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

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I'm sure we could circle it back some way to the topic of apparently intelligent creatures being nothing but random encounters for the heroes to exterminate on their way to bigger and better things. After all, if they can just label them all as capital e Evil there's no need to think about it harder!

Alternatively they could be taking the Law/Chaos approach, where the monsters just happen to be aligned to a largely different set of ethics that the characters in universe aren't in a position to stop and question that hard.

Which... actually I think that came up back in FF1 at some point, I'd have to go and check
 
There is so much one could go on about with early Dungeons and Dragons, but I think the closest we can get to relevant in a Final Fantasy thread is how FF1 is basically using something very close to D&D rules wholesale. :p
 
StormyEyed said:
I'm sure we could circle it back some way to the topic of apparently intelligent creatures being nothing but random encounters for the heroes to exterminate on their way to bigger and better things. After all, if they can just label them all as capital e Evil there's no need to think about it harder!

Alternatively they could be taking the Law/Chaos approach, where the monsters just happen to be aligned to a largely different set of ethics that the characters in universe aren't in a position to stop and question that hard.

Which... actually I think that came up back in FF1 at some point, I'd have to go and check
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The pastoralist-agrarian conflict interpretation of Final Fantasy I, one of my greatest moments.

Moving into games with more fleshed-out narratives that make their themes explicit has been more satisfying, in that I prefer to break down and interrogate a story that knows what it's saying, but I do sometimes miss the wild theories and extrapolation from the gaps in the text of the earlier games.
 
Terrabrand said:
this is, after all, Omicron Plays Final Fantasy thread, not D&D alignment thread, y'know?
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Fair enough, I meant it more as a bit of sarcasm to frame a passing shot at D&D alignment arguments, because D&D alignments are an inherently silly thing that have only gotten sillier.

Scia said:
I mean we could bring it full circle and talk about the D&D monsters that appear in Final Fantasy *looks at the mindflayers last seen in FFT *
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Y'know for a game that takes so much from an era where the FF Bestiary was just the AD&D Monster Manual, FF9 has very few monsters that seem like a direct callback to them.
 
StormyEyed said:
I'm sure we could circle it back some way to the topic of apparently intelligent creatures being nothing but random encounters for the heroes to exterminate on their way to bigger and better things. After all, if they can just label them all as capital e Evil there's no need to think about it harder!
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I keep meaning to talk about this since then but

Did Squall and his buddies walk onto the rink and murder the Galbadia Garden ice hockey team

Do you think Irvine knew any of them
 
StormyEyed said:
I'm sure we could circle it back some way to the topic of apparently intelligent creatures being nothing but random encounters for the heroes to exterminate on their way to bigger and better things.
Alternatively they could be taking the Law/Chaos approach, where the monsters just happen to be aligned to a largely different set of ethics that the characters in universe aren't in a position to stop and question that hard.
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Omicron said:
The pastoralist-agrarian conflict interpretation of Final Fantasy I, one of my greatest moments....I do sometimes miss the wild theories and extrapolation from the gaps in the text of the earlier games.
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I don't think it's wild extrapolation when a solid chunk of the old B/X 1e AD&D modules and gameloop are at least tangentially about establishing a base of operations to eventually push back against an "uncivilized" monster infested wilderness.

AliasiSudonomo said:
There is so much one could go on about with early Dungeons and Dragons, but I think the closest we can get to relevant in a Final Fantasy thread is how FF1 is basically using something very close to D&D rules wholesale. :p
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Actually, when you put it that way, if you really wanted to hypercatagorize FF1 (and maybe risk making it seem a little less magical in the process) you could pretty easily sort and list it's mechanical inspirations (Wizardry, B/X D&D/DragonQuest) and it's narrative or aesthetic inspirations (AD&D 1e Monster Manual and modules like Temple of Elemental Evil or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Ghibli films like Nausicca and especially Castle in the Sky)


Which reminds me, I was reading about the development of FF9 and came across this interesting bit of trivia:


Proof that the only good FF9 adaptation would be made by The Jim Henson Company.
 
I'm aware that this is literally two and a half years out of date, but I've been reading the FFIV playthrough and I'm mad about Adult Rydia on several levels. Kid Rydia has the best PC sprite in the game, since she's got amazing color choices (navy blue, gold, and pale metallic green? That works?) and she isn't held back by the chibi style as hard as Paladin Cecil. Adult Rydia loses both of those advantages hard, and also loses omnimage status because they... don't want Cecil's healing to be overshadowed? Oh, actually it's probably Rosa they didn't want overshadowed, but like they should just buff Rosa then.
All so that the kid can come back in a green leotard. Seriously?

(EDIT: On reflection this is too harsh. Adult Rydia isn't actually a bad design by the standard of most FF4 PCs, she's about average. And the idea is kinda cool. Wish they'd kept the first color scheme though.)

(I also think it would've been better if Yang was female. Early game has a fairly decent gender ratio for important characters, given how much of the cast is from a gender-segregated military, but even counting Cid's daughter (who I expected to be a much more important character) and whatshername (Anna?) who ran off with the bard, and discounting the slimy advisor and the King as minor characters, Yang is where we go from introducing a named girl for every named boy, to introducing three boys in a row.)
 
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DanZapman said:
It'd be a bit silly, because field soccer is already the normal version of soccer, just like how field hockey is the normal form of hockey. Why do you ask?
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What does "normal" mean? Field hockey is older and somewhat more accessible (inasmuch as manicuring a pitch is easier than climate-controlling a rink); ice hockey is by far more popular.
 
I just googled what English calls the other (non-ice) popular form of hockey in my country and someone really needs to answer for the word crime that is Floorball.

(Ice hockey is waaay bigger at a competitive level, but """"floorball"""" doesn't have the insane infrastructure and gear needs and is thus one of the biggest sports for schools and amateurs.)
 
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