u/horkerharker

I'm playing Dark Souls for the first time. I made a valiant endurance and faith based knight as my character... I killed the endearing crazy undead merchant in Undead Burg for his Uchigatana. It turns out I don't even need it. Now I feel sick every time I look at my character or the menu. I have to live for that decision for the rest of my life. Maybe the honorable thing would be to roll this character off a cliff and delete it and restart the game as a thief... 🫥

Replaying all the games in the series, and I love how adult the story and characters are for a change. It hits me very differently than in my teens. I liked it then as well, but the perception has changed. They are real people who are above average fighters, not superheroes. Example: The scene with Fran, Jote and Mjrn made me frustrated as a teen. Now it made me cry.

The characters themselves are a bit of a mixed bag. I think Balthier and Ashe are S-Tier well fleshed out characters. Fran is slapped in the middle being a good character. Basch had a very promising beginning but after Tomb of Raithwall he gets stuck playing tour guide for most of the story. Vaan I don't have much against but a proper main character he is not. He is also a bit too child-like to be 17. They added huge amounts of personality to him in Revenant Wings. Penelo isn't given much to do, except nag to Vaan and some Dr. Watsonism.

The story doesn't over-explain things (which is a tired thing from pretty much all media), making the dialogue organic and intriguing in FFXII. You probably could pick up new things in the story on your fifth playthrough. Still, I can't shake the feeling that they wanted to make the story portion of the game longer. The game itself gives you tons of stuff to do, and most of it is good.

Zodiac did wonders for the gameplay and setup. So did the overhauling of the treasure system, where fully exploring the areas now serves a purpose unlike in the original for the most part. I also like the way they turned some weapon types like ninja swords, crossbows and hand bombs into something useful. What I miss from the original is the constant sense of danger. With the autosave you could just throw shit at a wall and see what sticks. The speed up option is a welcome addition to a game that makes you run back and forth so much. Especially for 100% runs.

Hitoshi Sakimoto's score, in it's orchestral glory is just beyond words. Such a fan of his work in Tactics and Vagrant Story too. Some people just have it when it comes to creating atmosphere. The artwork of the game is whimsical, yet elegant in its design.

This game lands on my top 5 in the series. Contending with V, VII, IX and X.

Just recently played all parts up to XII. Some for the first time, and some for the 100th time.

The series generally goes a bit far in giving everyone a chance to beat the game. Even those who won't bother to learn it.

I-III had some learning curves and really rough beginnings but they generally get extremely easy, as in hold X to win easy. It's possible to see a game over screen in these. III had some difficult parts due to going so long without being able to save.

IV and V had upgraded difficulty which I still respect. You have to be able to react to everything happening in a battle and the monsters and bosses had nice variety. They were fun to play.

VI isn't very hard but it makes you work quite a lot to make it easy.

VII is extremely lenient in giving top tier items for no work. Like Ribbon, Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, Ultima etc. Your characters also stay over-qualified even if you don't grind at all and know where to go. There's still a few bosses that can be hard on basic gameplay.

FFVIII is the worst offender. It gives a chance to players who won't even junction any spells, ruining the game for the rest of us. Breaking it completely is pretty fun though.

Tough to say anything meaningful about IX's difficulty because I've never played it "normally". Just leveled up all abilities on every playthrough. Its optional boss is a lot harder than the one in VIII.

X had really notable difficulty spikes, and they did plenty of content for more serious players. They gave practical reasons for maxing things. The standard sphere grid made it hard to break the game until very late. X-2 had abolished difficulty level entirely from the main quest, but provides some of the best and most rewarding challenges in the series during Chapter 5.

XII is kind of like two games. Easy main story and sidequests that range from hard to extremely hard; most notably the hunts that take more time than the story itself. That's a really admirable way of pleasing all kinds of players. They also added story elements to the sidequests which was pretty rare in the series by that point.

Hardest to easiest standard game in my opinion:

1. V (The right amount of difficulty and length in an RPG)

2. IV

3. X (Easy beginning but gets quite rough)

4. III

5. IX (I don't know where to put this. It has quirky areas.)

6. I

7. II (The story gave urgency, so I broke it unintentionally)

8. VI

9. VII

10. XII

11. VIII

12. X-2 (Not talking about Via Infinito or Arena here)

Going for XIII-Rebirth sometime next.

It's interesting to me how a lot of things about her can be true at the same time. I think she lost at the exact moment Squall and his companions stood at the foot of her castle. Already had lost the fight and her goals. It's rare for this to happen in Final Fantasy, where the final battle usually is what holds the fate in balance. Ironically I find Ultimecia strong enough mop the floor with some of the other villains and characters in the series. Not Squall and co. That Garden Student has planet destroyer strength and skill, is powered up by the strongest GF's, abilities and magic and is a professional. They also skipped SeeD giving a big speech to her. They said nothing at all, like let's get this mission over with. Obviously she still needed to be dealt with. Ultimately the danger to the group was not fighting her but what happens to them and the world when she is defeated. Dying Ultimecia showing up at Edea's house is some of the best writing in the game.

I first played this game pretty late. I think I slept on it as late as 2010. Been replaying all of the games so far. FF1 (NES), FF2 this was the first time and the last I hadn't played yet(PS1). FF3 (Back to NES). FFIV (PS1) and now FFV (PS1). I played the SNES versions of 4 and 5 last time.

...And I gotta say, while I loved the added difficulty of FFIV compared to the previous entries it's FFV that I'm having consistently fun playing. I love the characters, the towns, the unpredictable world, the addictive jobs system (a vast upgrade from III where most jobs were used just for the hell of it), Nobuo's especially emotional soundtrack, the villain (Exdeath aka X-Death aka Exodes) who's the first in the series where it truly feels the odds are extremely stacked against our heroes. It feels like the worlds are something you may want to live in (FF6 and FF9 does this well too) despite facing a lot of tragedy. I can't remember a lot of V's ending but I do remember it felt like one of the best endings in the series. The bosses can get frustrating but I prefer being constantly alert in my rpg's and not just hold X to win. This game is seriously becoming my favorite in the series, and not just an underrated gem. Square did a really good job here, I think.