The theme to Cosmo Canyon is probably my favorite video game track ever, which is saying something. I played through FF7 and 8 a few year ago on my roommates PS3. 8 wasn’t my favorite at the time but in replaying it, I certainly appreciated it more. I still think the junction system was too easy to exploit, but whatever. Frankly it was a long game back then and now it feels a bit longer.
The one I didn’t really like is 9, and I was hoping to play that one through too but the roommate moved on.
I didn’t really consider it one of my favorites, even before my second playthrough, but otherwise I came to the same conclusion. The second half of Disk 1 was basically a SuperNES era JRPG where you have a vague goal and a bunch of areas that have little or nothing to do with that goal, save being between you and it. It also borrowed a lot of its structure/plot flow from FFs V and VI where the first half of the game is mostly globe-trotting while dealing with the Empire or whatever while bumping into/revisiting old issues that your party members have been carrying around, then you hit the half way mark and shit hits the fan due to the real villain finally putting his plan into motion, then the rest of the game is spent powering yourself up for the final battle while resolving your party’s remaining personal issues. Of course due to the limitations of technology, FFVII couldn’t pull the same formula off with the same impact as it’s immediate predecessors (essentially instead of watching the world merge with another/get blown up, you got a dead party member and a big red rock in the sky).
Also, the Materia combos present in the game were mostly backloaded in appearance and weren’t really all that useful. It’s also the one of the few FF games where your party’s stats matter the least (second to FFIV really), due to the lack of ways to influence them beyond crappy/rare stat boosters and Matiera. Cloud’s permanent residency within the party didn’t help either. Not helping matters either was the fact that the 9999 cap could easily be reached by both your HP and with your basic Attack command (even moreso than FFVI, and that was probably the easiest game in the series).
Also also, the first Wutari sidequest sucks since you’re forced to rely on rare/crappy items that you pretty much spent the game ignoring and which you will never need again after this.
I agree with you except for
While Disc 1 was certainly the low point (I especially didn’t love the snow sequence towards the end of it), you revisit virtually every location you’re introduced to on the first disc, so I think that has value. In that sense, they are hardly strung together in the manner you suggest. But it is the most boring “act”. Also I had never really considered how the stats don’t really matter. That’s an interesting observation, although outside of the simple idea of “level up, get better stats”, I’m not sure stats really matter in any of the Final Fantasy games. But I would suggest they do matter in FF7 to some degree. Equipping materia required a sacrifice in your stats and the more powerful the materia to more impactful it was. I found that when I got to boss fights, I would often remove materia that negatively affected my health or mp totals.
There’s a trick with stats in FF games that should still work in FF7: Your stats don’t actually go up every time the number increases. Your proficiency in any stat just gets more powerful every time you hit a multiple of 16. So, if you’re watching multiples of 16 as you equip Materia, you can game your stats to some extent. Unfortunately, if you equip a ton of Green/Red Materia, you’re still gonna wind up with like 10 max HP and die, so there’s no way of getting around that (except HP Plus Materia, I guess).
Not sure if this counts since I never played them originally. Mine was an N64 household back in the day so I missed a lot of PSX RPGs. Eventually on Sin’s advice I went back and played Legend of Mana, Vagrant Story and Xenogears, all of which have held up reasonably well despite some glaring flaws.
I ended up playing Symphony of the Night for the first time a couple of months ago, a long time after having played most of the other Castlevanias based on its template. Still a very good game even though it can feel choppier nowadays. I was thinking of FFVII a while ago due to the Steam sales (I still have the original PC version). I replayed it a second time a few years ago and even though its then-mouthdropping graphics look dismal and the writing could be better, it’s still fun and it’s still obvious it was an ambitious game. It was overrated of course (Zelda fo lyf), but it was always a very good game and it worked wonders for the popularity of JRPGs in the west. And the graphics were fantastic back in the day. It still has my second-favourite FF soundtrack.
I’ve heard very good things about FFXIV, but I dislike monthly subscriptions. Might still take the plunge at some point. Did anyone try it?
I haven’t played a Final Fantasy after 8, which permanently turned me off the franchise for being terrible 
I went back and finished Paladin’s Quest, 7 years after I first started playing it. I occasionally feel like playing it again, only to change my mind after about 5 seconds.
Next up, 7th Saga. :v
FF 7 was one of my favorite games when I first played it in 2000. The game has its flaws - the confusing storyline involving Jenova cells and Cloud being experimented on, and weak character development/plot towards the end. But I don’t think the script is that weak. Like FF 6, the limited dialogue managed to convey a lot, along with the character designs, environment designs, and music.
When I look back at FF7, I’m amazed at how dark and tragic a game it was, every step of the way. Even the ending is left ambiguous as to whether Cloud and co. saved humanity from Meteor. Square took a huge risk making it that depressing, yet the game still succeeded somehow. If they remade it, I’d be interested to see if they made it more upbeat or not.
I replayed FF8 countless times, but that doesn’t count as a bad game I guess. I tried my hands at 7th Saga for snes again, but gave up after 10 minutes because it was so excruciatingly bad. I’d love to replay Aidyn Chronicles for N64, it was a really, really, REALLY bad RPG which just made you aggressive while you played it. I guess that adds to the difficulty. I’d still like to go for a fresh start, but my cartridge doesn’t save anymore. It must’ve gotten fried when I ragequit that one time and ripped out the power cable. Which was anything but smart, because I lost my entire process up to that point. And the ability to ever save again. Bummer. Maybe I’ll buy a new cartridge and go for a second try… one day.
just replace the battery in the cart… although that game is so cheap these days that it might be cheaper just to buy a new one.
Give IX a shot. It’s more fun.
I didn’t like FF9 very much, but I know I’m in a vast minority on that one. I liked FF10 a lot, and that’s the last one I’ve enjoyed. FF13-2 is threatening to make me enjoy it, but I need to actually invest more time in it to say for sure.
Yeah I already thought about doing that but then again, even that seems too much effort for such a crappy game ::dekar!::
it can be. finding the right size battery (some watch batteries will work just fine), having the right tool to open the cart, then having soldering skills and or electrical tape to adhere the battery. all that alone probably costs more than getting a new cart.
But if you get a new cart, the battery will likely be close to dying again. By replacing the battery, you’ve ensured another 10/20/whatever years of life out of the game. It may be a greater up front cost, but it pays off due to having to buy fewer (if any) replacements.
More importantly though, you’ll be gaining both the tools and the experience to make future transitions down the road less costly and mistake-ridden.
And besides, its better to try to do this and fuck up with Aidyn’s Chronicles than to try to do this and fuck up with games like Earthbound or Chrono Trigger.
I had to do this with Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (all 3, since the friend I bought them from sold them to me with bad batteries). But, it in getting the tools I also manage to tinker around with some systems I bought cheap that didn’t quite work 100%. I bought a GBA SP for $15 but it had a bad L button that I was easily able to fix. Similar thing with a Crimson DSLite. Got it for $5 and worked perfectly except for the R button (though that was a bit trickier to disassemble. But I know what you mean. It can actually be beneficial to get something dirt cheap that doesn’t work right and then try to fix it.
I ended up doing something like that a year ago with a Dreamcast I got off a garage sale for like $10bux. The controller input resistor burned out and the previous owner tried their hand at it by looking up the first Youtube video on they could find which led to it ending up in a garage sale. A quick trip to Radio Shack and about half an hour with a soldering iron and I walked away with a CiB Dreamcast with four controllers and six games for $20bux all together.
I did that with my car :v $1k to buy, plus $100 for a battery and $500 for a clutch, and s’been great to me for two years now. I could even turn around and sell it for $3k if I wanted to.
I still want to go back and finish 7th Saga. The difficulty ramps up pretty fast though, and using Esuna and Kamil, I burned out not much after I took out the rebel apprentice in Patrof. Once the random encounters started one-shotting me, I was done. So yeah, that’s probably not gonna happen.
I start a new file of FF: Tactics every year. I’ve never done the de-level trick before, but that’s my goal for this run. As always, only using Reis and Meliadoul, because they’re usually outshined joining on too late in the game.
I’m debating doing a run of Knight, Monk, Lancer, Samurai, and White Mage, all with Talk skill and Counter. The goal? Convert EVERYONE. If they retaliate, give them the correction hand. Except for bosses and high-risk targets. Converting people to your side is almost easier than stealing their equipment anyways. Just take the whole unit and strip them down, boot them afterwards.