Final Fantasy VI

A few weeks ago my internet went out (in actuality my router was on the fritz) and I started up a game of FFVI. I didn't make it very far, just far enough to get to the tutorial house in Narshe. There I was surprised when I actually read about save points and rediscovered a feature I'd totally forgotten about... In FFVI when you die you restart at your last save point with most, but not all, of your progress lost. You lose all your treasure and story progression but you actually keep all of your experience and levels. This seems like such a fantastic idea. It forces someone who wants obscure treasure chests to actually survive their way down to them and back out again but it also lets someone who isn't high enough level to fight a boss test it out without cost. Gain a couple levels, fight the boss without running back to the save point. Win, great! Lose and you keep your levels which will make it more feasible to win the next time you get back to him.

It turned out with FFXI, League of Legends, and now World of Warcraft I actually didn't have time to get into FFVI. Yesterday on the bus back from work I finished reading my SQL book and needed something else to do. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and actually buy FFVI for my PSP so I could play it on the bus. (I had to fix my router to pull that off since apparently the PSP will only connect wirelessly.) I started playing this morning and ran into an issue that might keep me from playing after all... The sound effects are terrible on this version. The music seems good for the most part but the sounds are all squeaky/tinny. Including the sound made in combat when you move the cursor or make a selection. I know how good the game should sound so it's driving me crazy. I don't understand how it could have happened... It's like they put some co-op student in charge of porting the sound effect engine over and then didn't bother testing his shoddy work. I wonder if someone hacked the game to fix it? I am not above hacking the third version of a game when it has obvious flaws...

I once again got to the tutorial house in Narshe and the guy beside the save point made it very clear that you lose your experience and levels when you die. This confuses me. Why would they intentionally remove this feature? Gah!

There is one danger to playing FFVI on the bus... I was seriously marking out when Kefka showed up to torch Figaro Castle. Kefka may be too awesome for playing in public. Or maybe I just don't care...