[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

My PC is slow, so I finally got around to really looking at the FFIV site. I have to say I'm really glad they chose to emphasize this one for the 20th anniversery in terms of remakes since it really is THE Final Fantasy that put not only a solid story to the forefront, but remains pretty much the only FF with a much older cast of characters than the others.

The casts have always been diverse, but FFIV's just felt more mature overall and I've only seen such a level of maturity since in FFXII. I guess what I mean is FFV-FFX-2 had a lot of "campy" moments and characters, FFIV and FFXII were just plain heavy and much more emotionally charged to me.

The beauty of FFIV was that like IX (which had 4 people btw BBQ) the game forced you to use different characters at different points of the game on a regular basis so that no one got neglected.

FFIX did it very, very poorly. If you didn't have a guide book open, you were totally fucked in that prison area shrouded in myst. I picked all mage characters for that section and, well, magic was useless there. They story didn't even hint I'd be cut off from using magic there. I had to grind them to a melee-worthy level and just hope I had enough potions to get out.

FFIV, FFVI and FFX never did that to you.

[Malacite]

You mean when you split into 4 teams? I"m pretty sure it was mentioned somewhere (I'm playing through it again right now) and they did it just fine. 1 segment does = very poor over all.

[Balfree]

I never used any guides for any FF game, i dont know what youre talking about BBQ

[Jei]

You tried to manaburn in FFIX?!?!

[Gobo]

Originally Posted by Jei

You tried to manaburn in FFIX?!?!

I totally did it lol. Vivi Dagger Eiko and Zidane (ok not 100% mages). Had Dagger act as a SMN and Eiko act as the WHM, since she got better white magic than Dagger anyway. If there was no need for healing, would have Eiko summon or cast Holy. Even in Oeilvert, either ran or just tickled things into submission. I think I did one battle, Deathguize, entirely manaburned, since using Magic Hammer until it had no MP made the fight stupidly easy.

I think the basic pattern I did was (at the end of the game):

Zidane: Attack until Trance, then Grand Dyne (didn't have the patience to work on Thievery)

Dagger: Summon Bahamut, 9999 damage everytime (had 99 Garnets+Boost, 1/2 MP helps as well). If HP is really bad, help heal.

Eiko: Cure party and Mini. If HP/status is fine summon Maudeen or Cast Holy.

Vivi: Cast Flare if its one opponent, Meteor if its a group. If party was equipped with Shadow absorb, Doomsday ahahahahaha.

[Malacite]

It's too bad Vivi couldn't get Ultima :3

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Balfree

I never used any guides for any FF game, i dont know what youre talking about BBQ

Then I take it you can tell me just how you got Steiner's Excalibur without reading the guide or GameFAQs?

I didn't use a guide on the first run, either. But I thumbed through a guide later on and not even the guide was complete.

Why?

Square wanted you to use POL to get hints. So even the guide was a ripoff.

FFIX not only signaled a departure for the series, it was the first FF that was a guinea pig for their online network. It was pretty lame how they treated FFIX and that's why you never saw them pull such a stunt in FFX or FFXII later on. What they did with FFIX was not well-received by gamers.

FFXII did pull that "World of Ruin" treasure chest crap on you, though. Thankfully, I learned not to touch them so much since FFVI.

[Malacite]

Yeah I have the brady games guide... and the whole POL thing was really annoying (even more so now since you can't even use it anymore!)

[hamiko]

WoW amazing

[DarkEpyon]

I wonder if that "Theme of Love" vocal track is on any of the FF vocal CD's. I somehow doubt it though. It's probably a brand new recording.

As far as the voice acting goes, so far I like what I hear. The voices seem to fit the characters well. When/if this game does get localized, I wonder if they'll pull a Capcom and cut out a good chunk of voice acting like with Mega Man ZX. I highly doubt this though.

As said before, this game should've been on PSP. If anything to knock the DS off its perch of #1 console like what happened with CC:FF7. It didn't hurt that said game could also be purchased with a special edition PSP either.

Either way, I'd still get this game, as FF4 has always held a place in my heart as being the first game to really get me into RPGs. Now, I'd played FF1 and Dragon Warrior, but I wasn't really that big a fan. That is, until I played FF4 for the first time, or shall I say FF2 as it was known back then.