Final Fantasy IX

[bellow]

A month late I've resumed my final fantathon with the last of my planned playthrus, FF9.

 

I can honestly say the opening 90 minutes of this game has been the most captivating yet, with a beautiful opening setting, some striking (and rather unexpectedly cinematic) FMV, instantly likeable characters and a breezy script that's had me chuckling along nicely. That is until my party had to leg it from a creepy forest and the whole thing took a rather dark turn. I can see I'm going to have to keep my wits about me here.

 

Combat seems familiar enough, but any advice on abilities would be welcome. That's not clicking with me yet, and I don't know what I'm meant to do to use them. Protect girls? Wtf?

[one-armed dwarf]

It's the cover skill, like cover materia in FFVII. Zidane will sometimes take damage for girls. 

[bellow]

Is it traditional in this game to 'grind' an item until you have learnt the ability it offers?

[OCH]

10 hours ago, bellow said:

but any advice on abilities would be welcome.

 

Welcome!

 

For Zidane, look to all abilities that enhance his stealing. Steal from everything you can, especially bosses - each has about three items. It adds to an unseen tally, useful later. Also be sure to equip every single weapon you come across for Zidane, even if they seem weaker. That adds to another unseen tally.

 

Aside from that, early game focus on the anti-status effect abilities for everyone else. The Killer moves are useful for dungeons, with the melee fighters too.

 

1 minute ago, bellow said:

Is it traditional in this game to 'grind' an item until you have learnt the ability it offers?

It is essential. There are a lot of mechanics in this game that are under the hood. For example, you might come across a really powerful sword for Steiner. But you haven't finished learning the abilities for his current one. Stick with the current one until you do.

[bellow]

1 minute ago, OCH said:

For example, you might come across a really powerful sword for Steiner. But you haven't finished learning the abilities for his current one.

That's exactly what I'm doing right now before I enter an ice cavern dungeon.

[OCH]

Just now, bellow said:

That's exactly what I'm doing right now before I enter an ice cavern dungeon.

I thought as much. Any other RPG, you would switch the weapons out without thinking. For this one, you really shouldn't. Don't worry about this leaving you potentially underpowered either. No one in this game relies on their melee damage alone. 

[bellow]

Might have the effect of overpowering other aspects of the squad, though. In my urge to make Steiner a killer of beasts, Vivi's fire spell absolutely slaughters in this early game. Not that those flans don't deserve it. Should be on a plate.

[OCH]

The game does have other methods of balancing out the early game. Vivi and Steiner are powerhouses in the party if used properly. But they are not invincible. In the Evil Forest, there was a certain part of the map with endlessly respawning enemies, that I did make use of to level up all the abilities I had at the time. It actually didn't make much of a difference.

[bellow]

Yeah, you get Vivi to cast fire onto Steiner's weapon (fnar...) it's basically game over for anything I've encountered up to now.

 

That's not to say I'm not enjoying it. I think it's great. I love feeling powerful in these games. Can't wait to see what the summons look like.

 

 

[OCH]

1 hour ago, bellow said:

Can't wait to see what the summons look like.

Arguably, 9 does these better than any other game in the series...

[bellow]

Got to Burmacia with a new character, Freya, who has a killer move that I know from Bravely default. I wonder if the people who made this went on to that series because in many way it feels similar, especially in character and dungeon design.

 

I'm not sure I like the way the game does special moves. You just don't have any control over using your trance meter, and can often squander it on some field enemy when there's a boss waiting around the corner. A bit of a strange design decision, but you can somewhat hack it by grinding the meter after you meet a save moogle in a dungeon, when there's a high probability of a boss lurking somewhere.

 

Having said that I'm really liking this. I'm a bit of a Bravely/Octopath fan and I can see how this (and probably the pre VII FF games) are at the root of those modern efforts. It's strange, because by this time I've played quite a lot of Final fantasy but this is the first one that feels like that, although I'll bet the first 6 are just like that. But they're too old and crusty for me.  

Spoiler

 

[Jimboxy]

@bellow 6 is worth your time. It still looks great in a 16 bit pixel art way and has the best story and characters.

[one-armed dwarf]

6 is where 'modern' FF begins, but it's in 2D.

 

I think most on here who've played it went back way after the fact, it didn't get released in Europe until the PS2 was out

[Maf]

If you played Dragon Quest 11 you can get on with any old FF game. The older FF games are just harder than DQ11.  Still the same shit, though. The older FF games operate very similarly.

 

I would also argue modern FF games start with 4 because it’s the first one with a real story. 

[Maryokutai]

I think four and six are equally important for the series. Four went beyond the "you're the chosen one, collect some crystals" while six showed that the franchise isn't afraid to switch its setting from time to time and make more out of the "fantasy" in its title than just being Ultima through a Japanese lens.

 

And I see we are off-topic again? Good - I wish they'd remake 6 with Octopath's visual design. I think that art style is perfect in how it mixes the classic nostalgia components like tiny sprites and a fixed perspective with cool new tech.

[OCH]

2 hours ago, Maf said:

The older FF games operate very similarly.

All except FF2, that is. 
 

FF6 is amazing and probably has Final Fantasy’s best villain. 
 

I started FF with 7-9. Then they released an anthology disc on PSOne and I went through the prior six. As others have said @bellow FF 6 & 4 are still very accessible and enjoyable. FF1 is a typical RPG of the era IE Hostile from the first map.
 

@Maryokutai Given the set piece of the final third of FF6, I’d prefer a grander Valkyria Chronicles type art style for a potential remake.

 

Back on topic, You say you’ve encountered Freya. How about the Blue Mage? A cool thing about this game is cutscenes are altered, depending on which characters you have access to. 

[bellow]

Yeah, nice try fellas. I have it on good authority that the graphics on FF6 and below will actually shrink your testicles. My left still hasn't recovered from 7.

 

Blue Mage you say @OCH? No, I don't think so. Although I've fought a lot of mages by now.

[Maf]

24 minutes ago, bellow said:

Yeah, nice try fellas. I have it on good authority that the graphics on FF6 and below will actually shrink your testicles.

Only when they’re already above a certain size. So you should be safe. 

[bellow]

So you're admitting that shrinkage is an issue. Just as I thought.

[OCH]

2 hours ago, bellow said:

Blue Mage you say @OCH? No, I don't think so. Although I've fought a lot of mages by now.

No, no. This is a New party member. There are no hidden/secret party members in FF9. But you have two chances to get this one early. The first two chances are by a bit of non-linear exploring. The third time is the mandatory one the game points you at. The first time you get an extra character for Burmecia. The second time you actually miss out on an ATE and the connected hidden treasure too. Of course, the game doesn't tell you this overtly.

 

Also have you played Chocobo Hot & Cold, yet?