Topic: Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2 and XII - Now with 80% more FF VIII

@Late
walk everywhere to check if there are any chests instead of just moving the camera and seeing there's nothing in that dead end

That’s actually classic FF design. They intentionally hide chests out of site, kind of like a puzzle. I can’t tell you how many times I went up and talked to some NPC that most people would’ve never talked to, and during the conversation the camera pans around and gives a glimpse of a chest... it’s brilliant.

I know it’s a little jarring when you’re not used to it but, it actually works really well once you do get used to it. Just remember, even if the red arrow is telling you to go a certain direction I always go the opposite/other/different direction if given a choice. Many times they will block off your access, but many times they won’t and you’ll discover a secret. I’ve found many chests with 5-10k gil, awesome weapons, even Lv. 4 Sphere by checking in the nooks and crannies.

@Quarth
I’m awaiting mine from them as well (I just had to have such a timeless classic digital also). I can’t wait to hear your impressions. Seeing people play this game for the first time just makes me happy. And rarely is a game so good, I’ll play it twice all the way through

Played FF7 the year it was released, had so many good memories about it that i bought it again for switch. What can i say? It is better than i remembered it, and to be honest i still dont get the lore after so many times of playing or reading through it. Dont know if that's a good sign or not.

Got my Asian copy of FFX/X-2 in the mail today... it’s perfect!

But I do have one little gripe.

The physical Asian game registers separately from the digital version from NA, which isn’t totally unexpected since that did happen wits Okami HD JP release, but it’s extremely unfortunate because I have a save file 50 hours in the digital version and would love the physical version to share that save file. Not that I’d probably ever need to use that for anything but it’s just nice knowing you can pop your physical version in and pick up where you left off, for after I move all my retail digital releases to the backup 1TB SD (simply no way to fit them all on the main 1TB SD, which is physical + digital-only games only).

Ah well. I checked it for updates and it didn’t need any, so at least I know I can pop that cartridge in at any time and access both timeless classics down the line.

Now, back to the Calm Lands. I need some Level 4 spheres and might bribe Chimera Brain. Not sure what to do for Level 3 key spheres, as Auron is 6 moves away from a dead end on his sphere grid.

@JaxonH I have barely played main series Final Fantasy games besides the very first one and most of the other RPGs I've played have had either top down view or full camera control so it's just something I'm not used to. My main problem is that the areas are quite large and Tidus moves quite slowly so it would just be easier to move the camera instead of the character. I knew PS1 Final Fantasy games used pre-rendered backgrounds but I didn't expect a PS2 game have locked camera as well.

I make sure to check everywhere like I usually do in RPGs. Visit every building, talk to every NPC, etc. I like that the towns and cities have lot of population, since that makes them lively, but it's kind of a chore to speak to everyone. Especially since some characters move around the area. Just a minor thing. I'm sure most people don't mind it.

I played my first blitz ball game yesterday and it wasn't quite what I expected. I thought it would be more akin to normal sports games but it's not. I still don't understand why they put the tutorial way before the actual game. There's 30-60 minutes of stuff in-between the tutorial and the finals. The tutorial felt kind of lazy too. I would've much preferred a full practice match where you get to learn the things during the gameplay instead of teleporting you in and out of the match constantly.

As for the game itself. I got a goal in the first half but lost 2-1 since I couldn't even get the ball more than twice in the whole second half while my opponent scored twice. I'd guess it's not a big deal either way so I didn't feel the need to load my save file and try again. Better team won.

Despite my few nitpicks, I'm liking the game so far. I met Auron again yesterday. I really like how fast you get new party members. Also saw Seymour which instantly reminded me of my friend since he would visit me often and we'd go to YouTube since he didn't have a PC at the time and he had one song that he made me listen almost every time. I heard that battle theme so many times... I didn't appreciate it back then but I've listened to it more recently and it's pretty good.

@Late The fixed camera and out of sight chests is a critical part of the way FF plays. It's tied into the risk-reward system of random encounters and is part of why XIII gets a lot of negative impressions. The chests were still cleverly off camera, but there was ZERO risk involved since only visible enemies existed and you couldn't really avoid any of them like you could opt to do in XII. Going down a narrow trail is always an exhilarating risk-reward game in FF games. You could go...but there might be nothing there. And if you go, you're more likely to get caught by an encounter. How many sidepaths do you risk taking for treasure?

Bravely Default and Octopath also incorporate that to some extent.

@Late
Oh nice. The game should be picking up some serious steam around then. You’ve still got a party member to go- Rikku, and once you have the full team the game just seams to soar. Rikku has some of the most comical dialog in the game, and a great voice actress.

Might want to decide where you want Kimari to go on the sphere grid. He’s kind of an extra. Just keep in mind, later in the game you’ll have to use him alone for a portion of the game, so don’t neglect using him to keep him leveled up.

Just to confirm before I buy FF X, there is no way to use Japanese Audio + English subs, right?
How about the Asian version?

@Switchcraft
Mine is Asia English version with Tidus and Yuna as cover, Bandai Namco logo on Bottom Right, NO age rating label on bottom left.
My Switch machine is PAL region, Account = USA, Language set = English and when i play the Asia English version, it looked completely like 100% USA version, All English.

Ok, thank you. It seems weird to me. I am 100% sure that I played FF X on PS2 with English subs and Japanese audio. That’s how I would like to revisit the game.

Maybe it was the International Version or a hacked ISO... But I don’t see why Square Enix would lock us out from that option in 2019.

@Switchcraft
FF X and X-2 PS2 International were still English voices + Japanese texts.

I'm definitely gonna pick up 12 and 10/10-2 for the Switch, but mostly as a novelty. It's times like this I wish the Switch had some sort of trophy support, because chasing them on the PS4 actually made me play the game in ways I hadn't before, making replaying it much more fun. I might play X-2 on the switch just because that's the kind of game I wouldn't want to take up the whole TV for, anyway

@Switchcraft I think it's a rights thing. X has never been available with JP language outside of the JP version.

With X-2 I suspect there's a rights issue with the opening music and subsequently Lenne's VA being a celebrity hire under contract with Sony/BMG in Japan and different licensing with Sony Music Japan and UMG (now Vivendi) who was/is the artist's label outside Japan. But I've never known why they restricted X as well. I don't believe there's any music rights or anything with it.

@JaxonH I tend to level up everyone equally in RPGs so that's not a problem. I noticed Kimahri's start point was in the middle of everyone so I opened the lock to the right since no one's on that path yet. Now that I think about it, Rikku is probably going to be on that route. She is kind of a thief, right?

The sphere grid is probably my favorite part of the game right now. You are constantly getting new stuff. I'm taking the obvious paths but I can see it being really fun to try out different combinations on multiple playthroughs.

Is there a way to see what each of the skills do before unlocking them? I don't think the game tells you those, unless I just haven't pressed the correct button, which is likely. I know most of them from other Final Fantasy games and RPGs but there are some I've never heard of.

@Late
Here is the map of FF X Sphere grid. 🤓
1. Normal Sphere Grid

2. Expert Sphere Grid

Okay did anyone, I mean ANYONE see Seymour in FFX and NOT immediately think "Yup, he's a bad guy." ???

I mean I haven't even seen him do anything particularly evil yet where I am, but his design and personality just positively SCREAMS "I'm gonna be your enemy in the end!"

@Heavyarms55
Seymour was like Mother Gothel (Rapunzel) in some ways.

I still say the sphere grids look like an evil, evil subway map. I never really liked that layout.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, I thought that was kind of shoddy storytelling to just paint the villain posing to not be a villain as a hulking, sinister, manipulative figure who talks like a stereotypical evil villain from the first line. I'd be fine with it if he were the stated enemy from early on like Vayne in FFXII. Though Vayne has pretenses of not being evil, it's very clear from the onset you're supposed to be aware he's a conqueror and villain since you first encounter him behind closed doors doing his thing before you see his "friendly" public persona. With Seymour it feels like they wanted to to go through a Xenoblade-like unexpected plot twist moment with him, except they club you over the head with him being villainous from the very start, while hoping you don't notice. Even though even his Aeon is the most evil-looking thing imaginable. Syemour being a cardboard villain, despite some backstory complexity, I think hurts FFX in my mind, though it's redeemed by not really being a story about "good vs evil" at all...other than Seymour (which the game could mostly have done entirely without, IMO) the real villains, are fate, time, and circumstances with no truly evil or good characters (except Seymour, but he's unnecessary), which IMO was a fantastic theme....albeit...it would have been better without cardboard Seymour with chaotic evil laughter on-cue the whole time. He's a bit-player but the suits probably deiced the game needed a proper villain rather than ethereal conceptual "enemies" like "fate", "time", "circumstance", and "closure." If you just mute the Syemour parts, it's very somber tale, both on the surface and behind it. Seymour at least saves it from feeling hopeless and depressing

In a sense the whole story, mood, and feel of FFX feels like a celebration of funerals, on multiple different levels. Though it often kills my interest in revisiting it, but also explains why they wanted to give it a bi-polar series and turn the sequel in to "OK, we're pop stars now, YAY!"

A literal FFX-2: Electric Boogaloo.

@Morpheel
FF X-2 = Final Fantasy Charlie's Angel J-POP style 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah he looks like Sephiroth mixed with Lady Gaga. Never a good sign.