Topic: General Final Fantasy Thread

@Meowpheel Oh, cool. I didn't realize you could speed up the battles. Can you do that even after starting the game? That will be really helpful.
@DarthNocturnal I would have had no idea about all of those glitches except from reading about them online. I haven't paid much attention to anything outside of equipping the best weapons/armor I can find and buying what seem like the most useful spells. If any of them don't work as advertised, I wouldn't know. I've made it this far, though, so I don't think it's been that big of a deal.

@Xyphon22 Yeah it's something you do in the title screen before anything else, there's a little box under the new game/continue menu that says "respond rate 1", move left and right (or press select, can't remember which) and the number changes.

The higher the number, the faster battles move.

There's really no way we can say that it'll follow some consistent formula in the future. They might change it up even more.
I also don't agree the mechanics vary wildly in the earlier games. They vary mildly, not wildly.
The first time I played FFX, I didn't even notice that it wasn't active time because I just select my moves as quick as possible anyway so it ends up being more or less equivalent. And certain parts of the battles in previous games also paused the time meter. Like in FF9 if you need time to think, just clicking onto the magic command would pause the time.

@Dezzy well after reading that, if true, the remake might actually not be half bad. It sounds like it will play similar to FF12 / Xenoblade.
Still, they ruined final fantasy for good.. when they decided they didn't want to make turn based anymore they should have started a newly named series.. why even call it final fantasy anymore? Well let's just throw some chocobos and moogles in it and call it good.
I do give FF12 a free pass though because the combat is actually awesome and the game is AAA material feeling like a true final fantasy through and through.

I think the remake will be very good, I'm not buying the pessimism at all. My reason being that the main thing Squarenix had sucked at in the last decade is story telling. They're still pretty good at everything else. Well with FF7, the story already exists. So in order for it to suck, they'd have to actively change it quite a lot, which I don't think they will. I think they know that might annoy fans. They'll definitely change minor parts though, and maybe add some stuff. Like those "leaks" suggest they'll include more details that link the story up with Crisis Core. That sounds likely. I bet there'll be more scenes with Zack in.

I said the exact same thing at the time. You really shouldn't change something that works and that people like. I would've preferred they keep the main numbered entries having the traditional turn based and then experimented with other battle systems in other games.
Especially given that I think FF10 pretty much perfected the turn based style (even though it wasn't active-time). So they abandoned it at about the same time they'd perfected it. Lol.
On the other side of that argument, I guess you would have to agree that it was an anachronism. The turn based style was only invented because it was one of the only ways of having a full party battle in 1986.

Any FF7 remake I hope is faster paced. I couldn't play FF7 cause it was just so slow. That's why I liked FFX cause it moved along a bit faster. I'm not the best authority on this though since I never got much into JRPG's due to the pace of turn-based battle systems.

I actually picked this up on the PSP (right before I purchased my Vita). I literally did the same thing you did, but I walked away and started playing Bravely Default. It has been over two years ago and I think I will go back and finish it after reading this thread. I just got too busy with my kids and work so it fell by the wayside.

The latest port for FF9 on PC and PS4 has an option to change the battle speed. They obviously know most people felt it was too slow originally.

They commented on the remake but said pretty much nothing. Seems very likely it'll be at E3 though:
https://www.dualshockers.com/final-fantasy-vii-remake-develop...

@Dezzy right. Like 10 was SO good.. and then 12 they tried something new which was cool for a one off because they did it right.. then after that it was like wtf are you doing square..

Alright I went back to III and finished the game. I even got my revenge on a dragon. It wasn't the correct color, but it'll do for now.

My ninja and dragoon ended up dead for a good chunk of the battle (I really should've equipped them with ribbons), but by devout and summoner combo managed to defeat the cloud of darkness on their own.

Now... I'd love to play the extra dungeon, but the four old men don't seem to be interested in contacting me at all.

@meowpheel

Have you received any of the letters yet?

Not a single one from them.

I finally got around to playing some of the original again. I played for awhile and leveled everyone in my party from 23 all the way up to...24. This is going to take forever. I fear this may be yet another game to add to the list of games I've made it all the way to the end and stopped before beating the final boss.

I had a similar thing happen to me with my first FFIV file on the GBA.

I ran away and avoided most battles, and reached the last dungeon grossly underleveled (I think like level 30 or something).

I figured I could stand around and grind for hours... Or start a new file and play better.

I started a new file.

4 really needs to be played on the DS. That's such a better version imo.
The voice acting and 3D cutscenes add so much.

I found it to be needlessly hard on the DS. It went from "quite easy" to "you better grind at least three hours in between dungeons".

The more recent ports of that remake seem to tone it down a bit. I still prefer the PSP version though, looks nicer and has more content, it's just missing the augment system... Though I guess since you get to keep all the characters it doesn't really matter.

Still, every party needs a Kain with Cry and Sing.

I'm a natural grinder who tries to optimise my characters at any given stage anyway so the DS version was great for me. I didn't know the PSP version was easier. Guess that might be better for a newby.

Lol to let you know how much of a grinder I am: I never go past the Midgar Zolom in FF7. I just grind until I can beat it.

The DS version is simply the hardest version they've made of IV, for whatever reason.

Every other version is about the same in terms of difficulty.

So, FF XII: Zodiac Age is coming to PC February 1st. 60 FPS supported (which is a pleasant surprise) and ultrawide support.

PC is just missing 1 & 2 at this point.