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

IIRC, the closest I've come is some of the first mission of Fallout Tactics; I don't think I even got to the end of the first mission.

...Oof. This is one of the worst possible introductions to the genre.

Like, you know yourself better, obviously, so if you say you can't enjoy this kind of game, then you can't, but your choice of first foray there really didn't help. It's like being introduced to point and click quests with Limbo of the Lost.
 
Just wanted to notify the thread that, since it was asked for, I added a "timespan" notice to my post summing up the length of the let's play concerning each game. I hope somebody finds that useful!
 
I'm not sure about "befuddling" -- though, indeed, I don't seem to be very good at it, nor am I very good at basic actual chess -- so much as not fun. Actively so, in theory and admittedly a pretty small sample size of practice. Even if I could figure things given sufficient motivation, that motivation isn't there. Granted, thinking on it now, the initial hill probably is higher due to the befuddling aspect, but my impression is that that just increases the degree to which my level of interest is insufficient to proceed.

Yeah, my use of 'befuddle' was more akin to you being unable to see the fun in it other than intellectually, not any sort of comment on your tastes. :)

(Aside from the examples given above by other folks, I'll also recommend Tactical Breach Wizards for something a bit more on the 'puzzle' side of the formula; if you enjoy puzzle games, the sort of thing it does may speak more to you, as it's not quite the dynamic tactical situation FFT is and more of 'can I seal the door and kick this person out a window in an efficient number of turns' deal. And that's just if you wish to actually see if you can cultivate a taste for it; nothing wrong with 'nah, not my thing'.)
 
Random thought, but in Delita's version of the story, how many of his political rivals/opponents/"allies"/contemporaries are getting Off-Screened by "a Screaming Heretic?"
 
Random thought, but in Delita's version of the story, how many of his political rivals/opponents/"allies"/contemporaries are getting Off-Screened by "a Screaming Heretic?"
If you remove "contemporanies" from that list, it's just the Beoulve brothers and Funebris + the Templars.

Delacroix was killed by Ramza, but officially, that was never confirmed - the reasons behind Ramza's accusation of heresy were never cleared. Delita was not made aware of what was going on with Delacroix' side of the conspiracy, he was just given Ovelia and sent to handle the Goltana side; for all Delita knows, Folmarv killed Delacroix once he was no longer necessary, or he might have pinned that on Agrias without knowing that she was with Ramza at the time. So... if you were playing the story as Delita, you'd get the information that Delacroix died, scoff a little at the "of illness" motivation, and be wondering who the culprit was. Ramza would be a suspect, but not the only one.

Next is the fight at Orbonne, and nobody related to Delita died there; also, Delita probably suspected that this was just the Templars "cleaning house" of people who might reveal the truth of Ovelia's past now that she was installed as Queen, and they just used Ramza as a scapegoat.

After that is Barinten. That, Delita probably believes was Ramza's work, but Barinten was not an ally or rival of Delita; he was an independent actor who was, as far as Delita (and anybody else) knew, staying out of the war. From an outside perspective, it'd look like Ramza went to Barinten to ask for his support, maybe with cleaning himself of the Heresy accusation or maybe to have Barinten support him in whatever plan Ramza has; Delita will believe Ramza has some plan, but will hardly know what that is, so seeking support of the one person that stayed out of the war is plausible. Then something went wrong with the negotiations, and Ramza murdered the castle - Delita would likely see this as "Barinten tried to arrest Ramza and sell him to the church and Ramza defended himself", if he gave the matter any thought. In any case, as mentioned, Barinten isn't an ally or an enemy, just a neutral third party at the time he gets killed.

Delita killed Zalmo himself, or rather, he watched as Hadrian killed him on Ramza's behalf, but he would totally have done it himself, so that's not really an "offscreen death"; you'd be fighting that battle in a Delita storyline, only with Ramza playing as the guest.

After that, Delita has intimate knowledge of what happened at Besselath, and he know Ramza wasn't involved in any of the backstabbing there.

Ramza's journey to Limberri likely isn't recorded anywhere as, according to popular opinion, Elmdore had died in battle months before; so neither Delita nor anybody else would know this went down, only the Lucavi and Ramza's stalker Meliadoul.

And then there is the Beoulve fratricide and the assault to Mullonde; those would definitely be reported as Ramza work, and Delita would know it was.

So, from Delita standpoint, he last saw Ramza at Warijilis, and then Delacroix died - clearly murdered, but by whom is hard to say. Then Ramza had a tussle with Zalmo in Lesalia, but nobody died there, and was then said to have slaughtered Orbonne, but if you're Delita, you've reason to doubt that; then Ramza exterminated Riovanes, likely after seeking help there and having to defend themselves; and finally, with both his brother in Lesalia and Barinten at Riovanes refusing to help him end the war, he comes to you at Zeltennia, and states he wants to talk to Orlandu as well.

You tell him you also want to end the war, and that, as part of your plan to do it, you'll kill the church leadership; you also point out that Ramza's brother will need to die for the war to be ended, but that's being handled by somebody else. Then that somebody else fails, killing only Larg, and Ramza goes and offs both the Beoulve brothers and the church leadership for you; for Delita, master manipulator, this looks like he just managed to persuade Ramza to do his dirty work for him.

That's how I think the narrative from Delita's point of view would look like.
 
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Delacroix was killed by Ramza, but officially, that was never confirmed - the reasons behind Ramza's accusation of heresy were never cleared. Delita was not made aware of what was going on with Delacroix' side of the conspiracy, he was just given Ovelia and sent to handle the Goltana side; for all Delita knows, Folmarv killed Delacroix once he was no longer necessary, or he might have pinned that on Agrias without knowing that she was with Ramza at the time. So... if you were playing the story as Delita, you'd get the information that Delacroix died, scoff a little at the "of illness" motivation, and be wondering who the culprit was. Ramza would be a suspect, but not the only one.
Delacroix's death was explicitly pinned on Ramza. Remember Ramza's first interaction with the Inquisitor?
Confessor Zalmour: "Ah, but I have you at a disadvantage. I am Confessor Zalmour Lucianada of the Holly Office of Inquisition. I come to bring you before the Office on charges of the murder of Cardinal Delacroix and suspicion of heresy. You will come with us. Should you resist, you admit your guilt, and will be executed as a heretic."

It really just depends on whether Delita believes that's true or if he thinks Ramza's just being scapegoated for someone else.
 
That's how I think the narrative from Delita's point of view would look like.

It's also worth duscussing, while we've discussed Ovelia's view on things previously, what exactly did Delita think of the Durai papers?

Because if we presume that the papers did include the clandestine church meeting between Delita and Ramza, then things get SUPER awkward. After Ramza goes out in some blaze of glory, kills his brothers, kills the pope, kills the templars, vanishes leaving everything in Delita's hands, what do the Durai papers look like?

After everything, after Delita is hip deep in conspiracy and this is the first time he's hearing about the Lucavi? He and Ramza had a heart to heart, remember? He totally manipulated Ramza and everything too, Ramza did exactly what Delita hoped for and then went above and beyond. But Ramza never mentioned Alma or the Lucavi.

So is Orran lying? Is Orran telling the truth? Did Orran work with Ramza on this or is this published in spite of Ramza?

Because this fairy tale in the Durai papers could be motivated by Cid instead, by what Delita did to Orran's adoptive father. It's not just Ramza that's made heroic in Orran's version.

What did Delita actually think about this? Did he believe it? Did he feel betrayed? Was it cowardice, practicality, anger or some other factor that led to him standing back as Orran burned?

Delita is not a particularly upstanding fellow. But I think there's a good argument to be made that the Durai papers would have been bewildering for him!
 
What did Delita actually think about this? Did he believe it? Did he feel betrayed? Was it cowardice, practicality, anger or some other factor that led to him standing back as Orran burned?

That's a good point actually - ever since Tietra is killed, Delita is going on a basically constant upswing throughout the war of the lions, never really experiencing much setback nor having to deal with ppans falling apart. He pretty much starts winning and stays winning.

The only points where his master manipulator shtick doesn't control everything is in having no idea of the Lucavi, and Ovelia stabbing him in the epilogue. And you know, if Delita realized that Ramza was hiding something from him during their meeting, I can't imagine him being content to sit by and let him do whatever without at last learning what's going on - which means that Ramza was able to pull one over on Delita.

I feel like it'd be a mix of like... shock at Ramza of all people being able to hide something from him in the first place, followed by a creeping dread that if Ramza had failed, the Lucavi could very well have risen up and plunged Ivalice into chaos, rendering all of his careful scheming and planning all for naught.

If anything, the evidence that Delita wasn't actually in complete control of the situation in Ivalice at all times might have been the ultimate reason for him consenting to seeing them sealed away and the author burned. There is no small amount of Griffith in Delita, and while he avoided getting tangled in the supernatural, that burning need to be the one in control is very much there.
 
I think Delita knows more then he is explicitly told in cutscenes. Remember this bit?

Delita: "The Thunder God?"
Ramza: "I mean to enlist his aid in exposing the Church's intrigues."
Delita: "How?"
Ramza: "I have powerful evidence of the Church's misdeeds."
Delita: "The Scriptures of Germonique!"
Ramza: "I spoke with the Count's adopted son, Orran, not long past. He pledged their aid should I bring hard evidence against the Church."
Delita: "Orran, eh?"

Delita already knows some of the church's dirties secrets, and can put together that Ramza got that particular book. I agree he probably didn't explicitly know about demons, but going 'he had no clue why Ramza did anything he wasn't told' is overreaching.

I think the real question to ask is, why didn't Delita get given a stone? It's clear that these things were handed out to people who were highly placed or well connected as a back-up plan. Nearly every head of state had one or their subordinates, and Delita being a Zodiac Brave would have been yet another shine to his story.

We even know that some stones weren't even given out until late in the game, so planting one with him early on like it was with Formav's kids would have been easy. Something to ponder about I suppose.
 
I think Delita knows more then he is explicitly told in cutscenes. Remember this bit?



Delita already knows some of the church's dirties secrets, and can put together that Ramza got that particular book. I agree he probably didn't explicitly know about demons, but going 'he had no clue why Ramza did anything he wasn't told' is overreaching.

I think the real question to ask is, why didn't Delita get given a stone? It's clear that these things were handed out to people who were highly placed or well connected as a back-up plan. Nearly every head of state had one or their subordinates, and Delita being a Zodiac Brave would have been yet another shine to his story.

We even know that some stones weren't even given out until late in the game, so planting one with him early on like it was with Formav's kids would have been easy. Something to ponder about I suppose.
I suspect because he wasn't in a position of power, just angling for it, until everything was falling apart. And there weren't enough stones for every low level agent with big aspirations.
 
Hrm, random thought: just how much of the plot is a result of Dycedarg engaging in patricide?

If Barbaneth isn't dying, would the Corpse Brigade even exist? Like, Barbanth is a kickass fighter but what Simon and Orlandu mention most is that he was a really outstanding dude. Would his strong sense of justice have allowed him to stand by while commoners who fought, bled and died for the crown, commoners who served along side him, got completely screwed over?

I don't think he would have.

Which means the Corpse Brigade is much weaker or doesn't exist.
Which means Tietra probably doesn't die.
Which means Delita and Ramza don't have their Chapter 2 motivations.

Lions War...maybe happens? When the king dies there will still be a power struggle but that might not play out the same, and with both Barbaneth and Orlandu alive they can both act to cool things down. Delita isn't in position to manipulate things and Ramza to just derail everyone else's plotting.

Lucavi...who the fuck knows. Less chaos for them to take advantage of, so they might take a more hands on approach.
Have you read For Want Of A War ?
 
I suspect because he wasn't in a position of power, just angling for it, until everything was falling apart. And there weren't enough stones for every low level agent with big aspirations.
I mean, literally all they'd have needed to do would be to kip on down to the temple that one Construct was guarding and then hey presto they've got one to spare, but for some reason it seems the people who actually wanted the stones were putting less effort into finding ones not already in the possession of one group of humans or another than Ramza did.
 
Delacroix's death was explicitly pinned on Ramza. Remember Ramza's first interaction with the Inquisitor?
That's Zalmo speaking with Ramza. When Barinten brings the matter up, Folmarv says that the matters of Ramza's crimes are out of his purview and secreted by the Inquisition office. Delita would know of the Scriptures of Germonique because their theft would have been the crime Ramza was accused of as justification for the massacre at Orbonne.
 
I mean, literally all they'd have needed to do would be to kip on down to the temple that one Construct was guarding and then hey presto they've got one to spare, but for some reason it seems the people who actually wanted the stones were putting less effort into finding ones not already in the possession of one group of humans or another than Ramza did.
Not all the stones are a gate to a Lucavi, that was firmly established, they had the stones they actually needed.
 
Not all the stones are a gate to a Lucavi, that was firmly established, they had the stones they actually needed.
Which certainly makes you wonder why and is more "there needs to be a prequel starring Germonique" fodder - were the other six presumed Lucavi already summoned and defeated and in need of a resurrection ritual like Ultima? Were they never sealed away to begin with and dealt with separately and those stones are just extras? Are they just hanging out in hell and when the stone calls to them they just leave that message on read and go back to what they were doing?
 
Which certainly makes you wonder why and is more "there needs to be a prequel starring Germonique" fodder - were the other six presumed Lucavi already summoned and defeated and in need of a resurrection ritual like Ultima? Were they never sealed away to begin with and dealt with separately and those stones are just extras? Are they just hanging out in hell and when the stone calls to them they just leave that message on read and go back to what they were doing?

Could be that there's a cooldown after the Lucavi are defeated before they can be resummoned, and the rest were summoned and killed not that long ago and are still waiting on their respawn timer? Definitely prequel fodder.
 
were the other six presumed Lucavi already summoned and defeated and in need of a resurrection ritual like Ultima? Were they never sealed away to begin with and dealt with separately and those stones are just extras? Are they just hanging out in hell and when the stone calls to them they just leave that message on read and go back to what they were doing?

The other six are just chill nice people and didn't got invited to the plot because they aren't interested in that whole BLOOD AND CHAOS business.
 
The other six are just chill nice people and didn't got invited to the plot because they aren't interested in that whole BLOOD AND CHAOS business.
Or in the opposite direction, they are way too into Blood and Chaos, and couldn't be trusted to participate in a complicated political scheme instead of just going berserk and doing massacres at random.
Sagittarius: Look I'm not saying you have to give up the whole "resurrect the High Seraph," I'm just saying, it's been a long time since we went bowling, can't we just take an evening off and go bowling or something?
Cancer: I haven't had pizza in four thousand years; I want to get some pizza.
Pisces: WORLD IS A FUCK KILL EM ALL 1455 BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD 410,757,864,530 DEAD KNIGHTS
Hashmal (Leo): In case you all forgot, this is the compromise plan.
 
Well, there were hints that there was another higher power that was looking out for Ramza and Co. If there exist, a opposite to Ultima, it might mean the other demons, are inclinded towards this other power. Given the general subtle methods they were employing(if they even exist at all), their followers would probally be of the same inclination.

Which would put them in a Six Followers of each side, and a Leader on each side, for a total of 14 demons/angels.
 
Or at least watch the intro, which did more to sell BattleTech as a setting than anything else made in the last 20-ish years.



Anyways Omi, thank you, as usual, for the time and effort you put into these. I'm happy you enjoyed FFT so much; I think we could probably all tell by the sheer cadence and depth of the updates that this one was going to be A Winner. It'll be very interesting to see how parts of FFT have gone on to affect other games in the series...but that's for another time. Also, if you're considering commissioning artwork, I'd be happy to kick in an amount if you're willing to pass the plate around.
 
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