Final Fantasy VI

[OCH]

10 hours ago, Metroid66 said:

One question - is it traditional in this game to move espers around amongst characters so they all build up lots of abilities? What I am finding a bit concerning is the sheer amount of characters. I worry about leaving some unleveled, or picking the wrong esper for them, and I keep forgetting who does what in battle.

 

A good rule of thumb. Keep in mind the espers that have +2 Magic and +2 Strength. They can be more important than the spells they teach. For the most part, Your magic users and physical attackers need one or the other at level up. For example, my Blue Mage (still not giving away names yet). Because they weren't a part of my regular part, they were noticeably underlevelled in stats. 32 Magic ain't great in the second half of the game. Now, with a little +2 Magic grinding (and a double EXP accessory). They have 60 Magic, stronger than Terra😅

 

Whereas Sabin needs that +2 strength to stay relevant in the second half of the game (alongside his ultimate Blitz).

 

10 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

because I'm very much neglecting some (mainly Cyan and Gau). 

 

Cyan, is a weird one. Because his speed is so bad. You can make him a heavy hitter. But he is typically the last turn taken every time. To date, I've only found one esper that enhances speed and even that is +1. 

 

 

 

So today I bulked out Blue Magic considerably. I've gone from 4 spells to 15. As with all FF's, some enemy skills are useless (one is literally self destruct) and some and game changing. Also just finished a really tedious side quest involving a shield. At the moment, I'm also doing dry runs of the final dungeon (I have an accessory that negates random encounters) to grab all the chests. I tried an actual run late last night and ...I'm not ready.😄

[Maryokutai]

Cyan is also missing from the party at a point where the rest levels up quite quickly and I never bothered helping him catch up. But with the way the game is set up there will inevitably be some casualties in terms of team compositions, so I don't look at it as missing out, I just happened to find other compositions and am quite fine with that (Celes is quickly becoming a favourite both on a gameplay and narrative level).

 

Are you doing some purist's playthrough or why did you wait for an accessory to negate random encounters? I have no shame admitting that I sometimes have used the built-in feature for that if I wasn't sure I could make it back to a save point alive.

[Metroid66]

You can just quick save too.

 

I've availed myself of the qol enhancements while being reasonably careful not to destroy the essence of the game. So I've kept the exp multiplier off, but in instances when I've wanted to bring lesser used characters up to level I've put it on. I can't see the point in not doing that tbh, I mean if the purpose of a session is simply to grind a few levels for backup characters before moving on.

 

 

[OCH]

Just now, Metroid66 said:

I mean if the purpose of a session is simply to grind a few levels for backup characters before moving on.

There is a grind spot towards the end. I'd say purpose built in-game to catch up the back ups. The fact the area is very close to the last dungeon gives credence to that.

2 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

Are you doing some purist's playthrough or why did you wait for an accessory to negate random encounters?

Nothing like that. There are 16 chests in the final dungeon. There is also a gimmick to the final dungeon too. Hence why I ran in to pick off the easiest early chests to reach, with that accessory. Only one character in the whole game can even equip it. So I just did a few solo runs with them.

 

Meanwhile, at the 65 hour mark. I think I'm ready for the final dungeon. Not that I pay attention to them, but there is a trophy for getting the whole party upto level 50 (all 14 of them). So that was today's session. It is more for practical reasons than for the superficial achievement however. But, can confirm, the two characters that you get who don't use magic and can't equip espers.. Are useless. One has no attacks of their own. The other you can't control what they do. Even Shadow gets some backstory cutscenes. These two, nope. Their inclusion honestly baffles me.

 

Agreed on Cyan (and Celes). He is missing at a crucial point and falls massively behind because of that. Celes, in terms of what she can do. I find her more useful than Terra. However, now I have Gau at 100 Magic. His abilities make him almost as powerful as those two. I did have to look it up, but every side quest loose end I'm looking for is in the final dungeon. So that's where I'm headed next.

[Maryokutai]

I think I have done one sidequest so far (the sick dude who wants to send his girlfriend some letters). I find this aspect in JRPGs, particularly older ones, so needlessly complicated and hidden away that I usually don't engage with it at all.

 

8 hours ago, Metroid66 said:

You can just quick save too.

 

Yeah, but that's just a snapshot of where you are so it doesn't really help progress in a way. It's good to have though, don't get me wrong.

Didn't even realise this has an XP multiplier. Might have helped with my Cyan problem but oh well. 

[OCH]

The "side quest" to get Shadow's backstory is even more obtuse than I was expecting. It also doesn't get you anything, other than flashback cutscenes. So I don't really get the point to it? I assumed after the last one played. I was going to be pulled into a mini-dungeon of some kind? But nope. Shadow doesn't even reference it in present day.

 

The main caveat to these character specific moments is they need to be in your party for it to happen. Edgar at Figaro Castle, Cyan at Doma etc They don't tell you any of this, of course.

 

Now as I don't consider this a spoiler, the XP multiplier is called "Growth Egg". It is very helpful. Especially getting the weakest people upto speed.

[OCH]

THE END

 

Still a great game. There is a reason it has such a high level of respect within the FF community to this day. It's not perfect. Some mechanics are Very rough prototypes of what we would enjoy in later FF. Plus, the obtuse side quests and nonsensical additional characters do it no favours. Especially in the second half of the game. But when it works, it works. There is a moment of the final cutscene. Alongside a particular swell of the ending theme that even got to me, well done game.

The final dungeon and boss are still the right amount of challenge. Even when I had one of the game breaking spells. While there is still a superboss encounter on the map, I think I'm done. 8/10

 

Thanks for bringing me back to it @Metroid66

[mfnick]

Nicely done OCH.

 

Going back to the XP etc. I’ve put XP, AP and cash to x2.

 

Ive just got too many games to play to spend time grinding. So far it’s still not been easy so don’t feel bad about doing it at all. If I do find myself steamrolling through bosses and whatnot I’ll turn it off again but otherwise it’s staying on. Grinding is something I genuinely used to enjoy when I was younger. No more though. 
 

Im keeping all the other options on default though and not using auto battle. Want everything else to be as OG as possible. 

[OCH]

Auto-battle is your friend in this game when it comes to grinding. My last party - Terra, Celes, Sabin and Shadow. I set up the relevant spells and multi-hit attacks and just pressed square. Many of the sub bosses of the final dungeon melted with this approach.

 

Funnily enough. By end game, money isn't an issue (much like every other RPG, I guess). Getting Gau's Rage arts on the Veldt, for example. Gives you no XP, but still gives you money and AP. By the final dungeon, I had near the cap of 999,999 gil. There is an accessory that gives someone Gil Toss, late game. Which I imagine would pack quite a punch, if the character that equips it were useful.

 

Speaking of late game stuff. How about getting the final Magicite/Summon in the final dungeon? It teaches two spells, one if X10 and the other is X1. Never found out what the latter spell did. 

 

I mentioned a shield side quest earlier. Fulfilling this quest teaches you one of the game breaking spells. However, the description of the shield doesn't actually tell you this at all. Unlike the espers, there is no indication that this shield teaches you a spell at all. It's a secret I retained in my terrible memory from CVG, back in the day.

 

Lastly, with the secret stuff. There are a few point of no returns with those. If you are given an option, one of two things. You are locked in and Never see the second option again. Which, again you wouldn't know. For example, you pick up a Magicite. In the same dungeon, you find a hidden room that will upgrade it into something else. The original Magicite is in turn lost and doesn't count towards your list. 

[Metroid66]

37 minutes ago, OCH said:

 

Thanks for bringing me back to it @Metroid66

 

You're welcome. Bear in mind there may be more pestering as I proceed with the franchise playthru 😊

 

May I ask what level you tackled the endgame at?

[Maryokutai]

While I'm far from being done, I haven't found money or grinding to be an issue even without any of these multipliers. I think more than anything else the game rewards clever level-ups through Esper allocation rather than raw level number increases (which only increase HP and MP anyway). And the money you get is sufficient enough to keep a party of four topped off, especially as you do find decent equipment around the world in relatively regular intervals.

 

Maybe this post will bite me in a couple of hours but so far this feels very grind-free and whenever I did a few extra battles it was because I wanted to get that one more +2 Magic before moving on, not because the game forced me to.

 

I don't mean to convince anyone to change their playstyle of course, I just think the game is rather well-balanced as is, especially for its age.

[OCH]

26 minutes ago, Metroid66 said:

 

You're welcome. Bear in mind there may be more pestering as I proceed with the franchise playthru 😊

 

May I ask what level you tackled the endgame at?

I don't mind that at all. Contrary to the other games played by the forum. This is my neck of the woods. If you're feeling really masochistic, we'll go right back to FF1.😈

 

As per my last update. Everyone was around level 50. Be aware: You will need everyone to be around the same level, for the final dungeon.

[Metroid66]

23 minutes ago, OCH said:

 

As per my last update. Everyone was around level 50. Be aware: You will need everyone to be around the same level, for the final dungeon.

 

Nice tip!!!

 

[Maryokutai]

Fuck.

 

Edit: I'll just try playing as if I hadn't read that and see how it goes.

[OCH]

😄

 

The area that reunites you with Locke gives you some foreshadowing of what to expect from the final dungeon.

[Metroid66]

Thought I was over leveled on my way to the floating continent. Not so.

 

Major difficulty spike had me floundering against an unexpected 

Spoiler

double boss

 

I had to juggle my espers a bit for the first time and had an extremely satisfying win with Ceres, Sabin and Cyan.

 

I also think that fight might have been the one @Maryokutaireferenced earlier in the thread about logic defying antagonists.

 

Talk about a fish out of water😀

[OCH]

Even I was caught out by some difficulty spikes in this, in spite of the grind. If I didn't have the game breaking spell (no name for that one either), I think the final dungeon would have been more of a challenge than it was. Which ramps up the difficulty one more time. Similarly the last boss is no pushover, regardless.

[Maryokutai]

Yeah, it was that scene @Metroid66, made me chuckle a bit, as well as the fight right after that.

 

I've made little progress this week but I like how they handle, to avoid spoilers, 'the second half' (I presume it's half-time). 

 

What I still haven't quite grasped is the interplay between Magic Points and Trance. I notice you get one or two of these points after a fight but I can't for the life of my find a screen where it shows me how many I have or how they're being used for Trance (which I can't try at the moment for story reasons).

[OCH]

I think Trance is some kind of percentage boost at the end of a fight. But maybe dependant on if you finish the fight in the Trance state? I know it is a damage multiplier during the fight. But again, exact figures are hard to quantify.

[Maryokutai]

Yeah, it's badly explained. Might just hoard whatever invisible points I'm collecting for the final boss or something.

 

I think I stumbled upon an optional character today,

Spoiler

some Yeti dude. Utterly useless, you can't control him and can't even equip an Esper to boost his stats.

 

The Esper I found shortly beforehand and which was the real reason I went to that area is super good though. Always feels like a double jackpot when you find one that has cool spells and boosts the stat you're looking to increase.