The Great Final Fantasy Retrospective - Let's Mosey

Drathnoxis

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"Unlike the Souls playthroughs where I tried to get absolutely everything and platinum every game possible, (didn't plat DS3 because....no thanks) I will NOT be platinuming any of these games. The achievements in the FF games are utter grindfesty bullshit for the most part. However i will try to play through all possible content, which means super bosses, extra dungeons, or whatever else the game may have if reasonably possible. But unlocked every node on the sphere grid for every character in FFX? No thanks."

Which I take to mean he won't be going for extremely rare weapon drops from enemies that require grinding, or the best weapons for every character in FF10 that also require a chore list just to make them worth getting (As an example). But he will do things like fight Emerald and Ruby Weapon in FF7 or get all the summons in FF10. Stuff with meaningful content attached to it and not "Jump through these hoops to get better stats".
Exactly, 100% of the content. You'd have to be insane to want to collect every item for no reason.
 

Drathnoxis

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How are items content? Do you not consider Skyrim 100% complete unless you've collected every scrap in existence and piled them all in a single chest that crashes the game when you open it?

100% of quests and bosses is 100% of the content. Filling out lists is for when you are playing Microsoft Excel. Now there's a classic example of the genre! Very challenging to 100%, though.
 
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Specter Von Baren

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How are items content? Do you not consider Skyrim 100% complete unless you've collected every scrap in existence and piled them all in a single chest that crashes the game when you open it?

100% of quests and bosses is 100% of the content. Filling out lists is for when you are playing Microsoft Excel. Now there's a classic example of the genre! Very challenging to 100%, though.
To get one of the best weapons in the game in FFX you need to, if I remember correctly, dodge 100 lightning strikes in a row in the Thunder Plains. Technically a quest. Don't think he's going to do that one. Another involves getting the absolute best record on an annoying chocobo mini game that is persnickety as all hell. Don't think he intends to do that one either. There are technically "quests" involved with these items but I don't think he intends to do them based on what he's said.
 
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Drathnoxis

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To get one of the best weapons in the game in FFX you need to, if I remember correctly, dodge 100 lightning strikes in a row in the Thunder Plains. Technically a quest. Don't think he's going to do that one. Another involves getting the absolute best record on an annoying chocobo mini game that is persnickety as all hell. Don't think he intends to do that one either. There are technically "quests" involved with these items but I don't think he intends to do them based on what he's said.
Ok, he's going to do 100-ish% of the content. Happy?
 

meiam

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Even 100%-ish is pretty crazy, like getting all the ff9 chocograph must takes roughly 10 hours, but that's necessary to get Zidane ultimate weapon. If you want the zodiac spear in 12, you might as well save yourself time and just go insane now.

I think if he wants to keep post coming semi regularly and not burn out hardcore it makes more sense to just do side quest that are important and have reasonable amount of content (say getting anima in FF10) but skip all the ultimate weapon and getting all the reward from blitzball. FF10 rushing trough content (no cutscene skip) is probably 30-40 hours, doing all the major side quest (getting anima, clearing that stupid dark dungeon) probably add another 15. But then doing all the really hardcore sidequest (completing monster arena, getting all the ultimate weapon) probably add another 50 hours, and then doing the really crazy hardcore stuff (maxing out stats) must add another 50 on top (there are trick to get a shiton of exp very quickly, but replacing all the grid with +4 stats require grinding like crazy for those).

Roughly on top of my head *(Basic clear, +most side quest, +absolute full clear):
4: 25, 40, 50
5: 25, 40, 50
6: 25, 60, 90
7: 35, 70, 90 (I got my save file to 99:59:59 trying to max out Cloud stats, but I was a dumb kid)
8: 35, 60, 90
9: 35, 70, 80
10: 35, 85, 135
12: 30, 80, No
13: Why?, No, really why?, I'm just calling suicide hotline now
15: 20, 60, not sure
 

Drathnoxis

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You know, this is all getting kind of complicated. I think Critical should just platinum all the games so everyone is absolutely clear on what he's doing. It's the only way.
 

Brokencontroller

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To get one of the best weapons in the game in FFX you need to, if I remember correctly, dodge 100 lightning strikes in a row in the Thunder Plains. Technically a quest. Don't think he's going to do that one. Another involves getting the absolute best record on an annoying chocobo mini game that is persnickety as all hell. Don't think he intends to do that one either. There are technically "quests" involved with these items but I don't think he intends to do them based on what he's said.
200 lightning strikes actually. Consecutively. I dont blame anyone skipping that trash.
 

Specter Von Baren

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200 lightning strikes actually. Consecutively. I dont blame anyone skipping that trash.
I actually did that back in the day but never ever did it again and never was able to get all of them. The fact that the ultimate weapons suck until you do even more stuff to unlock their potential just rubbed salt in the wound.
 
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meiam

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I actually did that back in the day but never ever did it again and never was able to get all of them. The fact that the ultimate weapons suck until you do even more stuff to unlock their potential just rubbed salt in the wound.
You could actually make ultimate weapon using the customization system faster than completing their side quest. Blitzball tournament took forever cause you couldn't control what prize were going to show up, the actual game was really easy (I'd go in my own goal and would shoot and score from across the field for shit and giggle) but it would still take 10 hours. I never even bothered finishing that dumb butterfly one in the wood. Anyway super end game you just used Tidus/Wakka/Rikku because some of the super boss were underwater, so everybody else weapon was pointless trash anyway.

Anyway no one is really talking about FF1 cause w/e, its not a very interesting game outside of being able to make some weird team comp just for fun.

You know it'd be cool if there was a way to add bookmark or something to forum post, if we get to 30 pages at FF8 or w/e, a lot of people who don't care much for previous entry might not realize its at this point even if they'd like to talk about it. Maybe add a link to the first post linking to every game discussion start and update thread title (can we do that?) to indicate which one you're at.
 
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CriticalGaming

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He said he wasn't going to platinum, but was still going to play all the content in the OP. That's 100% in my definition.
I will try but I will not grind to do so. So things like FFX's annoying minigames I wont deal with, the dark Aeons are not worth it. However I'll talk about them because I've done it before. And there is a lot of that throughout the series. There are things in FF9 I wont bother with either, like speedrunning the game to get Steiner's ultimate weapon, just seems redundant and counter productive to fight Ozmat.

Each game will be played by ear as I get to them. I'll let people know if I skip something, or have already done it previous playthroughs.
 

bluegate

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Who the hell even found this out? And how?
I'm going to assume that it was written in the game's guide that Square sold back in the day.

It's heavily trivialized nowadays though, because some champ discovered a certain spot on the map where the player can trigger a lightning strike, so you'll just have to run little circles for twenty or so minutes.

I remember doing it back in the day in PS2, standing in a secluded area of the map, just looking at the screen, waiting for those flashes.

Even 100%-ish is pretty crazy, like getting all the ff9 chocograph must takes roughly 10 hours, but that's necessary to get Zidane ultimate weapon. If you want the zodiac spear in 12, you might as well save yourself time and just go insane now.
In the new "Remastered" versions of those games, those are easy things to accomplish.

You can simply speed up the game in FF9 and always dig up the maximum amount of items in Chocobo Hot and Cold.
You can breeze through the chocograph mini game in twoish hours maybe? Maybe three?

The real pain in the arse, if we're talking trophies, is the 100 jump rope one and the fight 10.000 enemies one.

The jump rope mini game is just finicky as fuck and even with doing everything in the game, you'll be nowhere near having defeated 10.000 enemies by the time the credits roll, so you'll end up grinding for hours, or setting up an auto-grinder and leaving the console on for a few hours.

As for FF12's Zodiac Spear, which sucks compared to the heavenly Seitengrat, it's now a simple steal ( or was it a drop... ) in the Trial Mode included in FF12, which can be an absolute blast to play.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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Less technically. FF 1 - 5 are like 10-15 hour games. The average for the rest of the games is closer to 30ish hours depending. There are a couple of longer ones like X is longer and 15 takes longer too. But for the most part they aren't exceptionally long games. DragonQuest games are really fucking long, but FF games typically aren't.
This is assuming the player knows the best character progressions and optimal party leveling strategies to usurp the bosses stats, because there’s no way they’d outlevel them enough to win while playing less than optimally.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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How are items content? Do you not consider Skyrim 100% complete unless you've collected every scrap in existence and piled them all in a single chest that crashes the game when you open it?

100% of quests and bosses is 100% of the content. Filling out lists is for when you are playing Microsoft Excel. Now there's a classic example of the genre! Very challenging to 100%, though.
A case of mincing definitions perhaps. There are many games where 100% means more than bosses or quests. Take the Souls games, as was the prior comparison. Even beyond platinum there are extra unique weapons, gear, items, etc. to be had if so chosen. RDR2 can easily double in length going for all quests, but that’s still nowhere close to finding all unique content. Or then there’s all of The Witcher 3’ ?’s. Ugh.

Still in all these cases it involves attaining game assets with actual significance vs maxing out inventories or other redundant crap like that.
 
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sXeth

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Skyrim would funnily be one where some of the items would be content, cause you have the Daedric artefacts and such.


The latter FF's tendency for strategy guide filler items not so much though. I wouldn't look down on someone for not bothering with Chocobo breeding, or not sinking hours into Triple Triad, FFX's multiple goofiness ones, (or even something like the Paladin shield in FF6)
 

Samtemdo8

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FF12 gambit was a cool idea, but the combat system isn't complex enough to warrant it, so you'd just need to setup very simple gambit (Heal when hp below 25%, cure negative status, etc...) and you'd easily go trough the entire game. At that point it just felt like you were just a deliver guy move the party from fight to fight. The story is hot garbage that makes no sense, which is an incredible shame considering its really trying to be FFT and there's a couple of trace of that, but your group of main character is completely irrelevant to the game.
2 of them are...mabye 3 if Fran is there.

And again this game went thorugh a similar development hell like Versus 13 went through when it became 15.
 

Samtemdo8

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My favorite games are those that feel more closer to Sakaguchi's vision.

Basically anything that factors the Warriors of Light and Crystals to an extent.

Final Fantasy 1, 3, 5, are basically a direct trilogy of this theme.

4 is also technically this, just lacking in the characters being The Warriors of Light, same as 9 which I also like.

I love the games set in Ivalice too, Tactics and 12 being the highest ranking ones.

And of course I love 6 and 7 and 10 and what have you. 6 has the best music in the entire franchise