IVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER
your the dude who made me get flash, and practice it >_< I would probably be some stupid stick animator if it wasnt foryou.
Reviews for "FFF: Shodown -Chapter #13"
SplashKhat is now my King of sprites.
Driven by a harsh rain, Edge walks up to a nearby house for shelter in a wonderful preloader sequence and that is the beginning of FFF: Shodown. SplashKhat's thirteenth and latest installment of the wildly popular Final Fighting Fantasy series.
I can now say that after watching this, SplashKhat stands head and shoulders above any other sprite animator out there. This was, quite simply, the best one I have seen. More on that later.
Basically, the plot is divided into two halves. One comes just after Edge enters the abandoned home. He is suspecious of finding it with such ease at such a needed time and cautious. His gut feeling is will placed for he is immidately ambushed by Lionheart and the two face each other in a battle to the death. The other half is a conversation that is had between Lionheart and Celes just before Lionheart goes out to kill Edge as per Kain's orders. It flips between the two in a nice balance of action and plot. Who will win, light or dark? You won't find out until the the last frame is shot. It's a good story and even better if you have already watched the previous episodes. This has gotten so interesting to me that I think that THIS was the movie Squaresoft should have made instead of that stupid Spirits within. The in jokes, the return of all the beloved characters form the first seven games and even those who never played any of them can get into this huge, scrawling story of good and evil.
Graphics wise, one of the things I noticed right away is that the Lionheart sprite was upgraded to higher bit look (likely taken from a Playstation remake of FF2) Celes looks a bit different too and there is a fuzzing effect now that blurs the hard edges of the sprights. It's pretty and there are nice cut-scenes and images but it's the battle that truly makes you go WOW. I have never seen a background environment used to such fantastic effect in sprites before. The floor is busted up from jumps. The chandelier is cut and crashed and, in an impressive moment, Lion runs up the floor to behind a wall to escape Edge's throwing stars. The throwing stars themselves are also a thing of beauty. They are larger and more substance as they fly around the room and stick to the walls. When the two combatants clash their weapons spark from the contact. There is so much that I loved in watching this. The spells, the shift from the second floor to the first (just a lovely transitional moment there you get a woa factor as it briefly takes on a 3D look before finishing the change) , the speed of the battle and how nicely Splash translated the static attacks of a role-playing game to a dynamic battle. Not enough can be said about that. It's much easier to do a fight scene using Mario, Sonic and other platform game heroes. Simply because you know how everything should look. With FF though you put in a fair bit of guess work and creative decisions (like when'if you should show the hit points of damage when hurt. I think keeping it to the rain was a good stylistic choice in this episode). Aside from the graphics the background noises and music is a wonder to behold. How does he keep coming up with new (by new I mean new to Newgrounds, I have watched thousands of animations by now and many keep reusing the same old standards. An example might be Rabbit Joint's Zelda Song) music EVERY TIME? EVERYTHING IS PERFECT.
Even the interactivity. There is a beautifully elegant screen select that pops up if you hit shift and ~. This allowed me to watch the fight scene again and again. He thought of everything. The closest thing to a complaint I can come up with is that it's kind of depressing. Here's hoping that things get better later on.
I have no space! Trying to fit review in... Don't make us wait another 2 years for the next part please. With quality like this it would be cruel and unusual punishment for the viewers. My rating 5 out of 5. This is as good as it gets folks so stop reading this review and watch it now.
Wow
Wow, this is so great. You have improved your story telling talents as well as Flash. This is a plesant surprise.
This is very good
Every part of it is good, the story line was from FF4, I think..... If not. tell me.
Two years of waiting...
...and it was worth it, but I really wasn't prepared for the ending. Really big shock. I can't wait for the next installment.