/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.5419346]

Just finished playing pic related. What did /vr/ think? Pretty good game in my opinion despite some gripes, the final boss fight was a lot of fun and the party was pretty neat in general, no character I really disliked.

[Anonymous No.5419435]

Second only to FFI

[Anonymous No.5419439]

>>5419346
>no character I really disliked.
I echo this sentiment. Usually I dislike the girl characters in FF games, but both Rosa and Rydia are top tier.

[Anonymous No.5419729]

YOU SPOONY BARD

[Anonymous No.5419751]

>>5419439
I prefer Porom to either, to be quite honest.

[Anonymous No.5419816]

Arguably my favorite these days. It certainly helps to play any version that isn't FFII since stripping out Cecil's Darkwave makes the beginning way harder than it needs to be
>Putting Rosa's bow in her off-hand allows her dominant hand to better aim/fire, raising her damage
>The game makes no mention of this anywhere

[Anonymous No.5419873]

Cecil washing up on Mysidia's shores sealed it for me.

[Anonymous No.5420115]

I'm not a Final Fantasy or even Jarpig fan in general.

I liked this game. Made me want to give FF6 a deeper try.

[Anonymous No.5420184]

>>5419816
It assumes the player knows how bows work.

[Anonymous No.5420806]

Wow, what positive receptions itt. It's my favorite ff, but it seems to be overshadowed by most of the others. Great characters, decent story, fantastic music. The ds remake is actually pretty good too.

[Anonymous No.5421392]

I'm currently playing through it for the first time on my snes classic. I ended up getting the hacked version though (ultima), which fixes bugs, adds some bosses and some other minor things. I'm currently at the Dark Elf's cave

Am I a pleb?

[Anonymous No.5421416]

>>5419346
Eh... was good when i first played it back in the day, but ff6 blew it out of the water so i never really went back. Kind of missed having a dedicated 'knight/paladin' character though. ff6 doesn't really have one Aside from Leo, and well... we know how that went.

[Anonymous No.5421445]

>>5419439
Edge was badly written. And the whole "he is actually your brother" was really shitty. I wish the bard had more relevancy.

>Best intro ever

Btw, never played the after years and interlude, but I haven't heard good things. What's your opinion on them?

[Anonymous No.5421449]

>>5421445
After years is absolute garbage.

[Anonymous No.5421486]

I didn't like how the game forced you to fight bosses directly after changing your party, giving you no chance to familiarize with new characters and adjust your tactics.

[Anonymous No.5421517]

>>5421445
wait what? Edge is who's brother?

[Anonymous No.5421538]

>>5419346
Final Fantasy II: terrible.
Fainaru Fantaji IV: I'm guessing even more terrible.

Really, no point in playing any Final Fantasy games before V.

[Anonymous No.5421540]

>>5421517
i think hes talking about separate things. Because Edge was badly written and the whole Golbez is actually Cecil's brother thing was not a very interesting plot point.

ff4 ultimately suffers from something i HAAAAAATE in some ff games. "OH LOOK... the real villain was THIS GUY all along!" One of the reasons i like ff6 so much is because the villain is there from the start, hes not seen as the true villain until later, but his imprint on the story starts from the very beginning and remains there throughout.

[Anonymous No.5421543]

>>5421445
>>5421517
He means the big bad. But I agree with him, it was so stupid and shoehorned. Most of Final Fantasy IV is like that, there's no real progression to the plot.

[Anonymous No.5421553]

>>5421543
And everyone dies/not dies before you can really care about half the characters

[Anonymous No.5421596]

>>5421543
I actually like the twist that the main bad is related and also empathetic. Ignoring the obvious star wars reference, I prefer my villains to be sympathetic in some way. I appreciate kefka for what he is but I definitely prefer golbez, general leo, or even sephiroth.

[Anonymous No.5421620]

>>5421553
That, too. The game is so unmemorable I completely forgot about so many characters dying/sacrificing themselves.
>>5421596
It's not that I don't like the twist, it's just that it is SO poorly done. Comparing Cecil & Golbez to Luke & Darth Vader is a joke. Especially because of how late into the game it happens.

[Anonymous No.5421642]

>>5421620
I gotcha. I guess my tolerance is just a bit higher. I didn't mind it too much, especially seeing how early in the line up it is.

[Anonymous No.5421654]

>>5421620
Yeah i tend to have a good memory of the majority of FF casts in some shape or form, even the less important ones because they were odd or obscure in their own way to leave a mark.

Whenever i talk to people about ff4 its easy to think of Cecil, Rydia, Rosa, and Kain, but i always have to ask "How often do you think about Palom, Porom, Yang, Edward, Tellah, Edge, or FuSrOhDah? when thinking about final fantasy characters?" Can't say Cid because everyone recognizes the Cid phenomenon in the games

[Anonymous No.5421659]

>>5421654
Palom and Porom are just as memorable imo. The others, not so much

[Anonymous No.5421684]

>>5421659
Yeah they were alright, they were present during the 'redemption' moment of the story so its hard to forget them.

[Anonymous No.5421767]

>>5421540
>the whole Golbez is actually Cecil's brother thing was not a very interesting plot point
Yeah it's an adolescent melodramatic twist clearly inspired by Star Wars, but basically the main theme of the game is redemption. Cecil commits a few sins while following orders, but recognizes the evil and defies his lord. He then atones for those sins and becomes the virtuous Paladin, who is rewarded with the happy ending. Golbez on the other hand, commits many more evil deeds, and only sees the error of his ways via FuSoYa's magic. Golbez atones for his deeds and reconciles with his brother, but is exiled forever from Earth. Redemption only goes so far, in other words.
>"OH LOOK... the real villain was THIS GUY all along!"
Why do you hate it so much? I mean, I get that mind-control is a lame trope because it undermines character development, but that part isn't a huge deal here as the story even goes out of its way to say Golbez wasn't blameless.

But why does the trope bother you so much? Zeromus is a physical manifestation of the evil of mankind and even says this explicitly after you kill him. While the villain himself wasn't introduced until the end, the relevance of the moon was teased and foreshadowed throughout the story. That there's a big villain up there shouldn't really be surprising.

Ultimately, it's a videogame. The final boss should be a fitting final boss battle. Making the final boss a physical manifestation of the main themes of evil in the game shouldn't ruin the entire story for you.

[Anonymous No.5421781]

>>5421654
>Palom, Porom
The wonder twins with cool Twin Magic ability?
>Edward
Quite possibly the weakest main party character in any FF game, and is specifically weak because his character was a soft, pampered courtier?
>Tellah
The weak old fart constantly raging about vengeance in every scene?
>Edge
>FuSoYa
Edge is an "early 90s cool dude ninja" stereotype and FuSoYa is a generic old man wizard. I wouldn't blame you for them, except that Edge's class is great and FuSoYa comes pre-loaded with every White and Black magic spell in the game.

Other than that you just have really bad memory. Also one thing I like about FF4 is that the supporting characters are actually play a supporting role in the main narrative, keeping it tight and focused rather bloating it up with completely unrelated side quest digressions. I think FF6 started that idea that every character has to have some dedicated side quest and overly elaborate backstory.

[Anonymous No.5421784]

>>5419435
I loved FFI back in the 80's before most even heard of Final Fantasy (I recall unintentionally farming MANY coral swords from giants for some reason). It was a transcendent game, superior to Dragon Warrior and easily the greatest NES RPG ever made (at least in the U.S. pantheon, barring imports and all that shit we had virtually no access to pre-Internet).

Still, IV has that place in my heart as the real life-changer. The graphics, music, and story just blew anything prior away. Rosa's Theme, for example, is absolutely one of the most iconic pieces ever composed for the SNES, period! VI had some good music too, but nothing to top Rosa's theme, imnsho.

VI was a good game in and of itself, but it just seemed to me to be a vehicle for shoe-horned content for content's sake rather than a compelling overall experience. Kefka the God-like clown villain.....fuck outta here, only memorable because slapstick and bad. VI was a good, but objectively flawed as fuck "throw everything but the kitchen sink at them" type of game, while IV was a focused, brilliant masterpiece that set the baseline tone for all that came after it.

VI being better is an opinion I have heard so often that I have to wonder if it is simply an outspoken minority. VI never got mobile and console ports afterwards, either, that I'm aware of.

[Anonymous No.5421842]

>>5421784
glad to see another IV fan.
>VI being better is an opinion I have heard so often that I have to wonder if it is simply an outspoken minority
Lack of customization in IV is a really fucking big deal to many series fans. Lots of people just can't see past that limitation, and VI is literally the opposite in this regard. The other big thing about VI is that it really went all-in on the elaborate story events like the Opera House scene, the Dinner with Gestahl, the Cataclysm, the sequence where Celes is stranded on the island, and so on. FF6 does actually have a pretty well-focused story until you get to the WoR.

[Anonymous No.5422094]

>>5421784
>I loved FFI back in the 80's before most even heard of Final Fantasy (I recall unintentionally farming MANY coral swords from giants for some reason)
but enemies dont drop weapons in the original? You wouldn't just lie on the internet would you?

[Anonymous No.5422348]

>>5419346
>Kain in that graphic
>not Cecil

it's easy to mistake him for the protag if you don't know the game yet.
purple armor character usually means dreadknight. plus that weird shortspear that Cecil has is similar to Kain's spear.

[Anonymous No.5422512]

>>5421784
I agree and while it's not my favorite game of all time, it's extremely important in evolving the genre from the 'true' role-playing titles of the 80s the character and story-intensive ones in the 90s and even into today. The game certainly has some bad writing at times but everything is just so organized and fluid for the most part, and the characters are just more than controllable vessels. I get the feeling that everyone, including Square themselves, was following Final Fantasy IV's lead

[Anonymous No.5422520]

>>5421784
>comparing glorified NES games and FF6
Yikes

>claiming the NES games are better

[Anonymous No.5422871]

>>5422348
>he doesn't know
Kain IS the main protagonist and the Theme Of Love is secretly his theme.

[Anonymous No.5422910]

>>5421784
It didn't come out in the us till the 90s, ya fucking zoomer

[Anonymous No.5422918]

>>5422871
>the Theme Of Love is secretly his theme.

funny. it must be a mere coincidence that Cecil and Rosa are always in the picture when that music comes on.

>Kain IS the main protagonist

he sure didn't have much screen time then.

[Anonymous No.5422998]

>>5422520
4 is better than 6 in most every conceivable manner. 6 is a children's pop up book, while 4 is an enjoyable videogame.

[Anonymous No.5423024]

>>5422918
Only plebs look so shallow into things

[Anonymous No.5423506]

>>5422871
Kain's kind of a beta ass bitch, but at least he does get over it.
SE also constantly sucks him off with no drawbacks or catches, so he'll probably have attention from them.

[Anonymous No.5423792]

>>5422520
Problem?

[Anonymous No.5423861]

>>5423506
Cecil was the beta cunt. At least Kain had the balls to say no to the king's request of taking on the dark knight armor. Only thing that makes people say he's "beta" is because of his infatuation with Rosa but he never acted on it. He was being controlled. Kain is more alpha than Cecil.

[Anonymous No.5423907]

>polbabbies can't appreciate conflicted and tragic male characters anymore because they've been conditioned to view everything through the binary alpha/beta filter
sad desu.

[Anonymous No.5423934]

>>5423907
I know this is bait but the alpha/beta male thing is basic biology/social structure. Has nothing to do with poltards.

[Anonymous No.5423946]

>>5423934
There are more colors than black/white.

[Anonymous No.5423952]

>>5423934
Its actually highly discredited pseudo-science

[Anonymous No.5423980]

>>5423946
I agree with you but there's nothing wrong with generalizations for context, in a non-serious discussion.

>>5423952
Yeah, I'm gonna call BS on that. It's evident in all of the Animal kingdom, including us.

[Anonymous No.5423989]

>>5423980
Well it is a bad approach. Cecil is a Knight, he cannot be the 'alpha' against a King by definition. You are either loyal or a traitor.

[Anonymous No.5423993]

>>5423989
That's completely fair, but when I was using the alpha/beta dichotomy, I was referring to his relationship with Kain. While yes, you can make an argument that he was just being loyal, Kain was able to refuse to the king, despite losing out on promotions. To me, that's more "alpha" than someone who just obeys (which also to be fair, he does eventually rebel).

[Anonymous No.5424029]

>>5423980
>Yeah, I'm gonna call BS on that. It's evident in all of the Animal kingdom, including us.
you don't get to call BS on that. it's either scientific or it isn't, and it isn't. the social dynamics in wolf packs are actually the best example why the alpha/beta dichotomy is pants on head retarded and entirely and wholly wrong. your anecdotal evidence and uninformed observations don't matter.

it's just alluring to you because you've been conditioned to think in binary patterns. left/right, white/non-white, good/bad, strong/weak. it's also incredibly alluring to some to have an entirely people limiting themselves voluntarily to binary patterns. tools, so to say. you can still start challenging yourself and the preconceptions that were drilled into you, though. it's still not too late.

[Anonymous No.5424049]

>>5422520
III NES is really good though. Easily better than IV and maybe V and VI, depending on taste.

[Anonymous No.5424101]

>>5422910

Bleh, the years kinda smear together a bit now heh. You're right, the NA release date was just inside the 90's, and I might have gotten it in 91 or 92 (I DO know it was a long as fuck time ago before the Internet lol). ALSO: zoomers never got a free copy of Dragon Warrior from Nintendo Power magazine, so you can fuck off with that shit.

[Anonymous No.5424120]

>>5424101
you talk like a teenager. with a retronauts subscription on patreon.

[Anonymous No.5424126]

>>5422094
I might (everyone does, including you), but it's especially pointless here in this anon format. You'll forgive me if I get some aspects wrong; it's been over twenty fucking years since I played the damn game that thoroughly heh. I recall a somewhat circular dungeon, giants, and a coral sword, or maybe swords. That good enough for you? And I fought many giants mostly because I was lost, probably.

[Anonymous No.5424127]

i liked it. it's well-paced...with decent story and characters for its time.

my main gripe was that gear and abilities were character-specific. so you were kind of forced into the same kind of party that everyone else had who played the game.

[Anonymous No.5424129]

>>5424120
And you seem like a typical smug, know-it-all that was raised by The Internet. By the way, I'm typing — not speaking — ya fuckin' common-core casualty.

[Anonymous No.5424197]

>>5423934
>>5423980

LMAO this isn't basic anything. Its bullshit some dudes pulled out of their asses to sell books to losers who are incapable of introspection.

[Anonymous No.5424210]

>>5424197
but but i asked to be redpilled on /pol/ and that's what they told me, how can it be wrong?

[Anonymous No.5424394]

>>5424029
It IS scientific. Their is an alpha/beta dichotomy in all animals and psychology teaches about such things. It's absolutely retarded to suggest there isn't.

[Anonymous No.5424398]

>bunch of beta virgins on 4chan trying to argue "alpha males are a myth because the Guardian told me so"

[Anonymous No.5425776]

>>5424394
>>5424398
cope harder, brainlets

[Anonymous No.5425916]

>>5419346
A classic, solid jRPG. It has a lot of grinding, but it's actually not bothersome; happens naturally. It was the first and last game which made me buy potions en masse; I'm usually too greedy to spend money on those things, and usually I don't need potions anyway. It looks like very good NES game though, not SNES game.

[Anonymous No.5425985]

>>5419346
I enjoyed it back then, though not to the extent of V (which I had played before) and VI. However, in retrospective, it feels like the plot at times couldn't decide in which direction to go and instead was like a episodic sequence of fetch quests.

[Anonymous No.5426070]

>>5421392
That is a completely different game...

[Anonymous No.5426074]

>>5421449
I enjoyed edge's tale, and I didn't hate ceodore and kain's tale. Other than that I thought Edward was a lot of fun

[Anonymous No.5426175]

>>5426074
TAY had some good things. Its just marred heavily by the stupid shit it did like repeating what happened in 4 and no one knowing what to do, or have characters act out of character and completely retarded (Rydia got it worst than anyone, just yikes), and have even worse villains than Zemus.

Gameplay wise it had some cool shit, but again, marred by stupid decisions like limiting things heavily before endgame(again, namely Rydia), balances changes that were both good and bad(poor Cid), and that most the supplemental cast are just kinda dogshit and bloat the cast(namely the 4 goons, edwards accountant, the dolls).

[Anonymous No.5428051]

[Anonymous No.5428463]

>>5421445
The game text was stripped to a whopping one-fourth its original size when put on cartridge. Not even the DS version fully restores it. So these things closer to the end probably made much more sense during production.

The After Years is serviceable. Interlude is a complete joke though.

[Anonymous No.5429558]

>>5426070
No it's not? It's where you get the last crystal for Golbez. Edward plays the song that nullifies the magnetic barrier

[Anonymous No.5429668]

Is the Namingway Edition worth playing? I want the Japanese Super Famicom version of IV but in English, is this the closest I can get?

[Anonymous No.5430313]

>>5429668
I recommend J2Evisceration. I'm wary of Namingway Edition using Final Fantasy II as a base instead of Final Fantasy IV.

[Anonymous No.5430406]

>>5428463
Source on the cuts?

[Anonymous No.5430420]

>>5430406
Tokita: "When we made the Super Famicom version, only a quarter of the scenarios we wrote were actually used. In the port this time we’ve been working to flesh out the parts we cut out but at the same time, cutting out the parts that we think are extraneous." - https://web.archive.org/web/20080314170930/http://www.gamebrink.com/blog/2007/05/31/final-fantasy-iv-ds-interview
Tokita: "During development of the original game, the game text wouldn't fit, so it was revised to ¼ of its intended size, but the story itself was not cut. However, because of this restriction, unnecessary dialogue was removed which in turn improved the overall pacing of the game." - https://web.archive.org/web/20081012111621/http://member.square-enix.com/na/features/ff4/02/

Mind, the second looks like a clarification of the first, but Square also suppressed how complete the original Famicom version of Final Fantasy IV actually was, so who knows.