Octopus Overlords

So they still have anthropomorphic furniture and houses for you to fight?

Phew, I was worried they were just going to do random rats and hapless Shinra soldiers.

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:25 am More confusing than when I ordered a Final Fantasy III strategy guide a number of years back and received a guide to a game I'd never heard of? They took one of the best known SNES RPGs, changed its name, then released a different game under its old name. That's nuts.

I'm confused by this. The SNES FFIII was named that since it was the 3rd FF game released in the US, but it really was FFVI.

FFII in the US was FFIV in Japan.

The Japanese versions of II, III, and V didn't get official releases in the US until the early 2000s.

I'm not sure why that's nuts? Unless you weren't totally aware of the renaming?

pr0ner wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:44 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:25 am More confusing than when I ordered a Final Fantasy III strategy guide a number of years back and received a guide to a game I'd never heard of? They took one of the best known SNES RPGs, changed its name, then released a different game under its old name. That's nuts.

I'm confused by this. The SNES FFIII was named that since it was the 3rd FF game released in the US, but it really was FFVI.

FFII in the US was FFIV in Japan.

The Japanese versions of II, III, and V didn't get official releases in the US until the early 2000s.

I'm not sure why that's nuts? Unless you weren't totally aware of the renaming?

I wasn't aware until after I'd made that purchase and ended up with the wrong product. It never occurred to me that they'd rename an existing product and reuse the old name for a new one. They'd have been better off just giving the Japanese-only releases a unique title outside of the numbering system (Final Fantasy: Killin' Stuff Quest.) After all, by the time they were released they were last-gen titles that were released mostly for collectors rather than maintream titles.

well now I have the sads. this sounded awesome. I tried final fantasy XV. I really did. but I hated the combat. not disliked, but hated. I could not finish the game, I had to abandon when they gang was someplace driving across the desert. where am I, who just hit me, where are the bad guys, are my teammates alive? just remembering it still makes me angry.

ahh well. it was fun reading about it anyways.

Then let's talk about Final Fantasy Adventure.

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:31 pm Then let's talk about Final Fantasy Adventure.

Oh, you mean Sword of Mana?

Skinypupy wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:36 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:31 pm Then let's talk about Final Fantasy Adventure.

Oh, you mean Sword of Mana?

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:07 pm

pr0ner wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:44 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:25 am More confusing than when I ordered a Final Fantasy III strategy guide a number of years back and received a guide to a game I'd never heard of? They took one of the best known SNES RPGs, changed its name, then released a different game under its old name. That's nuts.

I'm confused by this. The SNES FFIII was named that since it was the 3rd FF game released in the US, but it really was FFVI.

FFII in the US was FFIV in Japan.

The Japanese versions of II, III, and V didn't get official releases in the US until the early 2000s.

I'm not sure why that's nuts? Unless you weren't totally aware of the renaming?

I wasn't aware until after I'd made that purchase and ended up with the wrong product. It never occurred to me that they'd rename an existing product and reuse the old name for a new one. They'd have been better off just giving the Japanese-only releases a unique title outside of the numbering system (Final Fantasy: Killin' Stuff Quest.) After all, by the time they were released they were last-gen titles that were released mostly for collectors rather than maintream titles.

Ahh, I get your post now. Appreciate the clarification! Certainly see why you would consider it nuts.

Jaymon wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:15 pm well now I have the sads. this sounded awesome. I tried final fantasy XV. I really did. but I hated the combat. not disliked, but hated. I could not finish the game, I had to abandon when they gang was someplace driving across the desert. where am I, who just hit me, where are the bad guys, are my teammates alive? just remembering it still makes me angry.

ahh well. it was fun reading about it anyways.

FWIW, I also didn't like the combat in XV at all but after 10 hours or so I'm still finding it ok in this one.

wonderpug wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 5:45 pm

Jaymon wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:15 pm well now I have the sads. this sounded awesome. I tried final fantasy XV. I really did. but I hated the combat. not disliked, but hated. I could not finish the game, I had to abandon when they gang was someplace driving across the desert. where am I, who just hit me, where are the bad guys, are my teammates alive? just remembering it still makes me angry.

ahh well. it was fun reading about it anyways.

FWIW, I also didn't like the combat in XV at all but after 10 hours or so I'm still finding it ok in this one.

I agree combat in ff7 is far superior to XV. I personally haven't had a problem with the camera in 7. XV was a whole different ball game since it was largely an open world type game where you could get attacked in wide open spaces. 7 is a linear game and the fights are much tighter.

Double post

It's hard to tell what a spoiler is with this game becuase it is a remake. It's like spoiling that Vader is Luke's dad at this point. BUT it was worth the wait!

I did the Honeybee Inn section last night. What. The. Hell???

That was hilarious.

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:34 pm I did the Honeybee Inn section last night. What. The. Hell???

That was hilarious.

For real

Just got to Chapter 14. I was wildly impressed by how they handled the pillar battle and the aftermath. The absolutely stellar voice and digital acting gave that entire situation a significant emotional punch.

It just opened up a Sector 5 side quest that is hugely annoying. The Leaf House lady says “Find the kids”, but theres no indication of who or what I’m actually supposed to be looking for, and the quest area is basically the entire town. Wandered around for about 15 minutes hoping I might stumble across...whatever it is I’m supposed to find, but no luck.

One of my minor gripes with this game is that the quests can often be frustratingly vague. The one in Wall Market about finding the guy who needed medicine (who I eventually found in a random back alley) was similarly annoying,

If you do all of the other quests you'll find the kids. But if you need a hint

Thanks.

Weird thing is, it’s the only side quest on my list. When I pull up the side quest log, there’s a bunch of other empty green boxes for this chapter (indicating quests I haven’t found yet), but there’s no other green markers showing anywhere on the map. Only thing on the map are the “Find the Kids” sidequest (green marker) and the main quest (blue marker)

Hoping I just missed something and it’s not a bug.

Chapter 14 is the last chapter with a bunch of quests. They're all in sector 5 or wallmarket. The chocobo quest is the first one you should do becuase it lets you warp. You start it in western section 5.

Chapter 14 is the last chapter with a bunch of quests. They're all in sector 5 or wallmarket. The chocobo quest is the first one you should do becuase it lets you warp. You start it in western section 5.

I finished the game up yesterday. Without spoiling anything I will say that the last 2 chapters are very rewarding and the place where the story ends seems pretty natural. Now I just hope that part 2 isn't 3 years away. It would be awesome if they did a quick release within the next year.

Scraper wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:37 am Now I just hope that part 2 isn't 3 years away. It would be awesome if they did a quick release within the next year.

Not a chance. Squeenix has a track record of loooong release cycles for FF games (this one took 5 years from announcement to release), and they haven't even announced that there will be a next chapter yet. Unless they do something completely out of character, my guess is that we'll be waiting another 4-5 years for the next installment. The extremely positive response (and hopefully sales) of this one will help, but I'd be really surprised if we got the next one any sooner than that.

EDIT: Just announced this morning that they've sold 3.5 million copies of FF VII remake so far. No idea if that meets expectations, but it seems pretty damn good. For comparison, the original has sold 11 million copies over 23 years and 6(?) different platforms.

I should finish up the Chapter 14 side quests tonight (beat the Behemoth last night, just have one more) then it appears to be on to the point of no return. I feel like the last two side quest bits really ground things to a halt, mostly because the quests themselves were so incredibly vague. Hell, you won't even find a couple of them unless you look up a guide or happen to stumble across them on accident.

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:00 am

Scraper wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:37 am Now I just hope that part 2 isn't 3 years away. It would be awesome if they did a quick release within the next year.

Not a chance. Squeenix has a track record of loooong release cycles for FF games (this one took 5 years from announcement to release), and they haven't even announced that there will be a next chapter yet. Unless they do something completely out of character, my guess is that we'll be waiting another 4-5 years for the next installment. The extremely positive response (and hopefully sales) of this one will help, but I'd be really surprised if we got the next one any sooner than that.

EDIT: Just announced this morning that they've sold 3.5 million copies of FF VII remake so far. No idea if that meets expectations, but it seems pretty damn good. For comparison, the original has sold 11 million copies over 23 years and 6(?) different platforms.

I should finish up the Chapter 14 side quests tonight (beat the Behemoth last night, just have one more) then it appears to be on to the point of no return. I feel like the last two side quest bits really ground things to a halt, mostly because the quests themselves were so incredibly vague. Hell, you won't even find a couple of them unless you look up a guide or happen to stumble across them on accident.

Just an FYI, you can't find the 3rd and final Don's storage room until you proceed in the story into his mansion. This part drove me nuts because I knew where the other two locations were from playing the game earlier, but there is no hint that you actually have to proceed with the story line to finish up that last room.

I'm loving this too. For combat, I just said screw it and put it on easy as I'm not here for the game play, but the (surprisingly expanded) story and characters. After 20 plus years of the old pixilated 2D environments, it's blowing my mind to be able to really walk around and look at things.

Scraper wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:37 am Now I just hope that part 2 isn't 3 years away.

Dammit, seriously? I hadn't been reading up on this much prior to release and I had no idea it was only part of the game.

wonderpug wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:00 pm

Scraper wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:37 am Now I just hope that part 2 isn't 3 years away.

Dammit, seriously? I hadn't been reading up on this much prior to release and I had no idea it was only part of the game.

Yup. They expanded just the Midgar section into a full 40 hour RPG.

While it's been awesome in some ways, I have no idea how they will remake the rest of the game like this. The Midgar section in the original was only 5-6 hours, and now it's a fully fleshed-out 40. If done at the same scale, the entire game would clock in at 500 hours, lol. I don't think that's really feasible, and any future installments will either cut out entire portions or significantly scale down some elements of the story.

Hamlet3145 wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:29 am I'm loving this too. For combat, I just said screw it and put it on easy as I'm not here for the game play, but the (surprisingly expanded) story and characters. After 20 plus years of the old pixilated 2D environments, it's blowing my mind to be able to really walk around and look at things.

Same here.

I finished yesterday as well. I might need a little time to digest the experience. I played the whole game on normal, but I wiped several times. A couple were just an unexpected follow up battle where I had the wrong materia. A couple more were battles where I didn't adapt my default combat strategy in time and end up in a death spiral just trying to keep party members conscious. Then toward the end, some bosses had mega attacks that could wipe the party if they hit at the wrong time. So that felt a lot like Final Fantasy VII.

There's a point after you enter the Shinra building where easy and normal enemies go away. It becomes a gauntlet, but it's fun.

I'll give a little advice in spoilers. It's pretty generic, but if you want to be totally surprised, I don't want to ruin anything.

Hrothgar wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:25 pm One minor story spoiler:

Spoiler:

Zack! From crisis core! Totally unexpected.

He was in the original too...sort of.

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:45 pm

Hrothgar wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:25 pm One minor story spoiler:

Spoiler:

Zack! From crisis core! Totally unexpected.

He was in the original too...sort of.

Sure, but I didn't have any knowledge of/relationship with him back then.

Man, I'd love to play this...but no PS4. Womp womp.

I splurged on this last night, even though I almost never pay full price for a game these days. And I haven't touched my PS4 in months. But the positive reviews were too much, and I love my Final Fantasy.

Here's the kicker......Final Fantasy 7 is the only FF game I never played.

Yeah, I know. The only FF game I never played is regarded as one of the best in the series. I don't think I had a Playstation when it came out, and by the time I did get one they had released FF 8 so I picked up from there.

At any rate, having a lot of fun with it. I'm not a huge fan of real-time battles as I'm old school, but it's really well done and exciting in this one. I'm still wrapping my brain around it, but there's no denying that my adrenaline has been pumping during some of the bigger fights. I finished FF XV so the concept wasn't that foreign to me, but I agree combat has been refined and polished even more in this game.

Lots of fun and it allowed me to dust off my PS4 and give it new life, so that's a good thing.

I'm really interested to hear how this game works/doesn't work for someone without nostalgia for the original.

Just got to Wall Market and laughed out loud during the . . .

El Guapo wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:14 pm Man, I'd love to play this...but no PS4. Womp womp.

It's a timed exclusive, you'll get your chance.

coopasonic wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:29 am

El Guapo wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:14 pm Man, I'd love to play this...but no PS4. Womp womp.

It's a timed exclusive, you'll get your chance.

My sense is it'll hit other platforms in about a year - is that right?

Yeah, one year exclusivity. Might see a PS5 release? I wonder if COVID is going to impact the new consoles?

El Guapo wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:42 am

coopasonic wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:29 am

El Guapo wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:14 pm Man, I'd love to play this...but no PS4. Womp womp.

It's a timed exclusive, you'll get your chance.

My sense is it'll hit other platforms in about a year - is that right?

No confirmation of other platforms yet, but it's been mentioned multiple times by Squeenix that the exclusivity period is 1 year. So I would anticipate both a PC and Xbox release sometime next summer.

If Episode 2 is a PS5 launch title, it might actually make me purchase a console at launch for the first time ever.

One reason I went ahead and grabbed it is that with the exclusivity I knew it probably wouldn't drop in price significantly for quite some time.

Anyone have any general non-spoilery tips in regards to Materia and upgrading weapons?

As I said above, I'm not too keen on JRPGs anymore, but the forum effect for this game is strong. I need to stop clicking on this thread.

YellowKing wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:37 pm Anyone have any general non-spoilery tips in regards to Materia and upgrading weapons?

I've set my weapon upgrades to happen automatically using the "Balanced" model. I found that I wasn't terribly interesting in fiddling with that process.

The basics on Materia is that they give you skills and abilities when equipped, and they accrue AP after each battle. Most of them will then level up when they hit certain thresholds, and give more/stronger abilities. 300 AP will unlock Fire-->Fira, for example. You can see the different skill unlocks on the right hand side, and it's good to prioritize the abilities you think look interesting. For me, I made sure I got at least one of each of the elemental Materia and the Heal Materia leveled to max level.

Some Materia (such as Assess or Steal) will start at MAX level and can't be increased. However, they provide some very critical skills, so I usually keep them equipped.

If two Materia slots are linked together, then they can be combined. For example, adding Ice + Elemental Materia to linked slots on a weapon will add an Ice element to each attack. Other support Materia do different things when linked, such as increasing the AOE radius of the linked spell, giving ATB boosts when the linked skill is used, or even doubling the AP growth.

I switched over to Easy about halfway through so I haven't had to mess with Materia all that much, but you'll always want to make sure at least one character has basic skill Materia attached for debuffs, barrier, healing, poison, etc.

YellowKing wrote: Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:37 pm One reason I went ahead and grabbed it is that with the exclusivity I knew it probably wouldn't drop in price significantly for quite some time.

Anyone have any general non-spoilery tips in regards to Materia and upgrading weapons?

Sure, always have every materia slot filled all the time. Materia gains experience which unlocks news spells and abilities. Healing starts with cure, then unlocks cura, and then regen. Cast regen on a character and they get a steady drip of healing for the battle. The more you use a particular materia, the faster it levels up. Healing and damage from materia spells is proportional to your magic attack stat. Linked materia slots only come into play once you have blue materia. As you might expect, elemental attack materia is good for exploiting weakness of your enemies. Generally, machines are weak to electricity and humanoids are weak to fire. Once you can assess enemies, you'll be able to more effectively expoit those weaknesses.

Weapon upgrades help you tweak the weapon to your play style. If you want to tank, go for more HP and physical and magical defense. For a mage, focus on magic attack and magic points. Speed is always great since it lets you perform more actions. More materia slots lets you equip more spells and abilities. As I said, don't worry about links slots until you have some blue materia you want to use. For instance, if you put elemental materia in one linked slot and fire in the other, you suddenly have a flaming weapon that deals fire damage with each attack. That's great until you run into an enemy that absorbs fire. Then you're healing them with each attack. Chadley can respec weapon upgrades for a small fee. So don't overthink upgrades too much.

Other general tips:

Learn weapon proficiency skills as soon as possible.
Attacking fills your ATB gauge faster than running, dodging or blocking.
Switch weapons based on the role you want that character to play at that time.
Potions are faster than spells and harder to interrupt.
Don't underestimate the power of time magic especially haste.
As Scraper said, Dodge, Dodge, Dodge. A one on one fight is sometimes the exception to the rule where you need to block, block, block.
If you see a bench, sit down. It replenishes your HP and MP.
Accessories can protect you from negative status effects. Others increase your stats or improve spells or items. Don't forget about them.

It's a fun ride. Enjoy.