Yesterday on the bus in to work I made my way to the end of Kefka's crazy tower and put an end to his insanity. He was pretty easy. One of his four stages managed to kill off one of my characters, but only because of bad timing on my part. I had entered in the command which killed off the stage and then he attacked 10 times and killed Terra before it resolved. I didn't get a change to cast life on her.
I remember talking with James about this game many years ago and he was annoyed that you couldn't solo Kefka. One of the stages finishes off with an instant death attack that kept trying to resolve even if you dodged it. You could become completely invincible but would get stuck in an infinite loop as the boss stage would use it's death attack, get dodged, and then repeat. Turns out in the PSX version they changed the way it worked. He only tried to use it twice before giving up. Now, I certainly wasn't invincible and pretty much just got lucky that Setzer dodged it twice.
I was a little sad at how easy pretty much everything was, actually. Some of the fights right at the start of the ruined world were a little rough but I scaled much better than the boss fights did. I didn't even twink out very hard at all. I didn't switch in espers right before leveling to make sure I got optimal stat ups. I didn't grind out extra levels. I didn't even bother finishing off the paladin shield. Even worse, I didn't bother taking it off... Setzer kicked the snot out of Kefka even with a cursed shield on. My mages were casting flare or meteor instead of ultima because I took the ragnarok sword and didn't finish the paladin shield. In short, I could have been a lot more powerful. I'm a little sad that there was nothing to do that needed such an absurd amount of power.
I was feeling a lot of ennui with regards to finishing the game. It took about two and a half months to get done which is pretty comparable to what it took to grind out Final Fantasy IV. Don't get me wrong, I think both games are incredible even after all these years. I think the problem is just that I've played them so many times there really wasn't any exploring left to do and that's one of the great end game features of these games. FFVI in particular has so many little cutscenes you can find depending on who you have in your current party. Did you know Shadow is actually Relm's father? Wandering around with different party compositions was a ton of fun back in the day. But now? I didn't really have a great desire to watch Gau interact with his father again.
That said, this game has my favourite villain from any game. And thinking about it more, I think it actually has my top three player characters as well. Setzer, Locke, and Celes are all awesome in their own ways. I like me some Kimarhi, don't get me wrong, but I don't think any character in any game passes any of those three.
I love the battle system. Adding in something as simple as the 'pass' command which lets the active character skip their turn is such a huge improvement. I still think I prefer the more tactical system of FFX but as far as the ATB system used from IV through IX goes, this is a pretty good iteration.
The leveling system is pretty great, too. I like how just playing the game normally will get you plenty of spells and stat ups but that you can really twink out if you want. All that's really missing is a reason to twink out. An emerald weapon to go beat up, that kind of thing.
The music is fantastic. The graphics are state of the art for the SNES. You can really tell that this is a later generation SNES game and that Square learned from making FFIV and FFV. The sound in the PSX port was tinny which was annoying, but the original console game didn't suffer from that flaw at all.
Going into this whole marathon I was pretty sure FFIV was going to stay on the top of my heap. If anything was going to challenge it for supremacy I was thinking it might be X or VIII. But no... FFVI is the new king. The characters, character development, plot, gameplay, music... It's all here. This game is the complete package.
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy VI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Final Fantasy VI. Show all posts
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Kefka
Kefka is the big bad guy at the end of Final Fantasy VI, and he's my favourite villain from pretty much any source. Game, movie, book... No one else is as awesome, insane, or just plain evil. I really like the way Kefka works into the story of the game pretty much the entire time which is fairly different compared to most other games in the series.
Take FFIV, for example. The end boss of that game is Zeromus, a fellow you only learn exists shortly before the end of the game. For most of the game you're led to believe that Golbez is the prime evil but then it turns out he's actually your brother and has been mind controlled. Great twist and all, but it really doesn't leave much time for Zeromus to come into his own.
In FFV you do learn of the end boss pretty early into the game but you actually don't have much reason to hate the guy. X-Death was imprisoned by your father and I'm sure he was quite evil back then. But now? He's just trying to break out of jail, power up, and get some revenge. Heck, frame it a little differently and that actually sounds like the back story for a good guy.
In FFIII the end boss is just a cloud. It is pretty scary that there's this big cloud out there that wants to devour the universe and clearly you want to go stop it... But can you really call it evil? It's just doing what a giant void cloud does. And even then, it doesn't feature much, if at all, in the plot. It's kinda pulling the strings in the background but mostly it's just there.
Being present throughout the game, it turns out, is actually important for people. You can see this from the first couple World of Warcraft expansions. The initial game had no end boss to speak of. Kill some things, get some loot, wait for new dungeons to come out. Tons of fun, but no big bad guy to hate. The first expansion brought Illidan out as the big bad guy and he featured in the opening video as a guy you really wanted to go kill. And then he promptly disappeared from most of the game and most people never saw him again. But in the second expansion the Lich King was featured prominently in lots of leveling quests. At one point you even inadvertently help him conquer a tribe of trolls and get control of a zone. You really wanted to go beat him up!
FFVI really brings this angle out of Kefka. He keeps showing up in the plot during the events of the first world. You don't think he's the big bad guy at the time, but he's still kicking around and doing things that make you hate him. Square still gets to pull out their big twist when Kefka kills his emperor, destroys the world, and becomes a god. But because it's not the introduction of a new character as the god but the transformation of an existing character I feel it has more power. And oh, what an existing character...
Kefka starts out appearing like the comic relief. He has corny music, he dresses funny, and he's egotistical to the extreme. He's marching through the desert and makes his lackeys dust the sand off of his boots! Then he goes full on evil when he goes behind Leo's back and poisons the entire population of Doma. And that laugh... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! After all, nothing can beat the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison...
Kefka kills off one of the other Empire generals, Leo. This shortly after you start to learn more about Leo and start liking him. He seems like a good guy, and then Kefka kills him on you. Kefka also does a decent job of turning the party against Celes by talking her up as a spy instead of a defector. It's things like these that make you really hate Kefka. I really liked Locke and Celes together and it angered me when Kefka drove a wedge between them!
Kefka fights the party over and over, but it actually makes sense that he's a rough but beatable fight each time. He keeps gaining power as the story progresses by killing more and more espers and absorbing their powers. (Which is actually how the player characters progress as well. Espers teach spells and give stat ups on leveling.) Eventually Kefka gets control of the goddess statues that created all magic and uses their power to become a god, at which point you stop fighting him. Then you have to live in a world he's destroyed. Kefka isn't someone you casually run into anymore but you're constantly faced with the consequences of his actions.
Kefka has tons of great lines, he's constantly in your face, and he's absolutely both insane and evil. And his path to power is actually quite believable given the game world. It's for these reasons I think he's the most awesome villain in any story.
And his music is great too... Check out both his normal theme music and his epic final boss battle music!
Take FFIV, for example. The end boss of that game is Zeromus, a fellow you only learn exists shortly before the end of the game. For most of the game you're led to believe that Golbez is the prime evil but then it turns out he's actually your brother and has been mind controlled. Great twist and all, but it really doesn't leave much time for Zeromus to come into his own.
In FFV you do learn of the end boss pretty early into the game but you actually don't have much reason to hate the guy. X-Death was imprisoned by your father and I'm sure he was quite evil back then. But now? He's just trying to break out of jail, power up, and get some revenge. Heck, frame it a little differently and that actually sounds like the back story for a good guy.
In FFIII the end boss is just a cloud. It is pretty scary that there's this big cloud out there that wants to devour the universe and clearly you want to go stop it... But can you really call it evil? It's just doing what a giant void cloud does. And even then, it doesn't feature much, if at all, in the plot. It's kinda pulling the strings in the background but mostly it's just there.
Being present throughout the game, it turns out, is actually important for people. You can see this from the first couple World of Warcraft expansions. The initial game had no end boss to speak of. Kill some things, get some loot, wait for new dungeons to come out. Tons of fun, but no big bad guy to hate. The first expansion brought Illidan out as the big bad guy and he featured in the opening video as a guy you really wanted to go kill. And then he promptly disappeared from most of the game and most people never saw him again. But in the second expansion the Lich King was featured prominently in lots of leveling quests. At one point you even inadvertently help him conquer a tribe of trolls and get control of a zone. You really wanted to go beat him up!
FFVI really brings this angle out of Kefka. He keeps showing up in the plot during the events of the first world. You don't think he's the big bad guy at the time, but he's still kicking around and doing things that make you hate him. Square still gets to pull out their big twist when Kefka kills his emperor, destroys the world, and becomes a god. But because it's not the introduction of a new character as the god but the transformation of an existing character I feel it has more power. And oh, what an existing character...
Kefka starts out appearing like the comic relief. He has corny music, he dresses funny, and he's egotistical to the extreme. He's marching through the desert and makes his lackeys dust the sand off of his boots! Then he goes full on evil when he goes behind Leo's back and poisons the entire population of Doma. And that laugh... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! After all, nothing can beat the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison...
Kefka kills off one of the other Empire generals, Leo. This shortly after you start to learn more about Leo and start liking him. He seems like a good guy, and then Kefka kills him on you. Kefka also does a decent job of turning the party against Celes by talking her up as a spy instead of a defector. It's things like these that make you really hate Kefka. I really liked Locke and Celes together and it angered me when Kefka drove a wedge between them!
Kefka fights the party over and over, but it actually makes sense that he's a rough but beatable fight each time. He keeps gaining power as the story progresses by killing more and more espers and absorbing their powers. (Which is actually how the player characters progress as well. Espers teach spells and give stat ups on leveling.) Eventually Kefka gets control of the goddess statues that created all magic and uses their power to become a god, at which point you stop fighting him. Then you have to live in a world he's destroyed. Kefka isn't someone you casually run into anymore but you're constantly faced with the consequences of his actions.
Kefka has tons of great lines, he's constantly in your face, and he's absolutely both insane and evil. And his path to power is actually quite believable given the game world. It's for these reasons I think he's the most awesome villain in any story.
And his music is great too... Check out both his normal theme music and his epic final boss battle music!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Censorship
When Final Fantasy VI was originally released in the US it endured a fair amount of censorship. The translation was tamed down in terms of religious imagery, vulgarity, alcohol, and an attempted suicide was removed. Oddly enough they left in an imprisoned woman getting beaten for information, though that scene was eventually removed for the GBA port.
They also modified some images for overt sexuality but ended up restoring them in the PSX port. One of the minor reasons I wanted to play the PSX version on my PSP was to see if I'd notice any of these images. Well, the answer was yes, because one of the summons isn't wearing any pants at all. Siren is supposed to lure poor men in with her lovely voice, not by walking around naked. Though if the wikipedia article on sirens has anything to say about it, maybe they are known for being naked. *shrug*
Here are versions of the Siren summon from the different ports. The left is the original, the middle is the NA SNES version, and the right is from the GBA version. Apparently they were allowed to show some more skin on the GBA, but not the full monty like back on the Super Famicom.
Sometimes they just went to cover up some scantily clad goddess...
The censorship wasn't always for nudity though... Here's an anti-smoking change...
I never did understand what these fan enemies were doing with the weird stick. I thought it was a blow dart gun or something. Turns out it's a really long cigarette. I'm surprised this was edited out. I guess Nintendo didn't want to encourage young American kids to smoke but was just fine with young Japanese kids smoking? Though I'm not really sure that kids are going to do what some pixelated enemy in a video game is doing. Now in Metal Gear Solid when you have to smoke in order to be a better sniper? That I could see kids emulating...
They also modified some images for overt sexuality but ended up restoring them in the PSX port. One of the minor reasons I wanted to play the PSX version on my PSP was to see if I'd notice any of these images. Well, the answer was yes, because one of the summons isn't wearing any pants at all. Siren is supposed to lure poor men in with her lovely voice, not by walking around naked. Though if the wikipedia article on sirens has anything to say about it, maybe they are known for being naked. *shrug*
Here are versions of the Siren summon from the different ports. The left is the original, the middle is the NA SNES version, and the right is from the GBA version. Apparently they were allowed to show some more skin on the GBA, but not the full monty like back on the Super Famicom.
Sometimes they just went to cover up some scantily clad goddess...
The censorship wasn't always for nudity though... Here's an anti-smoking change...
I never did understand what these fan enemies were doing with the weird stick. I thought it was a blow dart gun or something. Turns out it's a really long cigarette. I'm surprised this was edited out. I guess Nintendo didn't want to encourage young American kids to smoke but was just fine with young Japanese kids smoking? Though I'm not really sure that kids are going to do what some pixelated enemy in a video game is doing. Now in Metal Gear Solid when you have to smoke in order to be a better sniper? That I could see kids emulating...
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Paladin Shield
I mentioned the other day that I'd taken the Ragnarok sword instead of the magicite. This took ultima off the table unless I managed to put together the paladin shield. The way to get a paladin shield is to get a cursed shield and win 256 fights while wearing it. This doesn't sound so bad, except the cursed shield is truly a cursed shield. We're talking Beyond the Beyond levels of cursed here. Can't move... CURSED!
Ok, maybe not quite that bad. What it does is lowers all your stats by 7, has no defensive stats at all, and permanently inflicts you with the statuses berserked, muddled, muted, condemned, and seizured. It also makes you vulnerable to all elemental attacks. In order for the fight to count towards your 256 you need to have the character wearing it live through the fight which can be rough with all those negatives running around.
I've never uncursed the cursed shield before. 256 seems like a big number, those negatives were pretty harsh, and for the most part I didn't even know how to uncurse it. The game is pretty easy without a paladin shield anyway so I never really felt the need to dig into how one would uncurse the cursed shield. Even worse, there's a cursed ring in the game that you can't uncurse in any way. So even if I was into trial and error on figuring this stuff out as a kid (and I was, don't get me wrong) there'd have been a decent chance I'd have tried the ring first and failed.
At any rate, most people suggest going to the starting island of the ruined world and fighting the things that instantly die for 256 fights. But that sounds boring. I'd rather just use the shield while I play the game! It turns out I can pretty easily work around all the negatives because of how awesome Setzer is! You see, his main attack (fixed dice) isn't based off of any stat at all. The damage is just based on his level and what you roll on the dice. So taking a big stat penalty for wearing the cursed shield doesn't phase him. Slow him down a little I guess, and makes his heals worse if somehow he's the one casting heals instead of chucking dice at people. Now, because I've been playing the whole game knowing how awesome dice are I've also been shirking skill-ups with Setzer's espers. Instead he's been getting stuff like more max health. And he's been using the exp egg so he's a pretty high level. Taking extra damage from spells doesn't really hurt him so much when he has like 80% more health than Terra does.
Oh, and all those negative status conditions? Setzer is wearing a pretty ribbon! The only thing he's hit with is condemned, and if I can't win a fight in 60 seconds I'll just have to use a life spell on him.
I've been giving it a go for a couple days now without really any troubles. I only have one concern, really... 256 is a really big number! I've just cleared out the magi tower and there's very little left to do beyond the final dungeon. I guess I could go futz around in Narshe some more and hope to figure out where Mog is. I also don't have Relm, Strago, or Gogo either. Part of me wants to just go smash Kefka's crazy little face in though. But I do want a paladin shield at some point...
Ok, maybe not quite that bad. What it does is lowers all your stats by 7, has no defensive stats at all, and permanently inflicts you with the statuses berserked, muddled, muted, condemned, and seizured. It also makes you vulnerable to all elemental attacks. In order for the fight to count towards your 256 you need to have the character wearing it live through the fight which can be rough with all those negatives running around.
I've never uncursed the cursed shield before. 256 seems like a big number, those negatives were pretty harsh, and for the most part I didn't even know how to uncurse it. The game is pretty easy without a paladin shield anyway so I never really felt the need to dig into how one would uncurse the cursed shield. Even worse, there's a cursed ring in the game that you can't uncurse in any way. So even if I was into trial and error on figuring this stuff out as a kid (and I was, don't get me wrong) there'd have been a decent chance I'd have tried the ring first and failed.
At any rate, most people suggest going to the starting island of the ruined world and fighting the things that instantly die for 256 fights. But that sounds boring. I'd rather just use the shield while I play the game! It turns out I can pretty easily work around all the negatives because of how awesome Setzer is! You see, his main attack (fixed dice) isn't based off of any stat at all. The damage is just based on his level and what you roll on the dice. So taking a big stat penalty for wearing the cursed shield doesn't phase him. Slow him down a little I guess, and makes his heals worse if somehow he's the one casting heals instead of chucking dice at people. Now, because I've been playing the whole game knowing how awesome dice are I've also been shirking skill-ups with Setzer's espers. Instead he's been getting stuff like more max health. And he's been using the exp egg so he's a pretty high level. Taking extra damage from spells doesn't really hurt him so much when he has like 80% more health than Terra does.
Oh, and all those negative status conditions? Setzer is wearing a pretty ribbon! The only thing he's hit with is condemned, and if I can't win a fight in 60 seconds I'll just have to use a life spell on him.
I've been giving it a go for a couple days now without really any troubles. I only have one concern, really... 256 is a really big number! I've just cleared out the magi tower and there's very little left to do beyond the final dungeon. I guess I could go futz around in Narshe some more and hope to figure out where Mog is. I also don't have Relm, Strago, or Gogo either. Part of me wants to just go smash Kefka's crazy little face in though. But I do want a paladin shield at some point...
Monday, November 12, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Ragnarok
Shortly after you find Locke and get him to rejoin the party you get presented with a choice... Get the magicite for the esper Ragnarok or have a crazy blacksmith forge it into a sword which is also named Ragnarok. If memory serves I generally take the esper. I like learning all the spells and such and have typically been happy just using the atma weapon. This time around I have three people who are attacking with swords and decided pretty much on a whim to go with the sword this time around. Holy cow, is it strong! It's doing more than double the damage of the atma weapon and sometimes casts flare! The only downside is it seems to drain mana in order to do this extra damage. Oh well, Locke doesn't want to cast spells anyway!
I figured I should look into exactly what you're giving up when you make each choice. Mostly to sate my curiousity but a little for the next time I play the game!
The Ragnarok esper has no level up bonus so there's no need to worry about missing something there. It is the only esper in the game which teaches the most powerful spell: Ultima. Not having access to Ultima is a big downer and I'm pretty sure that's why I normally take the esper. On the other hand there is a hard to get shield which also teaches Ultima so you're not throwing it away completely if you take the sword. You're just delaying picking up Ultima for hundreds of fights. The last thing the esper does is lets you morph enemies into all kinds of items. This morph spell is the only way to get extra copies of a few powerful items. You don't really need extra copies of them, and you can have a really low chance to get them anyway by using magicite consumables and hoping you hit Ragnarok. I don't think I ever used the esper to morph things so if I'm missing a lot by not having it I wouldn't know!
The Ragnarok sword is the second best weapon in the game. The best weapon, Illumina, can only be obtained by betting the Ragnarok sword in the arena. It's stupid good. +7 to all stats. 50% evade and magic evade. Can't miss. Auto-crit. Can be used from the back row. Can cast pearl, which also auto-crits. Maximum attack power. I don't think I've ever had one of these... Tomorrow on the bus I plan on going to get one. Locke is going to be even more awesome than usual!
I figured I should look into exactly what you're giving up when you make each choice. Mostly to sate my curiousity but a little for the next time I play the game!
The Ragnarok esper has no level up bonus so there's no need to worry about missing something there. It is the only esper in the game which teaches the most powerful spell: Ultima. Not having access to Ultima is a big downer and I'm pretty sure that's why I normally take the esper. On the other hand there is a hard to get shield which also teaches Ultima so you're not throwing it away completely if you take the sword. You're just delaying picking up Ultima for hundreds of fights. The last thing the esper does is lets you morph enemies into all kinds of items. This morph spell is the only way to get extra copies of a few powerful items. You don't really need extra copies of them, and you can have a really low chance to get them anyway by using magicite consumables and hoping you hit Ragnarok. I don't think I ever used the esper to morph things so if I'm missing a lot by not having it I wouldn't know!
The Ragnarok sword is the second best weapon in the game. The best weapon, Illumina, can only be obtained by betting the Ragnarok sword in the arena. It's stupid good. +7 to all stats. 50% evade and magic evade. Can't miss. Auto-crit. Can be used from the back row. Can cast pearl, which also auto-crits. Maximum attack power. I don't think I've ever had one of these... Tomorrow on the bus I plan on going to get one. Locke is going to be even more awesome than usual!
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Slots!
Setzer may well be my favourite Final Fantasy character from any game, but I've never liked his special ability. I decided to take a little look at it today and it turns out the game actually cheats. So it's not just that I've always been bad at using it... Even if you're good with timing there's only a small chance you'll pull it off!
I found an interesting guide on gamefaqs about it which is worth a read if you like seeing the silly ways abilities are coded in these games. It turns out there's a counter which gets incremented each time an action goes off. It gets incremented by a fixed amount, so you can know what the counter is currently at. Then the value of the counter determines which slot results are legal. So 8 of the 256 options allow the 777 auto-kill to go off. If you're not futzing with the counter and it actually is in a 'random' spot then you're only able to get the best outcome 1 in 32 no matter how good you are at spinning the wheels.
Also, apparently you can cheat at spinning the wheels by pausing and unpausing the game to see where the wheels are.
Apparently the RNG starts each fight at 0 and there's a trick to get it up to a 777 auto-kill value in one action. Use an echo screen and then go to slot town!
I donno. I used to think I was just bad at using slots. Now that I know it's a deliberate design decision to make the ability bad I'm not very happy. I like when things are hard because they're hard. I don't like it when things are impossible because of game design. At any rate, I no longer have any desire to try to use the ability. I am glad I know how it works so I can avoid using it. I guess all Setzer will do now is be awesome by throwing dice at the enemies!
I found an interesting guide on gamefaqs about it which is worth a read if you like seeing the silly ways abilities are coded in these games. It turns out there's a counter which gets incremented each time an action goes off. It gets incremented by a fixed amount, so you can know what the counter is currently at. Then the value of the counter determines which slot results are legal. So 8 of the 256 options allow the 777 auto-kill to go off. If you're not futzing with the counter and it actually is in a 'random' spot then you're only able to get the best outcome 1 in 32 no matter how good you are at spinning the wheels.
Also, apparently you can cheat at spinning the wheels by pausing and unpausing the game to see where the wheels are.
Apparently the RNG starts each fight at 0 and there's a trick to get it up to a 777 auto-kill value in one action. Use an echo screen and then go to slot town!
I donno. I used to think I was just bad at using slots. Now that I know it's a deliberate design decision to make the ability bad I'm not very happy. I like when things are hard because they're hard. I don't like it when things are impossible because of game design. At any rate, I no longer have any desire to try to use the ability. I am glad I know how it works so I can avoid using it. I guess all Setzer will do now is be awesome by throwing dice at the enemies!
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Feed A Man A Fish
Final Fantasy VI has a ton of awesome events/cutscenes as you play the game. And then it has some events that aren't all that awesome. And then there's the event right after the end of the first world which is really frustrating. In this day and age with the internet and being able to look up how it works it's merely really annoying. Back in the day it was almost game breaking.
The event in question happens on a deserted island. Your only character is Celes and she's stranded with only Cid who is dying. The only thing around to eat are fish and Cid asks you to get him some. Walk a little bit away and you can find some fish which spawn. Wade into the water and hit A to pick one up. Then you can carry it in to Cid who will eat it and whine a bit. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
How it works is there's an internal counter. If it gets high enough then Cid recovers and sends you on your merry way. If it gets low enough then Cid dies. Celes tries to commit suicide, is saved by a bird who has Locke's bandana, and moves on. If it stays between those two values then you stay stuck on the island. You have to break out of the boundaries to move on but the number is hidden and there isn't a whole lot of hints to let you know what you need to do.
The easy way out is to stop feeding Cid fish entirely. His health slowly decreases so if you just walk away for a while he'll eventually die. The Celes suicide scene is actually pretty impactful so this isn't the worst idea. Of course it does kill off Cid which isn't something any Final Fantasy fan should want to do...
In order to save Cid you need to fight his steady health decrease by feeding him fish. There are four different types of fish. Some of them raise his health, but some of them actually help kill him. So if you don't know what's going on and just keep feeding Cid all the fish you can be playing for hours. Even this time, knowing what was going on, it took me more than one bus ride to save him. I probably should have just killed him off... Especially since it meant missing this:
The event in question happens on a deserted island. Your only character is Celes and she's stranded with only Cid who is dying. The only thing around to eat are fish and Cid asks you to get him some. Walk a little bit away and you can find some fish which spawn. Wade into the water and hit A to pick one up. Then you can carry it in to Cid who will eat it and whine a bit. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
How it works is there's an internal counter. If it gets high enough then Cid recovers and sends you on your merry way. If it gets low enough then Cid dies. Celes tries to commit suicide, is saved by a bird who has Locke's bandana, and moves on. If it stays between those two values then you stay stuck on the island. You have to break out of the boundaries to move on but the number is hidden and there isn't a whole lot of hints to let you know what you need to do.
The easy way out is to stop feeding Cid fish entirely. His health slowly decreases so if you just walk away for a while he'll eventually die. The Celes suicide scene is actually pretty impactful so this isn't the worst idea. Of course it does kill off Cid which isn't something any Final Fantasy fan should want to do...
In order to save Cid you need to fight his steady health decrease by feeding him fish. There are four different types of fish. Some of them raise his health, but some of them actually help kill him. So if you don't know what's going on and just keep feeding Cid all the fish you can be playing for hours. Even this time, knowing what was going on, it took me more than one bus ride to save him. I probably should have just killed him off... Especially since it meant missing this:
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Zozo!
Today on the bus I talked to all of the nice people in Zozo and managed to deduce the correct time. They were a great help and the reward was the chainsaw tool for Edgar. I'm never going to use it because it's terrible. I'm not even sure why I got it since it's just going to clog up my inventory and I hate collecting things. Oh well.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Character Preferences
While I was playing through Sabin's story arc near the start of the game I got to thinking about why I like some of the characters more than others. Sabin and Cyan both do two to three times as much damage as any other character I have at that point. I gave Locke my best weapon, the gauntlet accessory, and the vigor up accessory and he still does less than half the damage Cyan does. And yet I'd rather play with Locke than Cyan. Why? I think a big part of it is because I get to decide precisely what he does while Cyan attacks someone at random.
The party near the start of Sabin's arc is Shadow, Sabin, and Cyan. Sabin and Cyan killed any enemy in one special attack. Shadow took two attacks to kill something, but was fast so would generally go first. Running into a group of 3 enemies should result in each character killing one enemy. Shadow would take an extra round to get his but it should still work out to one kill each. Unfortunately Cyan would have a 33% chance to finish off Shadow's target. Then even if he didn't Sabin would have a 50% chance to kill it. It made me very sad.
It was a little better when I traded Shadow for Gau. At least then I couldn't control anyone at all! Just sit back and watch the enemies evaporate. Well, Gau pretty much did nothing because I don't know which rages aren't worthless but at least Sabin and Cyan weren't screwing up my carefully laid plans.
Sabin has the other problem that you can fail his attacks. It seems easier on the PSP than it was on the SNES to pull off the fireball move but I have missed a few times and it really sucks to take no action.
At any rate, I thought it would be interesting to rank the characters in preferential order and see if they follow the controlly pattern or not...
1) Setzer
2) Locke
3) Celes
4) Edgar
5) Terra
6) Shadow
7) Mog
8) Gau
9) Strago
10) Gogo
11) Relm
12) Umaro
13) Cyan
14) Sabin
Setzer's special ability can fail which is a little annoying but at least when it works it hits all enemies. And really, I don't use slots very often. It's all about throwing dice at people!
The party near the start of Sabin's arc is Shadow, Sabin, and Cyan. Sabin and Cyan killed any enemy in one special attack. Shadow took two attacks to kill something, but was fast so would generally go first. Running into a group of 3 enemies should result in each character killing one enemy. Shadow would take an extra round to get his but it should still work out to one kill each. Unfortunately Cyan would have a 33% chance to finish off Shadow's target. Then even if he didn't Sabin would have a 50% chance to kill it. It made me very sad.
It was a little better when I traded Shadow for Gau. At least then I couldn't control anyone at all! Just sit back and watch the enemies evaporate. Well, Gau pretty much did nothing because I don't know which rages aren't worthless but at least Sabin and Cyan weren't screwing up my carefully laid plans.
Sabin has the other problem that you can fail his attacks. It seems easier on the PSP than it was on the SNES to pull off the fireball move but I have missed a few times and it really sucks to take no action.
At any rate, I thought it would be interesting to rank the characters in preferential order and see if they follow the controlly pattern or not...
1) Setzer
2) Locke
3) Celes
4) Edgar
5) Terra
6) Shadow
7) Mog
8) Gau
9) Strago
10) Gogo
11) Relm
12) Umaro
13) Cyan
14) Sabin
Setzer's special ability can fail which is a little annoying but at least when it works it hits all enemies. And really, I don't use slots very often. It's all about throwing dice at people!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Suplex a Train
Today on the bus to and from work I finished up Sabin's story and am currently paused during the big group fight with Kefka in Narshe. Along the way I beat up the Phantom Train boss and I couldn't resist doing what may be the single most ludicrous move in the history of video games...
Not my game, obviously, since I haven't power leveled and have renamed the characters. Bung totally took the train down with a suplex though. Sabin's story is probably my least favourite part of the entire game as I don't really like any of the characters involved in it. (Well, except Kefka... Poisoning an entire population because they have the gall to defend themselves in a castle? Classic insane Kefka!) I'm happy to be done it, and at least it has the train suplex as a redeeming feature.
Not my game, obviously, since I haven't power leveled and have renamed the characters. Bung totally took the train down with a suplex though. Sabin's story is probably my least favourite part of the entire game as I don't really like any of the characters involved in it. (Well, except Kefka... Poisoning an entire population because they have the gall to defend themselves in a castle? Classic insane Kefka!) I'm happy to be done it, and at least it has the train suplex as a redeeming feature.
Monday, September 10, 2012
PSP Hacks
This weekend I decided to try to find a solution to my squeaky sound effect problem with Final Fantasy VI on the PSP. I couldn't find anything with regards to patching the PSOne game itself but did find some information on hacking a PSP to run a SNES emulator. This sounds like the best of all worlds... Portable so I can play on the bus and original game! Sweet!
I have a newer PSP 3000 which apparently is 'unhackable'. You can't run unsigned programs on it which shut down prior hacks. It does turn out you can run a 'game' which tricks the PSP into running hacked firmware until you turn the system off. From there it's a simple matter of getting the emulator and a ROM. It turns out I have all the ROMs because of my SNES project so I was partway there!
It took some fiddling but I got everything installed on my PSP and tried it out. The emulator loaded up! Woo! Unfortunately it turns out SNES emulators for the PSP are not nearly as advanced as ones for the PC. They only know how to handle 4 of the 8 graphics modes, for example, and Mode 7 isn't one of them. FFVI actually makes a fair amount of use of Mode 7 which is a bit of a problem. I can remember playing FFV on an emulator without Mode 7 support and it was rough. In some spots you just had a black screen and had to use a FAQ to tell you exactly where to walk. If this happened in FFVI it would sorta negate the whole portable advantage.
Eh, I gave it a try anyway. The first thing I noticed was the pacing was off. Biggs and Wedge seemed to be moving too slowly at times and way too fast at others. I got into a fight and the sound effects, while a little better, were still not SNES quality. I guess the PSP itself can't handle the way the SNES did some sounds?
Test complete I went to put the PSP to sleep and found I couldn't. I don't know if it's the emulator or the firmware hack but the sleep function just doesn't seem to exist. I can't pause/power down while I'm at work. Presumably I could save state, exit the emulator, shut off the PSP, and then go through the firmware hack on the way home... But this sounds a lot like I'm spending 20% of my FFVI time hacking a PSP. This is a deal breaker for me. Even if the graphics and sound worked properly I don't think I could handle losing sleep mode.
So I'm back to my old dilemna. I can play on the SNES (and probably not play much with Mists of Pandaria coming out in two weeks) or I can play on the PSP and suck up the bad sound effects. I played the PSP both to and from work today and think I can probably get over the bad sound. The music remains awesome. I've completed Locke's scenario near the start of the game and am currently escorting Banon through the mines of Narshe.
I have a newer PSP 3000 which apparently is 'unhackable'. You can't run unsigned programs on it which shut down prior hacks. It does turn out you can run a 'game' which tricks the PSP into running hacked firmware until you turn the system off. From there it's a simple matter of getting the emulator and a ROM. It turns out I have all the ROMs because of my SNES project so I was partway there!
It took some fiddling but I got everything installed on my PSP and tried it out. The emulator loaded up! Woo! Unfortunately it turns out SNES emulators for the PSP are not nearly as advanced as ones for the PC. They only know how to handle 4 of the 8 graphics modes, for example, and Mode 7 isn't one of them. FFVI actually makes a fair amount of use of Mode 7 which is a bit of a problem. I can remember playing FFV on an emulator without Mode 7 support and it was rough. In some spots you just had a black screen and had to use a FAQ to tell you exactly where to walk. If this happened in FFVI it would sorta negate the whole portable advantage.
Eh, I gave it a try anyway. The first thing I noticed was the pacing was off. Biggs and Wedge seemed to be moving too slowly at times and way too fast at others. I got into a fight and the sound effects, while a little better, were still not SNES quality. I guess the PSP itself can't handle the way the SNES did some sounds?
Test complete I went to put the PSP to sleep and found I couldn't. I don't know if it's the emulator or the firmware hack but the sleep function just doesn't seem to exist. I can't pause/power down while I'm at work. Presumably I could save state, exit the emulator, shut off the PSP, and then go through the firmware hack on the way home... But this sounds a lot like I'm spending 20% of my FFVI time hacking a PSP. This is a deal breaker for me. Even if the graphics and sound worked properly I don't think I could handle losing sleep mode.
So I'm back to my old dilemna. I can play on the SNES (and probably not play much with Mists of Pandaria coming out in two weeks) or I can play on the PSP and suck up the bad sound effects. I played the PSP both to and from work today and think I can probably get over the bad sound. The music remains awesome. I've completed Locke's scenario near the start of the game and am currently escorting Banon through the mines of Narshe.
Friday, September 07, 2012
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...
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...
Monday, July 23, 2012
Final Fantasy VI: Version?
The next game in my marathon will be the final SNES era Final Fantasy game: Final Fantasy VI. I've been looking forward to this game in particular since the start of the marathon. I'm pretty sure it's my second most played Final Fantasy game (after FFIV). The first thing I need to decide is which version of the game I'm going to play. Here are the different options:
Super Famicom
pros - The original uncensored version. I haven't played a game in Japanese yet in this marathon and it feels like maybe I should at some point.
cons - I don't speak Japanese. I don't know that I want to burn my playthrough of FFVI by spending the whole time trying to translate katakana though.
Super Nintendo
pros - The only version I've ever played and it's awesome. I can play it on the big tv.
cons - None. It's awesome
PlayStation
pros - I'd get it on the PSP so I'd be able to play it on the bus. A lot of the censorship was removed. A FMV for the opera scene was added. They added in a run button so you don't need to waste an accessory slot on sprint shoes. Perhaps most importantly, I can potentially play it at WBC during downtime/on the ride?
cons - This version has annoying load times before every battle. Supposedly the sound quality is worse. I don't currently own it.
Gameboy Advance
pros - Bonus dungeons added in, extra espers to obtain, different translation.
cons - Worse music. I don't own it, a console that could play it, and have no easy way to fix those problems. Also I'm not sure it's right to play a version with all kinds of bonuses.
I'm leaning towards playing on the SNES, but I think if I do that I should probably wait until after I get back from WBC before I start so I don't get into the game and then have to drop it for 10 days. On the other hand I did really like being able to play FFV on the bus and it suffered from the same annoying load times. It wasn't the end of the world there. And I am a little curious to see uncensored Siren... Oh my!
Super Famicom
pros - The original uncensored version. I haven't played a game in Japanese yet in this marathon and it feels like maybe I should at some point.
cons - I don't speak Japanese. I don't know that I want to burn my playthrough of FFVI by spending the whole time trying to translate katakana though.
Super Nintendo
pros - The only version I've ever played and it's awesome. I can play it on the big tv.
cons - None. It's awesome
PlayStation
pros - I'd get it on the PSP so I'd be able to play it on the bus. A lot of the censorship was removed. A FMV for the opera scene was added. They added in a run button so you don't need to waste an accessory slot on sprint shoes. Perhaps most importantly, I can potentially play it at WBC during downtime/on the ride?
cons - This version has annoying load times before every battle. Supposedly the sound quality is worse. I don't currently own it.
Gameboy Advance
pros - Bonus dungeons added in, extra espers to obtain, different translation.
cons - Worse music. I don't own it, a console that could play it, and have no easy way to fix those problems. Also I'm not sure it's right to play a version with all kinds of bonuses.
I'm leaning towards playing on the SNES, but I think if I do that I should probably wait until after I get back from WBC before I start so I don't get into the game and then have to drop it for 10 days. On the other hand I did really like being able to play FFV on the bus and it suffered from the same annoying load times. It wasn't the end of the world there. And I am a little curious to see uncensored Siren... Oh my!
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