Yeah, the only one I’ve found difficult so far is I but that’s only because I was so uninterested in it because it was much before my time and I’d play it with large gaps between each sitting until eventually I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.
If it’s truly hard, then sweet. I tend to like games where you’ll die a lot.
If you feel that way I recommend Baroque (PS2, Wii). You have to play through the game, die, then play again, over, and over, and over. If mandatory death is up your alley, at least…
Why not just give him free alternatives to dying over and over?
Nethack’s a good choice.
IVAN.
Elona.
All of them are free, for PC btw.
As opposed to the depths of rubbish, rubbish stories that followed it?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
The relatively simple stories are usually the best ones.
It’s all in the telling, and in the telling, VI blows all of its successors clean out of the water.
Fixed it for you.
The same can be said for the claim my post was addressing. :rolleyes:
Indeed it could. But the fact remains that it is well, not a fact. 
Agreed.
And yet, contextually, it was relevant that it be stated as fact.
Moving on…
FFT2 w/ 12+ character parties and huge maps for the win!
Exactly! Because instead of being some righteous typical hero, you see Cloud actually truly question himself, and you eventually see him fall to the point of where he narrowly loses everything and everyone. Another powerful notion I like about Cloud is the fact that he has difficulty letting things go when he somehow feels it’s his fault (Aeris Death). That to me is what really makes his character human, and in my mind arguably the most interesting protagonist from any FF game.
However through the help of his friends, that continuously urge him onward, and are always there for him, regardless of how frail he’s become, Cloud some how eventually comes through. Usually just barely, and that’s why for me, I’ve regarded VII as the best.
Yet, I still can’t forget other characters such as Zidane, he was a breath of fresh air, after having protagonist like Cloud, and Squall from the last two previous FF games. Pity IX is always overshadowed, this game was super good, and had an absolutely powerful storyline, however due to the fact that it reverted back to the big heads and small bodies, it was quickly refuted by alot of the new FF generation players.
At this point, Final Fantasy XIII looks amazing, and the gameplay is incredible, however again, how good is the storyline will be left up for grabs when the game is finally released.
Agreed, on all points.
I wrote a near dissertation on the subject of Cloud and his hero status, to pretty much the exact same gist as what you said, quite a while back.
This dude knows whats up. AND LETS NOT BRING ALL THOSE STUPID STATUS AILMENTS that V had (OLD?? and the one that depleted your hp at a secon reaaaaally fast).
Monsters that could and CAN wipe you out even if youre 5 - 10 levels ahead? check. STUPID BOSSES (DAMM THAT MOTHERF**** that kills you and then DRAGS YOU into a void) check. ALMOST UNBEATABLEOHDAMMIGOTTACHEAPTHISSOICANWINBUTICANTMISSONETURN optional bosses? yup, five takes the cake.
Oh, and try to do all the subquests (including the onetimers, like the firecastle, or the gilturtles cave), and cry. JUST cry…
I don’t think FFVI told it particularly well though. The writing wasn’t up to par, particularly Kefka who was the main antagonist. Writing got much better somewhere around FFVIII (with a plot that went to hell and back so do one thing well and rape another). FFIX’s story/plot/writing was decent on all counts though not particularly spectacular, FFX’s moved a bit weirdly and there was some questionable writing though it’s decent too, FFX-2 had decent writing in a story that’s presented in a silly manner, FFXII had good writing set in custcenes and story exposition sequences that were waaaaaay too far apart in an ambitious world that wasn’t explored enough.
I’m not saying simple is bad, but I did also highlight that FFVI’s gameplay was quite simple too. If it’s a simple game you want all round, it’s all well and good. I just don’t think it’s something to realistically expect out of FFXIII though.
Btw, here’re games with simple stories that I think are told well, in case you want to try to check them out:
True, although strangely enough she didn’t feel that bad about the murder of the Espers at all.
She was more concerned about, will I ever know true love? I always laugh at the boat scene in the way to Crescent Island. Seems like she’s all horny and she wants it bad, LOL! Leo is like, damn, I’m off and Shadow is “can’t help you, kiddo”.
But I really lost all respect for Tina when she was all pussylike in the world of Ruin with the lost my will to fight nonsense.
Stupid, did you forget that the same Kefka that used you as a war machine is the same Kefka that killed your extended family, killed General Leo, killed your adoptive father in Gestahl, fucked up the world and possibly can destroy all those kids and the world in it’s entirety if he feels like it. Tina has the more reasons of any party member sans Cyan to go after Kefka and yet she has to be dragged in the cause after witnessing first hand what Kefka can do. Man, If I was Mash, I would straight up Blitz that emo ass into oblivion right there. Pummel and Bum Rush that shit!!!
I agree completely. That’s why Squall is my all time favorite FF character. He’s like Marvel’s Cyclops in a lot of ways and anyone that knows Marvel can attest that Cyclops is the best field leader of all even if he’s emo as well.
About emos, there are good and bad emos. Squall and Cecil are good ones, Tina is a bad one.
Have you or anyone played the FF4 game that came with CT for PS1? That was a straight port of the original FF4 for SNES and it was challenging. It wasn’t the ultra easy american SNES release or the medium challenge GBA one. ATB acts like Super Turbo in this one and with this some foes are a major pain like the EvilWall, Plague, Wyvern and Zeromus. Original Zeromus > Neo X-Death. I never thought Zeromus would ever be a real challenge until you play that version.
However, you are right and if you take Omega and Shinryu in the equation then yes, FF5 is harder than FF4 but not by much. Atomos was a little annoying as well and the X-Zone was challenging too.
I did play the hard version of FF4 a few years after playing the easy version and while it was a refreshing challenge, it didn’t laugh off your efforts like FF5 would. FF4 did have some of its annoying areas (The cave with the Imp where you couldn’t equip metal stuff is the worst and the Lunar Core was a bit long) but FF5 would just string them in a row (Walz Tower, Fire Ship, Ancient Library what fun!) layered with cheap bosses/enemies. The final area was lacking except in bosses. Outside of say running into Warmech in FF1 by chance, opening the chest and getting wasted by Shinryu is one of the worst cheapshots in the series. Wait I take it back about the final area, a place that was too long for its own good and made you beat two pretty strong bosses just to access a save point.
I don’t know about Zeromus being tough than Neo Ex-Death just on the fact that Neo has four targets and a host of fake targets so if you try to abuse X-Shot+2Hand combo, a good more than half may be wasted. At least you could cheap shot him back by using Odin via the Magic Lamp and killing one section off instantly.
ok…since i’m playing V now, i’ll chime in…
V is garbage. yeah, i said it. its not enjoyable to me at all. the jobs are nice but the lack of AP is insane. no matter where you go its like the most you can get per battle on average is 4 ap. a few enemies give higher amounts but they are so few and far between…
shit is wack. the map is wack. the story is wack. etc.
i don’t even remember why i’m fighting in the first place.
i beat omega yesterday…he was the hardest boss fight so far. i’m looking forward to shinryu. the whole twelve legendary weapons thing was garbage too, IMO.
IMHO, VI wasn’t that good…i wasn’t feeling kefka at all. its like he had no reason to do some of the stuff that he did. i don’t know…i need a reason why a madman is a madman. this dude went from being the local a hole to being a god…for what? why?
the whole second half of the game is weak to me. but i love the battle system. i do not like the ff staple of splitting your party into two to beat an area. i hate that ish. or scattering members around the globe. then you have to go find them.
What are some of your opinions on XIII so far and what things would you like to see in a collector’s edition?
I would not like another similar to XII’s I only had a reason to watch it a couple of times, but if they were to include another DVD, then I would want it on the lines of a cinematic Blu-Ray. With a behind the scenes making, and some audio commentary.
so…the rift/void is actually not as hard as i thought it’d be. its actually pretty easy, minus shinryu. i haven’t gotten to ex death yet. but i got to shinryu and got handed…well, not completely handed. i didn’t have the right equipment or jobs and still did pretty well. its clear that you have to go in with a complete strategy, unlike the other bosses.
the only reason i didn’t save before fighting him was because i forgot to steal the genji armor from gilgamesh…so now i have to go back and beat twintania and all that. he was simple as well.
is anyone here planning on picking up FF: Advent Children complete? I couldn’t help myself from looking at the last fight and they made Cloud get his ass handed to him even harder during the last few minutes of it. Seriously Seph losing this fight now is even more bullshit than it was before.