Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@kyleforrester87 Seeing you talk about the start of Disc 2 in FF8 reminded me that I recently abandoned a playthrough at the start of Disc 2 for the literal 4th time.

@nessisonett Yes, in my version of FF8 the squad grow old and die in prison, apparently.

@kyleforrester87 I know a lot of JRPGs have that one point where playthroughs are abandoned but I can’t think of anything as clear and obvious as that bloody prison.

@kyleforrester87 They aren't dead, only Squall. The whole game after disk 1 is Squall's dream after he was killed by Edea

@belmont Sorry, been a wild few days…Yeah, the auto ring isn’t great if you want to strategize at all. Torgal in general is easy to forget about but he’s so integrated into my combo structure now, I can’t imagine not having him by Clive’s side!

Yeah, it really does pick up. Another user here, Voltan, was saying he wished FF mode would have been available from the start as hard mode and I mostly agree. The balance just feels a lot better.

The nice thing about mastering all of the abilities is you can map them to any eikon, enabling you to create the flow that works best for your fingers. Basically you only have to consider which three core feats are useful to you and then build out from there.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming DLC? What are you hoping to see from it?

@belmont They are dead in my version, I assure you!

@Jimmer-jammer There are many things I don't enjoy in FF mode and if it was not needed for the platinum, I wouldn't play it. Even you strategize a lot still the enemies are "bullet sponges" and battles take a lot of time. What I ended up doing, since I can't memorize the moves and I always press the wrong ones (man I suck in 3d action games) I put the auto evade and auto attack ring and spammed the square button with the following build (based in this discussion ):
Shiva: Impulse, Mesmerize
Phoenix: Will-o'-the-Wykes, Pile Drive
Titan: Rift Slip, Flames of Rebirth

Battles still take some time but it works. I am now before the final battle and have beaten everything except the Chrono things. The platinum is almost mine (I have platinumed almost all FF games).

As for the DLC

Even I didn't like the ending I hope they stuck with it. And, if I did not miss something, magic is gone so after the story so there is no battle system!
Some say you can play as Cid when he was on Woeled and when he adopted Mid.
I would like to see Leviathan and play as other characters

Also, if the game is Steam Deck verified I will play it again but only on easy!

@kyleforrester87 Now I see that my previous joke comment may not have had context. Some years ago there was this fan theory that Edea killed Squall in the end of disk 1. The rest of the game is "the life that is flashing" in Squall as he drops down before dying. I don't want to spoil the rest of the game but there may be some ground to this fan theory although in my opinion it was semi-nonsense. Square debunked the fan theory some years later.

@belmont haha, nah - I am actually aware of that theory, and it’s a fun one, too. Really, the story just goes off the rails from disc two. The whole NORG bit is just mental.

@kyleforrester87 Now I wish I’d got past Disc 2, all I’ve heard is that it goes completely mental. I think I went past the prison once, and then hit the missile silo and wanted to put my head through a wall.

@nessisonett I watched a plot summary video fairly recently and it was pretty mind-blowing when all the weirdness was condensed down into a 40 minute video. Dragged out over 2 more discs of game it still gets very strange.

@belmont Nice! A Cid DLC could be very interesting though I personally hope they stick with Clive. Congratulations on that platinum!

Question.

I played VII Remake digitally on PS4 a few years ago, and decided I should probably play the Intergrade expansion on PS5 before Rebirth comes out.

Do you get a discount on the PS5 version of Remake for owning it on PS4, and does your save info (in the main game) carry over (& if it does, do you have to do anything special to transfer it)?

@RR529 You get the base game for free but you have to pay extra for the Intergrade DLC. If ai remember correctly the PS5 automatically gunds the PS4 save and unlocks the trophies you may have had.

@belmont, oh, that's good to know, thanks!

@RR529 For me I had to upload a save from the PS4 version, then download it onto the PS5 version.

I played FFVIIR on my PS4 when it first came out, so had to download that version again. Thankfully only the portion upto when it was at 'Ready to Play', so I could open up the game and grab my save, so didn't have to download the whole PS4 version again.

Today is the day I find out if my bid has been successful on my house in Final Fantasy XIV.

Question.
is the FFVIIR dlc a must play? I don't usually bother with dlc but I have Rebirth pre ordered and I was thinking whether I need to go back play it.

@DisastrousFalcon Without playing the new one I can't say, but I'd say that even if it isn't strictly must play, the DLC is actually good. Yuffie is great fun, there's a cool mini-game she can play that I really liked, and it does introduce some characters/ideas that will almost certainly be explored in some way in a future game, but I'm not sure how important they'll be. Basically, it's only a few hours long, and so unless you're super-pressed for time I would say it's worth it.

@DisastrousFalcon I played it fairly recently and found it a fun but brief experience. Playing as Yuffie felt different enough and the combat is ace. When it was over I thought 'Oh is that it?', but there is scope to replay it which I never did.