Weekly /r/FinalFantasy Question Thread – Week of November 15, 2021

There will be another game, but the release date is TBD. The original game was three discs on the PS1, and so far, the first game has covered about one-third to one-half of the first disc. The remake also diverges from the original in some ways, so it's unclear how closely the stories will align going forward.

Remake also only covers about the first few hours of the original essentially tutorial section they really did stretch the tutorial into its own game like not even exaggerating

Iainuki is like Zantetsuken, yes. It's an instant kill attack that tries to kill all enemies (~85% base chance that changes depending on character and enemy level). It usually does take a turn or two to charge before the attack goes off.

There is some debate about it, but based on what we know so far, here's the timeline that I've been able to put together.

The games Crystal Defenders, Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm, and Dive II Hunt: The Adventures of Sorbet take place at an unknown time probably around the events of Tactics A2, but there's really not much story to them, so they're kind of irrelevant.

Note that the Ivalice you see in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is not the "real" Ivalice, but rather a dream world created when Marche and his friends read from the Gran Grimoire, so it doesn't fit into the timeline. Also, the Ivalice in Final Fantasy XIV is not the same Ivalice, but rather a part of the world of Hydaelyn that follows a different timeline. In that version of Ivalice, the events of The War of the Lions took place in the distant past, and some aspects of The Zodiac Age exist in the present.

The appearances of Balthier and Luso in The War of the Lions are not fully explained. It's possible that they are non-canon since they were only added as bonus material in the remake. However, Balthier implies that he travelled through time for a treasure hunt, which could be a canonical explanation of why he is there. No in-game explanation is given for Luso, but the simplest assumption is that he used the Grimoire of the Rift again.

The debate about the timeline has to do with the city of St. Ivalice, which we see at the beginning and end of Tactics Advance and Tactics A2. Some people say that St. Ivalice exists in the far future of the world of Ivalice. In this interpretation, Luso is travelling through time in the events of Tactics A2. This would put the St. Ivalice segments of Tactics Advance and Tactics A2 at the end of the timeline following another long time skip after Vagrant Story.

I disagree with this assessment. The games make no acknowledgement that St. Ivalice exists in the world of Ivalice, and it implies that the characters are travelling to a different world when they visit Ivalice. Since Tactics Advance also has some metareferences to Final Fantasy being a video game, I think it's implied that St. Ivalice is supposed to exist here on Earth with Luso travelling to the world of Ivalice through the Grimoire of the Rift. Either way, if you're trying to play the games chronologically, I'd say that it makes the most sense to play Tactics Advance after Revenant Wings and before Tactics A2.

The War of the Lions release - which is the most widespread one now - is the one to play. It was originally for the PSP, but I believe it's on tablets and PCs now too. It's about 90 to 95 percent the same as the original PS1 release, but it cleans up some of the (bad) initial translation, and adds in a couple side quests and characters.

Kind of highly dependent on your experience and situation. They're reasonably priced and playable, with updated graphics (subjective whether you like that or not) and enhanced sound (that most people seem to like). The games *don't* include bonus dungeons and classes that were added to re-releases. This doesn't significantly change any of the games, but if you have the GBA version of 5 already, that might be good enough for you.

Personally, I've already bought 4 for the PSP and SNES, but I've got my eyes on 6 when it comes out, since the SNES Classic is the copy I own. I might check out 2 and 3 at some point, too.

Yes, they’re pretty much the same. However, experience tables were modified in PR that made leveling up much quicker (on top of other QoL changes) which could explain why battles are much easier.

No. Those levels are fine for that area, to be honest. Probably just level up a bit more to 13/14 to help out. Just make sure everyone except Cecil is in the back row.

Rosa's physical attack with a bow is really good for the flying/floating enemies in this area, so make sure to use Aim with her as much as you can when you face one.

Starry's tips are on point, and I would also add - It's easy to do things like "hoard" magic in FF4, to "save" it for cases when you need it. Don't bother! Where you're at in the game, don't be shy about using Rydia's Chocobo or elemental magic to exploit enemy weaknesses. (The next portion of the game will feature another black mage; don't be shy about using their magic either.)

Before almost every major fight in the game, there is a save point, and if there isn't, you get enough Ethers and Elixirs to keep the magic flowing. On the world map, each Chocobo Forest also has a white chocobo in it, that'll heal your magic to full.

It depends on your experience with RPGs, but 4 is a pretty solid place to start. It does have ATB, which means you have to pay attention to it vs. a strictly turn-based game like a Dragon Quest, but it's not incredibly complex. I also think it's easier to ramp up - to go from 4, to 5 and 6 - then tackling in reverse, even though more people probably like 6 than 5 and 4.

FF1 is a good, but old fashioned, kind of game. Turn-based, and a good amount of grinding, but it's easy to play while you're watching TV. FF3 is similar to 1, but you can class change a bunch, and some stretches of the game are incredibly tough.

FF2 is its own beast, as characters gain attributes and stats based on usage. (i.e. Using magic increases your magic.) Ever since its initial release, the gameplay has been "smoothed" out in every subsequent version, but it's still one of the more lightly regarded games in a 15-game series, ha. It is the first FF game that heavily features a drama-filled plot, though, so it's worth playing through once, if you like other games. (I'd still rather play a bad FF, then some of the dreck from the same era.)

Never heard someone complain that FF9 is too difficult.

You are still in the very early game, which is genuinely quite difficult. For much of the early game you really do need to make sure you have a lot of potions. The game has a ton of save slots, so make sure to make use of that in case you find yourself in a situation again where you don’t have enough potions and can’t go back to restock.

As for the game not explaining Trance- remember that this game is from an era where games came with manuals! The manual explained everything so that the game didn’t have to slow itself down much with tutorials. Unfortunately the modern rereleases don’t include any sort of manual, which is a point against them but you can’t really hold it against the original game.

I think part of the love for 9 is that it is a "throwback" in some ways to the roots of the series. While I love 7 and 8, they both lean way more into the steampunk, crapsack kind of world dynamic. After those two games, 9 is seen as way more "ye olde fantasy," and a large segment of the fan base was jonesing for that. (And all that being said - I still think 9 is a really splendid game, and I'm overdue for a replay, it's just that it's probably not in my personal Top 5.)

At least for the PS1 and PSP releases, the camera rotate buttons were L1 and R1 and/or L2 or R2, can't remember exactly. Not sure what they would be on PC or iOS, if you're playing on that.

Also, the first few battles in FFT feature "guest" characters. You control Ramza, yes, but several other characters act on their own, and you can't control them. This is HIGHLY annoying in two or three story battles later in the game, but otherwise, it's a mechanic that isn't a huge deal. (There is also an Auto / AI option for your own team - Poke through your battle settings to make sure you haven't turned it ON by accident.)

Gamefaqs has excellent guides for basically all FF's. You won't need a guide most of the way through X though, as long as you make sure you solve all the destruction sphere puzzles. You can just start using a guide when the game opens up, unless you want to get all the useful but not unique rewards along the way. For X-2 you'll definitely need a guide from the start.

The other big missable in X is the al bhed primers, you can probably find an FAQ specifically for those though without spoilers.

I did a platinum run a couple years ago, and agree completely with Miku. X is mostly OK if you solve the puzzles, and while you don't want to spend your spheres on stupid things, you have to do so much end game grinding for the platinum that it isn't going to effect you that much if you make a less-than-optimal decision early on.

X-2 is a beast of a platinum that I didn't even try to get. I think you can technically get it in one playthrough, but it's much easier if you use two, similar to the Tales series games.