Queen's Blood (Final Fantasy Thread)

[Skummy]

Also, VIII is dreadful.

VII and IX were the last two to actually be fun. I hate all the prequels and sequels and expanded universe FFVII stuff, because they're all so fucking deadly serious. VII was about brothels, and the Gold Saucer, and Mukki, and cross-dressing, and was basically absolutely fucking mental.

VIII has an awful, nonsensical plot, terrible characters, a horrendous magic system, some of the cheapest shit in any RPG (WATCH AS THE END BOSS RANDOMLY SELECTS YOUR PARTY), some of the biggest cop-out plot twists ever, it constantly contradicts itself (there's been no radio signal for decades, except those two guys you fought a couple of hours ago who communicate by radio), and the biggest feeling of "we made it up as we went along" of any Final Fantasy game.

To everyone saying it's the best or their favourite or whatever, was it the first one you played? That's the only possible explanation I can think of. It's just objectively awful.

I'd be up for some VIII action, if only because it'll give me a rage outlet because yeah, everything in that game is ridicul-IN SPACEEEEEEE!

AND THE SCHOOL CAN FLYYYYYYY.

[Benji]

VIII has an awful, nonsensical plot, terrible characters, a horrendous magic system, some of the cheapest shit in any RPG (WATCH AS THE END BOSS RANDOMLY SELECTS YOUR PARTY), some of the biggest cop-out plot twists ever, it constantly contradicts itself (there's been no radio signal for decades, except those two guys you fought a couple of hours ago who communicate by radio), and the biggest feeling of "we made it up as we went along" of any Final Fantasy game.

The plot was ridiculous at times, and the magic system was horrid (seriously, that's probably the worst battle system element in any FF ever barring the fact battles basically do themselves in the XIII series), but the rest doesn't ring true.

Outside of Squall and Rinoa, VIII had some really fun characters. Irvine and Seifer in particular were really interesting personas. The biggest problem the characters had was probably that their motivations weren't spelled out enough after the Edea reveal. Stuff like Irvine not taking the shot because of who the Sorceress turned out to be, and Seifer following Edea partly because (major spoiler, for those that haven't played)...

... she's basically the only mother he's ever known...

... were interesting character motivations that the plot never truly explored. I also loved Quistis and her friend/teacher/lover thing with Squall that she couldn't quite figure out, but again, that's never really fully explored. A lot of FFVIII's character development is done with very subtle moments, and much more if it is done almost entirely as background noise. As I say, the plot is at fault, not the characters.

The radio signal thing is long-range radio only, not short range radio. Also, it's not that there's been no radio signal anyway, it's that it's been interfered with.

I wouldn't ever put it in my top FF games, but it's certainly not terrible.

[probablyoliver]

I love the part when you realise the summons are actually destroying your life so you get more powerful ones.

[Benji]

That bit is hilarious. It's not even like they find a technology to stop it from happening.

[Skummy]

Yeah, it's genius. "GFs are killing our memory, and rotting our brains!". You then proceed to spend the rest of the game barely even mentioning this fact again, and continuing to use them with no noticeable repercussions. That and there's a line about "GF critics" suggesting that they have an effect on memory which is hilarious on every level - partly for introducing the concept of "GF critics", which should have been explored more, but mostly because apparently the focus of GF critics' concern is on your mental wellbeing, not on the fact that we're perfectly okay with maladjusted amnesiac teenagers summoning fucking Doomtrain.

Also, I'd accept your point on the development of Irvine's character, if it weren't totally countered by his "Oh, yeah, I knew all along guys. Didn't think it was important" response to the world's worst plot point.

Also, the whole Laguna thing. You get this reveal that "HE WAS PROBABLY SQUALL'S DAD OR SOMETHING IN THE PAST" and that's like woah that......actually, no wait, that explains literally nothing, and has no bearing on the rest of the plot whatsoever. Thanks for wasting our time, dick.

Also, you get a fantastic cliffhanger ending at the end of one Disc, that's literally just picked up at the beginning of the next disc with "he got better".

[Benji]

There's a fair few fan theories on that, including one stating that everything past disc one is Squall's dying hallucination. The simplest explanation though is that the Sorceress healed Squall so she could torture him for answers on what Garden and SeeD really was.

[Skummy]

There's a fair few fan theories on that, including one stating that everything past disc one is Squall's dying hallucination.

I guess there's already a "I guess we just all forgot" explanation in there, may as well throw in a healthy dose of "IT WAS ALL A DREAM" while we're at it

[Benji]

Now you're getting the hang of it! We'll have you liking FF8 by supper time!

[probablyoliver]

I only tend to like summon magic when it's actually an important part of the story (IX and X, basically) otherwise it's the most batshit ridiculous thing in all games. I can get behind magic, thats fine, but summoning the all powerful god of hellfire and not having it as a big deal? That's ridiculous.

VIII just takes it that one step further by having it be a major plot point with the memory stuff and then oh wait, here's Odin.

[Sousa]

I have two words for you, gentlemen, just two words.

Time. Compression.

[Skummy]

Yeah, my approach to GFs being relevant to the storyline in VIII is basically "bless 'em for trying". Because it makes a hell of a lot more sense than Final Fantasy VII's very dark and serious storyline, and then "BOOM! Fat Chocobo".

[probablyoliver]

Nothing in VII makes sense. There's points in VII which are a thousand times worse than anything given to us in VIII, it's just balanced by the good things.

There's no good things in VIII, it's just fucking mental.

[Sousa]

At least VII didn't spring a new Big Bad on you in the last three hours of the game like certain Subsequent Two Games in the Series I could name.

You meet Sephiroth, you get screwed over by Sephiroth, and then in the end, you murder Sephiroth.

Compare to meeting Edea, getting screwed over by Edea, and then in the end, you get to kill... whoever the fuck Ultimecia is.

Necron, of course, is a far worse offender than this.

[probablyoliver]

Oh man, time compression. I mean, wait, I don't even

I get the whole megalomaniacal 'destroy the world' plot if it serves to improve the life of the baddie. Pretty much every baddie trying to destroy the planet does it to become a god and that's fine by me. How does anyone benefit at all from time compr-IN SPAAAAAAACEEEEEEE

[probablyoliver]

Necron is somewhat forgivable because at least the entirety of the game is focused on Kuja. Yeah, Necron is dumb and stupid but at least it only lasts 10 minutes. VIII changes focus so much that literally none of the people I should consider as big evil hold any relevance whatsoever.

[Benji]

At least VII didn't spring a new Big Bad on you in the last three hours of the game like certain Subsequent Two Games in the Series I could name.

You meet Sephiroth, you get screwed over by Sephiroth, and then in the end, you murder Sephiroth.

Compare to meeting Edea, getting screwed over by Edea, and then in the end, you get to kill... whoever the fuck Ultimecia is.

Necron, of course, is a far worse offender than this.

Necron was fucking ridiculous. I love FFIX, but no matter how many times Necron comes up, I can't ever find a way to justify it without basically kidding myself.

[Sousa]

IX had some really endearing parts in hindsight, but my biggest complaint isn't even Necron; it's the fact that I hated literally every single person who doesn't join the party within the first two hours. Vivi, Steiner, and Dagger are the only really interesting characters in the entire game, and then you travel the world gaining the services of a brooding orange Vincent, the most boring Lancer ever, some kid who can do everything Dagger can do except she sucks at it, and that goddamn thing with the tongue.

That and the fact that the story for the first two discs or so is extremely repetitive ("The queen is going to destroy this place!" "Okay, let's go there and stop her!" "Oh shits, we're too late again!").

[MalaCloudy Black]

Necron was so bizarre. The entire game it's all do-de-do-de-do, goin' to kill Kuja, gotta stop that guy -- followed by who the fuck is that?!

PS Sousa, updated your FFT LP! I've already read all the FFT/FFTA LPs on LPArchive, I need another one to read!

[Sousa]

I'm trying to make the first few battles of Chapter 2 interesting because it starts kind of slow.

[probablyoliver]

Eiko was awesome.