Together Retro: Final Fantasy Spin-Offs

[marurun]

Zelda keeps trying to monopolize my time, but I'm going to not touch any Zelda tonight, and focus on Saga 2. Overall I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the remake. It's interesting how they totally redid the visual presentation but managed to preserve relatively authentically so many of the systems behind the scenes. It really is mostly just a massively fancy new coat of paint.

[ElkinFencer10]

Well, I finally finished Final Fantasy Legend last night. That last boss was a BITCH, and I was unaware that there was a way to cheese it until after I spent a couple hours tweaking equipment and loading save states hoping for lucky a run. I did, however, manage to finish it. While I wouldn't call it a "great" game, it's a good one when you consider the age and platform.

[Sarge]

That soundtrack, though...

[MrPopo]

Now that you have beaten it, you can properly appreciate this piece of stand up (it starts halfway through):

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/if6ava/co ... ideo-games

[nullPointer]

Well, I finally finished Final Fantasy Legend last night.

Congratulations Elkin! You blazed through that one.

Dudes. FFT: War of the Lions has finally clicked with me. I'm digging this game. On one hand I'm glad I did all the tutorial nonsense, because I think I might have been lost in some of the mechanics had I not, but it was also sort of like learning how to drive – studying a bunch of mind-numbingly boring rules and regulations before you can finally get on with the fun stuff. And once I was into the fun stuff it's been a hard game to put down.

I'm not normally one to lavish praise on cut scenes, but I really like the style they've used here. Rather than the hyper-stylized 'realistic' cut scenes utilized in many Final Fantasy titles, the cut scenes here are somewhere between LOTR-era Ralph Bakshi animation and medieval relief wood carvings. It's a really nice touch and lends itself well to the mythic/epic style of the game.

I have a feeling I'm still early enough that the story hasn't gone off-the-rails convoluted yet, but I've been enjoying it so far. With its focus on succession and 'the battles of men', it reminds me of a less incestuous version on Game of Thrones (right down to the use of 'ser' as a proper title). The use of 'current events' and (playable) flashback segments is used to nice effect as well.

Mechanically I think I'm starting to find my groove. The only downside to this is that now that I'm starting to grasp the branching job system, I can see that you want to start planning your end game (in terms of jobs) pretty far in advance. I'm actually tempted to start over so I can start working the job system to my advantage right from the get go. I'm still on Chapter 1, so this wouldn't be as huge a setback as it might seem.

At any rate, I'm really enjoying this one.

[ElkinFencer10]

Now that you have beaten it, you can properly appreciate this piece of stand up (it starts halfway through):

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/if6ava/co ... ideo-games

Dude that speaks to me. I did so much fucking save state scumming to beat that final boss.

[Sarge]

Hardware. Straight up. Many, many times so I could listen to the ending theme.

[laurenhiya21]

Recently I started Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. I'm not sure how I feel about it so far, since there isn't really a lot to do in the game.

As a king, you can post quests for adventurers to go on, build new buildings, upgrade certain buildings, or talk with the villagers to up morale. Maybe the game is better later or I'm doing something wrong, but right now I don't always have enough crystal power or Gill to make or upgrade anything, which means a lot of days I'm just left with talking to people. If I also can't really earn any more morale points, then I'm left with doing nothing other than ending the day early.

I'm fine with more chill, relaxing games, but I do need to have something to do! But maybe I'm just completely missing something? I'm not really sure I'll probably play a little more, but if it doesn't pick up soon then I might call it quits on this game.

[Exhuminator]

maybe I'm just completely missing something? I'm not really sure I'll probably play a little more, but if it doesn't pick up soon then I might call it quits on this game.

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me. There's certainly plenty of other FF spin-offs to try. I thought you were gonna do Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon?

-

I'm still enjoying Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings on DS. I've got five hours in now, game says I'm 33% done. (I would be further along by now, but I've been busy with other hobbies besides gaming lately.) I am impressed with this little RTS/RPG hybrid up to this point. Here's hoping it stays that way.

[alienjesus]

maybe I'm just completely missing something? I'm not really sure I'll probably play a little more, but if it doesn't pick up soon then I might call it quits on this game.

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me. There's certainly plenty of other FF spin-offs to try. I thought you were gonna do Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon?

-

I'm still enjoying Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings on DS. I've got five hours in now, game says I'm 33% done. (I would be further along by now, but I've been busy with other hobbies besides gaming lately.) I am impressed with this little RTS/RPG hybrid up to this point. Here's hoping it stays that way.

I might as well give you some early warning then - I remember the game being pretty great all the way through, but a few of the late game sidequests required very high levels that could only be achieved with grinding. I haven't played the game in about a decade, so maybe i'm misremembering or teenage me was just too dumb to handle the difficulty with lower powered troops, but don't be surprised if you encounter that on the optional sidequests.