Oh, I know the Thunderbolt challenge was probably worse. I just never even attempted it, so I don’t have any furious memories about it. I DID, however, seriously attempt the chocobo racing and got as close as possible to victory while still failing.
It was just a flood of emotions starting with a high as I thought I had finally beaten that damn minigame, disbelief as I saw one final bird hit me at the last possible moment, hope as I saw my time as 00:00 and thought for a moment it would be good enough, shock to see that it wasn’t, and undefinable rage following that which almost caused my to break my PS2 controller to pieces.
After that fit I resigned myself to never getting Tidus’ best weapon ever. I settled for Yuna’s, Auron’s, and Rikku’s as those were the only ones I was able to/bothered to obtain.
Incidentally, on that note, Auron kicked ass. Not just because he was a hard-hitting tank, his voice acting was probably my favorite in the game. A lot of the voice work in FFX was kind of obnoxious, but at least Auron was there.
Plus Wakka was voiced by Bender.
Re: Yunalesca fight, hell yeah, I remember that. Having to juggle status effects in that one was rough. But upon beating it you were rewarded with the airship and the ability to go around the world completing every little thing. This was soured a bit with the realization that you couldn’t fly around Spira manually (I kinda miss that these days with modern RPGs) though.
I feel your pain Spoony with the chocobo racing. Fucking nightmarish, and I almost threw my controller when I got 00:00, but wasn’t good enough. Butterfly chasing was up there too, since one little thing would screw it up (but it wasn’t random as hell like that racing).
I always overdid the lightning dodging. Hard to keep up with the dodging without messing up, so I wouldn’t keep track. Sidequests were stupid hard in that game.
And I remember the Yunalesca fight. One of the boss fights I nearly lost because of whole zombie/regen/cure stuff. Tricky fight that was. But interesting.
I loved the game; I loved the Blitzball (actually, I spent infinitely more time playing Blitzball than the core game – on my second run at it, the main game became a side quest, just a way to recruit better players for my Btz-ball team). The “cry baby” Tidus with his Oedipus complex got on my nerves.
I thought that Jecht in his pre-Sin era was one of the coolest FF characters. Jecht and Aaron on Braska’s quest flashbacks reminded me of FFVIII Laguna’s side story.
I’ve always disliked this about the more recent FFs. Be honest: Once you’re able to get the -ga spells for Yuna, is there any incentive at all to ever use Lulu again?
I much prefer systems like 4 and 9, in which everyone was unique, over ones like 7, 8, and to a lesser extent, 10, where the only difference is what limit breaks and pretty faces are attached to your spells and stats. 6, which is my personal favorite FF, is a nice medium between the two.
Chocobo racing: Managed it. Wasn’t a problem, really.
Lightning dodging: Got to 80, then quit. Sucked.
Butterfly catching: FUCK. NO.
Blitzball: It was when Tidus woke up (with his face in the water - can someone PLEASE tell me how some people can breathe underwater?) to a tropical island where half a dozen buff, shirtless guys in chaps are standing there, waving for him to come join them, that I knew everything about this minigame was gayer than anything. Hated the first game and how it was so hard it might as well be impossible.
Arena: Am I the only one who questions the sanity of a guy who wants to bread monsters stronger than Sin?
The main story, though, I liked. It was fun to play.
I managed all of the celestial weapon quests (the butterfly catching and lightning dodging almost broke me) except for Wakka’s. That much blitzball, while better than X-2’s by a mile, I cannot do.
That was probably their biggest mistake with Blitzball. The very first game you’re able to play is mandatory, and heavily stacked against you. They really dropped the ball there. (Roffle)
It’s possible to win that game, for sure. Hell, I did it on my second playthrough of FFX. If you get the Jecht Shot and practice and reload a bit, it’s do-able as long as you make sure to use the Shot in the first part when Tidus is on.
But it was still a dumb decision to introduce you to Blitzball in that manner. What newcomer to FFX would want to ever play it again after that?
You can get in about 10 quick hits in the span of a doublecast, and it’s pretty hard to get ultima above 50k damage. But if you were just playing through the story, it’d still be pretty broken.
The first blitzball game is easily winnable without the Jecht Shot. It helps though.
The first blitz ball game is beyond ridiculously difficult to beat without the Jecht Shot. You are full of shit Hades and thanks for wishing me a happy birthday you jerkfuck
I didn;t even get HOW to get the Jechy shot the first time around, either - It confused me. Also, I’ve tried winning it, and as far as I can tell, you get one shot with the Jecht Shot, and if it fails, you’re fucked. Maybe this isn;t the case, but if not, then I seriously don;t care. What do I win for beating those Goers, anyway?
I think I won that match after 4 tries, even with the Jecht Shot. You get a Power Sphere for it, which isn’t bad, but not worth all the non-skippable cutscenes! X-X
That’s pretty much the whole point. Until you’ve rebooted about three times and watched all those fucking scenes over and over, you DON’T know what the hell you’re doing.