Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Playing: Final Fantasy IX]
- Thread starter Omicron
- Start date
- Let's Play
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
FF IX's system for gaining abilities is, like, the exact opposite of painful.
Yes, the game has some challenges that are particularly punishing if you have very specific brainworms (1k jump rope, the speedrun reward), but all in all it's a very friendly game with plenty of easy to achieve customization.
Yes, the game has some challenges that are particularly punishing if you have very specific brainworms (1k jump rope, the speedrun reward), but all in all it's a very friendly game with plenty of easy to achieve customization.
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To chime in on the "equipment-based skills" discussion, while it's been some years since my playthrough I only distinctly remember coming to a complete stop and going "time to AP grind" for several hours once, and I was at least partway through Disk 3 when I stopped playing, so I don't think it's likely to be a huge issue as long as Omi doesn't spam the run command.
I'll echo the choir with my experience of the system being entirely positive. Far from being a downside, equipment providing skills to learn made me more eager to find new things so that I could see what new ability I might learn from it. Like, a minor increase in damage from a new staff is cool and stuff, but what if it teaches a new spell? It even makes me eager to find gear that I would otherwise ignore as having an entirely marginal benefit because even bad gear is good if it has an ability I don't know yet.
The system is rad, is what I'm getting at.
The system is rad, is what I'm getting at.
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
FF9's gear system is designed so that when you get the next tier of equipment, more often than not you've either finished up with your current set or are close to it. I only remember a handful of times when I had new equipment ready to go well in advance of finishing up old gear.
Ace of Scarabs
Mechanoid Pilot
- Location
- Singapore
The only real landmine is making sure you keep enough old kit to upcraft with synths later because some of the lategame recipes needs stuff from earlygame that is no longer in the shops by Disc 4.
There are also a few things that can get missed if you advance too far in the story, and some more locked behind side quests and minigames. My first playthrough I missed one of Vivi's endgame staves and missed out on one of his spells. I want to say it was meteor, but it was many playthroughs ago.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
"Some endgame stuff is locked behind sidequests and minigames so you can miss it" is the Final Fantasy experience at this point.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
So now that I'm home safe (...for the moment) after evacuating due to the Eaton Canyon fire, I decided to download the Memoria Patcher for IX.
...This is as painless as modding gets.
Install the game on steam.
Run the game once until you get to the title screen, then quit.
Run the Memoria Patcher.
Run the game again.
Select the options you want.
Play the game.
It's that simple.
And I love the fact that the "Cheats" tab is basically just a bunch of "de-bullshitify" options for minigames and steal. Plus some other stuff to tweak the experience.
But man. No more steal chance bullshit. No more 1k jump rope bullshit. No more card game bullshit.
It's beautiful.
...This is as painless as modding gets.
Install the game on steam.
Run the game once until you get to the title screen, then quit.
Run the Memoria Patcher.
Run the game again.
Select the options you want.
Play the game.
It's that simple.
And I love the fact that the "Cheats" tab is basically just a bunch of "de-bullshitify" options for minigames and steal. Plus some other stuff to tweak the experience.
But man. No more steal chance bullshit. No more 1k jump rope bullshit. No more card game bullshit.
It's beautiful.
You don't have to do the jump rope minigame if you don't want to...
It's pure bragging rewards, so what's the point of making it trivial?
I'm sorry to hear it. I work pretty close to the Palisades fire (and even closer to the Getty Fire back in 2019) and it seems like everyone here knows someone who had to evacuate or even lost their home sometime in the past week.
But yeah, Memoria/Moguri is great (even though I ended up reverting everything back to PSX defaults besides upscaled backgrounds + steal rate). It's such a shame that so many games lost the hi-rez versions of their pre-rendered assets and had to re-release with super lo-fi backgrounds, or art assts that that had to be upscaled via AI to be legible on modern displays. Compare it to something like Resident Evil 0 that just swapped in the old compressed verions for new ones that utilized the original renders because they still had them on hand.
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't imagine you can mod an emulated version of the PSX game though, can you? 😔
I mean, probably? PSX mods are absolutely a thing, just look at the constant mention last game of the FFT mod that adds the WotL content to the original game + rebalances, or multiple game overhauls with varying stances on difficulty.
The real question would instead be if anyone has bothered keeping up to date with modding the PSX version of FFIX, when a PC version has existed for years (the Steam version is a few months short of nine years since its release) with super easy mod access, meaning why bother modding something that's probably much more difficult to work with?
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
So I'm running through the game so I can be concurrent with Omi's playthrough and have the following observation.
You know how after Garnet and Zidane land in the orchestra pit, and then Garnet runs through all the musicians? When you talk to them, they all have generic responses, like the drummer mentioning you can feel the bass drum hits in your gut, the violinist is a consummate pro who'll play you something in any style, the cymbalist is also a pro who wants you to stop bothering them cuz they're in the middle of playing, and the conductor wants to know WTF you're doing in the pit.
The trumpeter, quote, "Well, I say! Wasn't she a pretty one!"
Typical
You know how after Garnet and Zidane land in the orchestra pit, and then Garnet runs through all the musicians? When you talk to them, they all have generic responses, like the drummer mentioning you can feel the bass drum hits in your gut, the violinist is a consummate pro who'll play you something in any style, the cymbalist is also a pro who wants you to stop bothering them cuz they're in the middle of playing, and the conductor wants to know WTF you're doing in the pit.
The trumpeter, quote, "Well, I say! Wasn't she a pretty one!"
Typical
- Location
- PA
Am I missing something about instrument personality matchups here?
People make mods for emulated games all the time, but I don't think a mod like that exists for IX. If you wanted, you could up the Internal Resolution and that would sharpen up BG's and models while not affecting much else. I've cracked wise about crunchy scenery, but honestly I think the emulation looks fine as-is so far.
Kuja
I'M A SQUIIIID
- Location
- AZ
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Trumpet players have a longstanding reputation as egomaniacs and horndogs. Speaking as a trombone player this is absolutely true and warranted.
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
It's a 10/10 no notes situation.
The violin and conductor are pros, the bass drummer has DEEP THOUGHTS, the cymbalist (although TBH it'd be a percussionist working cymbals) presumably has to count rests and doesn't want you fucking up his count you asshole.
And the trumpet is of course the only one that mentions the pretty girl running past the orchestra.
It's this attention to detail and peak character writing that makes me love FF IX
Ace of Scarabs
Mechanoid Pilot
- Location
- Singapore
I believe the Steam version is similar to the Switch port of FFIX. Same 'cheat' menu and all.
There's also something about how the turbo speed mode is really cheaty for certain minigames, IIRC (minigame timer doesn't speed up to match your characters zooming around at Turbo Speed).
There's also something about how the turbo speed mode is really cheaty for certain minigames, IIRC (minigame timer doesn't speed up to match your characters zooming around at Turbo Speed).
- Location
- United States, EST
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- He/Him
Ah, I'd been wondering which Final Fantasy was this one.
This is the Final Fantasy that I have nostalgia for personally. Not because I ever actually played it, goodness no! I was too small to figure out how to work the menus and systems properly even if I'd gotten my grubby little mitts on the disk and controller. (I think the first Final Fantasy I arguably properly played, having not really played any by self-confession, was the start of XIII up to a point where a sub-group broke off and I got stuck in a boss fight, got bored, and stopped playing.)
No, the reason I have nostalgia for this Final Fantasy is that I remember watching my dad play it when I was a little kid. I remember a few specific plot beats here and there surprisingly well, actually, including stuff like a decent chunk of this opening and my amazement at the idea that the game was big enough to need multiple disks - the first time I ever encountered the concept. And other still-spoiler things.
Anyways, this is the game I'm inclined to think of when asked to think of "what is Final Fantasy" from that alone, so it'll be fun to actually see how it plays out instead of my half-remembered set of snippets, especially now having the context of what Final Fantasy has been before this point.
This is the Final Fantasy that I have nostalgia for personally. Not because I ever actually played it, goodness no! I was too small to figure out how to work the menus and systems properly even if I'd gotten my grubby little mitts on the disk and controller. (I think the first Final Fantasy I arguably properly played, having not really played any by self-confession, was the start of XIII up to a point where a sub-group broke off and I got stuck in a boss fight, got bored, and stopped playing.)
No, the reason I have nostalgia for this Final Fantasy is that I remember watching my dad play it when I was a little kid. I remember a few specific plot beats here and there surprisingly well, actually, including stuff like a decent chunk of this opening and my amazement at the idea that the game was big enough to need multiple disks - the first time I ever encountered the concept. And other still-spoiler things.
Anyways, this is the game I'm inclined to think of when asked to think of "what is Final Fantasy" from that alone, so it'll be fun to actually see how it plays out instead of my half-remembered set of snippets, especially now having the context of what Final Fantasy has been before this point.
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- Pronouns
- She/They
All right, FFIX! This is a game that I know almost nothing about, save that a lot of people like it and one segment of the game involving Vivi that I watched someone play over their shoulder one time, so I'm very interested to see where this goes.
I will admit that besides the design perfection of Vivi, some of the character designs are throwing me off a bit, but we'll see if they grow on me.
I will admit that besides the design perfection of Vivi, some of the character designs are throwing me off a bit, but we'll see if they grow on me.
somewhatLazy
Serial Procrastinator
- Location
- lurking
Despite being the most nostalgic of the Final Fantasies, I don't really have any childhood memories myself of FF9. I played it and the other PSX-era Final Fantasies on my computer, as a rather intentional effort on the part of a teenager who'd started getting into online anime culture and (especially) fanfic to play through the most iconic game series. Still, on the whole, FF9 is my favorite of the series.
I find the gameplay a bit boring compared to 7 or the upcoming 10, but the story, art, and music? Peak. The story doesn't give me fanfic brainworms in the same way as FF7, but that's in large part due to how complete and satisfying it already feels. It's the same as Fullmetal Alchemist for me. Aside from maybe one thing, I don't really feel a need to search for plot butterflies to expand on the original. And the aesthetics... dear god the aesthetics. I'm kind of really sad that Square Enix switched to 3D Open Worlds, because here, they really take full advantage of the painted enviroments and cinematic camera shots to make sets that are just a delight to explore as well as lots of NPCs that aren't just boring humans. There's an entire beautiful and fantastical world out there! It's so fun when you play through it for the first time!
So yeah, I'm pretty excited for this playthrough.
I find the gameplay a bit boring compared to 7 or the upcoming 10, but the story, art, and music? Peak. The story doesn't give me fanfic brainworms in the same way as FF7, but that's in large part due to how complete and satisfying it already feels. It's the same as Fullmetal Alchemist for me. Aside from maybe one thing, I don't really feel a need to search for plot butterflies to expand on the original. And the aesthetics... dear god the aesthetics. I'm kind of really sad that Square Enix switched to 3D Open Worlds, because here, they really take full advantage of the painted enviroments and cinematic camera shots to make sets that are just a delight to explore as well as lots of NPCs that aren't just boring humans. There's an entire beautiful and fantastical world out there! It's so fun when you play through it for the first time!
So yeah, I'm pretty excited for this playthrough.
- Location
- Spain
Yeah kind of similar here.
See, i had a friend with a ps1 and every now and then i played at his house, and the thing we played the most was FFIX.
Except of course, my friend had already beaten the game before i started visiting him, so my memories of IX consist mainly of killing genocidal numbers of dragons for xp, doing weird minigames* and dying again and again and again trying to beat REDACTED.
And a few moments of amazement when we found something hidden we hadn't ever seen before, which happened a few times.
*(I have comb PSTD).