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This topic is a little vague, I know, but at the same time, not really. There is a question posed at the end of it (if you make it through the boring stuff).

For years, prior to easy access to the internet and the wealth of FFVI FAQs and info to be found there now, I played FFVI (which was actually FF3 on the SNES) using nothing but what I'd discovered on my own about the game, and basically utilizing only the weapons, armor, relics, etc that could be found in treasure chests and some of the more obvious sidequests. The game was a challenge then, and even though I didn't know it at the time, it lacked a bit of the depth it had the potential to have, though I certainly wasn't complaining.

When I brushed off the SNES console the most recent couple of times I've played this game, I broke down and decided to check the internet to see what I was missing. Well, I discovered a couple of important things I didn't realize you could do that had various levels of impact on the game:

- I discovered it's possible to save Shadow if you wait on the floating continenent. I never knew this before because, like a chicken, I always escaped it as quickly as I possibly could.

- Vanish/Doom. I never knew this trick existed, though now I hate it. It's like a crutch you just don't want to use, but when bosses are starting to annoy you, it gets really tempting to use it on them.

- The Illumina. It kicks arse, and I never knew it existed. Besides that, there are a boatload of other cool items to be won in the Colosseum that I never knew existed, like the Marvel Shoes, Merit Award...I could go on...

- Ancient Castle. I never found this before for some reason. Probably because once I got the airship, I never had a reason to use Figaro Castle's underground movement abilities. This also explains why I never found the last dragon.

- Hidon. I knew there was supposed to be something at Ebot's Rock, but since I never use Strago, and would sooner eat garden slugs than put Relm in my party, it's small wonder I never discovered this quest by accident.

- I never knew the purpose behind the Cursed Shield prior to reading walkthrus, and even though it sounds like more work than I'll ever actually do, it's a cool trick to know, nonetheless.

- Didn't know you could save Cid by feeding him the faster fish instead of the slower ones. To my credit, who would ever guess there was a difference between the fish, or that it mattered which ones you caught?


Sheesh...I could go on and on. You can see, though, that there are a lot of things I wasn't aware of, and I went on through the game without taking advantage of them for years. Now that I've found them, I don't know which I prefer. Having knowledge of all this cool stuff as well as the inside track on some cool minor tricks gives you a lot to do in the game, but in the long run, makes it a lot easier. Playing it prior to having all this secret knowledge was fun, and there was a sense of mystery about many things, which have since been revealed to me.

What do you think? Do FAQ's and Walkthrus help enhance the gaming experience in cases like this, or do they ruin the element of surprise, and rob the player of the sense of discovery? I know it's a personal choice, but I'd like to hear some of your opinions on this. Keep in mind, once again, that I'm an old school gamer, and I've been at it since before the internet was a useful source of gaming info...

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You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

Walkthroughs generally made certain parts of the game more fun, such as sidequests the end of the game--I knew what sidequests there were, and at least how to start them. However, walkthroughs do tend to spoil surprises

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

like Galuf's, Leo's, and Aeris's deaths, and the destruction of the World of Balance, etc.. Which is why I got a kick (albeit a chilling one) out of seeing the Sector 7 plate fall in FFVII: I didn't find it online before I saw it.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Majik Monkee @ 15th March 2004 11:58)

- Didn't know you could save Cid by feeding him the faster fish instead of the slower ones.  To my credit, who would ever guess there was a difference between the fish, or that it mattered which ones you caught?

The Rare item menu would tell you that. I found that out my first playthrough even though I did next to nothing to save him (for some reason it didn't occur to me how to save him, even though a second play made it obvious. Certainly didn't bother me to get off the island anyway though).

Anyway, about the only things I didn't find on my first playthrough were well-hidden treasures (Aegis Shld, Ribbons, Atlas Armlet...) and the Blue Drgn. Hell, I probably still don't know about all of them, I found out just a couple months ago there's a Ribbon in the wall at the bottom of the staircase where you fight Poltrgeist. Never heard of it at all until Assassin said something about it offhand one day.

Of course, the biggest challenge will be finding out all of the treasures that are complete and utter lies like in the Cave to the Sealed Gate (the buried treasures, besides the Inviz Edge, are all liars, either in typo (Water Skean) or just flat-out Zozospeak (Remedy is really a Soft)). I only found that out reading an event "disassembly" to check up on whether I found all the treasures. If I find anymore, I'll make a new section for the glitches and bugs guide for them (prolly call it "The Treasures of Zozo"), but right now, it's just those buried items that are untrustworthy.

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The Unoriginal White Sheet

-Master ZED

When i first played through i missed just about EVERYTHING because i was in a hurrry to beat it so i got as few people as possible in WOR and headed to Kefka.

Yeah, I was sort of in a rush the first time through also, but when the last course of action left seemed to be facing Kefka, I prolonged it as long as possible. As a result, I found all of the original characters I had in the WoB (I found Strago but never bothered to bring Relm to snap him out of his trance), except Shadow, who I didn't wait for on the F.C. Somehow I still missed some of the fairly significant discoveries, though I didn't know what I was missing, and wasn't in it for the long haul. In those days, I had issues figuring out how to manage my characters stats, etc, only used "Optimum" when equipping characters, so I missed out on using some good items like the Atma Weapon that never equip on their own, and ran from battles that featured enemies that might possibly injure my party members. Sad, but true...I've grown a lot since then.

I don't make a point of chasing after hidden items unless they are REALLY something I need, and the info comes from a reliable source. The only one I can really think of is the Moogle Charm (I grab the Momemto Ring from Strago's house too, but never use it), and that's just because it's right there and easy to get when you get Mog. As for the rest, well, it's just not worth the effort, especially if it's unreliable info. I never bothered to look for any of the so-called "buried treasures".

Well, I'm still not done with the road to discovery...I'm currently plotting some colosseum battles to get the Titanium helmet so I can fully equip an Imp...can't wait to see what happens...

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You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

I make it a point to never use a walkthru or faq on my first playthru. That way I can discover everything on my own. I like the challenge part. And if I miss something, I can always play it again. And if its a good game, I usually do. And for exceptional games like FF6, I play it over and over and over trying to max it in every possible way on the 300th playthru. On my first playthru, I never found the stairs, the Odin Esper nor the Blue Dragon. I found the Ancient Castle entrance PURELY by luck. I remember vividly that first playthru when I found that. I got the airship and then took a few days off from gaming. When I came back, I couldnt remember what I was supposed to be doing in WOR. So I started going to every single town and talking to everyone. Then I just happened to decide to take the Underground route to investigate Kohlingen et al. Hit that stoppage point and didnt know what to do. I said well screw that, I want to go to Kohlingen. And I did. Then I solved a couple other sidequests and returned to the stoppage pt to investigate. I just happened to go downstairs to see if I missed any people to chat with and I noticed the hole in the wall and I said to myself, did I miss that earlier? And that was that. Totally lucky to find the Ancient Castle at all, much less the stinkin stairs down to Raiden/Blue Dragon.

I think its a programming/designing failure when devs put in obscure random stuff like that. Not to say that easter eggs are bad. I LOVE EM! But for 2 pretty important items in the game, to rely on finding that 1 square to trigger the stairs, I think that is a coding failure, not an easter egg. Sure you can complete the game without Odin and Crusader. I think there is a distinction between Easter Egg and poor coding. And this falls on the poor coding side. Obscure stuff makes replaying cool, sure. But why waste code on something that no one would ever find without breaking open the freakin rom!? If I were coding, I would want big events like the Odin transformation and completion of the Legendary Dragons quest to be completed by the majority of gamers, not left as an easter egg for rom hackers only. I feel the same way about really cool spells like Forcefield and Overcast. Awesome spells, awesome effects and you could easily play the game 100 times and never see it. Just a waste I tell ya.

I like to use walkthroughs just so i dont miss anything, which i definitly would in WoR.

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There is a time and a place for everything, and I am niether

I think they ruin things, but sometimes I have to. Games scare me!

The only FF game I haven't used at least an FAQ on so far is FFX-2. Wrong game to choose, I know, since to get the perfect ending you need a walkthrough but hey. That's just me.

Shadow would probably be dead if I didn't use a walkthrough. And I remember I was going to miss Locke out because I thought he was dead, until I checked my guide. I actually thought some of the people would have been dead, like Mog or something.

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"Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad." - Rincewind

You can be as self-assertive as you like, just so long as you do what you’re told.” - Granny Weatherwax

"When Mr. Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend" - Sam Vimes to Detritus

Quote (Detah @ 15th March 2004 15:09)

But why waste code on something that no one would ever find without breaking open the freakin rom!?

Not entirely true. The scholars in Figaro Castle drop a hint that says something to the effect of when the queen rises and takes 5 steps....

IOW, the talk to everyone rule would definitely need to be applied here. I know I read that (took the rule seriously back then), but I too never bothered to investigate it, which is why I never found the Blue Drgn by myself.

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The Unoriginal White Sheet

-Master ZED

I'm sort of a "do absolutely everything in every possible way" kind of player, so the first and second times I played through, I was able to find all of the major side quests and items. The only item that escaped me was crusader, which was interesting, because I knew the location of every dragon (even the one that's been discribed as an "easter egg"). I had always thought that FFVI was a really big game full of tons of interesting secrets and side quests that I'd never find even after a bunch of play-throughs. When I came to the CoN, what I found out was that FFVI was a really big game full of tons of interesting secrets and side quests... most of which I had already found. Now when I play through, I just enjoy developing new combos for different charecters. I don't really enjoy walk-throughs.

Or how about the hidden Air Anchor in the Kefka Fanatics' tower? That's about impossible to find without a clue of some sort...and yes, there is a clue...in one of the out of the way towns, a thief talks about his old partner mumbling "to the left of the treasure chest" in his sleep...now COME ONE! There are about a million treasure chests in the game...is that even a helpful clue? I think not...and since the Air Anchor works 0% of the time for me, it's not even worth hiding that well IMHO.

Speaking of things I didn't know, why doesn't it tell you somewhere that the Illumina sword sucks up your MP? For the longest time I was pulling out my hair trying to figure out why the warrior equipped with it kept being down to 0 MP when he wasn't even casting any spells (I blamed it on the Marvel Shoes at first). I did find a fairly decent way to remedy this, though...Genji Glove with Soul Sabre and Illumina equipped...that way the Soul Saber sucks some MP without damaging the enemy, then the Illumina goes in for the kill!

One more thing...I must say I was dissapointed by the Offering relic. I'd heard a lot about it, but then I get it, and discover that yes, you do get to attack 4 times per turn, but the attacks are all about 25% as powerful as a single regular attack. The Genji Glove helps a little, but then again, it's the same as just attacking with a Genji Glove once. Unless you're looking to split up the damage of your attacks, I don't see how this relic really helps much. Even the Illumina did a surprisingly lame amount of damage with the Offering. It's sort of like a wimpier version of Cyan's Quadra Slam/Slice attacks. Maybe it's just me, but I frankly think there are much better relics characters could be using.

This post has been edited by Majik Monkee on 16th March 2004 13:52

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You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."