The Final Fantasy Series Thread

[Talysia]

Favourite spells? Ultima is always good, but I'm rather partial to Comet or Meteor myself, especially the multiple hit aspect of it. I think for FFVII, I used the summons more in boss fights than individual spells (well, later in the game anyway - the fight against Schizo means you have to use magic a lot), when I wasn't using the Limit Breaks.

I definitely agree about the drawbacks of using the Draw command in FFVIII. Not being able to level up in the conventional way was a pain (It was a little like that in FFXII - the license board was a nice touch, though). I liked the Materia system for the fact that anyone could just equip it and use it, rather than having a set of spells for each character.

Haste is always useful, too. Oh, and barrier/Mbarrier.

Hmm, spells from other games... I liked the idea of Apocalypse in FFVIII, although you get it so late in the game that it's all but useless. Oil is a nice status spell in FFXII (especially used in conjunction with Firaga), and anything that weakens defence (Meltdown, DeBarrier etc).

On an unrelated note, reading what Quokka and Thaddeus said about chocobos put the chocobo theme music in my head all day yesterday.

[Sephiroth]

.......and now you've put it in mine!

Apocalypse was a great idea, yes (it sort of inspired me in my writing as well, along with Ultima, which is my favourite offensive spell by far - but only when it's green! Why the hell transvestite Kuja was the only one who could use it in IX, and why it was pink, I have no idea...)

Haste is invaluable. I would add Dispel to that list, I couldn't live without Dispel in the later stages of any game. I have a tendency not to use the summons as much. Actually, I only use magic where it's necessary (or in those fights, like Schizo, where it's more efficient). Normally I have my chars set up for their strongest-possible physical attacks, and I just chop up anything that gets in my way.

My biggest problem with the License Board was that I had finished it halfway through the game. I really liked the Sphere Grid in X. I suppose the only pain with materia was swapping them around, but of all the systems, materia made most sense in pure storyline terms, I think?

[Talysia]

Oh, definitely. Materia was one of the most logical magic systems in all of the FF games in terms of the story. Calling it the knowledge or the wisdom of the ancients rather than magic (even within the game dialogue, too), and actually focusing on it being the crystallized form of the Lifestream was one of the best ways of dealing with magic use in an RPG, in my opinion - and I've played a lot. The command materia was pretty useful, especially the ones that enabled you to hit all enemies at once, or 2xcut/4x/cut.

That said, I never used much magic against bosses, either. For the final battles against Jenova/Sephiroth (both forms) I just used physical attacks, too (with a Cloud/Cid/Tifa line up). Omnislash, Highwind, and Tifa's slot Limit breaks decimated him in very short order indeed. Ruby and Emerald put up more of a challenge. I'm really glad that the tougher bosses were added to the international versions.

Now that I think about it, none of the final bossfights have been excessively difficult - it's always been the hidden bosses that provide the challenge.

[Sephiroth]

Absolutely. The only time I've had a real epic fight with an end boss was in IX, when I rushed through the story the first time just to see what happens. Fighting Necron at about Lv. 50 was a decent challenge.......but what was the point in Necron? Seemed to have no relation to the story at all?!

4xcut was unbelievable. I remember being very excited when I got that materia. The thing in VI, the Offering, that lets one person hit eight times is pretty spectacular, too! (eight times with the Genji Glove, I should say)

I've haven't played all that many console RPGs other than the FF games, but I'm not surprised to hear you say that. Everything about FFVII just seems to fit into place, creating a nice, rounded whole. It's so satisfying...

So here's my Ruby Weapon story:
The first time I fought Ruby Weapon, I hadn't figured the Whirlsand thing out, and lost two of my characters pretty early in the fight. I fought on, though, and managed to beat it with just Cloud (thank god it was Cloud who was left)! But, as it was dying, the game crashed, and I was left with the red, fading shadow of a vanquished enemy stuck on the screen.

I beat Emerald Weapon inside the 20-min time limit, without using the underwater materia. Apparently there are folk who have beaten it with only one character, though! Can you believe that?

Where optional bosses are concerned, Penance is the daddy of daddies. That fight lasted the best part of three hours, for me, and every single turn I faced prospective annihilation. Without Auto-Life it would be impossible!

Anyone else vanquished Penance? And Nemesis? (both from FFX)

[thaddeus6th]

Not sure...I slew some ultra tough boss from X, but can't remember the name. In the Omega Ruins I think.

If you want to try some other rpgs, then I urge you to try Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts Covenant. They're excellent. Dragon Quest VIII is ok too. Oh, and there's a Sega Genesis (Megadrive) Collection for the ps2 that has Phantasy Star IV on it. PSIV is perhaps the best rpg I've ever played, even though it's about a decade and a half old, the storyline and characters are fantastic.

[Sephiroth]

Nah, that was Omega Weapon. You fight both Ultima and Omega Weapon in the Omega Ruins (good place to level up, too). Omega Weapon is tough (depending on when you fight him), with an HP of around 1 million. Nemesis' HP is 10,000,000. Penance's HP is 12,000,000. To fight Nemesis you have to complete the Battle Arena captures/fights. To fight Penance you must defeat all the Dark Aeons.

Thanks for the recommendations (have seen Dragon Quest, looks similar to FF but more 'cartoony'). It's not that I haven't been interested in playing other RPGs, have just never been sure which, if any, will live up to my FF experiences........

[Talysia]

I never got to defeat Penance or Nemesis, sadly, although I gave it a good try. I did get most of the Dark Aeons, but Penance eluded me, and then I traded in the game, thus losing the chance. (At the time, I was disillusioned by the ending - even though it was sort of redeemed in FFX-2.) I might see if I can't pick it up second hand and give it another go. The same can't be said for X-2, though.

Necron was a better challenge, although I agree that it seemed to have no relevance whatsoever to the story. Brahne was a fairly good villain, as was Kuja (if a little odd), Garland seemed a bit pointless and non-threatening, and Necron hadn't even been introduced in the story. I was still pleased when I beat it, but looking back...

I think the most satisfying optional bossfight for me was Omega Weapon in FFVIII (in Ultimecia's castle). I think I was able to beat him without losing a character, largely thanks to Aura magic (Now that's one I should've added to my list of favourite spells. That was useful!), Holy War items, and Zell's limit break.

Sorry to hear about what happened at the end of the Ruby fight, though. I had a similar problem with the whirlsand, so I started the fight with only Cloud alive and waited until it buried its claws. Then I brought the others back and did a chain of Knights of the Round and Mime. I don't know why, but Ultima seemed to miss hitting everyone several times. Very unusual. For Emerald, I got the underwater materia but beat him under 20 minutes anyway. I remember being annoyed that I'd gone to so much trouble. Oh, and many's the time I exited the crashed Gelnika to find Emerald sitting right outside and initiating a fight without meaning to (before I beat it, anyway).

[thaddeus6th]

Oh yeah. I am quite rubbish at doing 100% of sidequests, and just barely scraped a victory over Omega Weapon. Think I took down a couple of Dark Aeons, but that's all.

Dragon Quest is pretty cartoony, graphics-wise, but the voice-acting's nice (all English, just about, which is a change) and it's quite old school.

Shadow Hearts and SH: Covenant are both excellent. I'd put both of them above every recent FF barring perhaps VII. Hmm, maybe I should do a review of them.

[Sephiroth]

thaddeus, maybe you should; I will certainly keep them in mind if I can free up some cash for frivolity. Have heard the accents in one of the Dragon Quest games, and I agree, it's nice.

Talysia, interesting to hear you say that FFX-2 redeemed the ending, because I felt the same way about the ending in X. Given that the two opinions I have from women who have played X-2 are so negative, I can't ever see me, as a brutish male () playing it, so I might have a look at a plot synopsis for it.

Couldn't agree more about Garland. He was super-weak. Wasn't mad keen on Kuja, though, and I objected strongly to his monopoly on Ultima...

I completely forgot about Omega Weapon in FFVIII! Of course, that was a much better fight than the one at the Deep Sea Deposit (although that one sticks in my mind more, for some reason)! Been a long time since I played VIII. Returning to end bosses, I thought the Ultimecia fight was quite cool, even if it could've been a little harder........

Aura increased the frequency of your limit breaks, right?

I had to laugh reading what you said about exiting the Gelnika - that happened to me a lot, too! Did you morph a lot of Luck Sources? That might explain the Ultima misses?

I should add that I didn't use Knights of Round for Ruby - I didn't even get it until after Ruby was dead! I did use it for Emerald, though. Tried a few times without it, but kept timing out.......

[Talysia]

Funny you should say that, but I didn't morph any luck sources (although I did give the cumulative total of them in the game to Cloud, as a rule) so I'm still a little confused as to why it missed so often. I was glad it did, though.

The fight against Ultimecia was a much better bossfight, I'll agree. Every time I defeated one stage, I thought that was it and that the game was over - thinking, bring on the ending and the credits - only to be surprised when another version of her popped up to be destroyed. I very nearly lost the game on the final section, getting wiped out by Apocalypse really close to the end, only to have all three party members revived by a random use of a phoenix pinion that I'd used earlier. I still had no idea that they worked like that. I used Aura (yep, the one that enabled limit breaks) a lot in that one, too.

I played Dragon Quest, and it was really refreshing to hear English accented voices for a change. I didn't really get on as well with it as I did the other RPGs I'd played, although that might be the reason right there. Maybe it was because I was also playing through Dirge of Cerberus at the same time...I don't know. Still, if I were to go back and play it again, it might be different now.

[Sephiroth]

*thinks he should have given Phoenix Pinions a little more respect*

I never used any, but if that's what they do, I wish I had...

I kept getting reduced to seriously critical by Apocalypse, but thankfully she gives you just enough time to get cured-up and tank her a few times before she recasts. Have you noticed that, very occasionally in battles, the computer will take two shots for the price of one? If that had happened I would've been dead. I can't help but call that 'cheating' on the part of the game.

A friend of mine owns one of the Dragon Quests, I may see if I can borrow it from her.

I am the sort of sad person who went and figured out which creatures, when morphed, will give you 'Sources', and then I collected them and powered my characters up to a crazy degree of hardness.

Favourite summoning out of any of the games?

[Talysia]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I am the sort of sad person who went and figured out which creatures, when morphed, will give you 'Sources', and then I collected them and powered my characters up to a crazy degree of hardness.

Favourite summoning out of any of the games?

You're not the only one. I had the player's guide, so of course I was able to see which monsters you could morph into power sources.

Favourite summoning? That's a tough one. I loved the chubby chocobo/Choco-mog summon in FFVII, and Bahamut in any incarnation is always good (What can I say - I like dragons). Fenrir in FFIX was pretty cool, too, as were Odin (who doesn't love Zantetsuken?) and Eden from FFVIII, just for the fact that damage dealt can exceed 9999. The one gripe I have with the FF summonings is that some of them take so long.

Actually, I think it would be Bahamut.

[thaddeus6th]

Bahamut. Always a high damage summon, and undoubtedly the coolest.

[Sephiroth]

Well, there's effectiveness (damage, or whatever), and then there's just sheer coolness. For sheer coolness, as well as for his ZERO and 'Dark' incarnations, the Lord of Dragons is hard to beat. And Odin, as you say. I even love the word Zantetsuken! Yojimbo was sort of similar, but he was a rip-off merchant!

Eden was awesome, for the break damage limit thing. I liked the idea of Ultima in XII (Ultima and Zodiark were both good fights, as was Cuchulainn), but the Espers in that game are pretty useless.

For sheer carnage, I suppose it's Knights of Round, but that one in particular takes way too long.

At the end of the day, I think I agree with Bahamut.

Also Anima, though, just because of the sheer relief I felt when I realised I hadn't failed to pick up the Knight Lance in Bevelle (you can't go back). Thought I had mucked up the whole game for myself, missing that.......

[thaddeus6th]

Anima was pretty cool. I didn't like the appearance of Bahamut in X, but maybe that's just being picky. I thought the others were pretty good, especially Ifrit.