Penguin

@Rosona - You're quite welcome. Wait till you get to FFIV and FFVI. If you haven't played them already, you're in for quite a treat with regards to story (since you mentioned the lack of story in FFI). FFIV is my personal favorite Final Fantasy game. I know most people's favorite is FFVI or FFVII but I thought FFIV's story was better overall. Can't go wrong with any of the old-school games though. You'll enjoy the collection for sure.

@JohnnyMind - No problem! Glad it was helpful! The manual itself, if I recall correctly, was around half instructions and around half strategy guide for the beginning portions of the game. Us 80s kids had never played a detailed turn-based RPG like that at the time unless we had an expensive PC. Closest to an RPG we had gotten was Zelda, Metroid and Kid Icarus lol and they don't really compare. I think Square knew there would be a learning curve in the states so they went all out on the manual/poster to lessen it as much as they could.

@KingMike - Yeah, I realized that mistake when looking over the poster charts after making my post but when I went back in to edit my post it kept giving me an error so couldn't fix it. Thanks for the correction.

I didn't realize that you could delete a spell in later ports. I played through the entire PS1 version in Final Fantasy Origins and had no idea. Good to know though for when my pixel remaster finally arrives. Thanks for that info!

You have to remember that the original Final Fantasy on NES came not only with a massive instruction manual, as mentioned previously, but also with a double-sided poster. One side was full of tables that listed all weapons and armor, what their effects were and who could equip them. It also detailed every magic spell, who could use them and what their effects were. Each character could only own/use four of the six spells available at each magic level at a time so that poster helped you decide which four you wanted to purchase. The other side of the poster was a world map.

Guess it's a big ask to include something like that with a remaster, especially when there would potentially be six of them (one for each game). I'm still waiting on my copy to arrive from PlayAsia so not sure if they were included digitally in any way but, from the article above, sounds like they weren't. That's a shame because otherwise it really is trial and error.

There may be some differences in the remasters from the originals due to rebalancing efforts but below are links to the two sides of the original Final Fantasy poster in case anyone is interested. Hopefully, it's ok to link out to these when posting. Moderators, please let me know if this is against the rules here.

Weapons, Armor, Magic details - http://www.1morecastle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Final-Fantasy-Weapons-and-Armor.jpg

World map - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/b0/e7/29b0e799fa74f1b99ccfa5d76fccd35a.jpg

Hope this is helpful!

Best news I've heard all day! I am absolutely LOVING this game and will spring for any paid DLC they send our way.

Hmmm... I find it hard to believe that, if Sega is planning to announce a new console, this is the first we're hearing about it. Seems like there would be leaks or news about an uptick in manufacturing or the parts supply chain. That said, if Sega announces a new console, I'd be onboard out of the gate. And really there isn't much less than a new console that I feel would be as revolutionary as that announcement is making it out to be. Looking forward to the follow-up on this one.

@LowRyder - It will have online multiplayer AND friends that don't own the game will be able to join games that you create as well.

Can't wait for this one to drop!

I've been playing this game every chance I get since it was released. Even put down Animal Crossing: New Horizons for it. As someone playing this series for the first time, I'm very impressed with it. Really solid game!

My only real complaint would be that there isn't really any progression mechanism. All of the songs are unlocked from the beginning and it's really easy to earn VP which is how you unlock new modules (costumes), accessories, etc.. Guess it's strange to complain about having access to everything from the start but all of the content is a bit overwhelming and I like having some kind of structure, even if it's a basic one, to work through in a game. I've ended up setting my own goals by only playing a handful of songs at a time until I Excellent them before moving on to the next group. Guess I'm too used to the Rock Band system.

At any rate, that aside, I would highly recommend this game to anyone on the fence about it if you love music and rhythm games.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons for sure but also wearing out the Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix demo. One more week to go till my song list is multiplied by 50!

Northguard. I was trying to decide whether or not to purchase that one on Xbox One or Switch just before the end of the year. Was sad at the time that NintendoLife hadn't reviewed it. I did a lot of digging on the Interwebs and eventually found enough information to go off of but this site is always my first go to when it comes to Switch (or anything Nintendo-related for that matter) info.

For those interested, I begrudgingly decided on purchasing the Xbox One version of the game, despite the lack of mobile play. There were too many comments out there mentioning slow down, primarily when zoomed out and viewing larger gameplay areas, on Switch. Since I still haven't played the game on Switch though, I would welcome NintendoLife's perspective on this.

Thanks for putting together this thread though all! The fact that you're soliciting feedback and are concerned about missing reviews at all shows the dedication you have to your members/fans. Really appreciate it!

This is nice and all but what I'd really like is the ability to share my wish list via a URL to others who are looking for gift ideas for me. I can do that with my Xbox wish list. You would think this would be a no brainer for Nintendo as it would actually increase digital sales if you could purchase gifts for people this way.

Gamestop will always hold a special place in my heart but it was a very love/hate relationship I endured. Moved up through the ranks quickly just out of college, couple of years as a store manager, helped open a few stores, was an acting area manager for a stint, then finally got introduced to the virtual cesspool that is upper management. Never before or since have I witnessed such blatant corruption, greed and total disregard for employees and customers alike. It is not surprising to me AT ALL that they eventually spiraled out of control and are now in the position they find themselves in. The changing nature of the video game industry is not what crippled Gamestop, although many people point to that excuse. No, Gamestop crippled Gamestop. You have to care about the people who work with and for you and you have to care about the customers you serve. If not, it will eventually catch up to you. Although, I must say, I would absolutely love to see Reggie turn things around and effect real change there. He's got an uphill battle for sure.

Whoa... pretty sure I actually have a CIB Mike Tyson's Punch-Out packed away in a box somewhere. Time to go digging to see if it's the 5-screw variant. I know I kept that over the years though because of the fact that they quit making it with Tyson on it.

I look forward to E3 all year! Even take vacation days from work sometimes to binge watch the event. Have really loved the fact that Microsoft has increased their presence even as Sony decreases theirs. To me at least, all of the effort and hype speaks volumes to their focus on their fans.

I think Nintendo does a great job with their E3 presence as well. I do wish they had a traditional press conference rather than a Direct ridiculously early in the morning (where I live) but I absolutely LOVE watching the lengthy Treehouse coverage. It actually impacted my purchase of a Switch this past summer so it must be doing its job lol.

As a disclaimer, I have attended E3 twice in the past as an industry insider so part of me just doesn't want to see it fade away into the night. But I do think it has a big impact on the gaming world as a whole even in 2020.

If the prices I saw on eBay for the Xenosaga games on PS2 are any indication, there is definitely a market out there for these. I would pre-order the moment a collection was announced even though I already own Xenogears and the first Xenosaga.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

And thanks so much to Nintendo Life for all that they do day in and day out. Found your site when I picked up my Switch this past summer and have been visiting almost daily since then. Has been a long time since I've come across a site that has held my interest this long. Keep up the great work in 2020!

I keep asking myself... why oh why am I more excited about this game than the new Zelda? Still searching for an answer... ... ...