u/Enlirigia

I'm currently at the point of no return, after Mullonde, and before I finish this game, I wanted to write about what has honestly been one of the most unexpected experiences I've ever had.

I'm 23, and I've played a lot of games growing up. Sadly, Final Fantasy Tactics is not one of those. I'd heard people calling it a masterpiece, The best Final Fantasy story, and one of the greatest tactical RPGs ever. And every time, I just assumed it wasn't for me.

One day I was on a trip to retro lane and was finishing up on Xenogears which took me over 70hrs, then I discovered The Lion War of the Lions, a romhack that back ports the PSP version to the original PS1 and something about the crisp pixel art on the original had caught my attention, and a week later I decided to finally try it.

Fresh out of Xenogears yet I fell completely in love with Ivalice. The medieval themes, class divide, religious entities as political powers, commoners who suffer the downfall, were all part of our history packed into a game that clearly aspires to be a fantasy spin-off of the War of the Roses, which in turn has inspired many modern anime and light novel tropes of demons manipulating humans from the shadows. But half of what carries this whole thing for me is Ramza and Delita. Ramza is the best representation of a naive protagonist I've seen. He genuinely believes in people, and that belief gets tested again and again as he slowly loses things he couldn't save and watches Ivalice fall further into chaos. This is in contrast to who Delita has become. He sees the rot and has given up hope in people; he sees the larger system and no longer cares to discern which of it is rotten and which is not. They both recognize that Ivalice is broken, but where Ramza keeps trying to save the people trapped inside it, Delita has decided the world itself needs to be torn apart to be created anew.

And despite my rigid use of just generics, Ramza has never felt alone in his battles. He has an ensemble of the most random comrades that clearly serve different beliefs, yet they all fight by his side willingly. These people have no reason to join his cause, yet they do, all so they could hold their heads high and endeavor alongside the protagonist who has never once given up on hoping. Hoping to save those in need, hoping to end the suffering, the conflict, even if he is all by himself. These people gather before him not only because they are indebted, but because they too believe in the greater purpose he continues to uphold: that they are doing something right, even if the world thinks they are wrong.

And now, after everything, it all comes back to Orbonne. The place where this journey began will be where I make my last stand. It's been one hell of a trip. From being baptized by flames and arrows at Dorter to where I can comfortably clear enemies in two turns at Mullonde, I've loved practically every moment of it. I haven't finished yet but I already know this is a game I'll hold dear for the rest of my life.

Final Fantasy Tactics is the best game I've ever played. I will die on this hill.

I don't think Marty Supreme is just a bad movie. I genuinely resent having spent my time watching it. And before anyone starts with "it's not a biopic" I know. I know Marty Reisman's life was fictionalized, I know there are fictional characters and events. That is not why I hate this movie. If you're going to take a real person and turn his life into a fictional story, fine. Then at least tell me why you chose this person. Tell me what you're trying to say about him.

Because I watched this movie and I have no idea what the point was.

It's about Marty Reisman. What about Marty Reisman? It's about ping pong. Okay. What about ping pong? It's about the transition from hardbat to sponge. What about that? It's about obsession. Okay. What is it actually saying about obsession? Nothing. There is f*cking nothing.

Marty is obsessed with ping pong. He wants to be the best. He makes terrible decisions over and over again. He f*cks over people, steals money, gets people hurt, destroys relationships, gets himself into increasingly insane situations, and eventually gets another opportunity to play Endo and wins. What am I supposed to take from that?

And the ping-pong aspect makes this even worse. The movie introduces Endo's sponge paddle as unsurmountable. Marty loses to him, and that's basically Marty's first real encounter with this new style. There isn't a substantial training period where Marty spends weeks figuring out how sponge works. There isn't some sequence where he develops a new technique, or some moment where the movie actually shows us what he learned from losing. The exhibition match happens only about a week later, after Marty has spent that entire stretch of time fcking his own life up.

So when the real rematch happens and Marty suddenly wins, I'm sitting there thinking: WHY? What changed? Why is Marty suddenly able to stand up against Endo? What did he figure out? What did he learn? What makes his hardbat technique so good? What exactly is happening between these two players? And I don't mean a lecture about table tennis. I don't mean an exposition dump explaining the physics of sponge rubber. Show me. Show me Marty watching Endo, recognizing something, adapting, entering some kind of flow state, whatever. Show me why this victory is the culmination of everything we've watched. Instead we get two guys hitting a ping-pong ball back and forth, tying and untying, and then Marty wins. Why did he win? I genuinely don't know.

And that is the entire movie.

If this movie's message is simply "obsession is destructive," then Whiplash did this a million times better and actually has something to say. Same with Black Swan. Same with The Wrestler. There are movies about obsessive people that actually have something to say about obsession. Marty Supreme just has a guy who is obsessed. Being obsessed isn't a message. A character trait isn't a thesis.

You could make this movie about a guy named Joe who's really good at bowling and almost nothing about the actual story would change. Joe meets Ender at a bar and loses a bowling match. Joe throws a fit and gets fined $1,500. There are no other bowling alleys in the countryside. Joe steals money, gets people shot, gets dog injured, breaks someone's arm, gets someone pregnant, has an affair with the bowling owner's wife, and gets humiliated by the bowling owner. Joe eventually gets allowed back into the bowling area, although the fine still stands. Then Joe bowls against Ender again. Joe wins. The End.

You could replace Marty with Joe and ping pong with bowling and the movie's supposed meaning would remain exactly the same because there is barely any meaning there to begin with. So why Marty Reisman? Why ping pong? Why this sport? Why the hardbat? Why the sponge? Why this man? Why any of it?

If the answer is just "because it's an interesting story about a weird guy," then I don't think that's enough to justify two and a half hours. Style is not substance and ambiguity isn't automatically depth either. Sometimes a movie leaves things ambiguous because it wants you to think. Sometimes it leaves things ambiguous because there isn't actually anything there.

And that is why I hate this movie so much. Not because it was inaccurate, weird, Marty was an asshole, Nor because it wasn't realistic. I hate it because I spent hours watching it and when it was over, I had absolutely nothing to take with me.

No meaningful statement about Marty. No meaningful statement about ping pong. No meaningful statement about technology. No meaningful statement about obsession. No meaningful statement about greatness.

Just a guy who wanted to win, fcked up his life, and eventually won.

Lastly, "Just enjoy the spectacle/aesthetic" doesn't magically answer any of those questions. If the movie is just about looking good then why call it Marty Supreme? Why base it on Marty Reisman at all when an original movie about some fictional jerk named Joe who plays bowling and spends two hours destroying his life before winning a bowling match would have provided the same slop.

Hi everyone! This is my first playthrough of Final Fantasy Tactics and first tactics game in general.

Before starting, I did a bit of research to avoid early-game friction and understand some of the mechanics. I'm currently in Chapter 2, right after saving Mustadio's dad in The Clockwork City of Goug. My highest-level character is Ramza at level 12.

My main party is:

• 3 Geomancers
  • Secondary: Monk (Martial Arts) Command
  • Reaction: Counter
  • Support: Attack Boost
  • Movement: Move +1
• 1 Summoner
  • Secondary: Time Magicks
  • Reactive: None
  • Support: JP Boost
  • Movement: Teleport
• 1 Mystic
  • Secondary: White Magicks
  • Reactive: None
  • Support: JP Boost
  • Movement: Move +1

I've mostly been using these five units throughout the game. I just got out fresh of the Monk job and I have Aurablast, Purification, Chakra, and Revive from it. The Summoner's Time Magicks has the essential Haste, Slow, Stop.

How would you rate my progress so far? Am I building my units reasonably well, or are there weaknesses or bad habits I'm developing? I'm not necessarily looking to min-max, but I'd love to know where I can improve or build into something more stronger.

Please keep spoilers to a minimum. Thanks!

Hi all I'm trying to build a giant backlog of mech games to play.

I'm looking for mech games from the Game Boy era all the way up to the Switch. Any platform is fine. Game Boy, GBC, GBA, SNES, NES, DS, 3DS, PSP, PS1, PS2, PS3, Switch, older PC games, etc.

The genre doesn't matter. if it lets me pilot a giant mech, I'm interested. A good story is a huge plus, but not a requirement.

I've recently gotten into Armored Core and have finished all of the PS1 games. I'm planning to work through the PS2 catalog next, but I'd also love to branch out into other mech series. Mech games have become a real comfort genre for me, and I'm hoping to build a big list that I can slowly work through.

One limitation: I can't really play PS4 games unless they also have a Switch port, I don't own a PS5, and my PC isn't powerful enough for modern graphically demanding games. So I'm mostly looking for older titles, indie games, or games that run well on modest hardware.

I'm especially interested in:

• Hidden gems that don't get talked about much.
• Older games that still hold up today.
• Games with fun mech customization.
• Great stories or worldbuilding.
• Japan-only games with English patches.

What are your favorite underrated mech games, and what makes them stand out? I'd love to hear about anything that deserves more attention.