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FF re-impressions
Mar. 3rd, 2018 10:54 amSo, I've been super hooked on that... Dissidia phone game with a long name (which btw when they released Ch6 I found Galuf and maxed his level and crystal strength in under two hours total LOLLLL), and it's been making me want to play some FF games. I've also been having like... a Hell Month as far as health/life is concerned so I'm wanting to just do nothing and sit around and play a game for myself without writing about it or whatever. I mean, at least not in a capacity like play diaries which have requirements and etc lol.
But I did pull out a few games to see which one I really want to get into. There also just happened to be a Steam sale on FF games and I just happened to get $20 from AppLike so I decided to get the 10/10-2 HD thing and FF13. I was really concerned FF13 might not run on my lappy but it actually runs perfectly well, which is super awesome and exciting. I've been really wanting to replay it.
I don't have enough disk space to have both 13 and 10/10-2 installed at once, so I opted for 13 since I wanted to see if it would run, and I'm trying to convince my brother to buy it (he has a slightly upgraded model of the same laptop as me, so if it runs for me, it should run for him lol).
I also pulled up FF5 and FF8 (which I already owned on Steam) and played around in them.
Some random stuff:
Final Fantasy V
This game is so addictive? I got really bored writing about it in the play diaries, but it's not boring to play. Doing the FJF was actually not as fun as I had hoped because the limitations just made the game a bit more tedious, rather than more challenging. But I did learn a lot about mechanics and stuff I never really needed to mess with before, so that was cool, and I want to do the FJF again for that reason alone.
This has always been one of my favorite games, though.
Also, my view on Faris is changing vastly due to my lifeviews changing as well (I don't really want to get into that right now though LOL). But uh, that aside, Faris is still such a bamf. Like this game is all about Galuf and Faris and randomly Bartz does a joke or Lenna does something ridiculously self-sacrificial which isn't emotional because otherwise she is nonexistent from the story.
But yeah. I'm trying to do a more 'completionist' run this time for the Steam cheevos. It will also eventually be my first time doing the extra GBA content if I do keep playing this one. So far it's most likely this will be the one I keep going with because it's just so fun. I'm only at the fire-powered ship for now. I want to power up a bit and get certain jobs and stuff where I want them because I know the Karnak escape sequence is coming up...
Final Fantasy VIII
It's been a LONG time since I played this one at all. Probably the biggest gap of any of the games in the series for me at this point??? I was really into it when it was new, and over time, my view of the game has been a little tarnished by the negativity surrounding it, I think. I inflated the game's flaws in my head, but playing it again now, I remember just how much I really love this game.
The only real "problem" with the game is how tedious Draw can be. But other than that, the game is a blast. It's one of the more challenging Final Fantasy games when you first play it, there are so many little subquests and secrets that are fun to discover and figure out (unlike some games where they are impossible to do without a guide or extremely frustrating or whatever -- pretty much everything hidden/extra in this game is balanced well and fun to find out on your own).
I love the character growth systems in this game (Junction, GF, item refining, etc.) because the most important aspect to your characters' strengths is the decisions you make while playing, not simply how many battles you've decided to grind out. In that regard, it's a bit SaGa-esque, and makes me feel like I have not only a lot of control, but a lot of responsibility to raising the characters, and that is a lot of fun. It definitely makes me want to try a LLG, really pushing GF and Junction to their limits.
The PC version has weird MIDI music and I was considering modding it until I played it and I actually kind of like it. It's nostalgic even though I've never played the PC version til now, though I did listen to a LOT of midi music back in the day when dial-up connections and small personal server sizes meant nobody uploaded actual recorded music online and midi was the main way to listen to stuff.
I'm only up until the part where you are to go to Timber to meet Rinoa's group (after graduation). I went up and got the Seifer card from Cid and stopped playing. The resolution on the PC version is really nice and Cid actually looks like he's supposed to have a scruffy goatee or something? Even though in his artwork he doesn't have that. He has that big bulgy chin though which actually is kinda hot so I don't need it covered up by a goat.
Uh, but yeah. I'm appreciating Zell a bit more this time; Selphie, too. Not that I disliked them, but they were never really my favs. Squall is... a lot more annoyuing than I remember. I think because when I first played this, I was a wangsty wannabe-edgy teen myself, so I related to it, but now he just seems like an insufferable asshole tryhard. But I mean I'm not that far yet and he's kinda SUPPOSED to be like that in the beginning but I don't remember him getting significantly different or anything but again it's been forever, so...
The main reason I started this one was because my brother wanted to play it together but now he's not even playing so IDK if I will keep going. I'm enjoying it, but not as much as the other two which are two of my all-time favs. I might though. Maybe if someone else starts playing XD
Final Fantasy XIII
I loved this game the whole way through and never really understood the hate for it. I'm a little frustrated my second time through with how SLOW getting your hands on some of the mechanics is, but even then, the game is still very fun? The characters and story are engaging, the environments are fun to look at, and the battles are a BLAST even when you only have, like, two attack options.
And I'm already enjoying the battles this much just picking between punching and grenades, so I'm already pretty hyped to get into when they get much more complex. I absolutely love battles in this game to the point where even grinding is fun (and I'm generally an anti-grind kind of person LOL I was getting so frustrated with myself for fighting like, 2 battles because I needed 2ABP to level up a job in FFV). I can fight battles all day in this game. Seriously. I love love love this game lol.
I can understand disappointment with the initial linearity and way the game opens so slowly, but like... it's still fun the entire time...? I also do not mind the game being linear, but I've never had problems with linear games before. I kind of prefer linear games in general, I guess, because I feel too overwhelmed with too many choices and too little direction. But having a million things to explore has never been a necessity to me.
Anyway, I've only completed Ch1 so far, since I was just testing to see how it ran on my computer. Already I am appreciating Vanille a lot more. She was by far my least favorite the first time through, I think because I couldn't stand her voice and it was so disorienting to me since no one else sounded like that. But I'm used to her voice now, so I'm not nearly as put-off by it, so this time I can just kind of appreciate her as a character in her own right without constantly being distracted by thoughts of "OMFG SHUT UP" lolol. And actually I'm really liking her right from the beginning. She's cute, but also is already one of the most emotionally complex characters without even really getting to know her. I guess it helps that she's the narrator, though.
I also didn't like Snow at first, but grew to love him over my first play of the game. So it's fun being able to experience the beginning without disliking him hahaha. The main turning point for me washow hot he looked bandaged up in Bartholomew's house getting to see his relationship with Serah unfold in the flashbacks. He turned from being a knuckleheaded girl-crazy guy to a sensitive, caring, and deep individual. I suddenly had to reinterpret his attitudes and actions and it made me realize I was looking at him the wrong way the whole time.
Hope is still my faaaaaaaaaaaaaaav and one of my fav FF player characters of all time. Hopefully my thoughts on that don't change hahaha. I'm also looking forward to possibly appreciating Fang more this time. Not that I disliked her the first time, just I was already so absorbed in the other characters by the time she arrived that I didn't give her enough attetion. I thought she was cool, though, and did use her in battle quite a bit when trying to slay some of the trickier fiends. I'm going to try to use everyone a bit more this time -- I did use everyone quite a bit the first time, but eventually fell into Hope/Lightning/Sazh and then didn't look back. But I'll keep trying to rotate even as I get farther.
Of course, if I end up playing this more. I'm still unsure which game(s) I'll continue with as I'm still just kind of playing around for now. I kind of want to play FF2 a bit as well.
But I did pull out a few games to see which one I really want to get into. There also just happened to be a Steam sale on FF games and I just happened to get $20 from AppLike so I decided to get the 10/10-2 HD thing and FF13. I was really concerned FF13 might not run on my lappy but it actually runs perfectly well, which is super awesome and exciting. I've been really wanting to replay it.
I don't have enough disk space to have both 13 and 10/10-2 installed at once, so I opted for 13 since I wanted to see if it would run, and I'm trying to convince my brother to buy it (he has a slightly upgraded model of the same laptop as me, so if it runs for me, it should run for him lol).
I also pulled up FF5 and FF8 (which I already owned on Steam) and played around in them.
Some random stuff:
Final Fantasy V
This game is so addictive? I got really bored writing about it in the play diaries, but it's not boring to play. Doing the FJF was actually not as fun as I had hoped because the limitations just made the game a bit more tedious, rather than more challenging. But I did learn a lot about mechanics and stuff I never really needed to mess with before, so that was cool, and I want to do the FJF again for that reason alone.
This has always been one of my favorite games, though.
Also, my view on Faris is changing vastly due to my lifeviews changing as well (I don't really want to get into that right now though LOL). But uh, that aside, Faris is still such a bamf. Like this game is all about Galuf and Faris and randomly Bartz does a joke or Lenna does something ridiculously self-sacrificial which isn't emotional because otherwise she is nonexistent from the story.
But yeah. I'm trying to do a more 'completionist' run this time for the Steam cheevos. It will also eventually be my first time doing the extra GBA content if I do keep playing this one. So far it's most likely this will be the one I keep going with because it's just so fun. I'm only at the fire-powered ship for now. I want to power up a bit and get certain jobs and stuff where I want them because I know the Karnak escape sequence is coming up...
Final Fantasy VIII
It's been a LONG time since I played this one at all. Probably the biggest gap of any of the games in the series for me at this point??? I was really into it when it was new, and over time, my view of the game has been a little tarnished by the negativity surrounding it, I think. I inflated the game's flaws in my head, but playing it again now, I remember just how much I really love this game.
The only real "problem" with the game is how tedious Draw can be. But other than that, the game is a blast. It's one of the more challenging Final Fantasy games when you first play it, there are so many little subquests and secrets that are fun to discover and figure out (unlike some games where they are impossible to do without a guide or extremely frustrating or whatever -- pretty much everything hidden/extra in this game is balanced well and fun to find out on your own).
I love the character growth systems in this game (Junction, GF, item refining, etc.) because the most important aspect to your characters' strengths is the decisions you make while playing, not simply how many battles you've decided to grind out. In that regard, it's a bit SaGa-esque, and makes me feel like I have not only a lot of control, but a lot of responsibility to raising the characters, and that is a lot of fun. It definitely makes me want to try a LLG, really pushing GF and Junction to their limits.
The PC version has weird MIDI music and I was considering modding it until I played it and I actually kind of like it. It's nostalgic even though I've never played the PC version til now, though I did listen to a LOT of midi music back in the day when dial-up connections and small personal server sizes meant nobody uploaded actual recorded music online and midi was the main way to listen to stuff.
I'm only up until the part where you are to go to Timber to meet Rinoa's group (after graduation). I went up and got the Seifer card from Cid and stopped playing. The resolution on the PC version is really nice and Cid actually looks like he's supposed to have a scruffy goatee or something? Even though in his artwork he doesn't have that. He has that big bulgy chin though which actually is kinda hot so I don't need it covered up by a goat.
Uh, but yeah. I'm appreciating Zell a bit more this time; Selphie, too. Not that I disliked them, but they were never really my favs. Squall is... a lot more annoyuing than I remember. I think because when I first played this, I was a wangsty wannabe-edgy teen myself, so I related to it, but now he just seems like an insufferable asshole tryhard. But I mean I'm not that far yet and he's kinda SUPPOSED to be like that in the beginning but I don't remember him getting significantly different or anything but again it's been forever, so...
The main reason I started this one was because my brother wanted to play it together but now he's not even playing so IDK if I will keep going. I'm enjoying it, but not as much as the other two which are two of my all-time favs. I might though. Maybe if someone else starts playing XD
Final Fantasy XIII
I loved this game the whole way through and never really understood the hate for it. I'm a little frustrated my second time through with how SLOW getting your hands on some of the mechanics is, but even then, the game is still very fun? The characters and story are engaging, the environments are fun to look at, and the battles are a BLAST even when you only have, like, two attack options.
And I'm already enjoying the battles this much just picking between punching and grenades, so I'm already pretty hyped to get into when they get much more complex. I absolutely love battles in this game to the point where even grinding is fun (and I'm generally an anti-grind kind of person LOL I was getting so frustrated with myself for fighting like, 2 battles because I needed 2ABP to level up a job in FFV). I can fight battles all day in this game. Seriously. I love love love this game lol.
I can understand disappointment with the initial linearity and way the game opens so slowly, but like... it's still fun the entire time...? I also do not mind the game being linear, but I've never had problems with linear games before. I kind of prefer linear games in general, I guess, because I feel too overwhelmed with too many choices and too little direction. But having a million things to explore has never been a necessity to me.
Anyway, I've only completed Ch1 so far, since I was just testing to see how it ran on my computer. Already I am appreciating Vanille a lot more. She was by far my least favorite the first time through, I think because I couldn't stand her voice and it was so disorienting to me since no one else sounded like that. But I'm used to her voice now, so I'm not nearly as put-off by it, so this time I can just kind of appreciate her as a character in her own right without constantly being distracted by thoughts of "OMFG SHUT UP" lolol. And actually I'm really liking her right from the beginning. She's cute, but also is already one of the most emotionally complex characters without even really getting to know her. I guess it helps that she's the narrator, though.
I also didn't like Snow at first, but grew to love him over my first play of the game. So it's fun being able to experience the beginning without disliking him hahaha. The main turning point for me was
Hope is still my faaaaaaaaaaaaaaav and one of my fav FF player characters of all time. Hopefully my thoughts on that don't change hahaha. I'm also looking forward to possibly appreciating Fang more this time. Not that I disliked her the first time, just I was already so absorbed in the other characters by the time she arrived that I didn't give her enough attetion. I thought she was cool, though, and did use her in battle quite a bit when trying to slay some of the trickier fiends. I'm going to try to use everyone a bit more this time -- I did use everyone quite a bit the first time, but eventually fell into Hope/Lightning/Sazh and then didn't look back. But I'll keep trying to rotate even as I get farther.
Of course, if I end up playing this more. I'm still unsure which game(s) I'll continue with as I'm still just kind of playing around for now. I kind of want to play FF2 a bit as well.
