The GWJ JRPG Club Version 2.5 HD Remaster: Announcing our Q2 2024 Game!

LastSurprise wrote:

Before I vote ... if Breath of Fire wins, is someone here in a position to help me play it?

Yes.

Okay, with that assurance, here's my list:

Valkyrie Profile
Final Fantasy X-2
Breath of Fire 3
Live A Live
Final Fantasy IX
NEO: The World Ends with You

Octopath Traveler didn't make the cut because honestly, after the rave reviews for #2, that's the game I want to play! And I struck Shadow Hearts and Kingdom Hearts because they have a low amount of support and, honestly, I want to play with as big a group as we can get!

Usually I can guess where the votes are going to go, but this time, I just don't know...

Near as I can determine it's a close three-way race between NEO, FF9, and Live a Live.

I did include FF9 because it is an option for me and it would give me something to play on my RP3+. But I thought it was a big letdown back in the day after 7/8 so I wonder how much I’ll be able to get into it this time round.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

I did include FF9 because it is an option for me and it would give me something to play on my RP3+. But I thought it was a big letdown back in the day after 7/8 so I wonder how much I’ll be able to get into it this time round.

I've heard a lot of nostalgia for FF9 on various podcasts, but I'm in the same boat as you are: I was not super impressed with it back when I played it (circa 2002). One of the reasons I'm curious to revisit it is to see whether my opinion of it has changed.

About 1 day left! It is a very tight race.

bobbywatson wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

I did include FF9 because it is an option for me and it would give me something to play on my RP3+. But I thought it was a big letdown back in the day after 7/8 so I wonder how much I’ll be able to get into it this time round.

I've heard a lot of nostalgia for FF9 on various podcasts, but I'm in the same boat as you are: I was not super impressed with it back when I played it (circa 2002). One of the reasons I'm curious to revisit it is to see whether my opinion of it has changed.

Interesting. I quite enjoyed FF9 when I originally played it. The art style was certainly a strong tonal shift away from what FF7/8 had at the time - more cartooney/stylistic - but I quite enjoyed it. Plus Vivi is one of the most interesting characters in all of FFdom, imho.

I'm in the same boat as Bobby and Mr Chris, curious to revisit a game I have only the haziest memories of from 20+ years ago. I do remember it feeling like a step backwards from FF7/8 but I think that was something to do with the combat rather than the change in art direction.

I didn't rate FFX all that highly at the time either, but came around on that when I replayed it last year.

I have played FF9 a few times since I originally got it on launch day. Heck, still have my PSOne original in pretty decent shape. I enjoyed it back then and have only enjoyed it more as the nostalgia frosting on it grows thicker with age.

bobbywatson wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

I did include FF9 because it is an option for me and it would give me something to play on my RP3+. But I thought it was a big letdown back in the day after 7/8 so I wonder how much I’ll be able to get into it this time round.

I've heard a lot of nostalgia for FF9 on various podcasts, but I'm in the same boat as you are: I was not super impressed with it back when I played it (circa 2002). One of the reasons I'm curious to revisit it is to see whether my opinion of it has changed.

In my online circles at the time along with gaming media that I followed, everyone was really down on FF8, and FF9 was meant to be some amazing return to the absolute greatness of the SNES FF games. Which, now having played most of the way through FF4/6 and about 20 hours of 5, I don't really get. Anyway, I'm sure my expectations negatively impacted my experience.

I can imagine that nostalgia for FF4-6 probably played a big role in that. I had fun replaying FF6 recently, but I have to say that the experience of playing that game now is not the same as the fond memory of the SNES games that lives in my head.

I listened to the No One Can Know About This season on FF8, and it sounds like the game is mechanically solid and the combat was a lot of fun, but the story is kind of all over the place. Their season gave me the impression that, given the tight development time, FF8 was a really good first draft of an FF story, but was in bad need of an editor to really cut the chaff, tighten up the thematic elements, and pull things together. I've only played the first 30 minutes or so, so I have no nostalgia for it, and could imagine having a hard time connecting with it today.

I've heard great things about FF9, too. Tonally, it seems like FF8 and FF9 represent very different visions for what the FF series "should" be and what's great about it. If it wins, it'll be interesting to play the game with this much separation from the expectations of the lae '90s and early '00s.

"Solid" might be a bit much to say about 8's mechanics. They're very complex, and allowed for far more customization than was usual at the time for Final Fantasy, even compared to 7's Materia system. Certainly there's fun to be had in min-maxing complex systems.

But they're also very unintuitive and unbalanced, and making the most of them tends to come back to a lot of tedious grinding to steal spells (which are items now, dontcha know) from enemies. Trying to figure out the game's convoluted systems without the benefit of a strategy guide is a pretty frustrating experience. I get why some people like the game mechanically, but it's not, like, great.

I recall finding Final Fantasy 9 far more straightforward mechanically. Not simplistic, but more intuitive and less convoluted. As I recall the story is... okay, but takes a sharp turn into anime bullsh*t in the third act, as JRPGs are wont to do.

I don't remember the setting being particularly memorable, nor many of the characters other than Vivi and Steiner. And I remember Zidane being particularly insufferable in that "pervy shonen kid protag" kinda way.

I also played FF9 back when it first came out and only have very hazy memories of it at this point. And the reason I nominated it is because it has gotten a lot of good praise in the circles I frequent, so am very interested to play it now and see what people are talking about. And doing it in a group setting like the club was very appealing.

As for comparisons to FF8, I absolutely hated Squall and Leon, and the rest of the cast was kind of meh for me, so even though FF9's party does not stand out in my mind, none of them were unpleasant.

I do feel like FF9 has seen a general reappraisal in recent years, almost entirely for the positive. People really dig the medieval fantasy setting, they connect with Garnet, Steiner, and Vivi, and it the beginning has a great sense of adventure with a strong Saturday morning cartoon vibe overall. I think most people agree the ending is pretty bonkers and isn't what tends to be remembered, and the minigames are questionable at best. But it's a quality entry in the series overall, and I think it'll be interesting to see what folks think playing it today free of any expectations or nostalgia.

With due recognition for the fact that aggregator websites are open to manipulation and don't necessarily prove anything about anything anyway, it's interesting to note that FF9 is the highest-rated numbered non-MMO game in the series on Metacritic by both critical and user score. It's almost nobody's favorite, but it's also not nearly as polarizing as a lot of entries like 7, 8, and 10.

Its biggest problem back in the day is that it pressed pretty hard against the technical limitations of the PS1, which resulted in bad load times and muddy textures. Modern rereleases with uprezzed graphics have done a lot to ameliorate that.

The prerendered cutscenes and soundtrack of FF8 really nailed it for me, particularly compared to the janky ones in FF7 where I guess they were still finding their footing. The setting and plot were intriguing, if a little hard to follow at times. Characters were a bit hit and miss. The draw system I really liked, particularly once I realized how overpowered it was and that you no longer needed to waste your time using summons. Which looked cool but were way to long and unskippable. Spent way too long playing the card game as well. Really, it was the perfect next step from FF7 for me at the time. Pretty much everything in FF9 felt like a step backwards, which I guess was the intent in some ways but still. I missed that melding of sci-fi and fantasy staples and that sense of epicness, which I guess, having started with FF7, were what FF was for me.

FF10 was a bit of a return to form but I think I had other issues with it so I never finished it.

What is this crazy thread. FF9 is best FF!

Well it is appropriate that we are all talking about Final Fantasy IX, because Final Fantasy IX is our winner!

Voting results:

Spoiler:

Results posted in First Place Votes / Second Place Votes / Total

Round 1:
Breath of Fire 3 - 1/1/8
Final Fantasy IX - 2/4/11
Final Fantasy X-2 - 2/3/8
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: 1/0/3
Live A Live - 1/3/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 3/1/9
Octopath Traveler - 2/3/8
Shadow Hearts: Covenant: 1/0/4
Valkyrie Profile - 3/0/7

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 9
Winner: None
Eliminated: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep & Shadow Hearts: Covenant

I eliminated both to save myself a step. Neither had any hope of capturing a majority, and neither benefitted from the elimination of the other. On to Round 2!

Round 2:
Breath of Fire 3 - 1/2/8
Final Fantasy IX - 2/4/11
Final Fantasy X-2 - 2/3/8
Live A Live - 2/2/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 4/0/9
Octopath Traveler - 2/4/8
Valkyrie Profile - 3/0/7

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 9
Winner: None
Eliminated: Breath of Fire 3

Plenty of interest for this old gem, broadly speaking, but too few people were passionate about playing it, so it couldn't stand up to the others on this list.

Round 3:
Final Fantasy IX - 2/5/11
Final Fantasy X-2 - 2/4/8
Live A Live - 3/1/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 4/0/9
Octopath Traveler - 2/5/8
Valkyrie Profile - 3/0/7

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 9
Winner: None
Eliminated: Final Fantasy X-2

Now we start to get serious. All of these games came in with a pretty broad base of support, but FFX-2 could not build any sort of consensus: it was the last place vote, or second-to-last, for a few too many people.

Round 4:
Final Fantasy IX - 3/5/11
Live A Live - 3/3/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 4/1/9
Octopath Traveler - 3/4/8
Valkyrie Profile - 3/1/7

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 9
Winner: None
Eliminated: Valkyrie Profile

Looks like everyone benefits from Final Fantasy X-2's elimination -- other than Vakyrie Profile, which holds steady, and which just doesn't have the breadth of support to continue.

Round 5:
Final Fantasy IX - 4/5/11
Live A Live - 5/1/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 4/1/9
Octopath Traveler - 3/5/8

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 9
Winner: None
Eliminated: Octopath Traveler

Live A Live makes a big surge, but you can see that it's about topped-out in its support. Octopath Traveler, however, has stagnated, and it's time for it to bow out yet again.

Round 6:
Final Fantasy IX - 5/6/11
Live A Live - 6/1/8
NEO: The World Ends With You - 5/2/9

Total Votes: 16
Needed for Majority: 8
Winner: None
Eliminated: NEO: The World Ends With You

You can see clearly, here that FF IX wil win this thing. But in case you need to see the final round ...

Round 7:
Final Fantasy IX - 7/4/11
Live A Live - 6/2/8

Total Votes: 13 - beanman101283, Aristophan, and bubblefuzz's ballots have dropped out
Needed for Majority: 7
Winner: Final Fantasy IX!

I'll start up a thread tomorrow! Likely won't actually start playing it until April, though. Maybe not even right away, as I've still yet to finish Tales.

I gotta figure out where to play it. Pretty sure I have the PS2 Classic version on PS3. Not sure if I have a more recent copy on PC though.

EDIT: Steam version is on sale for $10.50. Also the same price at Humble, if you have discount there, or GMG where there's an extra 15% off code. IsThereAnyDeal

EDIT2: $10.50 on Switch eShop too.

Holy cow! That snuck up on me somehow. I might have to turn in my FF fan badge if I can't finish this one though (having failed at FF6).

Huh I did not see that coming! Will be an interesting one to revisit however it turns out.

BTW some of the "eliminated" entries are out of sync in the voting commentary.

Well, I didn't vote for FF9, but how can I resist Vivi? I'm in.

Stele wrote:

I gotta figure out where to play it. Pretty sure I have the PS2 Classic version on PS3. Not sure if I have a more recent copy on PC though.

EDIT: Steam version is on sale for $10.50. Also the same price at Humble, if you have discount there, or GMG where there's an extra 15% off code. IsThereAnyDeal

EDIT2: $10.50 on Switch eShop too.

The game is also included in Playstation Plus Extra, if you have that.

I installed it yesterday, it's ready to go, and I will probably start this weekend.

ComfortZone wrote:

Huh I did not see that coming! Will be an interesting one to revisit however it turns out.

BTW some of the "eliminated" entries are out of sync in the voting commentary.

Fixed! And, thanks for catching. As I was writing up that summary, I noticed a math error that did not affect the eventual winner, but did affect the order in which other games were eliminated. So I went back, double-checked my math, and double-checked the summary, but apparently didn't do the best job at proofreading.

For some reason, I was super hyped about playing Breath of Fire 3... I might have to put that one on my 'to play' list...

bobbywatson wrote:

For some reason, I was super hyped about playing Breath of Fire 3... I might have to put that one on my 'to play' list...

I was seduced by the lure of Kenshi in the CRPG club this quarter, but spoiler alert, you'll have my vote for Breath of Fire 3 next quarter, as that's one I've somehow never quite gotten around to despite being interested!

Oh wow, FFIX! This might be the incentive I need to pick up my ancient save game and finally push through. Pretty sure I stopped somewhere on disc 3.

GMG franchise sale. FF IX is $8.40, a couple dollars cheaper than the Steam sale. If anyone hasn't picked it up yet for the club.