Any Final Fantasy fans?

[Andrew NDB]

So this is out already, I think. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. From all available info it looks like it's a large scale remake of the original FF I. Garland, Chaos, Light Warriors and all.





I dunno... kinda looks like more FF XV/Kingdom Hearts type stuff. Jumping around smashing everything, etc.. That's not very Final Fantasy at all. Also, it appears to be failing: https://www.eurogamer.net/stranger-o...n-off-in-japan

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I dunno... kinda looks like more FF XV/Kingdom Hearts type stuff. Jumping around smashing everything, etc.. That's not very Final Fantasy at all. Also, it appears to be failing: https://www.eurogamer.net/stranger-o...n-off-in-japan

Yep. It's not Final Fantasy. It's Square Enix getting their grimy paws on this franchise, and running it into the ground with their masturbatory game fetishes that they litter all over the recent FFs and KH stuff.

As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of modern FF. The last great FF game was FFX. XII and XIII had interesting concepts, though were overall extremely flawed... I don't count XI and XIV as 'real' FF. FFXV was just absolute garbage, and XVI looks like a redux of that, which was super disappointing since I was hoping XVI would be a return to form............ That's what I get for being optimistic that modern developers would 'get' why people like JRPGs. This looks like more of the same, too.

Whatever. I have Three Houses, Ys IX, and Gotham Knights to finish/play...

[Leo656]

I thought a lot of people said that FFXV was a lot better with all the DLC, or otherwise the "complete" edition they released later? I confess, I don't really keep up, but I swore that I'd heard that even though it "wasn't Final Fantasy" the biggest problem with the game was that it shipped half-finished, and that people actually liked the game once they got to play it as it was intended.

I thought that's what I'd heard, but again, I really don't pay all that close attention. My wife got me the complete or "Royal" or whatever edition a while ago, I just haven't played it yet.

[superstaff]

Meh. It was half-finished (as many games are nowadays, yay...), but even with the 'completed' DLC, the game still reeks to me. It isn't Final Fantasy, to me.

[Leo656]

Understood, but as I've mentioned elsewhere I don't always get incredibly hung up on that. My only concern is whether or not a game is fun, Not whether or not it adheres to labels. But I get that varies from person to person.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Understood, but as I've mentioned elsewhere I don't always get incredibly hung up on that. My only concern is whether or not a game is fun, Not whether or not it adheres to labels. But I get that varies from person to person.

I want games to be fun, too. But I also don't want them to be lazy or inconsistent or poorly done. The modern FF games tend to take themselves really seriously too...but also not (this is especially true in XV), it's really weird.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I thought a lot of people said that FFXV was a lot better with all the DLC, or otherwise the "complete" edition they released later?

Yeah, the latter. The release date game was missing the entire final post-apocalyptic stage/maps, I guess. Like, when you get to the end it just skips you right to the boss battle. I didn't play it on launch so I couldn't say for sure but that's what I've read.

On the surface you can kind of see they were trying to redo FF VI a little bit. The whole "World of Ruin" change halfway into the game happens here, too. But inside it's just emo crap, effeminate males, and jumping and smacking stuff. And the big stupid suicide drama. Ugh. I beat the game and didn't even want to bother playing the DLC with the individual character stuff. I was done.

[Sumac]

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a very freeform take on the ideas from original game. Not a remake at all, for better or worse.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a very freeform take on the ideas from original game. Not a remake at all, for better or worse.

I just read a Wiki on it. Apparently it's a straight up prequel. Like, the ending really ends with where FF1 begins.

Spoiler:

Jack arrives in the kingdom of Cornelia, intent on destroying Chaos whose darkness has begun to plague the world, and is quickly joined by two other warriors, Ash and Jed, who have a similar mission. They petition the King of Cornelia to allow them to enter the Shrine of Chaos and destroy Chaos itself. While the King and his court are skeptical of Jack, Ash and Jed being the prophesied Warriors of Light due to the fact they are a party of three instead of four and possess only black crystals, the King allows them access to the Shrine of Chaos.

Jack and his party enter the Shrine of Chaos and seemingly defeat Chaos, only to reveal that the person they fought is a young girl named Neon, who similarly possesses a black crystal like them. She explains that she had also sought out to destroy Chaos ten years ago, but realized that Chaos is simply a myth created by humans to rationalize the existence of darkness. She had originally planned to absorb all the world's darkness to become the singular entity of Chaos that could be defeated by a band of heroes, but failed. Jack is skeptical of her story, and maintains that Chaos does exist and he will find it. Neon decides to accompany Jack's party as the fourth Warrior of Light. As they return to Cornelia, they muse about how all four of them have lost their memories, and Jack reasons it's to prevent them from making personal attachments that could interfere with their duty. The King then tasks the Warriors with restoring the Crystals of Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water to save the world.

To find the crystals, the Warriors meet with Astos, the King of the Dark Elves, who points them in the direction of the Wind Crystal. While searching for the Wind Crystal, the Warriors are transported to the Flying Fortress, a space station orbiting the planet. They defeat the Fiend of Chaos guarding the Wind Crystal, Tiamat, who reverts to another defeated hero named Sophia. The Wind Crystal is restored and Sophia decides to join the Warriors. As they journey to the Earth Crystal, the Warriors begin to recover fragments of their memories as they defeat monsters and absorb the darkness mist they expel into their crystals, and remember they all come from a faraway land beyond Cornelia. They subsequently find the Earth and Fire Crystals, defeating the respective Fiends Lich and Marilith. On the way to the Water Crystal, Neon admits to the Warriors that unlike them, she was born in Cornelia and now remembers that she was given her crystal by Astos. They then proceed to defeat the Fiend Kraken and restore the Water Crystal.

With the four Crystals restored, the Warriors return to Cornelia, only to find the darkness more prevalent than before. They are welcomed coldly and accused of being servants of Chaos just as monsters and darkness-infected pirates attack. After repelling the assault, the Warriors confront Astos looking for answers. Astos explains that he is an observer left behind by the Lufenians, a highly advanced civilization capable of interdimensional travel, tasked with reporting the balance of light and darkness in Cornelia. Astos then attacks the Warriors, and upon his defeat, they begin to recover more of their memories. It is revealed that Jack and his friends are in fact Strangers, Lufenian agents tasked with traveling to Cornelia to destroy the excess darkness Lufenia disposes of there. Jack and his friends have in fact been sent to Cornelia many times before, though their memories are temporarily erased on every deployment. However, if the Strangers fail to destroy the darkness, Lufenia simply resets the world. Disgusted by Lufenia's meddling in and manipulation of Cornelia, Jack and his friends secretly plotted with Astos to find a way to break Lufenia's hold over Cornelia. Astos reveals that Lufenia fears the darkness because if it combines with human emotion, it creates chaos, which is the one force they cannot control. He also reveals that upon his death, the darkness he has stockpiled in his body will be released and cover the entire world.

Jack and his friends rush back to Cornelia, but are unable to save Princess Sarah or any of the people. As Princess Sarah dies in his arms, Jack recovers more memories and remembers that he and Princess Sarah had fallen in love with each other. Seeing their chance, Ash, Jed, Neon, and Sophia attack Jack, forcing him to kill them in self defense and absorbing their collected darkness so he can become Chaos. He then forces open a portal back to Lufenia and absorbs Darkness Manifest, truly becoming Chaos. Fearful of chaos infection, Lufenia severs their connection with Cornelia, but warn Jack that Warriors of Light will rise to resist him. This gives Jack the epiphany that he can use his power to create conditions on Cornelia that will cause true Warriors of Light native to Cornelia to rise so they will no longer have to rely on Lufenia for protection. He then finds himself transported 2000 years in Cornelia's past by Ash, Jed, Neon, and Sophia, who have become his Four Fiends. As his friends lay the groundwork to create the Warriors of Light, Jack embraces his family name Garland and waits in his throne room as the Warriors of Light arrive to challenge him.

[Andrew NDB]

And today I purchased it and played the first bits. Hm. At the moment I'm not sure I'd say it's worth the $59.99 price tag it's at at all (there is the "illusion of exploration" factor, but also FMV bits that suddenly look jarringly low-res), but it's interesting. The story is strong and I like Jack Garland (the reviewers say he's pretty toxic/annoying... but I can imagine pretty clearly who is writing those now). It's like a love letter I never knew FF 1 would ever get. And when you check the overworld map, you'll note it is IDENTICAL to the FF1 map. Every island, every landmark, desert, etc.

From what I read of that story Wiki, it'll be a crazy FF 8-style time paradox thing, but from what I gather it DOES absolutely work and synch up 100% as a straight up prequel to FF 1. Aesthetically there's just stuff you didn't really "See" in FF 1 like the look of some more modern looking buildings in towns and people dressing in T-shirts and sneakers and stuff, but there is still plenty of people with plate armor with a general medieval aesthetic beyond that. Castles look like castles, the Cornelia king looks like you'd imagine, and so on.

[Sumac]

Jack is like all stupid stereotypes about male heroes from 80s presented unironically, which would have made him pretty stupid and annoying, if it was not for the setting, where he looks like a Christmas tree at the Moon.

I am not sure, whether or not developers were intentionally going for this or they thought Jack was indeed super cool, but they ended with, well, this, so, I guess it is a net profit. It is quite sad that game won't reach cult meme status like Metal Gear Raiden, but, well, not everyone can be a saucy Jack.

[Andrew NDB]

I've been playing the FF Pixel Remaster collection on Switch. I (re)played through all of FF1 and now went through all of FF2 and beat it. What an interesting game! I can see it as a spiritual predecessor to FF IV, what with dragoon and dark knight stuff and even Mysidia and an attention to character and story for the first time, not just nameless characters. It's also pretty hardcore in that you literally kill the main bad guy about halfway through it, then you have to travel to Hell and kill him again, lol.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I've been playing the FF Pixel Remaster collection on Switch. I (re)played through all of FF1 and now went through all of FF2 and beat it. What an interesting game! I can see it as a spiritual predecessor to FF IV, what with dragoon and dark knight stuff and even Mysidia and an attention to character and story for the first time, not just nameless characters. It's also pretty hardcore in that you literally kill the main bad guy about halfway through it, then you have to travel to Hell and kill him again, lol.

GBA and PSP versions add to that story: after his death Emperor was separated into two beings - one ended in Hell, another - in Heaven. So after finishing of his Hell self, you fight his Heaven version.

I think, that how it goes.

[Prowler]

I could have sworn I posted in this thread before or a very similar one, in fact.

Anyway, I've only played two FF games in my life so far: FFX and FF X-2. And I only beat the former. I got bored with X-2 after a while. I liked FFX and got its HD remaster some years ago and enjoyed playing it again.

I plan on playing VI, VII and VIII someday.

[Bahamut810]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I could have sworn I posted in this thread before or a very similar one, in fact.

Anyway, I've only played two FF games in my life so far: FFX and FF X-2. And I only beat the former. I got bored with X-2 after a while. I liked FFX and got its HD remaster some years ago and enjoyed playing it again.

I plan on playing VI, VII and VIII someday.

6 and 7 are both huge hits with the JRPG crowds in their time, and I love them. 8 is hit or miss for people, I appreciate the story but the mechanics are a double grind. Dont sleep on 9! Its awesome as well!!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Bahamut810

8 is hit or miss for people, I appreciate the story but the mechanics are a double grind.

Yeah, it's like everyone is a Blue Mage (drawing spells from monsters instead of getting hit with them, basically). Sort of. Reminds me a little bit of Final Fantasy 2 in that way. It kind of tricks you, though, in FF8. You see your levels going up but your stats aren't much.

I'm onto FF3. I thought I remember it better than this but that was a little bit surprising to see the "main" continent is but a small floating island above the real world. It's interesting that neither FF1, FF2, or FF3 seem necessarily superior to one another, just incredibly different. FF1 is your pure, grind and beat the bosses odyssey. FF2 is that, too, but it's a more layered story with a LOT of character deaths. At times it's a little strained, though. Like, you lose Leon (the 4th buddy in the party) in the opening of the game... then it turns out he became a Dark Knight and budding leader within the Empire (even though the opening tells us they're all only 16 years old? eh). He is going to fight and try to kill all of his friends at the end when the only reason he doesn't is because the Emperor is still alive in Hell so he needs to kill him and everyone just kind of shrugs and becomes friends? Weird. FF3 gets things back to basics from a story perspective, though essentially with the job system it's a blend of FF1 with FF2's system... anybody can be or do anything you want, it's just within jobs now.

I know I'll have to play FF IV The After Years on the PSP version, but I think I'll play the Pixel Remaster version of IV. A real shame they didn't just include The After Years within the Pixel Remaster set.

[TMNTFanatic4Life]

I’ve only played and beaten FFVII, FFVII and FFX.

FFVII is my favorite but FFVIII is a close second for me. I beat the Level 100 Omega Weapon so there’s that lol But I I also beat Ultima Weapon a levelish 40 run. I pretty much built the strength of the team via Cards…..lots and lots of hour card playing to convert them
Ohio powerful spells and such. Got a complete set of cards too

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I know I'll have to play FF IV The After Years on the PSP version, but I think I'll play the Pixel Remaster version of IV. A real shame they didn't just include The After Years within the Pixel Remaster set.

I think PSP version also includes some sort of Interquel which connects FF4 and After Years.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Sumac

I think PSP version also includes some sort of Interquel which connects FF4 and After Years.

Oh yeah! Forgot about that. Is there any significant new stuff in the PSP FF4 or the PSP After Years vs. the Wii version?

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Oh yeah! Forgot about that. Is there any significant new stuff in the PSP FF4 or the PSP After Years vs. the Wii version?

AFAIK, no.
Outside of some possible facelift they should be about the same.