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

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somewhatLazy said:
The Garden Faculty managing him are suspicious, but honestly Cid doesn't feel innocent himself with his grand plan. "When the time comes…" That's not ominous at all! Do you have any thoughts yet on what his long game is?
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Well, it has to involve the moon somehow. And the last Cid was obsessed with a giant rocket meant to go into space, while the Cid before that was the first one to use unholy experiments on Summons to empower a child soldier.

So if we put it all together, Cid Kramer is going to send SeeD to space to conquer the moon. Clearly.

McFluffles said:
Oh on the subject of Triple Triad matches, Omi would you be interested in having it pointed out when there's card players around with specific rare cards? Because there's some cards which are one of a kind and can only be won from specific characters... and it can be hard to know which ones, because they don't always play said cards. Heck, there's one in particular you passed by who apparently only has a 10% chance to use theirs in the first place.
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Yes.

Feed me rares. I crave a stronger deck.

McFluffles said:
It's amazing how much the post-exam dialogue makes me raise an eyebrow or two compared to when I was a kid and just took it all in stride.
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It's like, if you don't go into the game as an adult who's predisposed to think that having children trained as soldiers is bad, if you're a child who regularly consumes stories about teenagers going to magic schools, or fighting to save the world, I think a lot of the inherent sinister aspects of Balamb Garden could just fly over your heard for the longest time. Which I think is a very interesting writing choice.



Adloquium said:
Minor question to Omicron, as well as anyone else also playing FFVIII and reaching this point: has the Fourth Graduate been named yet? The script site I'm using does name them, ie gives them a label for their dialogue boxes, at this point in the story. I'm largely curious if it's somehow only in the Japanese script, or if the character's name has been shown.
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Nope; they're never called by name and their dialogue boxes are unlabeled. I'm not sure why.

FallsSideways said:


Although in-universe that opportunity seems to be missed, I love what this shot retroactively symbolically implies now that we know this; SeeD are monsters, descending upon Dollet.

Also huh. Hm. Uh. That... sure is a crater right there. Ah well, I'm sure it won't be important.
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Right, the crater.

I hadn't noticed it until the Lunar Cry informational entry confirmed to me that the Moon was somehow involved in the plot, at which point when going over the screenshots to pick a moon picture I very much noticed it.

Which... Given that I've played FFXIV, was enough for me to start connecting dots.

The following isn't spoilers, merely speculation, but it's speculation based on FFXIV's story and its inclination to draw on past games for plot references, so I'm going to spoiler it:

I think we might be looking at a Zodiark scenario in which Hyne, whatever its true nature, has half of its body imprisoned in that crater on the moon, and that's where the Lunar Cry/monsters are coming from, and where we're going to have to go to stab it and end the monster threat in the endgame.

Gun Jam said:
Squall is 17 years old, no? Interesting.
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It's not just just that.

The radio system collapsed 17 years ago.
Squall is 17 years old.
The minimum age of enrollment in a Garden is 5, and Balamb Garden was founded 12 years ago. 12+5= 17.

Given how writers typically go for round numbers, that seems like a pretty excessive set of coincidences.

(those observations are mine and were in no way stolen from @ZerbanDaGreat on Discord)
 
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Omicron said:
It's not just just that.

The radio system collapsed 17 years ago.
Squall is 17 years old.
The minimum age of enrollment in a Garden is 5, and Balamb Garden was founded 12 years ago. 12+5= 17.

Given how writers typically go for round numbers, that seems like a pretty excessive set of coincidences.

(those observations are mine and were in no way stolen from @ZerbanDaGreat on Discord)
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Yeah, it's really easy to conclude that something fucky's involved with the severing of communications, and that the hypothetical precursors to SeeD were involved. There's a reason I included communucation control in my MGS4 ripoff meme thing.
 
Cid Kramer is... a complicated figure.

I don't think its as easy to sort him into the good or bad box for once. Characterizations are getting better.
 
Omicron said:
Yes.

Feed me rares. I crave a stronger deck.
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Alright, so in an effort of being enterprising, I'm not going to tell you where the four unique cards that you can currently win in card games on Balamb are. I'm sure other people will point them out. Just know, there's four of them. (Ifrit is unique, but he doesn't really count in this context, since you didn't win his card in a card game, you won it in battle. If you win cards in battle, they're not the four I'm talking about).

Instead, what I will tell you is that, when you use the Card command, assuming the target is valid (ie, it's a monster, not a person or a boss), the percentage of success of the command is equal to the percentage of HP the monster has lost. So, if you inflict 65 damage to a monster that has 100 HP, then your uses of Card on that monster will have a 65% success rate. This is secret about how to card monsters number 1.

Then, I'll tell you that, when you use Card on a monster, there's a 1 in 16 chance that you'll get a card that represents, not the monster itself, but something else. And, if you have 100 copies of the card of that monster, which is the maximum amount of cards you can have of a singular type, then each time you use Card on the monster, the ability will only activate when it would turn the monster into the special card; otherwise, it'll tell "impossible to Card". Meaning that sufficient perseverance can net two sets of 100 cards from each monster type in the game - 100 of itself, 100 of the other Card it can become. That's secret about how to card monsters number 2.

Card each monster in Balamb until you obtain the special card from them, and your deck will be invincible - except against unique cards. Good hunting!
 
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Adloquium said:
Come to think of it, given the sinister dialogue by Garden Faculty about Dollet not paying enough, it's entirely possible the battle plan was to be followed not because it was the most effective at achieving objectives, but because it was all Garden decided Dollet had paid for. As in Dollet hiring SeeD was only enough for SeeD to drop in, clear out the remnant G-Army troops in the city, and potentially counter any G-Army forces that returned from the mountains.

Since we now know Galbadia's true goal was the communication tower in the mountains, that implies either SeeD also knew (potentially in the middle of the Dollet mission itself, via new intelligence), or they already planned on withdrawing if the returning G-Army proved to be more trouble than expected. Either way, the withdrawal order was very quick to arrive. It's even implied that it would have been a leisurely and ordered withdrawal by 1900h, if Seifer hadn't led squad B all the way to the communications tower.

Therefore, Seifer's independent action was criticized not only (or possibly even primarily) for disobeying the broader battle plan, but also because it was added service to Dollet, beyond what was paid for.
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While not quite as extreme as shown here, this is a very real thing that happens in real life. Without getting into "identify this person IRL" levels of detail, my father works for a company that does work for lawyer firms across the US. What they do and don't provide in terms of services are clearly laid out in the contract. Every time, every time, some lawyer tries to push the envelope and ask for something that isn't covered. Standard procedure is to ask if it's covered by the contract, and if not, to direct them to the boss to negotiate.
 
Omicron said:
da moon
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"Children are our future! SeeD can, should, must, and will blow up the Moon!!!"
-Cid Kramer, probably

I'm glad you found the stuff about Lunar Cry and the jamming signal so soon, because it might actually be some of my favorite bits of worldbuilding in an RPG. It's so evocative, I really love it. I won't confirm or deny any direct FFXIV parallels...but VIII was definitely on their minds when writing ShB and EW . And that's not even counting the weird moon monsters and sinister radio signals.

As for Robin Williams Cid, I think this is the first one I genuinely dislike? He's such a weenie, and in a very realistic, offputting way. Kind of wild when your competition is an abusive hot-tempered jackass with a deathwish , and a guy that facilitated genocide in service of an evil empire.
 
Indivisible said:
Ha! I thought I deleted that musing! I was wondering whether FF would move from AP going immediately into a class/ability to AP going into a pool when you gain it that you can spend on any class/ability.
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I honestly thought I deleted that musing myself lol! Honestly, depending on how you define "any class/ability", it doesn't become the latter until at least 9… though that's complicated because you can choose which abilities the AP you're grinding automatically goes into. Which I suppose is similar enough to how 8 is handling it.
Cypocryphy said:
As for Robin Williams Cid, I think this is the first one I genuinely dislike? He's such a weenie, and in a very realistic, offputting way. Kind of wild when your competition is an abusive hot-tempered jackass with a deathwish , and a guy that facilitated genocide in service of an evil empire.
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Personally, I feel it's like the overflow bug that makes Gandhi a nuke-maniac in Civilization. Cid is so kind and fatherly and harmless that he can only elicit a defensive "hissssss." He's just too sus.
 
Omicron said:
Yes.

Feed me rares. I crave a stronger deck.
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Your wish is my command, then!

So, Egleris already covered how to get the boss-tier Cards, which tend to be somewhere in strength between all the monsters you collect like candy and the actual rare cards, the (generally) one of a kind GF and Character cards. Some of the GF cards, like Ifrit, you'll continue to get by beating up GFs... but of course, others you'll have to find because you never fight those summons.

As for the couple rare cards currently available to you:

First, that one runner boy in the garden is easy pickings, since he's 2 feet from a save point and only has one rare card, otherwise his deck is exactly what you would expect from a literal child.

Second, try tracking down some of the Quistis Fan Club members (no points for guessing what card they've commissioned).

Third, Zell's mom is actually a pretty avid card player, and very supportive of her son and happy to see him visit.

Fourth, while not currently an option it will be briefly available soon, it turns out Headmaster Cid has a card collecting hobby. Probably sneaks it in on the side between mind control sessions and the constant overwork and meetings he's harassed into by the Garden Faculty.

Also of note for a card related sidequest?
Some cards only get created and circulated into the world if you actually lose cards, often to the Queen of Cards. Generally, it's "lose a rare card to the queen, she leaves the region, and a new card gets created elsewhere". You'll have a chance to retrieve those rare cards you lose to her, so don't worry too much.
 
illhousen said:
Speaking of, it's really funny that we're on third Cid in a row who's a shitty person, and every one of them is shitty in a completely new and different way, and also the games don't seem to get what makes them shitty, at least assuming the presentation of the current Cid as a kindly old man possibly managed by actually evil organization is intended and not a setup for a twist. It's a fucking curse at this point. Watch it, next Cid is gonna be a serial killer, and the game's gonna insist he's a swell guy, actually.
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I was gonna make a joke about clearly Cid's evil peaked in FFX because he was a landlord, but then I remembered he in fact was not and I was confusing him for a different guy with a three-letter name.
Cypocryphy said:
As for Robin Williams Cid, I think this is the first one I genuinely dislike? He's such a weenie, and in a very realistic, offputting way. Kind of wild when your competition is an abusive hot-tempered jackass with a deathwish , and a guy that facilitated genocide in service of an evil empire.
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It's the Sophia Hess situation. Not many people will have to defeat Bond villains looking to shoot the moon with a laser or cults waking up a sleeping god. Lots of people were bullied in high school.
 
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Guile said:
I remembered he in fact was not and I was confusing him for a different guy with a three-letter name.
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If it's any consolation, I was about to do the same. It does says a lot on the respective level of memorability of the characters, doesn't it? But that's the kind of discussion better had in the spoiler thread.
 
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McFluffles said:
Fourth, while not currently an option it will be briefly available soon, it turns out Headmaster Cid has a card collecting hobby. Probably sneaks it in on the side between mind control sessions and the constant overwork and meetings he's harassed into by the Garden Faculty.
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In five years, Cid will be hired by Seto Kaiba to be the headmaster of his newly started Duel Academy.
 
i regret to inform you all that at some point after setting up the emulator i am using to run FFVIII i came upon the realization that the entire PSX catalogue is now available to me* and Parasite Eve is actually really fucking cool, damn, not like everyone who ever played that game had promised me that it would be

*technically provided i legally own a physical copy of the game's CDRom of course
 
Ah yes, the classic realization of "oh wait emulators mean I have literally hundreds of games at my fingertips now". The next step is to Legally Obtain three dozen new games that all look interesting at the same time, play each for about an hour, then get stuck in choice paralysis forever.
 
Parasite Eve definitely has an impressive flair and concept. I've only played 1 to completion iirc, but there's a psx sequel followed by a PSP one, making it a trilogy.
 
The efforts you're going through to recreate the 1998 experience, including getting distracted by other contemporary games, is very praise worthy.

Parasite Eve was a real leap forward in a lot of ways, including mainstreaming the disposable male love interest.

Guy is introduced, gets shoulder checked into the ground by his date, Aya, who gets told he burned alive off screen and she goes 'eh, whatever. I was only here for the show, not him'. All in the first hour or two.

shit, now I got to legally obtain a digital copy of my physical version of the game.
 
Omicron said:
i regret to inform you all that at some point after setting up the emulator i am using to run FFVIII i came upon the realization that the entire PSX catalogue is now available to me* and Parasite Eve is actually really fucking cool, damn, not like everyone who ever played that game had promised me that it would be
*technically provided i legally own a physical copy of the game's CDRom of course
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The game's so good George Lucas used it to explain the Force in the prequels. "Midochlorians" is obviously just linguistic drift.

At least, that's my head canon.
 
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Omicron said:
i regret to inform you all that at some point after setting up the emulator i am using to run FFVIII i came upon the realization that the entire PSX catalogue is now available to me* and Parasite Eve is actually really fucking cool, damn, not like everyone who ever played that game had promised me that it would be

*technically provided i legally own a physical copy of the game's CDRom of course
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Through Parasite Eve the ATB System finds salvation.

Incidentally, way back when there was a discussion over how you could do the Ultros raft fight in a 3D action game, and turns out the answer was always "just do the PE carriage fight."

SolipsistSerpent said:
The game's so good George Lucas used it to explain the Force in the prequels. "Midochlorians" is obviously just linguistic drift.

At least, that's my head canon.
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Star Wars would be a lot better if at all times Jedi were five minutes away from spontaneous combustion and/or turning into the Blob.
 
Ah yes, the game set in the alternative timeline where Cloud realised why the dress felt so nice on her and started working as a cop in New York after the game was over.

You can't prove that's not what happens, we know Korea exists in ff7 thanks to the barbecue!
 
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