I loved FFVIII, so much so that immediately after beating it

i'd say replay 8 with a different style, like no card mod or different party members.

>>4046085
no card mod would make ultimata at the end so much harder. I don't know if i have it in me to not cash in all my cards before going against the boss. Those 100 megaelixirs are amazing.

This game takes the term "Cash in all your cards" to its near complete literal translation.

>>4046057
>Tell me why I might actually like FFIX more if I gave it a chance.
I don't think you will. It's gonna be a real let down. It's just not very good.

BUT, if you keep playing 8 over and over it'll get real stale and wouldn't it suck to get sick of a game you love? How's that for incentive m80?

FF8 has way more replayability. Simply put, the gameplay is just plain fun. The combat system is just interactive enough to keep you busy if you want it to, or lazy if you want as well. The junction system really makes the game flow, and when you know what you're doing for GF ability's, you can really set yourself up for a great start.

The story is great too, it always gives you something to look forward to, playing cards here, gettting this GF there, knowing a showdown with Seifer is right there, Odin, Gilgamesh, getting mobile, it all really flows well and is paced, aside from disc 2, which can be a slight drag through the Prison, and Garden re-visit, and then FH to tie it all together..

But, FF9 doesn't have that draw to it. IT's a great captivating playthrough, and it's fun just the same, but it just lacks some elements that really could pull it together and help it flow as a 'game' more, it's a little too story centric, and I Think the gameplay lacks because of it.

From the Trance system, to the pre-designated roles/abilities, it doesn't have the form/function/build your own style that FF8 and even FF7 bring to the table.

In all honesty, I think FFX is my second favorite overall Final Fantasy game.

>>4046309
>keep playing 8 over and over it'll get real stale and wouldn't it suck to get sick of a game you love?
You bring up a really good point. Its very difficult for me to just put it away... but i might be already sick of it despite being kind of fanatic about it.

(think face) sure is incentive. Better just stick to playing music for a while. Every now and then i gotta get all my games and put em in a box in my closet. After a few months when I bring them out again, it's like christmas on steroids.

>>4046325
it still deserves a shot. ill go for it. shame that the disc one has one big scratch on the inside circle. Makes the opening cutscenes freeze 70% of the time. Once past that though I should be good.

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>>4046057
>Tell me why I might actually like FFIX more if I gave it a chance.
FFIX is charming and confy. Is a love letter to FFIV-FFVI.
You will love that black mage by the end of the game.

>>4046561
Already am. I started it tonight. Stealing grandma's savings was fun, but all in all I'm kind of just cracking up at how obnoxious everything is right now. It sure does lighten the mood.

But VIII has me collecting tons of screws, bones and cards which is extremely satisfying. VIII sort of reminds me of RuneScape... Cant quite figure how I draw the connection but it gives me the same feels. IX so far is uh goofy and charming. I like it.

I'm still blown away by how much hate IX gets on this board. It's got such great characters, such a great world, so much to do in it, but all anyone ever talks about is "muh load times."

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>>4046625
FFVIII was more serious than FFVII. It was FF for grown ups in response to western audicences not liking the chibi aescetics from 7. Also they change the jokes with teen angst.

I like FFVIII world and mechanics tho.

>>4046628
I love IX, but the battles are definitely slow as molasses. Still not annoying enough to stop me from enjoying the game. Grinding in certain sections of the game does become tedious, though.

>>4046625
>VIII sort of reminds me of RuneScape
I had the same thought when I was playing, too. I think it's the music, but I'm not sure.

>>4046732
i think i figured it out. Remember in Runescape how you would grind by killing monsters in hopes of drops. FFVIII kind of has you doing the same thing with Marlboros and Elynoyles, and even Tonberrys. I can't think of any other FF game that has you repeatedly killing an enemy in hopes of getting an item. The other games just make you grind for EXP... they are very linear in that way. Not FFVIII though.

Make sure you finish learning from your current equipment before switching to an upgrade.

>>4046628
It doesn't get that much hate. Comments like
>>4046561
This are kind of tedious though. I love FFVI, hence, I think FFVII is the best PSX Final Fantasy, because VII is the most like VI.

>>4047292
I thought you could just go straight form the first weapon to the Lionheart without missing anything important. Could you explain?

>>4047292
He means in 9>>4047371

>>4047375
oh well thats good too know, considering Im playing ix right now too =| =)

>>4047371
If anything, it'd be more beneficial in FF8 to immediately go Lionheart in that scenario to not have to deal with the shit fodder abilities like Flame Circle, or Blasting Zone

OP: Final Fantasy IX sucks (right now). But I think it might just suck. Charm isn't getting me through this game. The combat is fucking boring.

Ive come to a conclusion. The first one you played will be your favorite. Am I right?

>>4046057
VIII > IX

Don't waste your time with IX.

>>4046057
Honestly, for me FFIX wins out over FFVIII because of its character development. For some reason, Squall bored the shit out of me. He's like the Keanu Reeves of the FF series. Zidane just seemed more "human" to me, if that makes sense.

>>4048597
The first one I played was VII, my favourite is IX. I played IX after XII was already out and VII in 1999.

>>4046276

You can still refine to get megaelixers. Use Alexander or Bahamut to refine items into Elixers, then refine those into Megaelixers. It'll take a bit of cash, so stock up with the Tent/Cabin --> Mega-Potion trick when you get low on money.

And it's not like you even need to refine cards for Ultimecia. Just farm the draw points on the Island Closest to Heaven and Island Closest to Hell for drops with Enc-None. Make a few pit stops to Shumi Village for some extra Ultima and you have awesome endgame spells to junction to make Ultimecia and her minions in her castle a cakewalk.

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>>4046325
>In all honesty, I think FFX is my second favorite overall Final Fantasy game.

This tells me that you have no taste

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ff7 midgar / shinra HQ section > ff9 > rest of ff7 > ff8

>>4048943
I am okay with this. FF7 loses a lot of focus, and with it it's charm, when it gets out of Midgar.

But it's still good.

FF8's flow is weird because, technically, it's a mass. Plot points are dropped left and right ( I'm surprised they even remembered Galbadia was a thing in Disk 3), and there's no reason to return to a location once you're done with it. But, the actual areas it shows are very memorable and cool.

Take Lunatic Pandora. It's actual relevance to the plot is minimal: all it does is make Esthar's sky red, change enemy spawns around Esthar, and permanently add random encounters to Esthar itself. No one in the party is upset or concerned about the effects on what Lunatic Pandora is doing nor is there any interest in destroying it to stop the Lunar Cry. Even Laguna's plan regarding the Lunatic Pandora has nothing to do with actually stopping the Lunar Cry; it's all about defeating Ultimecia. There isn't even a message from Laguna saying "Hey guys, while you're there, could you please shut that thing down before rescuing Elloine? Ty" and an objective to blow up the reactor before you can reach Seifer or whatever.

But, its pretty damn cool and has nice music. The areas inside it are unique and memorable, and it has the final fight with your rival (with a neat surprise if you have Odin). It sticks out, even though technically it was pointless to the plot and could've been replaced with something else, like Galbadia's military HQ.

>>4046276
>no card mod would make ultimata at the end so much harder.

Not really. Just fly between the island closest to hell and heaven and draw all the good shit.

>>4049097

Spending a shitload of time junctioning and card refining pre-Ragnarok is pointless since the draws from the islands give so much better rewards for junctioning them than most of the stuff you can refine and it's easy as piss if you have Enc-None.

You can do zero card refining throughout the game, but once you get the Ragnarok and can access the islands, you can completely destroy Seifer, Adel, Ultimecia's cronies, and Ultimecia herself with the stuff you can get on the islands. There's nothing that can beat Ultima junctioned to attack and Triple to speed.

>>4049113

There's no point in fighting at all if you can avoid it. VIII could have been the best game in the series with a bit of tweaking but it's ridiculously easy to break

>>4049132

There's very little reasons to actually fight random enemies once you get Enc-None. The random enemy fights I completed in Disks 2 and 3 were to grind my GF's abilities via Cactuars and to steal some stuff from Malboros and Tri-Faces. I never killed any non-boss foes in Disk 4.

The only thing you actually gain from fighting that won't fuck you in some way down the line is some crafting materials for character's ultimate weapons, but the game is so easy with Enc-None on there's no reason to do this unless you really, really like Lionheart's special limit break or are a Gamefaqs autist going for a perfect game.

>>4049075
He was the President. He probably just sent thousands of soldiers to their deaths and resolved it off screen.

>>4049132
I agree. Disc 1 here is no point in fighting, playing cards, or drawing. All of that is a waste of time until disc 2 or 3.

You don't want to fight because all your original 4 GFs will have gained all their abilities and you will still have to learn new abilities for the remaining 12 GFs. It's better to wait until you have at least like 13/16 Bfs before AP farming. I like that aspect though because it makes me just focus on the story for the first half of the game, and the once I get free reign over the world, I can focus on the fun stuff like side quests and collecting GFs and upgrading items. total freedom at that point

OP levelling spot in late Disc 2, can only access one time.

>the hockey ring in Galbadia Garden

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>>4046057
Only thing I disliked about IX was the painfully slow battle system, which still beats the crap out of drawing magic and level scaling any day of the weak.

IX's story is obviously more childish, but that's hardly a bad thing. It's sort of a cross between Disney and Dragon Ball, a more classic tale of friendship, love and adventure. The characters aren't very deep but they're likable and fun enough. There isn't much in the way of teenage angst unlike in VIII, besides a few scenes in the third disc which don't last very long. I actually found the romance in IX much more believable than VIII: in IX the two leads actually have believable chemistry and their relationship feels more natural as opposed to one lampreying onto the other for plot necessity.

>>4049075
>No one in the party is upset or concerned about the effects on what Lunatic Pandora is doing nor is there any interest in destroying it to stop the Lunar Cry.

uhh, no.
You didn't play the game, or you watched someone rush through it on youtube.

Zell DID try to stop the Lunatic Pandora. He just failed.
Nobody is terribly concerned about the Lunar Cry because nobody cares about Esthar. Its been isolated and hiding behind a hologram for over a decade.

Additionally, the Lunar Cry is a natural event, so they've all seen one before.

FFIX will seem pretty different from VIII. Sure some of the magic and enemy names and general FF tropes will be present, but the world and characters will seem more childish and the battle system is painfully slow.

if you prefer sword and dragon sort of settings more than technology then IX might be more appealing to you. I didnt particularly care for the equipment/skill system in IX, although the junction system and the weapon system in VIII are not generally well-recieved either.

also, despite VIII having some serious deus ex machina moments, IX takes the cake toward the end once the kuja/zidane/garland/terra sort of stuff starts, not to mention the final boss.

>>4046057
>people non-ironically, genuinely like Final Fantasy 8 AND want to keep replaying it more than once

The fuck? Has contrarianism gone into full effect and now it's cool to like what is in the running for one of the worst Final Fantasies?

Even FFX at least has a decent postgame and battle system to make up for the shitty characters and and weird story. FF8 has nothing but good music going for it, and I guess a sort of fun card game that has the depth of an evaporated puddle.

>>4049817
It's a fun game once you get Encounter None and completely avoid playing the game.

I actually played it again after 15 years, just in case it was secretly better than I remembered like X-2 (great gameplay if you can ignore, well, everything else).

The only fun I had was breaking the battle system, which happened about 2 hours into the first disc.

FF8 has:
>The most retarded initial premise of any Final Fantasy: a bunch of anime teens in a magic anime battle school, the kind you can find in like 500 different 2015~2016 anime.
>The absolute most boring and least-varied cast I've EVER seen in an RPG: every single character has the exact same backstory & origin, exact same motivation, and practically interchangeable dialogue because no consistent personality shines through for any single character over the course of the game.
>Every character is functionally identical besides their limit break. Granted, FF2 and FF7 did this as well but it compounds the problems of this game being boring as shit.
>There is absolutely no strategy in any single battle in the entire game, besides maybe you can throw a Phoenix Down to completely skip undead bosses.
>Once you realize leaving Squall at critical HP and making him invincible and hasted is the fastest way of doing things, you'll never go back. Even 9 year-old me beat Omega Weapon on the first try this way.
>There is not a single enemy that cannot be obliterated with Renzokuken spam. You do not have to go out of your way or intentionally break the game to discover this. This is probably how 99% of players went through the bosses.
>Enemies scale with your level, and you don't learn any skills when you level up so that shit is pointless and they might as well have done away with levels completely.
>Linear equipment upgrades

>>4049893
>GFs are cool the first time but after that there's no way to shorten the literal 5-minute animations of a universe exploding, tapping a single button repeatedly during a long cutscene is not a good or fun game mechanic
>Stupid confusing plot, FF8 fans will defend is as literally being "too smart for you" but at the same time they don't actually know what the plot at all and think Squall is dead or that Ultimecia is Rinoa and other dumb shit
>Time compression bullshit
>"We all grew up in the same orphanage but forgot for no reason, possibly hand-waved with a line of missable dialogue near the beginning of the game stating GFs may cause memory loss!"
>Anime battle school is run by invalid Boss Nass from Star Wars who lives in the basement, no sufficient explanation
>You never get to kill Seifer or have a final showdown with him despite all the setup, he just kind of fades into the background and drops out of the story completely
>Shitty forced love story that sucks total ass
>Draw and Junction system are interesting in theory but vary between useless and boring in practice
>On par with Mystic Quest in terms of difficulty, most easily broken Final Fantasy, you can have 99 Megalixirs and invincibility potions halfway through the first disk if you feel like it
>Triple Triad is way overrated and even more braindead than the actual combat system, only fun for five minutes besides the collecting aspect
>Only remotely memorable character design is Squall, Rinoa is complete shit in every regard

>>4049893
>>4049905
I agree with everything, especially the part about renzocucken spam and the disappointment that is Seifer

>buh, but you do have a final showdown with seifer at the end of disc 3!
and beat him with a 100k damage renzocuck after he takes a swing out of your 9999 healthpool dealing 200 damage

The only real reason to play FF8 is just to experience what a pants on head clusterufuck it is. I'm not saying it cant be fun at times, I had a lot of fun with it as a kid, it's just a complete mess

>>4049893
>>4049905
not a single one of your complaints are true except the button mashing during the G.F. sequences, none of which last 5 minutes

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>>4049893

>Renzokuken spam on everything
>Not using Degenerator on every random encounter instead

>>4050342
I specifically stated bosses.

>>4049893
how do you break the battle system??

>>4050356
Learn Card Mod and/or Refine.
That's it.

>>4050356

Early game to trip in space: Card refine and use Siren's refine skill to convert Tents to Curagas to junction to HP.

Once you get Ragnarok: Farm the drawpoints on the Island Closet to Hell and Island to Heaven with Enc-None on until you have 100 Ultimas, Triples, Auras, , Full Lives Meteors. Junction Ultima to attack, junction Triple to speed, use Meteor or Full-Life on HP. If playing low-level, use Attack+ stat boosts from GFs to hit 255 or very close to it.

Preparing for Ultimecia and Omega Weapon: Refine Bahamut card to get 100 MegaElixers and refine Gilgamesh to get 10 Holy Wars so you have a good stock of healing items and emergency invincibility items. For Omega, make sure everyone is at 9999 max hp and anyone that has a level dividable by 5 has 100 Death junctioned to a defense slot.

Congratulations, you have completely broken the game from the start to finish.

>>4049817
>postgame
The very fact that you can use this term with a straight face invalidastes your opinion on what makes a good game.

>>4050647
What other term would I use?
The superbosses and monster arena are only properly unlocked at the very end of the game, and they're the redeeming part of FFX.

>>4050647
What's wrong with that term? It's pretty fucking normal.

>>4050356
Good prioritizing and knowledge of the game.

>Order you learn GF abilities like M-Refine, or Card mod
>Capabilities of utilizing Card Mod, and items you pick up throughout the gameplay
>Min-Maxing your Junction set ups, great and even distribution/division
>Insuring everyone has an HP-J available to them
>Playing Squall with low health to abuse most effective Limit Break sequence in a bang for buck and time category.


It all comes together eventually, but with great game knowledge and planning, you can set yourself up to be great.

>>4049893
>>4049905
100% correct. It's Dawson's Creek level garbage.
How the fuck can a person claim 9 is childish compared to Teen Angst, and not only that, how can one enjoy Teen Angst?
Are you guys those fucking grown men who think Buffy is a good tv show?

>>4050684
>and they're the redeeming part of FFX.
Then by that logic they are the meat of the game, certainly not 'post' game, which implies the game is over by the time you get to that stuff.

>What other term would I use?
Gee, I don't know, side quests?

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>>4050342
>fighting random encounters

>>4052541
>Then by that logic they are the meat of the game, certainly not 'post' game, which implies the game is over by the time you get to that stuff.
Makes sense in the case of Final Fantasy, but for something like the super bosses in Dragon Quest 3 the term postgame is entirely appropriate.

whenever i restart 8 i can never finish it
9? eat it up and cry at the end every time

whenever I start 9 I can't finish it.

There's too much slow, as charming of a tale as it is, it's not nearly as 'fun' of a game as FF8 is.

>>4055081
Whenever I start 9, my ocd immediately kicks in and I start grinding the equipment for their abilities.

>>4055095
>not optimal pathing and grinding for GF abilities instead

IX is my favorite FF, it's like VI but better for me

>>4048890
Eh. It wasn't great in any sense and honestly, the only reason it's remembered at all is because of the terrible voice-acting and the fact that the game cost $50-60 at launch and was a complete clusterfuck in terms of the story and the actual design, but at least he didn't say FFXIII, which is a literal walking simulator with RPG elements. That would be a VERY big indicator of bad taste.

>>4055935
>clusterfuck in terms of story and the actual design

confirmed for not having a single clue what they're talking about. FFX is one of the best written stories in the entire series, and the gameplay was the smoothest it had ever been.

The only feature missing from the core Final Fantasy gameplay was the lack of an overworld, which I believe they did a great job of immersing by including the navmap for the Airship, and featuring a world still completely fluid within it's own

>>4046057
the snes games were so much better

>>4055967
it is bloated with the boring temple segments though.

>>4055967
>FFX is one of the best written stories in the entire series,
lol

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>it's an Anon sees a nostalgic jRPG thread and thinks how it would be a nice idea to dedicate an entire afternoon after work to being comfy and enjoying some retro video games only to actually realize 20 minutes into it how archaic and autismal it is with its shitty random encounters, coloring book tier story and presentation and absolute devoid of difficulty of any kind episode

>>4056716
If you don't like JRPG's that's on you. I'm sure the new FFXV DLC will come out sometime soon for you so that you can spend an additional $20 for another 20 minutes to gameplay, because life moves so fast as an adult and everything should be streamlined to a borderline automatic level of play to get any bit of enjoyment out of it.

>>4056870
LOL the salt.

Real talk now, I still like rpgs but as an adult I do have trouble FINISHING them.

>>4056876
cont.
In this day and age it's so much easier and more rewarding to outright drop a game and watch the ending on youtube. Fuck if that makes me a casual I don't care.

>>4046628
Best FF of that generation until FFXI.

>>4056961
What the fuck is FFXI good at aside from being a piece of shit namesake destroyer of the franchise?

>>4046057
>Tell me why I might actually like FFIX more if I gave it a chance.
Why do you need to like it more to play it?

FF8 might have my favorite FF soundtrack.

>>4056876
>od an
just don't let yourself star a new one until the one you've started is complete. and don't stay away from an RPG for too long. It's annoying to pick one up where you last left off if you don't remember where you are or what you were doing.

>>4057608
>tfw missing FF8 Disc 3 so I keep restarting and getting to the end of Disc 2.

I've got like 4 saves I can pick up on Disc 2 that are all right before entering the Galbadian Army and I'm too damn cheap to buy an entire new copy of the game.

>>4057831
I know that feel, my FF8 Disc 3 was too scratched up and would freeze every tme a battle started.

>>4046057
Well it's one of the best