General Final Fantasy Thread

[Broncofan]

On 5/30/2024 at 11:09 PM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I just got to the Golf Saucer and so far, it confirms my only gripe with this game: we need a night/day sequence. The colors are amazing on that entrance!! Night battles could've been something else in this game. That might be my only gripe thus far. 

This game has lived up to the hype and then some. It might overtake 3/6 when it's done but that will be a very large task. I wonder how much of those feelings are nostalgia though bc I haven't played it in 2 decades.

Maybe time to start an emulator........

I played it about 6-7 years ago when SNES game pack came out with Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG & FFVI (along with 15+ other games) - both held up amazingly well.   From a technical perspective imo it’s a perfect game.  But Rebirth is still my fave now because the depth of combat / storytelling / gameplay / character dev is just so much more than FFVI.    Which is saying something.    
 

You can literally put in 120+ hours of gameplay with 1st play through if you want to be a completionist (including the last protorelic which requires LV70 Unless you are a god level player in Combat lol).   And the crazy part is it’s pretty much all worth it to do it because the depth of storytelling.  Plus character growth.  Plus combat variety.     And music.     Even with FFVI there was a ceiling to character development with backstory and an endpoint to gameplay tweaking (farm exp and get the right dropped items from Dinisaur island).     Not the case with Rebirth.   Still floored.   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7 by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

11 hours ago, Broncofan said:

I played it about 6-7 years ago when SNES game pack came out with Secret of Mana - both held up amazingly well.   From a technical perspective imo it’s a perfect game.  But Rebirth is still my fave now because the depth of combat / storytelling / gameplay / character dev is just so much more than FFVI.    Which is saying something.    
 

You can literally put in 120+ hours of gameplay with 1st play through if you want to be a completionist (including the last protorelic which requires LV70 Unless you are a god level player in Combat lol).   And the crazy part is it’s pretty much all worth it to do it because the depth of storytelling.  Plus character growth.  Plus combat variety.     And music.     Even with FFVI there was a ceiling to character development with backstory and an endpoint to gameay tweaking (farm exp and get the right dropped items from Dinisaur island).     Not the case with Rebirth.   Still floored.  

I loved Secret of Mana!! What a fantastic game. Glad to hear both of those are still holding up. I am going to get on an emulator but I remember getting almost 70 hours in for 3/6 and that's a lot lol.

I can see why you're saying that for 7 but this is why I'd like a 3/6 remake as well b/c what kind of limitations existed w/ an archaic (we're old....) system like the SNES versus what a PS5 can give us? The characters in 3/6 were so captivating and most had amazing stories that I loved they allowed us to explore, if you wanted. Completely optional characters like Gau as well.... I think he was optional lol. I know some of them were.

I absolutely love the combat w/ Rebirth though. It's so much fun, unique, and there's so many different ways to go about battles. I will likely put in the 120 you've stated you could do lol. I don't play many games twice through so that's why I'm going to get every last bit out of this. Beating Jules in the gym is going to be nearly impossible though. I didn't get even close the first few times I tried.

[Broncofan]

5 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I loved Secret of Mana!! What a fantastic game. Glad to hear both of those are still holding up. I am going to get on an emulator but I remember getting almost 70 hours in for 3/6 and that's a lot lol.

I can see why you're saying that for 7 but this is why I'd like a 3/6 remake as well b/c what kind of limitations existed w/ an archaic (we're old....) system like the SNES versus what a PS5 can give us? The characters in 3/6 were so captivating and most had amazing stories that I loved they allowed us to explore, if you wanted. Completely optional characters like Gau as well.... I think he was optional lol. I know some of them were.

I absolutely love the combat w/ Rebirth though. It's so much fun, unique, and there's so many different ways to go about battles. I will likely put in the 120 you've stated you could do lol. I don't play many games twice through so that's why I'm going to get every last bit out of this. Beating Jules in the gym is going to be nearly impossible though. I didn't get even close the first few times I tried.

Beating Jules took me 6+ hours of trying.   I could do 1 min or so but the last 30 secs were so twitchy.  Yes, that means I must have tried like more 100x lol (if it started on wrong hand to start, i reset the challenge).   Turning off the music / voice acting & haptic controls and setting the sensitivity down are crucial.    Lots of YouTube vids out there I def recommend checking them out.   
 

Crazy part is that wasn’t even close to the longest challenge to get the Platinum.     The last 2 Brutal Challenges & Bonds of Friendship Legendary Challenges in VR are mega insane.    I owe that YouTube user Optinoob my sanity in beating those - and it still took me 10+ hrs for each one.   If I knew it was going to be that hard I never would have done it.     Full disclaimer I suck with quick twitch gaming.    Better gamers won’t take nearly as long but they aren’t getting it on their first 5 tries either lol.     I’m living proof anyone can platinum the game but without those YouTube  guides and some skill (I literally have close to none) it’s so much pain lol.  
 

To be clear - the only game I’ve played multiple times since the SNES days was Last of Us 1 & 2 and Resident Evil 2 & 4.  FFVI & SoM I did 25+ years later but that’s because it was with my daughter.     And I find normal mode hard lol.  
 

God of War, Mass Effect, Unchartered, Horizon games, Spidey, all the other FF games  - finished it 1x & never looked back.    The combat & story telling / character growth was just THAT good I had to here.    LoU it was about getting to play it with full weapon / skill upgrades and to relive the story.   The gameplay / etc wasn’t different just easier.    It’s also way easier to replay a 15-20 hour game lol.  
 

But FFVII hard mode def creates new gameplay expansion that’s so much fun.  That is about a 15-20 hr run without side quests if you know how to beat the 6/8 insane bosses.   If you don’t those guys are crazy tough lol.      But yeah after doing 100+ hrs with completionist first run (including post game trip to the last Prototelic location at LV70) I can see why ppl pass on Hard Mode replay.   I don’t regret it but if I knew how hard getting the Platinum would be because of the 6+ other insane challenges (Hard Mode isn’t even top 5 in hardest trophies to get the Platinum), I probably would have passed.   But I had a blast with the 2nd run through with fully buffed Materia / Weapons & Skills.   The combat balancing & diversity was just that good on both 1st & repeat runs.      

Even though it took me 120+ hours to play through the first run-through - it didn't feel even half as long.   It was just so much fun to play it, I had to do it a 2nd time.  And the 15-20 hrs for the Hard Mode didn't feel that long (except with the 6+ insane boss fights lol).    In Remake, I enjoyed it, but man it was more than enough, and there were definitely sequences which were a chore to get through.    But with Rebirth, it was so much fun the whole time (except those Platinum insane challenges), with gameplay / storytelling / character dev & music just making the time melt away so much the whole time.  It’s so rare to say that.  

Edited May 31 by Broncofan

[Broncofan]

On 5/31/2024 at 11:09 AM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I loved Secret of Mana!! What a fantastic game. Glad to hear both of those are still holding up. I am going to get on an emulator but I remember getting almost 70 hours in for 3/6 and that's a lot lol.

I can see why you're saying that for 7 but this is why I'd like a 3/6 remake as well b/c what kind of limitations existed w/ an archaic (we're old....) system like the SNES versus what a PS5 can give us? The characters in 3/6 were so captivating and most had amazing stories that I loved they allowed us to explore, if you wanted. Completely optional characters like Gau as well.... I think he was optional lol. I know some of them were.

 

Sadly the sales # are likely going to prevent a SNES game remake.   They are about 60 percent of Remake pace wise.  
 

3 reasons:

1.  PS5 only makes the target population half as big   
 

2.  Remake came out in middle of pandemic so everyone bought it.  With half PS5 base and Remake being really good but just a teaser of what Rebirth is, I can see why non FF fanatics wouldn’t buy yet.    
 

3.  Interestingly 25-and-under and players weren’t nearly as prominent in placing FF7 Rebirth in the “can’t wait” games list.  The thing is you don’t need to play the OG game to love FF7 Remake / Rebirth.  My daughter loves it so much we’re going to the Orchestra world tour this fall - she asked to go when I was planning to buy just for me alone.    But it’s fair to say it hasn’t broken through to the youngest gamer population the same way.  Their loss imo, but it’s likely a death knell for a FFVI or even FFIX remake.  

A huge reason why this series kills it - Square Enix committed to retain 80+ percent of dev & programming staff to do all 3 games.    Thats unheard of.    That is massive in having a trilogy succeed because they know what works and can tweak what isn’t awesome, and don't have to retrain staff to program the 2nd / 3rd game (and also why the 3rd game is almost certainly staying on the same Unreal 4 engine).   It’s why the combat from Remake went from ok to GOAT-amazing in Rebirth.   I don’t think we’ll see that ever again.

Edited June 4 by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

On 5/31/2024 at 12:00 PM, Broncofan said:

Beating Jules took me 6+ hours of trying.   I could do 1 min or so but the last 30 secs were so twitchy.  Yes, that means I must have tried like more 100x lol (if it started on wrong hand to start, i reset the challenge).   Turning off the music / voice acting & haptic controls and setting the sensitivity down are crucial.    Lots of YouTube vids out there I def recommend checking them out.   
 

Crazy part is that wasn’t even close to the longest challenge to get the Platinum.     The last 2 Brutal Challenges & Bonds of Friendship Legendary Challenges in VR are mega insane.    I owe that YouTube user Optinoob my sanity in beating those - and it still took me 10+ hrs for each one.   If I knew it was going to be that hard I never would have done it.     Full disclaimer I suck with quick twitch gaming.    Better gamers won’t take nearly as long but they aren’t getting it on their first 5 tries either lol.     I’m living proof anyone can platinum the game but without those YouTube  guides and some skill (I literally have close to none) it’s so much pain lol.  
 

To be clear - the only game I’ve played multiple times since the SNES days was Last of Us 1 & 2 and Resident Evil 2 & 4.  FFVI & SoM I did 25+ years later but that’s because it was with my daughter.     And I find normal mode hard lol.  
 

God of War, Mass Effect, Unchartered, Horizon games, Spidey, all the other FF games  - finished it 1x & never looked back.    The combat & story telling / character growth was just THAT good I had to here.    LoU it was about getting to play it with full weapon / skill upgrades and to relive the story.   The gameplay / etc wasn’t different just easier.    It’s also way easier to replay a 15-20 hour game lol.  
 

But FFVII hard mode def creates new gameplay expansion that’s so much fun.  That is about a 15-20 hr run without side quests if you know how to beat the 6/8 insane bosses.   If you don’t those guys are crazy tough lol.      But yeah after doing 100+ hrs with completionist first run (including post game trip to the last Prototelic location at LV70) I can see why ppl pass on Hard Mode replay.   I don’t regret it but if I knew how hard getting the Platinum would be because of the 6+ other insane challenges (Hard Mode isn’t even top 5 in hardest trophies to get the Platinum), I probably would have passed.   But I had a blast with the 2nd run through with fully buffed Materia / Weapons & Skills.   The combat balancing & diversity was just that good on both 1st & repeat runs.      

Even though it took me 120+ hours to play through the first run-through - it didn't feel even half as long.   It was just so much fun to play it, I had to do it a 2nd time.  And the 15-20 hrs for the Hard Mode didn't feel that long (except with the 6+ insane boss fights lol).    In Remake, I enjoyed it, but man it was more than enough, and there were definitely sequences which were a chore to get through.    But with Rebirth, it was so much fun the whole time (except those Platinum insane challenges), with gameplay / storytelling / character dev & music just making the time melt away so much the whole time.  It’s so rare to say that.  

Good advice for beating Jules. I might give that a whirl but if I don't start getting closer w/in a couple dozen attempts, I likely won't beat him. He was just destroying me every time lol. Is the Championship Belt even worth it as well? I'll need to look that up. I never really thought about using YT as means to figure things out, to be honest. I just kinda try to do that on my own but beating him might be too hard and a video might be needed lol.

A lot of those Gold Saucer games were hard as well and I hope I can go back to them b/c there's no way to beat them w/ my level. That Cockatrice was whooping my ***.

Good to see the battles continue to get harder as well. Beating Phoenix wasn't as hard once I leveled up more. Haven't tried Alexander yet though. I'm sure it will be hard at first lol. All the summon battles seem to be challenging at first.

I doubt I'll replay this on that hard mode but I might if I finish it as quickly as it's looking. W/ the next couple of games coming out that I want to play in August and November, it might be tough to play through again. If I do, it will be strictly the main story though.

You are right that it is just so much fun to play. As I said, I don't see how people only play for like an hour b/c when I feel like it's only been that long, turns out I've been playing for 2.5 hours lol. The game is unreal. The hype for it was so insane and the fact it's eclipse that hype doesn't seem like it's possible.

[Broncofan]

5 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Good advice for beating Jules. I might give that a whirl but if I don't start getting closer w/in a couple dozen attempts, I likely won't beat him. He was just destroying me every time lol. Is the Championship Belt even worth it as well? I'll need to look that up. I never really thought about using YT as means to figure things out, to be honest. I just kinda try to do that on my own but beating him might be too hard and a video might be needed lol.

A lot of those Gold Saucer games were hard as well and I hope I can go back to them b/c there's no way to beat them w/ my level. That Cockatrice was whooping my ***.

Good to see the battles continue to get harder as well. Beating Phoenix wasn't as hard once I leveled up more. Haven't tried Alexander yet though. I'm sure it will be hard at first lol. All the summon battles seem to be challenging at first.

I doubt I'll replay this on that hard mode but I might if I finish it as quickly as it's looking. W/ the next couple of games coming out that I want to play in August and November, it might be tough to play through again. If I do, it will be strictly the main story though.

You are right that it is just so much fun to play. As I said, I don't see how people only play for like an hour b/c when I feel like it's only been that long, turns out I've been playing for 2.5 hours lol. The game is unreal. The hype for it was so insane and the fact it's eclipse that hype doesn't seem like it's possible.

Yeah then add in the fact that Queen’s Blood is so cool & deep, and the protorelic & the side quests (except for the Chicken one) just add so much to the story and character development (and expand about 15-20 key NPC are interesting) it’s so engrossing.  It’s almost impossible to put down.  
 

Completing the region intel & side quests in the first play through wasn’t even my original intent I figured I’d do a replay and go 100 percent then - but it just was so rewarding to do them right away.      These aren’t Ubisoft fetch quest OCD-must complete check boxes.   They are so fun when you are fighting (other than those 3 VR missions omg) and they just keep giving you amazing character / story moments, game play growth & music you get sucked in.    And even the chicken quest final task & ending are so self aware my opinion of it changed a ton because of it (still aggravating to play lol).  
 

I’ve really never a played a game that’s been so fun except FF6.    Or as deep in character / world building as Mass Effect.   Or as gut-punch / deep feels as Last of Us.   And nothing like the depth / excellence of the music and side game like QB.    
 

But those were the peaks of those games.    And Rebirth matched or surpassed them in this regard.    To have all of those GOAT traits from different games in 1  - yes the ending creates issues (Discussed in spoiler thread) & yes Chadley fatigue is real / Platinum 6-7 hardest tasks are sooooo unfair.    But the highs are so numerous and it’s there in 90+ percent of moment to moment gameplay, story telling & music.      
 

It’s hard for me to play other games because of how immersively fun Rebirth  in almost every moment (VR hardest / sit-ups def not though lol).  4+ weeks after finishing Hard mode I’m still blown away.  

Edited June 4 by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

On 6/4/2024 at 4:19 PM, Broncofan said:

Yeah then add in the fact that Queen’s Blood is so cool & deep, and the protorelic & the side quests (except for the Chicken one) just add so much to the story and character development (and expand about 15-20 key NPC are interesting) it’s so engrossing.  It’s almost impossible to put down.  
 

Completing the region intel & side quests in the first play through wasn’t even my original intent I figured I’d do a replay and go 100 percent then - but it just was so rewarding to do them right away.      These aren’t Ubisoft fetch quest OCD-must complete check boxes.   They are so fun when you are fighting (other than those 3 VR missions omg) and they just keep giving you amazing character / story moments, game play growth & music you get sucked in.    And even the chicken quest final task & ending are so self aware my opinion of it changed a ton because of it (still aggravating to play lol).  
 

I’ve really never a played a game that’s been so fun except FF6.    Or as deep in character / world building as Mass Effect.   Or as gut-punch / deep feels as Last of Us.   And nothing like the depth / excellence of the music and side game like QB.    
 

But those were the peaks of those games.    And Rebirth matched or surpassed them in this regard.    To have all of those GOAT traits from different games in 1  - yes the ending creates issues (Discussed in spoiler thread) & yes Chadley fatigue is real / Platinum 6-7 hardest tasks are sooooo unfair.    But the highs are so numerous and it’s there in 90+ percent of moment to moment gameplay, story telling & music.      
 

It’s hard for me to play other games because of how immersively fun Rebirth  in almost every moment (VR hardest / sit-ups def not though lol).  4+ weeks after finishing Hard mode I’m still blown away.  

I usually never play the "game" side quests in these games. Like, TWIII, I never played Gwent. I never played the board game in Horizon: Forbidden West, etc but this card game is fun. It's damn hard at times too but I think that's just b/c I've gone up against people w/ way better decks. I need to take the time to build specific deck types but I just don't really feel like it.

I picked it up last night to get a quick 30-45 minutes in before bed but then the Dyne story line happened and next thing you know, it's been a hour and a half. This damn game....

[Broncofan]

On 6/7/2024 at 9:19 AM, BobbyPhil1781 said:

I usually never play the "game" side quests in these games. Like, TWIII, I never played Gwent. I never played the board game in Horizon: Forbidden West, etc but this card game is fun. It's damn hard at times too but I think that's just b/c I've gone up against people w/ way better decks. I need to take the time to build specific deck types but I just don't really feel like it.

I picked it up last night to get a quick 30-45 minutes in before bed but then the Dyne story line happened and next thing you know, it's been a hour and a half. This damn game....

Same for HFW, didn't even bother.    Without spoiling, if you get far enough, the story payoff if also worth it to see it through - and there's a tie-in really late in the game (I'll put it in Spoiler Thread).   All of which to say, if it was a chore to play, I don't think it's essential, but QB is so much fun.   And how much the side quests and Protorelic quests expand the character dev (and extends it to NPC's we do actually care about).   It's insane how much the devs tied in the side quests, protorelic quests and yes, even QB, to expand the total story.    It could literally have been its own DLC, even 2+ DLC packs, and ppl would have been over the moon with it - but it's in the full first release.

Can ppl play "just" the main quest and skip side quests / protorelic / QB?   Absolutely.   But the richness of the overall story goes deeper with playing everything (OK, not the chicken quest, but the last stage & ending are so self-aware, I went from pure rage at them to "OK, OK, I get it now, you kinda got me" - and that's literally about it).  

Again, this game is so appealing to OG fans AND new fans.   As @43M commented in his own thread - this is the magic that FF fans have been waiting for since VI - X (and X was so slowwww pacing-wise, but they had that character/music/story/fight mechanics <at the time> fun down like the others).     Another online gamer noted the combat, storytelling, character development and music weren't just elite, they were god-tier level.   That's so accurate IMO.    And, then, to make it this way for 100+ hours of 1st-play through completionist run?   That's old-school FFVI - VII depth, but modern-day visuals and cinematics we couldn't have imagined back in '97 - it's just a combo we've never seen b4, and given how SE pulled this off (keeping 80+ percent of the dev team for all 3 games, totally unheard of), we may never see the likes of again anytime soon, if ever.

One poster commented on one of the live streams I watched (I started watching the user Maximillian Dood after finishing the game myself) that this wasn't a love letter to FF / JRPG fans - it was a freaking full-on marriage proposal.   Kinda sums it up (and yet could apply to non-FF7 OG fans too).  The amount of love the devs poured into this game is unreal.     

I really don't see how any game beats it for GOTY.   I never thought there would be a game to unseat FFVI as my all-time fave (and again, unlike FFVI it's not perfection, but the depth of god-tier gaming you get to play in so many areas, and depth of storytelling/character dev/music/fun gameplay, that's how it gets to that level), but here we are. 

Edited June 11 by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

Was a little disappointed at how easy the chocobo races were. I thought once I got to the top, it'd be a hell of a challenge but I think I only lost a total of 3 times getting all of them done and it was always on the first run

[Broncofan]

3 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

Was a little disappointed at how easy the chocobo races were. I thought once I got to the top, it'd be a hell of a challenge but I think I only lost a total of 3 times getting all of them done and it was always on the first run

You're better than me - the first 10+ went fine, but once I got to the Hyperion gear races, it was a chore.   And those gates - probably would have been better off using the Chocobo that can jump, and take it out of the equation.

That Hyperion gear is absolutely broken once you get it, though.  The Billy side quest was a breeze once you have those.

To be clear, though - I never played the Mario Kart games, so I was a total n00b to racing games in general. 

(You can see if I had trouble with this one, how much some of the harder challenges in getting the last Can't Stop, Won't Stop side quest done would be <and if you haven't done that one yet, well, buckle up>). 

Edited Monday at 10:26 PM by Broncofan

[BobbyPhil1781]

2 hours ago, Broncofan said:

You're better than me - the first 10+ went fine, but once I got to the Hyperion gear races, it was a chore.   And those gates - probably would have been better off using the Chocobo that can jump, and take it out of the equation.

That Hyperion gear is absolutely broken once you get it, though.  The Billy side quest was a breeze once you have those.

To be clear, though - I never played the Mario Kart games, so I was a total n00b to racing games in general. 

(You can see if I had trouble with this one, how much some of the harder challenges in getting the last Can't Stop, Won't Stop side quest done would be <and if you haven't done that one yet, well, buckle up>). 

I lived in Mario Kart for a few years lol. The drifting controls are embedded into my muscle memory so yeah, it helped tremendously.