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

@BruceCM @DarthNocturnal still pretty cool honestly. I was pleasantly surprised.

Oh, yeah, it's cool, @NintendoByNature.... There's various references to previous games in most later ones, too

Guys i may be getting FF VII remake soon and i wanted to check a couple things first. How long would you say the main game is? What about if you're going for 100% completion? Oh and is the game linear or more open like traditional FF's?

Haven't played it myself, as I'm waiting for all the parts on Steam, @Zeldafan79 .... Seems like the main game should be 30-50 hours, though! Mostly fairly linear, with a reasonable amount of optional side-quests Traditional FFs aren't 'open', though? Which games are you talking about?

@Zeldafan79

Main story is about 30 hours with no sidequests. Average playthrough with some sidequests is probably closer to 40 hours. 100% completion probably somewhere between 50 and 70 hours.

The game is mostly quite linear, but you occasionally stop in a more open hub area to explore and do sidequests. It's kinda like a combination of FF10 and FF12.

It's not "bad linear" though. Meaning it doesn't feel like narrow hallways like FF13 did. The linearity is really well disguised by having huge expansive environments. The game is massive.

Yep it's a reference to Cloud. FF9 has a ton of references to previous games in the series. It wasn't meant to be taken literally as they're in the same universe. It was because the developers at the time saw FF9 as a kind of celebration of the classic JRPG style the earlier games had followed, because they knew that was going to be the last game that followed that style. They did say this in interviews at the time, I'm not just guessing.

Here's a list of all the allusions in the game. There are loads.
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_IX_allusions

@BruceCM
By open i meant how you're not confined to a linear straight forward path like in FF 13. In the early games it's like you're not really given much direction and you just get vague hints about where you should be going. Of course this often got me killed as i would be going places that were way out of my league at that time.

@Dezzy yea it was super cool when i saw it. I'm keeping my eyes out for more. Although I only have ff7 under my belt I'm sure ill miss quite a few

Anyway, the one you asked about is fairly linear but with quite a few optional side-quests, @Zeldafan79.... The next part is probably going to be more open but we'll have to see about that

@NintendoByNature

They played Rufus's march tune from FF7 right near the beginning. You probably missed it:

@Dezzy actually, I knew I heard that tune before lol! Very cool.

Just witnessed Cleyra getting blown to bits in IX. I'm currently on the villain's airship.

Ooh, good progress there, @RR529 ....

So, you beat Antlion yet, @NintendoByNature. ...? Freya has a healing move, btw. Let me know if you need more tips with that or anything

@BruceCM yea but after losing 7 or so times because of sandstorm I finally caved and started the battle with assistance to get a couple good hits on him. The previous times I lost, were a good 15 min or so per battle. It was sandstorm, Phoenix down, potions, rinse and repeat multiple times barely dealing any damage to him. I did use freyas healing but it barely did much.

I honestly got a little frustrated getting my party back up after 5 min only to be hit with a sandstorm yet again. It proved to be one of the more annoying boss fights ive faced in 7 and 9 thus far. Not hard, just time consuming and annoying. So I used battle assistance to give me 1 leg up but didn't use everyone's special attack, just vivi and zidanes. Freya, I held off on to make it a little more fair and challenging.

@NintendoByNature

Sounds like you need to grind a bit more. That's not a very hard boss at all.

Eh, he didn't know the sandstorm attack can't kill you & it takes a turn to recover, @Dezzy.... Freya's healing move should have done enough to not need too many high potions, so not sure what he's doing wrong there
Bet you didn't find the weakness to ice, either, @NintendoByNature? Bit late to advise on that boss now, though

@Dezzy yea you could be right. I was at level 10 or 11 for my party.
@BruceCM freyas healing move was giving me 30 or so hp for each person at best. Not sure if that's normal or not.
The boss did cast a spell on me, and i wasn't sure which item to take to cure it honestly. So That couldve played a factor too. I did hit him blizzard whenever I wasn't healing, which wasnt often.
I was just getting tired of rehealing and using Phoenix down non stop. So Maybe I was doing something wrong, and struggling more than most.

@BruceCM, I honestly didn't know Freya had a healing move. Which is it?

I powered through the Antlion on my first try, but whenever I get to a new town I tend to grind nearby so I can buy the best gear available for my party before leaving (during which they usually level up a bit). I think everyone was level 16 & 17 when I left Cleyra.

@RR529 it's reisz wind or something like that

Sounds a little under-levelled, so that'd make quite a difference, @NintendoByNature .... Reis Wind, I think it's called, @RR529. Wildly assuming NBN hasn't been training Quina in blue magic (which I never do, anyway), it's the only one they'll have Anyway, if he'll let us know what we can advise on, since that battle is over?