Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@nessisonett It's so good. Heavensward is my least favourite part but even that is good. I think Stormblood is considered the worst bit but I thought it was great, and once you get to Shadowbringers it's all golden.

I'm keeping it on the backburner now as a game I just do a bit in every now and again. Might try out some other classes etc.

@Jimmer-jammer I don't fault anything you said as obviously your interpretation doesn't have to be like mine, but I never took the final mission as being anything but trying to defeat Ultima and then trying to make the best of the world they would have left and then someday generations down the line it would finally be what was hoped. Obviously they didn't know what was going to happen after defeating Ultima for sure, so things could have ended up better than they thought, but not once did I ever think Clive was going there even remotely thinking to sacrifice himself. Which in turns means that's not what the player would expect either. If I recall correctly, Clive even promised Jill that he would come back. Any reference to him not coming back would have been mostly jokingly, like with Gav.

Obviously it's always possible Clive would have lost, but that was the only scenario I imagined him not coming back to Jill and the rest of the Hideaway that he spent dozens of game hours building deep relationships with. Sure, it would make his death a lot more meaningful, but his death is a major problem for me and plenty of other people online. Again, I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong, but I can say without a doubt that his sacrifice and death came completely out of left field and could have been handled much differently. If there was any real hint that he was going up there to do that, then ok. Once again, that was not his mission, and I blame it on unfortunate shoddy late game storytelling in an otherwise very well written game. Don't write one thing leading up to the sacrifice and then have him go way further and sacrifice himself.

@Jimmer-jammer They were concerned obviously since Ultima could have won, but there's a difference between that and Clive ever acknowledging that he would ever possibly sacrifice himself. Unless I'm missing something, that was never the plan. He would talk like he was going to come back as long as he won.

@Jimmer-jammer But that is my continued problem with the ending. I may be wrong that him surviving would have been a better ending, but there was going to be problems with the world and life even after defeating Ultima and he acknowledged that. He never said they needed a fresh start.

@Jimmer-jammer Pretty much it seems, and I think we'll just leave it at that. Otherwise we'd just be spinning our wheels.

I did love the game up until the ending, but unfortunately at the same time I did hate the ending enough to have it do real damage to my opinion of the game as a whole. A real shame, as it would have given Spider-Man 2 a real run for it's money, but it is what it is I guess.

A little update on my FFVIII journey…

Stayed up into the late hours trying to beat the ‘first’ boss at the Comms tower & couldn’t beat it. Unfortunately I had my GFs learning refinery skills rather than stat boost skills (as that would come in handy later).

Spent like 20mins drawing from a single grunt at 3x speed to fill out all my magic & attempted again…done first try with some summon spamming😅. Also I draw almost instinctively now first turn & managed to draw Siren, which is going to make things so much easier moving forward.
Which brings me to the ‘chase’…did not realise the mech spider could be killed. Downed it a couple of times, but figured I’d just see what would happen. Had the 3x speed on & 100 thunders on each character. I was doing enough damage, but after the 2nd down the dialogue started to change (even though the game encourages you to run)- so figured I’d stick with it. Pretty cool.
I’m still not feeling the junction system though. It almost seems like the game is actively discouraging me from battling. I’m assuming that once I start prioritizing stat’s on the GFs it’ll be a bit easier/forgiving in boss fights otherwise, I can see myself getting into some difficult situations.

Hi all!
I am back in my hometown for a couple of days and I have finally have access to my PS5. Of course I snagged a copy of FF16. FF is my favourite game series of all time, and I really want to beat the new entry.

Unfortunately, I only have 4 more days of holiday before I leave again, and I may not have access to a PS5 till the end of the year.

So, I am in the point where you have to search for a friend after a point of no return where I met some friends in an abandoned church.

So, can I beat the game in 4 days if I play 6 to 8 hours per day? Even if I have to rush it? No spoilers, please! If I rush it indeed there are missable trophies?

I was thinking to take the PS5 with me, but this massive thing is not convenient for airplanes. I usually take my PS4 or my Steam Deck.

@belmont difficult to say mate, as I’m not entirely sure of the point in the game that you are at. At a guess, I’d say that you ‘could’ finish it if you put 10 hours a day in for 4 days and rush through the cutscenes etc but I honestly think that would be a shame due to how epic the narrative is.

I’d seriously consider enjoying your playthrough until you get to a point where a break feels right… there’s a mission called Cid the Outlaw that would fit that bill nicely… and then comeback to finish the back half of the game when you’re able.

@colonelkilgore I tried to be super vague but after last days play through I am at a mission where I think I will fight Titan. Cid the outlaw was the mission I was trying to describe yesterday. Now that I have three days left I am pretty sure I don't have tome to complete the game. I wantrd to watch the cutscenes but avoid side quests etc...

@belmont in that case… you might just make it 😉

@belmont I'd say it's doable if you limit your sidequests to the ones with a + icon (those are worth doing as they give you meaningful upgrades). It took me 30-ish hours for my second playthrough doing that.

Thanks for the info, everyone...
Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the game... I am quite sure I am close to the end though, I have met face to face an Eikon with a sword that, if I did not lose something in the lore, is the last one.

I really don't want to wait until Christmas to complete the game... Try to fly with both PS5, the Steam Deck and the work laptop? I am afraid I will break all of them... Get a second PS5 for my work home and sell it afterwards? I can't afford it and with my luck they will release a slim model one week later... Fly with the PS5 and sell it in the city I work and buy the slim model when FF7 Rebirth is released?

First world problems!

@belmont How about keep your PS5 in rest mode and use remote play? Could work well enough for a game like this.

Quite excited about the announced DLC, although I suspect that's not coming until after FF7-2.

@Voltan I tried remote play with my Steam Deck. Most times it works but sometimes it doesn't and I have to reset the PS5 for it to work. It is an option although I am thinking of packing the PS5 and taking it with me.

When was the DLC announced I missed it! If there is DLC it will most surely arrive after Rebirth.

@belmont They announced "2 pieces of paid DLC" and confirmed a PC version during a live stream last night. No dates yet for either but "hoping to reveal more before the the end of the year" or something to that effect.

Beat Final Fantasy VIII last night.
I think it just about makes my top 5 FF games. Ahead of FFX, but below FFVI. My minor critique would be the whole Leon (that’s my Squall) & Rinoa relationship. It seems a bit forced. First she’s into Seifer or she believes that she is- which doesn’t really get resolved. Leon’s ‘wall’ eventually breaks & he would give up anything for her. Him not using force to stop her from breaking out Adell goes completely against his character. Death of many over the death of one .
All in all, I really enjoyed it. The mini games were a nice change of pace & Triple Triad rules. I managed to obtain every GF naturally apart from Doomtrain & Tonberry which I looked up once I got to Disc 3.

Speaking of Disc 3…by the time I got there I realized that I was at almost 50% trophy completion. So I decided to look up a guide & go for the platinum. Got every non-story related trophy, but realized I didn’t pick up the Timber Mag on the White Seed Ship before it leaves.
Naturally started a new save on 3x speed & replayed up to Disc 3 just to get that trophy😂. Took me just under 7 hours (non-skippable cutscenes, really?).
I did enjoy that run as I wanted to see how ‘low’ I could keep my party level & break the game with the junction system. Party level ranged from 11-13 iirc.
Really have come around to the junction system. Omega Weapon only took me a few goes with maxed out Junctions, holy wars & kamikaze 😈.

So now I’m at 97% completion & I’ll get the platinum over the next few days or so. Missing the 1000 battles trophy & according the in-game counter I’m about 300 off.

Onto FFIX next. Might start it this weekend.

@Fight_Teza_Fight well done, looks like you got through it pretty quickly. How long did it take? What level did you end up? I’ve never actually bothered to get to the end, I have got to the last boss once then I never make it much further than the start of disc 2 whenever I try again.

So, I ended up taking my PS5 in my work apartment. As you can probably guess in the airport it seemed strange to the one that checked my back pack to see a laptop, a PS5, the Steam Deck and the RG351V!

And I finally finished the game with all sidequests and all trophies, expect the one you have to replay the game of course. I loved the game but the final part was semi underwhelming.

@kyleforrester87 My main play through took 44 hours of in-game time, but accounting for deaths- especially early on the real time is probably closer to 50.
Level wise Leon/Squall was way higher than the rest. 52 iirc. The others ranged from 23-29. Enemy scaling is based on average active party level (+/- % for high/low tier encounters) so when I scanned Omega Weapon at the end for example it was ‘only’ lvl 39. Kamikaze with Leon @ max health did fixed 60k damage- so enough to one shot most things (probably the most broken move in FF history).
The party level only got that high cause I got Odin early on. So every now & then he’d show up & one shot everything before I could run or set Diabolos no encounter on.

The second play through I got to the White Seed Ship in Disc 3 in under 7 hours with the 3x speed option & following the critical path only. Avoided getting Odin to keep the lvl low & the game easy.

Story of my (final fantasy) life. Only 7 Remake and the dlc I've managed to finish.