One that comes to mind when you are playing FF8 is keep your party's level relatively low as most monsters will level up with you. That said, leveling is still important to your summons(or GFs as they are called in FF8) as some of the abilities they learn boost your character's stats and them unique abilites.

At 12/8/12 08:14 AM, BanglaBoy96 wrote: Final Fantasy 5: Probably in my opinion an extremely hard one... I'd focus on getting your jobs up if anything.
General Tips

1: Do not use magic like "Poison" "death" "sleep" "slow" "confuse" etc. on Bosses, it never works...

Actually some bosses are weak to certain spells. In FF% for example about 1/3 of the bosses are vulnerable to level 5 death. In FF7 and FF10 (likely more) poison tends to work on bosses as well as doom which works even on Omega weapon (but has a ridiculous 255 turn timer) And don't forget that "Game Over" and "The End" works on EVERYTHING for a 1 shot kill including the super bosses of FF7 and FF8. It is very good to take note of when such effects can be used as they can make a huge difference.

2: Do not impulse buy... Only buy weapons/armour if you notice your defence is being pierced by the enemy.

4: Never attack with white mages, Either defend or support your party.

This changes in later games. The white mage can be a useful tool even for attacking, for example in FF9 white mages can equip a powerful long range weapon which can deal 500-1000 damage which can be useful to do when you don't need healing, but it can also be used in conjunction with an ability to make their attack heal the target, thus getting free healing from attacking your own party.

7: Potions start to become almost useless about 2% into the game, Focus on Magicks like Cure and Raise to support your allies... Oh! and make sure to stock up on ethers and use them in moderation! (They're expensive as fuck in some of the Games)

Actually potions can be incredibly useful if used properly. For example having an 'auto-potion' ability will give free healing when attacked, and when doing challenge runs of games even the original potions can soon become one of the most useful healing tools in your arsenal as you may be doing a low level run and as such a potion can easily heal half - full hp. As for buying ethers never do it, never buy ethers you will find enough on the trail, depending on the game you may even want to sell ethers as in FF7 they can be worth a lot of gil and you don't actually ever need to use one, and they can be stolen from enemies, stealing ethers from ghosts inside the train graveyard is without a doubt the best way to get money at the start of the game.

8: Magic in generally useless on bosses, Make sure not to do something stupid like cast fire on a fire monster or something, you'd just be healing it.

Depends on the game, sometimes they may be vulnerable to it but deal more damage when it is cast (for example FF9 the Iifa tree boss) and in some cases such things are used to make something unable to cast a spell. Several enemies use the magic themselves to power themselves up and casting reflect on it though it may cause damage to you can lower the power of the enemy.

10: When someone warns you to stay out of somewhere and mentions a specific creature's name, you better fucking listen! (Unless you're me and you grind to such a high level you can make mince meat out of those pests)

You need to always check this. As 90% of the times you will be warned about something which is actually the next boss you need to kill, and you will be told about it (so you can think of its weakness) but you have to still check it. Even if you find a super boss you can't kill it is always important to check on the monsters existence as if you find you can't quite kill it then you need to just level up a bit and return, if you find it looks like it can be avoided and kicks your flank then look to avoid it. Either way it is good to see every monster in the game so you know where the super bosses are for when you return.

The most important thing about the Final Fantasy series is that each game is DIFFERENT. You need to go into them with that in mind, the combat tends to change significantly as well as the mechanics for monsters and moves, for example confusion changes a huge amount over the games, on some it will only make you attack randomly while on others it will continue a spell you were casting on a random target, and on some games (FF8) it can effect anything, including making your character use up an incredibly rare and valuable item. This naturally makes confusion a huge problem in FF8 and forces it to be something to protect against and understand which enemies can cast it etc. while on other games it might just be a bit of a nuisance.

When it comes to certain games you NEED to know the difference or you may end up being completely unable to win the game. FF5 is a perfect example of this. Understanding job roles and the weaknesses of bosses is absolutely vital, otherwise you will find yourself stuck by the time you reach the 3rd world. Getting blue magic in FF5 is critical to your success while on games like FF6 you may not even need to use the blue magic character at all, and in FF8 it only helps to make the game more of a faceroll, in FF7 however blue magic is once again useful, it isn't needed for completion however when doing challenge runs with low level characters, starting gear, no accessories and only command materia you will find blue magic (enemy skills) to be the most useful tool in existence on par with Cait Sith's slots.

Never underestimate blue magic. I once didn't care for it, but after playing FF5 I finally understood exactly how useful it is, it is worth checking online lists for when playing the games to know what enemies to take the skills from.

Oh boy, where to begin...

Final Fantasy All in all an entertaining game despite becoming a bit dated. I'd recommend playing this one simply because it's a classic if nothing more. The battle system still stands up as entertaining but how to progress in the game can become a bit confusing every now and then.

Final Fantasy II It gets a lot of criticism for abandoning the level system but I think it's a very good stat system. Basically, the more you use skills, the more they improve. The main issue is the HP exploit which involves you attacking your own party members until near death, healing them and repeating. In terms of story, a big improvement over the first game. I'd recommend it.

Final Fantasy III I found this to be one of the more tedious of the early games, the job system was a potentially cool idea but I just didn't like the results. I also wasn't a fan of the story as I prepare to have more personalised characters. Although to the games credit, the DS version had an actual cast of characters rather than four generic Onion Knights.

Final Fantasy IV I haven't played.

Final Fantasy V I haven't played.

Final Fantasy VI Without a doubt my favourite of the sprite-based games that I've played. It has a large cast which have very diverse personalities and great personal journeys. The battle system is fun to play and the Magicite system remains one of my favourite ways of learning spells and increasing stats. The overall story is very gripping and entertaining. What I will say is that the second half of the game (no spoilers) is a drop in quality until the final boss which is an enjoyable fight.

Final Fantasy VII I've only played the first couple of hours of it but I was very entertained by it, it's one I intend on revisiting and completing. The materia system was one that I found to be very intriguing. The characters are for the most part very likeable, there are two that I found to be very dull but otherwise a great cast.

Final Fantasy VIII My favourite game despite how it divides the fanbase. The cast were great and Squall's development throughout the game solidified him as one of my favourite protagonists ever. The Junction system was a good idea but could be exploited easily early on which makes the difficulty of the game questionable. If you're playing for story, then jump straight into this one.

Final Fantasy IX A game with a lot of potential but failed to hold my attention. I also intend on revisiting this one at some point and seeing if it changes my mind.

Final Fantasy X Possibly the second most loved of the Final Fantasy games (behind VII) and for good reasons. It removed the world map feature which was a massive change and went for a more linear approach but it still managed to have great side quests. The main plot gets a bit messy and contrived in places but in the end it pays off. The characters are great although people complain that Tidus is whiny. I disagree, he complains every now and then but if you play the game you'll know that he has a damn good reason to.

Final Fantasy XI Avoid it, the game is unbelievably tedious and dull. I'm sure it was a lot more fun when there were lots of people to socialise with but now the world is fairly empty.

Final Fantasy XII The game got off to a very strong start for me but about five hours in I got bored. The protagonist, Vaan, is possibly the worst of the Final Fantasy leads that aren't custom characters. Basch, one of the other primary characters would have been a much stronger lead. The story isn't very clear initially but as you go on you get more interested, the world itself is what bored me after a while. Outside of Rabanastre, the world isn't interesting.

Final Fantasy XIII One of the least popular games among long-time fans because of how different it was. It's my second favourite of the games though as once you get into it, you fall in love with the characters, the world and even the battle system. The battle system was derided as "the game plays itself" but that's simply not the case at all, as you go on you find that there's a lot in timing and strategy. The side missions later in the game can be ridiculously tough if you don't know the system in and out. The game was indeed very linear but once you reach about two thirds into the game you get a chance for a large amount of free roaming which was very welcome. Play it.

Final Fantasy XIV Haven't played it, don't intend on playing it.

My personal ranking of the top three would be: FFVIII, FFXIII, FFX or FFVI. I have a lot of trouble deciding between FFX and FFVI.

At 12/16/12 01:26 AM, Austerity wrote:

At 12/15/12 08:18 PM, ZombieKangaroo wrote:

Final Fantasy XII The game got off to a very strong start for me but about five hours in I got bored. Outside of Rabanastre, the world isn't interesting.

Some people may call it boring, to me it's a peaceful and serene world. You didn't even enjoy Phon Coast? :/

FF12 has a great combat system, the issue for so many people with it is the fact it is made like other RPG series rather than the random encounters that FF players are used to. Frankly, anyone who whines about such things are just ignorant and refuse to try anything they arent used to. FF12 has great combat which differs from the usual encounter style.

At 12/16/12 02:51 AM, Austerity wrote:

At 12/16/12 02:48 AM, Ragnarokia wrote:

FF12 has a great combat system, the issue for so many people with it is the fact it is made like other RPG series rather than the random encounters that FF players are used to. Frankly, anyone who whines about such things are just ignorant and refuse to try anything they arent used to. FF12 has great combat which differs from the usual encounter style.

Yes I loved the classic turn based RPGs, but the seamless nature of FFXII battles was pulled off perfectly, and was even better than the system in FFXIII IMO.

No, don't get me wrong, I thought the battle system was quite good after I got used to the initial differences. I wouldn't quite call them seemless because (at least early in the game) of how long it takes for somebody to have their turn. Granted, it's not long but when you're getting attacked it feels like ages.

The world is visually solid, I've no issues there. My problem was how bland the journey between places could be. This is also an issue in other games but usually disguised by the world map and random encounters.

At 12/12/12 01:44 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote:

At 12/11/12 05:23 PM, Gobblemeister wrote:

thats what made it shit, I couldn't get relate/emotionally attach to the characters the plot was confusing as fuck if you don't go to a external source. the story is horrible and feels bland much less there is no real exploration except for the plains in chapter 11 (which is still limited) it was like walking down a hallway with dialouge.

I liked the majority of the characters because they made more gradual and human changes than characters from other FF games who usually just develop as characters in one fell swoop (quite literally with Cecil in FFIV). Lightning is a great character and she's probably one of the more dynamic female characters in gaming and gets none of the credit.

I didn't think the plot was particularly confusing at any point and I thought the aspects of the l'Cie were interesting. Yeah there wasn't much exploration until the plains but the plains were beautiful, all the locales in the game were beautiful and 'exploration' in most FF isn't really much more than trekking over swathes of grass or desert anyway.

quality stories and characters.

Yeah, some do. FFVII was just a mish mash of one dimensional stereotypes and with Cid they just recycled Barret. Oh he says bad words what a kook! Cloud was probably the best character but all the spin offs have ruined that too making him no more than a perpetual sad sack. Again, the accomplishments of FF before XIII are largely overblown.