The Great Final Fantasy Retrospective - Let's Mosey

meiam

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I mean to an extend there is agrind to be had in almost all FF games. But I think FF3 and 5 are by far the worst.....Although 10 takes the crowd if you want to complete that sphere grind, but thankfully it's not a requirement. 3 and 5 are requirements and it's bad. Ugh.
Completing the sphere grid is not that hard, you can setup your character to gain a shit load of exp every fight by making specialized weapon that convert limit break increase into exp and then set them up to gain tons of limit break quickly. You get dozen of level every fight that way.

Not sure why you say grind is required in 5, the only grind I remember was to master red mage and that was just cause I wanted to mess around with double magic.
 

sXeth

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Yeah, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 were the ones I never found a need to grind in and could just playthrough without any kind of off-path looping etc

(obviously you might not get all the neato spells (or in 8 you just never used magic at all prettymuch except as a stat bosst), but you could definitely progress)
 
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CriticalGaming

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Completing the sphere grid is not that hard, you can setup your character to gain a shit load of exp every fight by making specialized weapon that convert limit break increase into exp and then set them up to gain tons of limit break quickly. You get dozen of level every fight that way.
There are other aspects of that grind beyond the exp part of it. You also need lots of special spheres in other to jump around and fill out the blank nodes for every character. Not to mention the terrible mini games in order to unlock the top weapons for the characters too. It's a lot and it's not nearly as straightforward as just fighting the same shit over and over.
 

thebobmaster

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There are other aspects of that grind beyond the exp part of it. You also need lots of special spheres in other to jump around and fill out the blank nodes for every character. Not to mention the terrible mini games in order to unlock the top weapons for the characters too. It's a lot and it's not nearly as straightforward as just fighting the same shit over and over.
Chocobo race. Sub 0-second time.

Dodging 200 lightning bolts.

Those FUCKING BUTTERFLIES.
 

Specter Von Baren

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Chocobo race. Sub 0-second time.

Dodging 200 lightning bolts.

Those FUCKING BUTTERFLIES.
I was able to do the dodges through determination, and I did the butterfly one with trial and error and consulting a guide.

The Chocobo one though... that's the one that broke me.
 

CriticalGaming

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I was able to do the dodges through determination, and I did the butterfly one with trial and error and consulting a guide.

The Chocobo one though... that's the one that broke me.
Funny thing about X is that there is always the ONE game that breaks you. The game is different for everyone, but the result is the same regardless :)
 

Dalisclock

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I was able to do the dodges through determination, and I did the butterfly one with trial and error and consulting a guide.

The Chocobo one though... that's the one that broke me.
For a second I thought you meant that fucking Chocobo Ranching/Breeding/racing thing from FF7. Which I'm gonna admit I did and I'm not proud of it. It probably added a good 5 hours to my playtime at the very least just so I could get a stupid OP spell that I could only really use on the final boss.
 
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CriticalGaming

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For a second I thought you meant that fucking Chocobo Ranching/Breeding/racing thing from FF7. Which I'm gonna admit I did and I'm not proud of it. It probably added a good 5 hours to my playtime at the very least just so I could get a stupid OP spell that I could only really use on the final boss.
HEY HEY HEY making farm animals fuck is the pinicle of our society! Nothing to be ashamed about.
 

Dalisclock

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HEY HEY HEY making farm animals fuck is the pinicle of our society! Nothing to be ashamed about.
I feel like I need to mention Red Mages wierdass obsession with animal husbandry from 8-bit theater now but I don't really know why.

Also, if you have the time and dedication for a LONGASS web comic, 8 bit theater is worth checking out. It's FF1 centered but draws a lot all over the series(up to when the series ended in 2010).
 
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Specter Von Baren

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For a second I thought you meant that fucking Chocobo Ranching/Breeding/racing thing from FF7. Which I'm gonna admit I did and I'm not proud of it. It probably added a good 5 hours to my playtime at the very least just so I could get a stupid OP spell that I could only really use on the final boss.
And that's the hell of most bonus stuff in RPGs, a lot of it through history has been stuff that has a reward of little worth because you had to do the hardest thing in the game just to get it. Golden Sun: The Lost Age is one of the few I can think of that has really freaking hard optional bosses that are also valuable for fighting the final boss
 
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CriticalGaming

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Now that I'm nearing the end of the FF3 playthrough (assuming crystal tower doesn't fuck me). I was thinking about buying the pixel remasters for 4, 5, 6, but then I remembered I have an SNES mini i never use and it has both FF4 and 6 on it. So maybe I'll just play the original classic versions for those games.
 
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thebobmaster

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And that's the hell of most bonus stuff in RPGs, a lot of it through history has been stuff that has a reward of little worth because you had to do the hardest thing in the game just to get it. Golden Sun: The Lost Age is one of the few I can think of that has really freaking hard optional bosses that are also valuable for fighting the final boss
That is what TV Tropes refers to as the Bragging Rights Reward. By earning it, you have basically proven you didn't need it, and are just getting it for, well, bragging rights.
 

bluegate

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I was able to do the dodges through determination, and I did the butterfly one with trial and error and consulting a guide.

The Chocobo one though... that's the one that broke me.
Pro tips;

- At the start of the race, do not steer until the other Chocobo steers. Steering too early will make you fall behind the other one and you'll miss tons of balloons.

- The Chocobo operates on tank controls so do not use the analogue sticks for steering; the Chocobo won't react as you'd expect.
Steer only by tapping the d-pad left and right button to adjust the direction of the Chocobo.

After this you only need a bit of luck with regards to balloon placing, and a bit of practice to understand bird pathing and know what parts of the course are "auto controlled" because of the camera moving around corners and such.

Funny thing about X is that there is always the ONE game that breaks you. The game is different for everyone, but the result is the same regardless :)
Only if one's a whiny **redacted** 😉
 
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Dalisclock

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I'm playing the pixel remaster. So I believe these are as true to the originals as possible.
I played an emulated version of the original. I have the DS remake but haven't picked it up and I keep thinking I should grab the pixel remaster sometime. It's the problem of I have enough damn games to play and I don't know when I'm gonna replay Final Fantasy considering I've got a bunch of RPGs sitting in my backlog I'd love to try.
 
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Eacaraxe

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Now that I'm nearing the end of the FF3 playthrough (assuming crystal tower doesn't fuck me). I was thinking about buying the pixel remasters for 4, 5, 6, but then I remembered I have an SNES mini i never use and it has both FF4 and 6 on it. So maybe I'll just play the original classic versions for those games.
Actually working through them myself. Bought PR for 1-3 myself, on the fence about getting them for 4-6.

I was glad to see the pre-Marsh Cave grind was eased a great deal in FF1, peninsula exploitation removed and all. Still don't see why everyone has a hate-on for RDM, they're still overall the best class in the game.

FF2 is honestly my favorite of the original three. The early attempt at a story-focused game was clumsy, sure, but I really like its character development model and you can definitely see DNA that would go into later Western RPG's.

FF3 still irks me. Yeah, first appearance of the job system and all, but those difficulty spikes and mandatory-job bosses and dungeons are still irritating as hell.

Outside PR's,

FF5 is still the finest implementation of the job system we've got until FFT, and Zodiac Age. The Ivalice setting really needs more love.

In case anyone missed it, there's a Squeenix Steam sale right now and Final Fantasy titles are going between 20-50% off. I'm definitely eyeballing Bravely Default 2.

HEY HEY HEY making farm animals fuck is the pinicle of our society! Nothing to be ashamed about.
Ah yes, I too remember chocobo incest simulator.
 
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Dalisclock

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Actually working through them myself. Bought PR for 1-3 myself, on the fence about getting them for 4-6.

I was glad to see the pre-Marsh Cave grind was eased a great deal in FF1, peninsula exploitation removed and all. Still don't see why everyone has a hate-on for RDM, they're still overall the best class in the game.
I didn't use a Red Mage the sole time i beat the game on the original NES version. I got the idea that in a party where you have 4 members max, it made more sense to have a White and Black Mage to cover your ass a lot more then a Red one. The Pixel Remaster might have made the Red Mage a lot more viable.