Messages

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: April 09, 2010, 12:33:22 am »

BearFrog, know that I say this with all of the care in the world, but either use Arabic numerals or learn how to use Roman numerals right.

...it's nowhere near as good as VI, or even VII for that matter. However, as an overall game, I'll still rank it above VII.

VI, thus far, still ranks in my lower tier of Final Fantasy games. Not even close to touching VII, IV or Tactics...

Yeah, those were typos. This forum is weird in that if I make too long of a post, it doesn't let me see my full post when typing and will scroll up and not allow me to see what I type (as it is doing in this post). Small error on my part. I meant to say that the sound track for VI (6) is nowhere near as good as VII (7) or even VIII (. As an overall game, I still rank it above VIII (. I made 3 errors in that post as fas as roman numberals go and am willing to admit that. I apologize for my mistake, but please understand that this board is rather annoying with the way it processes text sometimes.

And to V, let it be know I thought you were talking about Setzer's character motivations being that he was after Edgar the entire time for some reason yet to be revealed to me, like being a former servant of the Figaro empire or something like that. A mere misunderstanding.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: April 08, 2010, 03:07:26 pm »

Yeah, Setzer is after Edgar

SPOILER

Thanks for ruining the game for me. I am never playing it ever again.

Until later today.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: April 07, 2010, 11:34:10 pm »

I think something that sets me back from VI a lot is what I percieve as stupdity and unrealistic actions by the main cast, like them actually trusting the empire. Honestly, Locke, Celes and Terra seem to make consistently bad decisions. And I have no idea what Setzer's motivations for hanging out with the party are.

Actually, both situations aren't what you think. True, they decided to trust on the Empire, however, not entirely, as they were still suspicious about it. In fact, if they hadn't, they probably wouldn't have been able to escape Vector when the Empire dropped their act.

And then, about Setzer, he himself mentioned he liked the risk the party was doing in confronting the Empire. Being a man to place gambling above all else, it certainly sounded like he would enjoy it if he joined (despite the fact he indirectly thanked the Empire for being in the position he was, but for him, the risk would increase, and as such, the motivation to join in). And then... well, you have yet to arrive there, you'll see.

I know they "didn't trust" the empire and whatnot and tried to "stay on their toes" but obviously they failed at that BIG TIME and they still seemed too trusting. The whole "pst apocalypse" thing is pretty cool, though, and I think that only works with a cast this incompetent. Cloud wouldn't let that shit happen on his watch.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: April 07, 2010, 07:28:03 pm »

Okay, so I'mabout 11 hours into VI. Kefka recently destroyed most of the world, Terra's laying around in bed and my only party consists of Celes and Sabin (though I'm about to get Edgar back in my party). I think something that sets me back from VI a lot is what I percieve as stupdity and unrealistic actions by the main cast, like them actually trusting the empire. Honestly, Locke, Celes and Terra seem to make consistently bad decisions. And I have no idea what Setzer's motivations for hanging out with the party are. That said, Mog and Edgar are pretty awesome, and Kefka is a pretty good villain (as is Ultros). Also, after hearing more of the soundtrack, I have to say that while it does have some strong songs, it's nowhere near as good as VI, or even VII for that matter. However, as an overall game, I'll still rank it above VII.

VI, thus far, still ranks in my lower tier of Final Fantasy games. Not even close to touching VII, IV or Tactics, and still a significant leap from IX and X, but still better than XII and VII. Actually, I feel like XII and VI suffer from a lot of the same problems with seemingly stupid decisions by major cast members and a lack of realistic motivations.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 31, 2010, 12:24:07 am »

V_Translanka, nice avatar.

But yeah, I totally dig Kefka and think he's pretty awesome...but he's basically The Joker.

And VIII I think had the benefit of looking fantastic, having fantastic music and being set in a very believable world but had the flaw of a weak major cast and weak storyline. VIII was style over substance.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 30, 2010, 11:31:19 pm »

I can't believe we've been discussing FFVI all this time and NO ONE has mentioned Kefka.

Easily my favorite villain of all time.

You mean The Joker?

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 30, 2010, 05:45:10 pm »

If you haven't even played all of it I don't think you should go around saying how it's overrated...How can you accurately judge something without experiencing all of it? It makes it look as though YOU have too much FFVII bias going into it.

I'm giving my opinion based on what I've seen so far. Let's say I decide just to compare the first five hours of Final Fantasy VII and the first five hours of Final Fantasy VI. I'll say that I got a lot more done and went through a lot more adventure in VI, but I cared about the adventure more in VII. VI is fast-paced and pretty hard, wheras VII's story isn't as fast paced. You spend quite a bit of time in Midgar, and by that point in FFVI you've already hung out with Cyan and found a Phantom Train, taken out Ultros, battled Kefka and seen Terra turn into an Esper. I just feel like VI doesn't take time to savor the setting and just sorta rushes through the plot.

And as far as VII bias goes, I'll say that I liked Xenogears quite a bit more than VI (still talking about the 5 hour mark) and felt a great attatchment to the world and setting. I had never played Xenogears up until a year ago and if anything I should have bias in favor of VI which I played years earlier. I feel like VI is going to get better and impress me at a certain point, but thus far, it hasn't. I haven't heard every single song by The Rolling Stones, but I can still tell you that The Beatles are a better band based on knowing every Beatles song and knowing a decent number of Stones tunes. I'm sure I'll enjoy VI, but honestly, I feel like VII, IV, Tactics, IX and X kick its ass completely. That's not VII bias.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 30, 2010, 01:30:06 pm »

Well, off the top of my head (not in a particular definitive order, but vaguely the order they'd go in):

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy Tactics
Chrono Trigger
Pokemon
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy IX
Chrono Cross
Xenogears
Guardian's Crusade
Dragon Warrior Monsters

And I'm not sure these guys count, but if they do:
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Tomba 1 & 2
Brave Fencer Musashi

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 30, 2010, 06:55:36 am »

I found VI to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than VII. I feel it had a much better cast, better plot, music, etc. It was just a better experience in my opinion.

The strongest thing VI has going for it is the cast. That really is a strong cast of characters, and music-wise there are some of the series' best tracks, but there are a lot of weak links in the soundtrack wheras the entire FFVII soundtrack is the best the series has ever done; period. VI has a good soundtrack, but it really is a transition soundtrack between the older style of FF music and VII's aesthetic. I'll give big points to "The Decisive Battle" as being one of my favorite songs of the Final Fantasy series. That song has special meaning to me because back when I was 12 and started playing VI for the first time I was living in an abusive household with a not-so-nice stepfather (to say the least). It took an outsider to explain to me that I was undergoing domestic abuse, and so I came up with a plan to get my stepfather "caught in the act" of attacking my mother by waiting for the next time he struck her to call my friends and get them to "come over with weapons" and "hold him off til the police come". The plan was for me to call them and them to come over and after calling them call the police. To save time, I made a code word that meant, "It's time. Get over here NOW." The code word was "paladin". Any way, long story short, the song I had in my head when planning that scenario was "The Decisive Battle", so the song has special meaning to me. And for those wondering how it went, the plan was never put into action and we ended up just moving all the shit out of the house in the middle of the day when he was at work and high-tailed it 3 states away from him. Oh, nostalgia.

Anyway, plot-wise, I haven’t gotten far enough into VI to really judge it, but I can say this; in terms of immersion and pacing of the storyline and the feel of the world, VI is actually probably on the lower tier of my list of Final Fantasy games. Honestly, I got into V a lot faster than I got into VI. Just about every other Final Fantasy game I’ve played has a better level of immersion than VI. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really digging the characters and the quirky dialogue, but I’m not instantly caring about the importance of the overall landscape of the game. And to those who may argue I haven’t played RPGs in a while and may just not have that ability, I’ll tell you that I got into Xenogears and, to a lesser extent, XII (though certain aspects of that game make me cringe). I think that VI is much better than XII in terms of, gameplay, music and cast, but XII definitely makes you feel the tension of the conflict much better than VI (at least at this point). And I have no bias against older FF games, as I think that IV is better than all other Final Fantasies excluding VII and perhaps Tactics.

Basically, VI is good, but overrated and people just need to admit that the reason VII is the most popular is because it’s the best. It’s like people who like The Stones more than The Beatles. Yeah, The Stones are pretty good, but come on, The Beatles freakin’ crush them. There’s no comparison. And personally, I like The Kinks better than The Stones (despite still digging The Stones quite a bit). For analogy purposes, VII is The Beatles (the most popular one due to the fact that it’s the best), VI is The Rolling Stones (still pretty cool and something for people who don’t want to cite the more popular one as their favorite but nowhere near as good) and Tactics is The Kinks (underrated and amazingly kickass and probably better than The Rolling Stones anyway).

And then Xenogears is probably Rush or something.

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 29, 2010, 09:08:56 pm »

I beat Xenogears the other day and have to say that it was a pretty damn good game, though the budget cuts definitely hurt the overall experience. If they had paced it out the way originally planned and given a full budget, it would have been a top contender for the greatest RPG of all time, but as it stands it's still a very good game and very strong story-wise (though I expected it to be much more convoluted and confusing based on what people I had told me --- I found it very easy to follow).

Anyway, I'm giving VI a shot and am about 3 or 4 hours into it. Yeah, I'm starting to see the appeal of it, the cast is pretty cool and there's some cool the music, but the pacing of the game is pretty poor in comparison to other Final Fantasy games. While I do like it, I still think that VI is the game for VII haters to flock to. The biggest highlight so far was the Ultros boss fight.

"Don't tease the octopus, kids!"

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General Discussion / Re: Video Game Discussion Thread

« on: March 12, 2010, 02:09:02 pm »

I'll probably get around to downloading another rom of FFVI (I've done that before), but like I said, I tend to play for about an hour and get bored with it. It didn't engorss me within in the first minute like a lot of the other titles. I did like the team of moogles, though.

But with VI, I feel like a lot of people give it additional praise because it wasn't as big as VII and I think people have started ripping on VII because of how big it has become. VII is still kickass and amazing, and much better than VIII (that ending has to be pretty amazing to make up for the rest of the game). So I'll get around to trying VI, but right now I've got Xenogears to occupy my time.

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Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Isn't tomorrow the 15th anniversary of CT's first release?

« on: March 11, 2010, 02:40:16 pm »

Golly gee, I wonder what it could be. Maybe it will be a leak of CE.

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General Discussion / Re: 8 Years

« on: March 11, 2010, 02:37:27 pm »

I've beat IV, VII, Tactics, X and X-2. Got decently far in both VIII and IX (but lost my save file for VIII and my copy of IX so I never finished either). V and VI I've started playing multiple times but never play past an hour in either of them and lost my copy of Anthology. Got decently far in I and played a little bit of II and I'm decently far in Tactics Advanced. Recently bought XII and have played it for about 10 hours.

If I were to rank the games in terms of favoritsm, my top 5 are:
VII
IV
Tactics
IX
X

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General Discussion / 8 Years

« on: March 11, 2010, 01:50:13 pm »

I beat Final Fantasy IV last night after starting the game 8 years ago. Started playing when I was 12, but various moves, hardships, tragedies, time with friends, tv shows, other video games, music performances etc. made me never get around to finishing it. I found my old PS1 save file which was in the last dungeon on the moon with characters all level 70 or higher and decided I would finally beat one of my favorite games of all time. Very satisfied with the ending. 

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Site Updates / Re: Chrono Alter Release - Download Inside!

« on: March 10, 2010, 10:03:38 pm »

There's a bug where if you save your game on the world map and then load it up, you'll be on the world map as regular sized Crono instead of map sized Crono. Personally, I'm a big fan of this bug and suggest leaving it in.