Fabulous Final Fantasy Franchise Discussion Catch-all

That's the original Eidos version from the late 90's or early-aughts, though. It's not a port/remaster like the VII and IX ports and remasters are, which is also why you're not seeing FFVIII on consoles.

It's got native resolution support, they added several boosts to the game, similar to VII and XI, Steam achievements, a PC version of the Chocobo world game. Playing all three in sequence, it felt exactly like the other two.

ccesarano wrote:

I honestly wonder what, in the long run, the impression of Final Fantasy XV will be.

I doubt that in a few years most people remember it even existed. I've never seen a mainline Final Fantasy game make so little impact and disappear so quickly as XV. For all the hype, the fuss, and the drama, it was neither good enough nor bad enough to really linger for a lot of players. If it's remembered, I suspect it'll be as the weird one with Cup Noodles and American Express and an Audi.

I also suspect it'll be the last mainline Final Fantasy game we see for awhile. The last four mainline Final Fantasy games have run into significant production issues: XII ran badly over schedule and over budget; XIII was rebooted and built in a sprint; XIV was rebooted after it launched; XV ran badly over schedule and was rebooted and built in a sprint. (I have absolutely no faith that FF7-R will actually come out.)

If I were a higher-up at Square-Enix, I'd just put that whole thing on ice for awhile. Don't make XVI until there's a solid plan to actually produce in a reasonable timeframe the kind of game that fans want to see. Because however you feel about XIII and XV, they don't really live up to the idea of "Final Fantasy" as a brand.

Final Fantasy as a whole needs to take a good, long look at itself Breath of the Wild or Assassin's Creed: Origins-style and look critically at what it is and could be. (And since FFXIV does feel like a Final Fantasy game despite being an MMO, I'd say start by looking there.)

beanman101283 wrote:

It's got native resolution support, they added several boosts to the game, similar to VII and XI, Steam achievements, a PC version of the Chocobo world game. Playing all three in sequence, it felt exactly like the other two.

Huh, I could have sworn last I read it wasn't the same as the others. That's the whole reasoning for it to not be on consoles like VII and IX.

I'll have to look into it.

beanman101283 wrote:

It's got native resolution support, they added several boosts to the game, similar to VII and XI, Steam achievements, a PC version of the Chocobo world game. Playing all three in sequence, it felt exactly like the other two.

Definitely looks a lot like the same treatment the more recently remastered VII and IX got. Some of the perks and quality of life improvements, and the content that had been cut due to the Pocket Station not really coming to the West. Wonder why they really haven't tried giving it a new coat of paint and ported it to consoles.

I can imagine all sorts of technical issues that may be holding things up for other platforms. Maybe even the lack of Chocobo World game on consoles is enough of a dealbreaker to them. But on Stream, at least, it was a good port, and if you were fine playing VII and/or IX on Steam, there's no technical reason to ignore VIII.

brokenclavicle wrote:

Wonder why they really haven't tried giving it a new coat of paint and ported it to consoles.

There are a lot of tricks you can pull with software on PCs without having source-level access to it. Effectively, they've modded the game and sold it with those mods in place.

But porting without source-level access leaves you two options: reverse engineering, or running an emulator. Both are costly and time-consuming. Square-Enix had to reverse engineer the Kingdom Hearts "port" for PS3, and it was apparently a very difficult process. There might just be a feeling that the least-liked Final Fantasy wouldn't pay the necessary dividends.

ccesarano wrote:

I honestly wonder what, in the long run, the impression of Final Fantasy XV will be.

I imagine that depends on what happens next in both the franchise and gaming in general.

Having a single-player game that kept changing through its lifespan with limited-time events, was increasingly action-oriented, had a fairly open world you could literally traverse, had an independent day/night cycle... it might be seen as a nail in the coffin of our ideas of "single player" games, further blending them with MMO concepts.

It might be seen as an embrace of cross-platform/media IP. FF15 itself might have done mediocre, but, were they able to use it to push more profitable mobile games? (I don't think so, but maybe they keep running with the idea and do better next time?)

Perhaps all the young people for whom this was their first FF might later revere it as a watershed. (Both FF7 and FF10, I think, are remembered even more fondly because they introduced the series to a new generation.)

Or it might be looked back upon like Spirits Within, an ugly overreach that set the series back.

I'll admit I'm not the best person to prognosticate; I'm bad at it anyway, and I've made no secret that I love the game way more than almost anyone else here. But I'd suggest that us living through the mess and development hell gives us a different perspective than history will give it.

I suspect some of you are aware of this already, but I enjoyed this explainer of how Squall's many "...whatevers" where transalated from Japanese.

Squall’s “Whatever” Line in Japanese Final Fantasy VIII

There's an interesting (and mostly positive!) retrospective on FF VIII on USGamer today.

I liked FF VIII when I played it in 1998/1999, and I am currently considering replaying it. I think I'm the only person in the world who liked Squall, for some weird reason.

beanman101283 wrote:

I suspect some of you are aware of this already, but I enjoyed this explainer of how Squall's many "...whatevers" where transalated from Japanese.

Squall’s “Whatever” Line in Japanese Final Fantasy VIII

That's one of those translation choices that seems curious 20 years later but made perfect sense at the time. What would an angsty, emotionally unavailable teenager in America in 1999 say to just about everything? "Whatever."

Certainly illustrates the versatility of the word.

Dammit, gang, now I want to play FFV again. I never came close to finishing it, but I loved the mellow atmosphere at the start, and the cameraderie between the boys. I still have to finish DA:I with the DLC this time, however, before Bioware releases DA4.

bobbywatson wrote:

There's an interesting (and mostly positive!) retrospective on FF VIII on USGamer today.

I liked FF VIII when I played it in 1998/1999, and I am currently considering replaying it. I think I'm the only person in the world who liked Squall, for some weird reason.

I've been feeling that way, lately!

I haven’t played VII, VIII or IX since playing them on the Playstation. However, my memory of VII seems a lot more vivid and I think that’s due to it being talked about and referenced a lot more. Whereas I remember little about VIII or IX (I did read the USGamer article linked above so that did bring a little bit back about VIII) and that makes me more interested in replaying them.

Thought this was an interesting read: https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp...

I played through FFVIII back when I was a teenager as well. I remember liking it a lot but never felt that nostalgia factor I did for IX. That article reminded me of some of the things I really enjoyed in VIII. Too bad we won't be seeing an improved version like we are with it's siblings and their rereleases

Citizen86 wrote:

Thought this was an interesting read: https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp...

I played through FFVIII back when I was a teenager as well. I remember liking it a lot but never felt that nostalgia factor I did for IX. That article reminded me of some of the things I really enjoyed in VIII. Too bad we won't be seeing an improved version like we are with it's siblings and their rereleases

I'm not ashamed to admit that FFVIII is on the top of my list, too. It was the Final Fantasy that I looked forward to the most. I gobbled up every article about it in any magazine I could find at the time; I bought the official walkthrough book to squeeze every last second out of it that I could get. I beat every boss and found stuff that wasn't even in the walkthrough... I bought some of the figures – something that I haven't done since for anything. Also I loved the story... plus, I could identify with Squall a bit at the time. So, it is really sad that there doesn't seem to be a way to play it in an updated form.

Talking about Final Fantasy remasters, I started playing the FF IX remaster on the Switch today and although I like playing it in handheld mode, I have mixed feelings about this. It is nice to have clear character models in the game (although even that is weirdly inconsistent, as in transition scenes from CG to regular graphics characters are surprisingly blurry), they clash with the backgrounds that remain unchanged. Having said that, I am still excited to dig into this game again... It must have been 17 years since I played this the last time, so it's almost like a new game at this point. I played through VII and VIII at least twice each, but I only played IX once, so that makes this even more interesting. It is not in my top 5 FF, but who knows... maybe I have to reassess my opinion about it.

It looks like the Switch and Xbox versions of FF12 will be getting a couple nice new features:
- License Reset Function: By talking to Clan Centurio’s leader Montblanc in Rabanastre, players can reset and change their party member’s jobs, allowing them to customise the jobs of their party as desired.

- Additional Gambit Sets: Gambits allow players to customize their party’s AI. Players can now create three unique sets, allowing players to switch between sets for different situations, such as map exploration or boss fights.

Those are some welcome additions! No idea if that'll be patched into the PS4 version.

Dangit.. I only have it on PS4.

They'll be coming to PS4: https://www.resetera.com/threads/new...

garion333 wrote:

They'll be coming to PS4: https://www.resetera.com/threads/new...

Not sure I follow. The build ID on the dev branch and the public branch are the same.

It means they've done stuff to the already-released versions that has yet been pushed public. Meaning, a patch is coming. Presumably with these new updates.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

I feel the biggest issue with VIII is that I really wanted to name the band "Quistis Trepe and the Bad SeeDs," but the game wouldn't let me. Other than that, it's great.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

I feel the biggest issue with VIII is that I really wanted to name the band "Quistis Trepe and the Bad SeeDs," but the game wouldn't let me. Other than that, it's great.

This needs to be an actual video game music cover band. That's phenomenal.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

- License Reset Function: By talking to Clan Centurio’s leader Montblanc in Rabanastre, players can reset and change their party member’s jobs, allowing them to customise the jobs of their party as desired.

- Additional Gambit Sets: Gambits allow players to customize their party’s AI. Players can now create three unique sets, allowing players to switch between sets for different situations, such as map exploration or boss fights.

Oh, fantastic. I don't see me going back and starting a new game for it, but these cover two of the three major shortcomings in a game I otherwise really enjoyed. The job change lets you roll back an important choice you aren't making with full understanding on a first playthrough, and having gambit "sets" is a real quality of life improvement.

(My third gripe is the need for a FAQ/walkthrough/guide for some things, which is arguably fine for overpowered superweapons, but you can't get at least one trophy without fighting beasts that only appear under very particular circumstances. For a less obsessive player, though, these two cover it.)

Will those changes come to PC, too?

So as I said in the Switch Games thread, I started my playthrough of FF9 last night and have some thoughts.

Final Fantasy IX has the most fascinating opening to me. FFIV, V, VI and VII all start up with something violent or action-based, and helps establish the epic or serious tone. FFIV you invade an innocent village before being demoted for questioning the king's violent actions. FFV you're just having a nice day with your Chocobo before a meteor comes and smashes into the ground (oh, and a King flies on his dragon towards danger and a pirate notices the wind stops). FFVI you are the evil empire crushing those who'd resist with ease. FFVII is just straight up action with confident SOLDIER-boy being cocky and Barrett cussing a lot. Probably the best in terms of dropping you right into the action.

I suppose it would be wrong of me to neglect FFVIII, which opens up with an epic trailer for the game you're about to play before waking up as a major complainer in the school nurse's office. FFVIII was takin' us back to school before it was cool. I would call it a weak opening but I'm biased by default.

Final Fantasy IX, like VIII, is a comparatively slower, less action-packed opening. We're thrown into a single action scene early on, but it's effectively one instance of tutorial combat before jumping into the set-up: playing a bunch of brigands off to kidnap the princess.

What sets FF9 apart is that everything about it has a storybook feel to it. The basic plot of princess-napping. The various anthropomorphized animal people. The exaggerated features on everything, be it the houses to the hands and feet of the characters. It's neither fantasy nor fairytale, but storybook, if that makes sense. Our first subversion is the discovery that the princess herself wants to be kidnapped, but the tone continues to be more light-hearted. None of the combat is lethal yet. It's played for amusement, and neither Queen Brahne nor Zorn and Thorn are portrayed in a fashion that would suggest how lethal they truly are. Their personalities are exaggerated, and as such it makes them memorable.

Queen Brahne also has a jelly belly and I find that delightful.

Regardless, it is this tone that I think endears a lot of people to FF9, but if that's the case I'm only all the more baffled given I know how much that tone will shift in odd ways. Nevertheless, right now is probably my favorite part of the game, notably because Zidane is honestly the least of the characters. It feels like he's just a punk along for the ride while Garnet drives things. Oddly enough, this not only makes Steiner feel more proactive a character, but even Vivi, despite being present by mistake, already feels better developed. Then again, that could merely be because I already know what his character arc is, and therefore a simple question of "Am... am I going to die?" seems throwaway here, but is basically bringing in a major part of his journey right to the fore.

Or so I think for now. I want to go back and reread all my thoughts from when I last replayed it.... cripes, was it five years ago now? Was it really that long? Goodness gracious.

I look forward to playing more.

The thing I remember most about FF IX is how the tone would switch from fairy tale whimsy to apocalyptic genocide and back, several times throughout the game. Great characters, though.

FFIX has the best relationship in the FF series, IMHO. Big brother Zidane and little brother Vivi. I love the dynamic of Zidane taking it upon himself to look after him and make sure he's taken care of.