Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

All I can say is that Vincent is my favorite FF7 character not named Tifa. Kind of a complicated mess to get him to join, but well worth it.

@kyleforrester87 I think IX is the most complicated of the PS1 games because of the job system. On VII you just pick a character you like and if you want them to be able to cast fire you just give them the magic fire orb. In IX you have to pick a balanced team or it can be quite tough, and who can do what is probably a bit more advanced for a beginner.

IX is my favourite Final Fantasy but I'd always recommend starting with VII because I just think it's so easy to understand and forgiving - anything you do can be undone by just switching materia.

@johncalmc I thought VIII was much more confusing with the spell drawing, junction system and weird summons. I didn't like those systems.

@johncalmc huh? There are only 4 characters to make a team out of in FF9. Zidane, Dagger, Vivi and Steiner.

@kyleforrester87 yeah but what if you go insane and accidentally pick one of the other characters? Messes the whole thing up. It can happen. I've seen people pick Quina. I've seen it.

@johncalmc are we even talking about the same game?

@Thrillho I'm actually rather excited to play FF8 simply because of its junction system. I honestly have no idea what it entails, but I do know that when previous FF titles have introduced an intricate system, such as the job systems in FF3 and FF5, that I've loved them. Doesn't necessarily mean that I'll like the system in FF8 but it could definitely end up being another FF game that I absolutely love because of that.

@LtSarge Not that I want to discourage you but I hated the junction system

@Voltan Well I have heard that a lot of people didn't like it so it does sound like a hit or miss with most players. Either they love it or they absolutely despise it. I'm curious as to see which group I'll fall into.

Btw, how necessary is it to be good at the system in order to perform successfully in battles?

@LtSarge I don't think it's something you can be good or bad at. It's not very complicated but makes battles drag on (in a boring way) longer than they should if you want to power up.

Or at least that's how I remember it - it was a pretty long time ago

The junction system is okay, and it’s not like it’s hard to use it’s just a bit weird. Once you know what you’re doing you can make yourself super OP! And it’s way better in FF8 HD when you can use speed x3 to draw magic. I just hate the level scaling and the way you earn money in FF8. And how drab the menus look.

@LtSarge It’s quite a weird system but I quite liked it.

• Summons are called “guardian forces”
• Each GF has abilities you unlock via AP
• Some of these allow you to “junction” spells to a specific ability (e.g. HP, strength etc), others might give you actions (like throw) or boost a stat.
• The more of that spell you have, the stronger the effect and certain spells are more effective for certain skills (e.g. cure spells for HP)

But to get spells you have to draw them from enemies. So in battle you use that action and obtain anything from 1-9 of that spell. Each enemy has different spells on them. So if you come across an enemy with cura for the first time, you can spend 10 minutes in the battle continuously drawing the spell.

It’s quite weird but works.

The Triple Triad card game rocks though!

@Thrillho Sounds interesting but also incredibly slow-paced. I can imagine spending a lot more time with this game than one normally should, lol.

On a side note, after having played FF7 continuously for the past couple of days, my passion for this series has been reawakened. When I started out with this series back in 2016, I wanted to buy and play all of the games but as I progressed through the mainline titles, I started to lose interest. Even after having played FF5 and FF6 in recent years, I was still not as interested as when I first started out. However, now that I'm playing through FF7, my passion for this series is slowly returning to me. Like I can't wait to watch Advent Children after I'm done with FF7 and I just redownloaded Dissidia Duodecim as well as FF4 The After Years on Vita as I haven't played either of those.

Although I'm definitely going to take it easy this time around as I got burned out on the series last time since I was trying to get through as many games as I could. Will take things one step at a time and focus first on completing FF7 before moving on to something else.

@LtSarge If you want to remain a fan of the series, you might want to rethink playing The After Years! Although I bloody hate the FF7 Compilation as well so what do I know 😂

@nessisonett Well I don't know anything either, lol. What's so bad about The After Years?

@LtSarge The After Years just… isn’t very good. Like many sequels after so many years, it doesn’t really do the original characters much of a service. It’s the sort of game you should try way, way down the line when you’ve played better games in the series and would be more willing to cut it some slack.

@nessisonett I guess that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't want to play a game like that now after having just gained a newfound interest in the series again. I'll probably check it out once I'm done with most mainline titles.

@LtSarge I really think you’re about to hit a streak of consistent quality now. I’ve enjoyed all the mainline single player FF games from 7 except for a couple that I haven’t played (15 and 13-3: Lightning Returns). It will be a good idea to take some breaks between entries to avoid burn-out on the series, but they are all quite different.

Specifically, I don’t remember 8 or 9 being terribly difficult, at least not more so than any other entry. I liked the junction system just fine, as well as the job system. But I do think the materia system is my favorite, along with the gambit system in 12.

@Th3solution Yeah it does seem like most games from 7 and onward will be great. I'm honestly excited to play all of them, especially 10 and 13. I know that most people don't like the 13 trilogy but every time I've watched footage of 13, it's always looked so appealing to me.

Speaking of which, this talk actually reminded me of a discussion we had here years ago about 13. One of the members spoke highly of 13 and repelled the criticism that it's too linear with the argument that the Final Fantasy games have always been linear to begin with, which I do agree with. The open world aspect is honestly an illusion, you still have most of the time only one way to go so it's still linear even if you're exploring a world map now. I'm 14 hours into FF7 now and it too is linear, which I don't mind at all don't get me wrong! The only time I haven't experienced linearity in an FF title was in the second half of FF6 where you could tackle your objectives in pretty much any order you liked.

But yeah, even if 13 is notorious for being too linear, I still think I'm going to enjoy it since I don't mind linearity in JRPGs.

@LtSarge I concur with @Th3solution ... you're about to hit a great streak, assuming you continue to play chronologically.

VIII gets a bit of an unjustified slaying from the fanbase, but IMO is actually quite a solid entry (bear in mind it had an exceptionally hard act to follow...)

And IX is actually my favorite FF game to date, just incredible. X is also a solid entry.

Envious you're playing these for the first time!