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

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I mean, it's not the thread's decision to make in any case, is it? @Omicron will choose, we can at best offer suggestions and provide justification.

If it was up to me, though, I would say that no, actually, the thread isn't "every JRPG with the Final Fantasy label somewhere on its case", or "every JRPG SquarEnix ever published", nor even "every game where members of the development team had worked/would work on this or that Final Fantasy game"; certainly not "every JRPG who even looks like it might have a passing similarity with some aspects of one random entry in the Final Fantasy series, one of the most influential videogame series ever produced".

Also, I'm pretty sure that, if somebody wanted to do a Let's Play of Xenogears and try to defend the indefensible position that half a game is as good as a full game, or claim that Disk One of Xenogears is better than Disks 1, 2, and 4 (excluding Disk 3 the same they're excluding Disk Two of Xenogears) of FFVIII, they could do it on their own without need to drag that argument into this thread; trying to persuade somebody else to do it on their behalf seems very arrogant to me. We shouldn't try to drag non-Final-Fantasy-things into a Final Fantasy thread.

And, for those who'll say that I'm the arrogant one since I voiced very loud opinions on which version of Tactics to play, (1) I've never said I wasn't arrogant, I'm selfish that way, and (2) I only presented the option once we were told that FFT would be played. It was a "well, if you're playing it anyway, maybe go with the version that makes Squires and Archers worthwhile classes, fixes Samurai so it's Ninja's equal instead of being left in the dust by it, and diversify Knight from Dragoon so they both have a use (higher defense vs higher offence), plus a few other yet-to-be-explored fixes" suggestion. That's not the same as trying to drag the game into the thread, it's a comment on a game that it has already been determined will feature in the thread regardless. Which, to me, it's a very different thing.
 
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Saint_007 said:
Do we really, though? Much as Xenogears is a great game, it drifts considerably from the Final Fantasy franchise. Not to mention I don't want this to be a franchise creep where other franchises get a foot in the door. *looks over at Xenosaga and Xenoblade in concern*
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We need to think about the future. We're set for the next ten years or so with the remaining FF entries, but then what? It's important to plan out Omicron's life in advance to avoid any sudden issues.
 
Xenoblade at least has a shared origin point, Persona shares no staff with Final Fantasy and isn't doing something that FF is doing.

Bravely Default and Octopath are made by a team at Square that was previously working on the DS remakes of 3 & 4, there's definitely DNA of classic FF there. BD even has tactics same artist.
 
Egleris said:
And, for those who'll say that I'm the arrogant one since I voiced very loud opinions on which version of Tactics to play, (1) I've never said I wasn't arrogant, I'm selfish that way, and (2) I only presented the option once we were told that FFT would be played. It was a "well, if you're playing it anyway, maybe go with the version that makes Squires and Archers worthwhile classes, fixes Samurai so it's Ninja's equal instead of being left in the dust by it, and diversify Knight from Dragoon so they both have a use (higher defense vs higher offence), plus a few other yet-to-be-explored fixes" suggestion. That's not the same as trying to drag the game into the thread, it's a comment on a game that it has already been determined will feature in the thread regardless. Which, to me, it's a very different thing.
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For what it's worth, I didn't call you arrogant. Just loud. :)

And while it's one thing to play with updated quality of life improvements, I do think it's more true to the spirit of the Let's Play as a retrospective of a landmark video game series to not dip into fan mods that greatly meddle with the mechanics of the game; that seems to be Omicron's intent. Minor quality of life things (like the Pixel Remasters do) would be okay, but almost every FFT mod suggested goes in and overhauls the actual mechanics. (They aren't bad overhauls - I have two FFT mods I've been playing through myself - but it's not The Original Game; the PSP port is, with the changes in cost being an artifact of the same intent that gave us FF2US vs. the original FF4.)
 
AliasiSudonomo said:
it's not The Original Game; the PSP port is
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I'll need to disagree here - WotL also counts as a mod to me since it does the same thing many mods do (ie, add plot scenes, classes and even fights that weren't there in the original version), only much worse - I'm not even talking about LFT here, I'm talking about others, much less ambitious mods that WotL falls way short in the comparison with. The translation is about the only positive thing about it and I've been pointing out, as best I can, why I feel that one comes even at best.

I can agree that "wanting the original experience" is a valid reason for a let's play not to go with a mod that has better gameplay (while, importantly, not changing the original story), but WotL doesn't meet that criteria to me any more than the 3D port of FFIII did.
 
DanZapman said:
So does this make FFT the first no-real-caveats good game in the Final Fantasy franchise? Is the eternal question settled at last?
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AliasiSudonomo said:
Let's say... fewer caveats. Like, there's mod patches and tweaks, as at least one user is very insistent about in this very thread - heck, my playthrough is using a "tweaks mod" that is fairly true to the core experience but does some little things like condense the dragoon skill list into "Jump, improve horizonal, improve vertical" and slightly changes how some NPCs you recruit work.

but I think, even if we were only talking the original PSX version, FFT is probably the first Final Fantasy game that holds up as well now as when it was new.
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My suggested wording is that FFT has a very strong core gameplay loop that makes the caveats less impactful. That, and wargaming is fun. There's a reason Warhammer/40k are so popular.
 
Egleris said:
I'll need to disagree here - WotL also counts as a mod to me since it does the same thing many mods do (ie, add plot scenes, classes and even fights that weren't there in the original version), only much worse - I'm not even talking about LFT here, I'm talking about others, much less ambitious mods that WotL falls way short in the comparison with. The translation is about the only positive thing about it and I've been pointing out, as best I can, why I feel that one comes even at best.

I can agree that "wanting the original experience" is a valid reason for a let's play not to go with a mod that has better gameplay (while, importantly, not changing the original story), but WotL doesn't meet that criteria to me any more than the 3D port of FFIII did.
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Pixel Remasters changed a lot too. And not just QoL stuff like making spells actually work, FF1 has change targets if enemy is defeated which removes a whole tactical layer and changed the implications of it's story with the different tile sets, FFIII completely reworked several classes, and added healing crystals to the world of darkness.

It didn't seem to matter at the time, and Omni isn't wrong that the PSX translation is sauceless.
 
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Egleris said:
I'll need to disagree here - WotL also counts as a mod to me since it does the same thing many mods do (ie, add plot scenes, classes and even fights that weren't there in the original version), only much worse - I'm not even talking about LFT here, I'm talking about others, much less ambitious mods that WotL falls way short in the comparison with. The translation is about the only positive thing about it and I've been pointing out, as best I can, why I feel that one comes even at best.

I can agree that "wanting the original experience" is a valid reason for a let's play not to go with a mod that has better gameplay (while, importantly, not changing the original story), but WotL doesn't meet that criteria to me any more than the 3D port of FFIII did.
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I understand your point but it's literally not a mod. You can have whatever personal definition of a mod you want but that doesn't change the fact that the rest of the world is running off of a different one.
 
DanZapman said:
So does this make FFT the first no-real-caveats good game in the Final Fantasy franchise? Is the eternal question settled at last?
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Well, it still has plenty of time to collapse in the last quarter, or for the interesting job system to just meld together into homogenous superbuilds the way it happened in V, but so far my main caveat with the game isn't really the game's fault, it's that there are so many goddamned abilities that I have several characters sitting on 1000+ JP because I just can't decide what to spend it on.
 
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If they do make an FFT remaster, I kind of hope they add some way to refund purchased skills for characters. Reducing the commitment to buying new skills to try them out might help a lot at reducing that decision paralysis, plus make it less likely to (at least temporarily) screw over a character build by buying non-synergistic abilities and needing to make up for wasted JP.
 
Omicron said:
Well, it still has plenty of time to collapse in the last quarter, or for the interesting job system to just meld together into homogenous superbuilds the way it happened in III, but so far my main caveat with the game isn't really the game's fault, it's that there are so many goddamned abilities that I have several characters sitting on 1000+ JP because I just can't decide what to spend it on.
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You could always ask us, so you can avoid trap options. Well, not really trap options, but less useful than they first appear.
 
Pidl said:
You could always ask us, so you can avoid trap options. Well, not really trap options, but less useful than they first appear.
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You know what, sure. Actually, maybe I'll make a post breaking down the current state of my team. A bit dry for the non-veteran players, and the veterans will probably wail and gnash their teeth at how half-baked my builds are, but it'll give us a good look at where things stand right now.
 
foamy said:
Unrelated to the build discussion, am I the only one getting massive death flags from Alma?
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It's an interesting question because I agree that at this point in the story it would feel like she has death flags by the truckload, except that her death at this point would specifically mirror Tietra's death in a way that would make it thematically a lot darker and more thematically important in a way that might not be desirable for the story?

Like, absent that context, killing the sweet, helpful little sister character would just be another tragedy befalling Ramza, a character death that mainly serves to make you sad. But with this context, it would specifically be Ramza failing to prevent the past from repeating, failing to keep Alma from "being another Tietra," when "I will not let X be another Tietra" is something he's literally said in as many word as his character statement. It would be Ramza failing his core goals in a way that would be extremely dark and tragic.

Which doesn't mean it won't happen, because maybe that is the point the story wants to drive at, but I rate it lower than I normally would. In effect, Tietra already fulfilled the narrative role that Alma's death normally would.
 
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Yeah, to me Alma raising the same flags seems like a chance for Ramza to show off how he improved at handling situations since Tetra. If she does die or otherwise get plot'd I think it'll be significantly after the series of events that currently seem to be implied to happen (fighting the Inquisition, running away, etc).
 
In FFT plot there is a fate worse then death that could happen to her.

She could be recruited as a special party member like we've done a bunch already, thus her life will ever be in the balance, and yet she will never have any impact on the world again.
 
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Egleris said:
I'll need to disagree here - WotL also counts as a mod to me since it does the same thing many mods do (ie, add plot scenes, classes and even fights that weren't there in the original version), only much worse - I'm not even talking about LFT here, I'm talking about others, much less ambitious mods that WotL falls way short in the comparison with. The translation is about the only positive thing about it and I've been pointing out, as best I can, why I feel that one comes even at best.

I can agree that "wanting the original experience" is a valid reason for a let's play not to go with a mod that has better gameplay (while, importantly, not changing the original story), but WotL doesn't meet that criteria to me any more than the 3D port of FFIII did.
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If WotL doesn't count as "original game" then sure as fuck FFXII: The Zodiac Age doesn't, and I'm not cruel enough to tell anyone to play the original FFXII release.
 
mothematics said:
I understand your point but it's literally not a mod. You can have whatever personal definition of a mod you want but that doesn't change the fact that the rest of the world is running off of a different one.
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Yeah, I feel like there's a difference between "a fanwork that capitalizes on whatever the fan wanted to emphasize" and "an update to a game, by the original studio, with the original designers." Like, when they added that scene showing how Wiegraf got recruited that isn't a fan putting their own spin on things, that's the author deciding a point needed clarification.

Now, one can disagree with those changes, sure - see George Lucas and the various rereleases of Star Wars movies - but I do feel like that is qualitatively different than a fan mod.
 
foamy said:
Which reminds me, I'm kind of surprised Ramza's "It's not auracite, it's magicite" comment glided by without comment. Magicite, ofc, was what espers turned into way back in FFVI. Name reuse, or some kind of relation?
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Name reuse. The original Japanese in basically all cases it gets localized as X-cite is holy stone/magic stone, with the magic bit being 魔/Ma, 'devil' which very often also means magic in compounds. In this specific case calling it a devil stone is probably a better fit for the intent but I can understand the translators going with auracite/magicite for the sake of consistency.
 
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