How much do you know about FFI-IV?

[Blade]

My experience is that the Playstation Portable or Vita are the best "consoles(?)" to use for the first FF games.

FFI -20th Anniversary- (PSP/Vita)
FFII -20th Anniversary- (PSP/Vita)
FFIII "NDS Remake" (PSP, I "think" it also works on Vita)
FFIV After Years (PSP, but I think it also works on Vita)
FFV (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFVI (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFVII (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFVIII (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFIX (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFTactics: War of the Lions (very good, but also PSone game, though the PSP version is superior)
Vagrant Story (PSone game, works on PSP/Vita/PS3)
FFX / FFX-2 (PSVita Remake, worth it I think)
FFXII??? (Might get a Vita remake)

And don't forget Dissidia Duodecim.

Just read my threads on older FFs (PSP versions) to get an idea of how they play.

FFI is also very awesome on PSP, I highly recommend it.

 

[Ite]

I thought at first that you said "FF1 is also very awesome on PCP" and I was like "Oh! No thank you, but go right ahead I guess."

I find the PS1 of FFV and VI ("Anthology") has strangely long load times. And I prefer the PS1 Tactics to War of the Lions, just my preference for text instead of voice acting.

 

[Blade]

lol don't do drugs while playing RPGs, kids!

 

[ForceStealer]

I have played 1, 2, and 4. Beaten 4 twice, haven't beaten the others. The PSP FFIV is positively gorgeous and my vote for best version.

I would like to beat II some day, from what I do know of the story, it possesses a little more to go on before my imagination takes over and so I could have more fun with it than FF1 does. But there is the combat issue. People always blame it on the levelling system I think the bigger problem is the difficulty curve. If the enemies scaled similarly to how your stats rose I don't think it would be a problem. The grindiness is the issue, as I understand it.

I'm tempted to pick up FFIII simply for the sake of completion, but I have little desire to play it. FFs V, X-2, and Tactics all did the job system better and actually have stories (good, decent, and fantastic ones, respectively).

 

[Lex]

I've completed them all now, but man II and III were a chore to get through. Even with the artificial story they put in III for the recent remakes :/

IV's an odd one. I'm sure I completed it when I was younger (the EU version of Anthology is FFIV and FFV, FFVI had a solo release on PS here), but a few years ago when I was playing through the SNES era games again I worked backwards. I played VI, V, then when I started playing IV not only could I not remember half the shit that happens, I got bored two hours in and found I couldn't continue. Also everything looks weird in that game compared to V and VI for some reason :/

I'll probably give the PSP version another go some time soon. The PSP ports of I-IV are for sure the best.

 

[Ⓐaron]

when I started playing IV not only could I not remember half the shit that happens, I got bored two hours in and found I couldn't continue.

Don't feel bad. Not only have I been unable to replay FFIV any of the times I played it, the only FF games I've ever successfully replayed to completion are V and VI. I'm not sure I'd even be able to replay those these days.

As for the topic at hand: I've played IV to completion once. It was the J2e translation, which, in retrospect, doesn't look like it was actually that accurate. The others I've played for about an hour before getting bored of them. I'm roughly familiar with the outline of the first three from spending so much time on Final Fantasy message boards and watching gameplay videos and such, but I doubt I'll ever actually play them myself.

 

[Blade]

I have played 1, 2, and 4. Beaten 4 twice, haven't beaten the others. The PSP FFIV is positively gorgeous and my vote for best version.

I would like to beat II some day, from what I do know of the story, it possesses a little more to go on before my imagination takes over and so I could have more fun with it than FF1 does. But there is the combat issue. People always blame it on the levelling system I think the bigger problem is the difficulty curve. If the enemies scaled similarly to how your stats rose I don't think it would be a problem. The grindiness is the issue, as I understand it.

I'm tempted to pick up FFIII simply for the sake of completion, but I have little desire to play it. FFs V, X-2, and Tactics all did the job system better and actually have stories (good, decent, and fantastic ones, respectively).

Read my FFII and FFIII threads to get some idea of how to play the system for all its worth (FFII has a great stat-boosting exploit, so does FFIII if you sit and block all day).

Honestly speaking I found FFTactics to be more of a challenge than FFII is.

As for "getting bored" that's to be expected given these are older-than-dirt RPGs... you have to use your imagination a bit to enjoy them more.

Dissidia Duodecim also helps. So does having a lot of free time on your hands (lol)

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm cool with using my imagination to enhance my experience. (I mean, you kill the emperor, but Hell isn't to his liking so he kills Satan and brings it to the surface? That's &#%$ing awesome.) It's the grinding that always gets me in the old games.

 

[Lex]

That's one of the reasons I prefer to emulate the SNES versions of IV-VI. I can press a button and quintuple the game speed XD.

 

[Novus]

I've completed them all now, but man II and III were a chore to get through. Even with the artificial story they put in III for the recent remakes :/

IV's an odd one. I'm sure I completed it when I was younger (the EU version of Anthology is FFIV and FFV, FFVI had a solo release on PS here), but a few years ago when I was playing through the SNES era games again I worked backwards. I played VI, V, then when I started playing IV not only could I not remember half the shit that happens, I got bored two hours in and found I couldn't continue. Also everything looks weird in that game compared to V and VI for some reason :/

I'll probably give the PSP version another go some time soon. The PSP ports of I-IV are for sure the best.

I'm playing the original I-III for the first time too. I've had many stops and starts in the past thirteen or so years, but I think III is generally a fun game and holds up with the later titles in terms of playability.
I'm going to see if I can complete the series in order.