In FF7 I tend to keep everyone pretty flexible and unspecialized (except Aerith). But in FFXII that's exactly what I do to keep myself from getting overwhelmed by the License Grid.
FFVII I always put every materia with everyone. It's not a difficult game so it doesn't really matter. Plus once you get W-item you just spam until you make tons of mega elixirs and EVERYBODY IS A HEALER.
But for XII I started to be more mindful of what character did what. At least towards the end, just because I was mindful of how much mp I was using. Made no sense for Basch to be doing healing spells.
Though in XII, never bothered with black mage like characters. Rather save mp for quickenings.
For parties in other games, like I said I rotated my characters. But if I had to pick anything
Not far enough in IV yet, won't let me chose my party. I like Cecil, Rosa, and Yang so far.
Right now Tellah is my only mage and I'm like FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU
VI: Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin was my preferred team (although I never beat this game so maybe I would have changed)
VII- no real team, maybe Cloud-Cid-Tifa AP growth+favorite. Or Cloud-Yuffie-Barret power team.
VIII- No real team, maybe Squall, Zell, Selphie
IV- no real team. But I always loved keeping Steiner and Garnet. circulated out the fourth member. I like the Steiner-Vivi combo but I hate using MP.
X- constant switch out. Tidus-Auron-Yuna?
XII- No real team. But if I did prefer having Vaan-Balthier-Ashe if things were getting rough.
XIII- I switched between Hope/Lightning/Fang, Lightning/Vanille/Sazh.
Turtle farming team is Sazh/Lightning/Hope <- favorite characters.
Favorite party in IX would be Zidane, Dagger, & Vivi with the fourth member alternating depending on the situation. But usually it was Freya or Eiko, depending on how tough the battle was.
Honorable mention goes to Fang/Vanille/Lightning -- they are my favorite lesbian triforce team up ever.
Just going to say, I enjoy your long write ups. They're a fun read.
Day 1: Final Fantasy VI. I will say though that FFVII ranks right up there with FFX (which had the best ending out of any FF game imo).
Day 2: idk. Dirge of Cerberus? Final Fantasy III was ok. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (the first one) was meh too. (Crystal Bearers was neat). It's hard for me to come by an FF game that I could say I absolutely hated.
Day 3: I don't know that I could pick a single favorite song, but I really love Terra's Theme. That might be #1. I also like Battle at the Big Bridge and Tifa's Theme.
Day 4:
FFVI: Terra, Edgar, Locke, and either Sabin or Strago
FFVII: Cloud & Tifa are my only mainstays... the others I switch around
FFVIII: Squall, Rinoa, Zell
FFIX: Zidane, Freya, Vivi, and either Garnet/Eiko for white magic. I use Steiner if I don't need a white mage.
FFX: really depends on the situation because of how specialized they are. Tidus & Auron typically used the most.
FFXII: switched around a lot. Mostly Ashe, Balthier, Basch.
FFXIII: Lightning, Hope/Vanille, Fang
Day 3: Damn. I can't answer that now, too many epic tracks. 10 GB of FF music will not help me decide either...
To keep things interesting, I'll flat out omit the "popular" choices...
I can't believe you guys missed this one.
I know it isn't official, but I don't care.
I always loved the original ver. of this theme (FFXII, Pharos at Ridorana), so hearing this nearly gave me an orgasm.
I know it's recent, but I'll hear this on repeat for a long, long time.
It was really awful to discover that my two favorite tracks of Dirge of Cerberus weren't on the actual OST. That game enjoys my suffering .
Agh, see? Too many tracks, I'll stop it here.
Day 4: My favorite party? Mmmmm.
FFI: Black Mage, White Mage, Warrior, Monk.
FFII: When Minwu is in your party. Or Josef. Or Ricard. Er... You know what? All the guests are awesome. Playing Soul of Rebirth sure was a blast.
FFIII: Onion Knights everywhere.
FFIV: Cecil, Kain, Edge, Rydia.
FFV: Gaaaaaluuuuuuf... <_>
FFVI: Terra, Celes, Cyan, Edgar.
FFVII: Cid, Vincent, and Barret. . . What? I'm seriously the only one who was happy to get rid of Cloud?
FFVIII: Uh. Squall, Zell, Irvine.
FFIX:Zidane, Steiner, Freya, Vivi.
FFX: Tidus, Auron, Rikku.
FFXII: Basch, Ashe, Balthier. I call them The Plot Relevant Team. Also, the awesomeness of The Plot Relevant Team multiplies if Reddas or Vossler are present.
Almsot the opposite for me as I AM COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF CHAINING QUICKENINGS. Seriously, I swear I'm missing something. Because after everyone has expended their MP bars and you have to start doing whatever you're supposed to do with the R2 button, I'm boned. I can't do it in Vaan's/Gabranth's EX Burst in Dissidia either. It's infuriating.
Almsot the opposite for me as I AM COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF CHAINING QUICKENINGS. Seriously, I swear I'm missing something. Because after everyone has expended their MP bars and you have to start doing whatever you're supposed to do with the R2 button, I'm boned.
I hate using magic unless it's a boss. I'm scared I'll run out of MP if I do it before hand.
I also have extreme ether-remorse. I feel terrible if I use one like "OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE, I DON'T THINK THE NEXT STORE SELLS THEM."
I would spend an hour stealing ethers at the train graveyard in FFVII, and not use one of them.
Almsot the opposite for me as I AM COMPLETELY INCAPABLE OF CHAINING QUICKENINGS. Seriously, I swear I'm missing something. Because after everyone has expended their MP bars and you have to start doing whatever you're supposed to do with the R2 button, I'm boned. I can't do it in Vaan's/Gabranth's EX Burst in Dissidia either. It's infuriating.
But if you don't use magic anyway, what would the risk be in running out of MP? (I know the same goes for items, but I have gotten better about that of late and it was the argument I used to convince myself. If I'm not going to use the items, what's the point of having them.)
And are you even protective of Ethers in FF7 when they're so cheap?
Used to be like that with items and MP... I think it just takes a while before you're comfortable enough with a game before you realize it's safe to use them.
I used my one elixer in FF13 on a stupid fight, thinking I'd be able to get them later for a price. Wish I had saved it for that final mark. Would have made things SO much easier. So that kind of respawned my hate of using items.
In FF7 I pretty much ALWAYS rocked Cloud, Tifa, and Barret unless the game dictated otherwise. It seemed to me like the best strategy in 99% of encounters was to go full guns blazing squashing everyone to bits. Materia and health potions were divided among the party accordingly making the need for support role characters unnecessary, since everyone could watch each others backs easily if necessary.
FF7- Cloud, Tifa, Vincent. Because Cloud and Tifa make a great couple, and Tifa x Vincent make a great fandom. It's like a prefect party ! <3
FF8- Selphie, Squall, Quistis. I adore Selphie and Quistis, they are both awesome characters, I only wish that I could chop off Squall and replace him for Laguna or Zell.
FF9- Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, Freya. All of these characters are awesome.
FF12- Bathier, Basche, Penelo. Favourite Characters, like FF6.
FF13- Hope, Lighting, Sazh, Fang. Hope's in because he's epic, Lighting is in because she's the lead, and Sazh and Fang are epic too. <3
To clarify on the whole specific roles thing in FF7, 99% of the battles I still just beat the shit out of everyone. It was only for boss fights where Cloud became the 'support guy', and as soon as Big Guard/Regen were down he went right back to ripping shit up, only stopping to rebuff/heal as necessary.
Day 5 - fave town
Midgar, closely followed by Oerba. Both of them had wonderful if very different atmospheres that immediately grabbed my attention and my imagination.
FFVII's got tons of towns, each with their own character. But it always comes back to Midgar. I'd explain it all, but MOG did it better in his FFVII town series.
Midgar is down and out place, the people are frustrated, the city is polluted, trash and scrap is everywhere, thieves and pitpockets are around- trying to steal your potions (STOP STEALING MY POTIONS YOU DJDFDKLFKDF). There's no room for advancement. Meanwhile, while you rot here, the middle management of Shinra sits above you, blocking out the sun. How's that for symbolism, eh?
At the same time, this place is every bit alive. Everyone is doing something, cooking, going to whore houses, looking on the ground for anything useful, trying to get you into the store. Yeah life sucks, but they still are going about their daily lives. And amongst the grime and dirt, there's the one or two special places that really mean something, whether it's Aerith's church or Tifa's bar. The music is just as unpolished but drawing as the location, and you can instantly picture Midgar in your head just by listening to it.
It's one of the places where you really try to get into the mind of the people. One of the first conversations you have with Barret is why people don't leave. Well, it's because it's their life and home. Sometimes you just got to roll with it, and that's exactly what they do.
Then you leave Midgar and you can see just how taxing it is to the world because there is no greenery around it. It's like it just sucks the life from everything around it.
I think one of the most amazing things about this game is when you are first introduced to Midgar, it's the sprawling metropolis, that seems almost too big and there's something going on everywhere you look. Then you leave and you go on this amazing adventure, and towards the end you decide to look for that Midgar Key, not just to get Tifa's final weapon, but because you want to go back. But the minute you do, it's not as impressive as you remember. It almost feels small, cramped, and you feel like an outsider in it. It's like after you saw the world, you grew too big for it.
I get this feeling everytime I play the game and it's amazing.
2. Treno.
I was thinking about what place I really liked about IX, where there were so many great locations. I immediately thought Cleyra and the absolute shock of its destruction. But having picked up IX again, the place that I immediately took to was Treno.
I love everything about this place. I forgot how quirky IX could be and Treno brings out the best of it. The song is perfect for it, with the perfect name "Sleepless Treno." which is exactly what it is, you got the snoby witless nobles, the sleeping drunks, and the perpetually disgruntled poor- and even get to see a a little girl start advocating social revolution to her even younger brother- much to Marcus' bewilderment.
It has the best art direction of any city in Final Fantasy. From the buildings to the location of all the nobles. And even when there's little plot relevancy going on (save for a moment when you are looking for the supersoft) you'll find yourself coming here again because it has a bunch of everything. Auction Houses, a battle arena, a weird duck woman who wants your... coin things. Absolutely frivolous and absolutely charming.
Treno is witty in its design, music, and execution. It evokes a strong semblance to previous eras not just in architecture, but down to the clothes people wear and the music that plays. I don't know what else to say about it except, we need more places like this.
3. Oerba.
FFXIII's problem is that it has no towns and no place to get lost in. But there was one location they did right and that is Oerba. It's one of those places you really wanted to see because it holds the past of two major characters Vanille and Fang. But when you go there, there's nothing there.
The place is haunting. There's no semblance of the Oerba Vanille gushes about. No green pastures, no people all living together on one roof, and most of all- no one knows why. But instead of the bad "no answers" that FFXIII loves to give, here telling less is giving more. You slowly begin to get the idea of what happened to Gran Pulse, every location that looks like there was civilization is now crawling with Cieth.
It's hard to go to Oerba and not feel like you really are alone in this world. Oerba was everyone's last ditch effort, so you get there and you're like "well shit, nothing's left" and you don't even know why. You get to look through all of Fang and Vanille's things, their photographs, the abandoned school house, the communal stove, and you look out on the horizon and see the broken highway and the windmills that are powering nothing.
It really is a beautiful and terrible place. Oh yeah, and I already put Dust to Dust as one of my favorite songs, so I'll just say it again. Great.atmospheric.music.
In fact, I think every one of these places I've praised the music.
There are tons of great locations in FF. I don't think it's a coincidence that the three that pop up in my head are the three that I played most recently. But there you go.
To a lesser extent: I love Cleyra from FFIX as a rich view of a different culture from Alexandria and Limbdum. I love the City of Ancients, as it's fleeting glimpse of something so different and strange from FFVII that you never get to understand it at all. I liked the Balamb Garden because it's "my" garden and I'm responsible for the people there, and therefore I feel as if I am attached to it. I love Sky City Bhujerba because of the politics of the place and the business of it.
But those are the towns I remember.
I'd also like to throw Ulti's Castle out there. It's not a town but wow. It's fucking awesome.
I'M GOING TO SPAM MORE CONCEPT ARTWORK BUT CONCEPT ARTWORK IS THE BEST THING TO COME OUT OF THIS, BETTER THAN EVERY CHARACTER DESIGNER THAT WORKED FOR SQUEENIX.
Junon. Basically it's just like Midgar only smaller. Kind of like Philadelphia to New York, maybe that's why I like it
But the whole concept of a terraced city built into a cliff is really cool. I like to imagine what living there would be like. Do they have lifts for cars and stuff too? There are roads and all.
The giant cannon doesn't hurt either. As well as all the armor plating and smaller guns. If there's such a thing as a badass city, Junon is it.
Lindblum and Rabanastre capture the feeling of bigness better than any other, even moreso than Midgar. But after Junon I have to go with the Phantom Village from V. The town itself is nothing special, but its such a cool idea when you find it after Exdeath merges the realms and its this whole town of people that aren't aware any time has passed since their disappearance. And then it becomes really spooky when you're in the Rift and find the town again completely frozen in time - people and all.
FFVII's got tons of towns, each with their own character. But it always comes back to Midgar. I'd explain it all, but MOG did it better in his FFVII town series.
Midgar is down and out place, the people are frustrated, the city is polluted, trash and scrap is everywhere, thieves and pitpockets are around- trying to steal your potions (STOP STEALING MY POTIONS YOU DJDFDKLFKDF). There's no room for advancement. Meanwhile, while you rot here, the middle management of Shinra sits above you, blocking out the sun. How's that for symbolism, eh?
At the same time, this place is every bit alive. Everyone is doing something, cooking, going to whore houses, looking on the ground for anything useful, trying to get you into the store. Yeah life sucks, but they still are going about their daily lives. And amongst the grime and dirt, there's the one or two special places that really mean something, whether it's Aerith's church or Tifa's bar. The music is just as unpolished but drawing as the location, and you can instantly picture Midgar in your head just by listening to it.
It's one of the places where you really try to get into the mind of the people. One of the first conversations you have with Barret is why people don't leave. Well, it's because it's their life and home. Sometimes you just got to roll with it, and that's exactly what they do.
Then you leave Midgar and you can see just how taxing it is to the world because there is no greenery around it. It's like it just sucks the life from everything around it.
I think one of the most amazing things about this game is when you are first introduced to Midgar, it's the sprawling metropolis, that seems almost too big and there's something going on everywhere you look. Then you leave and you go on this amazing adventure, and towards the end you decide to look for that Midgar Key, not just to get Tifa's final weapon, but because you want to go back. But the minute you do, it's not as impressive as you remember. It almost feels small, cramped, and you feel like an outsider in it. It's like after you saw the world, you grew too big for it.
I get this feeling everytime I play the game and it's amazing.
I was thinking about what place I really liked about IX, where there were so many great locations. I immediately thought Cleyra and the absolute shock of its destruction. But having picked up IX again, the place that I immediately took to was Treno.
I love everything about this place. I forgot how quirky IX could be and Treno brings out the best of it. The song is perfect for it, with the perfect name "Sleepless Treno." which is exactly what it is, you got the snoby witless nobles, the sleeping drunks, and the perpetually disgruntled poor- and even get to see a a little girl start advocating social revolution to her even younger brother- much to Marcus' bewilderment.
It has the best art direction of any city in Final Fantasy. From the buildings to the location of all the nobles. And even when there's little plot relevancy going on (save for a moment when you are looking for the supersoft) you'll find yourself coming here again because it has a bunch of everything. Auction Houses, a battle arena, a weird duck woman who wants your... coin things. Absolutely frivolous and absolutely charming.
Treno is witty in its design, music, and execution. It evokes a strong semblance to previous eras not just in architecture, but down to the clothes people wear and the music that plays. I don't know what else to say about it except, we need more places like this.
To a lesser extent: I love Cleyra from FFIX as a rich view of a different culture from Alexandria and Limbdum. I love the City of Ancients, as it's fleeting glimpse of something so different and strange from FFVII that you never get to understand it at all. (...)
I'd also like to throw Ulti's Castle out there. It's not a town but wow. It's fucking awesome.
I love Treno and Daguerreo as well, but all time favorite location has to be Lindblum. There was just so much to do and see here, I never wanted to leave -- the festival of the hunt is so much fun, every time. I loved the little things too, like the old woman selling gyshal pickles (best NPC ever) and the Polom stand selling action figures of the princess and queen. There's just a wonderful attention to detail in this huge city, it's amazing. And I like bright cities, so it's pure eye candy to me.
And, second...can I just cheat and say all of Gran Pulse?
The scale of this place blew me away. I loved that you could literally go anywhere you could see -- it made you feel like you were in this huge world rather than trapped in an invisible bubble.
And finally, Mochet Manor from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
This place is nowhere near as big as the other two I listed, but I'm incredibly fond of it. Maybe because of the quirky intro. Or maybe I just like beating up this couple in the middle of dinner. Either way, I really liked the whole concept of it -- how you were suddenly small as an ant in this location, ~infiltrating (read: destroying and stealing from) the manor. And Tonberries. Lots of wonderful Tonberries.
Favorite places:
1.Cleyra (FFIX) Pic
2.ZoZo (FFVI) Idk, I just fucking love that place. xD Pic
3. Esto Gaza(FFIX) Pic
4.Shumi Village (FFVIII) Pic
5.Esthar (FFVIII) Pic
Honorable mentions: Black Mage Village(IX), Midgar(VII), Dali (IX), Mt. Bur-Omisace (XII)
Day 4 and 5 together at last. (edit: putting reasons why I like the towns)
FFI: Party - Fighter, Red Mage, White Mage, Black Mage
FFI: Town - Pravoka. It was the only town in FFI that was towny. I don't know what I mean by that.
FFII: Party - Firion, Maria, Guy, Minwu
FFII: Town - Altair. Rebel Army theme. Nuff said.
FFIII: Party - Those people you can't get rid of
FFIII: Town - Kazus. Ghost people! Tee hee hee!
FFIV: Party - Cecil, Rydia, Rosa, Kain, Edge
FFIV: Town - Baron. I don't think I've ever been as lost as I was in Baron.
FFV: Party - Bartz, Lenna, Faris, Galuf
FFV: Town - Walz. Sweet moat, dude.
FFVI: Party - Locke, Celes, Sabin, Shadow
FFVI: Town - Zozo. For the music. (Figaro Castle is up there though)
FFVII: Party - Cloud, Tifa, Barret
FFVII: Town - Midgar.
FFVIII: Party - Squall, Zell, Irvine
FFVIII: Town - Balamb Garden. No towns before or since have ever really felt like a 'home base' literally or figuratively.
FFIX: Party - Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, Steiner
FFIX: Town - Lindblum (hard choice). I love every locale in FFIX, but I'm a big city-dweller and Lindblum is where I would live hands down.
FFX: Party - Tidus, Wakka, Auron
FFX: Town - Besaid.
FFXI: n/a
FFXII: Party - Basch, Ashe, Fran
FFXII: Town - Bhujerba.
I hate Zozo because it took me for freaking ever to figure out the clock thing the first time i played that game and got so sick of the random encounters
Forgot about Black Mage Village though, I love that place. Especially the song.
There are a lot of great towns/cities. Rabanastre was a great one. Treno was awesome. Zozo had great music, but it was a pain in the ass XD
But imma have to go with Cornelia. Yeah I said it. idk why. The very first place I've ever been in an FF game, and the music just brings me back. I can't believe I forgot to mention that in my favorite songs. I could listen to it over and over. Cornelia was great besides that though. The shops, the inn, the NPCs, the castle, the well
So simple, and has a lot of the same stuff as other towns in FFI, but... idk. It's special to me. /cheesy
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