work properly' mechanic the 3D remake has.
It's interesting that Garuda is presented as male in this version - a bird-themed antagonist or summon named 'Garuda' is one that will crop up in later entries in the series but, as far as I'm aware, consistently as female? It's an interesting shift.
So you're saying that if you hit this depressed-looking wet rag with the trans beam, he instantly starts wearing some fabulous colorful feathers?
Honestly I respect that.
A powerful foe, with thousands of HP and a Lightning attack that hits the entire party for about 200 damage. Thankfully, Rushanaq's summons prove actually helpful (beside a couple misses with Ramu trying his Mind Blast on Garuda, which is ineffective), with Ifrit's Healing Light healing the whole party and Ramu's Thunderstorm hitting Garuda for like 900 damage. Quaver recently unlocked a new song that reduces damage taken by the whole party, so between it, Minuet buffing their attacks, and Paeon giving some healing, the party is well protected, meaning Mimi is free to just do her Dragoon thing. Which, hm.
Damn, and I thought you deciding you'd only do it with a single dragoon was foreshadowing to your inevitable hubris-and-downfall arc. I did it with two Dragoons and it was touch and go for a second, the way Gardua likes to throw his strong-ass aoe lightning around. Which highlights the other benefit of being a Dragoon that when I played Bravely Default I had no idea was in there from the very beginning - since they straight up aren't on the field mid-flight, they can't take damage!
(Seriously though in Bravely Default four dragoons can simply spam Jump and clear every conceivable encounter because they become literally invincible what the fuck were they cooking with that game)
Mostly agree here; I think FFIX is the only one where Ramuh is done justice, and even then, it's mostly due to FFIX just being overall the best game in the series. In terms of overall coolness, Quetzal(coatl) is superior.
Of course, at the time people asked why Ramuh was replaced, and I believe Nomura said something along the lines of the following (quoting from the "Guardian Force" voice of the Final Fantasy wiki):
When designing the Guardian Forces, Tetsuya Nomura felt they should be unique beings and not humanoid, unlike the summoned monsters in many previous games.
How that squares with Shiva and Siren, I'm not quite sure.
Of course, there's a substantial possibility that Quetzal's existence is actually a result of the incredibly troubled development story of FFVIII; it's known that the original plans for the game changed a lot throughout the development (Laguna was originally meant to have the same amount of importance as Squall, instead of being a secondary character), and the game was rushed out faster than originally intended, to capitalize on FFVII's success. So, considering how similar Quetzal looks to the Ultimate Being from Parasite Eve (which Square released the year before), there's a substantial chance that we got Quetzal because Square was in a hurry and decided to reuse assets. Although maybe it was just convergent design.
Or maybe somebody at Square just doesn't like Ramuh; FFVIII isn't the only game in the series with summons where he doesn't appear, after all. FFXII is particularly noticeable in that regard, when a comparison between the game's trio of Ice, Fire and Thunder summons with those in other games is made. But I think that's best left for later, because spoilers.
Yeah, I liked that summons in 3 sort of gave the summoned the choice to do one thing or another. I understand the switch to a more predictable method afterwards, but it gave summoning more character than just being "bieg spell". The only game that I remember trying something remotely similar is 9, where you could choose to have Odin use his spear (Flare equivalent) or his sword (chance of Death).
In FFVIII, summons are core to the entire mechanical identity of the game. Every character 'binds' Guardian Forces to themselves and draws power from them, and can summon them for special attack in battle. To me, the 'departure' from this in other games was jarring in a way FFVIII itself must have been for most players.
To be fair, VIII almost doesn't want you to use summons. Sure, they look cool and are strong when properly trained (Eden, anyone?), but require you to destroy your thumb to boost them. Plus, summoning takes an extra turn that could get the GF ko'd before they go off. Consider that just binding spells properly gave you more practical protections and damage improvements to your standard attacks while being more practical and less time consuming... I liked the experiment, but I don't miss it at all in other games. And I say this with VIII being my first FF as well!
Which no surprise here. Just look at the Parasite Eve artwork around the same time. A horror game about biological terror and mutation creepiness, you say? No prob, here you have a couple pinups of Aya with bedroom eyes and/or barely covered that got nothing at all to do with what happens in the plot. Nothing at all. You're welcome, Mr. SquareEnix.
Considering how clothing is a mere suggestion for Ifreet in the games where he even gets any clothes at all...
Wait, isn't World of some sort of Pokemon like for kids? *googles* Huh, I guess I expected something much worse; weird spot to be, in between NSFW yet apt for a FF with chibi aesthetics.
The summoning process actually is one of the things that the latest titles improved upon - FFX and FFXII have a far better approach to it than any game before them. I go back and forth over which one is better - FFX is easier to handle, but FFXII feels like it has more breadth.
I wouldn't say that - it's a fair tool in the toolbox for the first two disks, if you don't go out of your way to break the game. It also has tactical uses (it can be used as a shield in the right circumstance) and, at least until you get Initiative and/or Haste, it's generally the fast way to dispose of encounters with more than two opponents, if you have high enough affinity.
Honestly, there's a lot that could be done to make FFVIII's approach to summons better, but the game at least attempts to make them more dynamic than the games before did, which I feel like it's the right attitude. Which is why FFVIII is my favorite - it's a mess of a game, but the gumption it shows in trying to shoot for the moon with every single aspect of itself is very endearing to me.
I legitimately like FFXV's summons, though they're far too random. But in an otherwise incoherent mess of a game, they're the first summons where they made me feel the genuine terrifying scale of things. It really does feel like you're relying on the whims of capricious and devastating gods who barely understand humans and whose help is just as frightening as their wrath.
Eyyyyy, FFVIII First Game Buddies. Yeah in retrospect it's kind of a weird place to start the series, with everything from GFs and the junction system (which tiny child me didn't understand in the least and cleared half of disc 1 exclusively with Attack and Limit Break), to enemies not actually dropping GIl and you getting a salary instead (which could instantly be gamed by taking a bunch of quizzes to max out your rank). Still a fun game though, for all a lot of old-time fans will point at it as the first major hiccup in the series towards its eventual "downfall".
(Seriously though in Bravely Default four dragoons can simply spam Jump and clear every conceivable encounter because they become literally invincible what the fuck were they cooking with that game)
Bravely Default is a game that looked at the FFV class system with its ability to mix classes together for the occasional broken combo, went "you are like little baby Watch THIS" and proceeded to give you the tools to snap anything and everything in half. Heck, one I remember running into naturally was giving Ninjas an ability from the Red Mage class that gives you extra turns whenever you dodge an attack, then using a Ninja ability to automatically dodge attacks for the next turn + counterattack when attacked. This meant if a boss didn't have any non-physical attacks, it was literally impossible to lose.
While FFVIII was definitely experimental, to its detriment, at least it's summon system was evolutionary, not revolutionary- you can see the seed (pun not intended) of how VIII handled summons in VI's own handling of them.
To be fair, VIII almost doesn't want you to use summons. Sure, they look cool and are strong when properly trained (Eden, anyone?), but require you to destroy your thumb to boost them.
That kind of "press a button as fast as you can" mechanic seemed to be relatively common back then as an attempt at "interactivity." It was very irritating whereever it popped up.
That kind of "press a button as fast as you can" mechanic seemed to be relatively common back then as an attempt at "interactivity." It was very irritating whereever it popped up.
Very fair point - honestly, if the systems were just described without explaining which game they came from, most people would likely guess that VI is the later game in the series, the more evolved one.
I have other problems with FFVI, but it's mechanics are a very good balance of simple and effective. I just find them a bit boring, is all; FFVIII approach is less coherent, but more enjoyable to me. It's why I say that FFIX is superior; FFVI has a lot of great stuff in it, honestly crazy stuff at times that makes it an exceptional game (easily better than FFVIII and FFVII), but I always felt it lacked some of the enthusiasm other titles in the series have. There's no breaks on FFVI's train until near the end, and while that has benefits, the trade-offs work against all the other good things about it.
I realize that I might have come somewhat negative, but I'm not trying to crap on VIII, I genuinely like it. Yeah, summoning acts as decent multikiller and shield, it's just that after a point, summoning ends up starts to seriously lag behind casual bindings, and it's not too hard to figure out how to do that.
But that's the thing, breaking the game is easy. Of course that you have to put the effort in it, but the game itself is giving you from the start the means to do so: cards, Quetzatcoal's skills to turn mobs into cards (which itself helps you not receive xp for extra cheese), and then the conversion skills... They all start opening up from the beginning. And any half curious player will eventually figure out how to leverage them. I remember getting to Ultima Weapon with a bunch of invincibility items the first time I played, and back then I didn't even know what a Gaemfaks was.
Not that I hold anything against the synergy between those systems and binding, by itself, because everything you have to do around it keeps you interested. But I do think the end result is at odds with itself, and if you reduced that interaction, summons would probably remain relevant for a longer playtime.
While FFVIII was definitely experimental, to its detriment, at least it's summon system was evolutionary, not revolutionary- you can see the seed (pun not intended) of how VIII handled summons in VI's own handling of them.
Absolutely. Assign Espers for spell learning and stat growth > assign GFs for skill learning and stat modification. It's not a 1:1 conversion because VIII added things, but it's crystal clear.
That kind of "press a button as fast as you can" mechanic seemed to be relatively common back then as an attempt at "interactivity." It was very irritating whereever it popped up.
I don't want to fall in yet another Kojima Wanking Moment Of The Year tm, but one of the reasons the torture in MGS is so well liked is that he didn't abuse the button smashing. The game used it just enough to make its point.
Very fair point - honestly, if the systems were just described without explaining which game they came from, most people would likely guess that VI is the later game in the series, the more evolved one.
I have other problems with FFVI, but it's mechanics are a very good balance of simple and effective. I just find them a bit boring, is all; FFVIII approach is less coherent, but more enjoyable to me. It's why I say that FFIX is superior; FFVI has a lot of great stuff in it, honestly crazy stuff at times that makes it an exceptional game (easily better than FFVIII and FFVII), but I always felt it lacked some of the enthusiasm other titles in the series have. There's no breaks on FFVI's train until near the end, and while that has benefits, the trade-offs work against all the other good things about it.
I think that entirely depends on definitions, but I'd rather hold off on discussing any title past FFIII too much until the let's play makes it there, especially FFV and FFVI. @Omicron is primarily doing this to try out the pixel remasters, so there's a chance they might stop after FFVI, but they're still likely going to do at least those two, and since there's few things better than experiencing those two titles completely unspoiled, I'd rather avoid saying too much about them.
I think that entirely depends on definitions, but I'd rather hold off on discussing any title past FFIII too much until the let's play make it there, especially FFV and FFVI. @Omicron is primarily doing this to try out the pixel remasters, so there's a chance they might stop after FFVI, but they're still likely going to do at least those two, and since there's few things better than experiencing those two titles completely unspoiled, I'd rather avoid saying too much about them.
FFV is, along with FFIII, the closest to unspoiled I am on any of the games; literally all I know about it is that there is an evil tree that is called Exdeath.
FFVI, by contrast, is so iconic that it's impossible to have even a passing interest in old video games, let alone the Final Fantasy series specifically, without absorbing a bunch of details everyone loves talking about like the big mid-game twist with the Funny Clown Man doing a jape.
Mechanically though I don't know anything about how either of them work.
FFV is, along with FFIII, the closest to unspoiled I am on any of the games; literally all I know about it is that there is an evil tree that is called Exdeath.
This is literally why I picked up FFV. I was thinking about this thread and neat stuff I was looking forward to hearing you discuss in the games, and then I realised I knew nothing about FFV. Not a single name, not a single plot point, nothing about any mechanics, it was a complete enigma. Which was fucking baffling.
Like, I'd never played or seen FF1 or 2, but knew they were very thin on plot, I'd absorbed bits and pieces about VI through osmosis despite never seeing it. FF12 I'd tried to watch an LP of, but got bored out of my mind as they style disagreed with me, but I knew some about it and there's obvs the FF14 raid series. Even FFXV I knew vaguely about despite having no interest in.
I don't have an explanation. I guess it's just not in the vague consciousness in the same way as the others?
