[odjnlinus]

Yeah Locke was the shizzle in FFIII (SNES for us ol timers, FFVI for you newtypes )

[DakAttack]

Seems like IX is edging out VIII.

[Armando]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Zidane was a tool and a poor attempt at recapturing the awesomeness that was Locke.

From what I've seen of the game, they're not one bit alike. The only link between them is they're both "Thieves."

Thanks for all the feedback. I got into a debate with a friend of mine because he said FFIX wasn't well-received. He told me all of his friends liked VIII but hated IX. On the other hand I was under the impression VIII's reception was kinda 50-50, with a good deal of people liking it and another good deal of them not liking it.

Interestingly enough the poll shows them being pretty even (at the time of this post). The reasons for not liking one or the other have been more varied than I expected as well.

[Malacite]

If I'm not mistaken doesn't Zidane rehash the old "Treasure Hunter" gag at least once?

He acts in a very similar manner to Locke as well, trying to be Mr. Cool & a hero. He's a mix of Locke & Cloud but set into Cecil's role story-wise. Hell, the first thing he does is break into the castle to "kidnap" the princess, much in the same way Locke discovers and rescues Terra. You have to really look into it to see the parallels.

Vivi was fairly unique I believe, can't really think of any previous character that fits his role.

About the closest thing to Quina would be Gogo but I still think that again, unique character.

Dagger was more or less a mix of Terra and Rosa.

Beatrix was a mix of Leo & Celes.

Steiner had some of Cyan's traits, though was largely original (I can't think of a previous character that fits)

Eiko was a mix of Rydia & Relm

Freya was Kain with a different set of personal demons

And Amarant was Shadow.


Seriously if you play it over again and really look for it you can see just how much the older games influenced everything. Already said this but 9 was basically a remake of 4 with a different cast and alterations to make it fresh. There are also plenty of easter eggs for those who've played 1-8 ^^

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

FFIX was kinda like FFXII in that they arrived toward the end of the console's cycles (though in this case, PS2 still stubbornly refuses to die and people still actively play them because the successor - unlike PS2 was to PSx - is just too damn expensive). People had moved on to PS2 and were big into the PS2 hype when FFIX hit, so it didn't garner as much attention as it could have.

Though truthfully, if you had a PS2 near its lauch, PSX games were really all you had to play on it for a good long while, unless you really just couldn't stop playing Dynasty Warriors 2, Tekken Tag Tournament and SSX. PS2 had a seriously long dry spell, didn't go away until Ico, DMC, GTA III and MGS2 rolled out.

I've had two runs on both FFIX and FFVIII and I like FFVIII more just because there was so much more to do. I liked that FFIX tried to maintain a more up-beat and old-school outlook, but I felt in this particular game that everything took a backseat to the story and that the sidequests really weren't that appealing or rewarding. FFVIII - for as much as I hated most of the characters (Laguna and his friends were awesome, though, give me a game about their adventures), I felt FFVIII kept on giving when it came to sidequests, minigames and overall gameplay.

[Feba]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

PS2 still stubbornly refuses to die and people still actively play them because the successor - unlike PS2 was to PSx - is just too damn expensive

Not to mention the PS2 has inarguably the single best gaming library of all time. There's a lot to catch up with there. The PlayStation was a great console, no doubt, but when you look back, most of its titles haven't aged well for various reasons. Great PS2 games have held up very well.

[Malacite]

Ah Laguna, so much fail and yet so much win all wrapped into one silly character =3

[TheGrandMom]

Laguna is hot!

/em has been cleaning for days on end and has inhaled WAY too many fumes...

[Aylmer]

I picked 9 over 8 because 8 had its realism as far as character design went but it totally lacked in a story line and I actually got bored with it. Nine had fun characters, an engaging story line, and a decent battle system. I stopped 8 in Pandemonium but 9 I was so engrossed that I played non-stop almost until the end.

[Tickmeoff]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Ah Laguna, so much fail and yet so much win all wrapped into one silly character =3

FFFFFFFFFFF

Laguna flashback sequences are what prevent me from replaying VIII every time I try.

[GreatMno]

I like both just fine, but I continue to enjoy VIII more.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Tickmeoff

Laguna flashback sequences are what prevent me from replaying VIII every time I try.

You can't HANDLE the sexy!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Quick aside: Can we all agree that Triple Triad totally owns Tetra Master?

Give me Triple Triad Online SE, $1 a month, I promise I'd play forever.

I know about the homebrewed version, but the community for it seems pretty dead.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Quick aside: Can we all agree that Triple Triad totally owns Tetra Master?

Give me Triple Triad Online SE, $1 a month, I promise I'd play forever.

I know about the homebrewed version, but the community for it seems pretty dead.

Yes we can agree! My poor TT cards are packed away and in a storage center. /sigh

[Feba]

I didn't care for Triple Triad, but I think a lot of that is because of how annoying games-within-a-game tend to be. Especially when you gamble your cards, have to travel around to fight people, there's no structure (for example, going to local card shops to find people/tournaments), etc. And the entire "OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS ENDING AROUND US I'M ABOUT TO BE CRUSHED WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE A HORRIBLE DE-- oh, you wanna play cards? Sure!" bit really, really bugs me.

I'd have to reevalute it outside of FF8 to give it a fair shot.