Final Fantasy II - Like an old comfortable sweatshirt

[Ziggy]

Yeah, I don't know, I have the FF Chronicles strategy guide that I'm glancing at here and there. It gives suggested levels for various parts in the game. But they're starting to be higher then what I feel I would normally be at if I wasn't even looking at the guide. I've grinned here and there, when I thought I was in a real sweet spot (like the mountain where you become a Paladin). For example, after I first went to the underworld, I was grinding for a while on the map. Getting 1000-1500 experience points per battle, it was easy to gain a few levels. The guide suggested that Cecil be at level 37 for the Tower of Babil. After grinding for a while, Cecil was only at level 35, and that's where I felt I would have normally stopped if I wasn't looking at a guide. At this point, it takes 20,000-25,000 exp points to gain another level IIRC. I don't consider the 1000-1500 points per battle to be a sweet spot anymore.

I ended up playing through the Tower of Babil with Cecil at level 35, and fairly easily too. To have gained the two more levels would have taken at least another half hour of grinding. Considering I was already grinding at that point for at least a half hour, I really didn't wanna do it anymore. Looking ahead in the guide, the suggested levels seem to jump more rapidly than what I think the levels will naturally progress. It almost seems like after each major event, the guide wants you to grind for an hour. The guide also refers to this game (this version) as one of the hardest RPG's ever. So I think I'll take it with a grain of salt.

[noiseredux]

so is FFV a bit of a black sheep in the series? Its re-release on PSN this week makes me realize that it's one I never got too familiar with. It then occured to me that it wasn't even localized until PS1. I mean it is sort of interesting that they brought over IV and VI but chose to skip V. So I don't know, I guess all the sudden I'm sort of interested in this installment based solely on the fact that I just realized I've never really been that interested in it before.

[o.pwuaioc]

so is FFV a bit of a black sheep in the series? Its re-release on PSN this week makes me realize that it's one I never got too familiar with. It then occured to me that it wasn't even localized until PS1. I mean it is sort of interesting that they brought over IV and VI but chose to skip V. So I don't know, I guess all the sudden I'm sort of interested in this installment based solely on the fact that I just realized I've never really been that interested in it before.

FFV is awesome! It's really what I wanted in a game after IV. It makes major improvements in character class, although I wish they didn't go back down to only 4 characters for the party. IV really outshines the rest with a five character party. FFV (modded for English translation) is one of a handful of SNES carts I'd love to have a repro of.

[brunoafh]

FF V has the best gameplay of the SNES titles imo, it's definitely worth a play. It's great all around really, I think the only reason it gets over shadowed is due to the fact it didn't come here back in the day. The antagonist is awesome too, he's just a classic cliche JRPG villain, but it's done so well. I think Golbez is the best villain FF ever had, but I would have to say Exdeath is a worthy successor. Last of the villains before they started coming up with crazy nonsense and dropping the badass evil knight theme. I can't say enough good about the game really, I wouldn't call it a black sheep by any stretch, just a tad overlooked.

Hopefully Xeogred comments on this, because he went through and played FF V recently after having a similar feelings with it.

Awesome music too.

[Xeogred]

Thee emotional scene in FFV I thought was one of the most emotional scenes in any FF game for sure, moreso than anything in FFIV / FFVI honestly. I'll echo what bruno said and say the gameplay is way better than FFIV / VI's and just one of the best in the series in general. The game is far more challenging as well, but very rewarding. It's easy to grind off and on at spots if that needs to be done, it was never super necessary though. The music isn't as consistent as FFIV / FFVI, but it's fairly experiemental and has a lot of my favorite themes, like the caves theme, some of the dungeon themes were amazing, and it's hard to top all the music for ExDeath and Gilgamesh. The humor was awesome and really made the game a bit more unique and "fun" in some ways making the characters very memorable, while still being serious enough in the end. Unlike FFVI which I think dips a little in quality towards the end, I thought FFV was consistent from the start and to the end just like FFIV. It just got better and better. Because of the flexible job system I can see it being one of the most replayable FF's.

So that sums it up a little. bruno is right in that it took me about 10 years to appreciate the game, but this the kicker... do NOT play the PSN / PSX release. It's buggy and the translation was awful. I got to the very end of the game years ago but didn't care to finish it since I wasn't loving it. Well I finally replayed the GBA version last year, and unlike the shodday GBA ports of FFIV and VI, the V port was incredible. Even some of the music sounded better on the hardware, the translation was amazing, the game ran better and had some fixes, etc. So it's by far the definitive version of the game I'd say, if you don't want to play it on the GBA/DS just emulate it. I really can't recommend the PSX version at all, there's probably better fan translations out there, but the game is still broken in some area's.

Also simply put I like ExDeath a lot more than Kefka, no joke. ExDeath was far more chaotic in hilarious and awesome ways, and his ultimate goal was far more ridiculous and amazing.

[AppleQueso]

I love FFV

never finished it though but yeah

[Ziggy]

This seems to happen a lot. There's something on my mind that I wanna talk about / ask about and it happens to come up on the forums for me.

do NOT play the PSN / PSX release. It's buggy and the translation was awful. [...] I really can't recommend the PSX version at all, there's probably better fan translations out there, but the game is still broken in some area's.

I've read on a few forums that the PS1 translation is horrible and the SNES fan-translation is a LOT better. Also, the SNES version has no load times compared to the PS1 version. But I haven't read about the GBA port being better than the SNES version. You mentioned that the game is "still broken in some areas," care to explain?

After I (hopefully) finish FF4, I was thinking about playing FF5. I was planning on playing it on the SNES (via a flash cart). I really don't like hand helds, I could play it on the GB player for the Cube, but I'd still rather play it on the SNES.

[AppleQueso]

I thought the ps1 version was okay.

[MrPopo]

I first played the SFC translation, then a little bit of the PS1 version, then the GBA translation. I'd say SFC and GBA are pretty equal in terms of quality. The PS1 version is complete ass.

I think one of the reasons FFV doesn't get brought up much is it is a very light-hearted game. It contrasts with IV and VI which were drama with some comedic elements. FFV is comedy with some dramatic moments.

[Ziggy]

I thought the ps1 version was okay.

The thing I don't like about the PS1 versions of FF4, 5 and 6 is the loading times. Specifically, when loading/saving a file. When you're in the game, it seems to take forever to load the memory card, then takes forever to actually save the file. I'm sure this is why they implemented the memo save feature, because it takes way too long to use the normal save function. This is a huge benefit that the SNES version (and I assume the GBA version) has over it, in my opinion. I weigh this more than the quality of translation between the versions.

I'm playing through FF4 right now, and I chose the PS1 version (even though I own a FF2 cart). Mainly because of the noticeable difference in the quality of the translation. But I'd be lying if I said that every time I'm loading or saving the game that I'm not thinking to myself, "I wish I was playing the SNES version."

I was just looking at the prices of FF5 GBA carts on eBay. They seem to go for more than I'd be willing to spend on it. So all things considered, I'll be playing it on the SNES.

@ Xeogred: I'm still interested to hear what you meant by the SNES version being broken in some areas.