What do you guys think about FFIX? I'm about 5hours in and

>>378689748
Opinions on the board regarding it tend to be very mixed, some think it's great, some think it's garbage.
I personally consider it criminally underrated and the second best Final Fantasy after V. Music and visuals are absolutely goat, but I understand why people who grew accostumed to VII and VIII take offense to the violent shift in tone and the less free-form character building system.

Would have been a masterpiece if the story was 20-25% longer, the latter third is pretty rushed.

>>378689748
It's ok.

is quina a trap

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>>378689748
we love it

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>>378690636
Quina is a psycho, is what it is

>>378690636
Technically genderless I think.
The game frequently switches Quina's pronouns. Refered to as he and she quite a lot. Point being Quina is just well Quina an odd-ball food obsessed nut that comes from a tribe of creatures almost as outlandish.

>>378689748
literally 10/10 for 70% of the time

It's literally a perfect game.

BEST PS FF BY FAR

>>378689748
Its only real flaws are a rushed end-game, and long transition time for battles which plagued some 3D ps1 rpgs. (Chrono cross is pretty guilty of this too)

>>378690814
how is this screenshot so clear and pretty

>>378689748

I'm maybe 7 hours in and really enjoying it. The battle intros are a bit too slow but I quite like how abilities are learned and really dig most of the characters introduced so far.

>>378691424
it's the steam version

I liked it as a kid but didn't like the minigame in it. Triple Triad is still my favorite mini game in the series. Vivi's story is my favorite part of it. The game falls off when they wrap up his story line.

Had the quote wrong.
>Bring my beloved dagger to me!

>>378689748
I think it's the best FF.

>>378691683
>The game falls off at the end of the game
Isn't it supposed to?

>>378689748
IX was a bad Final Fantasy. It had absolutely terrible equipment, skill, and ability systems that allowed no room for players to shape their characters in any way. The trance system going off outside of your control was even worse designed than VIII's limit spamming. The combat was slow and boring and the only interesting mechanic AT ALL was the dynamic between Steiner and Vivi, and it didn't really add anything to the game at all. It had a terribly boring setting that's only praised by "classic fans" because it didn't emphasize sci-fi, completely disregarding that Final Fantasy has used sci-fi elements from the start of the series. Your cast consisted of characters like Freya who were completely forgotten by the plot after their usefulness to the story was up, characters like Quina who basically just showed up whenever the game felt you needed a 4th party member and didn't do ANYTHING of any relevance, and characters like Amarant who I'm still trying to figure out why he was added to the game. The protagonist and antagonist being "space alien grim reaper brothers" is by far the worst plot twist in the series, much worse than either the orphanage in VIII or "You're a dream Teedus" could ever hope to be.

The worst part of all? In a series that's known for its innovation in its genre, Final Fantasy IX bitched out and actively BACKTRACKED to boring, outdated, mechanics. At least the early games it was a callback to were innovations of their time like the ATB system in IV, and at least for the PSX titles VII, VIII, and Tactics all tried to do new things with turn-based RPGs, storytelling, and world building even if it didn't please everyone- whereas IX actively decided to say fuck that, and appeal to idiots who want video games to stagnate.

It was boring and had nothing unique going for it. In fact, nothing about the game is particularly memorable. It has no sense of identity for itself and just takes after previous titles.

Fuck you all i liked Amarant.

>>378689748
One of the worst FF games to date

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>>378691981
>Amarant and Freya teaming up to take down Marilith
The two of them go so well together, it's a pity they didn't have more scenes

I like it less than 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 (let the maymays fly, boyos) but more than 1, 2, 3, 8, 13 and 15.

>>378692587
10 was good enough that I believe you, but how the hell did you derive enjoyment from 12?
It's like a a filler arc that never ends.

>>378689748
9 is really good up untill disc 3.
The game forgets half the playable cast exists plotwise around that point and becomes a drag.
Combats a little slow and leveling is strange, but other than that it's plenty fine for a final fantasy game.

If you're a fan of the earlier games you'll probably enjoy it a lot.

It's amazing. My top favorite Final Fantasy. My only gripes are the painful load times between battles (paired with high encounter rates) and a couple not so fun dungeons.

Also I don't like how your damage dealt is capped at 9999. Endgame strategy is have Eiko cast Carbuncle and have Vivi unload on motherfuckers with 4x reflected magic for 9999 damage every turn. That was kind of boring.

Comfiest vidya soundtrack too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8evK_McZzs

OP here.

Confession time, I had never played one until about 6months ago. A picked up a Vita at carboot sale for £20 after I found out you could play psone games on it. I saw they were on offer on the store a while back and purchased 7,8,9 for about £10.

I've played 7&8 now and I gotta say I preferred 8. I found the story more engaging which I suppose is really why people enjoy them. I know that's pretty much heresy to say on the internet but thats the way it is.

I was initially put of by 9s art style and the childish characters but the story is so far the best of the three.

>>378689748
Best mainline FF. Charming as hell.

>>378689748
It was the last good traditional FF. The last one in which Sakaguchi was directly involved with and it's really a celebration of the entire series up to that point.

>>378693430
>If you're a fan of the earlier games you'll probably enjoy it a lot.

From the moment IX came out I was told that it was a throwback to the first 6 games. To this day I still don't understand why people say that, other than just "because they said so." Just because it ditched the sci-fi setting? Because it had a mechanic named after Terra's signature skill? Because of the SD art design that doesn't actually look like how the older games looked (except Vivi, I guess)?

Not being critical of IX here, just saying, it never felt like 1-6 to me, so I've never understood why this statement persists. Not saying it's a bad thing that it doesn't feel like the older games, just that it doesn't. I do actually like IX, but I'd take both V and VI over it for cast, plot and gameplay, and in regards to VI, setting, due to the WoR shift.

It was my favorite FF when I was 10 years old because my old busted PS1 couldn't read at least one of the several FMVs at the beginning of 7 whereas 9 had way less (at the beginning that is)
I then tried 7 way later on, around 2015 and it's my favorite Final Fantasy now, easily the best, but IX will always have a special place in my heart, I even bought that shit on the PS store because of how many hours I got from the pirated CD back in the early 00's

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>>378694364
The curious thing is, IX's style, world and tone is more of a return to the roots of the franchise. It's hard to overstate how much of a break with tradition Final Fantasy VII was when it first released, a dieselpunk-esque fantasy world with widespread advanced technology and a more mature world compared to the previous games. So a lot of people who got used to VII and VIII then looked at IX and had that exact same reaction, asking themselves "what the hell is this kiddy garbage".

That said, I like to think the game does well in following V's model of being a cheerful and cartoony world that can get goddamn dark when it wants to.

>>378694590
I guess this is the sort of thing you really can't get into without having a essay-length comparison between IX and the earlier games, which would be really too much effort for a thread like this. There really is a strong back-and forth though, between people who say "It's more similar in tone to the earlier games" and people who say "What? No it isn't"

I hate it, think its trash, and find it to be an insult to the spirit of Final Fantasy.

But that's just my opinion. Don't let it influence your own enjoyment.

>>378694590
It's just the fanservice.
The game is almost a love letter to the older games.
Reverences and throwbacks are everywhere.

Gameplay wise it's closer to 7, but theres a lot of world flavor that evokes memories of the older games.
I don't really know how to explain it better than that.

>>378689748
It really pushed the ps1 to its limits and is single handedly one of the most overlooked games of all time because of the childish art direction. I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't feel like a pedophile playing it

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>>378689748
Haven't finished it yet, but I really love the setting and party members (minus Quina)

I love when big-parties play around with multiple character perspectives and different group dynamics.

>>378689748
>What do you guys think about FFIX?

Linear, sluggish, no character customization, garbage fanfic tier plot, and fucking prerendered maps are still a thing this far into the series. They gutted out all the things that made the series good. It's one of the few games in the series I don't bother to own.

>>378695143
Where is that gif from?

>>378694965
>an insult to the spirit of Final Fantasy
IX IS the spirit of Final Fantasy. Before the series was hijacked by Kitase and Nomura, and later Motomu Toriyama and Yoichi Wada who let him do whatever the fuck he wanted, this was Final Fantasy.

>>378689748
I played it when it first came out because I was blown away by the fmvs shown in the TV commercial. It's comfy.

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>>378689748
Is this the best Final Fantasy locale?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbkAjvrt-Mo

>>378693430
It's funny, it's around that disc that I've always thought the game gets even better. Like the first two discs were really preparing you for 3 and 4, now Sarah is queen, and she has to protect her kingdom, you find out a lot of important shit about the world and its history, all the mysteries start unraveling and you gain a deeper understanding of the overarching narrative. Also, I fucking love Oeilvert and Daguerreo, some of the best places in the whole game right there.

>>378695481
https://elchenco.tumblr.com/post/157655860289/freya-in-burmecia-or-whats-left-from-it

Like every FF from that era, it starts phenomenally but gets really bad by like the halfway point

>>378689748
its my all time favorite game and best ff

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>>378695989
>when she starts hearing the call of Alexander

I quit playing shortly after getting quina and now my only exposure to it is the bizarre amounts of porn of puck getting fucked by chocobos

>>378695546
>IX IS the spirit of Final Fantasy

No it's not. It's the exact opposite of that. Only one FF game up until that point forced linear character growth on the player. Every other game allowed you to customize character classes or skills to some degree. FF1 had a ton of replay value due to the possible party combinations you could play the game with. FF2 let any character master any spell and weapon skill. FF3 let you switch classes on the fly. FF5 let you utilize cross-class skills. FF6 let you customize character skills with espers and relics. FF7 and 8 allowed you customize everything but limit breaks. FF Tactics repeated the cross-class system used in FF5. FF9 forced you to unlock linear skills, with no way to switch classes or train characters in skills outside their respective archetype. Characters also had their equipment restricted.

It's a good game. FF 4-6-7-8-9-10-12 are all good games, the others not so much.

>>378695996
Thanks, was hoping there was more.

>>378689748
Will we see creativity and charm like this in another Final Fantasy?

It's alright. Really good at some times but kinda drops the ball at others, the last disc kinda went downhill once the mechanics became fully accessible and abusable and the ending was bullshit. The character arcs weren't terribly well done with characters having their shit resolved and then just sorta getting forgotten about, Freya in particular.

I do appreciate that it was two player though, that's certainly unusual.

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>>378696235
>porn of puck getting fucked by chocobos

I love it. You better catch them frogs often, OP. Quina has like three good moves but she's godly with them.

You know, I hear a lot being said about how the Trance system isn't very good due to it constantly getting wasted on random battles, but a thought just came up, isn't that better for the overall design of the game if the developer doesn't have to account for the fact that the player can just enter every single boss battle with every character in the party having a full limit bar or with someone at low HP to spam limits on demand?

>>378691970
this should be pasta

Love the game tho

>>378691683
I don't mind the mini-game being shit because there were no actual rewards for it. TT was easy and fun and also rewarding gameplay wise.

>>378696661
The way Limit Breaks worked in VII was fine, Overdrives and Trance are both objectively cancer for different reasons.

>>378696476
I don't mean in combat and customization, I mean in everything in general. Funnily enough, it was Hiroyuki Ito the one responsible for the true evolution of FF, who created ATB, and who improved the classic FF job system not once but twice, and he's the one who directed IX and who worked on the combat and mechanics, and who generally made it like it is. It wasn't meant to be a step forward for FF, it was meant to capture the essence of what FF had been before going really big with VII and gaining mass market appeal, and then letting the series continue to experiment with different game design philosophies.

>>378691970
Jesus Anon, if you wanted a (you) so desperately you just needed to ask

>>378696476
The customization in IX is supposed to be handled by the support ability system, but I agree it's not the most widely customizable or relevant system ever devised.

>>378696661
You have zero control over it period and the animation takes a long time.
It also takes forever to build up trance so you'll never actually be able to use it when you want too unless you set up enemy attacks just right so that you're almost about the go over the edge for that difficult fight. It's also almost completely useless in random battles since it's beyond overkill for most of them.
The mechanic might as well not exist for how much it contributes to the game.

At least it looks cool

>>378692457
can you imagine controlling four parties in real time and making sure each guardian dies at the same time?

>>378694104
There was no need to do that past the desert palace at the start of chapter 3. If you do sidequests and have been building skills, you can reach the damage cap easily with most characters. Endgame bosses die in less than 7 hits because no one's allowed to have more than 60k hp for some reason.

>>378689748
Eiko is my waif-o.

>>378696661
No, because if a player really wanted to they could just spend 10 minutes grinding encounters until they have a full Trance gauge. Making it uncontrollable makes the system just a bunch of useless busywork since it's way overkill for random encounters and probably won't see use during bosses due to the long charge time. At the same time any boss must be balanced either assuming the player grinded for the Trance gauge meaning a Tranceless player is gonna get raped, or that the boss is built assuming the player has no Trance gauge meaning that those who do will rape the boss.

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>>378697189
So... what kind of moogles DO you like?

>>378697036
It's tied to the story though, that's the whole thing. Very early on, in the Evil Forest, you see Zidane go into Trance and Steiner explains that it is triggered by a sudden rush of emotions that make the person more powerful. Later, Trance becomes important to the story in two major occasions, and it's because of that, and because Ito didn't want players to just save the Trance attacks for boss fights, that it is why it is.

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>>378689748
I really can't get into it.
It's the favorite of 3 good friends of mine, I tried to play 4 times, but it's really boring.
It's the only FF aside 2 and 4 that I dislike, even loving Steiner and Vivi from the get go.
I just get bored everytime I play.

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>>378696661
Legend of Dragoon managed to do it alright, saving it all up for boss battles. Scaling might be a little harder, but I prefer it to losing it every other fight.

>>378697127
>can you imagine controlling four parties in real time and making sure each guardian dies at the same time?
I just imagined that like the parts in VI where you divide the party into teams and can change between teams, and how amazing that would've been to have been taking down the Four Fiends in that way, or at least letting you do each one in succession, maybe either letting you choose what Fiend to fight, or having you fight them one by one, in the same order as in FF 1. They could've done something there to add even more throwbacks.

>>378697506
I know why it is, I'm just saying it doesn't work well.
A quick fix would have been to cut the amount needed to fill the guage in half during bossfights so that it actually procced without set up since those are supposed to be tense fights.
The bosses could have been harder to compensate and then there would actually be a reason to use the super mode.

As is trance is a wasted feature.

>>378697743
That's fine, as long as VII or X isn't your favorite.

>>378696823
>I mean in everything in general.
>"everything"
>not combat and customization

What?

The only way this game resembles classic FF is in its character design. I would also say the world design to a degree, but the game goes full-blown sci-fi about 2/3 of the way into the story.

>it was meant to capture the essence of what FF had been before going really big
The series was massively popular long before FF7. And no, it still didn't capture the essence of classic FF.

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>>378689748
Am I just rusty at JRPGs or does exploring the overworld have an annoyingly high amount of random encounters?

I enjoyed the game, but running away from a fight every five steps to explore or find the right direction to go drove me up the wall.

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>>378697743
At least your taste in characters is absolutely on-point

>>378697870
>As long as the two best aren't your favorites
Even for /v/, this is a new level of contrarianism.

>>378697852
Note that I'm not exactly defending it either, I'd rather it was like you're describing now, or some other way, just that I understand why Ito designed it that way.

>>378697938
FF9 has a retardedly high encounter rate unless you know speedrun strategies to mitigate it.
Which is only made worse by how long it takes for battles to load in.
It's not just you.

>>378697870
VII is the best final fantasy and the reason why all your favorite niche JRPGs got localizations in the first place so thanks to it you can play elitist douche and say it's not that good or overrated.

>>378697761
GUSTAWINDDADANCE

>>378697030
>The customization in IX is supposed to be handled by the support ability system

You can't customize support abilities. Characters are restricted to learning specific ones.

I think you're misunderstanding what "customization" means. It doesn't mean toggling an existing ability off or on. It means being able to outfit your characters with a variety of skills, not being restricted to a specific set based on your class.

>supposed to

Citation needed.

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>>378697743
It's ok to be a pleb.

>>378697870
Nah, it's __XII___.

>>378698004
They are really, really likeable. I want to try this game again just to see how they develop.

>>378698103
Not him, but your favorite videogame of all time is pong?
Because none of your videogames would exist if Pong wasn't the hit it was.

>>378698004
>To be forgotten is worse than death
The irony that after Disc 1 she is forgotten by the game itself.

>>378698335
My favorite game is MGS2 because it's just as influential as Pong if not more.

>>378697913
>What?
Excepting that, learn to read.

>but the game goes full-blown sci-fi about 2/3 of the way into the story
It's still fantasy, just because there's magical "technology" and beings from another planet, doesn't automatically make it sci-fi. FF XII's technology is powered by magic, and that game couldn't be further from the sci-fi genre.

>The series was massively popular long before FF7
You're seriously deluding yourself if you think FF was anywhere near as big as when VII was released, although only VII was really the one that was selling, precisely because it changed things up, mainly in the setting and story and gameplay mechanics. It was very cinematic, and heavily story-driven, and the combat and other customizable game mechanics that make games like V and Tactics some of the best in the series took a backseat to narrative and story. Then X took that game design philosophy and drove it the fuck home, and made it even more cinematic and linear. Guess which FF games are THE most popular across the board, whether we like it or not?

>>378697870
>spouting the anti-VII maymay of recent years is new for /v/

It's pretty much par for the course for /v/, actually.

>>378698373
I mean, mass genocide with no recourse will do that. It's not like she really had a chance to make a comeback.

>>378689748
Fucking love the cast.

>>378698004
>Don't need a reason
NIGGER YOUR SOLE REASON IS TO BUST A NUT

>>378698013
>poorly written story-driven animu drivel
>simplified, dumbed down game mechanics, combat system and customization options
>best anything
How about no?

FF9 is by far my favorite FF. over 150 hours on my first play through as a kid (does not seam like a lot now but it was a lot then).

The one thing that always bothered me is it seamed like you should be able to get back in to the evil forest but i never found a way.

>>378698194
>XII
Alright man, I take it back. You're alright.

>>378698004
I loved how the different characters had distinctive dynamics with one another.

Steiner genuinely respected Vivi, was overprotective of Garnet, hated Zidane while begrudgingly accepting him, etc.

It seems like it's an obvious character element to emphasize, but it's the only Final Fantasy I've played where I really got into the group's chemistry to that extent.

>>378698729
>does not seam like a lot now
The fuck it doesn't. The game's not that long. What did you even do?
>go back into the Evil Forest
You mean besides getting Marcus destoned?

>>378698729
>you should be able to get back in to the evil forest but i never found a way.
Doesn't the whole thing get petrified at the beginning along with Blank?

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>>378698004
>Solitude
>I don't wanna be alone anymore
this is hitting too close to home

Also Eiko was the cutest THE CUTEST

>>378698473
Please, tell me how MGS2 is influential in any way, not even comparing to Pong.

>>378698981
>When she writes the love letter and the events that follow
Top 5 FF moment.

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>>378698373
More like the game forgot Sir Fratley and Puck existed at all. Would be cool to get some sort of sidequest regarding Freya trying to track both of them down and bringing them back to rebuild Burmecia though. Speaking of sidequests

>tfw you're more invested in tracking down that faggot Artemicion and figuring out what his scheme is than in stopping the actual villain of the game.

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>>378698830

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>>378697938
I just accepted it after like 40 hours in and when I finally finished it by 120+ hours I didn't want the game to end.

>>378699080
I was fucking creased playing that last year on the steam version.

I remember it being good, but fucking hell it was better than I remembered.

>>378690814
Steam version is absolute trash it really is.

>make character models high resolution
>leave all other art assets at 380p

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I got halfway through disk 2. Could the game be any fucking slower.

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>>378699143
IX is my absolute favorite FF, but it is only surpassed by Ivalice, mainly the Matsuno-developed games

>>378699010
It disregards a formal narrative structure and embraces being a fully fledged experience that can only exist through interactivity, it uses the strengths of the medium to the point where it cannot exist in any other way, the entire thing is a statement on the future of digital art and what to leave for future generations, the game is basically an essay, and the conversations surrounding it make it possible to discuss video games as the future of entertainment rather than a self-referential medium stuck in its own lowbrow sensibilities.

>>378689748
Best FF game all in all

>>378699423
You didnt mention how snake can get off in a locker to pinup girls. Are you even trying?

>>378698502
>just because there's magical "technology" and beings from another planet, doesn't automatically make it sci-fi
I'm pretty sure that fits the genre, and creative works can be more than one genre at a time.

>You're seriously deluding yourself if you think FF was anywhere near as big as when VII was released
I'm likely much older than you, Anon. I was around for every release in the series. Yes, it was massively popular before FF7. FF2US was a big deal. FF3US was even more explosively popular in the States. Then there were a number of side games that were actually just rebranded SaGa and Mana titles. Although not technically FF games, they nonetheless bolstered the series' reputation. (And they were developed by the same staff, so whatever)

>learn to read
Since you don't have any substantive arguments and are only going to resort to shitposting at anybody who doesn't suck up to your favorite game, I'll take this to mean I'm right.

I'm not attacking your preference in video games. Just nothing you've said in praise of FF9 is factual at all. If you like the game on its merits, then more power to you. If you're trying to convince me or other anons to like the game, you're doing a piss-poor job and should probably quit before you actually start to poison the game's fanbase with your autistic behavior in this thread.

>>378698879
>>378698938

I played a lot, i mean a lot, of the chocobo mini game. I was also like 8 so I wasted a lot of time (took me half the game to learn how the learning skills thing worked).

Yes other than getting Marcus destoned. If you walked back to it on the world map it still had a enter button option it just never did anything. seamed to me like there must have been some way to unstone it and find somthing cool inside (boss? great loot?)

>>378699521
Oh yeah you can also kiss posters of models when inside lockers, so there's that too.

I remember finishing this but dont remember most things about it aside from the cast. And even then I only remember the names of Garnet(dagger) Steiner Vivi Zidane and Freya.

I remember I liked the ending, and that Vivi saved me on the final boss.

>everyone dead except vivi
>vivi less than 100hp
>no mp
>vivi go melee that big random god thing and let the game over come
>*pat pat pat donk*
>like 20 damage from staff
>*grrwokshabmgkrhsbalrifbsmabxudkebakwwwhhhhhhhggggrrrrrr*
>boss dies

Based

>>378699359
The journey is the reward.

My favorite game, mostly for sentimental reasons. It tends to get a lot of shit around here, some deserved, some not.

I think almost all the side-content is trash, but that's true for every 3D Final Fantasy. Too many characters get pushed to the side about halfway through the story. But I love the characters themselves, and I love the world especially. I love how the random, nameless townsfolk have story arcs in this game, because you visit some of the cities several times so you can check up on them as their stories progress. Every time I play this game, I wish I was born in a universe where Square continued to make RPGs with 3D models on high-res pre-rendered backgrounds.

Music is great, story is pretty good, ATE was a great idea that should've stuck around. Melodies of Life stirs something in my heart every time.

>>378699583
>Yes other than getting Marcus destoned.
Is Blank the one that saves him? I get the Tantalus members mixed up.

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>>378699343
If the stories that they just goddamn lost or did away with all the original background art is true, I guess this is the best we're getting, really. Half the game being updated is probably better than none of it being updated at all. And unlike most other HD re-releases we've seen recently, the artstyle seems to remain adequately consistent between both versions.

If the goddamn backgrounds were updated this would be the most beautiful game in the franchise. Hell, for me it'd be the most beautiful ever made.

>>378699583
Nope, I cleaned the game on my last non-Ex2 playthrough and there is no way to get back into the evil forest.

>>378699956
Yes, he saves him some time during Disc 2, then they both arrive at Alexandria to help rescue Dagger.

>>378689748
Hands down the worst FF game on the PS1

>>378699940
>ATE was a great idea that should've stuck around.
Truth, I think X would've benefited from this like while they're at Luca and stuff.

The one in Treno where Quina mistakes the moon reflection for something to eat and then washes ashore at Lindblum is hilarious and the one where he and Vivi get married at Conde Petit is funny too. ATEs added a lot of charm and fleshed out the characters in IX.

>>378699423
It's not the first game to do those things, just the first you played.

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>>378689748

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>>378700072
When the fuck did all the VIII apologists start coming out?

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>>378699921
It really pins down all the RPG tropes that I hate.

Constantly switching characters, little customization, good character (Vivi, Steiner and Quina) underplayed for uninteresting ones (The rest), slow as fuck encounters and animations.

I just can't get into this shit.

>>378700350
Provide examples or shut the fuck up.

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>>378689748
flawed but still excellent

>>378699567
>I'm pretty sure that fits the genre
>creative works can be more than one genre at a time
That's all fine, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a fantasy story. Fantasy's pretty flexible, and having those elements doesn't make it sci-fi, like having RPG elements doesn't make a game an RPG, like Zelda games for example.

>it was massively popular before FF7
>games were selling 1, 2, 3 million, before they started selling 10, 15 million units starting with 7
Alright man, whatever you say.

>If you're trying to convince me or other anons to like the game
I'm not, I don't give one fuck whether you deeply love it, or intensely hate it, it doesn't change anything.

The bottom line is, FF before VII was popular among core gamers, who played a lot of RPGs. VII got people who had never played any video games into gaming, and moved millions of consoles. To this day, though the classics are remembered fondly by fans, we are severely outnumbered by VII and X's fans, and there's nothing neither you or I can do about it.

>>378700470
MGS.

>>378689748
Shit game
Awful cast
Shit mechanics
Shit story
Retarded shit plot

>>378699010
>>378700350
What that anon said about it being as influential as pong is retarded, but MGS2 really is what brought meta, self-reflective narratives in video games to the mainstream. Just because it wasn't the first to do it doesn't mean it wasn't the most influential example of it being done. D&D isn't the first tabletop RPG, but you'd be insane if you claimed Chainmail to be more influential.

rate my taste
F9>F7>F5>F6>F10>F12>F4>F1>F2>F3

Never got into 8 so I don't wanna give it a harsh judgement

>>378700797
>rate my taste
ok/10
10 is too high, and I have no idea how anyone can put 3 below 2

>>378700665
No.

>>378700971
3's job system was complete ass

>>378700470
It's been a staple of interactive fiction and cRPGs going back to the Ultima series. This was just the first one you played that had pretty cut scenes in it.

MGS2 is just self referential as fuck, and most of what it has to say it doesn't even communicate with the gameplay, but with info dump cutscenes from a wannabe director.
MGS3 actually does that metanarrative stuff better, as does the original Metal Gear Solid. There is absolutely nothing as ludo-narratively creative in MGS2 as the torture sequence in MGS or The Sorrow in MGS3. Instead we get some bland stealth sequences interspaced with visual essays.

>>378700971
>10 is too high
You mean not high enough.

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>>378700797
Both V and IX are on the top three, good taste

Its pretty much the best core Final Fantasy game that was the epitome of what tonal and atmospheric flavor that fans loved about the game series. It absolutely breathed imagination and fantasy wonder and adventure while maintaining serious tonal and thematic nuances that lent heavily to how well it holds up as a work of art and contemplative existential literature outside of its merit as a videogame, all while having the single most unique and memorable cast in any of the games, all of which grow and develop along with the player through the course of 4 disks.

I'm probably biased, because its far and away my favorite game of all time and I adore every facet of it, but anyone who decries it as either a Final Fantasy or a videogame in general is a nothing but a contrarian. There is literally no good reason not to like this game if you're a fan of JRPGs. (Especially now that the steam version is out and has a turbo feature that helps speed along the one flaw this game had, Battle speed)

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The OFFICIAL /v/ Final Fantasy Tier List

>God Tier:
7

>Good Tier:
6


>Allright Tier:
5
4


>Mediocre tier:
12
3
1


>Bad Tier:
8
2

>Shit Tier:
9
10
10-2
13
13-2

>>378689748
>What do you guys think about FFIX? I'm about 5hours in and really enjoying it so far.
It's a nostalgia party for people who loved the old 8-bit and 16-bit FF games. If that's you, you'll probably love it. If not, you probably won't.

>>378698103
Would never disagree that VII was hugely influential (obviously), and I played it and drooled over it just like everyone else when it came out. But it's not as good as you remember. I've replayed a lot of the old ones in recent years and the SNES titles (FFVI especially) honestly hold up better.

>>378701263
I think the game is awful but I like the established world and atmosphere.

>>378701353
Oh god not this retard again.

>>378700728
For console games, maybe, but it has a much older lineage.

>>378701353
This is hot garbage.

>>378701353
Perfect

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IX was a bad Final Fantasy. It had absolutely terrible equipment, skill, and ability systems that allowed no room for players to shape their characters in any way. The trance system going off outside of your control was even worse designed than VIII's limit spamming. The combat was slow and boring and the only interesting mechanic AT ALL was the dynamic between Steiner and Vivi, and it didn't really add anything to the game at all. It had a terribly boring setting that's only praised by "classic fans" because it didn't emphasize sci-fi, completely disregarding that Final Fantasy has used sci-fi elements from the start of the series. Your cast consisted of characters like Freya who were completely forgotten by the plot after their usefulness to the story was up, characters like Quina who basically just showed up whenever the game felt you needed a 4th party member and didn't do ANYTHING of any relevance, and characters like Amarant who I'm still trying to figure out why he was added to the game. The protagonist and antagonist being "space alien grim reaper brothers" is by far the worst plot twist in the series, much worse than either the orphanage in VIII or "You're a dream Teedus" could ever hope to be.

The worst part of all? In a series that's known for its innovation in its genre, Final Fantasy IX bitched out and actively BACKTRACKED to boring, outdated, mechanics. At least the early games it was a callback to were innovations of their time like the ATB system in IV, and at least for the PSX titles VII, VIII, and Tactics all tried to do new things with turn-based RPGs, storytelling, and world building even if it didn't please everyone- whereas IX actively decided to say fuck that, and appeal to idiots who want video games to stagnate.

It was boring and had nothing unique going for it. In fact, nothing about the game is particularly memorable. It has no sense of identity for itself and just takes after previous titles.

>>378701106
But it's infinitely superior to 1's job system, and 2's stat growth system.

>>378701169
Mention Ultima games that do anything remotely resembling what you claim they do.

>>378701487
I was waiting for this copypasta, ha

Is it the same person in every FFIX thread?

>>378700797
>10 not last

It's shit.

>>378701487
I actually agree with this copypasta.

>>378701353
Spot on

>>378701360
FFIX still holds up just fine.

>>378701487
I know its pasta but I GOTTA give it a (You) because I know some moron was completely serious when he wrote this originally.

>>378701487
Someone else already dumped that pasta here, go away

>>378701538
Good thing it was posted already

>>378701618
Then you have shit taste.

>>378700797
my nigga, mine is very close to that

F9>F7>F6>F4>F10>F5>F1>F12>F8>F3>F2

>>378701416
The only game I can think of before MGS2 that is both well-known and even the slightest bit meta-textual is Ultima IV, which was written as a reflection of the sociopathic behavior RPGs before it encouraged. Other than that, I can't think of a game that does it that isn't obscure, and thus not as influential as MGS2.

(And you're right, MGS1 has self-reflective elements, but they're basically crammed in at the end and nobody really pays attention to it when they talk about the ways MGS1 was influential)

>>378701353
Accurate

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>>378701769
Tell one thing that pasta got wrong.

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Treno seems like such a lovely place. It is very old-fashioned and elegant. All of the locations in FF9 have a similar feel in that sense.

>>378701487
/thread

The actual official tier list

>God tier
6 7 8 9

>Great tier
4 5

>NES tier
1 2 3

>Shit tier
The rest

Freya a shit
>burmecia gets destroyed while she's off looking for fratley
>cleyra gets destroyed while she's in it
>fratley and soon after the plot forget she exists

>>378701957
>VIII
>Not in shit tier
Reminder to report all VIII apologists.

It's garbage

>>378700797
>>378701790
Since I guess we're doing this now
>God Tier
V, VI, IX

>Great Tier
VII, VIII

>Good Tier
I, III, XII, XV

>Meh Tier
X

>Bad Tier
II, IV

>Jesus Christ Why Tier
XIII

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>>378701487
already posted, fag: >>378691970

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>>378702119
>XV
>Good
Go home Tabata.

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>3 unwinnable battle in a row with that bitch

Good game design!

>>378701807
FFIX was not obscure. It was 2 installments away from the most popular one in the franchise, and the 3 that followed after it are probably the most well known of the series and some of the most well known JRPG's in general.
>>378701904
The entire thing was an explosion of nothing but shit taste, Mister DeVito. There was nothing to get wrong. It was just extremely bad taste in videogames put into words.

>>378701994
Plot was never about her, more about her position in life and how it related to the rest of the cast. Both Burmecian cities got destroyed. She's literally a vagabond at that point. Thats like saying the plot "Forgot about REDXIII" after you leave that stupid ass city.

>>378700434
>I hate RPGs: The Post

you guys have balanced opinions about things. I completed 6, 7, 9, 10, quit 13 or whatever garbage that one with lightning was in..

i kinda liked 10, really liked 7 and forgot what happened in 9, but remember kinda liking it. got any jrpg recommendations?

>>378702337
I don't hate RPG, just the bad ones.

>>378701535
Most of them really, particularly from on and after the The Age of Enlightenment ones, VI in particular, all have these commentaries on tropes in vidya and the relationship between the player, their avatar, NPCs and the world they inhabit. After that those later ones all had their own unique spin, and all more interesting than the "You're not Snake/Big Boss" line that Kojima keeps peddling.
>>378701807
It's there in many of them, but more front and centre with games like IV yeah.

What makes MGS so much more interesting than MGS2 is that it embraces the fact it's a game and not just a series of minigames to break up Kojima's essays on vidya/modern culture. Making Ocelot actually, literally torture the player with something that was meant to be difficult to endure, and splitting the gamerbase between those who hacked it and couldn't, giving different endings, is an inspired move. MGS3 also was full of gameplay design decisions that rewarded the player's ingenuity and tried to make the setting reactive to them, placing them as an actor in a story where not everything was decided.
MGS2 doesn't mix the narrative with the gameplay almost at all, except for a few visual puns at the end and the fact it doesn't let you play as Snake for the most part.

>>378702295
I liked the characters, music, and visuals enough that I didn't mind the gameplay. That's kind of a theme in my choices, and the only reason FFVIII is so high.

>>378700434
>Constantly switching characters
>Little customization
>Good characters underplayed by interesting ones

You're in the wrong fucking franchise, pal. This is Final Fantasy we're talking about.

>>378702119
>God Tier
VI, VII

>Great Tier
V, VIII

>Good Tier
I, III, XII, XV

>Meh Tier
IV

>Bad Tier
II, X, IX

>Jesus Christ Why Tier
XIII

>>378702331
>FFIX was not obscure. It was 2 installments away from the most popular one in the franchise, and the 3 that followed after it are probably the most well known of the series and some of the most well known JRPG's in general.
I wasn't in any way saying FFIX was obscure. Read the conversation, dummy.

>>378702397
ff5 or radiant historia

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>>378702296
She beat you fair and square, Anon :^)

>>378689748
I think it was the last good FF game we'll ever get.

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>>378689748
Love the world, characters, music, and art direction.
Battles are typically far too easy.
Tetra Master is over-complicated and under-rewarding.
Chocobo related shenanigans were all great.
Mognet and ATE were a nice way to flesh things out more.
Can't wait until FFBE global gets the second batch of IX characters. Blowing everything I have on Beatrix and Steiner.

>>378702451
I just don't get why people eat this shit up, I can't get into it.

>>378702595
I second Radiant Historia, maybe give Persona 4G or Persona 5 a go, since it does the "intensely stylish anime RPG" thing FFVII started very well.

>>378702527
I did, hoss. I didn't mean to offend you just remind you that post FF7 games were never obscure.
>I can't think of a game that does it that isn't obscure.
FFIX does it, and it wasn't obscure. You can argue to what degree it succeeded in its meta existential commentary from your own personal perspective but it still did it. I agree that it didn't do it nearly as well or as powerfully as MGS2 though. FFIX Is my favorite videogame of all time but MGS is my favorite video game series, with MGS3 as my favorite of the bunch and MGS2 as a close second.

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>>378701353
>>378701957
Any cocksucker who unironically likes 7 and 8 also wore pants like these

>>378702745
Not your kinda game man. No shame in it. I don't get why folks eat up shit like Persona (In my taste, nothing more than a overhhyped School VN with watered down JRPG elements) but to each their own man.

>>378702890
I guess you are right, to each his own.

>>378702801
looks like your typical ff9 fag

>>378689748
>Disc 1 is trash
>Disc 2 is okay
>Disc 3 is GOAT
>Disc 4 is solid

First time through Disc1/2 are solid. But after that they become mind numbing to replay since you'll most likely play them the same exact way and its just boring on rails crap.

>>378702976
That doesn't look like functioning adult attire, anon. It looks like somethign nomura would put on his characters and try to sell IRL afterward. (FFIX was the game nomura had the least influence on)

>>378702595
thank you :) will check it out

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>>378702697
>that picture
>someone in the world remembers that the Black Waltz, the best monster design in the franchise, existed
WHAT IS THAT GAME AND HOW DO I PLAY IT.

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>>378702976
>he unironically used "no u!"

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>/v/ bashes the game with the best and most interesting art in the whole series
This is why we can't have nice things.

>>378702745
I think constantly switching characters is actually a good thing, as it forces the player to play out of their comfort zone and not rely on a single dominant strategy. Best thing FFIV did, for example, was the section of the game you have to tackle the magnetic cave without a healer and with your heavy hitters stuck using non-metal weapons and armor. Granted, every FF that does use a rotating cast is far too easy to actually make it strategically interesting, but I think it's still a good mechanic.

>>378702775
Explain how FFIX is meta textual. It's my favorite game of all time as well, and I'm pretty damn sure there's nothing in the game that reflects on the nature of video games as a medium.

>>378702413
I need to get more into Ultima then, I barely beat the first one.
Do I try 2 or just jump to 4?

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Could've been a decent party member. Just saying.

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>>378702296
>You will never date an Alexandrian female soldier

>>378703249
Ultima IV is the most interesting of the first six or so games by a landslide, but it really, really doesn't hold up unless you can enjoy a game with zero ease-of-life features. It's one of those games that's more interesting to think and talk about than it is to play

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>>378703121
>WHAT IS THAT GAME
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
Mobile trash with half-decent gameplay. Mostly just back-to-back battling, but you do get to run around towns and talk to NPCs, and there are some areas that unlock exploration zones you can run around after clearing all the back-to-back battles in that area.
>HOW DO I PLAY IT.
On an Android emulator, with macros set up for grinding, and your credit/debit card details far out of reach.
Alcohol not required, but recommended if you ever want a character that's 5-star minimum and aren't willing to drop a ton of cash on it.

>>378703198
NVM you're right I misunderstood you, sorry.

the first two discs are fucking BALLER. the opening is fucking burned into my brain and the way it builds up this pastoral landscape with well thought out infrastructure and locations was awesome.

where it goes though, with the clones and twin planets and shit, was IMO a bit tonally inconsistent with the rest of the plot.

i have the fondest memories of ix largely because i masochistically submitted myself to the challenge of getting the excalibur 2 on a low level run along with opening all the treasure chests and shit, which was a huge fucking ballache but i now have so much of the game memorised.

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>>378703519
>No lewd Brahne art

>>378703519
Man, there would be endless articles on how offensive Queen Brahne is to the Landwhale-American community if the game was put out today

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>>378703489
Likewise.

ff9 was the biggest disappointment, it pretty much killed any further interest i had in the series. The game was just awful.

>>378703249
Probably jump into 4 to be honest.
I wouldn't say the stuff it does would seem that groundbreaking nowadays, and even then it wasn't like people saw it as high art. It was more like playful poking at RPG and DnD tropes, like satire more. I don't think any of them except maybe IV totally changed the way I look at RPGs or anything but they generally had fresh storylines that seemed self aware.

I'm generally more interested in what the RPGs that came after did, like System Shock, Deus Ex or Daggerfall and Morrowind. Or non RPG immersive sims or related games like Half-Life and Thief. To me smart video game design is something that is super aware of the limits and the expectations of the genre, like MGS is, but plays with it in a way that serves the story more than trying to go navel gazing.

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>>378698004
all this meaning to my 9-yr-old brain, I felt so close to the game

>>378703732
No, there would be one article once about it by a deranged teenage girl, and then dozens of posts every single day by fucktards like you on /v/ complaining that one person once got offended.

Good:
4, 5, 6, 7
Ok:
9, 10, 12
Dated but ok for what they were:
1, 3
I don't care about MMOs tier:
11, 14
Ambitious but bad:
2
Bad:
8, 13, 15

I guess that's how I'd rank them.

>>378703732
>fat, ugly, evil, non-white female with a pink nose
Did this game predict tumblr?

>>378703796
Nah, Lani would've been as boring as Amarant other than the thrill of having a bronze beauty on the squad. Fratley should've been the eighth, then maybe Freya could've had a second half to her arc.
>amnesiac Fratley turns to a mercenary lifestyle, gets hired on to hunt Vivi/Garnet
>same deal as Amarant, refuses to work with Lani when she takes a hostage, except it now makes sense as it's now a character with some sense of morality

>>378703952
And even more from you about how he getting offended pisses you off
We get the drill

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>>378703489
>qt sailor waifu forever forgotten by time
Goddamnit, IX has way too many cute girls for my heart to handle.

>>378704089
Eh. Fratley is probably too similar to Freya already. Really, Beatrix could've been a permanent character.

>>378704060
Even though I don't like 4 I'd say this is the best list I could think of

>>378703887
>I wouldn't say the stuff it does would seem that groundbreaking nowadays
Honestly, with how watered down and binary moral choice systems have gotten in games since, it will probably still seem pretty groundbreaking that every single action you make is actually taken into account by the game.

>>378704159
And then 10x as many from you getting offended that I got offended that someone else got offended by someone other than that getting offended.

>>378704240
I mean, we don't really know anything about Fratley. He has like four lines. They could've fleshed him out to be different.

I'm not sure I'd want Beatrix. I thought she was super cool as a kid, but now I'm pretty bothered that she was forgiven for genocide so easily. It was under orders, but she still boasts about wiping out the Burmecians quite a bit early on.

>>378704264
You might be right. Honestly I gave up on most RPGs with the fucking Bioware style of "Nicest Guy You've ever Met/Total Fucking Psychopath/Han Solo" options being the entire possibility of human interaction.

You get sick of stealing everything from every boss, Vivi is one of the most well developed ff characters, combat was okay but flexibility was very good for different setups and chocobo stuff was addicting AF.

second best original ps1 FF but I am a FF7 fanboy.

As someone who has played every FF since 4 but skipped 15, why do I not feel like I missed anything?

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>>378703649
>Alcohol not required, but recommended if you ever want a character that's 5-star minimum and aren't willing to drop a ton of cash on it.
Alcohol ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED if that 5-star character is limited availablity so they don't get added to the normal gacha pool after their event.
Please RNGesus, I just want Prishe when the FFXI banner arrives on global.

>>378704467
To be fair, outside of Genji equipment, stealing is a novelty, nothing else.
9 out of 10 times it is a chance to get a single piece of equipment one or two towns earlier than you otherwise would be able to, really. Nothing particularly groundbreaking or game-changing.

>>378704467
FF15 is incredibly flawed. There are aspects of the game that are wonderful (the main characters, the villain) and aspects that are just awful (90% of the story, the combat/controls, the way side-missions are structured). I don't regret playing it, but I don't really see myself going back to it like I do with other FF games.

>>378704459
Same. I generally either prefer total, old-school CRPG style control over a character, or totally pre-written JRPG style characters with a few dialogue choices sprinkled in for flavor. I hate the wishy-washy "You can turn this bland mush of a character into one of three equally bland flavors of mush" way of handling it.

>>378704808
then you don't suffer from the affliction that so many do anon. I stole every time. Would hate myself if I didn't.

>>378704467

>why do I not feel like I missed anything?

there is a good part of the game but it isn't the part that tries to be like FF, basically. they haven't worked out how to make a large scale open world game with the twists and turns and variety in locales of a FF game yet and it probably isn't even possible without unlimited resources.

>>378704808
>>378704903
I loved how stealing was useful in FFIX compared to the games before it, but I hate how low your chances of success were for the really good stuff. It doesn't make things more challenging, it just tests your patience. Also,
>not stealing every combat to have a guaranteed max damage Thievery by endgame

>>378704940
>>378704885
So it's like I predicted before it came out, the MGSV of the FF franchise?

>>378705039
>I loved how stealing was useful in FFIX compared to the games before it
Hardedge would like to have a word with you in Midgar.

>>378705082
Yeah, it's very similar to MGSV in how it handles its open-world and how unfinished the story is, except MGSV was at least fun to control. Playing FFXV is a chore.

>>378705082

there are strong similarities, on its own it feels rushed and taken in comparison with previous entries in the series it lacks charm.

still better than xiii though.

>>378705137
why do you bring these feels back anon?

>>378704885
With regards to XV's story, it's doubly sad by how much of a good setup they had for the world, before the game itself came out and it ended up being the way it did. It was a fresh new world with a cool conflict between interesting-looking factions like the best games in the franchise used to have, but it was all squandered in the end. The setup for the war between Niflheim and Lucis was perfect fertile ground.

>>378705039
Maxing out the damage potential for Thievery was such a bother though, when much better alternatives like Dragon's Crest and Shock were available. Although I guess if you didn't want Freya or Steiner in your party that would be a problem.

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>>378703519

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>Ipsen and Colin's story
no homo tho

>>378705363
>With regards to XV's story, it's doubly sad by how much of a good setup they had for the world, before the game itself came out and it ended up being the way it did
Agreed. I feel similarly towards FFX; I think Spira is an excellent setting, and church-and-society-built-around-angry-vengeance-Godzilla is a fantastic premise, but both are severely let down by the actual games set there. And somehow FFXV manages to make even less use of its premise and setting. Disappointing.

I somehow enjoyed the Gladio DLC much more than the main campaign, though. I found it very amusing that Gilgamesh managed to be the only interesting character in the entire setting other than the boy band and Ardyn.

>>378689748
From what I played of it, I liked it more than 7.
The characters seemed more interesting and fun to me.
I hope I don't put off finishing it honestly

The music in this game hurts my heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGSTJxXCCJg&list=PL9DADCB4F409084A4&index=46

>>378691970
>I don't know shit about game design to begin with but I'll make a strong statement anyway

>>378702801
I love that he realizes how bad he fucked up in the middle image

>>378707005
>even secondary NPCs get goat themes
https://youtu.be/XYLk1cwhyyM

>>378707289
So slick, so sly. Love it

>>378707289
>theme for the local gang of thugs includes soft piano breaks and tap-dancing audio because they're classy theatrical thugs
Fucking love it.

>>378705137
Better than anything in Near a Tomato

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Freya is best girl. FF9's poor treatment of her and her race is what made that game really mediocre to me.

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>>378702697
Freya's probably never getting a 6star, isn't she?

>>378707898
Freya is always treated as a dignified and respectable character, which is more than what can be said about goddamn Steiner. The poor guy barely can catch a break, despite sacrificing everything for the good of his princess.
Although at least mentioning Freya gives me an excuse to post this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgSFF6zfjk0

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>>378708053
She'll get one eventually. But by then 6-star bases and 7-star upgrades will be a thing, so she'll still be useless.

>>378701487
While I understand the points behind your opinions, I'm pretty sure you mentally stretched them as far as posible to justify being triggered by the slightest of animal characters.

>>378708921
It's a pasta you dolt.
In fact someone else already posted it before he did

I just remembered that guy on tumblr with an active Princess Garnet RP blog.

>>378708125
>tap dancing scene
>can't hear the tap dancing
So stupid. They missed the whole point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHCqwlFSHw&t=28

There is far too little porn of IX characters.

>>378700393
I have never seen a more cancerous picture in my entire life.

>>378689748
Bretty good, haven't played it much after moving to linux though.

>>378709497
I think it was more supposed to be like irish dancing.

>>378690373
Yeah and it was boring too.

In the first 2.5 cds you have all those epic events.

The rest of the game is basically:
>do the 4 shrines
>travel to terra
>come back and defeat Kuja

zzzzZZzzz

It would have been cooler if Kuja had more brothers you had to fight or something or if Terra was longer with a world map. If they did this it would have been the perfect game.

>>378701940
Agreed the music in FF9 was second to none. It was fantastic, thematic and appropriate.

>>378710489
VIII's was better.

>>378709497
Wasn't that river dancing.

>>378710534
it was more epic in proportion but I felt it was wasted. FF9's music was appropriate and fit the theme, feel and look of the game.

>>378705137
That was a gut-punch.

>>378710534
This. VIIIs music is not from this universe.

An alien hijacked Uematsus mind and created that divine music.

>>378710426
The four shrines are a neat action sequence, if it involved fighting all the fiends it'd be goat

>>378710534
I'll never understand the love for VIII's soundtrack. The battle tracks just phase right through me, I don't feel engaged in them at all. I I only find some of the environmental tracks to be memorable, first and foremost Ultimecia's castle.

>>378710935
Weren't the shrines super-short? I don't really remember, but I feel they should have been real dungeons.

Also there is a lack of big cities in the rest of the world. It is somehow sad that Lindblum is the 2nd and last big city you will ever encounter.
>>378710935
So the Balamb garden theme or world map theme don't touch you on an emotional level at all? They are amazing.

>>378710713
I don't get it, VIII has so many bland, forgettable tracks. What are the ones that stand out for you?

>>378711237
The shrines are just a cutscene. You drop off your party at various points in the world map, then go with Quina to the earth shrine. There's just talking and a QTE.

>>378711284
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwEpsHoe2hg

>>378711406
>The shrines are just a cutscene
Damn, that's sad.

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>>378710426
>if Kuja had more brothers you had to fight
Well, it could work with clones of himself perhaps, which would make his relation to one of his FF villain influences (Sephiroth) even stronger, but not ones created by Garland, he didn't really need more than 1, and the reason he even made a second living weapon was because the first one went rogue.

>if Terra was longer with a world map
Well, if it had been like the other planet in FF V, which is a whole new world map, that would've been incredibly amazing, but they couldn't cram all that into the game, but we learn late in the game that Terra is physically within Gaia so it couldn't really be like in V.

>>378710489
Almost true.

>>378710534
Actually true. But Melodies of Life > Eyes on Me.

>>378711562
I mean, there's the boss fight, too. Still.

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>>378689748
How did Vivi have kids?

Explain this to me game. Give me IX-2.

>>378711284
Nearly all of them.
The boss theme.
Laguna's battle theme.
Succession of witches.
The sorcoress battle theme.
Winhill
Galbadia
Dollet
Balamb garden
salt flats

Oh my god, salt flats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0JU76yuY58

And I don't even think ff8 is a very good game. I don't think 9's all that great either. But the soundtracks were godlike.

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>>378711237
The shrines are basically an action montage of the four parties running through the trapped corridors and trading banter while great music plays in the background [https://youtu.be/n76DBcgyZ3g?t=3h46m31s], with three of them confronting the fiends off-screen while Zidane and Quina fight Lich.

Also the piece of music in the game that touches me the most is the one that plays during the battle against Galbadia Garden, especially when Squall delivers his last rousing speech and everyone is looking battered and ready to give up.

Because the disc I was playing the with when I was a child had a scratch that made the game inevitably freeze at the second you rescue Rinoa from the ledge, and that entire sequence is burned in my mind along with the sadness of not being able to play the game further.

>Dissidia arcade adds an actually good FFIX remix
>ruins it with some dumb whore lalala-ing over it because the director is trying to get in her pantsu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2haLFFZptMQ
Stop putting her in half the fucking music. She can't fucking sing.

>>378711562
>>378711640
It always bothered me that finding the shrines takes longer than the actual sequence, especially since the music for it is so kickass and doesn't play anywhere else in the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ8BLMo4eA0

>>378711701
I figured it was pretty obvious he used the facility under Dali, or whatever method Kuja used to make him in the first place.

>>378711726
The Extreme is the best final boss theme in the series other than Dancing Mad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVkcmx2l3WA

And Balamb Garden and Blue Fields will always be my forever comfy themes. Driving around in FFXV with this playing was one of the few truly excellent experiences of that game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ei21X_0OA

>>378711640
Yeah but by that point, you can already have Feather Boots, so it's not even challenging at all.

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>>378711701
Give me a IX-2 so I can see rat people living happily in peace.

>>378711580
>but we learn late in the game that Terra is physically within Gaia so it couldn't really be like in V.
I always keep forgetting this fact. I always thought they were teleported to a different planet. So were Gaia and Terra already assimilated? I don't get it.

>>378711996
>whatever method Kuja used to make him in the first place.
He created Black Mages from the souls of dead people who were rejected by the Iifa Tree from going back to Gaia's Crystal, I don't think Vivi will want to go that route.

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>>378711845
At first I was relieved that they're not actual goddamn lyrics, now I'm bothered that they decided to add a vocal lead that is just la-la-laing for no reason

>>378711701
I could show you how Vivi got kids, there are many pictures on the Internet, but this board is work-safe.

>>378711580
They could barely flesh Gaia into a full planet, let alone make another one.

>>378711726
I like the battle themes, Man With a Machine Gun the most, and Dollet is GOAT, but the softer tracks just tend to be really bland in this game.

Weirdly it was my first FF but 7 and 9s soundtracks get me way more nostalgic.

>>378710340
>>378710537
Which made me chuckle because the dancers were dressed for some dance of the seven veils setup.

>>378712243
They were partially assimilated, which is why you see locations from Terra on Gaia. Any location with blue treasure chests is a Terran location.

>>378711701
>>378711996
He could have just found some black mages from the vast numbers Kuja produced and adopted them. It would need some mental gymnastics to justify them all being so small, but oh well.

>>378712243
Terra and Gaia were partly physically assimilated, but their crystals remained distinct. This is why places like Oeilvert(which was originally on Terra) are found on Gaia.

Also I'd just like to point out that Kuja having brothers or whatever wouldn't necessarily work because Kuja and Zidane are supposed to be foils.

>>378712258
I'd debate that. The ending of FFIX, to my knowledge, still has the entire world covered in Mist. It's not going anywhere, and it's reasonable to assume that since Terran life has taken the place of a lot of Gaian life, there isn't any real hope of it naturally funneling back into living beings. So wouldn't a good use for it be to make more Black Mages to give those souls life again, rather than have it just fog up the planet forever?

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>>378712243
From what you learn in Oeilvert and Memoria, the assimilation failed, which ended up making Terra end up within Gaia and causing Terra's red moon to orbit around Gaia. After that, Garland created the SoulCage and Necron, one who would sort the souls in the world of the dead, and the other who would take those souls and expel them via the Tree's roots as Mist. And then finally created Kuja to bring war and destruction to Gaia in order to speed up the process of people dying, being rejected from returning to Gaia's Crystal, so that he could infuse Gaia's Crystal with Terran souls.

>>378711747
>Because the disc I was playing the with when I was a child had a scratch that made the game inevitably freeze
Yeah what I remember the most about FF7-9, but especially 8 and 9 is that the CDs are hyper-sensitive to scratches and if the CDs are not perfect the cutscenes will simply freeze. It was literally impossible to have perfect cutscenes after a few years. But I remember that it was possible to skip them by opening the CD drive.

>>378712602
>Garland created the SoulCage and Necron
Don't bring your fanfiction into this. Necron is completely separate and has nothing to do with either planet.

>>378712602
>Garland created Necron
Not in any way supported by the game. Necron is implied to be a personification of death. My interpretation is that he's meant to represent nihilism, to contrast the game's themes of life and memories, but in-game he has literally no explanation beyond "I was summoned when Kuja destroyed the crystal"

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>>378712687
But it's not, Garland literally explains to you the futility of having destroyed the SoulCage, because you only saw the "back of the tree", one side of it, which is what living people can see. When Kuja uses Ultima, he actually kills the party, and they end up confronting the being that handles the sorting of souls so they don't return to the Crystal. I have no idea why, 17 years later, people are still debating on this topic, it's right fucking there in the game.

>>378712602
Nigga don't be silly, Necron has nothing to do with Garland and Soulcage. Soulcage's line about not dying then is due to the fact that Soulcage essentially IS the Iifa Tree, and you're not killing the whole tree, you're just rendering it dormant for a while so it doesn't process the flux of souls anymore. There aren't any hints in the game that the two are related.

Necron is yet another avatar of the Void, like Cloud of Darkness and NeoExdeath

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>>378694923
>>378690221
>>378701213


Some good opinions ITT. Personally I like 9 the best and 5 is a close second. I like the Anthologies translation of 5. It makes the game even hokier.

>>378712991
Not the anon you're replying to, but I totally forgot about that line. You might actually have convinced me. I'm planning on replaying the game soon, I'll have to keep that in mind and see if it fits.

>>378689748
My favorite FF. IS it the best? Probably not. But i definitely relate to this story, style, and characters more than any other.

Since we're talking about godly FF soundtracks. I've always thought that XII's was a little underrated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r03Agbln-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWgc1pSMCMw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBwJUwR7xFg

>>378712687
>>378712881
To be honest, I like the explanation that Necron was created by Terrans and then became crazy because he witnessed what Kuja tried to do, a lot better than
>hurr he is a personification! he is random! he is death!
This doesn't explain a god damn thing. Personifications aren't fucking real, remember? And yet the fight against him is totally real.

Hell any explanation is better than "hurr he is just a personification". If you say Necron wasn't created by Terrans but was some cosmic entity which was idle for millions of years and was impressed and inspired by Kuja to end everything, fine.

>>378712991
How do they return to the world of the living, then?

>>378712991
Garland: "You saw it with your own eyes. You saw the Iifa Tree and the Mist it emits. The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."

Zidane: "Oh yeah? But we stopped the Mist! So much for that!"

Garland: "All you saw was the back of the tree... Even now, the Iifa Tree blocks the flow of Gaia's souls, while it lets those of Terra flow freely. Come and see for yourself. See the true form of this planet."

The tree is the thing that performs the role you're talking about. He makes zero mention of another "being" that might do it.

>>378713285
Regardless of what necron is supposed to be. I assume we can all agree that the game would have only improved had he been absent and trance kuja was a full boss fight instead of ending in an ultima cutscene.

>>378713105
FFIX followed by FFV is patrician taste, anon. Anthologies FFV is very nostalgic for me since it's the first game I got a decent ways into (although I never ended up beating V until Advance). I've come to appreciate Anthologies more than the Advance port, since it at least doesn't fuck with the palette or sound. I think the RPGe translation is still better, since it doesn't have the aggravating pirate Faris or some of the genuinely dreadful mistranslations like Y Burns.

>>378713419
I don't agree, and I find the idea that Necron ruins anything to be absolutely ridiculous.

>>378689748
It's the absoutely fucking last good FF

>>378713367
Now THAT is what isn't explained, just like we don't know why there are so many Vivis at the end.

it's a fun game but jesus christ i hate the art style so much and the graphics have aged so terribly that it makes me not want to play it

>>378713395
>Even now, the Iifa Tree blocks the flow of Gaia's souls
>even now, even after you killed what you thought was the tree
>tree is still expelling Mist, so whatever does that still exists
Does the game really have to beat people over the fucking head with this? Spell it out outright?

>>378713419
I disagree. As I said above, he's a very fitting capstone on the story, even if only thematically; he represents death, oblivion, nothingness, when the whole game is about life and finding a reason to keep going. If anything, they just needed to work him into the plot more. There were plenty of opportunities in Memoria or Oelivert to foreshadow him when they were expositing about the crystals and the nature of life in the setting, but they didn't.

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>>378713461

I actually found pirate Faris endearing and wholly likable. Shit like Yburn was straight up bad but at the same time it didn't bother me too much.

Another cool thing about the Anthologies version is it's the only official American release that supports 2-player. I went back and bear it with a buddy who also said he loved the translation even when comparing it to the newer ones later.

>>378698114
>VOLCANOOO

>>378713419
No I liked that there was a guy stronger than Kuja. It is a well-established tradition in FF that the main villain you encounter early in the game has a hidden master.

I don't know, maybe it would have been better if Garland wasn't defeated in CD3 and didn't show up until the end of the game, but that would destroy Kuja being rebellious against his master. Maybe it would have been nicer if it was revealed that Kuja was hijacked by an even more sinister and stronger entity which used him to end existence.

It's not that Necron was totally out of place. It was because not a single thing was explained.

Still boggles my mind how the cutscenes look a thousand times better than anything modern games shit out.

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>>378713367
How did Ramza and Alma escape? The world will never know.

>>378713813
I was really hoping that Sauroman would replace the trap as ff9's main villain.

>>378713683
>i hate the art style so much and the graphics have aged so terribly
I disagree with both of those sentiments so hard. I think FFIX is one of the best looking games in the series

>>378713813
>Maybe it would have been nicer if it was revealed that Kuja was hijacked by an even more sinister and stronger entity which used him to end existence.
I think that would've been weak. They already pulled that trick with Kuja manipulating Brahne.

>>378713741
It has to say a little more than "the tree is performing this function" to make me believe that a completely unrelated boss that shows up at the end of the game is somehow the one performing that function instead of the tree, which the game already said is performing that function.

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>>378689748

I want Freya to snap my neck with her thighs.

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>>378713285
The thing is, entities that serve the same role as Necron are an established fact in the series, and they all follow the same conditions:
>Crystals regulate natural laws
>Some schmuck tries to damage or otherwise tamper with the Crystals
>The resulting imbalance summons a being empowered by the Void, tasked with resetting creation back to its starting state of nothingness.

First it was the Cloud of Darkness, coming as a result of Xande messing around with the crystals, freaked out by the prospect of dying.
Second was NeoExdeath, the result of Exdeath literally breaking the crystals and trying to interface or control the Void directly.
Third is Necron, who comes as a result of Kuja firing a world-destroying Ultima about three feet away from the Crystal that regulates life.

The entities tend to vary according to the themes of their respective games, III had a sort of biblical motif regarding Noah's Ark weaved into it, and as a result the Cloud of Darkness [or Light] is also referred as a Flood. In V Exdeath is trying to control it directly, so when it loses control it literally starts unraveling and the Void uses all the demons that gave it life as a hat. And in IX, since so much of the game is about death and coming to terms with the end, it comes looking as some sort of neon Grim Reaper-type of figure.

>>378713419
Necron is a perfect throwback to Final Fantasy III and V for the reasons stated above and a nice surprise after fighting Kuja a second time. Sure, it confuses newcomers, but if you're familiar with the other games he's a nice addition.

>>378713957
>I think that would've been weak. They already pulled that trick with Kuja manipulating Brahne.

Well, they tried that in IV, with Zemus controlling Golbez controlling various people across the story so there is a precedent for it. But that is something a lot of people complain about so maybe that's why they didn't try that again.

>>378690221
I can't get into 9 or 5, they're just so boring to me. Even 4 had my attention somewhat with it's half-assed story.

>>378714014
But it makes sense that, if the tree itself is doing it, then if you kill the tree entity that is expelling mist through the Iifa Tree's roots, then the Mist would stop, wouldn't it? So why doesn't it? Why does Garland say you didn't do fucking shit by killing SoulCage?