Topic: FF9 is being ported to PC and Smartphones

[VladCT]

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/12/31/final-fantasy-ix-is-headed-to-pc-and-smartphones/
icanhaszerotimercheat?:v

[Shiroi Koumori]

Oh! That's good news. I'm just wondering how big the file would be. haha.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I was so bored by Final Fantasy IX's story to the point of it almost becoming a hatred, so I can't really say I'm thrilled by this news.

Final Fantasy VII was a brilliant take on a mix of Native American and African Spiritualism and the things that go wrong when humans ignore or defy our natural connection to the Planet.

Final Fantasy VIII was a great personal tale about a group of friends who might have seemed unlikely at first, each confronting issues from their pasts -- and there's a great recurring theme of family and personal ties that weaves throughout the story.

Final Fantasy IX is about a drag queen who rides a white dragon (really trying to not see that as phallic symbolism) who hates the world and himself and decides he's gonna blow the whole thing to hell.

It really has no level of comparison with its immediate predecessors.

Final Fantasy VI remains my absolute favorite in the series though-- that and VIII should get a remake after Square blows everyone's fucking minds with FFVII Remake.

[Dracula9]

Oh! That's good news. I'm just wondering how big the file would be. haha.

Probably around a gig, since the PSX version is ~1500MB.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Probably around a gig, since the PSX version is ~1500MB.

Remember when games were under a gig and yet you could get unreal playtimes out of them?

Like, my GBA copy of Final Fantasy IV ended up racking like almost a hundred hours on one playthough.

[VladCT]

I was so bored by Final Fantasy IX's story to the point of it almost becoming a hatred, so I can't really say I'm thrilled by this news.

Final Fantasy VII was a brilliant take on a mix of Native American and African Spiritualism and the things that go wrong when humans ignore or defy our natural connection to the Planet.

Final Fantasy VIII was a great personal tale about a group of friends who might have seemed unlikely at first, each confronting issues from their pasts -- and there's a great recurring theme of family and personal ties that weaves throughout the story.

Final Fantasy IX is about a drag queen who rides a white dragon (really trying to not see that as phallic symbolism) who hates the world and himself and decides he's gonna blow the whole thing to hell.

It really has no level of comparison with its immediate predecessors.

Final Fantasy VI remains my absolute favorite in the series though-- that and VIII should get a remake after Square blows everyone's fucking minds with FFVII Remake.

To be honest, I've always seen FF9 as a throwback to the older, less angsty games, and I paid attention to the character interactions more than the story itself. Besides, Zidane being a more straightforward cheerful hero was a breath of fresh air after the previous psychologically troubled heroes.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

To be honest, I've always seen FF9 as a throwback to the older, less angsty games, and I paid attention to the character interactions more than the story itself. Besides, Zidane being a more straightforward cheerful hero was a breath of fresh air after the previous psychologically troubled heroes.

FF VI and IV remain my favorites for essentially this reason. The stories are simple when it's described, but the stuff that happens in them is much more complex. Morose characters tend to be balanced out by more cheerful ones, but in FFVII Cloud doesn't get one of those until so much later in the story that it's functionally meaningless because he's already overcome his issues by that time. Squall actually overcomes the bulk of his issues by Disc 2 which is making pretty good time for a supposedly "emo" character, but overcoming his issues doesn't affect his laconic demeanor, as that's just the kind of guy he is. Fortunately, that part is mostly resolved by the game's end as it's the second major hurtle he has to overcome.

Zidane I just found to be so bubblegum cheerful it was painful to watch, but Dissidia's take on his character was superb. I much prefer Kuja and Zidane as they appear in Dissida because they seem a little more mature than they were in FFIX, with Kuja being one of the less extremist villains and Zidane being Team Bro for the heroes while having his own moments of nagging doubt.

[Dracula9]

Remember when games were under a gig and yet you could get unreal playtimes out of them?

Like, my GBA copy of Final Fantasy IV ended up racking like almost a hundred hours on one playthough.

Amen to that. I remember my old copy of Pokemon Emerald had almost 400 hours logged.

[X]

I was so bored by Final Fantasy IX's story to the point of it almost becoming a hatred, so I can't really say I'm thrilled by this news.

Final Fantasy VII was a brilliant take on a mix of Native American and African Spiritualism and the things that go wrong when humans ignore or defy our natural connection to the Planet.

Final Fantasy VIII was a great personal tale about a group of friends who might have seemed unlikely at first, each confronting issues from their pasts -- and there's a great recurring theme of family and personal ties that weaves throughout the story.

Final Fantasy IX is about a drag queen who rides a white dragon (really trying to not see that as phallic symbolism) who hates the world and himself and decides he's gonna blow the whole thing to hell.

It really has no level of comparison with its immediate predecessors.

Final Fantasy VI remains my absolute favorite in the series though-- that and VIII should get a remake after Square blows everyone's fucking minds with FFVII Remake.

You forgot to mention one other important thing about FF9 that should have never been conceived of; The Gunblades. Aside from the combat system which I felt was over-complicated, and thus not any fun at all, the Gunblades themselves make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Not only that but they would be extremely cumbersome to wield in actual combat. You hold the Gunblade like a gun when shooting. Fine, it works. But to wield it like a sword? No. It cannot be done as the shape of the handle itself negates that entirely. Also, how are they supposed to fire projectiles when there's no gun barrel for the shot to exit out of? Whomever conceived the idea of these weapons was probably heavily medicated at the time and forgot to think. And so was the creator of the game for giving them the go-ahead on such a useless idea And unfortunately so, the Gunblades found themselves in later FF games. I hate the Gunblades almost as much as I hate whinny emo characters with no character development at all.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

You forgot to mention one other important thing about FF9 that should have never been conceived of; The Gunblades. Aside from the combat system which I felt was over-complicated, and thus not any fun at all, the Gunblades themselves make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Not only that but they would be extremely cumbersome to wield in actual combat. You hold the Gunblade like a gun when shooting. Fine, it works. But to wield it like a sword? No. It cannot be done as the shape of the handle itself negates that entirely. Also, how are they supposed to fire projectiles when there's no gun barrel for the shot to exit out of? Whomever conceived the idea of these weapons was probably heavily medicated at the time and forgot to think. And so was the creator of the game for giving them the go-ahead on such a useless idea And unfortunately so, the Gunblades found themselves in later FF games. I hate the Gunblades almost as much as I hate whinny emo characters with no character development at all.

If you want weapons that are in any way grounded in reality, Final Fantasy IS NOT THE SERIES FOR YOU.

Nobody in the FFVII canon has a build that would allow them to wield something like the Buster Sword or Masamune with any degree of deftness, and the Masamune is VERY long, very thin, and to have its weight so evenly distributed across such a thin blade makes it a) a nightmare to so much as PICK UP and b) it would bend and/or break in twain as soon as Sephiroth hit ANYTHING with it.

Or shall we talk about the fact that Wakka uses modified volleyballs as weapons? Even if they have the weight and density of medicine balls, they'd never do any real damage to the things the characters face. Or that Hope uses a BOOMERANG? That's fine for hunting birds, but anything bigger and it'd just kind of mildly annoy it. Thank the team's lucky stars that Sazh in that game is packing heat. And Vanille uses a... fishing rod? Thing? Wtf do we even call that thing?

Honestly, 99% of Final Fantasy in real life would be *strike creature* *fantastical weapon can't even be lifted/breaks/bends/fails spectacularly* *you get killed*

At least Adult!Rydia uses a whip in FF4. And we already know from dissecting Castlevania in real terms that a whip, properly used, can do some MAJOR damage.

So really, harping on the Gunblade's nonrealism is kind of tunnel-visioned.

[X]

If you want weapons that are in any way grounded in reality, Final Fantasy IS NOT THE SERIES FOR YOU.

The latter games perhaps as I don't consider them to really be FF. Though they do have FF elements, the majority of the games have lost a lot of what made them so great to begin with. To me FF is swords and sorcery, with fantastic castles, mystical lands, knights in armor, dragons, long lost civilizations that utilized airships, and of course an epic story that stands the test of time, etc. You get the idea. From FFVII and onward (with the exception of FFIX), I felt the games have been losing touch with their original identity. It maybe trivial in your mind, but to me whom loved the series from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6; the latter games, again with the exception of 9, doesn't hold a candle to them. At least FF14 MMO has gone back to that long lost identity for the most part.

Nobody in the FFVII canon has a build that would allow them to wield something like the Buster Sword or Masamune with any degree of deftness, and the Masamune is VERY long, very thin, and to have its weight so evenly distributed across such a thin blade makes it a) a nightmare to so much as PICK UP and b) it would bend and/or break in twain as soon as Sephiroth hit ANYTHING with it.

The Buster sword I don't have a real problem with as such large weapons do exist, though granted, not to such a large size. But a blade of that size can still be used. The handle itself just needs to be longer for it to be practical. And in terms of the Masamune blade? Believe it or not, it's based on a real life samurai sword that is over 5 meters in length! In case you don't believe me, watch this video. Just jump ahead to 2:30 as that's where it starts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8g1hbYrMDI

Or shall we talk about the fact that Wakka uses modified volleyballs as weapons? Even if they have the weight and density of medicine balls, they'd never do any real damage to the things the characters face. Or that Hope uses a BOOMERANG? That's fine for hunting birds, but anything bigger and it'd just kind of mildly annoy it. Thank the team's lucky stars that Sazh in that game is packing heat. And Vanille uses a... fishing rod? Thing? Wtf do we even call that thing?

All of the aforementioned I'm not familiar with as I've never played the latter games of the series. I've only seen short plays of FFVII and FFVIII while watching my bro tend to them.

At least Adult!Rydia uses a whip in FF4. And we already know from dissecting Castlevania in real terms that a whip, properly used, can do some MAJOR damage.

Oh hell yes! Although Rydia's true strength was her spells and summoning technique. The whip was more for style and fineness, but was still awesome.

So really, harping on the Gunblade's nonrealism is kind of tunnel-visioned.

I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish here. If you wish to defend the gunblade then so be it. I'm only stating my opinion on the weapon. I'm not offending you personally in anyway so don't go overboard. I do my damnedest not to hurt anyone here as I want to come back here. And I want to have good, friendly conversations with others as well. Okay?

[Lumi Kløvstad]

If I was angry or irritated, I'd be up front about it and tell you in exact words. I'm not angry. 

Just passionate.

However, it does hit a nerve with me when people STILL bring up the gunblade's nonrealism almost two decades later -- it's the ultimate dead horse bashing this side of making fun of Internet Explorer.

There's nothing really that can be said on the topic that hasn't been said in the past 17 years. So what does annoy me is that nobody harps on any other weapon in the series to the extent that they harp on the Gunblade, which, as far as the series' penchant for fantastical weapons goes, is probably the most grounded in reality; even if that's not saying a whole lot.

It's cool-looking, visually communicates its in-universe difficulty to master (Headmaster Cid even points out verbally very early on that Squall and Seifer were the first students in a very long time to make any headway in mastering the weapon style), and is no more outlandish than a lightsaber is in its respective world. Of course it wouldn't ever work in reality -- but many iconic video game weapons wouldn't. Ivy's Snake Sword is one such example, and Castlevania's very own Combat Cross is an uber example (how they managed to fit 15 meters of chain inside a handle the size of a human forearm is utterly beyond me).

It's in times like this that I find a variation on the MST3K Mantra to be a benefit: "It's a video game, so relax and just go with it."

[X]

Just passionate.

This is something very difficult to pull off online unless you are a genius writer. I wouldn't know passion from online forums any different then an angry person trying to start something. And to be fair I had no idea that I wasn't the only one with such a complaint about the gunblades. I don't read a whole lot online when it comes to keeping up with gamer talks about things. But if it is hitting a nerve with you, then maybe the best course of action the next time it's brought up is to take a step back from the emotional aspect of it and realize that it's just another person's personal opinion. And that it's got nothing to do with you in any way, shape or form.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

And to be fair I had no idea that I wasn't the only one with such a complaint about the gunblades

Gunblades and the third act plot are frequently cited as "the unforgivable" literally whenever someone mentions FF8.

I'll admit, the third act plot was totally weird and feels like something thrown together at the last minute. Probably because it was.

[zangetsu468]

I don't know why but I've never been attracted to FFIX.
I remember my best friend playing it one day for about 20 minutes and we were watching this cut scene, I dunno it just didn't tickle me right.

For FF games I haven't finished I'd always been more interested in 3, 6 and X.