Final Fantasy IX

[Flare]

I never beat VIII either; got stuck at a boss fight near the end. #NoShame

 

[ForceStealer]

I have not beaten I, II, III, or XII. III is the only one that I haven't played at all though. I have not finished FFU, but Legend of the Crystals is shorter and better

Question, where you arrive at "her/she" for Quina, anyway? You're not the only person I know have referred to Quina as such, but I know other people that say "him" (like Freya) or "it." Personally I just avoid pronouns when at all possible, haha, but would probably lean towards "it?"

 

[Jason Tandro]

I've considered Quina to be a "she" for a few reasons.

1) Call me stereotyping, but the outfit.
2) It pleases my OCD to have an even number of male and female characters.
3) In the end, like Gogo, I think she/he/it can be whatever you want.


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Edit:

Journal 5: Summoning Sickness
Escape From Alexandria, Pinnacle Rocks, Lindblum Attack, Fossil Roo - Part 1

 

[ForceStealer]

2) It pleases my OCD to have an even number of male and female characters.

But Quina being female would break the law in which JRPG casts always have either 1 or 3 women

 

[Jason Tandro]

2) It pleases my OCD to have an even number of male and female characters.

But Quina being female would break the law in which JRPG casts always have either 1 or 3 women

But that's not a...

Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy X / X-2
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy IV

But FF8 only follows that rule if you ignore Edea which I don't but still.. Also FFV has 2 instead of 1 or 3. - Edit: Hold up, Krile. Shit. HOW DEEP DOES THIS THING GO.

One of the most diverse casts I've played a (in terms of gender and sexuality, they're all "aliens are all white people") was Star Ocean: The Second Story. You had a pretty even number of male and female characters and you could make 'em gay if that tickled your fancy, though you'd only find out in the endings.

 

[JBedford]

Also FFV has 2 instead of 1 or 3.

Lenna, Faris, Krile.

 

[Flintlock]

Faris

Spoilers.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Faris

Spoilers.

Oh yeah I forgot about Krile there for a second.

But hey you could argue Faris wants to be a dude so...

 

[ForceStealer]

More than just FF, too:

Xenosaga: Shion, KOS-MOS, MOMO
Chrono Trigger: Marle, Lucca, Ayla
Tales of Xillia: Milla, Leia, Elyse
Tales of the Abyss: Tear, Natalia, Anise
Persona 3: Yukari, Fuuka, Mitsuru

etc. etc. It's kind of amazing.

 

[Lulcielid]

I always saw Quina as genderless.

 

[Clement Rage]

Any RPG system is breakable if you put in the time. And you do have to put in time in FF8 like any other, finding draw points and learning abilities (the right ones). There's more to keep track of in FF8 than most of the other systems, the payoff's good, but you have to work for it.

For a system too easily breakable, a lot of people seem to find it difficult. To break the system, you mostly either have to know exactly what to do in advance, or sink a lot of time into it, and it's not really fair to say 'I spent three hours grinding and now things are too easy, fuck you game' when you had no obligation to do that. If you've gone out of your way to make things easy for yourself, you can't really complain that you've made things too easy.

Most gender egalitarian series I've ever played is Resident Evil.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Any RPG system is breakable if you put in the time. And you do have to put in time in FF8 like any other, finding draw points and learning abilities (the right ones). There's more to keep track of in FF8 than most of the other systems, the payoff's good, but you have to work for it.

For a system too easily breakable, a lot of people seem to find it difficult. To break the system, you mostly either have to know exactly what to do in advance, or sink a lot of time into it, and it's not really fair to say 'I spent three hours grinding and now things are too easy, fuck you game' when you had no obligation to do that. If you've gone out of your way to make things easy for yourself, you can't really complain that you've made things too easy.

This is fair, but some of the basic abilities you might teach your GF are the low-cost RF abilities, since even a new player would go "hey this only cost 30 AP, let's get it". Couple that with the drop rate of refinable items and, most bizarre of all the 16 Wizard Stones dropped by like the fourth boss of the game which allows 3rd Tier Magic refinement and you've got a system that has made some poor choices in its stacking. It's true that the third tier magic is nerfed by comparison to other games but that always boggled me how early you could access it without even trying.

And I don't know that it's fair to say that FF8's refinement-go-lucky chaos is comparable to, say, sitting by Qu's Marsh for hours in FF9 to give Quina a 9999 HP damaging Frog Drop early on. Time and effort are required yes, but to the average skilled player the time and effort the break FF8 are about the time required to actually play the game.

And yes it's difficult for beginners who don't grasp the Junction system, but that's not a sign in its favor. If anything the fact that such an easy system to utilize / break is so hard for newcomers to understand actually serves as a demerit. And remember this is the game I call my personal favorite so I'm not just hating here.

Most gender egalitarian series I've ever played is Resident Evil.

You know I still haven't gotten around to playing that. Like any of them, at all. I should fix that.

 

[Clement Rage]

I think I see this as more a matter of personal preference rather than an objective flaw. I mean, the very annoyingness of Trance helps tie in in with storytelling, and FF9's battle system is a lot more tied to the story than usual.

Sometimes being annoyed by a game isn't a bad thing, it means you value the times when everything works out.

I also think my definition of an average gamer is a little different. Mine is one that will look into the system, learn a few tricks, but won't have the patience to obsessively refine or play cards with every single NPC, where grinding is a means to an end (ie. to get powerful enough to defeat that particular boss) rather than an end in itself -there's no actual need in game to get any character
anywhere close to level 99, or draw 99 of every magic, or any of the things you really need to break the system. They don't just happen by chance.

Incidentally, 3rd tier magic isn't game breaking in FF8, it's the rarer spells like Aura and Meltdown that are true game breakers, which are pretty hard to find if you don't know already.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Sometimes being annoyed by a game isn't a bad thing, it means you value the times when everything works out.

I think you just described Dark Souls design philosophy.

Incidentally, 3rd tier magic isn't game breaking in FF8, it's the rarer spells like Aura and Meltdown that are true game breakers, which are pretty hard to find if you don't know already.

I agree and I did mention that. Blizzaga in FF8 < Blizzaga in FF9. I have to give 8 that much credit, it's high-end spells (when used by a competent caster) make you actually feel their weight. But then we get to the problem here - calculated risk between losing the stat boost versus using an amazing spell. That could be seen as a good thing but I don't.

Pro Tip by the way: Use Ultima for Elem-DEF Junction and you will need no others.



Back OT: Almost done with Disk 2, a Journal should be coming later this week (on the return journey to Conde Petie from Black Mage Village, just gotta do some levelling and gil-grinding first. I want to learn all the skills on Exploda so I can equip the Rune Tooth and I'd like a healthy stockpile of Peridot to bolster Ramuh.

 

[Clement Rage]

Fair enough. I guess what I'm getting at is the difference between 'I don't like this' and 'this is bad'.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Journal 6: But The Owls Are Still Around

 

[Ite]

JT you are exactly my kind of nerd. Using an FF8 quote as a title for your FF9 LP.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Journal 7: The Root of All Evil

 

[Jason Tandro]

Journal 8: Axing Alexandria

 

[Ite]

How are you playing FFIX and X at the same time?

 

[Jason Tandro]

How are you playing FFIX and X at the same time?

I'm trying not to. I just have played FFX so many times in my life I am able to set up the chapters. I am going to finish FFIX first and then start X immediately. If I can't finish it by the 4th, then I'll just have to juggle both, OCD be damned.

 

[Shademp]

Spoiler: Cinna is nightmare fuel

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/prozdkp/status/882029864584269824

 

[Jason Tandro]

https://twitter.com/prozdkp/status/882029864584269824

But no him fucking stashing the cash was pure gold.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Journal 9: Ribbiting Gameplay