Queen's Blood (Final Fantasy Thread)

[probablyoliver]

You are the wrogest person, like, ever. Least of all because Eiko is a total badass.

I'm on my way to Ipsen's castle now with a badass team of Zidane, Eiko, Vivi and Amarant (I forgot how awesome Amarant is, although I've no doubt he'll switch in and out with Steiner and Quina as and when needed). I'd say Freya's the only disposable character in IX although Garnet does become fairly useless when Eiko's fully powered.

Basically IX is wonderful.

[Benji]

You are both wrong, and right, about the balance of characters. Having materia is fun, but you basically have to have no tactics at all to beat anything beyond "Wall-Regen-Attack/Magic Attack", which is pretty fucking boring. Other games where characters have proper classes involve much more variance, which is more fun to me.

I personally think FFX got it best - you can use any character at any time (literally switching mid-battle), but each has their own pros and cons (though I do resent how shitty Kimhari is in battle, because by the time his red/blue mage ability is of any use, everybody's already way outclassed him and made him practically useless. He really should have been given some kind of special ability to keep him relevant)..

I've always said, FFIX is my favourite, and it probably always will be, but I'll never say it's the "best", because it has a tremendous amount of flaws. It's story and characters are the best, which is one of the main things I play FF for.

[probablyoliver]

No bloodline flaws.

[Benji]

Shitty guide, shitty trance execution, some characters having annoying double team exclusive abilities that take a slot that could be used for solo abilities (rather than the epic Chrono Trigger style group abilities), the ridiculously high steal rate on some items, just to name a few. It's not perfect, but it is fucking awesome.

[Ruki]

What don't you like about the trance system?

[Benji]

The fact it happens with a hit trigger, meaning that they get wasted on randoms, rather than used well on bosses and the fact that each Trance action seems to have no consistent discharge on the meter, with it not lasting through to the next battle, so it can't even be saved their either. Add to that, you can't even determine how to build it up, which might've saved it, because it's based on the hit trigger system where you get hit and build it.

[Skummy]

FFIX is magnificent. I've said it countless times before in this thread, but it always felt to me like a love letter to the previous games in the series, or a thank you note to those of us who played them. The games have changed so much since then that they're barely recognisable as Final Fantasy games, and have certainly never been as strong as IX.

The story's not the strongest - though it's nice, and in many ways a lot more subtle than the more overblown dramatic stylings of VII, or the batshit mental making it up as they go along of VIII.

The characters are actually likeable, and while sometimes a little one-dimensional, thanks to stuff like Active Time Events (one of the best features), it genuinely feels like they're getting up to stuff while they're not in your party, and that you're part of a functioning world full of people with lives, not just static NPCs waiting for you to speak to them. What's more, for the first time since VI, it felt like you were playing the part of a team, not just the main character and some other guys. The story doesn't even really focus on Zidane until the last disc - prior to that, it's pretty much all Vivi's game.

While in VII, and most other FF games, I found myself sometimes finding the gameplay itself to be a bit of a chore, IX was the first in a long, long while to actually be fun to play. I wasn't just playing for another half hour to see what happens next in the story, I was playing it because it was fun.

The characters are great, the world is vibrant and wonderful, the gameplay is fun, the story is engaging, and it's the only Final Fantasy game to ever make me cry. Sod Aeris' death, the Black Mage village is the saddest damn thing in video games.

Also, they had the balls to make the end boss be some motherfucker you've never even seen or heard of. I love that.

[probablyoliver]

Is there ever any hint to Necron before Necron? Like, even something secret and hidden or is it literally just thrown out of nowhere?

[Ruki]

Is there ever any hint to Necron before Necron? Like, even something secret and hidden or is it literally just thrown out of nowhere?

Nope.

[Benji]

It is it's own question and answer. The ultimate aspect of Final Fantasy IX is life and death, and that you cannot have one without the other, and you cannot appreciate one without the other. Necron is the end of all that is, neither life nor death, just nothing. His monologue basically explains why he isn't referred to before then - he is beyond life and death, beyond anything understandable to those who live and die. It's not the best explanation, but it's how I come to grips with it.

[zero]

Could you imagine how awesome it would be if Square made a Final Fantasy game with the aesthetic of IX with today's HD polish?

I was looking at the pictures for the upcoming XBLA game, Dust: An Elysian Tail... now imagine something looking like that with the charm of FF6 or FF9. It makes me sad that will never happen.

[Skummy]

Is there ever any hint to Necron before Necron? Like, even something secret and hidden or is it literally just thrown out of nowhere?

I remember reading back in the day that he's hinted at in some of the books you can read in random libraries and whatnot, but very obliquely, and probably open to interpretation. Looking back, that was almost definitely people clutching at straws.

I've also heard that his significance is possibly kind of lost in translation; he's ultimately the ying to the Iifa Tree's yang - he represents death while it represents life, and with him gone, the Iifa Tree itself can no longer exist either, which is why it kind of dies off at the end.

I prefer to think he just showed up and wanted to wreck your shit.

[Benji]

The Iifa tree is nothing directly to do with Necron, it and Soul Cage are what Garland created in order to control the flow of souls between Terra and Gaia. It does, however, have a connection with Exdeath, and is an homage to him. Necron is an homage to the Cloud of Darkness, appearing with no real warning, and wanting to reduce the world to nothing.

[Skummy]

Also, I only discovered in fact-checking that post that it's "Iifa Tree", with a capital "I", not "Lifa Tree" with a lower-case "L". After ALL THESE YEARS.

[probablyoliver]

What's the actual point of no return in FFIX? Like, can I pop into Memoria, pick up everyone's top weapons, fight Nemesis an then return for Ozma or is Memoria the green mile?

[Benji]

Technically it's the start of Disc 4, as you can't access most places when that hits, but I don't believe there's any genuine "point of no return" beyond the actual final battle.

[tenaciousg]

Technically it's the start of Disc 4, as you can't access most places when that hits, but I don't believe there's any genuine "point of no return" beyond the actual final battle.

Yeah, the point where you can enter Terra is the PoNR for places like Dali and a lot of the smaller places from early in the story (like the Gates, I believe), but everything else is open until you enter the final chamber after beating Deathguise.

[Herr Matzat]

FF7 is now out for PC again.

http://finalfantasyviipc.com/en

[tenaciousg]

FF7 is now out for PC again.

http://finalfantasyviipc.com/en

It should be noted that it comes loaded with DRM.

They put up "cloud saving" as a positive, but you literally can't save the game unless it can connect to the cloud storage. You can't even play the game if your computer can't connect to the internet.

Aside from that, it's pretty good. They at least remastered some of the MIDI tracks (I think?). I'm still gonna replace them with the real music, though. OWA just doesn't sound as glorious(a generosa ) without the chanting.

[Benji]

They at least remastered some of the MIDI tracks (I think?).

Unless they put in the piano tracks, why do that? Those tunes were awesome. Gold Saucer theme is the greatest.