/vr/ - Retro Games

FF9 is impossible to 100% on the first try.

>i don't want to use a guide my first playthrough
Then don't. Play the game through. After you've beaten it, see what you've missed that's unobtainable later in the game. Then play through again and get it.
Like when I played Persona the first time through back in the 90s, I saw a guide that mentioned getting Chris (or whatever his nip name is) in the party. I was entirely unaware this was possible, so i played it through again.

>>1571314

You've made this exact same thread before. Making quite a bit of progress, eh?

>>1571314
>TL;DR do I need a guide to 100% this game if I'm not in the mood to put too much effort into it?

Yes. Don't do it on the first playthrough, though. Just go through normally, you'll have more fun.

>Also, is this character good?
I like her, too bad the game forgets about her around disc 2. She's pretty decent, especially if you kill enough dragons to do 9999 damage with Dragon's Crest. I usually keep her in my party for most of the game.

>>1571323

It's impossible, period. You can't do all of the sidequests, steal all rare and missable items from enemies, grab every missable treasure from every dungeon, grab every hidden item from the mundane spots around towns, do all those shitty mini games with perfect scores *and* get the Excalibur II in less than 15 hours. It was barely possible (thanks to savestates) before new a new sidequest was discovered earlier this year.

>>1571334
d-did I?
shit man, I don't think I did, maybe it was someone else?
How much time ago was it?

>>1571349
>steal all rare and missable items from enemies, grab every missable treasure from every dungeon, grab every hidden item from the mundane spots around towns
OP here, this is what worries me.
Even forgetting an ether somewhere in a dark alley makes me nauseous. I guess I'll kick myself in the ass and do it with a guide even though it will mean I won't develop as intimate a relationship with it as with the other two games I mentioned.
After all, maybe I'm too old to create such a relationship with a game in the first place anymore.

>>1571360
>I guess I'll kick myself in the ass and do it with a guide even though it will mean I won't develop as intimate a relationship with it as with the other two games I mentioned.

It really isn't about that, it's more like you are going to have absolutely no fun doing it. Really. The amount of shit in this game, and the stuff you have to do to get some of it, is ridiculous.

>>1571327
I played the original Persona back when I lived in Japan. One of my friends at school kept telling us about the Snow Queen quest but he was also the kind of kid that would spread Pokemon rumors and claim that things from whatever adaption were possible in the game (And he did when the Pokemon anime came about in 1997). He actually cited the manga that was being published at the time. Being the boy who cried truck we ignored and ostracized him for his rampant lying.

OUR FACES WHEN WE FOUND OUT THE TRUTH!

>>1571360

Are you aware how the Excalibur II is obtained? You have to play through the entire game in under 15 hours, otherwise it disappears. By the time you reach disc 4, most of the game's locations are magically sealed off for some inexplicable reason, so you'll never be able to go back and reclaim anything you forgot to pick up earlier. To make matters worse, many sidequests just randomly disappear or become locked. For instance, I remember having to place stones in various statues near Maiden Sari. Again, for inexplicable reasons the sidequest stops working at some point in the game. Trying to interact with the statues doesn't do anything at all, even though you still have the stones in your inventory.

Do yourself a favor and skip FF9. It's not for completionists.

>>1571385
I discovered evidence of the SQQ myself. I had back then some software that allowed view and extraction of PSX video files. I popped in Persona and, to my surprise, found several video files I've never seen before. One of Philemon Japanesing at me. Another of a frozen-over school. And so on. It renewed some interest for me in the game. That was in 1997. I had the game like a month after it was release, though.

>>1571398
It's actually 12 hours.

>Also, is this character good?

FF9 is pretty much lets you use any character you like. There aren't any bad choices in that respect.

...that being said, Freya is the best character in the series

>>1571398
If you want 100%, you'll need to have the game run for two years so the timer overflows. Let's be honest though, Ex2 isn't worth the effort. It's purely a speed run trophy.

>>1571409
>Is a lady but isn't prone to kidnapping
>Has a lover and he's not the main character
>Is an anthropomorphic rat but isn't furry bait
>Is patriotic but isn't a stuck-up bitch about it
>Implied rat petting between her and Zidane

>>1571314
Man, to each his own but it sounds like you do not get to have much enjoyment if you just have to do every single thing in one playthrough.

>>1571423
Too bad she gets the shittiest ending of any of the main characters. Meanwhile the woman largely responsible for it gets one of the best endings.

>>1571398
>You have to play through the entire game in under 15 hours, otherwise it disappears.
what
the
fuck

is it the best sword in the game or just a reward for the speedrun?
I don't mind leaving a trophy behind on my first playthrough but I do want the best wep for each character

>Do yourself a favor and skip FF9. It's not for completionists.
ah, maybe I should try VI again instead
I really thought I'd love IX if I stuck with it

>>1571435
I know man, it's a tight situation because it's a clash between my current emotional state and my completionist nature.

>>1571456
>is it the best sword in the game or just a reward for the speedrun?
Excalibur II is Steiner's best sword.

Excalibur II is Steiner's best sword with 108 attack power, but it's not technically his ultimate weapon, which I believe is considered the Ragnarok. It's for bragging rights, you don't /need/ to get it. It doesn't teach him any abilities he can't learn from anywhere else. That said, you'll probably miss somethings on your first play-through. I know I did. I still come back to this game about once or twice a year (I'm actually at the end right now, but I just need to beat the last optional boss, even though it's not totally required). All I can say is steal, steal, steal from every boss, because they practically always have a piece of equipment you can't get till a little bit later. Even if it's the next town, you're still saving money. Hold to all equipment, even useless pieces, because abilities are honestly more important than stats, and plus there's synthesizing new weapons, armor, and accessories.

>>1571456
It is, but Steiner is so powerful by the endgame he hits for several thousand damage per hit. You might as well give him the blood sword and haste him.

Also, this might be a stupid question considering how FFs usually work but do I have to have zidane in my party? I really don't like his character design at all. I want Vivi, Steiner, Freya and probably that frog person.
If I CAN bench him, can I teach steal to someone else?

Sadly, you can't bench him until the final dungeon. There's a few areas in the game (Disc 1/2 and one portion in Disc 3) where scene switches put him out of the party. Every character has a unique skill set and unfortunately his is being the thief.

>>1571476
You can't bench him except in the final dungeon.

>>1571476
Yes but not until near the end. No. In that order.

>>1571480
>>1571482
>>1571484
So considering skill sets are set for each character would that party be ok (Zidane/Vivi/Steiner/Freya) or will I get my ass kicked and have to switch Steiner for a healer?

Lack of a healer is gonna hurt. I'd probably pull out Vivi for one of the two healers you get, probably the one you get latter one -- the first healer you have is honestly more a summoner and has more summons, while the second has more limited summons but a more expanded white magic roster.

>>1571517
Is the first character you mentioned the princess and the second the frog person? I don't remember them much but I think I like the frog person more.

>>1571514
Use items. You'll have a metric fucktonne of cash later and it'll do you no good to have it laying about.

>>1571547
Princess and little goyl.

>>1571334

I remember the earlier thread. It spawned a huge argument about whether or not 100% completion was possible, so I originally thought OP was just trying to stir some shit, but you seem sincere.

ahahah, wtf, why was this allowed?
I remember seeing this exact image in a gaming magazine way back in the day as a kid and I thought "wtf"

>>1571620
It's a skin-tight underlayer of clothing. Look at the tone of her face compared to it. Have to agree though, I thought the same thing.

>>1571632
It is an extremely subtle skin-tight underlayer of clothing, to the point where it is a questionable design choice.

>>1571620
If you always choose the nice response in her dialog choices you unlock her romance-quest in disc 4.

If you play FF9 without a guide, you WILL miss stuff.

If you play FF9 WITH a guide, you WILL miss stuff on your first playthrough.

Getting everything in the game requires getting most of it in under 12 hours, which means knowing exactly what to do, mashing through all the dialogs, and resetting when things don't know according to plan. It's really not worth it.

>>1571695
s-she's 6 years old
and doesn't zidane have the hots for the garnet person?

>>1571314

It's because FF9 has serious, serious pacing issues.

http://www.romhacking.net/?page=hacks&game=2059

Add these two romhacks. One is just an added weapon, and the other is a nice ATP speedup. That will make battles a bit more tolerable.

The game still needs an editor to go through it and cut unneeded dialogue and scenes.

>>1571769
Tbh after this thread I think I'll do VI instead.
I did start only a week ago after all and gave up after the moog fight. My main problem was 3 seconds of black screen in every transition (bring up the meny, fights, etc) which really made it more tedious than the earliest stage of the game already is.
But I guess I now have to decide wether to do VI with a guide or not.
I'm 85% sure I'll just end up playing VIII again since I played VII last december

>>1571775

Remember there's missable stuff in VI also if you open the wrong chests.

>>1571314

Freya isn't a bad choice as a permanent party member. She can put regen status on the entire party, restore the party's MP, and she has a later skill that can inflict max damage. In fact, she's often used to defeat one of the game's superbosses for this reason.

FFIX keeps the damage cap at 9999, so any character with a skill that can ignores defense or inflicts static damage within that range is pretty much the most useful type of character to have around. Quina is another good example. Her "Frog Drop" will consistently deal max damage to everything if you participate in the frog catching sidequest.

>>1571809
>missables
Pretty much everything is missable post WoB.

FF6 isn't hard though. You can beat the game by spamming magic, you can use espers, you can use broken melee shit like Genji Glove + Offering, Edgars Tools, Sabin's Blitz' etc.

Missables in RPG's usually don't mean much, because usually you just find either better stuff later, or you're so strong it makes no difference if you missed somtehing.

>>1571760
Dont worry, there is no explicit sex. The camera just fades to black and then everyone walks out of the inn and never mentions it again.

>>1571775
FF6 has a lot of missables too. A few of the characters learn abilities from certain enemies/battle formations/battle settings that can only be encountered early in the game. If you don't know what to encounter and where to encounter it, you're going to miss it.

>make threads about rpgs to get motivated
>get hyped about the games a lot
>still not motivated enough to get familiar with a new battle system
>keep putting it off and end up playing bfme over and over
It's a new low to have so little passion in life you can't even devote some time to a fucking videogame

thanks for following my blog guys, cya next week

I loved the Ark summon, but hated how the max everything returned to either 65,535 HP or 9999 damage with no cumulative damage skills or saving limit breaks for strategically important moments. It was kind of a two steps back, one forward (four characters instead of 3) kind of a deal. Characters were cool too.

Final Fantasy X was way better.

FFVI question: Is the battle theme I will be hearing throughout the game the same as when I'm fighting stuff in the gave as Terra right at the very start?
Cause it's pretty horrible.

>>1572027
Yes. I like it, though. I hear the GBA version has bad sound (dunno... never played it myself) so if you're doing that one, that might be a reason why you don't like it. Another reason you don't like it might be that you and I just have different tastes or something.

>>1572046
I'm doing the psx version.
It's probably different taste. In a way it reminds me of the battle theme from dark chronicle which I loved but idk, something is icky about it, I don't know if I will tolerate it in the long run.

>>1572053

Replace it with this somehow:

http://youtu.be/36f4X4VQj-8

>>1571349
>new sidequest
Anyone have any details? I know nothing of this.

>>1572130
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Lindblum_(Final_Fantasy_IX)#Lost_Family_Sidequest

>>1571314
Oh, just play the fucking game.

Sick of you micromanaging types who cant just enjoy the game for what it is and have to get all autismal up in this bitch. If you want to 100% you could try that after you complete it once instead of basically ruining it all for yourself.

Theres no questions you need to ask here, but there is one that we need to ask you: Are you going to continue to be a simpering pussy-boy or are you going to play the goddamn game?

>>1572304
jeez anon, take it easy

Goddamn there's hidden stuff all over the place.
Also, is the card game extremely important for items like in FFVIII or can I pass it?
Also, goddamn, those are some hot guards.

Card game has a use in Disc 3, but only to get an accessory you can synth later on -- but not until later. But the rules are easier than FF8's. You can get by with just the cards you win in battles.

Alexandria is all about that pussy power.

>>1572402
>Rules are easier then FF8's
Once you understand the rules of cards you can literally rape everyone.

>>1572426
Oh I agree, but FF9's rules are really dumbed down. Even with the "stats" on cards, you can still win by just playing the arrow game and picking off cards that way. Plus playing Chocobo H&C gets you a lot of good cards around disc 3, although there's really no point as it's long after the game has minigame has fulfilled it's use. I've never filled out the entire card deck, honestly. In my current playthrough I have 69 of the 100 cards? I think a good majority you can only get by playing cards in the final dungeon.

>>1572426
>>1572437
I didn't really play FF9, but I loved FF8 and replay it pretty often because basically:

>Play game until Diablos as fast as possible
>Once you get Diablos:
>Learn Enc-None
>Learn Card-mod or refine cards or wathever the fuck from Quez
>Proceed to play a shitload of cards
>Get Lionheart Disc 1
>Get shitload of magic from refining cards
>Become a tiny god

Someone knows how I make some room on the epsxe memory cards? When I downloaded 1st card was already full and now 2nd is too and I have saved like 3 or 4 games only.

>>1572463
File > Run Bios

>>1572503
This is what I tried clearing but it still says no room.

>>1572503
ok, I have NOT played resident evil on this emulator before, what is even going on
still doesn't let met save, obviously there's lots of room
maybe I fucked up and it doesn't take changes into account if they were made while I was running the game?

>Do I have to look out for extremely hidden things that are unobtainable later in the game?
It depends on you, the game doesn't make you look for rare or obscure items to progress, though, but it encourages to. Most people say the battles are easy- they are not, at least in the first disc compared to FFVII.
>I don't want to use a guide on my first playthrough but I'm no longer a kid and neither do I have the patience right now to look over every inch of the game for hidden stuff. I am however a perfectionist and would be annoyed if I missed on important things.
I seriously suggest you to play what would be your "natural" way the first time, if there is something you noticed you lost and seriously want it, just use load and save states. That's what I did in a certain game event where you score point for killing monsters, and it's really difficult to win.
>TL;DR do I need a guide to 100% this game if I'm not in the mood to put too much effort into it?
No. You may need "a guide" when you finished the game because it left you super hooked.

>>1571349
12 hours

>>1571514
You can get away with it once you have auto-regen for sure. Freya has a regen move fairly early, so she can act more like a support.

>>1572463
>>1572503
>>1572514
>>1572527
I think I fixed this.

>>1571819
...you're fucking with that guy, right? Right?

>>1571349
Yes you can. People have done it before.

>>1572304
It doesn't matter how autistic you are, you will NEVER do a 100% perfect run of a post-IV FF game with or without guide on your first playthrough. I've done perfect runs of VI, X-2 and XII, and I'm here to tell you that it can't be done without knowing the games inside and out. IX is the worst of all.

>>1571769
>http://www.romhacking.net/?page=hacks&game=2059
can I install this after I started the game?

>>1573073

Don't start this shit again.

You cant 100% that game. You have to rush it to the fourth disc in 12 hours in order to get the strongest sword for steiner (excalibur II). Meaning you will leave a lot of missable things behind.
You can, however ignore excalibur 2 and hunt all cocographs (wich is by far the coolest and funnest optional achievement in any game I ever played).

>>1573806
coco-what?

>>1572304
>If you want to 100% you could try that after you complete it once instead of basically ruining it all for yourself.

Wow, maybe you should calm down.

And this post reeks of "Why aren't you doing things like me? I do things right!"

I don't even get 100% on games, but if that's what OP finds fun, let him do it.

>>1573813
I think he's referring to the chocobo digging thingies.

>!!! means you're close
>!!!!!! means you're really close
>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! means you should push square to dig now

>>1573806
>You cant 100% that game

Yeah you can.

>>1574061
Did you read his post, smartass?
They came up with a barely doable route on gamefaqs but then the new sidequest was found out which wastes so much time that made 100% completion pretty much impossible, you either go for the excalibur sword or the sidequests items.

>>1574087
Except the sidequest can be completed after you get Excalibur II.

>>1574090
No, it cant. Like I said on >>1573806, you have to RUSH TO THE 4TH DISC AS FAST AS YOU CAN. And some stuff will be lost and not obtainable while on 4th disc. Even with the open cover trick to skip cutscenes it is barely doable. If you stop to get cocographs it will be completely impossible.
A lot of the cocographs are only obtainable on disc 1 and 2. After that if you backtrack and try to hunt them you will get a message saying it is unable because you not on 1st or 2nd disc. And guess what? You cant swap discs and get it.
Also, a lot of areas are unavailable on disc 4.

>>1574061
Not really. "100%" is FF9 is just something that a handful of spergloids defined for themselves. If you read the perfect run faq, it gives several definitions for the "perfect" quantity of abundant items, and chooses for you the one that's attainable in 12 hours, conveniently ignoring the most obvious 99 of each. Then there's several definitions for "perfect stats" none of which are perfect by any stretch of imagination. Then when stuff like the 10th promist ring pops you, you realize that the original "perfect" game wasn't quite so perfect at all, and that the definition of perfect depends on what the spergloid delegation actually knows about the game at any given moment.

All that bullshit aside, 100% isn't something the game rewards you, therefore you can't get it.

>>1574164
The dude was talking about completionist bs (getting EVERYTHING and doing EVERYTHING the game has to offer in content, quests, items, spells etc). Now you're creating this stupid "perfect run" strawman, but op actually refered to completing the game 100% (including hidden stuff). If you stop and use half braincell to think, it is impossible to achieve 100 percent completion in this game due to aforementioned reasons. But instead you keep insisting that everyone else is wrong and you're right. You even keep making strawmen bs to stretch the discussion.
You're wrong, and you wont be hurt to admit it.

>>1574141
You can get all the Chocographs and still obtain the Excalibur II.

This isn't exactly an argument. There's several videos documenting that you can indeed do everything in the game while still getting the Excalibur II.

>>1574176
What are you talking about? Somebody said that 100% was possible and I simply explained that it's imaginary.

Not to mention, the 100% guide encourages resetting to manipulate the RNG, which appears to be acceptable to modern speedrunners, but to retro gamers it's called savescumming and is basically considered cheating.

>stuck on first boss
maybe I'm not as good at videogames as I thought

shit man, I liked the dude

>>1574185
>This isn't exactly an argument. There's several videos documenting that you can indeed do everything in the game while still getting the Excalibur II.

You're not reading the thread.

This is no longer possible since a previously unknown sidequest was just recently discovered. It requires too much time to complete. All previous attempts at 100% missed this sidequest because nobody knew about it back then, so they're not actually 100% completed. Since the contents of the sidequest are missable, you can't load up an otherwise complete file and go back to finish it.

>>1575005
What's so hard to understand about "the sidequest can be completed after you get Excalibur II?"

>>1575016

It can't. The sidequest requires you to check back with the NPCs throughout certain parts of the story. They're scripted to give you certain dialogs only at those times.

>>1575110
Yes, and enough of those points fall after you get Excalibur II. There's so much leeway you can go through the whole thing twice on a normal run.

>>1571314

Enjoy your game and get your missable items. If you're playing on emulator, you can just reset your timer with gameshark code and get your Excalibur II. Don't take it too seriously.

Pretty sure this was the first RPG I ever played.

I played the shit out of the card game without understanding the rules, and now that I read them, holy shit, how were you supposed to figure that shit out?!

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Tetra_Master_%28Minigame%29

>>1574902
How?

>>1575176
>twice on a normal run
What part of "you have to get to the 4th disc under 12 hours and that's barely doable without collecting stuff" can't you faglords understand?
Either way if it's so easy how come no one has ever done it, you should record it and upload on youtube.

>>1576615
Isn't there an NPC in Treno who tells you the rules? Also I seem to remember a notice in an item shop explained some of the rules too.

>>1576635
well he kept failing his steal and the boss hits more than I can keep healing with potions
eventually was killing my characters, I was ressing them and he was wiping my party with thunder
Eventually managed tho

>>1576652
>he kept failing his steal
Yeah, get used to that. Playing FF9 when you have a compulsion to steal everything from every boss is bad for your health.

>>1572027
If you're playing the GBA version the sound isn't as good as the SNES version. There's a rom hack out there that fixes it, I think there's another one to fix the pallet too but I'm not sure.

>>1576636
People have done it and uploaded it to Youtube.

>>1576641
Yes. The rules are explained incrementally.

>>1576830
With the penero denero genero quest included in?
Without save scumming?

>>1576929
>With the penero denero genero quest included in?

Yes.

>Without save scumming?

Irrelevant. Stop trying to move the goalposts.

>>1576943
Not him but save scumming is relevant in perfect runs. It's not moving the goalposts.

>>1576963
Relevant in that it's pretty much required, sure.

Freya is shit and anyone who disagrees is a furfag

>>1577321
Somebody's upset.

Freya's a pretty tough cookie. She tries and fails over and over but still keeps going.

I do wonder what happens with the rebuilding of Bermecia since Pip is off doing whatever and I think the king died in Cleyra so they have no monarch around. Do they get a new interim leader?

>>1577404
Puck. Also the ending was pretty obviously a rush job. After Cleyra you're pretty much left assuming Puck, Fratley, and everyone else died in the explosiion for the rest of the game until they abruptly show up in the ending with no explanation about their survival. Freya and Fratley's dialogue implies that they're the ones who are going to rebuild Burmecia, though

>>1577428
Oh yeah woops.

Poor Freya gets pretty much dropped plot wise half way through the game. It is a shame.

>that feel when implied bad ending
In the credits, the game ends with both planets fusing.

>>1577467
Seriously? I don't remember that.

>>1577516
It's more of a fancy effect in the cinematic so most people miss it, but you do actually see two planets running into each other.

I always thought it implied bad ending, but it can go either way.

>>1577467
I thought that was symbolic as Zidane and Garnet are getting together and the conflict between the two planets is over now.

Which is also interesting as it means the Alexandrian royal family is now going to be a mix of Genome and Summoner. I mean, if Garland made it so Zidane could have kids. I suppose he might not have.

>>1577321
shit in combat or as a character?

>>1577583
Both. She's only good if you grind her dragon magic.

>>1577583
her jump ability is like useing fly in pokemon so its very useful and she learns regen a very useful spell letter on

Enemy design in this game is fucking sweet

>>1579921
Every time I get turned into an 'abomination' in ToME2, I picture this.