The Black Mage Village (Final Fantasy)

[fingers mccoy]

How do you do that without levelling up?

I'd love to know, because I've finally reached the point where I find levelling up to be a collosal chore. They really need to make an FF where levelling happens a lot quicker, or through some other means than simply doing a buttload of fighting. Maybe they should make an FF where you level up a certain amount after beating bosses, completing sidequests, and completing mini-quests which are still part of the main flow of the story. In other words I advocate a system like Metal Gear Solid, where Snakes rubs his face after defeating a boss and his health bar increases. Something like that.

Anyway, fingers, tell me how to pump up my GFs without the endless fighting...


haha, you still have to do the endless fighting, i'm afraid. exp goes to gfs even if the character they are junctioned to is dead, so whenever you get a guest character in your party (seifer, edea) you level up like crazy with gfs junctioned to all your dead characters (per character, exp is divided up equally between the gfs junctioned).

it's kinda easy to do it this way in dollet with seifer because he gets a limit break like every other turn, which usually kills the galbadian soldiers in one hit.

It's a lot of work but it means for the rest of the game all you have to worry about is tactics because you have the applicable strength behind you so it's good in that regard. grinding is always a fact of life in the final fantasy canon.

crisis core had a pretty good level up system as far as i remember, grinding really wasnt necessary, it was well paced.

[MrConeman]

I was awesome at Blitzball, once you get Tidus to a decent level, learn the Jecht Shot, and hire Brother on to your team you wipe the floor with everyone.

I'm ashamed to say I actually spent alot of hours playing that little game, really liked it for awhile.

[fatbandit]

I beat the Ronso team 13-0 once. I was hooked.

I can't see how I could be that into Blitzball ever again, hahaha. This was back in the days of school holidays and 4/5 hour sessions in a morning though :p

[Jamais_Vu]

I'm talking about that one blitzball game you have to play in the story to win the tournament. I was never able to beat that.

[fatbandit]

I know it can be done. But I never managed it. I came really close once though :(

[Anglachel]

I did it

you get the trophy and wakka hands it off to the team and the you go on your merry litte way
pretty much everything remained the same

[MrConeman]

I won on that on my first play through. Lost on my second and only other play through though.

[Jamais_Vu]

You don't get any special items out of it? That's stupid.

[IgniteYourAvail]

You do, you get an elixir or something.

[RetiredAt21]

Terra was definitely the main character in VI, you fools.

@ last page

[MAthiAS]

I thought FF8 was a good game but I didn't like the EXP system they had. I thought FFX did a good job with the sphere grid.
I loved VIII's exp system. Not having to level up is awesome, and refining magic is awesome.

Hate grinding so so so much.

[huxtaposition]

grinding isn't so bad if you get comfortable with cold beverages and crank up some tunes

[Happy]

I had no stereo and I couldn't drink at 11 so I hated grinding.

[Anglachel]

I think the only games I liked grinding in are 3 and 5

3 for job levels because i knew exactly how they work and how to get them up really fast

5 because level 5 death on objet d'art under castle bal meant pooploads of AP so i wanted to master each class (I did too!)

[Jamais_Vu]

After I beat MGS4 again I'm going to start playing FF8 again. A lot of people don't like to do it but sometimes I have a lot of fun by just turning on my stereo and leveling up for hours upon hours. One thing I really hated about FF8 was on the final boss when it randomizes your party members. Arrrrgh that made me mad cause sometimes Squall wasn't even in there.

[IgniteYourAvail]

Yeah I've been thinking of starting FF8 again. I think I will.

[Jamais_Vu]

I know this may be a stupid question, but every time I played FF8 I could never figure it out...how do you use your limit breaks without having your health get close to death?

[IgniteYourAvail]

If I remember correctly the only time they would show up is if you were in low health.

[Jamais_Vu]

That sucks. I thought I remember someone telling me once that there is a certain item you can use that makes its chances of appearing increase. Ok, that's another thing I didn't like about FF8, but it's still a great game. I love doing the flashbacks when it goes to Laguna.

[fatbandit]

You can use an Aura spell or an Aura Stone to put you in Aura status.

I think the only GF that can refine Auras is Leviathan. Don't forget to draw him from NORG. You can get Aura spells from hidden draw points on the islands closest to heaven and hell as well.

[Liberi Fatali]

Nah you could use Aura, which made it possible to use limit breaks no matter what health you are at for a short while.

edit: beaten

Using hero was awesome too, it made one character invincible for a short amount of time, modifying the laguna card into 100 hero's made the last battle sooooo much easier.

[Jamais_Vu]

I remember using hero but I only had a small amount. For some reason Zell would always be my savior on the last part of Ultimecia lol.

[huxtaposition]

zell was cool and all but irvine totally had him beat

[spitfirejunky]

You had to do a fair amount of blitzball in order to get Wakka's final (amazing) overdrive. Some of the sphere grid prizes were also amazing.

[Happy]

Using hero was awesome too, it made one character invincible for a short amount of time, modifying the laguna card into 100 hero's made the last battle sooooo much easier.

Holy War was awesome too.

[MrConeman]

So what's everyones verdict on FFXIII so far then?
Another sub-par bore (hi XII), or a return to glory? (everything before XII to varying degrees)

I've been avoiding everything on it, press releases, trailers, pictures, wiki page, everything. Untill earlier I got bored and didn't care anymore and looked them all up. I'm obviously not too sure what to think yet, as it's not like I can play it, but so far it at least looks like an improvement.

The graphics are obviously awesome, but thats just like every other game with these new systems. The characters actually seem decent for once again, I'm so so so *so* glad they've actually decided for a female lead instead of another male lead that wants to be a female, Vaan and Tidus were horrible lead characters to play, totally cringe worthy. At least this time it's an actual girl, who I read they based on Cloud, not sure what to think of that yet. The blonde dude with the hat reminds me of Irvine from VIII, I liked Irvine.

The game play itself from what I can see is a major improvement again too, it's like it's taken the best points from XII and the old systems and mixed them, and you can see the influence they were taking from Advent Childrens fight scenes.

I'm getting more Star Wars vibes with the overall feel of the trailers, which I hated about XII

And I don't see the music being great ...and that's very dissapointing to me.

[Iscariot]

Update on my FFVII escapades.

I've been training up in the Wutai area near where you get off the Tiny Bronco to enter the island. At first I was just going to work on a couple characters limits and move on to the Temple Of The Ancients, but then I decided to just keep fighting.

Cloud, Aeris, Yuffie, and Red XIII are all at level 4 on their limit breaks.

Barret and Vincent are at level 3 and awaiting their level 4 items.

Cait Sith has his final (level 2) limit, Slots.

I'm about to get Cid's second level 3 limit and then he'll be awaiting his item.

My highest level character right now is Cloud at level 65, and everyone else is between 58-64.

Also, I have a mountain of master materia including a couple of mastered Revive materias and several mastered Restore materias, Counter Attack is almost mastered, and I have almost half a million Gil.

:cool:

[spitfirejunky]

^ Haha, holy ****.

[fatbandit]

Dude, you're going to pwn the Temple of the Ancients so hard. Hahahaha.

My FFVII game hasn't been touched for a while. Just working on a full set of Master Materia (and any other materia I'd consider 'essential') for my 3 main party members in the crater. All of my characters are level 99 though. When I'm done with the materia grinding, I'm going to smack down some WEAPONs and then beat Sephiroth. And revert to the save file whenever I feel like doing it again ^_^

[Iscariot]

^ Haha, holy ****.

Dude, you're going to pwn the Temple of the Ancients so hard. Hahahaha.

I know I'm so pumped. :D

[huxtaposition]

I know I'm so pumped. :D

thats kickass man i feel pumped for you

what's your clock at?

[Liberi Fatali]

So what's everyones verdict on FFXIII so far then?
Another sub-par bore (hi XII), or a return to glory? (everything before XII to varying degrees)

I've been avoiding everything on it, press releases, trailers, pictures, wiki page, everything. Untill earlier I got bored and didn't care anymore and looked them all up. I'm obviously not too sure what to think yet, as it's not like I can play it, but so far it at least looks like an improvement.

The graphics are obviously awesome, but thats just like every other game with these new systems. The characters actually seem decent for once again, I'm so so so *so* glad they've actually decided for a female lead instead of another male lead that wants to be a female, Vaan and Tidus were horrible lead characters to play, totally cringe worthy. At least this time it's an actual girl, who I read they based on Cloud, not sure what to think of that yet. The blonde dude with the hat reminds me of Irvine from VIII, I liked Irvine.

The game play itself from what I can see is a major improvement again too, it's like it's taken the best points from XII and the old systems and mixed them, and you can see the influence they were taking from Advent Childrens fight scenes.

I'm getting more Star Wars vibes with the overall feel of the trailers, which I hated about XII

And I don't see the music being great ...and that's very dissapointing to me.
To be honest I'm more pumped about Versus XIII, from the interviews and videos I've seen it looks like it'll be quite wicked. Some of the XIII footage I've scene doesn't really appeal to me, like Shiva as a motorbike, but it is still far too early to judge properly.

Both will be first day buys for me though definitely, along with White Knight Chronicles.

[Iscariot]

thats kickass man i feel pumped for you

what's your clock at?

39 hours and I just got done with the Temple Of The Ancients.

[Jim]

wait a minute shiva is a motorbike?

squenix wtf are you doing to me

[spitfirejunky]

You lost me at is.

[Liberi Fatali]

http://www.finalfantasyxiii.net/images/pages/summons-shiva1.jpg

[Happy]

wait a minute shiva is a motorbike?

squenix wtf are you doing to me

Upsetting us obv.

[RetiredAt21]

I'm hoping this is some sort of elaborate prank that Squenix is pulling.

[fingers mccoy]

what's so bad about that? she's just a summon, and i guess it's supposed to be a kind of fan-service.

i mean, for better or worse, it's not *actually* a motorbike - it's two sister deities that one of the main characters can control.

[Happy]

I do not like change.

[fingers mccoy]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBbX1uEskg

oh man this looks like great fun

this game had better be HUGE

i wonder what kind of voice acting lightning would work best with... dunno if i've seen a character like her in the later generations of ff

[Happy]

Looked very confusing. I don't know if I'll like it but I'll probably buy it anyway

Apparently the PS3 version is going to have trophies. No idea what they'll be like :-/

[fingers mccoy]

the only thing is... i hope they dont pursue this whole overdeveloped nonsense geopolitics theme they've been going for in the last couple of installments. I don't want the badguy to be some dumbpoop monarch who gets his grubby hands on some precious pseudo-alchemic resource, nor do I want to have to take on a totalitarian regime with a bunch of faceless bureaucrats and their goons, if all that results is their final iteration grows a couple of wings and cries when you cram holy magic into their face - I want to slaughter a hilariously petulant and enigmatic god who basically wants to kill everything, or a witch who wants to compress past present and future into some horrible toxic frieze so that she can plonk a castle in the middle of it and cackle, or an irradiated pretty-boy held in an agonising state of hatred by great oedipal bonds with the power to break an enormous rock on everyone's head! that's the kind of cool **** final fantasy used to give us to rape with steel! that's what i grew up on!

[Happy]

It looks like a totalitarian regime to me.

[fingers mccoy]

yeah, which is ok, i just hope there's a proper antagonist behind it. xii was great, but the final boss was so much less exhilarating than the climactic FMVs, which i thought was actually a first for the series. and the judges were very very boring fights.

[fatbandit]

I really wanted a FF game that played like an FF game for XII, not one that played like an MMORPG. Which it did.

I don't want to think about whether I'm going into battle with all my characters buffed or not for EVERY fight.

[MrConeman]

Theres a great comment on that youtube video about Tetris having more character development and plot than XII. :lol:
Awesome.

[spitfirejunky]

I agree with fingers here, we need more sociopathic ultra-villains.

[Jamais_Vu]

I don't know why a lot of people I talk to hate Sephiroth as a villain. Maybe it's because he's the most popular and people get tired of him. The villain in FFXII was a pansy, Seymour was decent because he progressed by getting even more evil, and Ultimecia was just a bitch.

[Incognito]

Well, my 360 is in for repairs, time to bust out the copy of FFIX I bought and never played, Hoo-Ah!

[Anglachel]

I don't know why a lot of people I talk to hate Sephiroth as a villain. Maybe it's because he's the most popular and people get tired of him. The villain in FFXII was a pansy, Seymour was decent because he progressed by getting even more evil, and Ultimecia was just a bitch.
Because he was a crappy villian maybe
JENOVA was scarier

Seymour was ok once you knew what he intended to do

Ultimecia was cool

still there are no ff villians better than exdeath and kefka
a ****ing magical tree? AWESOME

[huxtaposition]

well don't forget garland, because he will knock you all down

[IgniteYourAvail]

What about Necron

I mean I love a villain that doesn't show up until the very end.

[MrConeman]

Sephiroth was a great villian.

Yu-Yevon...now there's a crappy villian.

[RetiredAt21]

Kefka was awesome and easily the best villain in a Final Fantasy game.

[jrowa001]

downloaded the new trailer for FFXIII. dear god im excited. the battle system looked amazing

[Bread and Faxes]

Because he was a crappy villian maybe
JENOVA was scarier

Seymour was ok once you knew what he intended to do

Ultimecia was cool

still there are no ff villians better than exdeath and kefka
a ****ing magical tree? AWESOME

best villian is sephiroth because you didn't know wtf was up with the dude.

He was pretty ruthless and you didn't even know if he really existed.

I mean, you see the scene where cloud actually kills him and you see his body in the crater and you're like wtf have I been chasing then.

The fact the dude wasn't even really alive just makes Jenova baddass. Jenova is the real villian.

[MrConeman]

Not really, Sephiroth was controlling Jenova.

[Bread and Faxes]

you know, I got the game when it first came out, and every time I play it, the story seems different and more confusing.

truthfully, idk what goes on in that game. I just love it.

[Happy]

What about Necron

I mean I love a villain that doesn't show up until the very end.

Yeah I was like oh cool who's this guy?

[spitfirejunky]

That's what bugged me to hell in IX, you hear absolutely no mention of Necron. At least X had all of three lines about Yu Yevon.

[IgniteYourAvail]

That's what bugged me to hell in IX, you hear absolutely no mention of Necron. At least X had all of three lines about Yu Yevon.

Apparently there's an optional book you can read somewhere that mentions him. Sweet.

[spitfirejunky]

Well I definitely missed it. :(

[Happy]

I hate it that there's books to go with the FF games. It should be all explained in the games :mad:

[fingers mccoy]

hahahhaa necron was brilliant, i loved the way he quoted yoda

[Happy]

He did? I never noticed.

Plus I've never seen Star Wars.

[RetiredAt21]

He did? I never noticed.

Plus I've never seen Star Wars.

:eek:

Surely you can't be serious...

[Happy]

Surely. And I never want to.

[MrConeman]

I hate it that there's books to go with the FF games. It should be all explained in the games :mad:
The books that go along with 7 were awesome. I think they were titled The Story of Denzel and Maiden Who Travels the Planet.

But what the hell, watch Star Wars, man!

[Happy]

No, it looks boring.

[RetiredAt21]

I had no idea there were FF books.

[Happy]

Yeah, they're not advertised at all.

[Iscariot]

As far as villains go, Sephiroth will always be my #1 because he's just batshit insane and looks like a hardass.

He's closely followed by Ultimecia, though.

[Happy]

Sephiroth's probably #1 because he's the first one I encountered.

[MrConeman]

Sephiroth and Ultimecia for me. They were just kind of insane, which is always a good quality for a villian to have.

Seymour was kind of alright, hes easily the best one in that game, Sin was a pointless floating whale, Jecht was alright I guess, and Yu-Yevon?..yeah.

It's just that in 7 they build him up perfectly for just how evil he is. The old cliche of burning your village, killing Aeris, being a legendarily strong soldier first, and then that scene in Clouds past when you see him totally obliterating everything in his path. Great stuff.

[Happy]

Sin would've been better if he was far harder to beat.

[IgniteYourAvail]

I had no idea there were FF books.

Oh I meant in the game, there's a book you can read somewhere that mentions Necron.

[Happy]

Really? I must've forgotten about that.

Where is it?

[IgniteYourAvail]

Really? I must've forgotten about that.

Where is it?

I dunno, probably that astrology place the with the old guy

that was FFIX right?

[Happy]

Yeah.
Could be loads of places tbh, there were a lot of books in IX.

[jrowa001]

Sin would've been better if he was far harder to beat.
the main battles at the end wouldve been a lot harder and probably more fun to beat if it took more more than a few hits to beat them.

[Happy]

Yeah, I agree.

It sucks when they make sidequest bosses much more harder than the last boss.

VIII must be the only one that didn't really have that problem, although I never got to Omega

[huxtaposition]

it's so much better when you have sidequest bosses stronger than the last boss. the hell're you supposed to do after you beat the game? maybe as far as plot it doesn't make much sense, but if they do it right it's always good. that's the good thing about FF they always have omega or shin-ryu or something extra for you in that regard.

[Happy]

I suppose, but I would rather the last boss be the boss you can never beat and get extremely frustrated over.

[Iscariot]

When do you fight Ultimate Weapon in FFVII? I'm trying to remember because I know it's after you get the airship and Weapon attacks Junon, but I'm a little ways past the start of disc 2 and I'm trying to remember how close I am to getting Ultima Weapon.

[Happy]

You have to fight Ultimate Weapon a few times. A couple of them are in the story line (I won't ruin it for you, unless you want me to tell you where he'll be), but once you've done the fixed locations he'll be in random locations over the world map.

[RetiredAt21]

I can't believe I'm the only one that mentioned Kefka.

[Happy]

Never really liked him.

[spitfirejunky]

That series of insane final bosses (VI, VII, VIII) was very good. Can't say which is my favorite, they all fit their stories well.

[Mister_Che]

VIII must be the only one that didn't really have that problem, although I never got to Omega

Omega is much harder than Ultimecia.

[RetiredAt21]

Never really liked him.

Dude, he made himself God. Before Sephiroth thought of it.

[MAthiAS]

Kefka's pretty lame... it seemed like he was just evil for the sake of being evil, not terribly original or interesting.

[Liberi Fatali]

That's what bugged me to hell in IX, you hear absolutely no mention of Necron.
But at least Kuja was pretty cool.

His theme music (with all the different variations) was wicked too.

[Iscariot]

You have to fight Ultimate Weapon a few times. A couple of them are in the story line (I won't ruin it for you, unless you want me to tell you where he'll be), but once you've done the fixed locations he'll be in random locations over the world map.

I've beaten the game dozens of times so I know I fight him a few times, I was just trying to gauge how far off from him I was. :p

I'm in Mideel now dealing with comatose Cloud and Weapon is out flying around the world map just waiting for me to play chicken with it so I was closer than I thought.

[Happy]

Oh, I thought this was your first play through :p

[Bread and Faxes]

Kuja was the gayest villain ever. It's like, he was trying to be sephiroth but he was also a crossdresser tranny.

[Happy]

He would be so much cooler if he wore clothes.

[HighandDriving]

Dude, he made himself God. Before Sephiroth thought of it.

Sephiroth thought of it pretty early on as well.

[Anglachel]

But Sephiroth isnt a magical ****ing tree

MAGICAL ****ING TREE


Sephiroth sucks most of all because hes bloody easy

[RetiredAt21]

He was waaaaay too easy, I was really dissapointed.

[Anglachel]

First time I ever fought Neo ExDeath I got so tired of losing that I had to do the Cannoneer trick against regular ExDeath so I could win the game ez

Zeromus wouldnt have been as much of a pain to me if I didnt have forever and a day of unskippables before the fight

I gave the Blood Sword to Ricard Highwind for Dawn of Souls so I was pulling my hair out against the Emperor

Kefka was kinda disappointing considering I had a tougher time against the first four tiers of that fight

Cloud of Darkness is so rage inducing because LOL 3 NO SAVE POINTS

Ultimecia, Necron and Jecht were all pretty cool

Sephiroth I beat 1st time no probs hes only hard in KH1

[Jamais_Vu]

I was never able to beat Sephiroth in KH1, but I did in KH2. He's such a pain in the *** in those games.

[Chrysostom]

haha, you still have to do the endless fighting, i'm afraid. exp goes to gfs even if the character they are junctioned to is dead, so whenever you get a guest character in your party (seifer, edea) you level up like crazy with gfs junctioned to all your dead characters (per character, exp is divided up equally between the gfs junctioned).

it's kinda easy to do it this way in dollet with seifer because he gets a limit break like every other turn, which usually kills the galbadian soldiers in one hit.

It's a lot of work but it means for the rest of the game all you have to worry about is tactics because you have the applicable strength behind you so it's good in that regard. grinding is always a fact of life in the final fantasy canon.

Wait, wait, and wait again - so not only do my characters have to be dead? But I still have to grind? Pass. I'll stick with them being alive and levelling up, even if that means an increase in the difficulty of enemies.

zell was cool and all but irvine totally had him beat

The blonde dude with the hat reminds me of Irvine from VIII, I liked Irvine.

Quite frankly, after Squall Irvine was the best playable character in VIII.

the only thing is... i hope they dont pursue this whole overdeveloped nonsense geopolitics theme they've been going for in the last couple of installments. I don't want the badguy to be some dumbpoop monarch who gets his grubby hands on some precious pseudo-alchemic resource, nor do I want to have to take on a totalitarian regime with a bunch of faceless bureaucrats and their goons, if all that results is their final iteration grows a couple of wings and cries when you cram holy magic into their face - I want to slaughter a hilariously petulant and enigmatic god who basically wants to kill everything, or a witch who wants to compress past present and future into some horrible toxic frieze so that she can plonk a castle in the middle of it and cackle, or an irradiated pretty-boy held in an agonising state of hatred by great oedipal bonds with the power to break an enormous rock on everyone's head! that's the kind of cool **** final fantasy used to give us to rape with steel! that's what i grew up on!

To look upon such a colossal truth hurts my eyes. Well said that man.

well don't forget garland, because he will knock you all down

:lol:

Surely. And I never want to.
Truly thou art wise beyond thy years.

Could be loads of places tbh, there were a lot of books in IX.

My money is on Daguerreo.

[Happy]

I was never able to beat Sephiroth in KH1, but I did in KH2. He's such a pain in the *** in those games.

I can only beat him with a level 100 Sora in 1.

[Iscariot]

In both games I beat Sephiroth with Sora at level 50.

If you equip yourself to the teeth with elixers and figure out Sephiroth's attack pattern it's a piece of cake.

I thought he was ridiculously easy to beat in KH2 because his pattern was so much more predictable than it was in the first game.

[MrConeman]

Ever think that FFX should have been about Jecht, Auron and Braska's travels? Those were three cooler characters than everyone in your party (obviously excluding the fact that Auron is the only good one in the party.)

Laguna Kiros and Ward were awesome characters too.

[Happy]

You know if Square Enix ever read these forums, we better brace ourselves for FFVIII-2 and FFX-3

[spitfirejunky]

But at least Kuja was pretty cool.

His theme music (with all the different variations) was wicked too.

Agreed.

[IgniteYourAvail]

Ever think that FFX should have been about Jecht, Auron and Braska's travels? Those were three cooler characters than everyone in your party (obviously excluding the fact that Auron is the only good one in the party.)

Laguna Kiros and Ward were awesome characters too.

That's what FFX-2 should have been. Seriously.

[RetiredAt21]

That's what FFX-2 should have been. Seriously.

Backed.

[fingers mccoy]

so crisis core was great!

anyone beat minerva? i loved this game, because i could beat the crap out of it without beating half the storyline. and you can get so ridiculously powerful! and everything depends on your ability to press square at the right time!

[MrConeman]

Crisis Core really was awesome.

I only played through it once, and didn't super power myself, I just enjoyed the game/story. But yeah, it really is awesome.

[Meatplow]

probably old news in here but i didn't know there was an unofficial NES bootleg of FFVII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPwuj9RlaD8

cool, i found it - http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?drzcnn2ltqz

[huxtaposition]

that could actually be really ****ing amazing if they had the whole materia system and everything but from the looks of it, it comes off as some shitty final fantasy 2 hack. they gotta build the game from the ground up sprites code and all.

[Brew]

Whey, my new housemate has the PS1 FF games so I'm really hoping he's got a copy of VIII with a Disc 1 that actually gets past the opening FMV.

[-Listy-]

i really need to get another copy of ix soon..

listening to the soundtrack makes me :(, definately had some of my favourite FF music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B74BNhYB6pQ&fmt=18

dammit im putting the soundtracks on my mp3 player

[spitfirejunky]

Started my 57392875th 100% playthrough of FFVIII. Took a hell of a long time to work around the glitches of this old installation I lifted ages ago. Using a software renderer because the game isn't compatible with my graphics card. :lol:

[Brew]

I gave my old external harddrive to my Dad last week, I forgot to move alot of music over to my new one :(

Its tempting to try and track down hard copies of my favourite FF soundtracks, it'd be nice to have them on cd rather than just in mp3 format.

[Anglachel]

anybody got the psp 1 & 2

[Jamais_Vu]

Alright, it's time to dust off my PS2, push my PS3 aside, and be prepared for some epic battles in FF8.

God damn my old controls are dusty as hell.

[fatbandit]

Long shot. Anyone want to sell me FFIX? I lost my copy.

[Jamais_Vu]

****, I'm trying to get FF8 to work on my PS2 but I think it's too dusty to work arrrrrrrgh.

Wtf? I got VII to work but not VIII and VII is more scratched up.

[Brew]

VIII never works when you want it to.

[Jamais_Vu]

I guess so. Now I'm playing VII instead.

[rasputin]

Long shot. Anyone want to sell me FFIX? I lost my copy.
I am in dire need also. Trying to find it cheap on ebay is hell.

[Meatplow]

I am in dire need also. Trying to find it cheap on ebay is hell.

i just sold it to a pawn shop up here in wagga in good nick and it's sitting on the shelf for $10

[fatbandit]

I can score one on eBay for about £20/25. Which is reasonable considering I payed £40 for it back in the day.

But I'm poor as owt this week :(

[fatbandit]

ARGH!

The Red Dragon in the Lunar Subterrane in IV can seriously go and die. He was an absolute beast and KO'd me way too easily, and I'm up around level 70 right now. Think I'm going to skip him for now :/

[Chrysostom]

listening to the soundtrack makes me :(, definately had some of my favourite FF music

I read somewhere (IGN.com if I recall correctly) that Uematsu considers the score for IX his best work. I think VII personally. But IX certainly has some classics.

[-Listy-]

for ages I wouldve said VII had my favourite soundtrack but listening to IX again is making me change my mind. I dig the fantasy/medieval sound he was going for.

plus IX has 'You're not alone' which rulllllles

[Chrysostom]

I really need to replay and actually finish IX.

[-Listy-]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYsJUXh5Iec&fmt=18 ftw

i like how after the seriousness of VIII they sorta tried to go back to the older style of FF.

[fingers mccoy]

ix is the greatest hands down

everything about that game kix

[Brew]

I've been playing Blue Dragon recently, some of the music I've heard so far reminds me alot of the stuff Uematsu composed for FFIX.

I was looking at buying the FFVII soundtrack on cd t'other day, the cheapest I've seen it is at £8 with £8 postage. From Hong Kong. Hmm.

Edit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8h6vt-5B2g

one of my favourites from the VIII soundtrack.

[Happy]

I've bought CDs from Hong Kong before. They were fine but expect the cases to be cracked.

[Brew]

I like my cases in mint condition :(

edit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s9f-M45toE

they all look so happy, aww.

[Happy]

Just buy new cases :)

I wish BM would come here :(

[Brew]

ahh, a cunning plan is hatched.

[rasputin]

i just sold it to a pawn shop up here in wagga in good nick and it's sitting on the shelf for $10
Are you serious man, dude I'm in Perth I can't get it.

[Jamais_Vu]

I had a long conversation with two friends last night about all the FF games and after thinking about it, I really regret never being able to play VI and IX. IX turned me off because of the main character, but I've heard great things from it and I wish I could play it now. VI is supposed to be the best and I really want to get an emulator for it.

After spending all day yesterday playing FFVII, I'm at level 18 and have just gotten out onto the world map. Time for some leveling.

[fingers mccoy]

dude get pSX, visit http://snesorama.us/board/showthread.php?t=5284, download ffix, and play it

it is hands down the best ff

[Happy]

What's wrong with Zidane?

[Jamais_Vu]

Yeah, the only problem is I need a new ****ing laptop since it shuts off on me randomly.

[Anglachel]

and for VI get a gba emulator and the VI Advance ROM

[Jamais_Vu]

Maybe I could buy a GBA and look for VI on amazon.

[fingers mccoy]

and for VI get a gba emulator and the VI Advance ROM

is that a better game? how come?

[Anglachel]

is that a better game? how come?
extra dungeons/slightly better translation

renamed items/spells (ara/aga usage)

really the only thing making it better is the dungeon and extra bosses and music player the translation just makes it feel a little more...

the words on the tip of my tongue omg

[Pop music sucks]

poignant?

[Anglachel]

yeah
i think

[huxtaposition]

it's also got a couple extra espers doesn't it? cactuar, diablos, w/e else. i haven't played it 'cause i just beat 6 on SNES so hopefully in a couple years it'll be fresh for me to play

[RetiredAt21]

FF VI is an incredible game.

[Anglachel]

it's also got a couple extra espers doesn't it? cactuar, diablos, w/e else. i haven't played it 'cause i just beat 6 on SNES so hopefully in a couple years it'll be fresh for me to play
yes that too

i wanna start a new game now

[Jamais_Vu]

Ah yes, I forgot how much fun it was to go to Junon for the first time.

[Chrysostom]

Nearly done with FFI. I must say it's been really fun. Need to play it again to get all the 'Collections' stuff, but that can wait for a while.

[fatbandit]

Zeromus is a wanker. I think I might finish this dungeon up to the point you face Zeromus for a bit, then go and grind somewhere and get some rare items.

I don't intend to do a New Game+ plus though, so is it worth collecting Onion Armour and stuff really?

I'm also REALLY gutted I missed out on a couple of augments - Dualcast and Cry. But I was too far into the game before I realised how the augments really worked to restart it.

[Anglachel]

Zeromus is a wanker. I think I might finish this dungeon up to the point you face Zeromus for a bit, then go and grind somewhere and get some rare items.

I don't intend to do a New Game+ plus though, so is it worth collecting Onion Armour and stuff really?

I'm also REALLY gutted I missed out on a couple of augments - Dualcast and Cry. But I was too far into the game before I realised how the augments really worked to restart it.
lol new game + gets you extra augments + all the ones in your current game
also: steal dark matter from Zeromus, it carries over in your inventory into the new game + so you can challenge the new boss

so really you should do a new game +
also onion equips are only really awesome at high levels


also new game + doesnt carry over your levels :\

[Iscariot]

ix is the greatest hands down

everything about that game kix

I thought IX was too long and just simply had too much stuff to do in it.

[Liberi Fatali]

How is that a bad thing? :p

[Iscariot]

I got bored doing the nine million side quests and trying to focus on the story at the same time. And some of the mini-games are just ****ing stupid. Like the frog catching game.

[fingers mccoy]

I got bored doing the nine million side quests and trying to focus on the story at the same time. And some of the mini-games are just ****ing stupid. Like the frog catching game.

lol the frog catching game was gay

this is a case i think where your completism is more your problem than the game's

i dont think there's so huge an amount to do, but there's enough depth to it to accommodate real satisfying completism if you want to go a perfect game

whatevs tho, i think the main reason i like it is the production and i dont wholly disagree with you about the game's pacing tho i never found it boring myself

[Brew]

the rope skipping game was more annoying than frog catching.

[fingers mccoy]

lol i got soooooooooooo close to 1000 on that once but i just can't face that ****

[Brew]

I remember getting the Alexandria card (200 jumps?) then swearing never to do it again.

[Liberi Fatali]

Urgh that skipping mini game was the worst part of IX, frustrated the heck out of me.

[Happy]

No point in getting 1000 jumps really.

[-Listy-]

chocograph hunting was funnnnn especially when you get transported to the magical chocobo land.

i caved in and bought a new copy of IX last night for about £20

[Happy]

Not bad. Mine was a bitch to find.

[Brew]

I enjoyed Choco Hot n' Cold purely for watching a giant yellow bird faceplant itself for you at the push of a button.

[MrConeman]

Listening to the FFVII OST here, man it's so nostalgic it's almost emotional. This is my childhood :(/:)

[fatbandit]

I think that's what I love about FFVII music - the nostalgia. I sank so much of my life into that and loved every minute, so it is happy days when I hear stuff associated with it :)


Also I know I can get augments again in the next playthrough, but I want them for THIS playthrough, which is why I'm annoyed about it. I just can't see it being worth doing a New Game + to play through the whole game just for two more bosses? We shall see.

[RetiredAt21]

I think I've played through FF VII more times than any other game I've ever played, except Lunar. I played the **** outta that game, too.

[Jamais_Vu]

My brother beat FFVII about 11 times. I've beaten 3 times and going on my fourth right now. It's such an addicting game and you get so attached to the story. The music is probably the best in VII imo.

Nice, I just found used copies of FFVI on amazon for $28.99.

[fatbandit]

What platform? The PS version is a waste of space.

[Jamais_Vu]

For the GB Advanced. The only problem is I don't have a GB Advanced.

[Brew]

It'll work in a DS if you have one of those?

[Jamais_Vu]

I don't have DS either. I think I'll just buy a GBA since that will be the only game I'll play on it and it's cheaper.

[Anglachel]

buy a ds lite so you can get ff3 and 4 too

[Happy]

I think he can get a GBA for cheaper than what the game costs.

[Iscariot]

I give up trying to get a working PS2 emulator. I own a PS2 but there are some games I don't have that I wanted to play again (like FFX), so I tried downloading pcsx2 and a FFX ROM. It took me an hour to get the emulator working and then when I ran FFX the graphics (backgrounds, foregrounds, buildings, etc..) were fractured and some chunks were just missing altogether.

So screw it, I'll just stick to my PSX emu.

[Jamais_Vu]

Why don't you just buy FFX? It should only be like 10 bucks. That is unless you don't have your PS2 anymore?

[Iscariot]

I don't like spending money on things I can get for free through other sources.

[Happy]

I didn't even know there were ps2 emulators :-/

[Iscariot]

I didn't even know there were ps2 emulators :-/

http://www.pcsx2.net/

[huxtaposition]

it was my understand ps2 emulators aren't too great at this point in time. ePSXe the playstation emulator is flawless but downloading some games is sorta ridiculous. FF9 is several gigs and it comes in several parts so i didn't feel like going along with it.

but yeah just download zsnes and a ff6 rom it'll take you two minutes and you're good to go. i have a usb psx and snes controller i use and you can pick these up for ten or twenty bucks since using a keyboard blows

[Jim]

it's so great to find out i wasn't the only one who would randomly visit the black mage village in IX just to hear the music :)

it's sad that i don't have time nowadays to play through IX again. i'm taking real good care of my copy so that one day i can become enchanted like before

[Iscariot]

it was my understand ps2 emulators aren't too great at this point in time.

Yeah that's what I'm hearing more and more.

[IgniteYourAvail]

Well PCSX2 Playground is compatible with a lot of games. You just have to have a dec computer to run some of them.

[Chrysostom]

'You're Not Alone' sounds like the music that plays at the end of that Simpson's episode where Marge goes bowling and nearly caves in to the French guy but then Homer walks out of the plant and into the sunset with her.

So, I finished round one of FFI. I give it an 8/10. Really enjoyed it, despite the really basic and somewhat disappointing plot.

Anyone agree that the Firion from the opening FMV from FFII looks really lame compared to the in-game/dissidia/amano sketch version with the colourful bandana?

[Anglachel]

Chaos has such awesome battle music in FF1

and yes

[Meatplow]

it was my understand ps2 emulators aren't too great at this point in time. ePSXe the playstation emulator is flawless but downloading some games is sorta ridiculous. FF9 is several gigs and it comes in several parts so i didn't feel like going along with it.

there are 4 discs, but this does not result in several gigs worth of data. most PS1 games i've come across are between 200mb-400mb per disc, the torrent i'm looking at on underground gamer is such -

Final Fantasy IX CD1.7z 345.99 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD2.7z 263.97 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD3.7z 284.77 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD4.7z 307.70 MB

eSPXe is pretty damn good, but it has it's bugs like any emulator. the good thing is these ISO's can be burnt to a disc and played in an actual ps1. is it possible to do these with PS2 games? I dunno, i'm curious.

[Bread and Faxes]

My brother beat FFVII about 11 times. I've beaten 3 times and going on my fourth right now. It's such an addicting game and you get so attached to the story. The music is probably the best in VII imo.

Nice, I just found used copies of FFVI on amazon for $28.99.

I beat VII like 30 times literally.

[MrConeman]

Yeah, I'd say i've finished VII around 20 something times.

I've only ever 100%'d it once. Twice if you include the time that I actually got Aeris' final limit, but never got her to actually use it. I got her to use it in my last play through, and that was the last thing I hadn't actually done.

[Jamais_Vu]

I was never able to beat the weapon that you fight in the desert. Ruby Weapon I think it was.

[RetiredAt21]

Ruby Weapon took me a couple of tries but then I finally owned it hard.

[IgniteYourAvail]

There was some strategy to make it easier. I think it was to have only one party member alive when you start, because he does a crazy attack if everyone's alive.

[MrConeman]

You just have to have the right strategy and the weapons are easy, just time consuming.

[Jamais_Vu]

Maybe I should try to get that one hit kill from Cait Sith :lol:

I always wondered what the hardest boss was out of all the Final Fantasy games. I heard Omega Weapon from FFVIII is really hard.

[Chrysostom]

Chaos has such awesome battle music in FF1

Agreed.

and yes

yes what?

[spitfirejunky]

Maybe I should try to get that one hit kill from Cait Sith :lol:

I always wondered what the hardest boss was out of all the Final Fantasy games. I heard Omega Weapon from FFVIII is really hard.

I wouldn't say it's harder. You have to make more preparations and set yourself up more strategically. Then when the battle goes right it's always a win.

I'd say FFVIII and FFX's Omega Weapon are somewhere at a tie. FFVIII takes less time to prepare for though.

FFIX's Ozma is no walk in the park either, but if you stat cap and just carry some good items you don't really need a solid strategy. Plus it has a ton less HP than the aformentioned.

[Jamais_Vu]

I never came across the Omega Weapon in FFX. I've seen videos of it and it looks weird.

[spitfirejunky]

I never came across the Omega Weapon in FFX. I've seen videos of it and it looks weird.

It's a differently colored and enlarged Ultima Weapon. :lol:

Developers got really lazy with the Monster Arena monsters.

[Brew]

Weren't some of the Dark Aeons stupidly difficult in X if you chose not to Yojimbo them? (or Yojimitsu as me and a friend used to call him, perhaps Yoshimbo, I can't quite remember)

[Iscariot]

the good thing is these ISO's can be burnt to a disc and played in an actual ps1. is it possible to do these with PS2 games? I dunno, i'm curious.

The PS2 only reads DVD format discs so to burn a PS2 game you need a DVD burner. If you have that, get a program like ImgBurn and use the burning wizard to guide you through the whole process. It tells you to select the file you want to burn, which, I'm pretty sure is the .cue file, but if you pick the wrong one it'll tell you, and then click the start button.

[Iscariot]

There was some strategy to make it easier. I think it was to have only one party member alive when you start, because he does a crazy attack if everyone's alive.

Easiest way to beat Ruby is, like you said, start out with two dead party members. He's invincible until he puts his hands in the ground and he doesn't do that unless there's only one of you standing.

Once he puts his hands in the ground, use Life2 on everyone, cast stop on the tentacles until he freezes, and use W-Summon with KOTR at AT LEAST level 2. He'll go down really quick.

[Mister_Che]

I never had a hard time with Omega in FFX. I thought he was very easy.

[Anglachel]

Agreed.



yes what?
Firion does look lame in said fmv

EDIT: Actually, all four of them do. Leon, Firion, Maria and Guy all look pretty stupid

[Brew]

The PS2 only reads DVD format discs so to burn a PS2 game you need a DVD burner. If you have that, get a program like ImgBurn and use the burning wizard to guide you through the whole process. It tells you to select the file you want to burn, which, I'm pretty sure is the .cue file, but if you pick the wrong one it'll tell you, and then click the start button.

What about the PS2 games that were released on cds? (Tekken Tag for example)

[Iscariot]

What about the PS2 games that were released on cds? (Tekken Tag for example)

Same deal I would assume. I'm not sure though.

[Chrysostom]

I always wondered what the hardest boss was out of all the Final Fantasy games.

That, I think, would be Yiazmat from FFXII. I was recently preparing to have a bash at him until I read (just today) how much HP he has, and how difficult he gets. His one redeeming feature is you can leave the area where you fight him and when you come back his HP is as you left it (which contrasts with all the other marks in the game), so if there's a save crystal nearby then I might still give it a go. Maybe.

[Anglachel]

Well if you can do that I wouldnt consider him all that hard but I havent played 12 so :E

The hardest final boss ive played is probably Dark Emperor without the blood sword (10k is a lot of hp for FF2)

or cloud of darkness but when you think about it she might only be hard because you have 5 major bosses before her and no save points between

[Iscariot]

That, I think, would be Yiazmat from FFXII. I was recently preparing to have a bash at him until I read (just today) how much HP he has, and how difficult he gets. His one redeeming feature is you can leave the area where you fight him and when you come back his HP is as you left it (which contrasts with all the other marks in the game), so if there's a save crystal nearby then I might still give it a go. Maybe.

I thought he was pretty easy and my party was around level 50 when I fought him. Just spread your party out, keep your caster as far away from him as possible, have status restoration spells/items constantly at the ready, and beat the crap out of him until he dies. And don't use summons. I got massacred the first time I fought him because I made the mistake of trying to go head to head with him using a summon.

[Anglachel]

hah

i read that remembering facing him in the sequel

If you were to take this for facing Yiazmat in FF12:RW the only good advice would be to keep away

theres only one unit in the game (that I remember at least...) thats immune to stop and yiazmats attack put stop on anyone in range

that was a hard fight

[Chrysostom]

I thought he was pretty easy and my party was around level 50 when I fought him. Just spread your party out, keep your caster as far away from him as possible, have status restoration spells/items constantly at the ready, and beat the crap out of him until he dies. And don't use summons. I got massacred the first time I fought him because I made the mistake of trying to go head to head with him using a summon.

Hmmm...maybe I'll give it a go then.

In other news, farming elixirs in XII is a colossal pain in the ***. I'm not going anywhere near either Omega Mark XII or Yiazmat until I have at least 33 of the damn things, and that will take forever.

Also, when does beardy pirate guest character leave your party, because I'd prefer not to have him present for Omega/Yiazmat, but as I understand it you can't gain access to the Omega fight until you've accepted the Yiazmat hunt, and it seems that no new hunts are going to be posted until after I've gone back to Balfonheim to fetch him?

[huxtaposition]

there are 4 discs, but this does not result in several gigs worth of data. most PS1 games i've come across are between 200mb-400mb per disc, the torrent i'm looking at on underground gamer is such -

Final Fantasy IX CD1.7z 345.99 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD2.7z 263.97 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD3.7z 284.77 MB
Final Fantasy IX CD4.7z 307.70 MB

eSPXe is pretty damn good, but it has it's bugs like any emulator. the good thing is these ISO's can be burnt to a disc and played in an actual ps1. is it possible to do these with PS2 games? I dunno, i'm curious.

oh my bad i guess it just seemed like it was more. the place i was looking to get the ISO had each disc split up into a four or five different parts and im pretty lazy so didn't feel like going through with getting it

[doki]

I never had a hard time with Omega in FFX. I thought he was very easy.

agreed, however I don't think I ever beat nemesis

[Happy]

Even I managed to beat Ultima and Omega in X

[Mister_Che]

So currently I'm parked outside of Centra Ruins about to grab Odin, now that Garden is mobile. I don't have Enc-Half or Enc-None yet so I'm probably going to run from most of the fights unless I can find the monster that has the Betrayal Sword so I can upgrade to Flaming Sabre.

[Happy]

I think the Centra ruins only have Tonberries.

[team_racket]

Currently playing through Chrono Trigger, what game should I play next? I'm looking at handheld games only.

Final Fantasy IV (gameboy advance NOT ds)

or

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of memories (gba).


???

[RetiredAt21]

Final Fantasy IV, definitely.

[Mister_Che]

Nah, there's other stuff there too. Mostly on the upper floors. This is where you get Tonberry King, but that's not what I'm after right now. I may grab him just so I can have a shop on me at all times.

[Happy]

I see. I could only remember the Tonberries.

But you're really making me want to play VIII right now.

[Mister_Che]

I'm progressing very slowly now that I've started Eve online.

[Happy]

Yeah, I'm too tied up in PS3 games at the moment.

[RetiredAt21]

What PS3 games?

[Happy]

GTAIV, Bioshock and FIFA 09

[RetiredAt21]

Bioshock is one of my favorite games, ever.

[Happy]

Yeah man, I've had it for ages but I never got round to playing it!

[RetiredAt21]

Haven't played it on PS3, though. I have it for 360. Are there any major differences?

[Happy]

I honestly wouldn't know but I think its exactly the same.

[HighandDriving]

Hey has anyone here play FF7:AVALANCHE?

[RetiredAt21]

Wtf is that?

[team_racket]

Final Fantasy IV, definitely.

cheers.

[HighandDriving]

Wtf is that?

Homebrew FF7 game, google it cause it looks pretty awesome.

[Happy]

Better be good

[RetiredAt21]

Looks interesting.

[Brew]

'sup page 900.

[HighandDriving]

I don't know if it's good but I saw a video of it late last night and it looked pretty dope.

[Happy]

'sup page 900.

600 for me :p

[Anglachel]

page 450 for the most elite posters on mx

[Happy]

Too many posts on the page!

[Mister_Che]

page 450 for the most elite posters on mx

Damn straight.

[Brew]

ahh, i'm rockin' it oldschool style with 20 posts per page.

[fingers mccoy]

lol i dled avalanche

i just beat up on infinitely respawning shinra grunts for like an hour my thumbs hurt and everywhere i look i see greybrick textures

[HighandDriving]

How was it, any special moves, and how are the graphics?

[fingers mccoy]

the graphics are cool, i dunno what's the standard for homebrew games but the textures are decent, character models are very faithful to the original ffvii ones

the music is, like nine inch nails and those famous ffvii remixes everyone chats about

ive only unlocked the first five or so special moves, they're very useful

the AI is very good, with varied and logical tactics and a good sense of pacing

there are these bloodsucker things that can run a tiiiiny bit faster than you that are incredibly gay because their attack is accompanied by suction, so if you're not running away or you're in the air you'll get pulled in within a reasonable radius, and the attack is very damaging, and they're great at using space, and if there are more than two of them you have to stay on them at every possible chance and use some of the more percussive moves to create space.

good light effects, i'm currently in a section that requires a flashlight, and this is seriously ten times more nerve-wracking than dead space or any of that **** - it's ridiculously dark and filled with super-fast hordes of bloodsucker bastards

yeh, this game is extremely hard. You get swarmed and diced in seconds if you aren't constantly opening up spaces and dodging. It's very much arena combat, harkening back to devil may cry and similar games, and it moves very fast.

really enjoying it, however frustrating it is.

[HighandDriving]

Glad you liked it, also it can't be too long cause it's just over 200 mb.

I'm going to download it when I get home, sounds quench my FF thirst.

[Sir William]

Not really FF related, but I've been playing Vagrant Story on my emulator and this game is awesome. I'm in the town after the wine cellar/catacombs/etc and I just beat the group of soldiers that ambush you when you're spying on the cardinal's men.

Since this obviously isn't a very long game I'm wondering if you clear it and start again do you get to keep your stats/gear or do you just start from scratch? If you get to keep everything I'll probably play through this a few times.

[Anglachel]

its ff related enough in that its supposed to be set in ivalice or something but i havent played it :E

[huxtaposition]

it's ff related definitely

amazing game

there is a new game + you start with everything