Final Fantasy IV: The 3D Remake

This is making it hard for me to resist buying a DS.

Is this the one with the Opera level or is that another FF I'm thinking of?

So this is the one where some of it takes place on the moon. Maybe? Yes? No? Square really confuses me with their FF games. Part 2 in the states was Part 4 in Japan and part 3 in the States was 6 in Japan. And then finally, things were synced up with FF VII.

If Square-Enix announced they were giving this kind of loving remake attention to Final Fantasy VII and it would only be available on the PlayStation 3, Sony might actually sell some of those things.

They're too busy making terrible spin-off games.

As long as there are fools (like me) who will purchase FF numeral games multiple times, they'll keep remaking them.

IV is the most complete game of the series (VI is my favorite, but the World of Ruin doesn't hold up as well). Also the extra dungeon at the end of IV on the GBA version, is by far my favorite of any of the bonus dungeons.

Rydia is supposed to be 20 at the end of the game. After leaving the party, she returns from the Land of Summons, having aged faster because of the way time works in the Summon World.

One thing I always like about the FF games I've played is that their endings are pretty amazing. You never feel cheated.

If you haven't seen Advent Children, avoid it at all costs.

If you notice, her portrait in the party menu actually changes to look older between the beginning of the game and when she returns from the Land of Summons.

Wake me up when I can play Final Fantasy V again. Mmm mmm mmm, job system.

Sephiroth was never, ever cool.

FF IV was the first in the series I played and it's still probably my favorite. I picked up the GBA version as well, so I'm pretty excited about this one. I'm glad to see that they've managed to squeeze more than 3 enemies on screen at once this time, not to mention the 5 character party. I wonder when this will be out.

BUT-but-but-he killed a village! And there was fire and the music was going "duh duh duh duh ohhh ohhh ohhh"

Sephiroth's best moment is in Kingdom Hearts. You're much more badass when a choir is singing your name and you're voiced by Lance Bass.

I was so happy I got to fight a thong wearing transexual from another dimension/planet in Final Fantasy IX. Really made a lot of dreams come true for me.

You have lousy dreams.

The DS release of III was plagued by the graphics (it caused the amount of characters on screen to be reduced). Add in, that the graphics were shit, I'm not real thrilled this is the direction for FF IV, but as above (and virtually everything I write on this site), I'm a FF apologist. Lali-Ho.

Well, yeah.

Yeah, but FF VIII sucks.

Actually, I understand what you are saying, but still...

VIII is still miles worse.

For all my issues with VII's shitty story, and how said story has been whored out 6 ways from Sunday (For the record, though, I still make certain concessions for Advent Children), it's at least still fun to play. VIII, it's all downhill after Liberi Fatali. And that's BEFORE you get into the shitty story.

I loved Triple Triad. I'm a compulsive collector, so that and the draw system really tickled my square button, so to speak.

The whole GF thing was no fun, though.

You know what was the most horribly unplayable FF mini-game? Blitzball.

You know what's more fun than Blitzball? Self-Mutilation.

As much as I enjoy the series, I had no idea there was a "Wipeout generation"

In any case, yeah the "trying too hard to be cool" factor is in there, and it's often at war with the series' light-hearted roots in VII. But you also have to realize that at the time, VII was the whole RPG genre's debutante ball. This is the game that WAS designed to bring RPGs into the mainstream, and one can never deny the fact that, like it or not, it worked, and arguably, the fact that we're still reaping the benefits is a very good thing.

Blitzball was the first mini-game, I totally blew-off. I even spent hours on hours raising the Secretariat of chocobos in VII. I mean, what's the reward, Wakka's ultimate blitzball? Fuck that.

How did Knights of the Round break FF7? The summon allows the caster to go get a turkey sandwich while ownage happens. That can't be a bad thing.

Get a turkey sandwich? You could raise a turkey, build the nerve to slaughter it, slice it thin, make a sandwich and eat it.

Now now, in my experience if Sephiroth had protect or shell cast on himself (can't remember which) during the final battle, you had to cast it TWICE to win. That's the definition of balance.

To be fair, there's an equally cheap method in VIII. Card mod the Bahamut card to get 1000 (I think) Megalixers. After you get the Lionheart, just have one player heal with the Megalixers and one cast Aura on everyone as much as needed, then start spamming Limit Breaks. It isn't as quickly decisive as KotR, but you won't ever have the slightest problem beating any enemy by using it.

Hmmm... this sounds interesting. Given the fact that it's been a while I could be wrong, but I don't ever remember processing cards... Ugh. I may have to dig it out and give it a whirl again sometime. I really enjoyed VIII (of course I never finished it though), mostly for the world and characters, but I thought the actual game system made playing it tedious at times. If I remember correctly, the enemies got stronger as you did so battles against even the most basic enemies could end up taking longer than necessary, and then you mix in the draw system and I'm in a fight forever drawing and drawing and drawing... it was like I was diseased. I kind of even remember where I left off in the game so technically I could track down my save file and keep going. I think the party got captured and had all their gear taken and you had to fight out of that...

The card game was a blast though. Even my girlfriend (now my wife) got into it. IX was a good game but the card game didn't grab me. I don't think I ever gave it enough time to even figure out how to play it. And I am so sad to say that in X I only played as far as where you get to the first game of Blitzball. RPGs are my obsession... but I never play them! That's why the handhelds and my commute are my friends.

edited for spelling!

For the record, VIII is still my favorite (though XII might have stolen the top spot, since it's so fucking huge). I haven't played it in a long time though, so maybe it'll be different now that I'm not the romantic I was in high school. I recently replayed VII, and hated it. The battle system was fun, but it's so ridiculously ugly and the materia building is so boring that I had to give it up.

Final Fantasy has been going down the shitter ever since Squaresoft managed to trick people into thinking Kefka was cool.

I love FFX's grid system, though. Maybe it was a gimmick, but I had more fun leveling up in that game than any other.

In fact, I'd have to say FFX gets the #2 spot from me, behind only FFV (Jobs is fun!).

EDIT: None of them compare to the immersive items and systems of Star Ocean*. Now there was a great game.

*At least I think it was Star Ocean. Those fucking games' names get mixed up in my head. Lunar, Lufia, Grandia, Star Ocean, etc. Which was the PS1 game that had a shitload of item building and skills (including cooking)?

If you like V, then you might actually like III, if you can get past the pot-bellied children.

That would be probably Star Ocean 2.



I've pretty much gone off FF in the last few years myself. Frankly, they're all outclassed by Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest VIII, Shadow Hearts and so on; unless you actually like the overdramatic soap-opera storylines.