PaulTheRing

Really?! What made you say that? It's a relief from the menu-based, AP-gaining system...

- Emperor J.P.

Kostaki

Because FFIX brought back the ownage from FFV that is the AP ability system, which kept your people from getting insanely overpowered *cough*Lv. X Locks*cough* and it kept people in their precise roles.

My FFX game for instance, I never need to tag out. Why? Because Tidus, Auron, and Yuna own all. Tidus has all of Wakka's abilities, Auron has all of Tidus' and Wakka's abilities PLUS Quick Hit, and Yuna has all of her white magic, all of Lulu's BLACK magic, doublecast, AND AND AND all of Rikku's Al Bhed abilities. She even hits well over 70000 damage per hit, and imagine what the aeons can do if Yuna herself can do this. I've taken Nemesis (the big 10,000,000 HP arena boss) down EASILY with my team, and this was all done within like 36-40 hours.

The final boss in FFX is even disappointing. Underpowered he's easy, overpowered he's ridiculous.. three hits with my team is all it takes for a complete final boss sweep. I wouldn't even call the last two forms anything special, because one part their HPs never go over 99999 meaning your overpowered party uses one hit to knock each one out, and then on the last part.. you have fuggin AUTO-LIFE cast on ALL your members. Absolutely RIDICULOUS.

Then you have FFIX.. Zidane is a thief with the steal skill that you have right from the get go, and he never leaves that thief area. Garnet is the combination White Mage/Summoner (Rydia anyone?) who has one hell of a background and storyline, Vivi is the little black mage that could, who makes friends with Steiner who has his own abilities next to Beatrix, who he trains with basically. Everyone keeps to themselves, abilities are learned and mini-games are played and loved. The side quests are fun as hell, and even rewarding. You get to see old friends, new faces, and even more from the past.

I fail to see how FFX is anything but pure trash heh.

PaulTheRing

Well... Now that you put it that way... I can see your point regarding the overlapping of "classes". Your battle with Yu Yevon must've been absolutely ridiculous.

PS: I'm glad to know you like FFIX. Everyone else I ask thinks it's the worst.

- Emperor J.P.

Kostaki

That's because people who normally weren't RPG fanatics latched onto Final Fantasy from seven and up, not even bothering to enjoy the beauty of one through six. I remember beating Dragon Warrior 1 when I was like 6 or 7 years old, and it was that series that originally hooked me to RPGs as is. People who have grown up in the "graphics is good" era are the people who stick it to the real classics, and that's shameful.

The things I enjoyed big time about FFIX? There's way too many of them. Here's a couple of wicked ones.

Final Fantasy 1 References: Vivi is the original black mage, taken from the olden graphics of Final Fantasy 1 and from Final Fantasy Tactics. You will go through Gulgur Volcano and hear a familiar track.. from you guessed it, the SAME cave from Final Fantasy 1 that you fought Kary in which was called.. Gurgu Volcano. The Mace of Zeus returns again here, as the item that teaches Vivi the "Doomsday" spell. I remember using it in FF1 to cast LIT2 on things I didn't want to kill. The four fiends are back as well although Kary has her original Japan version name. Garland and Chaos (also known as the "Silver Dragon") make their return as well, and the temple of the four fiends are back as well.

Final Fantasy 2 (Japanese) References: The story that Ramuh tells you before you gain his summon is a near direct rip from the game's storyline itself. Pandemonium Castle (where Garland resides in FFIX) is the name of the empire's castle in FF2.

Final Fantasy 3 (Japanese) References: Doga and Unne's items are also a direct pull from FF3's storyline. If you take the two items to the Black Mage village, you hear a track from the FF3 OST that you hear during the Doga and Unne scenes from FF3. The "Invincible" (the name of the ship with the huge eye in it) is also the name of the airship in FF3 used by the heroes.

... I could go on and on, but the resemblances are there and waiting, but people who haven't played the ones beforehand don't really know what's going on, and it's saddening to say the least.

PaulTheRing

Wow! That indeed is a lot... I also remember Zidane saying "I remember a guy with pointy hair with a sword like that.". I can't remember his exact words, but it was along those lines...

I didn't know you had such strong feelings, both good and bad, for FFIX and FFX respectively.. I guess I wasn't being sensitive to the real differences between the two.

- Emperor J.P.

Thrill House

I hate the graphics is good era. I think the best system ever made is the SNES. There are alot of incrediable games, that took hours to beat, and you enjoyed the game every step of the way. These days is the game isn't pretty most people wont even give it a chance, sad really.

BTW I know there are different types of RPG, I'm playing Morrowind and love it, and was addicted to Phantasy Star Online for about a year, I just dont like the new FF, to much watching and menu navigating for, I like being in control of my characters.

Kostaki

Heh.. that's not all though, during the ending of FFIX.. both Cloud and Squall are indirectly mentioned.

Another absolutely hillarious thing is in Lindblum Castle, when you try and inspect the fountain, Zidane says "I guess there's no place to insert a medal.." which is a direct take from the police station's fountain in Resident Evil 2, where you had to insert the medal into the fountain. There are also numerous movie references and more in it. It's the straight up shit when all this can be included in a subtle manner in the game.

Yeah, the SNES opened the door for RPGs to take off the way they did. Here's a big list of RPGs I beat for the SNES:

Final Fantasy IV (II/US)
Final Fantasy V (Emulator/English trans)
Final Fantasy VI (III/US)
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Actraiser 1
Actraiser 2
7th Saga
Breath of Fire I
Breath of Fire II
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Illusion of Gaia
SoulBlazer
Terranigma (Emulator ROM, European Release)
Dragon Quest V (Emulator/English trans)
Dragon Quest VI (Emulator/English trans)
Dragon Ball Z: Legend of the Super Saiyajiin (Emulator/English trans)
E.V.O. The Search for Eden
Lufia: The Fortress of Doom
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Earthbound (Mother 2)
BrainLord
OgreBattle
Drakkhen 1
Drakkhen 2: Dragon's View
Tales of Phantasia (Emulator/English trans)
Lagoon
Robotrek
Paladin's Quest (Lennus in Japan)
Wanderers from YS III
Super Adventure Island II (Yep, this is an RPG)
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Classic of all time)
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang

I'm also actually currently working on Seiken Densetsu III (Secret of Mana II, unreleased in US/Emulator/English trans) for the time being.

I do agree though that the SNES opened up the RPG genre completely, although there are some NES classics I won't forget either.

Thrill House

I played Earth bound thats was a really fun game! Thats a hell of alot of RPG's!

Kostaki

If you liked EarthBound, then you might want to play it's prequel, called "EarthBound Zero" (Mother 1 in Japan) which was released by Neo Demiforce, who have done a shitload of good for the emulation community. They paid a guy $400 to borrow his copy of EarthBound Zero and dump it to a ROM so that everyone could play it. There were only 6 cartridges released in Europe, and this guy apparently had one of them. If you want info about how to play it, just reply here again.

PaulTheRing

"No cloud nor squall shall hinder us".
- Regent Cid

Cloud and Squall were mentioned - Just not as the FF characters they are.

Those three RPG's got me into the genre. I was still young when I was watching my cousin playing those games. I still play Ogre Battle every now and then. (My avatar's the portrait of Prince Tristan) It's probably my favorite RPG of all time.

As for Zelda, I remember only up to the part where I got the Sword of Bane. I don't recall anything after that..

And as for Lufia, I only remember the first part - The part where you fight the sinistrals. I only remember Gades in particular, though.

- Emperor J.P.