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

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WestOrEast said:
Did you try the nasty little hard things you buy in bags or the much larger soft ones? Because one of those is disgusting and I rarely see the other kind.
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Both, but I don't consider the small ones as pretzels. I believe they are the same heresy as the thing called "bacon" in french.

(after checking, I am wrong, the small ones are truly pretzels too. I have learned something, yay !)

Kadmus said:
To keep this post vaguely on topic, it's fascinating to see how different the French version of the script is to the English; I assume in this case it was an individual translation from Japanese, for the French, given the large differences we've already seen, as opposed to the Japanese to English to French that other games have had?
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AFAIK (honestly, my source is here but it's a french article), FFVIII and FFIX have been translated from japanese. The interesting point is that english version was using an editor whose job was to make all the translation relevant. This editor is one of the reason why a game like than Vagrant Story have a particularly good translation, but it means more adaptation too, so the FF8 english version would probably differ more from the original script than the others europeans scripts which will stay more "litteral".
For FFX, because SE had only distributed english dubs for european games, all the subtitles have been made from the english version for the sake of consistency.
Same for FFXII and FFXIII and others spin-offs.
FFXI was full japanese and english at the beginning, but begins to add others languages with time. The team has carried to both FFXIV games, growing with time, with this game becoming the first FF fully voiced in others languages, and there is no need anymore to use the english version.

Since then, FF has been fully in others languages and so, have being translated directly from japanese.

But still, the europeans teams never have created the job editor for their translation. Which can explain the difference between the english and others languages.


It still doesn't explain why the FF8 french translation is a bit meh.

...

OK, I have went deeper to try to understand and my discovering is that... There are a long list of objects in the game have their name changed to make PUNS. I am dead serious. An example : Tent has become Red Kross. I have always sucked at puns, so I probably didn't understand them at all at that time, but now....
Oh gosh, and there are more, they have been wild with the names of a bunch of things (monster, spells and characters) too (no puns though, just stupid things), holy shit, it's armageddon. HOW COME I HAVE NEVER REALIZED HOW WEIRD THE TRANSLATION WAS SINCE ALL THIS TIME ???? (yeah, it's easy, I didn't replay it since more than 20 years).
It has been done by a bunch of students having fun, it's not possible otherwise. I mean, I can almost hear them saying : "Hey, this one looks dumb, let's call it Dumb lol" or "Looks this spell is called Demi, let's call it Quart to confuse the players lol"

I suppose they have less played around with the main story (but it explains the weird things happening in it). Well, goodbye to my theory about the evil GF coming from a hardcore christian who has sneaked in the translation team to disrupt things, and welcome to my new theory of "FF8 has been translated by a bunch of people (kids ?) wanted to have fun"


All this search puts a thing I have totally forgot in light though : the PocketStation. It could be used with FF8 for bonus if I am remembering right. But I have no idea if it has been emulated or used in some way with another emulator.




WELL. Don't know what to do with my new knowledge of the french translation of the game. Sure, Omi should not play it because it will be regularly a purge to translate all the names in english. He should stick to the english version. But I am asking myself if I should drop the difference or weird choices made when it's relevant.

Too tired to think more about it now, my brain is exploding right now, I....
 
Omicron said:
The comparison quickly breaks down beyond that, but both those works came out the same year (FF8 before TPM) and couldn't have influenced one another in production, so I find myself wondering what was in the water in the '97s-99s production cycle.
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Uuuh there were a bunch of wars throughout 1990s that were all infamous for having child combatants. Uganda (LRA!), Rwanda, Sierra Leone all during the continent-enveloping First Congo War; elsewhere El Salvador and Cambodia both also had civil wars known to have large numbers of child combatants; and the Bosnian and First Chechen War had enough people noticed but not, like, huge fractions of forces.

So like the whole idea of "Child Soldiers" was unusually In The News during 1995 or so.
 
daniel_gudman said:
Uuuh there were a bunch of wars throughout 1990s that were all infamous for having child combatants. Uganda (LRA!), Rwanda, Sierra Leone all during the continent-enveloping First Congo War; elsewhere El Salvador and Cambodia both also had civil wars known to have large numbers of child combatants; and the Bosnian and First Chechen War had enough people noticed but not, like, huge fractions of forces.

So like the whole idea of "Child Soldiers" was unusually In The News during 1995 or so.
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To be fair, I highly suspect the idea behind SeeDs and the Gardens is less exploring the trauma and horrors of child soldiers, and more "cool high school where you can learn cool battle techniques".

To the point where I think the "child soldiers" bit is deliberately ignored. They're soldiers so they can show off their cool combat skills, and they're teenagers because that's the usual age range for high school characters.

I would not be surprised if behind the scenes interviews had one of the writers wanting to focus more on the "child soldiers" part, but got overruled by the other writers or management.
 
Yeah it's more that it's kinda... weirdly tone deaf about what had been a huge international news story over the years before production? And "weirdly tone deaf" was George Lucas' whole brand in the prequel trilogy, so I guess that's more where I was going, building on the comparison in that direction.
 
Corti said:
All this search puts a thing I have totally forgot in light though : the PocketStation. It could be used with FF8 for bonus if I am remembering right. But I have no idea if it has been emulated or used in some way with another emulator.
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Oh yeah, something ...uhhh, not Roomba but something that sounds like that. Moomba? A lion-rabbit bipedal fur thing from desert?
 
Corti said:
All this search puts a thing I have totally forgot in light though : the PocketStation. It could be used with FF8 for bonus if I am remembering right. But I have no idea if it has been emulated or used in some way with another emulator.
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FF8 has a Pocketstation minigame, called Chocobo's world. You can import the minigame savefiles to gety items in the main game. There's a few items you can get only through the minigame.
Now, the minigame itself is included in the original PC and 2013 Steam releases, as a separate executable in the game folder. It's not in the Remaster, and the exclusive items are accessible using another, more tedious, method.
 
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Flare said:
FF8 has a Pocketstation minigame, called Chocobo's world. You can import the minigame savefiles to gety items in the main game. There's a few items you can get only through the minigame.
Now, the minigame itself is included in the original PC and 2013 Steam releases, as a separate executable in the game folder. It's not in the Remaster, and the exclusive items are accessible using another, more tedious, method.
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Pocketstation and a hex editor were where you broke half the game on your knee. Max out pocketstatuon rewards and you managed to get the mats for the final weapons.
 
HolyDragoon said:
Pocketstation and a hex editor were where you broke half the game on your knee. Max out pocketstatuon rewards and you managed to get the mats for the final weapons.
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That's the less broken part, the minigame rewards include stat ups and lots of other rare items. Not like you couldn't break the game without it.
TBH hex editing the save files is a bit cheating, you're in the end using means outside the game to get advantages.
 
I think that some of the unique items found in the pocketstation game might be interesting to obtain, but I don't see the appeal to use the pocketstation to break the game - there's easier ways to do that in the game proper, and unlike the pocketstation's boring gameplay, they're actually fun to obtain.
 
Omicron said:
Fixing inputs is trickier. I can, of course, just change the keyboard inputs to a sensible layout like I did with FF7, but frankly that still sucked; I want to use a controller. Now, Steam lets me use my PS4 DualShock for FF8 just fine, but the inputs are off. For instance, I confirm with Square and open the menu with X. I could edit that, but more than that, the game isn't 'aware' of my controller, so to speak; unlike FF7, which at least told me to press [MENU] or [OK] or [CANCEL], FF8 instead refers to a button nomenclature that is completely dissociated from anything I'm using. That is to say, it's telling me to press B1, B5, B12 or S, and I have no ideas what these inputs are even supposed to be and thus how to correctly remap them, and if the game throws a 'Press B11 quickly!' at me in a minigame later I will be totally lost. So I have to mod that as well.
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The controller mapping scheme of calling gamepad buttons by number is a legacy PC gaming affection, where all joystick buttons are numbered (1-X, where X is the total number of buttons and triggers your gamepad or flight stick or wheel had, and yes, this standardizes I/O mapping for wheels, flight sticks, arcade sticks, and analog pads all at once, and the button numbers also transition to mice, where M1/2 is the left/right by default, M3 is the wheel clicker, M4/5 are the thumb triggers that are defaulted to 'browser back/forward') and was standardized. IN PRACTICE modern games and controller drivers will substitute in the controller button layouts for the given controllers (in particular Xbox controllers will switch to their faux-SEGA button layouts) but otherwise you need to map them manually the old-fashioned way. My decades-old and still working Logitech Precision (an ancient digital-only gamepad with a very PS1-style layout, still in better condition than most might think under its dusty shell) has all its buttons labeled 1-10 despite having them in the traditional PSOne layout (1-4 are the face buttons, 5-6 and 7-8 are the LR1/2 shoulder triggers, and 9-10 are start and select), where newer Logitech analog pads (like the standard F310) will copy the Xbox controller layout wholesale.

It's interesting that FF8 PC edition is so adapted to the PC platform that it actively defaults controller input listings to using legacy numbered buttons instead of defaulting to PS1-equivalent button labels (then again, most modern Windows games with strong Microsoft support will replace controller buttons with their Xbox equivalents if you have the appropriate controller installed).
 
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FF8! Oh boy, I'm looking forward to this one. So far we've seen a huge number of interesting mechanics, and we're too early for the story to have gotten too, um… how to put this… Final Fantasy-esque.
Omicron said:
I play Final Fantasy VIII, its opening cinematic searing itself into my mind. I am exposed, not just to my first Final Fantasy, but to my first RPG, period. I come at it with no notion of how an RPG 'should' work, no expectations of magic systems or MP or character classes. It's all novel, all bewildering, and all setting up the standard my mind will judge games by for years to come.
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I have the same thing with Dragon Quest 3. Specifically, the GBC release. Weirdly, I have played the game like a dozen times, but I've never actually finished it. When I played it as a child, I borrowed my cousin's copy, and didn't get all the way through before he went back home so I gave it back. Every time since, I peter out around the spot where I stopped as a kid, because apparently that's where the game feels finished to me.
Omicron said:
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OK, that's adorable.
Omicron said:

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Huh, this kind of reminds me of Pokémon Violet/Scarlet. Probably just a coincidence though—
Omicron said:
​
Here's the Balamb Garden Library. By interacting with a shelf, I can find the first issue of the magazine Occult Fan.
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Uhhhhh. Wait a minute… is Uva/Naranja Academy based on Balamb Garden???

No, shake that off. Time to learn about the mechanics.
Omicron said:
I can give Squall access to the Commands known by the GF. Quezacotl and Shiva both start knowing Draw, Magic, GF, and Item. We'll get to Draw later; GF is the Summon ability. However, characters only have three Command slots; that means I can only give them three out of those four abilities. I feel confident I won't need Items for now, so I give both Squall and Quistis Draw, Magic, and GF.

Additionally, each character can equip up to two passive abilities. This can be, for instance, Str+20% which will increase a character's Strength by, you guessed it, 20%.
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Oh, interesting! It's like—
Omicron said:
So we've actually brought back some of Final Fantasy V's game concepts; characters similarly have active Commands and passive Abilities that can be equipped. Only the GF is the 'Job' and everyone is a Freelancer, sort of.
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Yeah, like that. Me likey.
Omicron said:
Magic spells are listed next to a number. That number is based on the number we Drew from previous monsters, and any we spent since.

So.

Every character in FF8 is a Blue Mage.
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Oh awesome! We're getting a lot of mechanics in short succession, but they're all cool. What else have we got?
Omicron said:
The bottom line is: Junction GF, who grant and learn abilities, to unlock both Commands, passive Abilities like straight stat boosts, and extra Junctions so you can link your Magic spells to various components of your character sheet. Go hunt for magic, Draw it from monsters, junction it to your stats, increasing your Strength or your Fire Defense or your Fire Attack as your GF abilities allow you and as fits your strategy. Cast spells as you have stocked and see fit as you would normally do damage, with notably characters not suffering any restriction on magic - as long as they Draw enough, Squall and Quistis are equally capable of using Fire/Ice/Thunder/Cure/Scan/Sleep and so on, regardless of GFs equipped.
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Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Er, um, huh. Yeah, that's… that's a lot.
Omicron said:
Mechanically, this is represented by the fact that every time Squall attacks, if we time a R1 press right during his attack animation, we get a satisfying boom, a visual explosion animation, and, I assume, if vibrations are turned on, the PlayStation controller vibrating accordingly - and all of that accompanied by significantly increased damage.
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Huh. I never knew that the incredibly stupid "gunblade" thing was a diegetic explanation for timed hits. That's actually really interesting.
Omicron said:
It's got a sci-fi looking reticle that homes in on the enemy and locks on, then moves to a briefing screen that gives you its combat data, including its level, HP, monster type, weaknesses, strengths, it even has a graph at the top of the screen showing you its stats, and most importantly of all, it has a text blurb talking about what kind of a monster it is!

You have no idea how long I have been waiting for the text blurb. This is so important. For Buel, the information is very practical and matter-of-fact, but for other monsters, it functions as flavor text. "This fish only appears with its fin above the sand, no one has ever seen its body;" "this plant monster is little more than a digestive sac with tentacles." IT'S A POKEDEX. WE HAVE A POKEDEX FOR OUR ENEMIES.
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Oh, HELL YES. That is freaking awesome.
Omicron said:
When a character uses the GF action (the summon action), they enter a kind of 'trance' as they harmonize with the Guardian Force. In that state, their ATB gauge turns blue and goes down instead of up, representing the 'charging up time' for the summon. However, while charging up, their HP is also replaced with that of the GF. That's right; summons have HP counts, they can take damage, and they can get even get KO'd.

When Quistis is channeling Shiva, Shiva is fronting all damage Quistis takes. Quistis's HP is spared, but Shiva's HP goes down and, if she gets KO'd, we lose the summon until raised.
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Oh, that's cool. It seems kind of wonky, but I love the concept.
Omicron said:
Despite Quistis saying there isn't much time, the timer actually stops after beating Ifrit, so we don't have to watch agonizingly as the timer ticks down while she goes into a long explanation of how setting up Element affinities with Junction works.

I say this because I am informed that in the original JP release of the game, the timer only stopped once you reached the Templars at the entrance. Which means Quistis could kill you in the tutorial.
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:lol::rofl:
Omicron said:
It's Squall who introduces the idea in his own internal monologue that it might be her attractiveness that distracts her student. Which suggests that despite his outer appearance, he's not actually made of stone, and is vulnerable to Quistis's charms, even though she may not be aware of it. It's not the teacher being problematically flirtatious with her student; it's the student having a (frankly very ordinary) teacher crush which his aloof demeanor is trying to hide.
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Huh. That's way less creepy.
Omicron said:
"A G-Force is a diabolic entity, which submits to your will once vanquished. It would seem a repeated use of this occult power causes memory loss of variable severity.'

That is… A significantly different vibe, goddamn. Diabolic entity?
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That makes perfect sense to my poor confused brain, who keeps reading Balamb as Balam. Also Seifer as Slifer. I'm having trouble, OK, it happens.
 
Man, suddenly I feel rude for making fun of Omi Time-Game Overing multiple times in the Fire Cavern, that 10 minute timer is stricter than I remember with how long random encounters can take. And this was with 100 copies of Water junctioned to my magic stat so Blizzard spells actually did something, still ended up with barely over 2 minutes left on the clock.

That said you can still totally wipe Ifrit by just setting the battle cursor to "Memory", summoning Shiva once, then spamming the confirm button for the rest of the fight.
 
Also, I think pointing out that this is akin to the FF5 job system explains why I'm actually enjoying junctioning way more than I did the Materia system.

Yeah, it's still flattening everyone notably, but it feels a lot easier to have divergent characters. And much like ff5, it means that even though you can make any character anything, you probably naturally incline yourself towards a general 'class/job' for them as you play.
 
Omicron said:
can you repeat that in a language i can understand
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Some FF games allow you to 'save' your choices in battle so you can repeat them over and over. One trick in FF6 was the Lethe River Grind. Basically, have an autofire controller for the SNES installed, select your choices the first time, then put something on the autofire button to keep selecting the same choices in and out of battle, then leave the game for a few days. Voila, you're now level 99, and can cheese the rest of the game (though now magictite only affects teaching magic and can't raise stats).

Same here. You select Battle Cursor option "Memory" so you have the prior actions for each character automatically selected rather than going through the menus again and again, and just cheese the same attacks over and over without any wasted time selecting them in the menu.
 
The memory option is most generally useful for drawing. One press and hold will get you through the four button presses to stock magic from an enemy in less then a second.
 
Omicron said:
can you repeat that in a language i can understand
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I'm not your variety of french but i can try. slang might be more confusing though.

ahem

Cela étant dit, il est possible de battre Ifrit complètement en réglant l'option de mémoire du curseur. Cela permet d'invoquer Shiva à répétition rapidement en appuyant sur le bouton de sélection rapidement pour le reste de la bataille.

hopefully this helps. :p


(if youre serious about not knowing the memory option, it should be in the settings menu. Turning memory on does not reset the cursor position on menus in battle and stays per-character, assigned to the last action taken. lets you tap the confirm button and get a facsimile of auto battle.
 
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FFVIII Bestiary: Balamb Region
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    • Omicron said:
    can you repeat that in a language i can understand
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    Gun Jam said:
    You advice using glitches...against the tutorial boss?
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    Others covered it before I did since I was busy with other things in FFVIII, but yeah it's just the age old JRPG menu option of "remember where my cursor was" which lets you repeat the same commands over and over whenever a character's turn comes up. Very useful for making drawing magic more efficient, or for beating down bulky enemies/bosses that are otherwise not too threatening.

    As for Other Things, since Omi mentioned the idea, I figured, why not!
    Tah dah, Enemy Bestiary for everything Omi has (probably) run into so far! Barring Ifrit, I got the idea after fighting Ifrit and saving and I don't feel like replaying the first half hour to hour of the game just to get that scan. Rest assured, he lacks enough clothing to probably break forum rules.






     
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