/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1460058
that one

4 is my favorite. I like the steadily weirder story.
5 has the best gameplay, by far
6 is the easiest to recommend to others.

>>1460061
Seconded, and I kinda like j2e's translation even if some people think it's a bit dry.

FF6 is great but I find it too much of a deal to jump back into after I beat it 7 years ago. Probably should give it another crack with the Standing Guard retranslation but I'm not sure if I can bother.

>>1460087
>some people think it's a bit dry.

You mean the one with the William Shatner references? I've heard complaints about that translation but "dry" wasn't one of them.

FFVI is my favorite for the characters and overall story, but FFV's job system kicks ass, too. It's hard for me to choose between them. FFIV was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two.

I guess there's Mystic Quest, too. At least it had awesome music to go with all its faults.

>>1460093
Yeah, that one. Apparently some people think that but it's definitely one of the lower complaints about it. Even if it's not the most accurate it has more soul to it than the original translation (which was still perfectly functional mind). Woolsey and co didn't quite get into their stride untill FF6 and CT.

>>1460108
Yeah, nothing says "soul" like fanfiction, out of date pop culture references, and excessive swearing.

FFV

All of them are good. Best is just a matter of what you want in an RPG.

FF4 has the best game mechanics.
FF5 has the best battles and enemies.
FF6 has the best characters and story.
Mystic Quest has the best music.

I love the more simple, straight-forward approach of Final Fantasy 4. For me, 6 involved too much character switching and many parts I found to be too complicated for my enjoyment.

Final Fantasy 6 was definitely the biggest of the SNES trilogy, but for me, it was just too much.

>>1460058
Damn! Looking at that screen shot makes me want to play some Super NES RPGs. Might just have to play Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy IV here in a moment. These old Super NES games rule. I wish they still made games like this.

4 has the best music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKuS5I24Mhw

>>1460134
>FF4 was a solid game with a good balance of story and mechanics
>FF5 had the best mechanics
>FF6 had the best story

FF2 SNES (fuck the proper nomenclature) was the first FF I ever played and will always be special to me.

>>1460218
>The first boss I think of is Dark Dragon
I dont know why. That fight sucked balls until I learned you could use weak on him.

>>1460058
Chrono Trigger
But IV is my favorite because it has Rydia.

IV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM1JHV3oFhw

GOAT soundtrack

ITT: A strange parallel universe where more people prefer 4 than say 5 and 6 combined... A strange, strange world indeed.

>>1460526
just goes to show how important the OP image is

>>1460541
I guess.... Still it's really, really weird.

>>1460545
Why would it be weird? 4 is by far the least tedious FF game and has a way cooler aesthetic than any of the other 16bit ones.

>>1460554

Boring aesthetic is cooler? The worst thing about IV was its washed out palette and mediocre character designs. Who the fuck would honestly remember the entire cast?

>>1460559
Washed out? Are you sure you aren't thinking of 6? Either that or you are using the wrong adjective.

>>1460560

The first picture of gameplay on Google mobile. That's washed out if I've ever seen it.

>>1460559
>mediocre character designs
The twins were the only bad designs and the rest of the cast is iconic throughout the series.

>>1460569
This is what FF6 looks like.

But I'm not talking about the use of colors, I'm talking about the cool late 80s animu aesthetic. With sky knights and enemy robot soldiers for no reason and shit.

>>1460572
I liked the twins

>>1460569
cherrypickan

>>1460576

It was the first picture. I can't cherry pick that.

>>1460576
He's gonna grow up to look like an old lesbian.

>>1460576
It took me until the sequel to remember their names because PALom was a "pal" and PORom had a poor chapter.

>>1460572

Edward, Edge, and FuSoYa were good characters?

>>1460594
It wouldn't be the same game without Edward being generally worthless and a spoony bard. Edge is generally on my mind when I play because he dies so easily, so he's definitely a memorable character. And FuSoYa is memorable, too. He's pretty weird and different. He has a rad dead sprite.

V is my favorite of the SNES group and my favorite of all the FF's. The job system is so versatile, it's great to just fuck about in and try out different strategies. I've never played through the game the same way twice.

IV and VI are good too, though. I think IV is a bit too basic and it does some dumb stuff with the characters dying and then coming back, but I can't fault it too much since it kind of an advancement for the series as a whole. VI has good gameplay, great story and characters, but there's too damn many of them IMO.

>>1460601
Edward actually mans up and is pretty cool by the end

>>1460574
I much prefer the look of the OP screenshot to this one. I guess I'm just really oldschool like that. I have a DS and haven't played many native games on it simply because I don't like the looks of most of them, but I've played tons of NES and GB roms. Those were the current systems when I was growing up, so they left their mark. Even the SNES games seem too detailed to me, so never really tried them, but that FF4 screenshot makes me want to play it. :-)

Whichever one you've played first as a kid.

On a serious note however, FF5 by a mile. I'll never understand the appeal of FF4 and why it's so popular. Only FF that was even more boring is 9.

I like IV/V about equally for different reasons.
IV for the characters and general story and V for the job system.

Incidentally, these are the only two Final Fantasy games i've been able to get in to.
I've tried to play most of the other ones, but i usually lose interest a bit in and never pick it up again.

IV is by far my favorite FF in general, and one of my favorite games ever
It was my first FF game and there's some nostalgia involved, but I do replay it every few years and it still holds up

I'm pretty surprised at all the IV love in this thread though, it's usually me and like one other guy who likes it in these kinds of threads

>>1460134
>FF4 has the best game mechanics.

What? How could you possibly say that? What kind of logic is at work in your head to say that?

FF4 doesn't let you choose your companions or their jobs, everything is predetermined by the plot. You can't learn different spells or anything either since everything is just learned on level-up. Even the very first FF game gives you more freedom.

You said FF5 has the best battles so I suppose with game mechanics you mean character progression and builds and such. But FF4 has NONE of that.

>>1460218

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKuS5I24Mhw
>Not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq6Il7X_W9U

>>1460512

Can't go wrong with the soundtrack of any final fantasy all the way to 9. Nobuo Uematsu only made pure gold.

I should really replay 4, 5 and six.

All of them got great soundtrack, a good story-line, but Final Fantasy six is definitely my favorite with WoR

I only played IV and VI, and I say VI, though i did play it first.

>>1460087
I played the SNES translation of IV and I'd say that was the biggest flaw. What's the point of talking to people if all they say is stuff like "I am a dwarf"?

>>1460172
Character switching? I agree that VI had way too many characters (Gogo, Umaro and Mog are stupid) but at least they didn't swap constantly like in IV.

>>1460559
>>1460560
>>1460574
Just comparing the first screens here. IV looked pretty good throughout the game, but VI was beautiful. That boring blue sky is pretty washed out.

>>1460934
Why does more choice necessarily have to equal good mechanics? WRPG fans have been decrying JRPGs for years with that logic, and it's no less wrong today than it was twenty years ago.

Why do all jRPGs look so similar

>>1461010

Because you purposefully picked a similar looking game.

You could just as well take two first person dungeon crawlers and point out similarities.

>>1461013
Come on, you know what I mean. Every FF and DQ derivative looked very samey.

I just charged up my GBA.

I gotta take a long bus ride now. I'm going to paly the living fuck out of FF4 again.

I've beaten it like 4 times. Here goes the 5th.

Thanks, OP.

>>1461007

So what mechanis does FF4 have? Like, at all?

Putting on equipment and selecting spells from a list. That is literally the extend of all the "mechanics" FF4 has and all the other FF games have those too.

FFV>FFIV>FFVI

They're all great for different reasons, but 6 is the best all round package.

4 has a great story and characters, but the graphics are pretty rough compared 6 (not too bad compared to 5) and the battle system isn't really standout imho. It's good, just not ff5/6 good.

FF5 has the job system in probably its best outing. Combat is fun from start to finish. The plot is pretty good but lacks a lot of the 'holy crap' moments in ff4. Has moogles.

FF6 has by far the best graphics, a pretty darn good battle system, great plot, loads to do and it's a lot easier to get the hang of too.

If you're worried about starting with 6 then going backwards and being unimpressed, don't be. I started with 6 and I loved 5 and 4 as well. Even though due to an unfortunate save state incident I didn't beat 4 until the ds remake...

>>1461086
I already said that good and bad mechanics aren't about how many choices you have. It's pointless to try and explain to you if you're just going to keep trying to bring it back to that.

>>1461115
Alright then, what are the good mechanics FFIV has over V or VI?

I straight up cannot believe what I am reading in this thread. I am hereby issuing an official decree that everyone in this thread needs to play FFVI right the fuck now, just so you can be reminded what makes it so great. Let me just run it down for you in my own broken way.

It's the best looking 16-bit Final Fantasy graphically. I don't really think I need to argue this, just compare a couple screenshots.

I'd say it's got the best music, by far.
Let me just remind you what the first five or so minutes sounded like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDMWp1oLoA0

As a kid this blew my mind completely, since I was just used to the familiar final fantasy arpeggio. As an adult I can really appreciate the changes in time and use of great samples that really set it apart from other games. Hell, this soundtrack is so bombin' that even Nobuo Uematsu says it's the best work he's ever done.

It's easily got the best story. Name me another Final Fantasy game where the bad guy gets exactly what he wants? The bad guy WINS in FFVI. The pacing was spot on. A lot of people didn't like the opera segment, but if you were keen you'd understand that the game is very operatic in nature. The whole game is essentially an opera in story, music, and execution (That's why you have a cute little moogle narrating events in the game, and extremely stressful situations are broken up by comedic relief) All of the characters were interesting and had their own personalities. 1/3 of the characters are completely optional to get in the first place.

It's the longest of the four games. Just when you think you're at the final boss, you literally have half of the game to beat. Also a second world to explore.

>>1461135
Now let's talk mechanics. In FFVI, every single character has a different mechanic you get to play around with. To make things more interesting, there are segments in the game where you get to split up your characters into three separate parties. All magic can be taught to any character if you care to grind it out. On top of that there are some pretty crazy equipment combinations that are really fun to play around with (Can you say, octuple attack doubled again by Gogo? Quad-Meteor?).

Each character is good in their own way if you gear them up. Lots of people ignore Gau, but with a little bit of preparation, he can be one of the most broken characters in the game. Sabin can fucking suplex a goddamn undead train.

Alright all this being said I do have to admit that I really like FFIVs straight-forward-ness. It's a Final Fantasy game at its most core, and I can really appreciate it for that. Plus you go to the goddamn moon. FFV has an incredible job system, and the merged-world's mechanic was fucking cool. Also it has my favorite FF song of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMTXyExkeI

But to me FFVI stands out from the rest of the crowd miles away. I can sit down and replay that game any day of the week and still be completely blown away at the game's execution.

It's the magnum opus.

>>1461135
Calm down poindexter, I can assure you most of us have played VI. Not everyone has the same tastes as you.

>>1461115
>I already said that good and bad mechanics aren't about how many choices you have

What are good and bad mechanics about in your opinion? And how are 4's better than 5's and 6's?

>>1461135
FF6's graphics are ok. The enemies looks great, and so do the battle sprites, but the colors are so muted and the tilesets, frankly, suck. Its a good looking game overall, but hardly amazing.

And its too long and has too many tedious parts.

This is why 4 is better. Though I love that FF6 seems to take its enemy design directly from the concept art. Stuff like Atma looks like it walked right out of an Amano drawing.

I think the question whether IV is better than the others or not does really have a lot to do with nostalgia.

It's kind of like comparing Super Mario Bros 1 to 3. Some people might just appreciate the simplicity and speedrun-ability of the original and don't care so much for the changes they've made, but if you look at them objectively, 3 is just so far ahead of 1 in every aspect of design. It's the same with FF4.

>>1461140
Thanks for the thoughtful response.

>>1461141
Not him but IV was more challenging than V or VI, in part due to the fact you have to work with whats available.

and before some wit chimes in with
>jrpgs
>challenging
I'm talking about in comparison to other SNES FFs

>>1461135
>>1461139
I went through the first 9 Final Fantasy games a year or so ago. 6 was my third least favorite, just ahead of 2 and 8. I just don't care about the graphics and I liked 4 and 5's OSTs more. Also, 6 really just felt like it was dragging once I got to the World of Ruin.

>>1461151
When you get to the World of Ruin you can basically beat the game. It goes into open-world mode and you can just fuck around to your heart's content. It's as tedious as you make it.

>>1461150
>but IV was more challenging

The DS version, maybe (ironically that one does give you a degree of choice). The SNES original was already pretty easy and they made it even simpler for the US release.

>>1461154
>The SNES original was already pretty easy
it's still harder than V or VI, which are both sleepwalk-tier

>>1461163
Long-text-fag here. The World of Ruin in VI is full of some of the most difficult dungeons, not to mention the Arena.

FF4:

+Has no tedious filler
+Has classic style gameplay where the dungeons try to wear you down and you have to watch your resources.
+Has amazing music
+Is not very long and can be beaten in a weekend of casual play. Its great for replays.
+Consistent and distinct visuals
+awesome 80s anime style

Its been my favorite FF game since the first time I played it. Which was after 6. 6 is full of really tedious shit. Its still one of the best RPGs on the SNES, but as far as replaying goes, its not nearly as fun.

So which version of FFIV is the best one to play?
I own the DS version but the game sort of lost its charm with the 3d.
I'm emulating the PSP edition, but having to switch between different emulators to get around the bugs is kind of annoying.
GBA sound is bad
PS1 has long load times
and SNES is meh.
I just got past this guy in all versions
So which one should I continue playing?

>>1461169
only dungeon I can think of that was remotely difficult was the one you get locke in and the coliseum was a total crapshoot

>>1461181
SNES

>>1461181
>DS has no charm
>GBA has bad sound
>PS1 has loading times
>SNES is meh

Anon, I think you just don't like FF4..

>>1461186
because it's simply a mediocre final fantasy

glad to see all the IV love

>>1461186
It's been on my backlog ever since I saw my cousin playing it when I was five. First time I saw it I was totally mind blown. I just want to get the best experience, that's all.
>>1461185
> SNES
but muh new dungeons/after years/new game +, I don't want to miss out on them.
Also why do people put Kain in the back row?

>>1461201

Because his jump damage is unaffected by his position. I think.

It's strange, while not my favorite FF game, FF4 is the only one I don't mind replaying. I always have so much fun.

>>1461185
Not even nostalgia can save the SNES version.
>all those removed commands (this one was the worst)
>all that censorship
>that crappy translation

>>1461181
To be honest, you're playing my favorite version of the game.
Just get a fucking PSP, I got a 3000 for 40€ new, they are really cheap and fucking awesome (>dat perfect built in PS1 emulator)

I own this game on SNES, GBA, Playstation, and Playstation Portable. For what its worth, I replay it on SNES. I don't really care for playing it on a small screen, and the PSX version takes longer to load things.

>>1460594
The topic wasn't good characters, it was good character designs. Edward, Edge and the Sentient Beard are all aesthetic and memorable.

With that aside, Edge is a good character, and he is even good to play if you know what to do with him (Take off that fucking Genji armor that gives him -80% Evasion, Buy 20 or so Fuma Shurikens at the Kokkol forge instead of 5 Elixers). FuSoYa is good for the extra Reflect to fight Bahamut and for certain spells that Rydia doesn't get until later. Edward doesn't get any love until the remakes and sequels but like someone else said, he made you feel heroic.

>>1461181
>>1461249

Why do idiots continiously perpetuate the idiotic idea that the PS1 version of FF4 has load times?

It's the best option if you want to experience the game the way the developers intended, spotty translation aside.

>>1461270
Because I've played it; "idiot". Menus take longer to open. That is a load time.

>>1461273
No they don't. I've run side by side comparisons on actual hardware, and there's no discernible difference.

>>1461015
>Come on, you know what I mean. every build engine derivative looked very samey.

>>1461135
Great. Now I can't play FFV because you just spoiled one of the plot twists. Thanks.

FINAL FANTASY IV

THE BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME OF ALL-TIME!!!!!!

>>1461135
>It's the longest of the four games.
didn't feel like that to me at all. I beat in 2 weeks when I was a casual teen.

>>1461910
It's a twenty year old game, you've had more than enough time to play it

>>1462137
yeah fair point but there's spoilertext for a reason.

Also, you think only people who have played every single fucking game come to these threads? What's the point? Arguing about what's the better game? Why? What's the fucking point?

>>1462143
Even if you never had an SNES and had to wait for emulators you'd still be looking at 10+ years in which you could have played it.
Complaining about spoilers for it now is like complaining about someone spoiling Star Wars.

>>1462172
Enlighten me with thy wisdom. What is thy decree on the cutoff for spoilers, oh Spoiler King?

>>1462172
what is backlog?
what is college/work?

Whatever, pointless talking about it now since there's no reason to play it anymore since he just spoiled it. Have a good day anon.

>>1460058
FF4 will always be my favorite, it just felt the most like an actual "fantasy" story with heroes and kings and warriors who actually had a place in the world. FF6 was just too "teen drama" for me.. 6 was the Smallville of Final Fantasies.

>Not picking V

Okay so it didn't have the best of plots, but goddamn that gameplay.

>>1461910
Let's be honest: outside of one or two characters and some jokes no one plays FFV for the story at all.

>>1462137
>>1462143
>>1462172
>>1462175
Just to give my two cents.
In a thread unrelated to what your talking/spoiling, use the spoiler tags. For instance, if we're having a Mario thread, use spoiler text when referring to the latest twist in a new Zelda game.
However, if you are in a Zelda thread, feel free to post it without spoilers, people should be careful themselves and have played the game already.
But that's just my opinion.

ffIV story spoiler: half the cast dies and come back because the story is like a retarded medieval dragon ball z

>>1462215

Would you kindly elaborate on the "teen drama" part? Honestly, the only things I can think of that come close to that are some scenes with Terra, Celes, and possibly Locke.

>>1462238
But...I did. Granted, it might not have been anything that would've won awards, but I found it entertaining.

...Okay, so I totally played it because of the job system, but I still enjoyed the story.

>>1462241
Only one character actually dies, retard.

>>1461139
>(Can you say, octuple attack doubled again by Gogo?)

Can you say, Quick + Genji Glove + Offering + Gogo's Mimic = 16 attacks on 2 turns?
Final Fantasy VI is a completely broken game if you know how to exploit it's weakneses.

Can you say Genji Glove + Offering+Thief's Knife + Thief's Knife + Gogo's Mimic = 16 theft attempts on a sigle turn to be used against those assholes who refuse to drop their special items?

Can you say, taking Umaro + Blizzard Orb+ Offering to the Fanatic's tower and watch how the sasquash paints the walls red with the blood of the mage enemies who can't survive a single hit?

>>1461146
>And its too long

And since when is that bad for an RPG?

>>1462754
can you say echo screen into Setzer's joker doom? Get the real strats son

>>1462292
sounds like that dude didn't beat Ex-Death with many people standing

>>1462758
There's a point where length has diminishing returns that eventually spiral into negatives.

>>1462765
Ex-Death? He's talking about Final Fantasy 4, in which the only playable character that dies is Tellah

>>1461135
>The bad guy WINS in FFVI
God I hate kefkafags. No, you still kill his bozo ass at the end of the game.

>>1461191
>implying all final fantasy games aren't mediocre

>>1462892

Not to mention, FF6 isn't even the first game where an unpreventable end of the world scenario happens to the player.

>>1462754
Why would you put the Blizzard Orb on Umaro? It completely ruins him.

>>1462292

only one dies and stays dead yeah. palom and porom sacrifice themselves by turning themselves to stone, rydia gets eaten by a monster and goes back, yang and cid both try and sacrifice themselves for you, tellah sacrifices himself trying to blow up the bad guy. they might not -actually- die but the game has you assume they do i guess for the sake of keeping down your party size. which is something that could

the storyline is a hilarious parade of characters apparently dying and then coming back at their convenience or for random unimportant shit

>>1462973

*could have been handled way better. ill pretend the second half of that sentence desperately sacrificed itself for my sake tho

5 or 6, but I'm leaning more toward 6 because it captured my imagination like crazy as a kid. I think it was the vibe of the game. Something about it was just cold and wrong.